IKEA | Is Changing From Delivery to Click & Collect Possible?

Switching between delivery and collection of your IKEA order would be nice. Collecting often has fewer associated costs, and if your plans happen to be taking you past a store or you need it immediately, you might be able to get the order sooner if you just pick it up yourself.

Unfortunately, if you didn’t notice the price difference or needed the items immediately, your opportunity to change is gone once you have put the payment through. You cannot change from delivery in retrospect, but there are other options if you really don’t want that delivery.

IKEA won’t allow changing from delivery to collection due to the different availability of Click & Collect, fees, third-party involvement, and stock differences between stores and warehouses. Instead, you can cancel an order during preparation and reorder for collection.

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You Cannot Change From Delivery to Click & Collect

It is against IKEA’s policy to change from delivery during order processing. Therefore, once you have made the payment, the option for picking delivery or Click & Collect is no longer available.

You can reschedule the delivery or collection date if the order is not yet processed, but that’s it. You can’t even change the delivery address at this point.

However, if you go to collect an order, but an item is too big to fit into your car, you can then arrange to have it delivered. You need to be within delivery range for the store, and you will need to pay a delivery fee.

Man worried because his order in IKEA won't fit to his car

Reasons for the Prohibition

Availability

Not all delivery options are available for all zip codes. If you were not offered the choice between delivery and collection at checkout, you are likely in one of the regions that don’t have that feature available.

Fees

You cannot make the change because there are different fees associated with deliveries. This change in pricing would complicate matters on both IKEA’s and your sides.

You have a flat service fee on collections, but deliveries have different prices for smaller items (from $6) and larger items (from $29) or for doorstep (from $49) or in-home (from $69 or $79 for express) delivery.

Note: these prices are lower if you have a membership.

Access

Another factor to consider is that IKEA uses courier companies to deliver your order, whom they pay to do so.

Therefore, if you could change to collection method at any time, IKEA may not always have access to the items if they are handed off to the couriers.

It would also influence the relationship/contract between IKEA and the courier if they hire them for delivery and then cancel after the company has made arrangements for that delivery.

Stock

IKEA has a lot of business, so things go out of stock quickly. Some items are also not available for delivery.

If you try and change to collecting from a store near you, they have different inventory and stock levels than the warehouses that deliveries come from. This would require you to alter your order mid-process and after you have paid.

What to Do Instead

If your order is still in its preparing stage, you can always cancel it.

If you do so, you can then reorder the items and choose to collect them. If IKEA is preparing your order, it means they have received your order request and are busy processing it on the system.

If your order is no longer being prepared, it has been completed and cannot be canceled.

You will need to access the track and manage order platform on IKEA’s website. Here you can see your orders and track your order stage.

Here, you should also have an option to cancel the order if you are eligible (i.e., you can click the cancellation button). If this option is unavailable, you should immediately call customer service to see if an agent can help you.

Why You Can’t Cancel After the Order Is Prepared

Once an order leaves the preparing stage, it is packed up and has left the warehouse. After this, your order is no longer with IKEA and is in the hands of a courier service for delivery to you.

Following that, it is in the process of being delivered to you from IKEA’s dispatcher (you should receive a call from them the day before or the morning of the delivery).

It would cost IKEA money to cancel an order that is out of preparation, and the process moves quickly from this point (all those delivery delays are typically before the item is even prepared), making the arrangement of it difficult.

Problems You Are Likely to Encounter

While no time limit is stated on the IKEA website, there are definitely limitations. Along with the stage of order, your order cannot be canceled if there is not at least two days before delivery.

If you can log the cancelation, you are now subject to the IKEA refund process. Unfortunately, refunds are one of the reasons why IKEA has a bad reputation.

The company will certainly refund you for a canceled order. They will sometimes even refund shipping fees (although, this is not guaranteed). However, getting them to agree to a refund and actually getting the refund are two different issues.

IKEA is notorious for taking a long time to return your money. Additionally, they seldom keep you updated on what is happening with your refund. So, you will get a refund, but it could take several weeks or months, and you are expected to wait.

The other risk of canceling an order is that you may be unable to reorder some items. As I mentioned earlier, stock moves quickly at IKEA. Even if you cancel the order and reorder immediately, you may find many things “out of stock”.

The ranges at IKEA also change frequently, so restocking might take a while, or it might have been the end of that range.