I agree with chispa. I know many here have ordered rugs on line but it is a crap shoot because the colors are often so off. I myself will be travelling next week and in August again if I have to, to look for a rug, I need to see the rug in person.

Chairish.com. They have quite a few of oriental rug dealers selling through this site. I'm eyeing several, but didn't make a purchase yet.

The customer service is great there.

OneKingsLane.com always has rugs, new and vintage ones, too.

But on Charish you can make an offer and try to get a better price. You can also look up somebody local to you, so you pay less shipping etc.

You can get lucky checking your local Craigslist too.

Dealers usually use several sites at once.

Anthropologie carries some wonderful rugs sometimes..what's good about this store-you can read reviews, and it's really helpful. They are also great with their return policy.

Do you have a Tuesday Morning or an At Home(formerly Gardenridge)in your area? Both have very nice area rugs at lower prices. Furniture consignment stores also have rugs. Since much of their stock comes from model homes, the rugs are usually in good condition. Also try ballards.com.

Ok, it's not for everyone, but we got ours from Home Depot, they had a ton to choose from online and the cost for a lot of them was very reasonable.

The is the one we ended up with and we've been very happy with the choice, especially because it stands up to our pets so well.

I think no one has mentioned esalerugs, where I got a beautiful one for my dining room. The nice thing is you can return them without any cost to you and try another one. I think I've returned at least three and they're still speaking to me.

I have a Tuesday Morning; just haven't found anything. I forgot to mention I had tried Home Depot and Kingslane and Craigslist. hadn't heard of esalerugs or chairish, so will go there. I've been to many oriental rug dealers, but too traditional for me. Thanks for the great ideas!

Check furniture stores like Ethan Allen, Wolfs and Gladhill. Also, IIRC Green Front in Manasass has a huge warehouse of rugs. I'll bet Potomac Mills has places too.

i agree it's hard to shop online.....I sent several rugs back because the colors were so off and it was a pain.

I recently purchased an 11x14 rug online. I ordered the rug in the smallest size first to make sure I liked it and then returned the small size in favor of the size I actually needed. Definitely see in person before committing!

I bought a 12x16 transitional/modern rug for my master bedroom from this vendor:

https://www.tufenkiancarpets.com/

I was able to visit their Los Angeles showroom, but they have dealers around the country that carry their products. I am linking them because they have a large selection of non-traditional designs that might catch your eye. Their pricing is medium/high, for hand knotted wool rugs.

I also bought a rug from these guys, who also have a showroom in LA.
http://www.michaelian.com/

They also have a large selection of non-traditional rug designs. Similar pricing to the other company I linked.

Another company with lots of non-traditional rug designs:
http://www.therugcompany.com/us/

My rug purchases have all been online. I have acquired two from esalesrugs. Those were for my kids' bedrooms and are propylene. Excellent service and as mentioned free returns, but their pictures are really good so no returns here.

My other three rugs have been hand knotted wool ones from eBay. I am 50/50 regarding returns. I have actually had to send three back; two weighed about 50 lbs. each but shipping was actually not bad...approx $50. However, after visiting a local dealer and seeing their prices, I am willing to try online. I have saved thousands of dollars going the eBay route. It is not for everyone but it has worked for me.

Esalerugs.com for sure! I ordered 80 lbs. of rugs from them, and didn't like them. But it was helpful to me to see and try the sizes in my room and then I was able to return them for free. I ended up buying my rug from Lowe's because I found one I liked and esale didn't have it. Lowe's matched the overstock.com price, and if I hated it, I was able to return it to Lowe's in person for no fee.

I also bought my dining room rug from Home Goods.