You are looking to purchase office furniture to outfit a new office or to update your current situation. You begin searching for all of the necessities; cubicles, seating, desks, conference tables and more. You are quickly humbled by the prices of new office furniture. New executive desk sets are in excess over $10,000, new cubicles priced over $3,000 (per cubicle), and new office chairs ranging up to and over $900. So your next thought may be, “well I don’t need high end furniture, I can just go to a retail store and purchase their furniture for much less”. This may seem like a logical solution, until a couple years down the road a vast majority of the furniture needs to be replaced because of its poor quality. What options does this leave you with?
The answer is pre-owned and refurbished office furniture. What you might not realize is the significant savings you can experience buying pre-owned, while receiving high-end, quality office furniture. The key to finding this quality pre-owned furniture lies with the office furniture company you choose to do business with. Finding the right company to work with can be accomplished through some research and asking a few questions. The following is an Office Furniture Buying Guide that will help you make the best informed decisions regarding your office space.
Research the products
Before you even begin to talk to dealers, be sure to do your research. Think about your needs and formulate a list of the products you are looking for. Is it necessary to know exactly what you want? No. A good furniture dealer has a design team and knowledgeable staff that will help configure your space and meet your needs.
Request pictures
A picture is worth a thousand words. Request that the furniture dealer provide photos that are representative of the furniture that you will be receiving. By viewing several pictures you are able to determine for yourself the quality of the product.
Review the warranty & customer testimonials
There are a number of pre-owned office furniture dealers, all who promise the same thing. The key is to find which dealers actually walk the walk. Do they stand behind their work? Ask about their warranty and check out their customer testimonials. This will give you a sense about the company’s focus on customer satisfaction.
Visit their facility
Another way to confirm if you’ve selected a good office furniture dealer is to visit their facility. This helps you determine the size, scope and condition of their inventory, how organized they are, and it allows you to meet their staff. If you are unable to visit their facility, a reputable office furniture dealer will have pictures and video of their facility readily available. An added bonus to visiting a site is to see sample products and additional options that are available to you. Take the time to get to know your vendor, it will be time well spent.
If you follow the Office Furniture Buying Guide you will be sure to avoid the “risks” involved when purchasing pre-owned. These tips will help you make the best decisions when buying pre-owned office furniture and will help ensure you receive a top notch product while saving you a ton of cash. Remember the $10,000 executive desk I mentioned earlier? Buying that same desk pre-owned will run you between $2000-$3000, resulting in savings well over 50%. Often you are unable to even tell that the desk is pre-owned. View EthoSource’s pre-owned desk inventory and see for yourself. View our customer testimonials here as well as our company information here, and see why EthoSource is the most trusted name in office furniture.
