Plus, a wine bottle can be used as an, er, emergency dildo. Maybe backup would be a better term.
Every [del]rip off[/del] free party like this - be it for Tupperware or Sex Toys or whatever, always allows the host(ess) of the night to get a percentage of the profits! That is the sole point of hosting one of these events, and everyone who goes knows that is why the event is being hosted.
This is perhaps the stupidest business plan I have ever heard of, and I doubt many others are going to leap into this concept and fork out money (even if it isn’t a huge amount) to sit back and let someone else profit!
Would you pay her one month’s rent if she opened a new wine store?
I have one. And I’m a guy! :eek:
At one time artwork seemed to be a big thing for MLM parties. Not sure if it still is. Anyway one of my female coworkers hosted an art party, at the exact time that I had just gotten my first apartment and needed some cheap stuff for the walls. Some of the art was cheesy, and we had fun laughing at it, but some of it was OK and I bought a nice landscape that looked better than bare walls. So everybody was happy.
I think I was the only guy there. God, I feel so unmanly for admitting this. Excuse me while I go work on my car.
Bolding mine.
Blackberry, from what I can tell, there are several wine-tasting ventures like this on the Internet. I will not be sharing which one my friend is involved with, but one of the perks of hosting and buying the wine is discounted shipping.
This would be the most fun ever!
Wasn’t hard to figure out 
Sort of. You get a percentage of sales as a store credit to defray whatever you wind up buying. If you wind up not wanting any of the merch, you don’t get that back in cash or anything, the rep just winds up with a better profit margin. And you usually get some sort small gift (often something the rep is having trouble moving, ime), maybe a percentage off your purchase on top of that.
I don’t know that the OP’s really getting a particularly raw deal. I mean, if she was having a shoe or jewelry or Tupperware or Schtupperware party (or a birthday party or a girls’ night in) she’d be springing for the food and drink. What would she normally spend entertaining 10 people who like wine enough to attend a sales party? The true cost of having this particular party is really only whatever extra she’s spending over and above that.
Also, is your liablity as a host re: drunk driving different if wine is being sold any different than if you were just having a regular party?
I mean, probably not, but the possibility alone would make me hesitant to host one.
So, smaje1–how did the wine party go?
IIRC, you had the party last night. Or did I get that wrong?
Nope, I’m not having the party until October. But I did see my friend this weekend and I got a chance to try some of the wine – and it was reallllly good.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to really talk to my friend about things. I was hanging out with her and her husband, who seems to have changed his tune on the whole dealio. He’s now really enthusiastic about the wine and the enterprise altogether. My friend’s done 3 or 4 wine tastings in the past month and has earned a little bit of money, plus a case of wine. It seems to be working out well for her.
However, she talked about the wine non-stop for a while there, and it was really making me roll my eyes. Like, “You don’t have to be a salesman all the time, hon! Let’s just appreciate this glass and move on with our lives!”
I remember when my mom first started her jewelry business, and she wouldn’t shut the f*** up about it for YEARS.
Concur. Essentially, MLM or market-by party equates to: “Cash in your friendships for money”. But friendships usually turn out not to be a renewable resource when you start tapping them for profit.
DuchessOfDork may have just said the smartest most awful thing in the whole thread. The OP is presumably a homeowner with assets worth litigating after. This may be the actual reason her friend can’t/won’t provide the wine.
Your friend gave a liquor comission excuse as to why she can’t buy the wine. You may see that as ignorant, I see it as what the comapny told her to say; she knows the actual reason but told you the lie she was told to tell.
You mentioned the husband is massively down on the idea… in my experience this is virtually always the case. Husbands see the social difficulties and economic risks that wives seem to gloss over. Now he’s excited about it… what changed?
You might have a point with the drunk driving, but I doubt the liquor commission is an “excuse”, at least not in a lot of states. I’m pretty sure that my state - Michigan - doesn’t even offer a liquor license that would allow you to sell out of a private home, and I’m guessing that’s not the only state like that.
Plus, liquor licenses are expensive, at least around here. I knew a restaurant owner who paid $80K for his, and I don’t think that’s overly crazy. Note: I don’t think that’s the price from the State, I think that’s a resale price. Part of the reason they’re expensive is that they are under a quota, and depending on what kind of business and where you’re located, you often have to buy one from a third-party, like a restaurant that went out of business.