What Is Trade Pricing? (Interior Design, Explained)

Trade pricing is the discounted rate home and furniture brands offer to design professionals — interior designers, architects, stagers — through their trade programs. Where brands publish rates, they mostly run 10–30% below retail; many brands keep exact terms private until you're approved.

How it works in practice

A designer sources a sofa at trade price and delivers it to the client at retail (or a marked-up price the client agreed to). The difference — the spread — is one of the two ways design work pays, alongside the design fee itself. Trade pricing is why a designer's sourcing can cost a client the same as buying it themselves, while still compensating the designer for the curation.

What it isn't

Trade pricing isn't a coupon, and it isn't wholesale. It usually applies with conditions — full-price items only at some brands, everyday-plus-promotions at others — and it's tied to you being a verified professional: programs require evidence of a working design business, and the accounts are non-transferable. It also isn't automatically tax-free: buying without paying sales tax requires a resale certificate, which is separate paperwork with its own obligations.

Where to go deeper

The full system — who qualifies, what rates look like brand by brand, and the tax machinery behind tax-exempt buying — is in the complete guide to trade programs, with individual guides for CB2, RH, and DWR.

On Suede, trade sourcing runs through us — we purchase on your behalf under our own access and tax registrations, and handle the invoicing, sales tax, and payments. You pick the products and find clients, Suede manages the rest. Join the waitlist here.