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Buying decision

Best Time and Place to Buy Furniture (2026)

Last verified · How we are paid

The short answer

Furniture goes on sale on a calendar. Indoor pieces have two deep windows a year: January, after the holidays, and late summer into Labor Day. Black Friday, November 27, 2026, competes with both.

Where to buy

IKEA and Costco for the lowest prices and the most forgiving returns. Wayfair for selection. Article for mid-range delivered pieces. Our partner brands pay cashback on top: Grand Patio 15%, Tribesigns 10%, Welax 10%, Malouf Home 8%, COLAMY 6%.

When to buy

January, or late summer through Labor Day. January clears the floor ahead of the spring collections; late summer clears it ahead of the fall ones. Black Friday, November 27, 2026, competes with both. 1 2 3

Codes

Grand Patio has two 10% codes, TENMOMO and 10GP. COLAMY's current code is on its store page. Welax, Tribesigns and Malouf Home had none we could publish when we checked. At the big-box stores the markdown is the discount.

Cards

Nothing beats paying with money you already have. If you shop Costco, the Costco Anywhere Visa pays 2% back there, no annual fee on a paid membership. Skip store "no interest if paid in full" plans: an unpaid balance gets back-billed. 16 17

Where to buy it

  • IKEA 5

    —

    —

    Lowest prices on new furniture, and the best return terms in the category: 365 days on new and unopened products, 180 days on opened ones, with proof of purchase.

    Mattresses get a one-time exchange within 90 days, not a refund. Plants, cut fabric, custom countertops and as-is items cannot come back at all. You assemble everything yourself.

  • Costco 6

    —

    —

    A small, well-edited furniture selection at member pricing, and no clock on the return. Furniture is not in the 90-day exception list that covers TVs, computers and major appliances.

    Stock rotates and disappears without warning. Custom-manufactured special orders are excluded from returns. You need a membership to buy at all.

  • Wayfair 4

    —

    —

    The widest selection online, and the deepest holiday clearance of the four: its 2026 Labor Day event was reported at up to 70% off rugs, living room furniture and nursery decor.

    We could not open Wayfair's own returns page to check its terms, so read them yourself before you order. Discount depth varies item to item behind an "up to" headline.

  • Article 7 8

    —

    —

    Mid-range delivered furniture with one coherent look, so a room assembled from it matches. Its 2026 Labor Day banner, as of September 1, read "UP TO 40% OFF" on hundreds of styles.

    You get 30 days from delivery, and a return inside the standard service area carries a return shipping fee. On a sofa that fee is not a rounding error. Budget for it.

  • Grand Patio 9 2

    15% ◆
    TENMOMO 10% off sitewide, issued to Tenmomo ◆ 10GP 10% off (public code) ◆

    Outdoor furniture only: umbrellas, sectionals, recliners, dining sets, pergolas. Highest cashback rate on this page. Free shipping to the contiguous US, 30-day returns, one-year warranty.

    Outdoor stock runs thin by the end of the season. New outdoor lines land between mid-March and mid-April, so a piece that sells out late in the season is gone until spring.

  • Welax 10

    10% ◆

    —

    Ergonomic office chairs, accent chairs and sofas. A 60-day return and exchange window, which is double the category norm, plus free delivery in the contiguous US.

    Narrow catalogue. This is seating and sofas, not a place to furnish a whole house. No code to publish today, so the 10% cashback is the whole saving here.

  • Tribesigns 11 12 13

    10% ◆

    —

    Desks, bookcases, console tables, dining tables, closet systems and entryway storage. Free delivery across the contiguous US, and the policy states plainly: "We do not charge any restocking fees."

    Thirty days to return, and a change-of-mind return means you pay the actual return shipping. Their own policy warns that this is substantial on large, heavy, bulky items. No live code when we checked.

  • COLAMY 14

    6% ◆

    —

    Office chairs, dining chairs, bar stools and recliners, plus a line of small case goods. Free shipping to the 48 contiguous states (not Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, PO Boxes or APO/FPO addresses) and a 30-day return window.

    Lowest cashback rate among our partners at 6%, so a store-page code, when there is one, usually beats the cashback here.

  • Malouf Home 15

    8% ◆

    —

    Beds, adjustable bases, headboards and bedding. Their 2026 Labor Day banner, as of September 1, read "20% Off Mattresses, 10% Off Everything Else".

    A sleep brand, not a general furniture store, so it only answers the bedroom half of the question. No live code. Their homepage advertises a 100-night sleep trial whose terms we did not verify.

◆ Cashback rates and codes without a footnote come from Tenmomo's own program data. We read it again on the date under Last verified, unless the row's own footnote gives a later date.

When to buy it

Labor Day weekend, at the end of summer
The holiday weekend at the tail of the late-summer clearance that runs ahead of the fall collections. For a sense of depth, in 2026: on September 1 Article advertised up to 40% off, Grand Patio up to 60% off outdoor and Tribesigns up to 60% off, and media roundups put Wayfair and Ashley clearance at up to 70%, Crate & Barrel at up to 60% and West Elm at up to 50%. 3 4 7 9 11
January, after the holidays
New indoor styles reach retail floors every spring, so stores mark down the current floor as soon as the holidays end. NerdWallet names the end of winter as one of the two best windows for indoor furniture; Castlery puts living room and bedroom pieces in this slot. 2 3
Presidents Day weekend, February 15, 2027
The other reliably deep holiday event for indoor furniture. NerdWallet singles out Presidents Day and Labor Day together as the two especially good holiday weekends. 2 3
Fourth of July through Labor Day, for outdoor furniture only
Outdoor stock arrives between mid-March and mid-April, and stores want it gone by August. That is why patio prices bottom out in the same weeks indoor prices are only average. 2
Black Friday, November 27, 2026
Thanksgiving falls on November 26 in 2026, so Black Friday is the 27th. Castlery ranks Black Friday and Cyber Monday as the deepest discounts of the year across almost every category. 1 3
Before January 1, 2027, for imported wood furniture and cabinets
A 25% Section 232 tariff already applies to certain imported upholstered wooden furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities. A scheduled increase, reported as going to 50%, was deferred by a proclamation signed December 31, 2025 and now takes effect January 1, 2027. If you are ordering imported cabinets, the deadline is real. 18 19

The long answer

Furniture pricing runs on a two-season calendar

The industry ships new indoor styles to retail floors in spring and fall. Old inventory has to leave before the new collection lands, which is why the markdowns cluster in January and again in late summer rather than falling evenly through the year. NerdWallet frames it as "the end of winter (January and February) or the end of summer (August and September)". Castlery, a retailer describing its own cycle, lists January to February for living room and bedroom pieces and July to August for sofas. Two sources with opposite incentives, same calendar. 2 3

What a holiday sale headline is actually worth

A headline number is a ceiling. "Up to 70% off" at Wayfair in the 2026 Labor Day event described the deepest single item in a clearance bin, which may have nothing to do with the sectional you want. The honest way to use a sale like this: pick the piece first, note what it costs before the sale, then check whether the sale price is actually below that. Three of the 2026 Labor Day sales we opened ourselves, on Article, Grand Patio and Tribesigns, were live on September 1, and none of the three printed a calendar end date. Tribesigns ran a countdown clock instead. Article and Grand Patio said nothing about when the sale would stop. 4 7 9 11

Return shipping is the cost nobody quotes you

A sofa that costs nothing to return and a sofa that costs a few hundred dollars to return are not the same purchase. Tribesigns states it directly: they charge no restocking fee, but a change-of-mind return means you pay the actual return shipping, and their own policy warns this is substantial on large, heavy, bulky items. Article gives you 30 days and charges a return shipping fee inside its standard service area. IKEA takes unopened goods back for 365 days and opened goods for 180. Costco has no time limit on furniture at all. That gap is worth more than a few points of discount on a piece you are unsure about. 5 6 8 12

The tariff clock on imported wood

Imported upholstered wooden furniture, wooden kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities carry a 25% Section 232 tariff today. The step up was originally set for January 1, 2026; a proclamation signed December 31, 2025 pushed it to January 1, 2027. Reporting on the delay puts the higher rate at 50%. We have not seen the Federal Register text ourselves, and the two trade-compliance sources we did open differ on how much the increase is, so treat the direction as solid and the exact number as unconfirmed. The practical read: if a cabinet or vanity order is coming, earlier is cheaper. 18 19

Best time to buy a couch, specifically

Upholstery follows the same calendar as the rest of indoor furniture, only harder. Castlery puts sofas and living room sets squarely in the July to August clearance that runs ahead of the fall collections, and lists January to February as the other one. So "best time to buy a couch" and "best time to buy furniture" have the same answer: late summer or January. 2 3

Financing a big piece without paying for it twice

Furniture is where deferred interest offers live. The CFPB describes the mechanic plainly: with "no interest if paid in full in 12 months", failing to clear the full promotional balance means interest going back to the purchase date gets added on top of what is left. A true 0% APR offer only starts charging from the day the promotion ends. The two are advertised in nearly identical language and are not the same product. If you shop Costco often, the Costco Anywhere Visa pays 2% back on Costco and Costco.com purchases with no annual fee on a paid membership, which is a plain rebate rather than a financing bet. 16 17

Questions people ask

When is the best time to buy a couch?

July through August, in the clearance that runs ahead of the fall collections, or January after the holidays. Castlery assigns sofas and living room sets to the late-summer window; NerdWallet names the same two ends of the calendar for indoor furniture generally. 2 3

Is there a working furniture coupon code?

At our partners, Grand Patio has two, TENMOMO and 10GP, both 10% off. COLAMY's current code is on its store page. At Welax, Tribesigns and Malouf Home there was nothing we could publish when we checked. At the big-box furniture retailers we checked, the markdown is the discount and there was no sitewide code to publish, so hunting for one is wasted time.

Does Labor Day beat Black Friday for furniture?

Not necessarily. Castlery ranks Black Friday and Cyber Monday as the deepest discounts of the year across almost every category, while NerdWallet names the end of summer as one of the two best windows for indoor furniture specifically. If the piece can wait until November, Black Friday is the safer bet. If you need it before then, Labor Day weekend is the better of the two. 2 3

What is the cheapest place to buy furniture online?

IKEA for new goods, on sticker price. But compare landed cost, not sticker: on a delivered piece, shipping in and the return fee if it does not work out can move the ranking. IKEA takes unopened items back for 365 days and opened items for 180, which is the widest safety margin of anyone on this page. 5

Do I have to pay to return furniture?

Usually yes, if you changed your mind. Tribesigns charges you the actual return shipping on a change-of-mind return, though no restocking fee. Article charges a return shipping fee within its standard service area. Costco and IKEA are the exceptions worth knowing about: Costco puts no time limit on furniture, and IKEA gives 365 days unopened. 5 6 8 12

How we are paid

This page is ordered by what saves you money, not by what pays us. IKEA, Costco, Wayfair and Article sit at the top and pay us nothing; we have no commercial relationship with any of them. Grand Patio, Welax, Tribesigns, COLAMY and Malouf Home do pay us a commission when you shop through our store pages, and that commission is where the cashback comes from. If a partner were the wrong answer for you, it would still rank below the retailers that pay us nothing, which is why four of them are above all five of ours.

What we don't cover

  • Other cashback portals. We do not track their rates, so we cannot tell you whether one of them pays more than we do on the same store.
  • The secondhand market. Facebook Marketplace, estate sales and office liquidators are usually the cheapest way to furnish a room, and none of it is in this entry.
  • Wayfair's return terms. We could not open their returns page, so the only Wayfair claim here is its 2026 Labor Day clearance depth.
  • Rugs and wall art. Out of scope for this entry even though we have partners in both categories.
  • Sale end times. None of the retailers we checked for the 2026 Labor Day sales printed a calendar end date. Tribesigns showed a countdown clock, which told you a deadline existed without saying which day it was; Article and Grand Patio showed nothing.
  • Malouf Home's 100-night sleep trial. Advertised on their homepage; we did not read the terms.
  • Card rankings. We have no card-rate database yet, so this page states two publicly documented facts and stops there.
  • Delivery and assembly fees. They vary by ZIP code and by item, and we have no way to quote yours.

Sources

  1. Federal Reserve — Bank holiday schedule (Labor Day 2026, Thanksgiving 2026) — accessed 2026-09-01
  2. NerdWallet — When Is the Best Time to Buy Furniture? (updated Feb 26, 2026) — accessed 2026-09-01
  3. Castlery — Best Times of the Year to Buy Furniture (published Jan 19, 2026) — accessed 2026-09-01
  4. Good Morning America — Labor Day sales 2026 (published Aug 31, 2026) — accessed 2026-09-01
  5. IKEA US — Returns & claims — accessed 2026-09-01
  6. Costco — Return policy — accessed 2026-09-01
  7. Article — Homepage, Labor Day banner — accessed 2026-09-01
  8. Article — Returns & Exchanges — accessed 2026-09-01
  9. Grand Patio — Homepage, Labor Day banner and service terms — accessed 2026-09-01
  10. Welax — Homepage, returns and delivery terms — accessed 2026-09-01
  11. Tribesigns — Homepage, Labor Day banner and catalogue — accessed 2026-09-01
  12. Tribesigns — Return policy — accessed 2026-09-01
  13. Tribesigns — Shipping policy — accessed 2026-09-01
  14. COLAMY — Homepage, catalogue and service terms — accessed 2026-09-01
  15. Malouf Home — Homepage, Labor Day banner — accessed 2026-09-01
  16. Citi — Costco Anywhere Visa Card, rates and annual fee — accessed 2026-09-01
  17. CFPB — How to understand special promotional financing offers on credit cards — accessed 2026-09-01
  18. Thompson Hine SmarTrade — Section 232 tariff increase on wood furniture and cabinets delayed — accessed 2026-09-01
  19. Mohawk Global — Furniture and cabinet imports: Section 232 tariff increase delayed to 2027 (published Jan 6, 2026) — accessed 2026-09-01
Appliances Mattress Outdoor & Garden Home & Garden Grand Patio Welax Tribesigns COLAMY Malouf Home

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