The trade-off is that the recipient must arrange the flowers herself, dampening the thrill. The two online florists with the most sales, however, don't use FedEx, choosing instead to pass orders to local florists to fulfill and deliver. Both offer to save customers' credit card information for repeat orders, unlike Proflowers and other top sites.
Online customers pay a slight premium for convenience.
The bouquets themselves are about the same price as those found at local vendors. All sites mentioned here allow senders to call a hotline for a refund or replacement if the bouquet arrives wilted or damaged. To test these services, Kiplinger's compared four leading sites. To see how the services perform under pressure, we placed the orders on February 12 to be delivered on Valentine's Day to three addresses across the country. We sent comparable bouquets.