# Amway **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486 "2006-02-28T18:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486/41 "2006-03-03T00:04:14Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I have had several brushes with Amway folks (and similar organizations like NuSkin) over the years. There is one thing that distinctly stands out in my mind. Every single time I have been approached by one of these people, they try to get me to become a rep but nobody has ever _not even once_ tried to sell me an actual product. Today I do not know where I could buy an Amway product if my life depended on it. In fact, leaving the cover story aside, Amway pretty much is a pyramid scheme. They sell products, but that’s not what it’s about. As you say, few people who are not Amway distributors buy their stuff. It’s all about getting a pyramid under you, who will (in accordance with the rules) replace the products in their homes with Amway products. They will do this not because they are inspired by particular cleaning products but because they want to make money as a distributor ie by getting a pyramid under them. If you read up from the links in this thread you will see that hardly anyone makes any money out of Amway and certainly not by selling product. Those that do, do so by _recruiting people using the lie that they will make money_, just like any other common or garden pyramid scheme. And further, making money in this way gets harder and harder in any given community, as word gets round that you can’t make money out of it, and downlines become harder and harder to recruit. Saturation is reached. Just like any other pyramid scheme. Which is ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486/42 "2006-03-03T03:42:38Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I have had several brushes with Amway folks…over the years. There is one thing that distinctly stands out in my mind. Every single time I have been approached by one of these people, they try to get me to become a rep but nobody has ever _not even once_ tried to sell me an actual product. Today I do not know where I could buy an Amway product if my life depended on it. This has been my experience as well. In contrast, when I have been approached by sellers for Avon or Pampered Chef, they are trying to sell the product. They’ve shown me products and/or given me samples and/or given me a catalog–pretty much like any salesperson would do. I’ve occasionally received a mild pitch to become a rep, but nothing like the weird and deceptive Amway pitch. And unlike Amway, they don’t try and hide what exactly it is that they’re pitching to me. > [@Agonist](#): > > Does anyone know of a successful door-to-door or MLM company that went to standard store retail and still survived? I can’t think of any, and that suggests that it’s not just product quality that determines retail success. I have seen Tupperware sold in kiosks in the mall. They also make a line of commercial-grade food storage containers, available only through commercial suppliers. Also, I think I saw a line from them at Target recently. It was a special line, apparently produced specifically for sale at big-box discounters. Tupperware used to be a really unusual product. Now that there are lots of similar competitors, they seem to have found ways to survive and (hopefully) thrive in regular retail markets. The thing is that they _can_ compete because their products are genuinely high quality. (There’s only a few items from them that I’m willing to pay the high prices for, but I’ll gladly pony up for these things, as they’re unique and awesome. ) I’ve never seen Avon sold in stores, but I’ll bet it could survive the switch. I’ve never used it, but I hear uniformly positive reviews. Lots of folks prefer other brands, but as far as I’ve heard, Avon is good stuff at a good price. I have seen Avon stuff sold at small local street fairs. A rep will get a table and put out a bunch of product–usually stuff like bath gel and Skin so Soft. They seem to do pretty well with it. Ultimately, the difference between Amway and other MLM and direct-sales organization is that Amway is just plain creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486/43 "2006-03-03T14:13:20Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > Right, I was getting markup and discount confused. But I did say the commission checks come from MK. I also didn’t _directly_ call MK an MLM, just _something_ of an MLM. Sorry for the confusion. > > Does Avon really work the way you describe it, **Avarie537**? My mother was an Avon rep in the 1970’s; all her stock was ordered direct from Avon, not her district manager. (And back then I believe the split was 60/40, with the rep getting the 60%. Of course, it’s been over thirty years; I could have that backward.) I’ve never been personally involved with Avon, but that’s how it’s been described to me. I guess I should have put that caveat in my post. Honestly, Avon might not work that way - but I know that other MLMs do. (I was once part of a “group interview” that was nothing more than a big pitch for a natural products MLM.) ---
**Author:** ![SentientMeat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SentientMeat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SentientMeat)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486/44 "2006-03-03T14:30:17Z")
Anecdotal though this is, I have lost a friend to Scamways. My sketicism and critical thinking, apparently, made me ‘backwards looking’, and he literally didn’t speak to me again. Last I heard, he was living in a council house in Merthyr Tydfil. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486/45 "2006-03-03T16:02:33Z")
I have ex-friends who sell or sold Amway. “Ex” because of the constant recruiting pressure - calls on a regular basis to talk me into becoming a distributor. I was once tricked into going to a party that turned out to be an Amway meeting. The people I know that are involved with Amway act like cult members and I won’t have anything to do with anyone who’s involved with that religion. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486/46 "2006-03-03T17:03:28Z")
> [@SentientMeat](#): > > Anecdotal though this is, I have lost a friend to Scamways. My sketicism and critical thinking, apparently, made me ‘backwards looking’, and he literally didn’t speak to me again. > > Last I heard, he was living in a council house in Merthyr Tydfil. I’m sorry can you translate “council house” to American English? I don’t know if you mean a jail, a mental institution or a poor house or something else. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486/47 "2006-03-03T17:19:18Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Well read this: [Amway: The Untold Story: Amway/Consumer Reports](http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Amway/AUS/cr.htm). I’m curious as to why you would regard talking “to an Amway person” as being relevant to the truth about their products. The crystal bright info (2nd in the test)and the SA8 at 4th out of 35 line up with the articles I recall. As to your question, because they tend to know more about articles and such than I do because I really don’t care. 🙂 It’s not their word that I would trust, just the knowledge that they have more of an interest in keeping up on amway related news than I. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486/48 "2006-03-03T17:43:59Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > I’m sorry can you translate “council house” to American English? > I don’t know if you mean a jail, a mental institution or a poor house or something else. > > Jim I believe it’s roughly equivalent to “Section 8” housing. > **[Council house](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_house)** > > A council house is a form of British public housing built by local authorities. A council estate is a building complex containing a number of council houses and other amenities like schools and shops. Construction took place mainly from 1919 after the Housing Act 1919 to the 1980s, with much less council housing built since then. There were local design variations, but they all adhered to local authority building standards. The Housing Acts of 1985 and 1988 facilitated the transfer of council... ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486/49 "2006-03-03T19:52:54Z")
My wife has been an Avon rep for a couple of years now. It’s something she really enjoys. There is very little in the way of carrying an inventory. The catalogs and promotional materials are reasonably priced and she can buy however much (or little) that she wants. The only money risked is the amount of each order. There is a lag time between the time she places the order (and is charged for it), and the time the customers actually pay. If something goes wrong, she could get left holding the bag for the unpaid part of the order. However, she can return the product for 100% credit, so if someone doesn’t pay, it gets returned. It’s not really much of a risk. The profit is nowhere near a 60/40 split, however. The markup depends on the item. Some items only get a 20% profit. Some are higher. My wife’s margin is usally around 35%, with some 20% items mixed in. If she had more volume, her profit could rise as high as 60%. The retail prices for the items are printed in the customer’s catalog, so she isn’t free to sell them at whatever price she wants. She enjoys it. She and my teenage daughter get to go through a bunch of girlie things. It gives her some girl-talk with her friends. She makes about $1000 a year doing it, which pays for little things like having her nails done. She even has me distributing catalogs and products to staff members here at school. (I NEVER sell to students.) ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486/50 "2006-03-03T20:40:26Z")
What I don’t get is, why would people choose to buy household cleaning products through Amway as opposed to their local supermarket, Wal-Mart, Target, dollar store, etc? Quality doesn’t really vary that widely amongst products such as laundry detergent, dish soap, etc. So why pay more for Amway and have to go through the hassle of ordering it and waiting for it to be delivered? And, who manufactures Amway’s products? Do they have their own exclusive formulas and factories? Or are they like some store brands that are manufactured in the same factories as national brands, but just with different labels and packaging (and prices)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amway/346486.md?page=2)