Are Mattresses Advertised at 50% or 75% Off Discounts Really Bargains?
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Written by Jeff Frank
Categories: Mattresses and Beds
Tags: mattress sale discount mattresses sale mattresses cheap mattresses
BLOG UPDATE - Jeff Frank retired from Simplicity Sofas March 20, 2022 to work full time on his new informational blog. Check out Jeff's new blog, [INSIDERSGUIDETOFURNITURE.COM
[The Insider's Guide to Furniture blog contains over 500 articles, including new articles published after March, 2022 and updates of articles in this blog.]
There are always Mattress Sales featuring deep discounts of 50% - 75% or even more.
All of these deep discounts are phony.

There may be some smaller, legitimate, discounts in the 10% - 25% range, but there are no real discounts of 50% or more.
- Many years ago I was a buyer for a major furniture retailer. Over a 4 year period I purchased over $20 million of mattresses.
- Every week we ran sales promotions, including mattress sales claiming 50% off or more.
- Retailers do not lose money on mattresses sold at these deeply discounted prices. The profit margin is about the same as they get for non-discounted mattresses.
Last year I shopped for a mattress for personal use.
I was looking for an innerspring mattress that was 12 - 14″ thick, priced under $1000 and made by a major brand.
I researched a lot of mattresses and I compared approximately 200 different innerspring queen-size mattresses being sold by more than a dozen different retailers. Most were from Serta, Sealy and Simmons.
Nearly half had discounts of 50% or more. The others had no price reduction at all.
Mattresses have always been tough to compare across brands.
- When shopping for my own mattress, I discovered that comparisons within a single brand are now equally difficult.
- Each individual mattress model has unique specifications. Different models that look identical in photos can have completely different specs.
- Each major brand offered hundreds of different models.
- Models offered by an individual retailer were rarely available from their competitors.
This eliminated the possibility of comparing prices on identical mattresses across retailers.
Despite this, I was able to identify one universal measurement that enabled me to compare mattresses. Both across brands and within brands.
I compared the weights of the different mattress models.
- In almost every case the queen-size mattresses selling between $799 - 999 weighed 80 - 100 lbs -- regardless of the original "list" price.
- Mattresses at the lower end of my price range weighed 80 lbs - 90 lbs.
- Mattresses at the top of my price range weighed 90 lbs. - 100 lbs.
- This included mattresses with "list" prices of $1999 - $3999 that were selling at discounts of 50% - 75% off.
I subsequently examined several mattresses actually selling in the $1999 - $2999 price range.
- All of these weighed 110 - 120 lbs.
- This included mattresses on sale for 50% - 75% off selling with list prices ranging from $3999 - $8999.
There was absolutely no relationship between the “list” comparison price and the weight of any mattress.
- Mattresses listed as $3999 values and selling for $999 weighed approximately the same as mattresses selling for $999 with no discount.
- Mattresses listed at $8,999 values selling for $2999 weighed approximately the same as mattresses selling for $2999 with no discount.
- Mattresses actually selling for $1999 weighed more than those selling for $999.
- Mattresses selling for $2999 weighed more than those selling for $1999.
What are you paying for when you get a mattress selling for $2999 instead of one for $999?
According to my best estimate:
- $500 for quality improvements.
- $500 for cosmetic improvements.
- $1000 extra profit.