A netizen posted a post online asking the best places to get furniture, normally for furniture two things come to mind. Price and Quality.

Many netizens prefer to buy from local shops but many highlighted that it might be cheaper to get them from Taobao.

Here is the question posed by the netizen:

I’m moving and I need to get new furniture for my room. Should I go for the more affordable Shopee products or reliable irl furniture shops? Generally, my Shopee purchases have been decent but furniture is a whole different ball game so I’m unsure.

Here are how netizens responded on buying furniture from online stores:

Not a very good idea imo. Shopee gets most of its furniture from china, eg taobao. So a markup of around 10-20% of taobao prices. If you don’t mind looking at other platforms, Taobao will be a great place to get furniture. Cost wise after shipping+delivery is like 30-40% cheaper than SG retail places. Cons is its all in mandarin and you need to find your own 3pf to ship. Quality is assured tho.

My furniture is mostly from Hipvan, Shopee, and Taobao. Hipvan has a good return policy so I feel more assured purchasing the more expensive items. Quality is also good! I went to their showroom to see some of the items before purchasing. I got my bed, and bed frame from there. My work desk, lounge chair is from Taobao. My tip is to look through the reviews posted. Do not purchase if there is no review. For a better estimation on shipping price, can try asking the seller for packaging dimensions. I use the official sea shipping for it. My work chair and book cabinet is from Shopee. Same as Taobao, look at online reviews and I usually get from Singapore based sellers in case have any issues with the products. Technically most of the things are made in China but Shopee refund policy is pretty good and fast.

if you don’t mind lightly used furniture, i would highly suggest carousell. LOTS of good deals, can check the condition before buying, and you’ll be helping someone get rid of furniture they don’t need!

I did use shopee to buy a sofa. I more like used shopee to find the stores in Singapore, that sold furniture in the style I wanted, within my budget. I visited a few of those stores. Then I ended up ordering from shopee anyways coz it worked out cheaper than purchasing from the showroom.

Conclusion

Taobao is the best option as it is one of the cheapest, but there are several drawbacks such as delivery time, damage in midst of delivery and unable to test the item.

Coming in at number 2 Carousell for the cheapest option but the item could be worned out.

3. Go to a furniture shop, able to see and feel it but unable to get a good deal.