Should You Buy a Casket Online?
Last updated November 2026
Casket costs usually represent a large portion of funeral prices. On average, the price of the casket alone accounts for roughly 30 to 50 percent of funeral homes’ total charges—an elaborate casket in copper or bronze with plush linings can account for three-fourths of the cost of a funeral.
There is tremendous price variation among funeral homes for identical caskets. Many homes mark up caskets three to five times wholesale; some go even higher.
Comparison shop. Dozens of online casket vendors (including Costco and Walmart) sell directly to consumers and ship to funeral homes. By law, funeral homes must allow you to provide your own casket and may not charge a handling fee if you do. But know they can withhold offered discounts for funeral packages if you don’t buy a casket from them.
We compared prices charged by funeral homes for several casket models with prices from a dozen online direct sellers and found that direct sellers almost always offered big savings. For example, for an oak casket, the average price quoted by funeral homes was about $4,500, compared to $1,495 at CasketEmporium.com, $1,500 at ExpressCasket.com, and $1,500 at OvernightCaskets.com.
Although Costco and Walmart offer limited casket options, their prices are low: When we checked, among the 150 models offered by Walmart, most solid-wood caskets cost $1,500 to $1,800 (Walmart mostly stocks metal caskets, which ranged in price from $945 to $5,159). Costco offered only 11 models, ranging in price from $1,350 to $2,700.
Our advice: Get written price proposals from funeral homes, including charges for your selected casket, and then use online retailers’ prices to negotiate a lower price with the funeral home. Let the funeral home know the best price you found, and that you’ll buy it elsewhere unless the funeral home lowers its price. By law, funeral homes must provide customers with price lists for caskets they sell, and they are not allowed to charge more than the prices shown on the price list; but funeral homes are allowed—at their discretion—to discount casket prices.
