Trade accounts, trade discounts and who actually owns them: the part of an interior design project nobody explains to the person paying for it.
Interior designers buy furniture through trade accounts with authorised dealers, who pass on a discount from their own manufacturer pricing. The discount varies with the brand and the size of the order. Some designers pass it to their client and charge a design fee instead, others keep part of it as their margin. Both models are legitimate. What matters is that the designer is transparent about which one they use before the project starts.
Most of what is written about interior designers and furniture is written for designers. Almost nothing explains the money side to the client, which is odd, because the client is the one paying and the one most likely to be surprised by it later.
So here is how it actually works from where I sit, as the dealer in the middle: what a trade account is, what trade price really means, who the discount belongs to, and what happens behind the scenes between the designer saying “I have found your sofa” and the sofa arriving in your living room.
What a furniture trade account actually is
If you are an interior designer, an architect, a developer, or anyone genuinely working in the trade, you can open a trade account with us. There is no exam and no secret handshake. What we look for is a real, active design business, and then the account gives you trade pricing across the brands we hold.
Trade price works like this. As an authorised dealer I buy from each manufacturer at a dealer price, and each brand sets that differently. From there I pass on as much discount as I can to the designer, and on a bigger order the discount gets bigger. That is the whole mechanism. It is not a mysterious second price list, it is the dealer sharing their margin with the professional who brought the project.
Who does the discount belong to, the designer or the client?
This is the contentious one, so let me give you the honest answer rather than the diplomatic one: there are two models, and I understand both.
Some designers charge a proper design fee up front and pass the whole trade discount on to their client. Others charge a smaller fee and keep part of the discount as their margin on the furniture. Neither is wrong. The second model is not a scam and the first is not charity, they are just two different ways of paying for the same work.
And it is real work. People think design is just making something beautiful, but it is sourcing across brands, checking fabrics, building mood boards, chasing pricing, managing lead times and dealing with everything that goes wrong quietly so the client never sees it. Designers also price in stages in different ways: some take a payment for stage one, and whether you continue with them after that is up to you, with the furniture specification stage paid separately. Every practice does it differently.
What I do think, strongly, is that the model should be transparent before the project starts. When a designer is not upfront about how they make their money and the client finds out later, the trust goes, and it is not fair on the person at the end of it. There is a difference between running a business and taking advantage. So if you are hiring a designer, ask how their pricing works, understand it fully before jumping in, and then judge the fee by what you feel you are getting out of it. A designer spends a lot of time in your home and with your decisions. Trust is not a soft extra here, it is the whole arrangement.
Why not just buy the furniture yourself?
You can, and some people should. Plenty of clients walk into the showroom, choose for themselves and love doing it, and I actually think that is quite special, because the home ends up carrying their own character rather than anyone else’s. A home does not have to be designed to be good. It is not a show home or a museum, or at least it should not be.
But a good designer earns their place on three fronts. The eye: the best ones make you see something you would never have considered, and help you find out what you actually want. The time: if you are a couple both working demanding jobs, you do not have the hours to visit showrooms, source fabrics and compare specifications, and the designer absorbs all of that stress. And the coherence: a designed space feels curated, everything belonging together, rather than a collection of pieces that were each lovely in isolation.
It does not have to be either or. Some of the nicest projects I see are collaborations, with the client and designer sharing inspiration on a Pinterest board so both of their inputs end up in the room. And if you are going it alone, our guide to what luxury furniture actually costs will give you a realistic budget before you start.
Who checks the specification, and the fire compliance
Behind every order there is a chain of checks that the client never sees, and it is worth knowing it exists, because it is a large part of what trade buying through a dealer is for.
The designer builds the specification: the piece, the size, the fabric, the finish. Then I double check every line of it before it goes anywhere near a factory. The brands are good here too, and will flag when a fabric is not FR rated for the UK under the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. The factory then sends me a proforma invoice, and I check everything on it again before a penny is paid. Three sets of eyes on every order, because a specification error found after production starts is expensive, and one found after delivery is worse. There is more on how specification fits into a whole project in our guide to what FF&E actually means.
The factories themselves are my responsibility completely. The designer and the client never have to chase Italy. That is the job.
Ten brands, one project, one delivery
A single project can easily involve ten different brands: sofas from one factory, dining from another, lighting from a third, blinds from a fourth. Handled badly, that is ten deliveries, ten delivery charges and ten chances for something to go wrong at the door.
So the way I like to run it is to have everything come in to us, and then go out to the home in one go. Some pieces genuinely need to be rushed ahead and that is fine, but consolidating the rest saves money and saves the client living on a building site of part deliveries. Two small print things worth knowing: some brands have a minimum order value, and below it there can be an additional carriage charge. Usually a project clears it comfortably, but it is the kind of detail that should be visible on the quote rather than discovered on the invoice.
On the final delivery I can coordinate with either side, and usually I arrange it directly with the end client on the designer’s behalf. Timing all of this is really a lead time exercise, and we have written honestly about that in our guide to how long luxury furniture takes to arrive.
When should a designer bring MSI in?
Early. Earlier than feels necessary. The pattern that causes pain is the designer who arrives at the last minute needing pieces by a fixed date, because lead times are what they are and I can only push a factory so far. I will always try to make it work, but the honest version is that the projects that run smoothly are the ones where we are talking while the scheme is still forming.
And bring your clients here. The showroom in High Barnet has the samples, the fabric libraries and the room settings, and designers are welcome to hold client meetings in the space. Clients get inspired by what is around them in a way a PDF never manages, and decisions get made faster when someone can actually sit on the thing.
Whose client is it? Yours
One question designers quietly worry about: if I introduce my client to the dealer, does the dealer end up in my relationship? So let me put it in writing. I stay out of it.
Whether I agree or disagree with a design decision is not for me to say, because the client chose their designer for a reason and that deserves full respect. Clients do sometimes ask me directly for design help mid-project, and my answer is always the same: that is your designer’s call. If the designer asks me for help, I help. Otherwise I supply, I check, I deliver, and I stay in my lane. Designing is hard enough, managing different characters, needs and emotions on top of the creative work, without your supplier undermining you.
That instinct, work with people who have been vetted and hold themselves to a standard, is also why we became a Platinum partner of the British Institute of Interior Design, one of only six. The BIID is one of the most respected institutions in the industry and many of the designers we work with are members, so carrying their stamp means holding ourselves to the same values they ask of their designers.
Opening a trade account
If you are a designer, architect or developer and this sounds like how you want a dealer to behave, our trade service page covers the detail, or just get in touch and tell us about the project in front of you. Bring the scheme early, bring the client if it helps, and we will do the part of the job you should never have to think about.
Frequently asked questions
What is a furniture trade account?
An account that gives interior designers, architects, developers and other trade professionals discounted pricing with a furniture dealer. The dealer buys at manufacturer pricing and passes a discount on to the professional, with the level varying by brand and order size.
Who qualifies for a trade account?
Anyone with a genuine, active business in the trade: interior designers, architects, developers and similar professionals. There is no formal qualification required, but the business has to be real rather than a discount card for personal shopping.
Should my designer pass their trade discount on to me?
Not necessarily. Designers who charge a full design fee often pass the discount on, while designers with a lower fee may keep part of it as their margin on the furniture. Both models are legitimate. The real question to ask is which model your designer uses, before the project starts.
Who is responsible for checking fire regulations on specified furniture?
In practice it is checked three times: the designer builds the specification, the dealer double checks it, and the manufacturer flags anything not FR rated for the UK before confirming the order. The dealer then checks the factory’s proforma invoice before payment. UK fire rules are stricter than most of Europe, so this step is not a formality.
How are deliveries handled when a project uses many brands?
The dealer consolidates. Pieces from different factories come in to the dealer and go out to the client in one delivery, which saves multiple delivery charges and disruption. Individual pieces can be rushed ahead when needed, and some brands carry minimum order values with an extra carriage charge below them.
When should a designer involve the dealer in a project?
As early as possible, ideally while the scheme is still forming. Lead times on made to order furniture cannot be compressed indefinitely, so late involvement is the most common cause of missed deadlines. Early involvement also means the showroom, samples and fabric libraries can be used in client meetings.