Ratings > Buying a Mattress Online Based on 22,600+ Owner Experiences Buying a mattress online or at a store both have pros and cons as indicated below. Many consumers believe there is a much higher risk of being dissatisfied when buying a mattress online – that is, when buying it untried without an opportunity to lie on it first. Our research shows, however, that owner satisfaction is fairly similar whether people try a mattress before buying or not. In other words, statistically speaking, for people overall there is only a modest increase in risk of being dissatisfied from buying a mattress online. These findings were determined by comparing the owner satisfaction rates of mattresses that can only be bought online without first trying them in a store with the owner satisfaction rates of similar mattresses that are widely available in stores. Why does trying a mattress in a store before buying make limited positive difference in owner satisfaction over buying online untried?
Our research suggests several reasons. A person may receive a mattress that feels markedly different (worse) to them than the same one they tried in a store. This is due to the fact that mattresses – even ones of the same model and specifications – can have their own individual characteristics and "feel" to some degree due to inconsistencies in materials and manufacturing. (This tends to be especially true for memory foam beds and latex beds.) A mattress in a store may or may not be broken in depending on how many people have lain on it. A mattress that is not broken in can feel significantly firmer than one that is broken in. If a person chooses a non-broken in mattress based on the belief that this is how it will feel long term, they may soon be disappointed when the mattress they receive breaks in and becomes significantly softer. Shoppers may get the wrong impression of a mattress if they don't lie on it long enough for their body to settle. Also, trying a mattress in a store often has distractions – such as other customers – which can prevent a proper evaluation.
Temperature can affect foam, especially memory foam. Cooler temperature tends to make it firmer, while warmer temperature tends to make it softer. If the store has a temperature significantly different than your bedroom, then the mattress may have a different comfort level in the store than it will at home. Mattresses sold only online often have at least slightly better specs and materials – and therefore better durability and long-term comfort – than mattresses widely available in stores. People who buy online often do significant mattress research which can guide them to make a proper buying decision. Their research may include trying in a store a mattress similar to the one they are considering buying online. From their research, online buyers tend to know that the mattress they are buying will likely suit them even without trying it first. As the table below shows, there are often important differences between the shipping / delivery methods and characteristics of online mattress retailers and mattress store retailers.
Our research suggests that mattress prices at an online retailer are on average about 15% less than the asking prices at a mattress store for the same or similar mattress. It should be noted, however, that store retailers will often negotiate on price, effectively making their price equal to that of online retailers. If you buy from a mattress store, you will likely have to pay sales tax. If you buy online and the mattress comes from out of state, you can avoid the tax. Both online and store retailers may offer free delivery, but free delivery is somewhat more common with online retailers. Possible Price Example: Online Retailer Vs Brick & Mortar Retailer The example below is for fictitious Mattress X. It shows that significant savings are possible by buying online, especially if the store retailer charges tax and delivery, while the online retailer does not. Many newer online mattress companies – such as Casper, Leesa and Tuft & Needle – offer a return process similar to that of a store retailer.
In other words, a courier (if available in your area) takes the bed from your home and no shipping preparation is necessary. However, for some large online retailers such as Amazon, the return shipping method is usually UPS or FedEx. This means that your mattress will need to be prepared for shipping by you which may include wrapping and or boxing the mattress. This preparation can be difficult due to many mattresses expanding upon opening resulting in their original packaging being too small for return use. And depending on the retailer's policy, the mattress might be picked up at your home or you may need to take the mattress yourself to a shipping store. Finally, if the mattress is dirtied or damaged during return shipping, the retailer may not provide a full refund. More information: Returning a Mattress: What You Should Know.Buying a new mattress is not fun. You have to head to a mattress store, lay around on mattresses for longer than you’d like, haggle with a salesperson about an aggressively overpriced mattress, then wait for a delivery guy to show up weeks later.
I ordered my last mattress online. It seems crazy, but it worked out well... mostly. Most of us are willing to order just about anything from the internet, but mattresses seem a little weird. For one, they’re huge and hard to ship, not to mention expensive. But more importantly, they’re one of those rare things that you really want to try before you buy. All mattresses are a little different, and your sleep is important. Picking the right mattress can make a significant difference in how well you snooze. Yet, there’s a sameness in mattresses that’s hard to describe. Sit on a $5,000 mattress and a $1,000 mattress, and many of us can’t tell the difference. Even comparison shopping can be a pain since manufacturers sell exclusive lines to different retailers, meaning you have to hit up a number of different stores just to pick a mattress. Then, when you finally pick something you want, you’re expected to haggle over the price. Last year, The New York Times spend nearly 3000 words describing the Kafkaesque experience of shopping for a mattress.
In short, buying a mattress is a huge pain in the ass. A couple of months ago, I needed a new mattress. I’m a heavy sleeper in that I can sleep on a rock, so the idea of testing dozens of different mattresses for some supposedly quantifiable level of coziness seemed absurd. So, I looked into purchasing one online.It turns out, there are a few options in this arena. All of them offer generous return policies. Most of them are considerably cheaper than retail options, and all of them come with two added benefits that appealed to me instantly: no haggling and no salesperson BS. Buying online saves you the hassle of going to a bunch of retailers, dealing with a pushy salesperson, haggling down the price, and attempting to tell the difference between dozens of mattresses that all feel the same. It’s fast, delivers in a few days in a small box that’s easy to move around, has a 100 day trial to see if you really like it, and you can return it if it doesn’t work out. Your options are limited here, but that’s actually part of the appeal for me.
I don’t want to make choose between dozens of options, I want just a few.I was surprised to find that there are quite a few companies selling mattresses over the internet. Here, I’m going to stick with a few startups that exist solely online as direct-to-consumer options. Direct-to-consumer means there’s no obnoxious salesperson and they’re set up to deal with shipping and returns easily. It also means they’re a bit cheaper than comparable mattresses from mainstay companies like Sealy Serta. Most of these companies only make one type of mattress. They all have different sizes, but you don’t need to choose between a bunch of options for pillowtops or different firmness ratings. Most specialize in memory foam, but Saatva caries varying types of spring mattresses, so there’s something for everyone here. So, before we even get into it, it’s worth pointing out that memory foam (or whatever similar variation each company sells) mattresses aren’t for everyone as they tend to be a bit more firm and some people feel like they get a little hot.
There are a few different direct-to-consumer manufacturers I looked at:Each company has different firmness and comfort levels. I went with Tuft & Needle because I prefer a firm mattress, and Casper is supposedly a bit more “pillowy,” while Leesa seems to fall somewhere in the middle. You can get a ton of info about different aspects of each of the above mattresses, including customer reported satisfaction levels about everything from how good they are for sex to how comfortable they are for heavyset people, over on Sleep Like the Dead.Okay, so here’s where things get weird. At least in the case of both Tuft and Needle and Casper, the unboxing process is pretty bizarre. As you can see in the video above, you’ll essentially pull the mattress out of a box that’s far too small to fit a mattress, unroll it, then cut a slice in a vacuum sealed plastic wrapper to make the mattress expand. Then you’ll sit around and watch it expand for a couple hours. Since it’s foam that’s been sitting in a vacuum-sealed bag for a while, it smells a little weird at first, like a G.I. Joe sitting in boiling water.
But the smell goes away after a couple of hours. The whole process is actually pretty fun to watch (at least compared to boredom of bringing home a normal mattress). It’s also pretty easy to get the mattress from your door to your bedroom because the box is so small. That means no finagling your way around crazy staircases or through tiny doorways. After the mattress expands and the smell goes away, you can get to sleep.Here’s the fun part: for about 100 days (in most cases), you get to just sleep on the mattress and decide how you feel about it. Most traditional mattress stores have a 30 day return policy, but according to Sleep Like the Dead, most full refund policies come with fees ranging from $50-$500. Many also only offer store credit as opposed to a refund. Returns and refunds for all four of these direct-to-consumer companies are free and will refund you 100%, which is a pretty killer deal, all things considered. I’ve never actually had a new mattress as an adult.
I’ve had barely used hand-me-downs from guest rooms, but never an actual, brand new, weird smelling mattress. So this whole trial period was an odd thing for me.As it turns out, a new mattress feels pretty much like my old mattress, except there’s no weird dip in the middle that sucks you in and attempts to suffocate you. The Tuft & Needle was, as reviews suggested, more on the firm side, which worked well for me. There’s no weird sinkage when you sit on it, even on the edge. Like most foam mattresses, there’s almost no motion transfer, so you barely notice if someone’s rolling around restlessly in their sleep next to you. I slept well the first night and pretty much every night since (unless LAPD decided to hover over my place with a helicopter for a few hours searching out a suspect in a high speed chase, which it turns out no mattress can help with).Through the hundred day trial period, I tried to pay a lot of attention to how I felt about the mattress, but as time wore on, I cared less and less.
This is a good thing. The mattress disappeared into my life and out of my brain, and when my calendar alarm went off reminding me that the 100 day trial was over, I shrugged it off and went back to what I was doing. This mattress, the one I’d spent almost zero brainpower to pick out, the one that I spent very little time shopping for, is fine. Which is what I want. I don’t want to think about it.As I discussed above, each of these companies packs in a pretty hefty warranty and an excellent return policy. It sounds great on the surface, but that doesn’t mean the whole process works for everyone. As for the return policy, it’s worth considering the amount of time you’ll have to dedicate to the whole process. Once you get it set up in your house, you’ll get the trial period to try out the mattress, and if you don’t like it, they’ll come pick it up. I didn’t need to return mine, but judging by a number of reviews on Amazon (where each of these mattress companies sells directly if you don’t want to order from their web sites), even people who hated the mattresses had no problems returning them.
Though, it’s important to note that the return policy through Amazon is only 30 days as opposed to 100 days from the manufacturer. You’ll have to shop for another mattress, sleep on the floor for a while, and go through the whole process of sitting around at your house and waiting for the UPS guy again. I work from home, so none of this mattered to me, but it’s something worth considering before you dive in. There’s a reasonable chance you will not like the mattress you chose, so make sure you’re okay with whatever hurdles you need to jump through to get it returned.There’s one big caveat with the warranties too. A warranty is only as good as the company behind it, and since many of these manufacturers are new, they might not last. If the company goes under, so does your warranty. This is a pretty important thing to consider, so if you’re not comfortable losing that warranty, it’s probably not worth it.Finally, one of the appealing aspects of buying a mattress locally is that they’ll take your old mattress away for free.