FTD.com on the Today Show

I wonder how florists with FOL sites are going to fare this Christmas season?

With the FTDness turn some people away?
 
Something to ponder...

The thing that shocked me was the $70 million that Classmates made NET off the scam-in one year.

If I’m Goldston I’d have figured that I could have recouped the FTD purchase if he figured that they could make another $30 million+ per year off FTD.com.

They might even have more upsides for that because they can’t do it until they have a credit card for a sale. I don’t think that there are that many positive transactions for Classmates compared to FTD.

If they get slapped down and forced to discontinue they will be in huge trouble. If you take $100 million net profit off all their entities they are totally dead in the water.
 
This is truly a time that I am glad that I do not have a WS website. Those logos popping up in the news attached to scamming cannot be good for the florists that have their logos and websites.

I am actually glad this has happened. This is opportunity knocking for all REAL florists. I am all over this on my website, Facebook, and Twitter getting the work out about REAL florists and not being associated with WS or OGs. For all of those that feel as I do, use this as a marketing opportunity.
 
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United's stock is DOWN almost 10% so far today, of $0.80/share.... What a CLIFF!

For your perusal...

Google News Alert for: FTD
Posted by kdawson on Tuesday November 17, @08:08AM
Slashdot
... which shoppers encounter (often with little comprehension) on the sites of online retailers such as as Continental Airlines, FTD, and Classmates.com. ...
See all stories on this topic
AAA's Show Your Card & Save Program Can Help Consumers Make the Most of ...
PR Newswire (press release)
Send a sweet or fragrant centerpiece from Cookies by Design where members receive a 15 percent discount or FTD.com where members receive 25 percent off ...
See all stories on this topic
Ecommerce Scams: Hundreds Of Well-Known Sites Scam Customers, Report Shows
Huffington Post (blog)
... including sellers such as 1800Flowers.com, Fandango, FTD, Orbitz, Priceline, Shutterfly, Buy.com, Barnes & Noble, Expedia, as well as many, many more.
See all stories on this topic
____________
The Huffington Post link has a list of paid companies... I like this quote:
Senator Rockefeller issued a statement on the report, saying:
After six months, this Committee has found that the companies we are investigating have figured out very clever ways to manipulate consumers' buying habits so they can make a quick buck. American consumers have been complaining for years about these misleading practices and asking for answers - and rightly so. [...] Millions of Americans are getting hit with these mystery charges every month - we have to do all we can to protect the hard working families relying on us to look out for their wallets and well-being.​
Click to expand...


Anyone got his contact info?? We should all send him info and links to FloristDetective.com and stories of how the YP's work, links to the new NC laws etc...

Strike while the iron is hot!! Before the story goes below the fold!!

Also, from Tech Trader Daily
​
 
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Consumerist.com ran an article today and listed all the companies receiving $1-10 Million in payments. Included on the list is:

FTD Florists Online

This is a separate listing from FTD.com which is cited as having received more than $10 Million in payments from WebLoyalty.
 
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From the Wall Street journal yesterday:

United Online Shares Drop Amid Senate Hearing On Marketing Tactics


NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Shares of Internet service and products provider United Online Inc. (UNTD) dropped as much as 14% Wednesday following a U.S. Senate committee report and hearing on Internet marketing tactics.


The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation criticized post-transaction marketing in a staff report and hearing Tuesday, saying the practices of certain direct marketing companies are misleading. United Online, through a couple of its units, generates some advertising revenue from the marketing companies that are the focus of the Senate investigation.


The Internet service and products provider said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday that any modifications to industry or the company's business practice terms, as well as changes to agreements for post-transaction sales, could cause a decline in advertising revenue and profits.


A representative from United Online wasn't immediately available to comment further.


In recent trading, United Online shares slid 9.4% to $7.60 after earlier falling as low as $7.21. Despite Wednesday's losses, shares have climbed 24% year-to-date.


B. Riley analyst Mike Crawford called the stock decline an overreaction. He said in an interview that stronger-than-expected results from United Online's FTD unit could help offset advertising revenue declines from any changes to the current model.


The Senate committee has been investigating the e-commerce practices of three direct marketing companies - Vertrue Inc. (VTRU), Affinion Group Inc. and Webloyalty Inc. - for the better part of the year. The investigation has focused on post-transaction marketing in which customers on e-commerce Web sites sometimes incur charges after a pop-up window appears offering cash-back rewards if they sign up for an online membership service. The committee, led by John D. Rockefeller (D., W.Va.), wants to know how online consumers find themselves charged on an ongoing basis for unwanted club memberships offered by the marketing companies or their subsidiaries.


"Although this investigation is not yet complete, it is clear at this point that these three companies use highly aggressive sales tactics to charge millions of American consumers for services the consumers do not want and do not understand they have purchased," the report said.


The report also said some of its key findings are that using aggressive sales tactics to enroll customers in unwanted membership clubs is a billion-dollar business and e-commerce companies know their customers are being harmed by the aggressive sales tactics.


Earlier this month, 16 companies that make sales over the Internet were sent letters asking whether they use a "data pass" process to transfer their customers' billing information to one of the three marketing companies.
Those 16 companies included two units of United Online - FTD and Classmates Online Inc. - as well as 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. (FLWS), AirTran Holdings Inc. (AAI), Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL), Shutterfly Inc. (SFLY), US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) and VistaPrint NV's (VPRT) VistaPrint USA Inc.
While most of the other companies traded slightly lower, including Shutterfly down 2.6%, VistaPrint fell 6.5% to $50.95.
Barrington Research analyst Kevin Steinke said VistaPrint generated a "very" small percentage of its fiscal first-quarter revenue - only about 2.3% - from relationships with member-discount programs.


"The bottom line is that, in my view, this is a complete non-issue for the stock," Steinke said in an interview, adding he also sees no litigation risk. "I view this as a buying opportunity."


A representative from VistaPrint wasn't immediately available to comment.
Meanwhile, United Online said in an SEC filing that the companies being investigated by the committee--and that have contractual relationships with United Online--have announced changes to their post-transaction marketing practices, according to the Senate report.


The company expects "certain of its arrangements or practices relating to post-transaction marketing will be terminated or modified in the near term, and is currently reviewing other post-transaction opportunities, which may be with the same vendors."


United Online also said its revenue from post-transaction sales year-to-date was $14.9 million for Classmates and $5.3 million for FTD. In early November, the company projected total revenue for the year of $975.6 million to $983.6 million.


Sidoti & Co. analyst James Cakmak said on an annualized basis, the impact could be a 20-cent hit to earnings.


"Although we do think that this could have a potential negative effect on earnings as much as 20 cents, given the depressed valuation of UNTD stock, we don't think it's that significant," Cakmak said in an interview.
Click to expand...
Emphasis mine. The article somewhat downplays the affect on UNTDs bottom line with respect to gross revenues, but the ad income from these marketing scams is NET revenue to the company, reducing profits by about $20 million.

Based on their Q3 report released earlier this month, UNTD's net revenue Jan-Sep was $52.5 Million.

Lose the $20 M from WebLoyalty & Co and the income is reduced by about 40%.

Ouch.

My guess is florists are going to see some more fee increases to help offset the lost income.
 
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Ha!

Down below $7.00 as of noon today, with their Market Cap sliding to $586.00M...

Higher fees Cathy? Perhaps they'll try... but I doubt they'll fly.

Would be something if the Senate made them pay the collected fees back now wouldn't it...like even just the last two years worth.

I think the balls just getting rolling on this one... the Senate and Congress too love to smack big business, especially when it looks like they are doing something for the consumer and it's not costing them anything.
 
CHR said:
From the Wall Street journal yesterday:

United Online Shares Drop Amid Senate Hearing On Marketing Tactics


Emphasis mine. The article somewhat downplays the affect on UNTDs bottom line with respect to gross revenues, but the ad income from these marketing scams is NET revenue to the company, reducing profits by about $20 million.

Based on their Q3 report released earlier this month, UNTD's net revenue Jan-Sep was $52.5 Million.

Lose the $20 M from WebLoyalty & Co and the income is reduced by about 40%.

Ouch.

My guess is florists are going to see some more fee increases to help offset the lost income.
Click to expand...

Amen sister on that one! And the small real florist will continue to feed the monster to my very disbelief!
 
And the WINNER IS~!!!

dang, I really wanted to start a new thread on this one, so pay attention~!~!

This is a honor, well not really but I think it's fitting...

Each week Rick picks out a stock to get rid of, and today (drum roll)... it's UNTD... :hammer:

From the Motley Fool, I present: Throw This Stock Away (UNTD)

It'll be interesting to see where it goes from here, when the markets open in the morning...
 
Wow. All of this and the week is not over yet.

Run florist Run.

Something has hit the fan and its not a good time for this to be happening.

We let these guys represent us all.

This will be all of our undoing. Its a sad day to be a florist.
 
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