BTW: does anyone know what a "Reciprocity Fee" is on the statement from FTD???? I can't get through to anyone at FTD...
Flowershopnetwork
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they charge you reciprocity I think for not sending enough orders.
This is a dilemma and I think you must negotiate your membership fees lower if you are after them for incoming orders.
I've noticed recently a huge increase in willingness to fill incoming orders on the part of shops - maybe fodder for a new thread yeah?
This is a dilemma and I think you must negotiate your membership fees lower if you are after them for incoming orders.
I've noticed recently a huge increase in willingness to fill incoming orders on the part of shops - maybe fodder for a new thread yeah?
FTD Reciprocity Fee
So, not only do they charge a "Low Sending Fee" they also charge a "Reciprocity Fee" for the very same thing? How's that calculated? Wow!
So, not only do they charge a "Low Sending Fee" they also charge a "Reciprocity Fee" for the very same thing? How's that calculated? Wow!
coastieflowers
Active Member
I too am trying to call ftd. so far on hold 20 min.where is the fee on your statement? I can't find it on mine?
coastieflowers
Active Member
duanermb
New Member
Change with the times.
Is is still a service, or a rip off? Some here may get mad at me for this, but knowing what I know now, do you think I would EVER order flowers from an un-confirmed local or fake local florist, or actually pay a wire service fee to send flowers? Would you? Then why would you ask your customer to do it?
I guess my point is, that all the non-order-gathering people here seem to want the customer to find a local florist, and get value for their dollar. By doing wires for 20% commission, aren't we just a little bit hypocritical?
In all of our posts here, are we talking about:
1. Trying to drive people back to "professional" florists.
(What are we offering? - don't give your money to 800TFTD, give it to us?)
or are we talking about:
2. Really promoting a significant change in the way people order flowers. (We provide better value - Now we can give the world something to talk about)
I used the "your mom" analogy in one of my blogs:
I am talking about changing with the times and doing a complete 180 on the big guys. (Perhaps a Purple Cow? - big fan of Mr. Godin) "The times" have given the consumer a great deal of options for sending flowers to distant lands and many other options instead of ordering from a local professional florist.
The WS have made a change. They each have seen their market share for WS orders starting to dwindle and said. "hey, why don't we get into the flower business ourselves and take a larger piece of the pie?"
- just food for thought
Is is still a service, or a rip off? Some here may get mad at me for this, but knowing what I know now, do you think I would EVER order flowers from an un-confirmed local or fake local florist, or actually pay a wire service fee to send flowers? Would you? Then why would you ask your customer to do it?
I guess my point is, that all the non-order-gathering people here seem to want the customer to find a local florist, and get value for their dollar. By doing wires for 20% commission, aren't we just a little bit hypocritical?
In all of our posts here, are we talking about:
1. Trying to drive people back to "professional" florists.
(What are we offering? - don't give your money to 800TFTD, give it to us?)
or are we talking about:
2. Really promoting a significant change in the way people order flowers. (We provide better value - Now we can give the world something to talk about)
I used the "your mom" analogy in one of my blogs:
"That $100 flower order your mom sent you may have gone something like this:
Your mom actually clicked on an affiliate link for an order forwarding site (Posing as a local florist, with an add that stated "'Your city' Local Florist"), that probably cost her about 5 bucks. Next it went to a wire service, that just cost her another 20 bucks. The remaining $75 made its way to an actual florist, who probably has their own website, but weren't found in the query. Oh, wait, they may have to pay a fee for getting the order. There goes another 3 bucks. Now the florist gets to make and deliver the flowers with the remaining $72. Probably not exactly what mom expected. Had she found the actual florist's web site, she may have actually got $100 worth of product (less delivery) for her $100.
If the sponsored links were so great, she would have found an actual florist in your city."
I think at $72 left of $100 I was generous. What would you tell your mom to do, if she was going to order flowers for someone somewhere else? What would you do for some of your favorite clients?Your mom actually clicked on an affiliate link for an order forwarding site (Posing as a local florist, with an add that stated "'Your city' Local Florist"), that probably cost her about 5 bucks. Next it went to a wire service, that just cost her another 20 bucks. The remaining $75 made its way to an actual florist, who probably has their own website, but weren't found in the query. Oh, wait, they may have to pay a fee for getting the order. There goes another 3 bucks. Now the florist gets to make and deliver the flowers with the remaining $72. Probably not exactly what mom expected. Had she found the actual florist's web site, she may have actually got $100 worth of product (less delivery) for her $100.
If the sponsored links were so great, she would have found an actual florist in your city."
I am talking about changing with the times and doing a complete 180 on the big guys. (Perhaps a Purple Cow? - big fan of Mr. Godin) "The times" have given the consumer a great deal of options for sending flowers to distant lands and many other options instead of ordering from a local professional florist.
The WS have made a change. They each have seen their market share for WS orders starting to dwindle and said. "hey, why don't we get into the flower business ourselves and take a larger piece of the pie?"
- just food for thought
duanermb
New Member
Call them.
If the florist says that they deliver to that area, then they will be listed for it. (The listings rotate, what I am told is randomly) I would call them and voice your claim, and they will make sure their directory is solid. They are growing steadily, and are going to have some growing pains.
The power of FSN for the consumer is the directory of real local florists.
The power of FSN for the florist, is a cheap e-commerce solution, good for SEO for your own site, because they allow you a second web site link. And then all the reasons I previously stated.
I'll see what I can do to get someone from there on FC.
If the florist says that they deliver to that area, then they will be listed for it. (The listings rotate, what I am told is randomly) I would call them and voice your claim, and they will make sure their directory is solid. They are growing steadily, and are going to have some growing pains.
The power of FSN for the consumer is the directory of real local florists.
The power of FSN for the florist, is a cheap e-commerce solution, good for SEO for your own site, because they allow you a second web site link. And then all the reasons I previously stated.
I'll see what I can do to get someone from there on FC.
Duane - respectuflly submitted - I have changed with the times, it is not a ripoff - I provide an excellent service. And I AM that professional florist I want to drive people to.
The significant change in the way people order flowers started about 10 years ago and since I can't change that in particular - the task is to position myself there - which I do attempt to do.
duanermb
New Member
duanermb
New Member
Agreed, you should do whatever you can to position yourself in the market as you see fit. I was just offering my opinion on the matter, and letting people know what has been a successful strategy for us and the thought process that has driven us to use that strategy.
If you only have ftd as your ws, they usually don't charge you reciprocity fee, maybe that's why you don't see it on your statement.
We signed up with them because they initially said they had numerous people calling to place orders and did not have anyone in our area. We signed up and over the course of the year we did not get enough orders to pay for the sign up. I do agree it is nice getting paid much more quickly. When they called back for us to renew, they said that what you are really paying for is for them to get you to the top of the search engines therefore getting more hits. The numbers with the hits does not add up and we have been able to accomplish the search engine results on our own. If we had the orders they eluded to when we signed up we might still be with them.
Reciprocity fee
Finally got thru to FTD...
The reciprocity fee, in my case, is that I rarely use FTD for wire outs (except at the busiest times), therefore I am charged 4% on the GROSS amount of Wire Ins. The "Low Sending Fee" is ALSO charged and is a standard amount for sending less than 20 orders per month. I asked, well, shouldn't it be one or the other but not both? The guy on the phone said, Yea, I've heard that question before, but he didn't have an answer....
I'm very thankful for all the posts on this subject...getting a MUCH CLEARER picture of the whole mess. Thanks everyone!!
Finally got thru to FTD...
The reciprocity fee, in my case, is that I rarely use FTD for wire outs (except at the busiest times), therefore I am charged 4% on the GROSS amount of Wire Ins. The "Low Sending Fee" is ALSO charged and is a standard amount for sending less than 20 orders per month. I asked, well, shouldn't it be one or the other but not both? The guy on the phone said, Yea, I've heard that question before, but he didn't have an answer....
I'm very thankful for all the posts on this subject...getting a MUCH CLEARER picture of the whole mess. Thanks everyone!!
I looked and all my nearest competitors are on there. So I seriously want to know should I be on there too, then? Or should I find other avenues. I see no one in my immediate area is on ilocalflorist.com, so I'm thinking that makes more sense.
I agree that FSN is a cheap e-commerce solution, it has been for me anyway. And the reason we get orders, I think is that we send through them also, and we get satisfied customers (fellow real florists) that send through FSN.
Felony Fee
I think we should encourage CONSUMERS to start a class action suit....they're all getting charged Provincial Sales Tax on DELIVERIES (when they place an order through TF or FTD websites) which should be charged GST only. Come to think of it...are FLORISTS also paying PST on deliveries since the total (product and delivery) is all lumped together? Hmmm....
BTW: We put the PST on delivery the customer was charged back into the flowers.
I think we should encourage CONSUMERS to start a class action suit....they're all getting charged Provincial Sales Tax on DELIVERIES (when they place an order through TF or FTD websites) which should be charged GST only. Come to think of it...are FLORISTS also paying PST on deliveries since the total (product and delivery) is all lumped together? Hmmm....
BTW: We put the PST on delivery the customer was charged back into the flowers.
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