Anyone have personal experiences dealing with someone involving an MLM (aka: Pyramid Schemes)?

[whm1974]

20k income and she needs an accountant to do her taxes? Jeebus.

Either way that is still pocket change. Between all that she pays for her inventory along with fees to he able to present at a bridal show I'm sure she is barely paying for groceries with those miniscule amounts. Keep in mind, you would still make working retail then that amount.

And she wouldn't be pissing off her friends and family by trying to sell them junk or getting them to sign up as well.

 

[Kaido]

 

[Kaido]

For anyone oblivious to what I'm talking about, Jon Oliver can help you with that one:

tbh John Oliver deserves an award for that segment. It's worth the full 30-minute watch.

I have multiple friends who have gotten sucked into MLM's. Special berry juice, essential oils, hand lotions, makeup products, you name it. It's bananas. If you try to sell stuff to me, we're not hanging out anymore.

 

[Red Squirrel]

The thing with those reseller type schemes, they probably had some level of viability before the internet (still sketchy nonetheless) but now with the internet, people can just order that stuff online anyway. You want hand cream or snake oil, you can just order it on Amazon.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Stream, Market America, Amway, Brit World Wide, Yusana, HerbaLife, etc. - f*ck 'em

 

[Exterous]

20k income and she needs an accountant to do her taxes? Jeebus.

Either way that is still pocket change. Between all that she pays for her inventory along with fees to he able to present at a bridal show I'm sure she is barely paying for groceries with those miniscule amounts. Keep in mind, you would still make more working retail then that amount.

I'm not an accountant but I did setup our business and have some insights into the tax implications of your chosen structure and some of the intricacies with the various solo\simple\sep 401k\Roth\Ira plans. The $10k was profit so after the fees\inventory\etc and $10k as a second (side) job is pretty good. I'm not sure the hours per week but I doubt shes doing that many beyond her 40 hour work week but I didn't ask

 

[luv2liv]

i dont know how Avon and other MLM still exists.
why would someone buy from a person, when you can get the equivalent, and probably cheaper, from Walmart, Target, or Amazon.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I don't believe all MLM type businesses are bad..... As a part time work from home gig, it makes sense. A lot of people do it on social media.... The only place you can be, usually, is on the bottom because the margins are already too slim at that level to find someone to work for you. Most MLM businesses are sales driven and only pay commission with no base or benefits. What this means is that you're working for $10-30k less than someone with a benefits package before you ever start....and that's why most people with a college education never get into it.

 

[Scarpozzi]

i dont know how Avon and other MLM still exists.
why would someone buy from a person, when you can get the equivalent, and probably cheaper, from Walmart, Target, or Amazon.

Step 1. Convince someone to sell a product
Step 2. Convince them to gather friends/coworkers/or better yet, CHURCH people together to demo product
Step 3. Let said people feel judged by peers when they consider not buying anything....
Step 4. Profit

Women are funny animals when they converge in a group together... My wife got sucked into the MLM stuff for essential oils, but only because as a dealer, she gets free product. She had no intention to sell the stuff.

 

[Fritzo]

I have a former co-worker and good friend that went off the deep end a few years back, and it seems he and his family are just doing everything wrong. One of them is getting into Rodan & Fields makeup. They he and his wife travelled to another state for a seminar, fell for their "WHY ARE YOU WORKING TO MAKE SOMEONE ELSE RICH!" drivel, and they're going full bore with it on Facebook. I tried to explain that they're still making someone rich because you have to buy and hold someone else's inventory, but they'll have none of it.

Last I checked they have boxes and boxes of stuff in their garage, and trying to make money by selling people what are essentially "skin care subscriptions" (like ProActiv does). It's really sad. They had some tough times due to their son being born premature and disabled, and ever since then they've been finding fault with the government, the law, and businesses in general and trying to find a "get rich on their own" way out to show everyone how rigged the system is.

 

[jtvang125]

How they get so many people is that they sell "the dream". The shitty products are just a front so they can be legal. In actuality most of the products are bought by their own members to be able to maintain their membership. The real money making scheme is in the recruitment. People who join get brainwash and no longer have any shame in ruining your relationship to make a quick buck off of you. They'll try and sucker you into going over to hang out cause they have a couple of people over. All it is just an opportunity to pitch their crap and get you to sign up. Don't think that by saying "no thanks" is going to stop them. You'll be hearing from them again.

Shitty companies exist everywhere but all of these MLM businesses do nothing but exploit people. Once the market gets saturated they just close up and start a new one under a different name. Rinse and repeat.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I have a former co-worker and good friend that went off the deep end a few years back, and it seems he and his family are just doing everything wrong. One of them is getting into Rodan & Fields makeup. They he and his wife travelled to another state for a seminar, fell for their "WHY ARE YOU WORKING TO MAKE SOMEONE ELSE RICH!" drivel, and they're going full bore with it on Facebook. I tried to explain that they're still making someone rich because you have to buy and hold someone else's inventory, but they'll have none of it.

Last I checked they have boxes and boxes of stuff in their garage, and trying to make money by selling people what are essentially "skin care subscriptions" (like ProActiv does). It's really sad. They had some tough times due to their son being born premature and disabled, and ever since then they've been finding fault with the government, the law, and businesses in general and trying to find a "get rich on their own" way out to show everyone how rigged the system is.

Bummer.

Preying on people's desperation is the lowest of the low. On the bright side, at least they have not turned to crime. But on the dark side, they did turn to criminals for help, and that will not end well either.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

How they get so many people is that they sell "the dream". The shitty products are just a front so they can be legal. In actuality most of the products are bought by their own members to be able to maintain their membership. The real money making scheme is in the recruitment. People who join get brainwash and no longer have any shame in ruining your relationship to make a quick buck off of you. They'll try and sucker you into going over to hang out cause they have a couple of people over. All it is just an opportunity to pitch their crap and get you to sign up. Don't think that by saying "no thanks" is going to stop them. You'll be hearing from them again.

Shitty companies exist everywhere but all of these MLM businesses do nothing but exploit people. Once the market gets saturated they just close up and start a new one under a different name. Rinse and repeat.

Pyramid / Ponzi scheme

 

[JM Aggie08]

During a work trip, I once stayed at the same hotel that a regional HerbaLife convention was being held at. That was some scary stuff. Most of the folks I ran into had either a glazed over or an overenthusiastic look about them. Everyone had their 'weight loss' numbers written on their shirt, and were speaking in some strange lingo specific to their products (I would assume). In traditional MLM fashion, the 'top brass' had Lambos and other high-end vehicles with the company logo plastered all over them to show their new peons what their life could be like.

And the demographic for the attendees was as you'd expect -- late teens-early 20's who clearly did not attend any form of university, folks out of the job market, middle aged men and women that peaked in high school and have not done much sense. The thing seemed so....eerie.

 

[Tweak155]

I was in one for a while selling the product online... I didn't do the whole tell all your friends and family part of it, I.E heavy recruiting. Rather, I knew some people that sold the product and saw the success they were having just retailing online, so I gave it a shot.

Overall I was fairly successful, I turned a profit in the first year, but the majority of my experience was setting up any retail online store. I did game the recruiting benefits (without getting into all the technical details) but at no cost to those I personally signed up... I bought their stock and paid their signup fees for the most part as it benefited me to do so. On a good month I moved $30k of products so it was easy to play the game with that much stock coming in and out.

In the end, I'm glad I did it because I learned a crap ton ranging from how to get an online business going (none of which was taught to me by the MLM company btw) to how to have a positive attitude and stay focused on goals. Some of the reasons I quit doing it however are your typical reasons you might expect to avoid MLM altogether - the people are very greedy and toxic overall, and I also learned I did not enjoy selling & shipping product day in and day out. I found myself just waiting for that next notification that I made another sale... which could come in 3 minutes or sometimes a few hours... early on it could be a few days.

What ultimately got me out is that I signed up for a brand new MLM selling nearly identical product in anticipation to be higher up the chain when it got more popular. The first MLM caught me and quit selling me the original product I was selling very successfully, but in the end I was glad it was all over. I had roughly $8k in stock on hand when they cut me off so I thought I was screwed, but luckily I sold every last box of product I had.

 

[whm1974]

So will MLM stop being a viable way to rich off other folks lack of commonsense anytime soon? I hoping people will wise up.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

So will MLM stop being a viable way to rich off other folks lack of commonsense anytime soon? I hoping people will wise up.

A fool and their money are soon parted... it's just a matter of whom takes it. I don't think it's going away anytime soon... I mean, the husband of our secretary of education (Betsy DeVos) is the CEO of Amway if I recall.

 

[Mai72]

One, most people don't like to be sold too. There are people who have been successful at MLM but it's a very cut throat. The people who first get into it think it's going to be easy. You just buy the products, get a few people to buy and BAM! Insta millions. If only... You had better be OK with people telling you no, because you are going to hear a lot of it. Like anything, it's a business that takes long hours. A lot of long hours.

 

[Mai72]

A fool and their money are soon parted... it's just a matter of whom takes it. I don't think it's going away anytime soon... I mean, the husband of our secretary of education (Betsy DeVos) is the CEO of Amway if I recall.

Her Dad started Amway.

 

[zinfamous]

One, most people don't like to be sold too. There are people who have been successful at MLM but it's a very cut throat. The people who first get into it think it's going to be easy. You just buy the products, get a few people to buy and BAM! Insta millions. If only... You had better be OK with people telling you no, because you are going to hear a lot of it. Like anything, it's a business that takes long hours. A lot of long hours.

Of course you think MLM scams are "just a business."

 

[skull]

A few years ago my buddies ex got into a makeup one. The first time she posted on facebook I was like hey you know thats a pyramid scheme right, not really having any idea what it was it just looked scammy. She insisted it wasn't that she was going to make all kinds of money.

She would post all these things that looked prewritten by the company one day it would be I'm a boss lady making all this money on my own terms come join me. I'm not kidding she seriously was calling herself a boss lady. The kicker though was the next day shed post another thing begging people to buy her makeup so she could afford diapers for her kid. It was all very comical and sad at the same time. It would go on and on like this though one day she'd beg the next she'd brag about being a boss lady. You think youd be able to see through yourself as obvious as she made it.

 

[zinfamous]

A few years ago my buddies ex got into a makeup one. The first time she posted on facebook I was like hey you know thats a pyramid scheme right, not really having any idea what it was it just looked scammy. She insisted it wasn't that she was going to make all kinds of money.

She would post all these things that looked prewritten by the company one day it would be I'm a boss lady making all this money on my own terms come join me. I'm not kidding she seriously was calling herself a boss lady. The kicker though was the next day shed post another thing begging people to buy her makeup so she could afford diapers for her kid. It was all very comical and sad at the same time. It would go on and on like this though one day she'd beg the next she'd brag about being a boss lady. You think youd be able to see through yourself as obvious as she made it.

was her garage/apartment filled with unsold cases of makeup that she was contracted to purchase on her own cash?

 

[BurnItDwn]

The Sunk Cost Fallacy breaks people even worse.
I already lost XXX in the scam, so, it has to pay off eventually.

It's just like the Lottery or the Casino. People don't get attached to their money until they lose it, and then, they think somehow it will come back to them because 1/10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 people make a profit doing it, and they think they are "special", they simply don't "think", or they can't comprehend numbers or math or statistics.

Really should just chainsaw gutsfuck all the MLM Scam Leaders as we find them and maybe people will be less willing to scam people if their lifespan is measured in days rather than decades.

 

[skull]

was her garage/apartment filled with unsold cases of makeup that she was contracted to purchase on her own cash?

Not sure I know she started wearing more make up than a clown though.

 

[local]

My parents got into Amway in the 90's, even as a kid I thought the whole recruit/sell to your friends thing was a bit sketchy. That lasted for a few years then they quit. After that my mother got into another one that I can't remember she quit that one after a while too. And finally now my sister is doing one of those health ones but knows better than to try and sell anything to me.