8 Reasons Why ChatGPT Says You Shouldn't Rely On It For Furniture Pricing
Chat GPT is not a reliable source for pricing information, although you would think so, based on how authoritatively it answers your queries. This post will share, in images, 8 ways that Chat GPT gets pricing wrong, as told to me by Chat GPT, itself.
Chat GPT can sound like THE expert, though, when you ask it for a pricing on upholstery [ a sofa, chair, chaise lounge, sectional ] you’re considering, or when you’re asking it if a price is fair on an item you’re considering, or when you’re asking it to make a pricing comparison or when you’re asking it if you’re paying too much or when you’re asking it to find a look a like item for less money.
It’s so easy to believe ChatGPT because it’s not trying to sell you something and it writes the answers in SUCH an authoritative voice, right?
First, the backstory as to what led me to write this post.
The Backstory:
I decided to write this post because of a conversation I had with Alex Shuford, III, the CEO of the Rock Hill Farm family of brands and then later, because of another conversation I had with award winning kitchen and bath designer, Shea Pumarejo, my friend and the beta tester for the new agentic AI app I’m developing with SHURU, called DesignOPS, launching this Fall 2026 at High Point Market.
Alex is now a member of my Facebook Group, Design Wealth, and we were discussing the impact ChatGPT’s answers to consumer’s pricing queries were having on his customer service teams.
In a nutshell, Alex said that his customer service teams were now having to deal with multiple weekly queries from Rock Hill Farm’s customers [ who are interior & hospitality designers + trade and retail showroom owners] asking about pricing discrepancies that were arising based on answers that Chat GPT was continually giving out now to a designer’s clients or a showroom owner’s clients.
This conversation Alex and I had alerted me to how much consumers were now using ChatGPT to check up on pricing they were being given and how much consumers were trusting that Chat GPT was right vs. the person they had hired to design their homes or help them find the right items for their homes.
Hopefully, what follows in this post will be something you can share with your clients if you find that they are trusting ChatGPT over you.
I decided to ask Chat GPT this question: “What kinds of mistakes do you make if people are comparing prices using Chat GPT on upholstered furniture?”
And before I show you the 8 answers I received, know this: Chat GPT’s answers will vary WIDELY depending on the words you use in your text prompt. It learns from you over time, so it will give you the answers it thinks you most want to hear.
Do not believe Chat GPT when it comes to pricing. It’s not accurate.
As you can see from the image below, ChatGPT knows it hallucinates and that giving an exact expected price is guesswork.
Chat GPT knows that if a designer is using a COM [ a material that’s not provided by the mfg. ] on your sofa or sectional or chair, comparing pricing is impossible and the biggest source of ChatGPT error - as this can change the pricing dramatically, depending on how much yardage is needed.
Here, Chat GPT gets it exactly right: construction on items sold by the high end vendors listed varies WIDELY from mass market brands like Ashley or Ikea, etc., but if you ask ChatGPT to compare, it averages in ALL pricing from all brands, so a simple price comparison isn’t meaningful or accurate.
This is big.. as there are some so many people who think, “Wow, it looks about the same, why is this so much less expensive ?” without realizing how many differences there are between sofas, sectionals and chairs that make look similar on the outside but that are completely different on the inside.
One lookalike sofa may last 3-5 years, look ratty and worn by year 2 and end up in a landfill by year 4 or 5 while another will last through generations, and can be easily re-upholstered and even re-designed to modernize it to current taste because the interior frame is so solid and well constructed.
ChatGPT recognizes that these differences are not often mentioned in pricing comparisons or searches done by consumers.
Every single option in a piece of upholstery impacts pricing ,and here, Chat GPT lists out some of these options, and why the pricing it offers up is often not accurate.
Bravo to ChatGPT for recognizing how many small factors designers know to consider in order to maximize not only the item’s aesthetic coherence within the overall design, but the client’s needs for seating comfort as well as the client’s needs for functionality.
Given the macro economic environment all furniture manufacturers are operating in today with supply chain logistics, inflation, lack of skilled labor in some cases and tariffs all changing month to month, ChatGPT would have no way to keep up with current pricing, which it admits below.
Chat GPT is alerting you that even the same sofa, sectional or chair, quoted to you from 1, 2 or 3 sources, [perhaps a designer, retailer or trade showroom] can be very different in pricing because those sources aren’t including the same options, and therefore, if you try to find the best price on a particular item, it might not actually be exactly what you want, because you don’t realize that the interior options are different.
Do interior designers make a profit on furniture? Yes, most do as that is how they stay in business and grow and cover their liability as the one selling you the furniture.
But should you, as the buyer, consider it to be excessive? No. And here’s what Chat GPT has to say about why.
Chat GPT knows that comparing an online price to a designers’ price isn’t going to be accurate.
This is what you would need to evaluate an upholstery quote accurately and, even then, Chat GPT can be VERY wrong because it doesn’t have current pricing information.
Lastly: instead of using Chat GPT to see if you’re getting the best price - It’s so important, especially if you’ve hired an interior designer or kitchen and bath designer or hospitality designer to assist you, to understand, up front, exactly how that designer charges.
All professional designers I know have their methods of charging written into their contracts and are more than happy to be very transparent with you in discussing it with you ahead of time.
Trust is the foundation of any good, solid, long lasting relationship and independent professional designers want to have the money conversation with you up front, so that trust is established.
Please know: most designers charge a markup on furniture AND charge for their various design services.
This is normal as it is how they make their living, how they grow their businesses and how they cover their liabilities. It’s the same for anyone that sells a product and a service.
I hope this post clears up why you can’t trust ChatGPT re: pricing on upholstery - or anything for that matter.
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If this post has been helpful to you, please consider sharing it within your networks, so more people can get this information.
Thank you!
Leslie Carothers
Principal, Savour Partnership
LinkedIn | Instagram
If you’re a professional interior designer or kitchen and bath designer or hospitality designer reading this post, you’re invited to Request to Join my free and private Facebook Community, Design Wealth.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/designwealth where we have dozens of conversations every day. Please read the graphic below, first.
Thank you - Leslie.
