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Buying Flowers Online? Consumer Beware!
It's Up To You
Our own Safe Shopping page is about what MoonFlower Florist does to protect your privacy and security when you shop on our website. But this page is different. Consumer Beware! is about what you should watch out for when you're shopping on other websites, and even shopping online in general.
We will show you what to look for and provide some advice of what to be beware of. We also have links to free tools anyone can use to check out a website you might be considering doing business with, especially if you're buying flowers online.
But the first thing you should be aware of is that the Internet is different. For other forms of shopping, there is consumer protection legislation to keep you safe, by prohibiting misleading advertising and deceptive sales practices, and providing recourse if things go wrong. But this seldom applies to the Internet. For the most part, you're on your own online, and it's up to you to keep yourself safe.
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What's an E-marketer?
If you search for florists on Google, you'll get thousands of hits. But many of them aren't real florists. Instead, they're e-marketers, also known as order gatherers, telemarketers, order skimmers, brokers, virtual florists, and phoney florists. Here's how floristdetective.com describes them:
" ... floral service marketers, both real and virtual, that aggressively promote the sale of flower arrangements and related gifts which they intend to broker to local florists for fulfillment, primarily via affiliations with national florist wire services."
That's just the tip of the iceberg. But what it boils down to is that e-marketers are really in the sales and marketing business. They may never lay a finger on an actual flower.
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How E-marketers Take Your Money
E-marketers have sophisticated websites, advanced e-commerce systems, and state-of-the-art telemarketing operations, all of which can be located in the US, Canada, or elsewhere. But what they don't have is an actual flower shop in the areas they serve. They just take your flower order over the net or by phone. Then, either directly or through a wire service, they pass it on to an "affiliate" real local florist to fulfill and deliver the flowers to whoever you're sending them to.
Here's the part that they don't tell you: this service comes at a hefty price.
E-marketers deduct a hidden commission, typically 20%, before they send your order along to the real local florist who actually does the work. Here's what happens:
Your $60 order ends up as $48 when it's delivered, and the difference goes into the e-marketer's pocket. What did you get for your money? You paid for the advertising and website technology the e-marketer used to get you in the first place.
The 20% figure could be much higher if various fees and service charges are applied. In Ontario, if the local florist has to cover sales taxes, the above order would arrive as a $42.48 pre-tax value. An e-marketer affiliate network is also far looser than a corporate chain or even a franchise operation. Your now devalued order can get passed around until some florist is desperate enough for the business, and they may skimp or use old flowers. As a consumer, you just never know.
There is a unique factor about sending flowers to your sweetheart in Mississauga or to your aunt in Markham. You, the customer, may never see what was actually delivered, and your recipient may never know what you actually ordered. Unscrupulous e-marketers count on it.
What's the alternative? If instead you order from a real florist directly, here's what happens:
This time, you get full value for your money, plus you get to choose the local florist who will take care of your flower order. You can call them and talk to a real florist about your order, or you can actually visit their flower shop and check them out yourself.
There are indeed plenty of excellent real florists in Toronto. All you have to do is avoid the phonies.
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Suspicious Signs
E-marketers don't tell you what they're up to. In fact, they usually try to pass themselves off as a real local florist so you won't catch on. If you're shopping online for flowers in Toronto and area, here are some signs to watch for.
They emphasize online, e, 800, Canada, US, or national. They're betraying that they are an "online" or "e" operation and do telemarketing via an "800" number. And the only way they can serve all of "Canada" and the "US" or provide "national" flower delivery is by being an e-marketer. There is no national retail chain of real flower shops in Canada or the US. It's not like Tim Horton's.
Their domain name is different from what you clicked on in a search page when you check the address box at the top of your browser. They either gave a false website name or redirected you to a different website. Note that it's the last period that counts. If you thought it was "something.com" but end up at "something.xxxx.com", you've been sent to "xxxx.com", a completely different domain.
They take the Discover, Carte Blanche or Diner's Club credit cards. These are rarely used in Canada. Even our largest retailers like The Bay and Canadian Tire don't accept these cards.
They show a different time zone for customer service calls, like CT (Central) or PST (Pacific).
Their privacy policy refers to a different company in the first few lines. Some e-marketers put out multiple or clone websites under different names to increase their chances of getting you.
They have links for "Florist Info", "Affiliate Program", etc., usually in small print at the bottom of the page. That's an e-marketer looking for more affiliate florists they can use. The fine print may also refer to the "fulfilling florist", which means your order is being sent elsewhere.
They claim they're Canadian but all their prices are in US dollars.
Don't feel safe if your city name appears in their advertising or on their web page. This is easily done with technology, based on the location you were searching or a traceback on your IP address.
Also, having a ".ca" domain is no guarantee of anything. Anyone can get one of these for about $25 a year. Not only that, but there are plenty of home-grown Canadian e-marketers out there too.
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How To Protect Yourself
Look for a local phone number on the About Us or Contact Us pages. In Toronto and surroundings, this means area code 416 or 905. Most real florists have both a local and a toll-free number. But if a toll-free 1-800 number is the only number you see, then they're very probably an e-marketer. Unfortunately, having a 416 or 905 number doesn't guarantee that they're not.
Look for a local address. A real florist always gives an address because they want you to visit their shop. E-marketers however may not give any address at all, because they have no shop for you to visit and don't want you to know where in the world they are. Seeing a local address however still isn't foolproof, because of "mapspam", or using a false address.
Do a Yellow Pages reverse look up (free tool). This is a quick and easy way to verify a local number, and you can use it for other websites. Go to http://www.yellowpages.ca/search/reverse.html, enter the number, and click the "Find" button. If the business name, local phone number and street address all check out, you can be more confident that you've found a real florist.
If the result is "no listings found", then it's an unlisted number. That's likely because it's being used by a non-resident e-marketer for call-forwarding to a remote location.
Another possibility is that there's no address or only a post office box number. You've likely found an e-marketer in the area, but they still don't have a real flower shop, and they still don't want you to know where they are. A final possibility is that the result is entirely different, in which case you may have found somebody doing some shady floral e-marketing on the side, or even an outright scam.
Check on Google Maps (free tool). If you get a local address, look it up on Google Maps (maps.google.ca) and check the satellite view. It should look like somewhere a retailer would locate, such as a commercial district, strip mall, or shopping centre. If instead the location is a residence, then it's likely an e-marketer set up in their basement. If it looks like an industrial building off the beaten path, you may have just found an e-marketer's call centre. Only spy agencies used satellite photography years ago, but now it's available to anyone.
The bottom-line is this plain and simple advice: don't do business with a business that has an unlisted phone number and doesn't want you to find out where they are!
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How Things Got This Way and How It's Changing
As it turns out, real florists are partly to blame for the advent of e-marketers. Traditional florists may be skilled artisans who know a lot about flowers and floral design, but they are often small, independent "mom and pop" businesses, with limited resources and online know-how. They have been slow to get on the Internet, and e-marketers came in to fill the void.
Flower e-marketing is now a big, competitive, and sometimes vicious business, complete with claims, counter-claims and lawsuits. In addition, some real florists have seen what goes on, and have taken the "if you can't beat them, join them" route by adopting e-marketers' sales methods and tactics. For consumers, unfortunately, that means there's is even more to watch out for.
But things are changing. More people are taking notice and talking about what e-marketers are doing. A number of US states have passed laws to ban certain deceptive sales practices. A few e-marketers have even been prosecuted in court.
There's also a new wave of real florists emerging who are Internet savvy, have their own top-drawer websites, bid for the best online ad positions, and are willing to take on the e-marketers. That's our attitude at MoonFlower Florist.
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Go to Part 2: More To Watch Out For
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| Beautiful flowers + great service from a real florist who cares! |
| All prices are in Canadian dollars (CAD $) |
Need Help Selecting Flowers?
Feel free to give MoonFlower Florist a call at 416-752-6444 if you need any help in finding or selecting the flowers you want. That's what we're here for!
Quick Links to MoonFlower Florist Info
Some Links to General Toronto Info
Direct Flower Delivery Area: MoonFlower is a quality florist in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and we send our best flowers and beautiful bouquets directly from our retail flower shop to people you care about throughout the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). We deliver directly to all 416 area code Metro communities, including , Etobicoke, , , and York. West of Toronto, we go out to Brampton, Mississauga, and Oakville. To the North, we have direct flower delivery to King, , Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, and Whitchurch-Stouffville. And to the East, we deliver flowers directly to Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, and Oshawa. The delivery charge is the same for all areas. For a map, please see Local Delivery Area.
Across Canada and the US: We are full-service florists committed to serving all your floral needs, and we can have flowers delivered anywhere across Canada or the US. In this case, we will directly phone as many florists at the destination as it takes to find one that we are confident will do a great job. There is a fee for this service, but our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee still applies. When it has to be right, it just has to be right!
International Flower Orders: We can arrange to have flowers sent to almost any country in the world. But flower availablility, delivery conditions, and other circumstances may vary greatly depending on the destination. For flower orders outside Canada and the US, please call us for specific information.
Custom Flower Orders: Yes, we do custom requests and special orders! MoonFlower is known for original and creative floral design. If you have something special in mind, or need some help to make the right choice, just call us!
Our MoonFlower Exclusive Flower Arrangements: Item #s starting with the letter "M" are MoonFlower exclusive designs and are available only for our direct delivery area. They are delivered right from our design room. As you order on our website, the appropriate delivery options will be shown. Other items can be ordered for delivery anywhere in Canada and the US through Teleflora, which is like FTD except better in our opinion. Teleflora images are used with permission.
© MoonFlower Florist, 2080 Lawrence Avenue East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M1R 2Z5, 416-752-6444
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