Safest Way for Buying Sight Unseen?/ Shipping from a Personal Residence

For starters, I know there is always going to be some risk in buying a pre-owned piece of furniture without actually seeing it with your own eyes.

I am really interested in a piece of furniture that I found online, but it just isn't possible for me to get to the area where the furniture is, at this time. I have seen several pictures of the piece from multiple angles and everything looks as described.

Does anyone know if there are services available that will go and look at a piece of furniture for you and give you a report of anything that may not be properly described by the owner? I know there are such services when buying a car and larger items online, but I was wondering if there was a similar thing for smaller items, like furniture.

Also, the person selling the item has in their listing that they are only offering local pickup, no shipping options. Can someone recommend a shipper that would offer "white glove service" from another residence to my home?

I haven't reached out to the seller yet, to see if they are flexible on this or not, but I wanted to exercise my options before contacting them.

If it helps, the piece of furniture is in the Boston, MA area and I live in the Shenandoah Valley area of VA.

Most sellers will ship as long as they don't have to do any work to make it happen, in other words - you set it all up and try to get a carrier to come in on the seller's schedule as best as possible. Blanket wrap shipping is expensive - not knowing what the item is, I can't tell you an estimate - but I have lots of experience with that. The only economical way to ship is through www.uship.com and put it out for bids, that's like an EBAY for shipping. Results vary, just like EBAY - from sketchy operators such as two college kids with some room in the van to full-on professional movers.

Cost of evaluation can be high - again depends on the piece and value. Would help to see photos of what you want to purchase.

Thanks Duane. I assumed the same thing you said about trying to get the piece evaluated.
The item is an H&M chair. This is the chair that had me asking about discontinued models the other day. I can't seem to find this model on H&M's site, so I am assuming it is in fact discontinued.
Below are a few pics of the chair (if I posted them correctly). Do you see anything in the pics that throws up a red flag?

Attachment 9842Attachment 9843Attachment 9844Attachment 9845Attachment 9846

That is an older chair, that deck label means 12 + years. Leather is an Pull-Up Aniline, chair could use a new seat core (no charge to the original owner if they request it from their selling dealer), and the wood probably a little darkening wax. Looks like it needs a leather treatment. Yes, that model has been out of the line for some time. Plan on around $ 275 to $ 350 to get it to you via USHIP bids. Closer to $ 500 to use a service such as Plycon Van Lines or Pack Ship USA. That's not an easy sell, you can probably lowball a bit.

Thanks again for your help. Would you happen to have an older catalog laying around that would have the chairs specs, or know of somewhere that I might be able to get the specs, so I can include them in the shipping quote request?
May I ask what you think would be a reasonable "low ball" offer for the chair?
Feel free to PM me if you would prefer.

Oh no, I never keep old catalogs, they wind up confusing everyone - especially me.

All you need to do is guess on the specs, use any one of the H&M large wings, put the weight at 100 lbs.

What is their asking price?

$1300. I never planned on paying that though.

That's pretty rich for that old a chair. I'd be at $ 700 myself on it, probably no more than $ 800 tops. And at that price, I'd want them to get the new seat core which they can do at no charge if they are the original owner.

FWIW I paid $600 for a used H&M recliner that was only 4 years old. I think they are asking way too much and then when you factor in shipping it is probably not worth it.

I offered $750 earlier today and they shot it down, saying that they couldn't take less than $ 950. I will think it over and maybe I'll counter with $800, if they are the original owner and will get the seat core replaced. I do really like the chair, and from what I can tell from the pictures, it does appear to be in at least pretty good shape.
I will definitely take your suggestions and treat the leather and wood, right away, if I do end up getting the chair.
Thanks guys for the help and suggestions.

If they are not the original owner, how much would it cost me to get the seat core replaced through your store?

A new Seat Core (standard) is $ 100, plus shipping which is probably going to be around $ 25. They are not going to find people lined up to buy that for $ 950, so they have plenty of time to get a new seat core themselves! (takes about 3 weeks to arrive once ordered).

I am assuming that the original owner is still going to need to pay the shipping for the new seat core, correct? So basically, it is going to cost me roughly $125 to replace the seat core, but it would cost them roughly $25 for the same exact thing.
Thanks for the valuable input Duane. I will definitely use it all in negotiations.

Actually no, they pay no shipping charge. H&M cushion core replacements to the original owner are 100% free of charge, it's a huge perk of buying H&M.

Even better. Thanks again Duane.