The best scatter cushions from South African sellers

The listing does what most on this shelf don't. It names the size, the cloth blend of cotton, linen and viscose, and the duck feather and down inner. You know what lands.

That matters because feather and down is what makes a scatter sit and slump properly instead of holding a stiff square shape. At this price it sits at the bottom of Hertex's scatter range, alongside several cushions whose pages say nothing whatsoever. Same money, more information.

The botanical print in sage is the safe end of interesting. It will do something in a beige room without fighting whatever else is on the couch.

The catch. No shopper ratings yet, so you are going on the spec sheet and the picture. And a soft, light print shows marks.

Same price as our top pick, same duck feather and down inner, but a textured geometric rather than a botanical. If you already have pattern on the couch, this is the calmer buy.

The listing states it is made locally, which is not something most pages here bother to claim. Take it as a small point in its favour rather than a reason on its own.

The catch. The page calls it a chair cushion cover in places, so check whether an inner is included before you order.

A floral botanical print at roughly a fifth of what the house cloth makers ask. If you want a set of four for a guest room or a patio bench, this is the only way to do it without spending serious money.

One shopper has rated it, at full marks. That is thin evidence, but it is more than most of the field has.

The catch. The listing gives no size, no fabric and no filling. Expect a printed face and a polyester inner, and expect it to read as cheaper up close than the four-figure cushions do.

The description is specific in a useful way: a soft blue woven centre with a ruffled natural border. That is a distinct look, and it is the only cushion here doing it.

It sits well under the Hertex scatters in price while still coming from an established local furniture house. If you want texture and a bit of edge detail rather than a pattern, start here.

The catch. No size, no filling, no ratings. And the ruffled border is a strong commitment to one style.

Embroidered pattern with piping on a viscose linen ground, going by the listing. Embroidery has depth that a printed face doesn't, and piping holds the corners square, so it looks deliberate rather than tired after a season.

It sits near the top of the Hertex scatter prices. Worth it for one or two, not for a set of six.

The catch. The listing leans hard on words like luxurious and timeless and never names a size or an inner.

Look for the inner before anything else. Duck feather and down slumps and reshapes and looks lived in; polyester holds a rigid block shape and flattens over time. Several listings here name the filling and several say nothing, and the ones that say nothing are usually polyester. If the cover is sold on its own, budget for an inner and buy it one size larger than the cover so the cushion fills the corners.

Size decides the look. Sixty by sixty is the standard large scatter and the one that works on a deep three-seater. Anything smaller starts to look lost against a big couch. Mixing two sizes reads better than a matched row of identical squares, so it is fine to buy across makers.

Buy the plain ones in a natural fibre and the patterned ones for effect. Cotton, linen and their blends wear softer and take light better than a shiny synthetic. And a pale, loosely woven face will show every mark, so keep those off the seat people actually use.

Odd numbers and a repeated colour do more than expensive fabric does. Three cushions that share one shade, with one carrying the pattern, will look composed. Six different four-figure prints will look like a shop floor.