Ordering Flowers On-line Comes With a Huge Cost

Posted @ Nov. 09 2011 08:16AM by Kelli - advice

The "Buy Local" concept isn't just to help protect local, small businesses. In some cases, such as buying flowers, it protects the consumer and can save them money and headaches.

Years ago, before local florists began using the internet as a marketing tool, the larger floral companies such as FTD, Telelfora and 1-800-FLOWERS made sending flowers easy and in some cases the only possible option. Today, it is as easy to contact flower shops directly as it is to Google search these large corporations. In fact, it's become some consumer's preferred means of sending flowers because they are able to save money and speak directly to the owner and/or designer handling their order.

How does contacting the florist directly save you money?

Normally, consumers are charged a fee ranging from $7.95 to more than $25 for these brokers to forward their order to a local florist. During the holidays, when most online orders are placed, these fees can actually double! That means that only a fraction of the amount you pay for a bouquet makes it into the hands of the florist filling the order.

Keep in mind, these large companies are also charging the local shops membership fees to receive these orders and any shop can join. This means, these online brokers are not only collecting money from both sides without having to ever touch a flower, but they are allowing orders to go to shops who may or may not have a great reputation for design, service or quality.

Do you always get what you pay for?

When ordering flowers online, read the fine print. What the call center won't tell you, is that what you see in the picture is only a representation of the version you will actually get. When they send out your order, they ask that it be "as similar" to the picture as possible. So, if you were ordering for the beautiful pink roses, it's possible you will be very dissappointed when grandma gets red roses instead. Calling and speaking directly to the shop you are ordering from makes it possible to have a dialogue about what flowers are available to avoid the "substitution" mishap.

What should you expect in the way of customer service?

Once you've pressed "submit order" on that online order, good luck ever getting a straight answer from the online customer service department. Speaking directly to a florist ensures you will have a name and number to refer to in case of any issues.

Bottom line, if you've got the time to search for a flower broker, you've also got the time to search for a local little florist of whom you can speak to directly with peace of mind but without random fees and fine print. You are doing small business a favor and yourself!