How To Buy Discount Carpets - The Smart Way

Here's how I was able to buy discount carpets last summer, saving over 53% on the recommended retail price.

Step one was to go into an expensive carpet dealership to do some research.

The salesperson, whose name was John, was very knowledgeable and helped me find the exact carpet (a beautiful berber carpet) that suited my home and the needs of my family.

I politely told him that I would think about it and do a little more research. John gave me his card and told me which days he worked, and we parted company.

I left the store and I got into my truck. I pulled my laptop out from under the passenger seat (a silly place to keep it, but for me it's still better than carrying it everywhere). I logged on to the internet using my wireless connection and price-shopped quite a few discount carpet online stores.

Here's what I found. Two sites had the same carpet John had recommended to me, for a much cheaper price (about 30% off). They claimed to be of “first quality” but you never know for sure unless you see it for yourself.

A third site I found had a similar berber carpet for a huge discount – 53% off. I knew that I had to see the quality and the thickness of the carpet with my own two eyes. The warehouse was only a half hour drive away, so I decided to pay them a visit.

A little over half an hour later, I arrived at the discount carpet wholesaler. They specialised in discount wool carpets but they also had a few discount berber carpets for sale.

I asked to see the discount berber carpet I had seen on the website. They showed me the carpet and I had a good look. I inspected it for pile quality, thickness and its visual appearance (no marks or damage that would make it a “seconds quality” carpet).

Overall, I was happy with the carpet and I told Lynette, the manager, that if she could guarantee my carpet would come from the batch we saw in front of us, I would order straight away. Lynette agreed and we had a deal. In the end, I saved about 53% on the price John had offered me in his showroom for an almost identical berber carpet.

Now this was all great, but the truth is, I love helping others. Here's how the story ends. Two nights later, I was having dinner with my friend Steve the doctor. Steve had just paid full price for the new carpets in his home, and wondered how I had saved so much money.

I told him that like most businesses, the manufacturers sell their product to the wholesalers. The wholesalers then sell the product onto the retailers. If you can step in at the wholesaler level, you avoid paying the markup that retailers like John were charging. (John was a lovely guy, but there were just too many other things I could do with the money I saved by buying carpets direct).

Similarly, you can buy discontinued product lines, roll ends (the ends of a roll of carpet that may be not enough for a big job, but may suit someone with a smaller residence) and general leftovers for vastly reduced prices. These are both great ways of saving money when buying carpets.

Steve finished his wine. He had an investment property in the country that also needed carpeting. Now he knew how to do it the cheap way.

Six weeks later, Steve and I went cycling. He told me that using the tactics I had outlined, he had managed to buy some discount sisal carpet for his investment property. He had saved almost two-thirds off the recommended retail price.

It just goes to show that discount carpets are available if you do your homework and price-shop the online carpet stores.