Online furniture platform Kaiyo says it will ‘wind down’ by the end of the month after sellers file complaints
On July 24, Julia Sherman first emailed secondhand furniture company Kaiyo regarding a cash out for her latest sales. She is still “awaiting about $800 worth in payments from the sale of furniture from my late grandmother’s estate,” well outside of the seven-to-10 business day window the company promises.
Sherman is one of a number of Kaiyo sellers currently in the dark about the company’s future. The company is reportedly “winding down” operations, as The City reported, but has not made a public announcement about the startup’s operational status.
“They sent me two copy-and-paste responses before they stopped responding altogether,” said Sherman, who received Kaiyo’s last response on August 6. Per Kaiyo support’s email, which Modern Retail also viewed, the company said, “At this time, we are experiencing delays with cashing out and do not currently have an ETA on when this will be resolved.”
Sherman told Modern Retail that she has filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and is considering taking legal action to receive her payments. She’s not the only one; as of August 20, at least seven Kaiyo customers have filed initial complaints with the BBB since the beginning of July, alleging late or incomplete payments from Kaiyo. Meanwhile, on Reddit, more than a dozen customers say they haven’t received payment in a timely manner from Kaiyo and are having trouble getting clarity from the company or any response to their inquiries at all.
On August 20, a BBB analyst told Sherman that Kaiyo had sent the bureau the following statement: “Currently, Furnishare dba Kaiyo is in the initial phase of doing an orderly wind down of the Company. We are working with professionals on this wind down plan and in due course you will receive communications on how to file a claim (Proof of Claims). Operations will continue only to the end of this month, all aspects of the business are currently being wound down systematically and formal communications will be provided.” Modern Retail also viewed the correspondence.
Kaiyo’s website lists its customer service phone number as “currently unavailable,” although it says its support team is reachable via email seven days a week. Kaiyo did not respond to a request for comment from Modern Retail by press time.
Kaiyo launched in 2014 as a full-service platform for secondhand furniture, offering everything from pickup to product photography to white-glove delivery. The company raised $36 million in a Series B funding round in 2022. Originally based on the East Coast, Kaiyo expanded to the West Coast in 2022, and then ventured into physical retail with its first pop-up in New York City in 2024.
Kaiyo, like other furniture companies, enjoyed a spike in demand during the pandemic as people spent more time at home. Over the past couple of years, though, many furniture players have seen sales dry up due to shoppers pulling back on making large purchases or avoiding buying houses due to high mortgage rates.
Cristina Fernandez, managing director and senior research analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, told Modern Retail that all furniture retailers “from low to high end” have felt the effects of a sector-wide slowdown. Z Gallerie, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams and Noble House Home Furnishings all filed for bankruptcy in 2023.
But furniture resale, in particular, has had a difficult trajectory, analysts told Modern Retail. “I believe resellers had a benefit during the pandemic given they had inventory on hand versus other retailers [that] did not,” Fernandez said.
Sky Canaves, principal retail and e-commerce analyst at eMarketer, pointed to the “significant operational costs associated with running a full-service model of furniture resale and its expansion into new markets.”
Darpan Seth, CEO of Nextuple, an omnichannel order management advisory and software firm, told Modern Retail that there are “inherent challenges” in online furniture resale. “The combination of high logistics costs, the complexity of handling used goods and the cyclical nature of furniture demand [have] created a formidable barrier to entry for many players,” he said.
According to eMarketer data, furniture sales in the U.S. dropped 1.1% in 2023. They’re projected to rise 1.8% in 2024, then 2.2% in 2025, far from the 21% growth the category experienced in 2021. Still, not all furniture companies are suffering. Wayfair’s active customers grew 0.9% during its most recent quarter, although its revenue was down 1.1% year over year. Ikea reported 6.6% U.S. growth in 2023, a new record.
Other complaints on Kaiyo’s BBB page are similar to Sherman’s. One complaint, filed July 30, alleges that Kaiyo failed to pay out $495.78 for two pieces of furniture. “I was told I would receive my option to cash out on June 27 and it would take 7-10 business days,” the complaint said. “We are over a month past that date and nothing has been done. They have turned off their phone support lines and will not answer my emails.”
For the past three weeks, Kaiyo has issued the same response to numerous complaints filed with the BBB. “We are so sorry for the inconvenience,” the response reads. “We are experiencing some operational challenges at the moment which is [sic] affecting our ability to respond in a timely manner, but please do know we are aware of your issue.”