I also notice that you didn’t register until -after- this thread started, and I hardly suspect that a current Quixtar/Amway distributor would be considered impartial. Don’t lose your shirt. It would suck.
Funny story about the Amway mystique:
My husband asked a traveling engineer working at his company for a few months to come with his wife to our house for a home-cooked meal. The guy didn’t seem to want to, but finally came. Dinner went well, until post-dessert, when my husband asked, “Would you like to see my small on-the-side business?” and the couple stiffened. Hubby wondered what was so terrible about the novelty wall-clocks he was making (didn’t work out), when the couple burst into laughter.
Seems they had suspected Amway when he first invited them over, then had relaxed during dinner, only to be poleaxed by the Amway pitch–which wasn’t!
A friend of mine had gotten heavily into the Amway thing, which stopped our association cold for nearly 10 years. The pressure to join up is just unbearable. My Avon pals, Pampered Chef buddies, and other “home party” types ask you to buy something once or twice a year, and take a polite “no” for an answer. The Amway folks tend to give you an endless spiel every time you see them.
I have seen the other side of this. I refuse to be a part of it.
What I do is kind of like joining sams club to get discounts. thats it. thats all I do.
MLM? I don’t know the secret handshake. What’s MLM?
Multi-level marketing, also called network marketing, wherein a portion of one’s income is based on sales by those one has recruited, and by those they have recruited, etc.
I gather the difference between a legal MLM and an illegal pyramid scheme is that the MLM remains legal because some significant percentage of the “franchise owner’s” earnings is somehow based on the distribution of products vice the recruitment of new sub-franchisees. Is this correct?
Also: Am I correct here when I read Quixtar to be in essence a rechristened Amway? Sam says “Amway as a company only makes products now. and everything must be done thru Quixtar.”
Alticor is the parent company of Amway and Quixtar.
More info in previous threads about Amway:
I gather the difference between a legal MLM and an illegal pyramid scheme is that the MLM remains legal because some significant percentage of the “franchise owner’s” earnings is somehow based on the distribution of products vice the recruitment of new sub-franchisees. Is this correct?
Yes, that’s my understanding. In a pyramid (Ponzi) scheme, admission fees from new members, sometimes quite hefty, are the sole source of income, and membership (with the hope of getting money from newer members) is the sole “product.” Some of these set-ups try to get around this by including a booklet or some such and claiming that they’re selling information, but that’s usually very transparent.
In MLM, virtually all of the income is generated by product sales. People in upper levels get a percentage of the sales of those below them in the recruitment pattern. There are usually modest enrolment fees which seem justifiable to cover admistrative expenses; these go straight to the company, not to other distributors.
It’s generally not hard to tell the difference with a minimum of research and evaluation, but some states take a very rigid and narrow approach and are hard on MLM companies. I understand, though, that Amway has won some court cases over the years, showing that it is not a Ponzi scheme.
Yeah, if you consider selling people ephedra to lose weight “helping them”. Hey, have you guys heard about the cocaine diet? Sign up for “cocalife” now, and recruit your friends!
Several people that I’ve been acquainted with over the years have tried to pitch Mr. Winnie and I some kind of Amway-related thing. When we said no, they either figured out shortly that they were not going to make millions off of it and got out soon, kind of sheepishly laughing at themselves, or got sucked in hard and we’ve never heard from them again.
The worst feeling is having a pleasant conversation with someone then getting the “I’m having a dinner party at my home on Saturday and a friend of mine will be giving a 50-minute presentation on a small business venture that I’m exploring, will you come?” Before they’ve even finished the sentence you know what’s going on and are trying to figure out how to weasle out of it. A private music instructor of mine recently got herself involved, tried to pitch it to me heavily, and once I gave a final “absolutely not, but I wish you the best of luck and hope to hear how you’re doing with it” I never heard from her again, and don’t expect to. The “mentors” really encourage their ‘downlines’ to not associate themselves with people who are not pro-Amway.
On the other hand, every Avon, Tupperware, Longenberger, etc. party I’ve ever been to has been very, very pleasant and the rep will simply part by saying “and if anyone is ever interested in hosting a party of their own I’ll leave my business card on the table. Have a nice day.” Makes it a lot easier to buy a little something to just help them out (except those overpriced baskets… I just can’t bring myself to fork out $40 for a tiny little basket for my keys).