Anybody done Slumber Parties or other home sales companies?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My husband thinks I ought to become a smut peddler. Specifically, he thinks I ought to become a home sales representative for Slumber Parties Inc. (NSFW, obviously, as is a smut-peddling website.) I’m thinking about it, but I don’t really know much about home sales companies and want some feedback from people who have some experience but aren’t trying to sell me on anything.

Near as I can tell, the basic set-up is that you buy stuff from corporate at a discounted price, do demonstrations in people’s homes and sell it for the list price, with the hostess getting some sort of incentive like a free gift or discount or both. The more you order, the bigger your discount is and the more money you make. It sounds like what I remember from when my mom sold Mary Kay when I was a kid, except instead of squirting out little things of foundation for people to smear around, it’s lube or clit stimulating gel. (I guess I could ask Mom how she liked her home-selling stint, but I’d really prefer not to tell my mother I’m thinking about selling sex toys in people’s living rooms. She’d probably want to order something, and eeeeewwwwww.)

So, anybody who’s done home sales of any type, how was it? How did you strike a balance between having enough stock that people could take stuff home that night and having a ton of shit you didn’t need lying around? Was it hard making sales at first before you really got your demo stock built up?

2

While I don’t have any experience with the sex toy party business, I don’t think that’s quite how these things work. My sister and cousin take part in the jewelery party business and it’s my understanding that the hostess collects everyone’s order and ships it off to the corporate office, which then fulfills the orders from their warehouse in a week or so.

Aside from a few door prizes, I don’t think there’s anything available for people to take home at the party.

3

I think it depends on the individual doing the selling. Every time I’ve ever been to home sales parties, there’s been at least some stuff taken home that night. I’ve never been to a jewelry party, though, just makeup and sex toys, so it may be something that works differently with the particular company your sister uses. Or it may be that it’s not worth her expense and hassle to drag extra stock around with her.

4

If you aren’t already aware of it, you might find a site called Pink Truth informative. It’s mainly about Mary Kay, but has a ton of information about MLMs in general.

While programs are structured differently, asking reps to buy inventory is a very rep-unfriendly practice. If you do decide to do one of these programs, you probably want to avoid one that requires you to buy inventory.

5

I have had several friends do those type of “party” sales. I had one girl in one of them that would host a party for someone if they hosted a party for them. I was part of her “stable.”

I freaking have hated every single one of those things I’ve ever been to. Beyond the quality or lack thereof, the fundamental flaw is that I can walk into a store, decide to buy something or not and I don’t have to feel guilty. Being a guest in someones home, eating their food, enjoying their hospitality makes you feel OBLIGATED to buy something, whether you want to or not. Worse, you end up seeing your friends as commodities. Your friends end up feeling used.

As much as I hated being invited to every tupperware, pampered chef, mary kay party in 3 counties by that woman, the worst was the time I got an invitation to a party in the mail. Just a regular party invitation. I RSVP’d. When I showed up, it wasn’t a party party, it was a freakin’ candlelight party. Parties by definition do NOT sucker you into buying shit.

BTW, I warned my friend about all the collateral crap they push on you besides the products, the tapes, the books, the meetings, the seminars, the inspirational notepads. I warned her about them telling her to not listen to her friends if they don’t support her and her “business.” I warned her about buying a ton of products before she knew if she liked doing it or was any good at it.

End result: She ended up charging about $3k worth of make up to a credit card. When her and her husband were so broke and desperately needed cash, she had 99% of the products for sale at her yardsale for about 25 cents each and three HUGE boxes filled with nothing but inspirational tapes, books, flyers all the stuff I warned her about. I know the tapes cost her at least $3 each (home copied of course) and she had all that stuff marked “Free.”

I have no idea how much she “invested” in her business, but she lost most of it. Not to mention, she was one of the most self-absorbed people I’ve ever met. The thought that she gave a flying fuck if anyone ever looked better was laughable on a good day. She was in it for the money. Beauty Consultant my ass.

Should I tell you about the last party of hers I went to? Her husband assured us that those of us who were her regular stable would not be the only people there. He had invited all the girls from his work, she had invited everyone from her work, they had rented 50 chairs and spent all day cooking.

Guess who showed? Me, my mother in law, my 2 sisters in law. The rest of her regular stable. It was so bad, her husbands mother did not even come.

Don’t be that girl, please.

6

Well, in all fairness, being a total ass-weasel isn’t typically high on my list of things to do anyway. :smiley: And your “friend” is a total ass-weasel, though I’m sure you already knew that. :eek: People like that ought to be drug out in the street and shot.

If I were to do this, I frankly wouldn’t want to sell to my friends. It would give me far more info about their sex lives than I care to have. In all likelihood, I’d be doing a couple bachelorette parties a year and using the dealer discount for my own stuff.

7

A mutual friend of my roommate and I used to sell for Pure Romance - which sells the same stuff as your Slumber Parties, there. A few weeks ago the roommate came home from a visit with said friend with a huuuuge tub full of her un-used products, that she didn’t need/want anymore. There were about 3 or 4 of almost every item, plus one-offs she had bought for display purposes.

Seems to me she had about $2000 worth of stuff in that box - unless she got it at an extreme discount - and there was nothing she could do with it but give it away.

Doesn’t really seem like a lucrative venture to me. None of that stuff is really spectacular. I can get it at the drugstore for cheaper.

8

Yowza, Auntbeast. Just… yowza.

9

If you are the sort that can entertain while the ladies have a few wines then that would be great. I think the sorts of toys you’re talking about there is a certain “embarrassment” factor that stops people from trying (or even looking ) in stores. So if you can keep it to a fun time over wines rather than high pressure selling (and this is down to your personality) then it could go great.

For one product I was promoting (shoes) we were going to put on a “sex talk” for married ladies of leisure - if it comes across like that it might be fun

10

Hey, CrazyCatLady, just so you know, my post was about 3 different people I knew who got in to those things.

The only person I know that was ever involved in that sort of thing, that wasn’t a complete wacko about it, does Avon. While she usually has the catalogs laying around, she hasn’t pressured me to buy anything.

The thing is, you may not want to sell to your friends, but how many people would you invite in to your home to bring in buckets of vibrators?

I was invited to a bachelor party that included someone selling that crap. I declined to go and from the reports I heard, I’m very glad. A few of the folks did not know that is what was going to be happening and were absolutely embarrassed beyond measure.

You know you can buy pretty much any sexual device on the internet that will come in a discreet packaging and doesn’t involve your friends watching you fondling it? Really, what advantage does a home party thing have? Convenient hours? Discretion? Anonymity? Price?

If you are buying enough sex toys to convince yourself you should go in to business doing so, do me a favor, do a google search for a few of the items this particular company sells. Check Ebay, look around. Are the prices you are going to get as an “independent distributor” better than what some poor person is trying to unload their cache of goods for?

I just visited their website and they have online shopping. It is entirely possible to purchase items without using a consultant.

Here is a listing on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Wholesale-Lot-of-Slumber-Parties-Items-NEW_W0QQitemZ150354081656QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2301cd3778&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1205|293%3A1|294%3A50

She’s no longer a consultant and is selling her stock at below cost. There are zero bids.

11

Missed the window.

Check the closed listings on Ebay also. Lots of closed listings that didn’t sell at prices way, way below retail.

12

It’s not just the nature of the products that stops people from looking around or buying stuff in a lot of places–it’s the stores. Unless you’re lucky enough to live near a store like Babeland or Good Vibrations, a lot of those places are just plain skeevy. We don’t have one within a couple hours drive right now, but when we lived in other places the sex shops were almost always in a sketchy part of town, either right in the middle of a patch of nudie bars or in the same building with one. They were very clean and well-lit, but there was porn of every description everywhere, and most of the toy packaging had pictures of porn starlets in thoroughly skanky outfits and poses. The whole experience can be quite intimidating and off-putting if you don’t already really want that vibrator.

13

MLM businesses are always bad IMHO. I had a roommate who tried to do two different MLM schemes, one for make-up and one for vitamins/weight loss products. Both times she ended up throwing away about $500 worth of crap she was forced to buy and couldn’t use. Your friends don’t want to buy this stuff and will learn to avoid you if you get too aggressive in your sales pitch and strangers can go to stores or go online and buy those things with a lot less embarrassment. There are better ways to make some extra cash, I promise.

14

Anybody who I could trust to bring brand-new ones that weren’t junk. Mileage obviously varies, as it does with pretty much anything else.

Yeah, but where’s the fun in that? The one we threw for a friend getting married a few years back was a scream, especially when people started wearing the double-headed jelly dong like a scarf and lip-synching into one end of it. And buying on the net doesn’t give you the chance to check out the texture, actually feel the size and shape, or test the strength of the vibrations, so it’s a bit of buying a pig in a poke.

The whole point is that I think it might be a fun thing to do, not a huge money-maker. Believe me, I’m under no illusions that I’m going to get rich quick being the butt-plug connection in rural Appalachia and should immediately order thousands of dollars of merchandise.

15

I agree. I was dragged kicking and screaming to one of those parties that a co worker was hosting, and I ended up having a good time. I bought a couple things, one for me, and one for my guy and he loves it.

I have no idea how the business end is run, but I knew the hostess and everyone else there, and while I was worried it was going to be weird and uncomfortable to be surrounded by sex toys and coworkers, but everyone was cool and it was a lot of fun.

16

I did jewelry sales for about a year, and I am satistfied with the experience. Some points about the company I worked for…

  1. The only thing I was obligated to buy was a starter kit for $150. It included a bunch of jewelry to take with you to the parties, order forms, etc. Great deal, and necessary for the business.

  2. After that, I was obligated to buy nothing, although I of course needed to purchase order forms, etc, in the future. The prices on paper items were fair. The “advisors” could buy more jewelry for display at a 70% discount. All of this jewelry was mine to keep and wear (good advertising!), and I still wear it everyday.

  3. No stock was involved - I had my jewelry that I used for parties, and the rest was ordered from the company and sent to the hostess after the show was submitted to corporate.

  4. My company (and most of the other name brands, like Pampered Chef) are not MLM. There is no requirement to recruit other people. Period. You get more money if you recruit people, but you have the easy option of never recruit one person. Beyond some corporate yahoo kinda stuff, there were no inspirational tapes, nothing like that.

I really liked it - doing the (laidback) shows were fun, I met some cool people, and made 40% on the retail price of everything I sold. I was not cut out for it - the jewelry sells itself, but there is a lot of cold calling to get shows, and I am not cut out for that kind of work. But many people do so, and enjoy it - my aunt has been doing it for almost two years, has a good client base built up, and averages about $2000 a month in income.

It can be a good experience, and sex toys parties do well - there is a crazy vibe (ha!) to the merchandise, and there are a lot of people who want to see the items before buying, but would never go to a store. I would not recommend going with a company that requires you to carry stock, and would definately make sure of the sales requirements before you sign on. And, an investment of more than $200 would make me stay away, as would any obligation to stay with the company. I could quit any time - I stopped last winter, and am still considered “inactive” so I still get mailings and have access to advsior materials. But there is no harassment to keep selling.

Good luck!

17

I have never sold it nor known anyone who did, but I have been to a party. That company was Surprise Parties.

Our hostess was relaxed and HILARIOUS!

We laughed, we learned and shopping was done discreetly so that no one knew what you bought.

18

Didn’t think about this, but you’re totally right. Even with the internet, most women want to at least see these things up close, if not touch them (with their hands! Their hands!). There I go again, taking feminists sex shops for granted.