In case you have not already seen this update from Art about the RTI Direct FTP Integration discussion with Teleflora. It looks like the new interface will cost you $49.95/month to Teleflora for support, there is no additional charge from GravityFree. If you are interested in getting this Direct FTP to RTI setup for your website please contact Teleflora. Chad and Walter have said that the new interface saved them a huge amount of work over the Valentines Day holiday, to the point they were able to repurpose people from processing orders to other duties. Teleflora should now have the information necessary and should be aware of the monthly charge associated with the interface. They should also be able to assist you in getting your firewall setup (I will post the information again below) for us to access your system, and setup the FTP user with access to the necessary location for us to upload orders. Once they have set everything up you can contact Kelli with the connection information (IP Address and FTP Username / Password) and we’ll schedule time to verify the FTP connection and setup your FlowerManager with the new export option.

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Email From Art:
I just completed the conversations with Teleflora and they have agreed to the following…

• They are waiving the $1.75 per order fee for those who are using the direct connect to drop orders in to RTI from our websites into RTI
• Teleflora is crediting back those who got charged the per order fee
• Teleflora is and has been cooperating with GF in working together to allow this integration and will allow further integration more than there has been currently.

Discussions have taken place over the years as to addressing what a fair amount of fees to charge for these applications to work together would be. It went form per order fees of as little as $1.00 to $99.00 a month fees and today we have landed and based on conversations I have had with Walter and a few others, we all agreed we would like to consider and feel that a flat fee is fair and the amount was $49.95.

I am happy to say that Teleflora has agreed that this is what the fee will be for the services they are supporting!Keep in mind, they do need to support this too.

Now just FYI, while there has been discussion that Media 99 never paid for this…they did have a per order fee in their agreement and/or monthly fees. We were and have been the ONLY group that never paid anything for the services. When you got your website set up and needed to integrate with TF and their programmers worked with GF for many many hours and TF never charged or received a fee for this. I personally felt they at that point could have set a fee for the integration and they discussed but also waived that fee.

I just want to let everyone know who is on board that I personally have very happy with what Teleflora has done. All they ask for in return is orders.

So while we are in an industry of limited controls and per order fees and other business models that we all agree we don’t care for, we still are being treated (In my opinion) very fair in the use and integration of technology for just a flat fee of $49.95. Let’s also face it, many shops don’t pay for the upfront costs of a website…they want as much as they can for as little as they have to pay. Flower Managers are not them. We have paid our way, we have come together to create the results we desire and have paid our way. Teleflora integration is a choice. It saves all of us a lot of time and time is money. I KNOW we save more than $49.95 a month and the face that TF has made this integration and allowing us to work together even more in the future and supporting the service is very fair and also why I have always overall felt they have been the best choice for my orders.

RTI to me is still one the best solutions for a POS in the industry and look at Merc and MAS and the support or lack of support they get. RTI is so much like our websites in the fact that they are always moving forward with new development. Being on the board for over 10 years I will say I have yet to see a POS system with more resources given to it in our industry than RTI. For what they charge for support fees….we are in a good place.

Thank you for your patience in these matters and I hope you all see the value in this relationship as I have.
Art.