Fully Furnished

Sofas, beds, mattresses, dining tables, rugs and dressers carry real prices read at the shop that sells them, with the date on every row. Every other category is still sample data.

What should you look at before a used couch or dresser comes home?

Summary

The seams and the tags. Upholstered pieces, mattresses and bed frames get checked for bed bug evidence before they leave the seller, because a couch cannot go in a dryer once it is in your living room. Labels and manufacture dates on couches and dressers tell you whether the piece predates the federal flammability and tip-over rules, and a brand or model name lets you look it up in CPSC's recall list.

Where bed bugs leave evidence

EPA's advice is to check secondhand furniture, beds and couches for signs of bed bugs before bringing them home. The signs it lists are rusty or reddish stains where bugs were crushed, dark spots that bleed into fabric the way a marker does, and pale yellow shed skins and eggs about 1 millimeter long.

Look along the piping, seams and tags of a mattress, in cracks in a bed frame or headboard, along the seams of chairs and couches, between cushions, and at drawer joints. EPA notes they can squeeze into really small hiding spots, so a seam that looks closed still gets opened. UC's Integrated Pest Management program tells buyers of secondhand beds and mattresses to lift the mattress and inspect every seam and surface.

The same UC page asks people throwing out infested furniture not to leave it on the curb, or to mark it clearly if they do. The free couch on the sidewalk is the other end of that instruction.

What heat and cold can do, and what they can't

EPA's numbers for killing bed bugs:

MethodEPA's figure
Body temperature that kills them113°F (45°C)
Clothes dryerhigh heat
Freezer0°F for three days, sealed in a bag
Steamat least 130°F, without forceful airflow

Turning up the thermostat or running a space heater does not work, EPA says, and it is dangerous. Removable cushion covers can go through a hot dryer. A sofa frame or a mattress cannot, which is the whole argument for inspecting at the seller's place and not in your own.

Read the tags and the dates

Upholstered furniture made, imported or reupholstered on or after June 25, 2021 falls under the federal flammability standard and carries a permanent label reading "Complies with U.S. CPSC requirements for upholstered furniture flammability." A couch without that label was made before that date or has lost its tag.

For dressers and chests, the STURDY rule applies to units made after September 1, 2023 that are at least 27 inches tall, weigh at least 30 pounds and hold at least 3.2 cubic feet. Those must ship with an anti-tip device meeting ASTM F3096. A used dresser from before that date was never required to come with one.

The Consumer Product Safety Act (Section 19) makes it illegal to sell a recalled product, and CPSC says that includes individuals selling secondhand on online marketplaces. Sellers do not always know. With a brand and model in hand, the recall list at cpsc.gov/Recalls can be searched on the spot, and the article on measuring and delivery covers whether the piece will make it through your door.

Sources

Run by Kaz, an individual. Published 28 September 2026.