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If there is one category where the timing advice is unambiguous, this is it. Patio furniture is cleared out from late August onward and the markdowns get deeper every week through October, right up until the stock runs out. Labor Day Weekend is the point where the discounts are already steep and the selection is still worth shopping. Everything below shows live pricing.
Quick sale picks
The three deepest patio furniture discounts live right now, ranked by how far the price has actually fallen.
When patio furniture actually goes on sale
This is the most seasonal category in home retail. Prices swing by more than half between the worst week of the year and the best one, and the two are only five months apart.
| When | What to expect |
|---|---|
| January and February | Thin. A few online closeouts on two-season-old stock, almost nothing on shop floors. Cheap if you find something, but you rarely will. |
| March to May | The worst prices of the year. New season stock lands at full list exactly as demand climbs, and nobody has a reason to discount. |
| Memorial Day | Moderate. Sitewide percentages of fifteen to twenty-five percent with the whole range still available. The best combination of price and choice if you need it for the summer. |
| Fourth of July | Good. The first genuine markdowns rather than a sitewide code, and selection is still broad. |
| Late August to Labor Day | Very good. Clearance starts in earnest as retailers begin clearing floor space, with cuts of thirty to fifty percent and most of the range still in stock. |
| September and October | The deepest prices of the year, reaching fifty to seventy percent off. The catch is that selection collapses week by week, and by mid-October you take whatever is left. |
| November and December | Effectively over. What survived is pulled to make room for holiday stock, and what remains is picked over. |
What actually counts as a good price
Sets are priced per piece in a way that makes comparison hard, so work out the cost per seat and compare that. Frame material matters more than brand at every price point.
Conversation sets, four pieces
List is $600 to $900 for a sofa, two chairs and a table. Right now is when these get cut hardest, and under $400 for a metal-framed set with decent cushions is a real price.
Dining sets, six to seven pieces
List runs $1,000 to $1,600. The single biggest patio purchase most people make, and the one where waiting a few more weeks pays the most in absolute dollars.
Individual lounge chairs
List is $130 to $200 each. Buying chairs individually rather than as a set costs more per seat but lets you replace one when it fails rather than the whole arrangement.
Outdoor rugs, 5 by 8 feet
List is $90 to $150. These clear alongside the furniture and are the cheapest way to make an existing patio look finished, which is why they sell out first.
Patio conversation sets on sale
A sofa or loveseat, one or two chairs and a low table. The most common patio purchase and the one being cleared hardest right now, because the sets take up the most floor space in a store.
Outdoor dining sets on sale
Table and chairs for eating outside. Check the table height against the chairs carefully, since the photos rarely make the proportions obvious and mismatched sets are a common complaint.
Outdoor sectionals on sale
Modular seating for larger patios, usually sold as configurable pieces. The corner units are what run out first, so buy the whole arrangement at once rather than planning to add to it later.
Outdoor rugs on sale
Polypropylene flatweaves that live outside year round and hose clean. The cheapest single change you can make to a patio, and they clear at the same time as the furniture.
Where else to check today
Sale prices are shown in real time. This is the one month of the year when it’s worth checking several of these in one sitting, because the clearance stock differs wildly between them.
How to buy patio furniture
Buy the frame, tolerate the cushions. Cushions are the first thing to fade, flatten and mildew, and they are replaceable for sixty to a hundred dollars. A frame that rusts or cracks is not. Judge a set on its frame and treat the cushions as a consumable.
Powder-coated aluminum is the sensible default. It doesn’t rust, it’s light enough to move and it survives being left out. Steel is cheaper and heavier and will rust wherever the coating chips. Resin wicker over an aluminum frame is fine; resin wicker over steel is where the bargain sets fail.
Measure the space before you fall for a set. Outdoor furniture photographs on empty patios and arrives much larger than expected. Mark the footprint out with tape before ordering, and leave three feet behind dining chairs so people can actually get up.
Check whether assembly is realistic. Most patio sets arrive flat-packed and take two people a couple of hours. A few arrive as several hundred bolts. The reviews will tell you which, and it’s the detail that most often turns a good deal into a bad weekend.
Order a cover at the same time. A twenty-five dollar cover roughly doubles the life of a set, and covers are the thing nobody buys until the second season, by which point the damage is done.
Accept that this month is a compromise on choice. The prices are the best of the year and the selection is worse than it was in June. If a set at forty percent off suits you, take it, because next week the same listing will be cheaper and quite possibly gone.
Patio furniture questions, answered
The bottom line
This is the right month to buy and the reasoning is simple: prices are down thirty to fifty percent and will fall further, while selection is thinning fast. Judge sets on the frame rather than the cushions, favor powder-coated aluminum, measure the space before ordering and buy a cover at the same time. If a set you actually want is on sale today, take it, because in four weeks it will be cheaper and probably sold out.
