Just curious, really.
I picked up selling Avon a few weeks ago as a mean to supplement my pitiful college student income. I get by with my other job, but I really like shopping and buying makeup and having weather approriate shoes sometimes :D.
I’m actually surprised by how easy selling has been. The products are good quality and cheap so just about all of my friends will buy the wares I’m pimping. Pretty sweet, really.
So is there anyone else here? Or just lil ol me?
My wife does this and I go over the records at the end of the year to do taxes. I have some words of warning for you:
Watch out for fees on each order. They will hit you up for late order fees, small order fees, large order fees, split order fees, telephone order fees.
Watch out for ordering too many catalogs. You’re paying for them and what you don’t use, you eat.
You are aware that you will owe self-employment (social security) taxes on your profits at the rate of 15%. Avon convieniently avoided explaining that to my wife (or she convienient avoided hearing it).
You friends may get tired of seeing you once the new wears off.
Avon is a pyramid business. You will be strongly encouraged to recruit new “downline” members and you will hear stories about the big checks that people with large downlines are getting.
Keep good records. In fact, set up some spreadsheets and track your expenses and fees. Then consider the time you’re spending and make sure you’re being paid well for your time. I hope it works out for you.
Someone with more direct experience may come along later and refute my points, but there you go.
All very true points, but I am fully aware of the tax implications for two (er, really three) reasons:
They not only totally explained how that all works to me when I signed up.
1a. They also have the tax thing explained over and over and over on their website AND in bookletts they give you when you sign up.
My other job is as a tax preparer. I not only get income as an employee, but also as a partial owner of the business, so I’m used to keeping track of my business expenses and such.
Thank you though, it’s good advice for those that maybe weren’t paying attention during the Avon sales pitches.
avon has great products. i do like the fact that you can just hand out the catalogues and not have to have “parties” like some other companies.
my problem… buying more than i sold.
Actually, this is probably a good place to ask this question because it isn’t that much of a hijack and isn’t really worth opening a new thread about:
What’s it like? How would I (17 years old, just finished high school, in between jobs, would love the income and have people who would buy it) get into it? Any Aussies in Avon would be a wonderful help!
The Wife sells Avon - has since before I met her. She took it up for the same reason you did, all those many many many many many years ago.
You know the tax thingees, keep good records, it’s remarkably easy to make money, and yet, after expenses, show a loss to the IRS. Our tax guy every third year or so forces her to show profit so they don’t get all squiggy about it.
Other words of advice:
Get those effing boxes off the living room floor, no they are NOT very useful as long term storage, they’re cheap and fall apart easily.
Get a cat, and entertain it with the tie thing they seal the boxes with.
Their men’s boxers (clothing catalog) rock. I’m wearing the "Man of Steel’ ones she got me last year right now in fact. See?
Don’t be afraid of being a tiger about collections, even though they may be friends, when the check bounces, they’re just customers.
Are those boxes still on the floor?
What Tully Mars said about catalogs - except samples too.
When I was selling Avon, (20 years ago), my SIL decided to “help” me, by getting orders from her co-workers. The orders were pouring in, but when it came time to pay, she didn’t pressure them too much. She even gave them extra time and discounts without my knowledge. When I tried to contact them, she accused me of making things difficult at her workplace. :rolleyes:
I’m not an Avon Lady, but I did use to be a Kelly Girl.
My sister sold Avon for a long time, and I did as well. She’s actually about to get back into it and I’m considering it.
I enjoyed it very much when I sold. Unlike what was commented above, I never felt any sort of pressure to sell a particular amount of stuff or to recruit new people. I think you maybe got some kind of small bonus if you signed people up, but it’s not like you get a cut of their sales or anything.
At the time that I stopped (and I only stopped because I started really travelling a lot for work and I just wasn’t home enough to keep up with it) I was doing quite well with it. The products really pretty much sell themselves, and a lot of people are lifelong customers that come back again and again. If you up your customer service skills, you can really do well- stressing the money back guarentee, offering gift wrapping and little services like that.
It’s not too bad any more with the samples, because a lot of times the books themselves have smelly pages already, but the samples can get a little pricey- you want to be careful when ordering them or better yet go on E-bay and buy samples in a lot from someone that’s getting out of selling.
You also can sell to friends that don’t live near you- I buy from my friend Diane in Utah, and I can order from her Avon website or from the books I get sent- they mail me every other book and I place my order online. She sends me free shipping codes a lot so I rarely pay for shipping, either. That’s a great incentive- if you get some people not even in the area to order, that’s zero work for you and all profit on the sales. Sweet!
Enjoy- it’s certainly worth a shot and see what you think. Last I knew it wasn’t very much to get started- maybe $20 or $30? Could be more by now.
My mother started selling Avon when I was five – she needed something like thirty dollars a month to pay for school stuff for me. She treated it like a job, not a hobby, and when my Dad lost his job a year later Avon paid all our bills for a while. She ended up staying with the company for 18 years, became a district sales manager (salaried job with lots of perks), and ironically, the job that she took to pay for my kindergarten ended up providing me with a college scholarship. I know that not everyone’s experience will be like that, but for her it was a Godsend. She’s no longer with Avon, but we both still love their products.
They do tell me it’s best if I sign others up, because you do get a cut of their profits. It’s really no big either way though- no tons of pressure or anything. Plus, if you sign up 4 people, Avon straight away gives you $100.
And the website thing is awesome! I have one and I’ve gotten quite a few orders that way from my friends all around the country. It’s a really, really neat feature.
The fee to start up now is actually $10. It was $15, but they lowered it.
A good friend of mine sells Avon, and I hope she never quits! I am such an Avon whore now!
I don’t wear makeup and have my own skin care regimen, but I buy a lot of the jewelry, clothes, sandals, kid stuff, etc. Sure the jewelry is cheap, but it’s costume and my expectations aren’t that high. But the quality is actually quite good. The clothing and sandals have been good quality for what they are- flip flops and boxers!
She started selling when she was working three jobs to (almost) make ends meet. Now it’s not a necessity but she still enjoys it.
I’m only putting this here because someone else who wants to sell in a consultant-style business (Avon, Mary Kay, Jafra, Tupperware, et cetera) might read this:
Look into the laws of your specific locale. You might be required to get a business license (sometimes the corporate one just isn’t enough), and if you file your taxes and your local government finds out that you don’t have one, you can get into a LOT OF TROUBLE.
My mom and I sell Tupperware, one of her friends sells Jafra, one of our friends sells Mary Kay, another sells Simply Tasteful - we know a lot of consultants (and of course, DiosaBellissima - who I have already told about this) and a LOT of our friends have had issues with this. So look into it.
~Tasha