wire transfer fee

Wire transfer fee charge??

  • We do it free

    Votes: 9 14.5%

  • We charge 1-3 dollars

    Votes: 3 4.8%

  • We charge 4-6 dollars

    Votes: 31 50.0%

  • We charge 7 and over dollars

    Votes: 19 30.6%
  • Total voters
    62
  • Poll closed .
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Mikey the Flower Guy

Mikey the Flower Guy

It's a GREAT DAY to live, and love!
Nov 10, 2002
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Dundas, Ontario, Canada
www.hamiltonflorists.com
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some shops do, some shops don't...charge a wire service transfer fee!!
For some years now, we dropped charging for handling wire out fees, and with the amount of work that 'sometimes" occurs in re-handling and re-sending, and sourcing filling shops for direct orders, we implemented a nominal $2.99 handling fee starting this Christmas!!
This is what caught me completely off guard!!
When we offered the service for "free", nobody seemed to notice, and very few positive comments accompanied our wire outs!!
Soon as we started charging a 'nominal" sending fee of $2.99, we were consistently getting rave reviews about how "inexpensive it was to send orders through our shop, and our wire outs have just "exploded" whether direct wire outs, or ws handled!!
So, my question IS.....what do you all charge???
 
Last year I upped my fee from $3.95 to $6.95 mainly because of holidays. Rejects, forwards, etc and even though I was using the computer and FTD's most up to date cd, there were many shops without merc or FTD and still in the book/CD. Causing multiple times to sit and type or look up another shop. Not only at that time did I up to $6.95, I decided to offer the customer phone numbers to talk direct to the filling florist themselves and possibly get an honest appraisal of what they would get for the money but also an accurate delivery charge not just a quess from me. I have had good reactions from those who are very specific and wish to talk to a florist to fill their order and they have returned to purchase locally and I have also had the other end where the person was not sure if they wanted to use a credit card over the phone, so I handled it for them.
I have not had a problem with anyone paying the new charge, if they need me to do it. Those that have a problem with the price, I gladly give them phone numbers.
 
Mike:

Three dollars here. Like Rhonda said, I don't know if that is enough anymore because of all the ancillary transfers, rejects, inquiries, etc.

For now, it will remain at $3.00.
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We charge $12.50 for a delivery/wire fee. Delivery charges can vary depending on the area (average $7-$10), and we keep what's left after giving the receiving shop whatever their delivery charge is. :)
 
Our wire fee is $15.00. This gives us the option of including more for delivery when the florist needs more. Generally I see and average of $5 to 10$ that we actually get to keep. Going by what information is provided by the florist for minimums we have raised our minumum wire out to $50.00. Most of the time we convince the customers by calling direct and they will save the $15.00 and recieve 100% towards their arrangement.

I have had customers say that so and so charges less and I explain to them that we want them to always get what they ordered and nothing less. This has gone on now for two years and most of our customers claim that their orders are better filled with more quality prodcut.
 
florist123 said:
We charge $12.50 for a delivery/wire fee. Delivery charges can vary depending on the area (average $7-$10), and we keep what's left after giving the receiving shop whatever their delivery charge is. :)
Click to expand...

You can get burned at the stake for saying that around here.....:hammer:
 
We charge $5. A few customers don't like even that much, but they have likely complained about a delivery fee also. We explain that we have no control over what another florist charges to make deliveries, and,as a courtesy to our customer, we will take from that wire out fee if the filling florist wants more for delivery. I've contemplated doing the no charge wire-out, but, honestly, some of those wire-outs are quite time consuming and the fee does add a bit to the bottom line. I have given florists phone numbers to customers. Some customers are delighted that we only charge $5. For some customers, it is a bit of a shock to learn that their $45 arrangement will require $60 to send.

I did have one guy this year who told me that last Christmas he decided to send his Chirstmas flowers via ProFlowers (it might have been 1-800). He was charged large fees, the flowers which arrived were about 1/2 of what was pictured in the company's ad, they were not arranged, and there was not even a vase included. He said that he figured that he had spent at least a third more on those than he did in our shop, and he would NEVER do that again.

I need more coffee...I ramble..
 
We've charged $6 for as long as I can remember. For all that technologies can make things simpler, sometimes getting those orders filled can be a chore. Also, if the delivery fee is higher than we expected, it gives us a pool to pull from without troubling our customer. We get the occasional complaint from random callers but our regulars understand the logic.

Audra
 
Incoming Wire Charge?

I talk to some shops that have what they call an incoming wire charge. Basically they have a certain amount that they deduct from the fill-to value on incoming wire orders. The explanation is that it is the only way they can make money on incoming wires.

What is the general consensus on this practice? I think I know the answer, but it seems to be fairly common.

Thanks!
 
We charge $9.95, again for the purpose of making sure the delivering florist receives their required delivery and helping cover the cost of actually paying the fee to send an order over the wire. Most of our customers don't even think twice, they usually ask right up front what we charge for wiring an order which indicates they already know there is going to be extra fees involved other than delivery and the cost of the arrangement.
 
Mark Anderson said:
I talk to some shops that have what they call an incoming wire charge. Basically they have a certain amount that they deduct from the fill-to value on incoming wire orders. The explanation is that it is the only way they can make money on incoming wires.

What is the general consensus on this practice? I think I know the answer, but it seems to be fairly common.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

The only thing we deduct from incoming wires is our delivery fee. In my opinion I don't think anything else should be deducted. If you don't feel you can fill the order to value with the amount sent, you should send an inquiry asking for more $$$ or set your minimum higher.
 
Mark Anderson said:
I talk to some shops that have what they call an incoming wire charge. Basically they have a certain amount that they deduct from the fill-to value on incoming wire orders. The explanation is that it is the only way they can make money on incoming wires.

What is the general consensus on this practice? I think I know the answer, but it seems to be fairly common.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

All the more reason to move towards forgeting about this type of service. A customer paying for a wire fee and then a incoming fee won't last long. I hope those florist that try to pull that are doing the same with ftd 800flowers and any headquarter orders and not just other florist. If this is really going on that tells me that even a filling station has problems.

It will force consumers to call direct and Forcing the cosumer to do this is a problem and I feel more comfortable offering the choice of sending it for them or providing them the direct access.

This is not good and if that practice continues its going to be bad for business for any brick and mortor shop. Do we let the consumer fall victim to this our do we help them learn how to find and locate a florist in their sending area. I know many feel that they have over the years built a strong customer base with sending orders and want to provide this service but this really would be the nail in the coffin and make many of us look like we are sticking it to the consumer even more.

Wow this is a first for me to hear of this Mark.
 
Eric S said:
Am i reading something different about florist 123 post or are you guys?
Click to expand...

Well, to those of us who are from older shops and who do belong to wire services - what they're doing is called 'skimming'. If you take an order and get $10 for delivery, you send $10 for delivery, you don't keep any of it. Not even if their delivery is $6. If someone sends us an order and they send $59, we have a $7 delivery so the arrangement gets filled for $52. If you're going to keep a fee or part of a fee, it's a service charge and something else entirely.

Audra
 
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