How to Buy a Moroccan Rug Online: Timeline, Duties, Returns

A Zarbish design is paid in full at checkout, then hand-knotted to order in Morocco; a custom size is confirmed in writing first. Production takes 3 to 8 weeks by size, delivery 3 to 7 business days more. Shipping is free worldwide, US buyers pay no import duties, and standard sizes are returnable for 30 days.

Buying from another seller in Morocco? Five questions, asked in writing before you pay, protect you with any of them; our own answers sit beside them so you can see what a complete answer looks like.

Is it safe to buy a rug from Morocco online?

Buying a rug from Morocco online is safe when the seller answers five questions in writing before you pay. The questions matter more than the country: a good workshop answers all five without hesitating, and a seller who cannot answer one is telling you something.

Ask for two photos as well: the back of the rug and the fringe up close. A hand-knotted rug shows its pattern mirrored on the back, and its fringe is the warp running out of the rug; how to tell if a rug is hand-knotted walks through what those photos should show.

What happens after you order, step by step

Our designs are knotted after you order, which is why a rug from Morocco follows a timeline instead of leaving a warehouse the next morning. Here is the path from checkout to your floor, and what reaches your inbox along the way; how ordering works sets out every route side by side, from a changed color to a trade order.

1. You order and pay at checkout. Choose the design, the size, the pile height (short 1 cm, medium 2 cm or shag 3 cm) and tassels or none; pile and tassels do not change the price. You pay in full: no deposit, no balance later. Your order confirmation arrives by email, and for 24 hours after purchase you can cancel for a full refund.
2. A custom size or design is confirmed in writing. A standard size needs no extra step. For a custom size, you confirm the exact dimensions in writing before weaving starts: that confirmation is your record and your protection. Handwork carries a finishing tolerance of 3 to 4 cm (about 3 to 4 cm). For a custom design, you approve a mockup in writing first. Your first mockup within 1 hour, and the custom design form is where that route begins.
3. Your rug takes its place on the loom. A catalog design in a standard size is scheduled when you order, a custom size once you confirm the dimensions, and a custom design once you approve the mockup. The loom schedule on the workshop page sets out each case.
4. Our team of weavers knots it, and you hear from us. An email tells you the day knotting begins. Any question in between goes to hello@zarbish.com; we reply within a few minutes to a few hours, while we're open.
5. We wash it, dry it in the sun and check it. The wash checks every color against the final design, and another email tells you the rug is washed and finished.
6. It ships free, with tracking. We roll the rug for the journey and ship it from Morocco; the shipping email carries your tracking, which you can also follow on where is my order, and the rug reaches you 3 to 7 business days after production ends.

How long does a rug from Morocco take?

A made-to-order rug from Morocco takes 3 to 8 weeks of production, set by its size, plus 3 to 7 business days of delivery. The weeks follow the size because weavers build a hand-knotted rug row by row across its full width: a wider rug means longer rows, a longer rug means more of them.

A worked example. Order a 245x305 cm rug in a standard size, and it spends 5 to 6 weeks in production and reaches you between about five and a half and seven and a half weeks after you order. If the rug has to be down for a date, a move or a housewarming, count back from that date using the longer figure.

During peak periods handweaving can take longer. If your timeline will differ, we tell you before you order, not after. A custom size takes the same weeks as a standard rug of its size, counted from your written size confirmation. For a custom design, new or changed, the clock starts at mockup approval instead of checkout and production takes one week longer than the table shows; how to order a custom Moroccan rug covers that route from the first photo to the loom.

Do you pay import duties on a rug from Morocco?

US customers pay no import duties on a Zarbish rug: the price at checkout is the final price, and nothing is due at the door. A 245x305 cm rug listed at $1,895 USD costs a US buyer $1,895 USD, with shipping included.

That is worth checking with any seller, because it is where most surprises come from. When a rug crosses a border, someone settles the import duty and the customs fees. If the seller ships with duties paid, the price you paid is the whole cost. If not, the courier collects them from you before handing the rug over. Tariff rules on imports change, and the threads about unexpected bills at the door come from buyers who found out which kind of shipment they had on delivery day.

In the EU, the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Mexico, Australia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Zarbish pays the import VAT, GST or HST and any duty, so nothing is due at your door either. Everywhere else, the courier collects your country's import taxes on delivery, at the rate your customs authority sets.

The country detail lives in will I pay import duties.

How much does it cost to ship a rug from Morocco?

Shipping a Zarbish rug costs nothing: it is free worldwide, on every order, from Morocco to your door, with tracking. We roll the rug rather than fold it, so it travels without hard creases.

Two rules to know at checkout. We cannot ship to P.O. boxes, and an address cannot change once the rug has shipped, so give the address where someone can receive a large parcel.

Is it cheaper to buy a rug in Morocco?

At the counter, sometimes. A rug bought in a souk is priced for the rug alone, and the price is negotiated. Getting it home, customs on arrival, the sizes on the pile and what happens if it is wrong are yours to arrange, and a rug shipped on its own is charged by weight and size. Compare what each price includes before comparing the numbers; are Moroccan rugs worth it sets the souk against made to order line by line, and explains how to tell a real Moroccan rug.

Will the rug look like the photos?

Your rug will match the design you ordered, with the small variation that shows a person knotted it. Our photographs are edited toward neutral light and the true color and texture of each rug, as close to the piece as we can make them. Three things still change what you see at home.

• Light. Warm evening light makes ivory creamier and colors deeper; wool pile catches light from one side and shades on the other.
• The hand. Natural wool varies subtly in tone, and a hand-knotted line wavers slightly. The natural dyes are fixed, so the color you receive does not transfer or shift with use.
• The size. A finished hand-knotted rug may differ from the confirmed dimensions by 3 to 4 cm (about 3 to 4 cm). Tassels, about 10 cm long, sit outside the stated size.

We compose round rugs and runners for their own shape, so they differ slightly from the rectangular version of the same design. If color is critical to the room, ask us for extra photos before you order; will the colors look the same in my home explains why lighting moves them.

Returns, cancellations and damaged rugs

What you can cancel or return depends on what you ordered, and each order type has its own protection.

• Standard size. Cancel within 24 hours of purchase for a full refund. After that, return it within 30 days of delivery with no restocking fee and no deductions. Email hello@zarbish.com, and we reply with exactly how to pack it, rolled and never folded, and where to send it; you get a full refund once it arrives and we've checked it. Return shipping is yours if you changed your mind or ordered the wrong size, with the courier you choose, and we organize and pay for it if the rug arrived damaged, wrong, or not as described.
• Custom size. Cancellable until you confirm the dimensions in writing. After that the weavers knot the rug to your measurements and it cannot be returned, so measure before you confirm; is your rug too small runs the checks for a living room.
• Custom design. Cancellable until you approve the mockup. Once you approve it, we make the rug to that design, and it cannot be cancelled, returned or exchanged.
• Damaged on arrival. You choose a replacement or a full refund. Photos help us improve, and they are never a condition for fixing it.

The tier statement lives in what is your return policy.

When your rug arrives

The first days with a new rug go smoothly with four small things.

1. Unroll it where it will live and let it settle flat on the floor; your rug's first month covers curled ends and creases.
2. Lay a rug pad on a hard floor. Our felt rug pad can be added when you order, cut to your rug's size and shape and shipped with it.
3. Expect some shedding. New hand-knotted wool sheds for its first weeks as short fibers from the weaving work free. Vacuum gently, with no beater bar; the care guide covers what is normal in the first weeks.
4. Air the room. New wool smells of lanolin, like a big wool sweater, for the first days, and airs out quickly with a window open.

For designers and hosts

If you are specifying for clients rather than your own floor, the trade program runs on the same production path. Every trade quote comes within 1 to 2 working hours, and for multi-piece projects we confirm a schedule against current production before your client commits. Custom dimensions are priced by the same formula as the catalog.

Our team reviews every application to the program the same business day.

Which rug to start with

The choice is about the room. Tichka sets a black lattice across ivory wool, for a living room that needs a line to organize it. Tigmi turns a floor into a plan: a windowpane grid of purple and brown around ivory squares, firm enough to hold a long sofa in place. Nila is the weight a pale bedroom was missing, a deep blue, pattern-free field of wool. Tichka sits with the rest of the Jibal collection, where linear geometry runs through every design.

Weeks, duties and returns all follow from one number, the size: the size guide finds it room by room. Next: what a Moroccan rug costs, then the Jibal collection.