Buying a Great Mattress

When I first started the process of trying to find my next mattress to buy, I was overwhelmed by how much good information there was available.  To be honest, there is probably too much information available on this topic.  That said, buying a great mattress is a very important process and can mean the difference between good and bad sleep, as well as having back pain versus not having back pain.  You should therefore take a lot of time trying going through all the available information on the web and figuring out what type of mattress you want to get and where you are going to get it from.

The information available to you comes in a few different packages.  There are review sites, where the owner of the site has reviewed several different brands and gives his opinion on their quality.  There are general information sites.  Theses sites provide a good background on what to look out for with the different types of mattresses.  Then there are the forums, where users interact with each other, asking questions, providing reviews of different mattresses, etc.  I find the forums to be the best because they are full of actual customers who have either recently purchased mattresses or are about to purchase mattresses.  If you want a large volume of very real and recent reviews, go through the forums as much as possible.  Check out some of my links to a lot of these resources below.

e-Commerce continues to grow and is a trend that will not be stopping anytime soon.  People are even starting to buy non-traditional items online.  Most people don’t associate e-Commerce with mattresses, but believe it or not, buying a mattress online actually makes a lot of sense.  Just as you can save by buying other products online, you can really save a lot of money by purchasing a mattress online.  This is because the companies that sell online save a lot by not having the costs associated with having a physical store, such as rent, insurance, utilities, etc.  These companies always then pass those savings along to the consumer.  This makes even buying a luxury mattress affordable (or at least a lot more affordable).

One thing to consider is to make sure that if you do buy online, you ensure that the purchase comes with a good return policy.  Most companies that sell online will have a great return policy in order to alleviate the fears of buying such an important household item online.  While this is usually the case, you still want to make sure you know what the return policy is before you make any sort of purchase commitment.  Another thing I’ve found is that testing out a mattress for a few minutes is really a poor indicator of how you well you will sleep on that mattress in the future.  For that reason, I think it’s a false claim to say you need to try out a bed at a mattress store before you buy one.  To me, this couldn’t be further from the truth.  I really don’t think you should be afraid at all of buying a mattress online, especially if you’ve done proper research and the company provides a good return policy.

The best part about buying online is you can be lazy and you don’t ever have to leave your room.  A lot of times going to a mattress store can be a frustrating and confusing experience.  You can avoid all this by researching everything you need to know online and going about the process at your own pace.

Mattress salespeople are often given financial incentives to push certain mattresses over others.  Part of their commission may be tied to whether they sell certain mattress brands over others.  Because of this, they might recommend a certain mattress to you out of self-interest instead of really thinking it fits your criteria the best.  For this reason, you should take everything you hear from a mattress salesperson with a grain of salt.  You should also try to have a really good idea of what mattress you want to buy before actually going into a mattress store.  This will help you avoid the confusion and frustration that can often be a part of the mattress buying experience.  This is by no means a regular occurrence, but keep this in mind when you are at a mattress store and don’t let yourself get duped!

What's the Best Mattress
This site has an amazing forum with great discussion about all things related to buying a mattress.

Getting a Luxury Mattress
This is an informative site that provides a lot of good tips on how to go about finding a really good luxury mattress.

Sleep Like The Dead
This is another great review site with lots of information about all different types of mattresses.