Consumer Reports Reveals The Best Place To Shop For Furniture Online (And It's Not Amazon)

Whether you had to sell your furniture before moving, or you just want a fresh start in your current living spaces, buying furniture online can be highly convenient. Not only is there the ease of getting it shipped straight to your door, but saying the wrong thing while shopping at a furniture store can be a costly mistake. That said, it can be difficult to know if you're wasting money when you can't check out the furniture in person ahead of time. While Amazon has a wide selection available, when it comes to quality and positive customer experiences, Consumer Reports thinks shoppers should take a closer look at Room & Board.

This retailer tops Consumer Reports' ratings of online furniture stores (which includes 17 retailers and bases its scores on thousands of consumer reviews), scoring perfect marks in quality, quality of delivery, and website usability. The furniture seller also scored well in inventory selection, communication, and on-time delivery. Thanks to these high ratings, Room & Board beat out runners up Costco, Restoration Hardware (RH), and Amazon (in that order as of Consumer Report's August 2026 rankings).

If there is one area that Room & Board falls short, it's price. While not the lowest-ranked seller in the price category — that would be RH — Room & Board's less-than-stellar score ties with upper-middle class brands brands like Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, and West Elm. For customers looking for savings, Room & Board's clearance section offers between 20% and 50% off of inventory the company is looking to offload. 

If you've never heard of Room & Board, that's probably because it's not the biggest furniture retailer out there. Headquartered in Minnesota, Room & Board was founded in 1980 and has 22 locations as of 2026 (for comparison, Pottery Barn has well over 150 locations). Nevertheless, the store has been a fixture in online furniture sales since it launched its retail website in 2000, becoming an earlier entrant to the e-commerce furniture world and doing so before stores like West Elm were even founded. Room & Board's online sales have since grown to account for 60% of its sales as of 2022, per Furniture Today.

It's also worth mentioning that the retailer earned high marks for its in-store shopping as well. As of August 2026, Room & Board was tied for first place with Stickley on Consumer Reports' rankings of walk-in furniture stores, beating out Costco. While Room & Board may not be the cheapest furniture retailer around, it's a reliable seller with an established history. If you're willing to pay more for good customer service, a smoother shopping experience, and furniture built to last, Room & Board could be worth considering.