When the dust settles on this year’s Valentine’s Day madness, some very tired and hopefully full pocketed florists might take a moment and read this blog… Grab a cuppa, put your feet up, and take a well-deserved rest after all that manic running around. We have some legal advice for florists!
So, hands up who has posted pics on Instagram and Facebook of the gorgeous arrangements and gifts they created for Valentine’s Day?
(Busiest day of the year for florists – you missed a trick if you didn’t…)
Obviously, social media is a fabulous way to get your styles and your design brilliance out there and hopefully attract new customers. But here’s our top Valentine’s Day legal advice for florists: do you make sure you have the right to use photographs of your work for promotional purposes in your T and C’s?
If you own a shop and create florals for walk-in purchase, the likelihood is that you don’t need to worry too much about written T and Cs. In general, you sell goods to consumers, and their rights are well enshrined in legislation so having anything additional for those who ‘call-in’ for a Valentine’s bouquet ready-created, off the shelf so to speak, isn’t necessary.
But what about those bespoke commissions? How do you deal with them? Do you take a deposit? Have installment payment options? Do you avoid cancellations and changes to the brief unless you can tweak your price? You have T and C’s for this, right?
Good – I do hope so (if not here’s a solution for you…)
Do you also include the right to use photographs of the work you produce for your own promotional purposes? When you have created a spectacular centerpiece, a stunning bouquet of red roses, or a beautiful wedding posy – you want to ‘show and tell’ don’t you? Best to have written into your terms: firstly, your right to the design – maybe commercially you are unlikely to be asserting your design rights in an IP claim but none the less you should protect your design rights, and secondly you want the right to show off. Pop a term in your client contract.
If your social media posts are non-client specific its less tricky, but if you would like the option to say who you work with, you need some term in your contract to ensure that you have their agreement. Most florists I’ve worked with don’t just rely on this agreement in the midst of their T and Cs – they also get specific consent from their customers if they are to be named too. It’s a very good idea.
If you want help to create your T and C’s – why not check out our template options here. If you’re looking for more legal advice for florists, contact us.