Ikea will pay for old furniture returns in the US
5 April 2022
Following a successful trial run of the program during the summer of 2018, Swedish furniture and home goods retailer Ikea announced that it will make its Buy Back and Resell program permanent beginning on April 1 across all 37 of its locations in the United States.
Under the terms of the program, Ikea will provide reimbursement for the purchase price of old furniture returned items that were purchased at one of its retail locations. These items include office drawer cabinets, sideboards, bookcases, small tables, multimedia furniture, cabinets, dining tables, desks, and chairs and stools without upholstery.
Products that are not branded by Ikea, including but not limited to beds, sofas, mattresses, home furnishing accessories, leather products, lighting fixtures, or chests of drawers, are not included in the program’s coverage. Products from Ikea that have been removed from shelves due to safety concerns are also ineligible.
The company states that the buy back offer is only valid for personally used Ikea furniture that has been completely assembled and is operational. Furthermore, the company will not accept any items that have been modified or altered in any way.
It also stated that at participating stores, each item will be inspected for condition, age, and functionality, and that customers whose items qualify for store credit will be given store credit for their purchases.
According to the statement, all “gently used” items that have been given the green light for resale will be made available at discounted prices in a section of the store that is designated as “as is.”
As part of Ikea’s initiative to reduce its environmental impact, the company already operates a buy-back program in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This program allows customers to exchange barely used Ikea old furniture that are still in excellent condition for store credit worth up to fifty percent of the product’s initial selling price. Items deemed to be in “very good” condition are eligible for a credit worth 40% of the original purchase price, whereas “well used” items are eligible for a discount of 30%.
Ikea, which has 465 stores across the globe, has stated that the initiative is a part of its effort to become a “circular” business by the year 2030. Eventually, the company plans to offer products that are made entirely of recycled, remanufactured, refurbished, or reused materials.
