Sending only Wire service Shops

Missy

Missy

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Dec 15, 2002
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Hoping someone in the know can help me with this one. I see many shops listed in FTD that have a listing as a sending only shop....how does that work? Is that used for non retail/storefront stores only?

BTW< not looking for angry " why wire services are bad comments" just the facts!
 
It has to do with their memebrship status...not sure how FTD works specifically, but the shops in question either are real shops that don't fill orders just send because they have a high volume of sending and don't want to be bothered with filling or they don't deal with flowers and delivery and only are a call center...

You can be a real flower shop and be sending only...HTH...
 
I am sendind only Bloomnet member($49 a month). I am able to send through Floristware POS with one click, which is why I signed up. We send about 20-40 a month, so I needed something easy and quick that works with my POS.

We tried the whole calling out orders by phone with cc, but that was nightmare for us, so we had to settle for BN sending only membership-
 
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master J said:
I am sendind only Bloomnet member($49 a month). I am able to send through Floristware POS with one click, which is why I signed up. We send about 20-40 a month, so I needed something easy and quick that works with my POS.

We tried the whole calling out orders by phone with cc, but that was nightmare for us, so we had to settle for BN sending only membership-
Click to expand...
Are you a member of any other wire service?
 
The shop I used to manage was a huge operation. They were TF and FTD sending only. They just didn't want to be bothered with filling WS orders because they had plenty of sales at full value and filling WS orders would have only led to cutting off full-value orders.
 
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master J said:
Heck No. It's hard enough for me to be sending only! LOL I'm not proud of being part of BN.

(I will accept FSN incoming orders, but only get like 2 a month.)
Click to expand...

Adam, why don't you send through FSN and forget BN?
 
lori042499 said:
Adam, why don't you send through FSN and forget BN?
Click to expand...

Greed.......

FSN- cost $3.99 to send out an order.....
BN- pays me $5 rebate for each order I send....

I do get a decent amount of direct orders from FSN directory at 100%, which is really my only reason for belonging to FSN. I like the directory and link juice-
 
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makes financial sense to me....
 
I'm with eflorist (formerly Teleflorist in UK) as a sending member only. I don't want to be an executing member as it costs to much to be a full member for what few orders I get. I get more from my own website. As a sending only member of eflorist in the UK it's free and you get paid commision. 25% to be exact of the order value minus the relay charge. This way I can send all over the world for my customers and make money out of it rather than it costing me a fortune to be a full member. And making very little out of it for doing a lions share of the work.
 
What are the costs of being a sending member only for teleflora?
I rarely get any incoming orders, mostly because I'm located in a small town, and also because my minimums are higher than the other shops in town, and finally, I could care less about getting incoming orders.
I continue to be a member of a wire service so I can send orders out for my clients, who are well travelled. If it were just North American orders, then I would do it all by credit card, but over half are for overseas, and I prefer to have the wire service take care of orders to countries where I do not speak the language, know the currancy etc.
So....how much to be a sending florist only for teleflora?
JP
 
Must say--I was thinking of being a "sending only" shop too- I refuse most Teleflora orders as they are well below my minimum or ask for something that I can not possibly do for their $$ amount--However our corporate wire outs are so large that I like the convenience of one button sending--Any ideas?!?
 
The whole wire service business model is based on sending and not recieving. This is pretty much well known. Now, the last time I talked with a Bloomnet rep ( he said that Bloomnet was the ONLY wire service with a sending only option which we all know is a crock )

It is my understanding that a sending only shop pays a good deal MORE in fees and dues to the wire service than a sending and filling shop.

However, being a sending only shop is certainly one viable way to operate profitably with a wire service.
 
I also do not fill for sending only..IMO it kind of puts you into the OG catagory...I do understand that if the membership is cheaper and business is changing you gotta do what you gotta do...but I think that thiis level of membership only serves to break the WS model even more than it already is...
 
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Interesting topic. Some things I have never thought of before. One thing comes to mind & I mean this kindly, best to just call TF & or Bloom and ask what the fees are. They may have different price structures for different sizes of towns. I know with Bloom you get a $5 rebate on your orders (at least with a regular membership) and with TF it is $3 unless you send lots of orders. I don't know a thing about FTD. I too have thought about sending also & I did call TF, & as I think about it not that long ago, and they told me they did not have sending only, so I guess I am missing something here. No surprise, ha ha!!! Anyway I don't send lots of orders & rarely oversees. I had thought about using TF Find A Florist or just Googleing florist & asking if they would fill an order for me using a credit card. If I did that I would get a credit card especially for that part of my business & everyday I would set the money aside that I took in for the wireout & put it in a special account in my checking account under the title "Wire Outs". Then when my bill would come in from the credit card company I would transfer the money from one account to the other, (because I had it saved) and pay my bill. Really would be that simple. (Just a side note, that is how I run my business, by earmarking all the money that comes in everyday into special accounts I have set up at the bank, no extra charge for that, just number & name them. Example: #4 Stash: my savings: #6 Sales Tax: #8 Wire Outs: #9 Bldg Payment: #10: I have them also set up for taxes, utilities, insurance & I prorate some of them for the month. You get the point. Then when these bills are due I have the money. No problem worrying about the money. I just transfer the money over to my main Checking act & pay the bill! No more worrying if I have the money or not, all saved!) I have shops that call me asking me if I will do their order over the phone with a credit card and I always so yes, if I am able to fill it for them. I know I can do a nice job for them & I get the money right away. A win situation for me & them! I know dong this on your own some will think there is no protection for you, but there is. You can always do a charge back on your credit card if you have a problem with the order you gave to a florist. I would hate to do that but I would if I had to. I now, at times, can not find a floris ina town that has no wire service & I have to give them my credit card. I will say I have never had any complaints or problems doing it that way. Sorry for the novel! Enough for now:)
 
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Most of the North American orders I send out are done so with a credit card, for the reasons already stated.
However, if I do not know someone in the recipient's town, then it is a crapshoot, and I use the teleflora directory to help me choose who will get the order.
I'm not sure that I would refuse to create an arrangement for a sending only florist...first of all, I'm not sure that I would know that they were "sending only", and second, apparently I fill orders for a different reason than you...
1) to gain exposure to new faces, so they can see and fall in love with our work, and
2) as a courtesy to a fellow florist.
There is no question that I will not realize a profit from that one delivery...but the chances are good that I will win a customer once they see the quality of the product we deliver to them.
And the value of that customer over a life-time is huge.
JP
 
In my not so humble opinion:

Sending only shops are unethical....and so are the services that allow them. Sending only shops know the game very well, they want the profits generated on the sending side 20%+REBATE+$ervice charge, without the exposure to loss on the filling side...

Like Lori, when I *was* a member of a service or two, we never filled for sending only shops... it's counterproductive to the health of the industry in general.
 
Mark...I think we will be seeing a trend in the coming days, months and years for shops to want to have sending capabilities the "easy" way and not have to deal with the filling loss, aggravation and silliness involved...

I will say this, as the landscape chages and florists wise up to the filling side of it, being a sending only does make sense, but I will venture to guess that the filling pool will be hitting rock bottom with only high volume ordinary shops or FWOACs left filling the orders...not sure I want any part of that game either...the wireservice game just gets more broken as the changes ensue...there are no easy answers, but maybe that is our problem, maybe we shouldn't be looking for easy answers maybe we should be looking for answers that make sense for us even if it isn't the easiest route for our businesses...sometimes easy is the route of the problem.
 
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