How To Buy A Quality Office Chair Online: Simple Ground Rules For Getting Things Right

Zappos has built a whole Internet business around selling shoes to online customers and offering outstanding customer service. Clearly, there is no opportunity to try on their shoes prior to purchase and yet it hasn’t stymied the amazing growth they have achieved. So, if it makes sense to buy shoes this way, office chairs shouldn’t be any different.

Is it practical to buy an office chair online?
Office chairs are sold in huge quantities online every year and it’s becoming a more and more popular as people realize it’s an easy and convenient way to buy a new task chair. Unfortunately, a significant amount of the chairs sold online are far from the best choice for those buying them.

People allow themselves to become blinded by price and so often end up buying something completely unsuitable for their needs. And whilst price is important it’s vital to get the specification right and sift the good from the bad first.

How do you narrow down the list of potential chairs to look at?
I’m assuming that you spend a lot of time working in an office chair. In which case you need something that is well built, comfortable and ergonomically designed to support your body healthily.

You’ll need to set some sort of budget and bear in mind that good ergonomic chairs start around the $300 mark. Consequently, you need to appreciate that you’re really making an investment in something that’s going to last you for many years. By setting a realistic budget this greatly reduces the overall possibilities and is the first filter you should apply. Then it’s time to apply other guidelines.

What rules do I need to apply for buying online?
Research is the next stage in our procedure. I would suggest you spend time reading reviews of chairs that fall within your budget range. Take note of any comments about potential issues, maybe a particular model is best suited for tall users, so if you are short built it likely won’t be suitable.

Also take a look at what existing users say about any of the chairs you are interested in. They might comment about them in forums , or leave valuable feedback of their experience on websites selling the product. Often, something you hadn’t considered could be significant and better quality sites will sometimes point this out, because they ultimately want satisfied customers.

How do I choose the right web site to buy from?
While the best websites offer a good choice of quality seats to choose from, you won’t find them trying to bamboozle you with hundreds of chairs. So, avoid the sort of sites which having a long scrolling page with model after model. This catchall approach will just waste your time and confuse you.

Instead look at sites whose stated aim is to present you with a tightly focused range from a maximum of 5 or 6 manufacturers. This makes a lot of sense because it’s likely they will be selling good quantities of their supplier’s chairs. It means they very likely have a good working relationship with them and so if a problem arises can get a quick response and resolve it.

What are the risks of buying an office chair online?
Potentially the biggest problem is that despite your careful research the chair you’ve chosen isn’t the right one for you. And you will only know this for sure when you’ve sat in it for at least a week. So, even if you had bought offline you would be faced with the same situation.

It’s vitally important to make sure the site you plan to buy from offers a return period in case your chair is unsuitable. Good sites will generally allow you 30 days to return the product for whatever reason. This gives you plenty of time in which to satisfy yourself you made the right choice.

You need to read the small print carefully as you may have to bear the shipping cost of returning the product. This isn’t unreasonable as you are almost always getting a very good discount. This sort of price pre Internet would only have been offered for a purchase of 20 or more chairs.

Occasionally you may suffer damage in transit, although this is relatively rare because suppliers take good care to package high priced items carefully. It’s just too costly for them to have items broken in shipping.

Let’s summarize the key points for successful online office chair buying

• Don’t fixate on price first. It only matters once you’ve found the product you want.
• Set a realistic budget, at least $300
• Read reviews and feedback to get a feel for what others say about potential chairs
• Avoid sites with hundreds of chairs on long scrolling pages, concentrate on specialists offering tightly focused products.
• Always insist on a 30-day return period, so you can be sure it’s right for you.

By applying these simple rules you stand an excellent chance of getting things right first time and having a Zappos experience instead of a nightmare. Here’s where you can find a quick summary of some quality ergonomic office chairs worth close examination.