We explore the science behind sleep, how to improve your sleep hygiene, and guide you through the mattress selection process.

MATTRESS REVIEWS WRITTEN BY INDUSTRY CEO’S AND BEDDING DESIGNERS- NOT MATTRESS “ENTHUSIASTS”..

Our team of mattress review experts have over 25 years of experience in mattress engineering, materials, manufacturing, and marketing. Our CEO has owned several furniture and bedding store chains, and pioneered the pure latex mattress e-commerce market with one of the first online bedding retailers as far back as 1998. 

Our CEO is an expert in synthetic and natural foam and fiber, coil components, air bed systems, and particularly the so-called “hybrid” mattresses commonly found on the web’s most popular sites. The best mattresses are built with superior foam layers sourced from companies like Abad Foam, Foamex, and other companies right here in the USA, not low quality, imported foams made by huge, unregulated extruders in China or elsewhere.

The best mattresses might have pocketed coils, made by just a handful of great American companies like Leggett and Platt, and textiles for creating the outer covering of a mattress, made by respected fabric sources like Adam Lava & Sons.

Imported mattresses have flooded the American marketplace, but are easily flushed out by our team. The red flag: a price that’s too low usually indicates inferior components that mash, develop ruts, have a strong VOC odor, and crack or split in months rather than decades. Imported mattresses are often completely unregulated, too.

Our team tries to keep in mind that our readers are placing their naked bodies (sometimes) in very close proximity to substances they have never seen, studied, or tested themselves. But understanding the components that are part of the best mattress options out there extend far beyond the cake recipe for a really good bed. You have to have been in the trenches, learned the tradecraft of mattress making, the processes, and the details.

Marc’s first hand knowledge of classic industry selling techniques and scams pulls back the curtain on an industry often shrouded in misinformation and sleight of hand. Marc Anderson helps weed out the sleazy mattress marketers, an offers up a list of Trusted Dealers that truly make the best mattresses.

This web site features academic content for the purposes of educating consumers shopping for mattresses and also offers ads and links to other web sites offering products that meet the standards we require to be included in our hand selected portfolio of recommended companies. We also produce informative video content, too, that protects consumers by educating them about mattress scams.

MATTRESS BUYING GUIDE BY A TEAM OF WRITERS WHO’VE EARNED THEIR PLACE IN THE MATTRESS INDUSTRY..

This web site, and our partner site, www.mattressreports.com, were originally founded in 2007, long before today’s “mattress review” sites began crowding the internet. We began our mission of providing education and knowledge to make mattress shopping easier and more fun. We’re a site where our “best mattress” options eclipse the companies that just don’t compete. In fact, they’re not even mentioned on our site. And our reviews are down and dirty, one paragraph in length, and explain why they might be applicable to you, using simple terminology. We do the research based on a short list of characteristics:

• Components Used In The Mattress
• Where Mattress Is Made
• Use Of Non-Toxic Ingredients
• Durability, Comfort, And Support
• Warranty And Return Policy Factors
• Legitimate Third Party Review Sources

Unfortunately, these days when you search for “mattress reviews”, many of the sites you’ll land on are owned or financially influenced by big mattress manufacturers. A lot of cash changes hands to get these co-called third party mattress review sites to favor certain mattress choices over legitimate options. You’ll even see legal disclosures at the top of many sites that are court orders for these fake review sites to disclose their fishy goings on with the big retailers!

Our site, though we do receive a small affiliate fee when you click on our links to mattress retailers, focuses on providing you with solid academic information about mattress design and construction, and limiting your options from 100 nebulous choices to just a handful. 

You’ll get unfiltered, solid information that will give you the knowledge you need to get the best deal on a quality mattress. We’re the only mattress review site run by industry professionals, not a couple of guys with a laptop plopping bowling balls onto beds to attempt to demonstrate “how the mattress will feel”. We won’t insult your intelligence. We’ll give you the facts, not fake reviews.

Our founder and principal reviewer and editor is an industry icon, a components expert, a marketing and merchandising master, and knows every single bit of trickery and witchcraft the mattress industry uses to deceive you. The bedding industry is one of the most competitive product categories in the world today, and our site will keep you from making a “$2,000 mistake”.

WE’LL SHOW YOU WHY MATTRESS STORES MAKE PRICE COMPARISONS UNNECESSARILY DIFFICULT

One thing that our team loves to write about is that the mattress industry hates consumers to be doing any kind of comparison shopping. To discourage it, some mattress manufacturers will give the same mattress different names in different stores. You can read all about this popular deceitful practice on our Scams And Tricks page.

Fortunately, this kind of trickery isn’t too hard to overcome. We explain this very well. Often you’ll be able to find charts online that tell you exactly which mattress models are equivalent. Otherwise, you should be able to figure it out by comparing features. But do you really want to run a marathon when shopping for a mattress?

We encourage you to be brave, and to your brick-and-mortar store sales person for even the most dense and technical questions you can challenge them with, and then find prices for similar mattresses from online retailers. Often, being pushy with a lot of detailed questions will get you added discounts, coupons, and freebies like pillows and sheets, thrown into your deal. If you’re online, get involved with a chat agent to answer detailed questions. If they cannot provide answers, it’s best to move on to another web site.

WE’LL TEACH YOU ABOUT TRIAL PERIODS AND WHAT MAKES A GOOD RETURN POLICY

One thing that makes mattress shopping hard is that there’s no fast, foolproof way to tell if a particular mattress is going to be comfortable. The only way to be sure is to spend a lot of time on it.  Experts recommend setting aside several hours for mattress shopping. Bring a book to the mattress store and spend about 15 minutes lying on each bed. If you’re shopping online, make sure you buy from a site that offers a no-cost return policy and at least a 90 day no questions asked trial period.

Read reviews, especially Yelp and Google reviews. Stay away from reviews posted on the retailers sites, as those will be cherry picked reviews hand selected or even bought and paid for by giving people free beds.

Scams are widespread in the mattress marketplace and we teach you how to identify them.

SECRETS AND SCAMS REVEAL THE UNDERBELLY OF THE MATTRESS INDUSTRY..AND IT ISN’T PRETTY.

We’ll lay out the most popular mattress scams used to prey upon consumers. Mattress shopping is intentionally highly complex intentionally, and although the industry is becoming streamlined and easier to navigate, many companies still employ the classic tricks of the trade that are as old as time.

Learn about fake mattress review sites, and how these sites are secretly owned by mattress companies that cut shady deals to get your business. Find out how BigMattress Inc. and a network of seedy fake review sites scam you from the minute you start to shop for a bed. Read our Mattress Scam page to find out how online marketers methodically groom you to rip you off. And even more shocking, click here to see how many online mattress companies are in bed with so-called “mattress review sites” that are complete scams.

You’ll read about how incredibly inexpensive it is to build a foam mattress and how companies using trickery and some marketing gimmicks, coax you to upgrade to their “best mattress”, which may cost hundreds more, but cost the same to make as their basic model. Peppered with fabricated reviews, you’re promised a sleep experience nothing short of levitation. In reality, the manufacturer simply swapped out different color foam layers to create multiple models..the classic good, better, best mattress scheme.

From creative names that remind us of cartoon characters and whimsical fairy tales, to testimonials that simply sound too good to be true, the mattress industry is busy grooming the unknowing consumer with practices that can best be described as witchcraft. We’ll educate you and arm with you with solid information so you’ll be an intelligent customer. You’ll know to ask a chat agent questions like “What is the density of your memory foam?”, or “Is the fire barrier a natural material or is it impregnated with Boric Acid, an insecticide?”

You’ll learn how to avoid being scammed with bait and switch tactics that coerce you into buying that “luxury model” that is essentially the same as the basic mattress. Is it worth it to spend money on a pillow top duvet made with alpaca fibers or organic hemp? Maybe you’d be better off buying a topper pad to add to the mattress and save $500. There are many little tricks and secrets that can save you big bucks. Landing the best mattress out there at the right price involves just a few little tricks.

Best of all, we’ll share with you a handful of carefully vetted and trusted dealers that we have meticulously evaluated so that you can be sure you’re getting a quality mattress at a fair price, backed up with a solid warranty. After all, our team is a comprised of former mattress industry CEO’s who know all of the tricks. Don’t get scammed. Be smart.

FAKE REVIEWS? WE PULL BACK THE CURTAIN ON BEDDING INDUSTRY TRICKERY AND SCAMS

At Walmart, Kohls, Home Depot, or Whole Foods, the listed price on any item is usually what you pay.You might be able to get a discount with a coupon, but asking store employees for a discount simply won’t work.

But not every industry works like this. The reality is that haggling is common in expensive industries, like car and jewelry sales. Even Forbes suggests to haggle when buying furniture and mattresses. Because customers don’t make mattress purchases very often, there’s less incentive to win customer loyalty with fair and transparent pricing, and more opportunities to dupe unsophisticated buyers into overpaying.

Playing hard to get when on a web site and asking for further discounts to get the best mattress is critical. In fact, chat agents and phone reps are expecting you to ask for further discounts. You can read our Killer Moves & Discounts page for a few great little moves that get you better pricing, freebies, and even coupons for purchases by friends and relatives.

The mattress industry is notorious for inflated prices, confusing branding, and gimmicks that trick consumers into overpaying. Check out our Tricks And Scams page to scratch the underbelly of the mattress industry and learn about fraud and deception and how you can get conned into buying a mattress for 5-6 times the price you should be paying for it. Our Killer Moves page teaches you how to haggle and how to shop like a boss for the best mattress deal you can get.

Yet underpaying for a mattress can also be a big problem. After all, most people spend about eight hours per day — that’s a third of their life — sleeping. And a good mattress will last a decade or more. So it’s worth investing in a mattress that will help you wake up well rested every morning. So how do you buy a mattress that will help you get a good night’s sleep without getting ripped off? Read on for details.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

Mattress salespeople’s power comes from the fact that they know what a fair price is for each mattress and you don’t. Many mattress stores invent hugely inflated “standard” retail prices and then offer “discounts” that still price the mattress way above its actual cost. Department stores are particularly notorious for this.

For example, a price tag might claim that a mattress normally costs $3,000 but is currently available for 60 percent off at $1,200. In reality, no one ever pays $3,000; $1,200 is the regular price. And if you negotiate effectively, you’ll be able to get it for hundreds of dollars less.

As with any negotiation, the key to getting a better deal is to demonstrate that you know the product’s real value and won’t pay more. The easiest way to do that is by playing brick-and-mortar stores against online ones.

Once you find the best mattress you like at a brick-and-mortar mattress store, use your favorite search engine to find the lowest price for that same mattress from an internet retailer. You can do this on your phone right in the store (happens all the time and allows you to haggle), though it might make sense to go home to do your research, then go back to the store.

Don’t just take the listed price on a web site as the best mattress deal offered when you’re shopping on a particular e-commerce site. We recommend shopping during the day when chats and toll free numbers are active and you can contact a sales person. Ask for coupon codes and freebies, and place the order over the phone.ask the salesperson to beat it. He or she might say no, in which case you can go to another store or just order online.

But most stores will agree to match the price, and help you get the best mattress your money can buy.

May sites always have a line of pillows or sheets, night lights, sound machines, CBD oils or balms, sleep masks, or other items call “spiffs”, which are free gifts used to close the sale. Always ask for additional freebies, since virtually very company out there keeps a ready supply. We know customers who have procured free pillows, sheets, and even a $100 American Express Gift Card as part of the deal. All you have to do is ask!