Frequently asked questions
This page collects the questions that reach our inbox most often, from readers who want to send flowers and from florists who want to know what a listing does for them. The questions themselves are further down. Before them, a short orientation covers what the site is, what people usually want to know about it, and where to go when something on it is wrong.
What RateAFlorist is, and what it is not
RateAFlorist is a directory of real, brick-and-mortar flower shops in the United States, with customer reviews attached to each one. It lists about 13,500 shops in roughly 6,600 cities and towns, and every one of them has a street address, a counter and a cooler. It is not a florist, and it is not a place to order flowers. There is no cart on this site, no checkout and no send-now button, and we are not a party to any order you place. You find a shop here, read what its customers said, and then you call the shop or use its own website. The money goes to the florist, the arrangement comes from the florist, and any problem with it is between you and the florist, which is exactly where a problem with flowers should be.
It is also not one of the national order-gathering services that dress up as local shops. Those companies are excluded from the directory, and when one slips in behind a local-sounding name it is removed as soon as we find it. Our sister site, LocalFlowerShop.com, lists the same shops as a plain directory without the reviews, for readers who only need an address and a phone number.
The three things people want to know
Almost every question we receive is a version of one of three. The first is whether a shop is real. It is; every listing on the site is a physical flower shop with a street address, and the phone number on the listing rings there. The second is whether the rating can be trusted. A rating here is the plain average of the reviews we have published for that shop, each of which was read by a person first, and no florist can pay to move it in either direction. The third is how to order. Call the number on the listing, or follow the website link if the shop has added one, tell the florist where the flowers are going and what you want to spend, and settle the price on the call. The detailed answers to all three are in the list below, and the about page gives the longer account of why the site works this way.
How the review system works, in outline
A customer who has bought from a listed shop writes a review on that shop's page. A person on our side reads it before it appears, checking it against the review guidelines, which rule out reviews of the wrong shop, reviews written by the shop or by a competitor, and anything abusive or unverifiable. Published reviews stay published. An honest negative review is not removed because the florist would prefer it gone, and a rating cannot be raised by paying for a listing. A florist who has claimed the listing can reply to each review once, publicly, and the reply appears beneath the review with the shop's name on it. That is the whole system. It is deliberately small, because the fewer moving parts a rating has, the fewer places there are to hide a thumb on the scale.
How a listing gets on the site and how it comes off
Shops are listed because they exist. A real flower shop with a storefront address is added to the directory without the owner asking or paying, and stays there free. A florist can claim that listing at the portal signup page and then keep the address, phone, hours and categories current. Premium, at $29 a month or $299 a year, adds a photo, a website link, featured placement and the Verified Local Florist checkmark, and a shop that buys it agrees to honor the RateAFlorist 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Paid features are labeled and affect visibility only. A listing comes off the site when the shop closes, leaves the flower business or turns out to be a relay operation rather than a shop. It does not come off because the florist asked to escape a bad review, and it is not pushed down the page for declining to pay. The For Florists page has the full comparison of free and Premium.
Where to go when something is wrong
Three kinds of problem reach us regularly, and each has a route. A listing correction, such as a wrong phone number, an address the shop left two years ago or a shop that has closed, goes through the contact page if you are a customer, or through the portal if you are the florist. A review edit, meaning you wrote a review and want to change or withdraw it, also goes through the contact page; tell us the shop and roughly when you posted, and we will find it. A florist portal problem, such as a claim that will not go through or a login that has stopped working, goes through the contact page as well, and it helps to say in the first line that it is a portal issue. Questions about what we store and why are answered on the privacy page, and the terms page covers the rest.
Before you read the questions
The questions below give the detail behind everything above, and each answer stands on its own, so there is no need to read them in order. If your question is about flowers rather than about the site, the guide library is the better place. It covers sympathy and funeral flowers, meanings, care, weddings and buying wisely, and the guide to local florists versus online order-takers is the one most readers of this page turn out to want. Nothing in the guides sells anything, and neither does anything below.
What is RateAFlorist?
RateAFlorist is a nationwide directory and ratings site for real, brick-and-mortar local florists. Every listing is an actual flower shop with a real street address, never an order-gathering call center. Browsing, reading reviews, and contacting florists is free.
What is an "order-gatherer"?
An order-gatherer is a middleman that advertises as if it were a local florist, often with a fake local phone number and address, takes your order online or by phone, skims roughly 20-30% plus fees, and then forwards what's left to a real local shop. The shop gets less money for the same arrangement, and you usually pay more for less. This site exists to help you avoid them.
How do I know a florist on RateAFlorist is real?
Listings are seeded from verified business data and every claim is reviewed by hand. Shops carrying the "Verified Local Florist" checkmark have been individually confirmed as real brick-and-mortar florists and are backed by the Rate A Florist 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. When a florist appears in a town it delivers to but isn't located in, we always label it with its real home base so you know where the shop actually is.
What is the Rate A Florist 100% Satisfaction Guarantee?
Any florist displaying the Verified Local Florist checkmark ✓ stands behind its flowers, plants, gifts and delivery service with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If something is not right with your order, the verified florist will work directly with you to make it right, no call centers, no chain of companies, no passed-around responsibility. Look for the checkmark on a florist's listing when you want that extra layer of confidence.
Can florists pay for better ratings?
No. Ratings and reviews cannot be bought, boosted, or suppressed. There is no price for that and no exception to it. Florists can pay for visibility (featured placement, delivery-town listings), and those placements are always labeled. Every review is moderated before it publishes.
How do I claim my flower shop's listing?
Search for your shop, open its listing, and click "Claim this listing." Claiming is free and takes about two minutes; every claim is approved by a live person in 24-48 hours. Once approved you can update your details and respond to reviews at no charge.
Can I show my RateAFlorist rating on my own website?
Yes, every claimed listing includes a free embeddable review badge: a small card showing your shop's live star rating and review count that links back to your reviews. It works on any website (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, or hand-built) via a copy-paste snippet from the florist portal, and it updates automatically whenever a new review publishes. Because ratings on RateAFlorist can never be bought, the badge is independent proof of your reputation.
Does RateAFlorist take a cut of my order?
No. RateAFlorist never handles your order or your money. You call the shop or use its website directly, and 100% of what you pay goes to the florist making your arrangement.
Is RateAFlorist free to use?
Completely, for shoppers, browsing, searching, reading and writing reviews all cost nothing. Florists get a free listing forever too; the only paid things on the site are optional visibility features florists can choose, like featured placement.
How do I write a review?
Open the florist's listing page, scroll to the review form, choose a star rating, and describe your experience in at least 20 characters. Reviews go into a moderation queue and typically publish within a day or two. You don't need an account.
Why isn't my review showing up yet?
Every review is human-moderated before it publishes, that's how we keep ratings trustworthy. Most reviews appear within a couple of days. Reviews are declined if they're spam, aren't a first-hand experience, or target the wrong business.
What does "Featured" mean on a listing?
The florist paid for higher placement in their city, like a labeled ad slot. Featured placement never changes a florist's star rating, review order, or review content; it only affects where the listing card appears on the page.
What does the "delivers here" label mean?
That florist's shop is in a nearby town, and it pays to appear in a town within its real delivery range. We always show the shop's actual home base on the same card, unlike order-gatherers, no one on RateAFlorist pretends to be located where they aren't.
A florist listed here closed or changed hours, how do I report it?
Use the claim/contact link on the listing page and tell us what changed. We verify against the shop's own channels and update or remove the listing. Owners can claim the listing to correct details instantly.
My flower delivery went wrong. Can RateAFlorist fix it?
We're a directory, not a party to the order, so refunds come from the shop itself, call them first; real local florists overwhelmingly make problems right. Then write an honest review of the whole experience, including how they handled it. That's what reviews are for.
How is RateAFlorist different from Google Maps or Yelp?
Two ways: we list only real brick-and-mortar florists (Google and Yelp list order-gathering call centers right alongside real shops), and our category depth is florist-specific, delivery areas, wedding specialties, and guides written for flower buying. We'd rather be the best at one thing than average at everything.
Do you sell flowers or take orders on the site?
No, and we never will, the entire point is connecting you directly with the shop. You order by phone or on the florist's own website, so there's no markup, no service fee, and no middleman between you and the person arranging your stems.