An eye-opener about MLM products (Advocare)
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Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »I will never sell, but good grief I've bought a lot of stuff from friends selling... Tupperware, Southern Living, 31 bags, Mary Kay, Avon, Arbonne... lately, it's been a push to buy Rodan & Fields. I've held off because they don't actually have parties. I just get a lot of Facebook messages asking me to buy.
Surprisingly, I've never gotten hit up for diet/nutrition/weight loss stuff.
Sure, certain products are fine, especially from Tupperware or Pampered Chef, like @earlnabby mentioned. However, I don't feel comfortable supporting the business model, so I never purchase the products and I let them down firmly when asked.
One of my coworkers sells 31 and brought several of us a lunchbox for free once, obviously hoping it would woo us into buying more of her crap. No joke, that is the worst lunchbox I've ever used - no insulation and my food is room temperature in no time, even with a cold pack in there.
LOL - I forgot about Pampered Chef. Yep, I bought some of their stuff too - the worst apple corer ever.
I guess I'm a sucker for feeling bad for my friends. I'm pretty certain they will never be as successful as they are promised, but I try to be supportive of them by buying 1 or 2 things. You are right though - it's misguided support.
Although, I did buy a lot of Tupperware - I do like their products
I don't feel bad for them at all. They're adults and they know exactly what they're doing. They don't feel bad for me when they ask me how I'm doing as an opener for their sales pitch, which shows that they didn't really care how I was doing and just wanted to sell me their crap. They don't feel bad when they lie to me about their magical oils and supplements. They don't feel bad when they haven't given me the time of day for ages and then suddenly invite me to their Jamberry party.
So no, I don't feel a bit bad for telling them no.0 -
My aunt was into forment water, which came and went before the internet age. It may be Kangen water now.
http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/kangen-water-scam/
...here is what the FTC says about MLMs and pyramid schemes:
"Not all multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. If the money you make is based on your sales to the public, it may be a legitimate multilevel marketing plan. If the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, it’s not. It’s a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal, and the vast majority of participants lose money... Avoid any plan where the reward for recruiting new distributors is more than it is for selling products to the public. That’s a time-tested and traditional tip-off to a pyramid scheme."0 -
I love pampered chef's stone cook and bake ware. I use the pizza stone nearly every day, but I don't deal with sales pitches. When there are products I want to order, I go through the website. Pampered Chef lets you order directly on the site, or at least they used to. Sales people are the worst. I know they're just trying to make a buck or two, but I can't stand how they just interrupt you to sell you crap and don't care anything about who you are or what you need. Every time I go to Sam's Club, a DirectTV rep is in there right near the entrance and tries to stop me. I've stopped being polite and now I don't even acknowledge his existence and just keep walking.0
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I love Pampered Chef, Tupperware and Scentsy products. I will buy MLM products, but I will not get involved in the "business".0
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SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage wrote: »I love Pampered Chef, Tupperware and Scentsy products. I will buy MLM products, but I will not get involved in the "business".
I have had my PC chopper and tablespoon/teaspoon for over 10 years. Id definitely attend or throw a party come to think of it.0 -
MommyMeggo wrote: »SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage wrote: »I love Pampered Chef, Tupperware and Scentsy products. I will buy MLM products, but I will not get involved in the "business".
I have had my PC chopper and tablespoon/teaspoon for over 10 years. Id definitely attend or throw a party come to think of it.
I have a big Tupperware bowl from my Grandma that I absolutely love. It's got to be 30+ years old. The lid broke a couple of years ago and Tupperware honored their lifetime warranty and replaced the lid free of charge. I was impressed.0 -
vivmom2014 wrote: »Yuck - that stuff about calling family members who raise objections "dream killers" sounds like the Scientologists with their "suppressive persons"... RUN!
My favorite was - He had been reluctant to fly to Texas for the event, which cost $119, but he says his superiors pushed him to make the trek. "They told me, 'Put it on your credit card. If your family doesn't support you, go anyways,'" he says.
Way to promote a healthy balanced life by having someone piss their family off.0 -
MommyL2015 wrote: »I love pampered chef's stone cook and bake ware. I use the pizza stone nearly every day, but I don't deal with sales pitches. When there are products I want to order, I go through the website. Pampered Chef lets you order directly on the site, or at least they used to. Sales people are the worst. I know they're just trying to make a buck or two, but I can't stand how they just interrupt you to sell you crap and don't care anything about who you are or what you need. Every time I go to Sam's Club, a DirectTV rep is in there right near the entrance and tries to stop me. I've stopped being polite and now I don't even acknowledge his existence and just keep walking.
I love my Pampered Chef pizza stone! But I didn't get it at a Pampered Chef party...I won it in a tricky-tray a few years ago.
I do remember getting invited to a lot of Pampered Chef parties...and there was another one that sold candles (I think it was Party-Lite, but I can't remember) back in the late 90's. It was a huge thing. I never bought anything at these parties...I just went for the free wine and cheese
A company I used to work for back in 1996/97 tried to get me involved in Amway (they were also trying to get me to join their LDS church). I ended up quitting.
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vivmom2014 wrote: »Yuck - that stuff about calling family members who raise objections "dream killers" sounds like the Scientologists with their "suppressive persons"... RUN!
My favorite was - He had been reluctant to fly to Texas for the event, which cost $119, but he says his superiors pushed him to make the trek. "They told me, 'Put it on your credit card. If your family doesn't support you, go anyways,'" he says.
Way to promote a healthy balanced life by having someone piss their family off.
I think this is what provokes some of the comments of "I feel bad for them..." because you do see people getting all mixed up in the hopes of cashing in.
The one I see everywhere on Instagram is Younique. Their big thing is they...wait for it..."empower women!" Riiiiight. Exactly what are they empowering women to do? Wreak havoc on all their relationships and go broke in the process?? Plus it's all this malarkey about how horrible women look without make-up until the vaunted Younique products swooped in to save the day. Great message...
Ick. Again: run!!!
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Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »I will never sell, but good grief I've bought a lot of stuff from friends selling... Tupperware, Southern Living, 31 bags, Mary Kay, Avon, Arbonne... lately, it's been a push to buy Rodan & Fields. I've held off because they don't actually have parties. I just get a lot of Facebook messages asking me to buy.
Surprisingly, I've never gotten hit up for diet/nutrition/weight loss stuff.
Sure, certain products are fine, especially from Tupperware or Pampered Chef, like @earlnabby mentioned. However, I don't feel comfortable supporting the business model, so I never purchase the products and I let them down firmly when asked.
One of my coworkers sells 31 and brought several of us a lunchbox for free once, obviously hoping it would woo us into buying more of her crap. No joke, that is the worst lunchbox I've ever used - no insulation and my food is room temperature in no time, even with a cold pack in there.
LOL - I forgot about Pampered Chef. Yep, I bought some of their stuff too - the worst apple corer ever.
I guess I'm a sucker for feeling bad for my friends. I'm pretty certain they will never be as successful as they are promised, but I try to be supportive of them by buying 1 or 2 things. You are right though - it's misguided support.
Although, I did buy a lot of Tupperware - I do like their products
I don't feel bad for them at all. They're adults and they know exactly what they're doing. They don't feel bad for me when they ask me how I'm doing as an opener for their sales pitch, which shows that they didn't really care how I was doing and just wanted to sell me their crap. They don't feel bad when they lie to me about their magical oils and supplements. They don't feel bad when they haven't given me the time of day for ages and then suddenly invite me to their Jamberry party.
So no, I don't feel a bit bad for telling them no.
lol - I forgot about Jamberry. I refused to buy those because I have a ton of nail polish I already don't use anymore. After having kids I just don't have the time time paint my nails anymore! It's so much easier to not buy anything when you are only invited to a "facebook party". I also have bought PartyLite candles years and years ago - I'm not sure those are around anymore. Scentsy has probably taken over - haven't bought any scentsy, but then I haven't been invited to a party yet - lol.
I've got friends selling lularoe now - apparently, it's very expensive leggings.
Also, Ava Anderson products and Posh products.
I was also invited to a facebook party for fake eyelashes.0 -
Well, yea. They're all pyramid schemes aka scams - I knew that right off the bat.0
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mommarnurse wrote: »Well, yea. They're all pyramid schemes aka scams - I knew that right off the bat.
But it's confusing. Pyramid schemes are shut down because they're illegal. So how do these other ones slip through and keep their legal status??
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I will never buy anything from the, "fitness," mlm cults, but I do enjoy those Jamberry nail things, and when ever any of my friends have a party I always buy from the party.
ETA: I do not sell Jamberry, nor do I want to. Do not contact me about buying Jamberry from you, I only buy it from my friends when they have Facebook parties.0 -
vivmom2014 wrote: »mommarnurse wrote: »Well, yea. They're all pyramid schemes aka scams - I knew that right off the bat.
But it's confusing. Pyramid schemes are shut down because they're illegal. So how do these other ones slip through and keep their legal status??
Semantics.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-10/business/ct-biz-0210-herbalife-20130210_1_pyramid-schemes-mlm-companies-multilevel-marketerThe difference between a legitimate business and pyramid scheme comes down to products.
If the company and its distributors make money primarily from the sale of products to end-users (and not boxes of product accumulating in a distributor's garage), it's OK.
By contrast, a pyramid scheme compensates those at the top of the pyramid with participation fees paid by those recruited at the bottom. It eventually collapses when the scheme can't recruit more people.
But identifying a pyramid scheme can be difficult because MLMs typically have product sales, along with recruitment fees and recruitment incentives.
"It gets cloudy when you have a situation where you have fees being paid for both," said Monica Vaca, assistant director of the FTC's division of marketing practices. "It's very nuanced."
So basically, as long as the company is selling a tangible product, even if it doesn't work and the claims are complete lies, it's okay to operate.
It's sneaky and unethical.
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Another thing a distributer/my friend told me was there was no fake sweetners in advocare stuff. Got a free sample from her took a sip and was like DAMN IT there is sucrolose aka:fake sweetner. Now i check everything before i try it. I may not be the healthiest person but i refuse to put that fake *kitten* in my body!!!!0
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holly23cali wrote: »Another thing a distributer/my friend told me was there was no fake sweetners in advocare stuff. Got a free sample from her took a sip and was like DAMN IT there is sucrolose aka:fake sweetner. Now i check everything before i try it. I may not be the healthiest person but i refuse to put that fake *kitten* in my body!!!!
Great job on not falling for MLM scams.
Bad job on falling for the fear-mongering surrounding artificial sweeteners. They are a life-saver for many diabetics. None of them have been proven harmful in normal quantities.1 -
I used to be a hair stylist, and all my friends suddenly started approaching me to sell the it works wraps under them to my clients. I feel like this is something they tell them in training, "try to recruit people in the beauty/salon industry," because they all would message me the same thing. Yeah, because that's what people want when they are going to the salon to spend money to feel pampered and get pretty, someone trying to push MLM products on them. smh0
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I have a not so close friend who is an ItWorks distributor, and she posts anywhere from 6-10 times per day about why you should try "those crazy wrap things" (that phrase makes me want to barf). I don't think she realizes that she is being taken advantage of, but is a grown woman and can make her own choices. I don't understand why anyone would buy into this. The pictures that posts are mostly not even people she sells to but probably ones she gets sent and told to post. There are glaringly obvious "cheats" in pictures (bad posture in the before picture, standing straight in the after picture, wearing totally different clothing, different lighting). I don't really know why I started to post this but it feels really good to rant.0
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ChristinaOrr65 wrote: »I used to be a hair stylist, and all my friends suddenly started approaching me to sell the it works wraps under them to my clients. I feel like this is something they tell them in training, "try to recruit people in the beauty/salon industry," because they all would message me the same thing. Yeah, because that's what people want when they are going to the salon to spend money to feel pampered and get pretty, someone trying to push MLM products on them. smh
Someone would get their hair pulled out if they bothered me at the salon!0 -
Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »holly23cali wrote: »Another thing a distributer/my friend told me was there was no fake sweetners in advocare stuff. Got a free sample from her took a sip and was like DAMN IT there is sucrolose aka:fake sweetner. Now i check everything before i try it. I may not be the healthiest person but i refuse to put that fake *kitten* in my body!!!!
Great job on not falling for MLM scams.
Bad job on falling for the fear-mongering surrounding artificial sweeteners. They are a life-saver for many diabetics. None of them have been proven harmful in normal quantities.
There is way more research about artificial sweetners, than in the past. It's a personal choice. I get they help diabetics and that is great. For me and my family we choose not too. Really if its not one thing it's another right?! Also what i didnt appreciate was her lack of knowledge about the product.0
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