Two words appear in almost every furniture listing: "free delivery". It sounds like a gift. It is not. Freight is one of the biggest invisible cost lines in this industry, and somebody always pays it.
Let me explain who, because knowing it helps you read a price.
How much does freight cost?
Furniture freight is nothing like shipping electronics or clothing. This is bulky, heavy, fragile cargo; one sofa set takes up a serious share of a vehicle.
The rough industry range: delivering a set worth a hundred thousand lira somewhere near the city where it was made costs around two per cent of the value. Sending the same set to the far end of the country — a distant eastern province, say — pushes that to eighteen per cent and above.
So the freight on the same product can vary ninefold depending on where it goes. "Free delivery anywhere in Turkey" is written on top of that reality.
Where does the cost go?
To one of three places. All legitimate, all your business.
1. Spread into the price
The most common method. The seller calculates an average freight cost and adds it to every product. The result: a customer in a nearby city partly pays for the delivery of one far away. Nobody mentions it, because everyone does it.
2. Covered above a certain order value
This is where "free above this amount" comes from. The logic is simple: if the margin covers the freight, the seller absorbs it; if not, the customer pays. It is an honest method, because the threshold is written down.
3. Taken out of the service
The most common and the most troublesome. Delivery looks free but stops at your door: no assembly, no carrying upstairs, no packaging removal, unclear responsibility for damage. The customer discovers this on delivery day.
The real issue is assembly
In furniture, delivery is not dropping a box at the door. Bedroom sets are assembled, sofa arms attached, table legs mounted, wardrobes levelled. That takes a capable team.
There are three scenarios, and listings rarely say which one applies:
- To the door: it arrives at your address; unloading and assembly are yours.
- Into the room: it is carried in but not assembled.
- Delivered and assembled: built, packaging removed, left ready to use.
The difference is not just labour. The team that assembles is also the party that verifies the piece arrived undamaged. When something is left at the door, a damage claim turns into an argument about whose fault it was.
No lift, narrow stairs, distant district
This is what listings leave out. A wardrobe that does not fit the lift may have to go up by crane. On a narrow staircase a two-person job becomes a four-person one. A firm that delivers free to the city centre may not extend that to a far district of the same province.
None of this is bad faith; it is physics. But if it is not asked before the order, it becomes a surprise on delivery day.
Ask before you order
- Is delivery to the door, into the room, or including assembly?
- Is assembly included or charged separately?
- What happens if it does not fit the lift — is there an extra charge?
- Who removes the packaging?
- If it is damaged in transit, who is my counterpart — the seller or the carrier?
The last one matters most. "Call the carrier" means the problem has been handed to you.
Last word
In this trade "free" usually means "included in the price". There is nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is not writing down what is included and what is not.
From order to installation, in detail: Delivery times, shipping and installation