If you’re in the market for a new desk but don’t want to break the bank, you’re in luck. There are plenty of great places to find cheap desks online and offline.
So you’re not limited to buying a desk without actually seeing it first.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the best places to buy a desk, near you and online.
So whether you’re looking for a small desk for your home office or a large desk for your corporate headquarters, read on for some great ideas!
Here are some of the best places to find cheap desks:
- Walmart
- Amazon
- Overstock.com
- eBay
- Craigslist
- Local thrift stores
- Call centers
- Auction houses
How to measure for your desk
Measure twice!
One of the biggest mistakes people make when buying any desk is that they assume it will fit in the space they have available for it.
That’s a real rookie mistake.
You should take two sets of measurements for your future desk.
The actual physical working space you need – this should be at least 4 feet wide by 1.5 feet deep. Anything less than that is going to feel very cramped unless you’re only looking for a laptop desk or a desk for a tiny nook in a room.
Your second measurement should be to allow at least 1 inch of clearance around your desk to accommodate your kickboards and to allow you enough space to feed cables down the back of the desk, unless it already has pre-cut cable feeds built into it.
Not that we have that out of the way we can talk about the best places to buy desks online and offline.
1. Walmart
Walmart is a great place to start your search for a cheap desk. They have a wide selection of affordable desks, and you can often find good deals on desks and other office furniture. You also have the advantage of being able to see and touch the desk before you buy it.
But take the time to read online reviews of the desk you’re considering, as this can help you avoid any potential quality issues.
Finally, remember that assembly may be required, so be sure to factor in that cost when comparing prices.
2. Amazon
Amazon is another great place to look for cheap desks. They have a wide selection of options, and you can often find good deals on desks because Amazon does its best to remain competitive in terms of pricing.
Another perk of buying a cheap desk from Amazon is that you get to read reviews of the desk, including the ‘Questions’ section so you can see if customers ran into any problems after purchasing the desk you’re considering.
The downside of purchasing your desk from Amazon is that you won’t see what it looks and feels like until it arrives and you unpack it.
3. Overstock
Overstock.com is a great place to find an affordable home office desk. They have a large selection of desks and most of them are from brand-name manufacturers.
This is unlike Amazon where a lot of their products are now coming from overseas manufacturers, where the quality of the desk can be questionable at times.
Overstock, on the other hand, buys year-end or fulfillment lots of office furniture, so the desks you find there are the exact same ones you’d have found in an office supplier, but at anywhere up to 50% off regular retail prices.
4. eBay
eBay is a great place to find both new and used desks. The brand-new cheap desks are typically shipped from overseas locations, so you need to factor in two things here:
- Overall quality
- Delivery timeframe (it could take 60 days to arrive)
But eBay also features a lot of perfectly good used office furniture from companies or individuals who are simply upgrading their office furniture.
So there’s no reason why you can’t find a perfectly good desk at a price that suits you.
Just watch out for those shipping charges – wood is heavy and that can make a “bargain” suddenly become a financial headache for now.
5. Craigslist
Craigslist is another great place to find cheap desks – in some cases they can be 100% free. You could be lucky to find somebody that has a desk they want rid of – all you need to do is collect it.
So if you’re working on a super-tight budget then Craigslist is one of the best places to find a free office desk or one that costs almost nothing.
Just make sure to watch out for scams, or any offer that seems too good to be true – there’s that slim chance that the desk was stolen from somebody.
However, this is unlikely due to the sheer weight of the average office desk.
6. Flea market/Thrift store desks
These places can be a goldmine for anyone who needs office furniture. Sometimes people don’t want the hassle of selling their old desk on eBay or having random people calling to their home via Craigslist.
So they simply bring their desk to the nearest thrift store.
Now, the thing is that desks are big and bulky and take up a lot of space, so thrift stores like to sell them on as quickly as possible.
There’s also the nuance that thrift stores often don’t understand the value of certain items, and desks are a good example.
And that means you could quite easily pick up a really good desk for $100 that’s actually worth way more than that.
7. Call centers/offices
All big companies replace their office furniture every few years. This can be because of wear and tear on the desks (scratch marks, etc.) or they’re doing a total refurbishment of the entire range of furniture.
These places tend to use top-of-the-range office furniture, including standing desks and ergonomic desks, for example.
So, if there are any large offices, big tech companies, or call centers in your area, do yourself a favor and try to find out who their facilities manager is. They always have one.
Then drop them an email and ask if they have any office furniture they want to get rid of.
You’ll be amazed at how often they’ll be happy to either just give you a desk instead of sending it to landfill or selling you a desk for token cash.
This makes them one of the best sources of affordable office desks anywhere in the world.
A word of warning
A cheap office desk could be made of lower-quality materials and won’t stand up to regular use as well as a more expensive desk i.e. one that costs $50 more. There’s no point in using false economy to justify being a cheapskate.
Furthermore, a poorly made desk can actually be dangerous; poorly designed joints and flimsy construction can cause the desk to collapse, potentially injuring anyone who is sitting at it.
In contrast, a well-made desk will be built to last and will offer a much higher level of safety.
For these reasons, it’s important to carefully consider all of your options before making a purchase. A little extra investment upfront can go a long way in ensuring
Wrapping things up
So there you have it – 7 great places to find inexpensive office desks.
There is no one “best place to buy a desk” – that’s going to depend on where you live, how much you can afford to spend etc. There are a lot of variables to consider.
All you have to do now is measure up your space and then start checking out the above resources to find the desk that’s perfect for you.
And at a price you like.