Furniture & Home

Long delivery times are normal for furniture. Fake shops exploit this: customers are slow to become suspicious when nothing arrives. Affected are designer sofas, beds, garden furniture and high-quality home furnishings from well-known brands, or replicas of them.

When Furniture & Home stands outPeak: Mar–May, Sep–Oct

January
February
March: peak
April: peak
May: peak
June
July
August
September: peak
October: peak
November
December

Widespread year-round, with a slight surge in spring (the moving and renovation season) and in autumn ahead of the home-furnishing season.

How long missing goods still look normal

Furniture takes time to arrive. A fake shop uses that time, in which nobody misses anything.

Retailer with goods

Payment
Delivery time with carrier and tracking number
Delivery

Fake shop

Payment
Delivery time without tracking number
Excuses
No contact

The excuse “supply chain problems” wins weeks.
Return and exchange requests are put off with new deadlines.

Sketch without time values. The length of the sections shows the order, not the duration.

Profile

Typical products: Sofas, box-spring beds, designer chairs, garden furniture, lamps and kitchen equipment.
Price pattern: High single amounts with discounts explained as display items, clearance or insolvency stock.
What is faked: Product photos from manufacturer catalogues, alleged freight carriers and long delivery times meant to explain the missing goods for weeks.

Typical scams in Furniture & Home

A shop advertises designer furniture or brand replicas at a conspicuously low price and demands full advance payment.
When asked about the missing delivery, they cite “coronavirus-related” or general “supply-chain problems” to buy time.
The product photos shown in the shop are recognisably taken from other furniture retailers or manufacturer sites.
Return or exchange requests are ignored or fobbed off with ever-new deadlines.

What to watch for in Furniture & Home

The general warning signs with examples

No delivery date, carrier or tracking information despite bulky goods.
The right of withdrawal and return conditions are missing or worded contradictorily.
A strikingly large number of different furniture brands and styles are sold in the same shop, with no discernible focus.
Customer service is reachable only via a contact form, with no phone number or only a foreign dialling code.