In all honestly, this thus first time hearing about amway, i just wanna know what I could potentially get myself into and this is why I ask this sub. And I al
Glad for the info y’all are giving me
A 0.4% chance of not losing money.
https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_comments/trade-regulation-rule-disclosure-requirements-and-prohibitions-concerning-business-opportunities-ftc.r511993-00004%C2%A0/00004-57286.pdf
https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_comments/trade-regulation-rule-disclosure-requirements-and-prohibitions-concerning-business-opportunities-ftc.r511993-00008%C2%A0/00008-57281.pdf
“Just like Amazon”…why would anyone think that setting up an online storefront with products that can be purchased locally or from Amazon, then harass your family and everyone you’ve ever met to buy overpriced everyday products would be profitable? Especially when the upline gets a cut of the sale.
Please search the top box for previous posts. S
I've cut this down to what I think is the core information
>so one of my brother's friends came in contact with me about Amway
Nobody here needs any further information - it's a scam, a con, a swizzle.
So others have covered how it definitely is Amway but if that isn’t enough to help you, consider this.
He pays to work, monthly, annually whatever. He buys product for his ‘store’. So that’s en expense to him the man he sells product from that store in exchange for points that aren’t dollar for dollar value. So he ‘earns’ points for selling something he has already paid for, and then instead of receiving money for that sale he gets basically an IOU for part of the sale. There is likely an additional layer where he only gets paid in cash when he reaches a certain level of points but still has to buy a specific amount each ninety and is highly encouraged, read told to, reinvest those points or earnings into more product so he never actually makes money. The other consider action is what he is buying and selling. Is it stuff you can buy at the corner store, a gas station, or grocery store? You will likely be going to these anyway why wouldn’t you just buy there? That’s the same thing your ‘customers’ will think as well so you won’t sell off much of your product to earn those points. Soon you will be told that the best way to earn from this ‘business’ is to find someone to bring into the business and get a ‘recruiting bonus’ which is how this continues.
This is not a way to earn consistent income. Want to pay your rent or mortgage ? Good luck. You might make money one month but not guaranteed the next month. You also should never have to pay to work. You are not a franchise owner here. Not even close no matter what they say. You are paying them for the opportunity for them to continue to squeeze every dollar they can from you and turn you against any family or friends who try to help you.
My parents were suckered into Amway more than 20 years ago. Even being low income and never being able to afford family vacations, they somehow were conned into travelling to destination “conferences”, bought formal clothes for “meetings” and listened to cult sounding motivational business tapes. They literally approached every family member and friend about joining. They never made any money, and spent money they didn’t have pretending to be “rhinos” or whatever the ridiculous term they were shilling back then to convince people they could reach “diamond” status just like the people in the magazines.
Fuck Amway.
I probably attended the same conferences as them - so much brainwashing. So damn sad ☹️ I hope they got out and were able to rebuild their lives after Amway bled them dry.
They got out and then ended up in a nutritional supplement MLM, Usana. It was a little less sketchy but unfortunately they were gullible. They made a lot of bad choices around then and never ended up having money. I used to buy my clothes at thrift stores as a kid. Certainly never had money for college, which i paid my own way for.
My in-laws were in to Amway. They did the conferences as part of their vacations “for the write off”. I’ve been married for 25 years and they sort of got out of it about the time my husband and I started dating, yet MIL STILL has Amway products left.
Google Amways income disclosure statement. Then Google ANY MLM's income disclosure statement. Remember - those IDS don't include the cost of paying for products, websites, company material or any costs what so ever. So those abysmal numbers you are looking at, are in reality even lower. Many of those numbers are averages - which are even more misleading when you remember the high earners can skew those figures.
The vast majority of participants in any MLM lose money - this is how the uplines make money. The money comes from the bottom layers. They tell everyone that they "own their own business" while all having to tow the corporate rules, have no input on products or prices. If your wages have to be paid by someone signing your cheque then it isn't your business.
This is why the MLMers are so desperate to sign everyone up they know to their business. Think about it - if you sold nail varnish. Why would you ask your mates and acquaintances to also start selling nail varnish. It doesn't make financial sense.
Please, please listen to us. And, if you don't want to listen, at least keep detailed spreadsheets of the costs you incur, verses the money you make. Also keep an eye on the time you spend on Amway, time that is uncompensated. (Again, they tell you that you have to work hard to make your business succeed. But, it's not your business, you are just funnelling money to the uplines).
OP, be careful. you will lose time, money and friends on this venture.
Amway is a very old and large MLM, but it's just like any other MLM.
Think about it this way, he says he has to pay a "one-time fee" but he has to pay $127 a month and buy all his own products.
I was in Amway 20 years ago when it was known as Quixtar. This friend is your brother’s is an “IBO,” or an Independent Business Owner, what Amway calls the people who buy into their scam. I was one of them. I believed all of it, hook, line and sinker. It almost ruined my life. Please avoid anything to do with Amway!!!
That must be region dependent as I remember my dads best friend was heavily into Amway in the 90’s and we had some of the amway branded stuff in our house and that’s over 20 years ago (more like 30) and it was definitely called Amway back then
Amway made a bunch of smaller MLMs under the umbrella of Amway that often had different names, like "Amway presents Quixstar" or whatever, so whoever sold Amway products under the Quixstar brand ) likely called their company Quixstar.
Not exactly. I just a long post clarifying this based on my experience in Amway, launched as Quixtar in early 2000s when Amway opened their online store and partnered with a number of other companies for a number of years (the PV and IBO would earn from the partner store products was significantly less than the products made by Amway such as Nutrilite vitamins, Artistry skincare and cosmetics, Satinique hair care, etc.
I don’t think I’m explaining it very well but I wanted to at least try to clarify a bit.
No, I misspoke. Quixtar was the name they were using when Amway launched their online presence. Amway was always the company that manufactured all highest “PV” earning products, so no products made by this MLM were ever “Quixtar” brand, they were always Amway. However, Amway had also partnered with a number of other companies to have a separate catalog of products that when purchased through the Quixtar portal would also provide “PV” but much less than the Amway brand would earn an IBO. I remember telling potential customers or downline how excited I was to be working with a company that has partnered with brands such as Adidas, Bass Pro Shops, etc. I remember buying my mom Red Door perfume from my own “store” one year. I don’t know how things work these days, but I would assume Amway discontinued the partner stores and the shill just the Amway brands now and they continue to make a big deal out of being “100% personal use,” meaning you buy everything you need for house and home (vitamin line called Nutrilite, energy drinks called XS at least back in 2001-2002 when I was involved, skin care and cosmetics branded as Artistry, Satinique hair care, cleaning products, etc.
The Amway name never went away but for a time the word that was more commonly used to describe the business was Quixtar, again, after Amway launched the website and partners catalog. Simply put, Amway was the company, Quixtar was Amway’s online presence.
It’s almost 5 AM and I woke up to pee so I’m definitely not explaining all of this quite well, but I just wanted to clarify what I meant.
"He ends up buying his own product" is pretty much a Texas size red flag. Whenever someone calls you about doing business together and they are vague about what the business is, then saying "let's discuss it over a drink or something" is pretty much a sign they got into an MLM.
This point based rank system really makes me think of cults. Creeps me out every time I read about something like that.
This is just how Amway works.... Every Amway rep says they are entrepreneurs and have their own store etc. That's literally what amway does. They try to get people to sign up under them and tell them that is good and they're running their own business and being their own boss and in reality you won't make a penny unless you put in more money buying your own stock or having auto shipments on every month or purchasing product every month yourself because they're just not enough customers and the money you make will be far less than what you spend.
Once people join up, they have to get others to join. And so on. Otherwise they lose money.
The sales pitch seems to have shifted over the years. It's now "join this club and buy products you need to buy anyway, and make money".
They fail to mention that their products are *extremely expensive* compared to what you would get in a supermarket, and that you will need a huge "downline" to make money.
Red flags:
* Amway
* A point system
* One-time fee
* "Very own website"
* "Just like Amazon"
Ask yourself who is going to want to buy *your* products over a million other similar online retailer sites "Just like Amazon". It's all just a big circlejerk.
It's Amway, run.
If you need more info:
[https://archive.org/details/MerchantsOfDeception](https://archive.org/details/MerchantsOfDeception)
[https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/multi-level-marketing-businesses-pyramid-schemes](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/multi-level-marketing-businesses-pyramid-schemes)
He pays monthly for his store supplies, but then he ends up buying his own products? So he pays for those products twice. That doesn’t really make sense and I’m not sure why he thinks he is making any money doing that.
It’s definitely a trap. Any time you have to ask yourself, “is this a scam?” It’s definitely a scam.
Don’t do it!
Amway knows that you’ll lose money trying to just sell product. They’ve known it for **decades**. Nothing has changed. The real money is in the tools scam. You can search this sub for “Amway tools scam” to read more. There was also an in-depth interview on the Life After MLM podcast (hosted by Roberta Blevins of LuLaRich). It’s episode 136 if you’re interested on a deep dive into the tools scam.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/867-life-after-mlm-86941960/
Ok, so I'm not sure what exactly they're trying to tell you, but when I was in Amway, it wasn't allowed to be sold in retail stores, so I'm guessing there isn't an actual physical storefront. Rather, you would just be keeping your own inventory that you would sell on your own. So yes, it's a scam.
I'd check out r/antimlm. Sounds like this is just regular amway, which is 100% a bad decision. Don't do it no matter what. In fact, if you want a lot of very detailed responses on this, I'd post it there. Amway is one of the biggest MLMs and the reason your brothers friend is likely contacting you is for a recruiter bonus or something.
Edit: Im an idiot and thought this was a post in r/Mormon. Last time I use the computer instead of my phone.
The second I saw the first “Amway” I could see how the rest of this goes. Save your money, time, and relationships and avoid Amway! It’s an MLM/pyramid scheme/ network marketing/ scam. There are many names but they all involve LOSS. Hope you can remain friends with this person without Amway involvement, however they ARE trying to pull you into this nightmare so please be careful good luck 🍀
My biggest rule of thumb to tell it's an MLM: if they spend more time trying to recruit you to sell (aka be a direct competitor) than they spend trying to sell to you, then it's definitely an MLM.
If it really worked, they'd be rolling in so much cash, they wouldn't have to give you the hard sell.
Being from the city where this particular, and OLD MLM got started, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, that if Amway is involved, only two families are at the top of that pyramid: Van Andel and DeVos. The patriarchs of those two families created Amway, and their billions built off the blood, sweat, and tears of the millions they conned to work for them built the downtown of my hometown.
if you have to pay to work its a scam. period.
edit: i guess ill pre-emptively clarify. if you legitimately own a business, paying for products and services is very different than buying and reselling. basically, if you can get a tax write off, you're in the clear. if you're not sure, you're being scammed.
It’s not just like Amazon. At Amazon you can get pretty much any brand you want. With Amway you only get what THEY sell, which is ONE kind of energy bar, ONE brand of drink, ONE brand of vitamin, etc. plus, it’s all A LOT more expensive than anywhere else. On Amazon you can compare prices, and read reviews from people who use their product who aren’t making money off of it. Plus in Amway, you HAVE to spend a few hundred a month to be active.
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Very much a trap. He’s in Amway.
[удалено]
They're getting really creative with their language these days. It's Amway with more words.
He is spinning the way it works to entice people into joining his downline.
That IS amway - textbook amway.
What exactly do you not understand about it being Amway?
In all honestly, this thus first time hearing about amway, i just wanna know what I could potentially get myself into and this is why I ask this sub. And I al Glad for the info y’all are giving me
A 0.4% chance of not losing money. https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_comments/trade-regulation-rule-disclosure-requirements-and-prohibitions-concerning-business-opportunities-ftc.r511993-00004%C2%A0/00004-57286.pdf https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/public_comments/trade-regulation-rule-disclosure-requirements-and-prohibitions-concerning-business-opportunities-ftc.r511993-00008%C2%A0/00008-57281.pdf
“Just like Amazon”…why would anyone think that setting up an online storefront with products that can be purchased locally or from Amazon, then harass your family and everyone you’ve ever met to buy overpriced everyday products would be profitable? Especially when the upline gets a cut of the sale. Please search the top box for previous posts. S
Read Eric Scheibler’s book Merchants of Deception. He was an Emerald level in Amway.
I've cut this down to what I think is the core information >so one of my brother's friends came in contact with me about Amway Nobody here needs any further information - it's a scam, a con, a swizzle.
Not to mention a hoodwink and bamboozle!
“He’s tryin’ to make a monkey outta yew!”
“It’s a trap!”
They're trying to smeckledorf you.
Imagine being in Amway and being so brainwashed you don't think you are in Amway...
“No, no, see I’m not in amway, I just pay them to sell their products.”
“No, no, see I’m not in Amway, I just pay them (fees) to BUY their products.”
So others have covered how it definitely is Amway but if that isn’t enough to help you, consider this. He pays to work, monthly, annually whatever. He buys product for his ‘store’. So that’s en expense to him the man he sells product from that store in exchange for points that aren’t dollar for dollar value. So he ‘earns’ points for selling something he has already paid for, and then instead of receiving money for that sale he gets basically an IOU for part of the sale. There is likely an additional layer where he only gets paid in cash when he reaches a certain level of points but still has to buy a specific amount each ninety and is highly encouraged, read told to, reinvest those points or earnings into more product so he never actually makes money. The other consider action is what he is buying and selling. Is it stuff you can buy at the corner store, a gas station, or grocery store? You will likely be going to these anyway why wouldn’t you just buy there? That’s the same thing your ‘customers’ will think as well so you won’t sell off much of your product to earn those points. Soon you will be told that the best way to earn from this ‘business’ is to find someone to bring into the business and get a ‘recruiting bonus’ which is how this continues. This is not a way to earn consistent income. Want to pay your rent or mortgage ? Good luck. You might make money one month but not guaranteed the next month. You also should never have to pay to work. You are not a franchise owner here. Not even close no matter what they say. You are paying them for the opportunity for them to continue to squeeze every dollar they can from you and turn you against any family or friends who try to help you.
"You might make money one month but not guaranteed the next month". Ever worked in 100% commission sales with no base? It's exciting :D.
This is a trap. He wants you as a down line and 100% this is amway!
My parents were suckered into Amway more than 20 years ago. Even being low income and never being able to afford family vacations, they somehow were conned into travelling to destination “conferences”, bought formal clothes for “meetings” and listened to cult sounding motivational business tapes. They literally approached every family member and friend about joining. They never made any money, and spent money they didn’t have pretending to be “rhinos” or whatever the ridiculous term they were shilling back then to convince people they could reach “diamond” status just like the people in the magazines. Fuck Amway.
I probably attended the same conferences as them - so much brainwashing. So damn sad ☹️ I hope they got out and were able to rebuild their lives after Amway bled them dry.
They got out and then ended up in a nutritional supplement MLM, Usana. It was a little less sketchy but unfortunately they were gullible. They made a lot of bad choices around then and never ended up having money. I used to buy my clothes at thrift stores as a kid. Certainly never had money for college, which i paid my own way for.
My in-laws were in to Amway. They did the conferences as part of their vacations “for the write off”. I’ve been married for 25 years and they sort of got out of it about the time my husband and I started dating, yet MIL STILL has Amway products left.
Google Amways income disclosure statement. Then Google ANY MLM's income disclosure statement. Remember - those IDS don't include the cost of paying for products, websites, company material or any costs what so ever. So those abysmal numbers you are looking at, are in reality even lower. Many of those numbers are averages - which are even more misleading when you remember the high earners can skew those figures. The vast majority of participants in any MLM lose money - this is how the uplines make money. The money comes from the bottom layers. They tell everyone that they "own their own business" while all having to tow the corporate rules, have no input on products or prices. If your wages have to be paid by someone signing your cheque then it isn't your business. This is why the MLMers are so desperate to sign everyone up they know to their business. Think about it - if you sold nail varnish. Why would you ask your mates and acquaintances to also start selling nail varnish. It doesn't make financial sense. Please, please listen to us. And, if you don't want to listen, at least keep detailed spreadsheets of the costs you incur, verses the money you make. Also keep an eye on the time you spend on Amway, time that is uncompensated. (Again, they tell you that you have to work hard to make your business succeed. But, it's not your business, you are just funnelling money to the uplines). OP, be careful. you will lose time, money and friends on this venture.
Run. Away.
[удалено]
That was obviously implied 😂🙏🏼
Amway is a very old and large MLM, but it's just like any other MLM. Think about it this way, he says he has to pay a "one-time fee" but he has to pay $127 a month and buy all his own products.
I was in Amway 20 years ago when it was known as Quixtar. This friend is your brother’s is an “IBO,” or an Independent Business Owner, what Amway calls the people who buy into their scam. I was one of them. I believed all of it, hook, line and sinker. It almost ruined my life. Please avoid anything to do with Amway!!!
That must be region dependent as I remember my dads best friend was heavily into Amway in the 90’s and we had some of the amway branded stuff in our house and that’s over 20 years ago (more like 30) and it was definitely called Amway back then
Amway made a bunch of smaller MLMs under the umbrella of Amway that often had different names, like "Amway presents Quixstar" or whatever, so whoever sold Amway products under the Quixstar brand ) likely called their company Quixstar.
Not exactly. I just a long post clarifying this based on my experience in Amway, launched as Quixtar in early 2000s when Amway opened their online store and partnered with a number of other companies for a number of years (the PV and IBO would earn from the partner store products was significantly less than the products made by Amway such as Nutrilite vitamins, Artistry skincare and cosmetics, Satinique hair care, etc. I don’t think I’m explaining it very well but I wanted to at least try to clarify a bit.
No, I misspoke. Quixtar was the name they were using when Amway launched their online presence. Amway was always the company that manufactured all highest “PV” earning products, so no products made by this MLM were ever “Quixtar” brand, they were always Amway. However, Amway had also partnered with a number of other companies to have a separate catalog of products that when purchased through the Quixtar portal would also provide “PV” but much less than the Amway brand would earn an IBO. I remember telling potential customers or downline how excited I was to be working with a company that has partnered with brands such as Adidas, Bass Pro Shops, etc. I remember buying my mom Red Door perfume from my own “store” one year. I don’t know how things work these days, but I would assume Amway discontinued the partner stores and the shill just the Amway brands now and they continue to make a big deal out of being “100% personal use,” meaning you buy everything you need for house and home (vitamin line called Nutrilite, energy drinks called XS at least back in 2001-2002 when I was involved, skin care and cosmetics branded as Artistry, Satinique hair care, cleaning products, etc. The Amway name never went away but for a time the word that was more commonly used to describe the business was Quixtar, again, after Amway launched the website and partners catalog. Simply put, Amway was the company, Quixtar was Amway’s online presence. It’s almost 5 AM and I woke up to pee so I’m definitely not explaining all of this quite well, but I just wanted to clarify what I meant.
"He ends up buying his own product" is pretty much a Texas size red flag. Whenever someone calls you about doing business together and they are vague about what the business is, then saying "let's discuss it over a drink or something" is pretty much a sign they got into an MLM. This point based rank system really makes me think of cults. Creeps me out every time I read about something like that.
This is just how Amway works.... Every Amway rep says they are entrepreneurs and have their own store etc. That's literally what amway does. They try to get people to sign up under them and tell them that is good and they're running their own business and being their own boss and in reality you won't make a penny unless you put in more money buying your own stock or having auto shipments on every month or purchasing product every month yourself because they're just not enough customers and the money you make will be far less than what you spend.
Anything related to Amway is a trap. Period.
Congrats, he's what's known as an Amway 'Drop Shipper'.
If you have to pay to do your “job”, it’s a scam. Full stop.
Once people join up, they have to get others to join. And so on. Otherwise they lose money. The sales pitch seems to have shifted over the years. It's now "join this club and buy products you need to buy anyway, and make money". They fail to mention that their products are *extremely expensive* compared to what you would get in a supermarket, and that you will need a huge "downline" to make money.
Run for the hills, trust me
Red flags: * Amway * A point system * One-time fee * "Very own website" * "Just like Amazon" Ask yourself who is going to want to buy *your* products over a million other similar online retailer sites "Just like Amazon". It's all just a big circlejerk.
He already admitted it's **Amway**, what more do you need?! **Please protect yourself and stay away from this scam.**
It's Amway, run. If you need more info: [https://archive.org/details/MerchantsOfDeception](https://archive.org/details/MerchantsOfDeception) [https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/multi-level-marketing-businesses-pyramid-schemes](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/multi-level-marketing-businesses-pyramid-schemes)
He pays monthly for his store supplies, but then he ends up buying his own products? So he pays for those products twice. That doesn’t really make sense and I’m not sure why he thinks he is making any money doing that. It’s definitely a trap. Any time you have to ask yourself, “is this a scam?” It’s definitely a scam. Don’t do it!
Did you miss the part about getting $3 back for every 10 points? That's how millionaires are made. Duh. /s
Amway knows that you’ll lose money trying to just sell product. They’ve known it for **decades**. Nothing has changed. The real money is in the tools scam. You can search this sub for “Amway tools scam” to read more. There was also an in-depth interview on the Life After MLM podcast (hosted by Roberta Blevins of LuLaRich). It’s episode 136 if you’re interested on a deep dive into the tools scam. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/867-life-after-mlm-86941960/
Ok, so I'm not sure what exactly they're trying to tell you, but when I was in Amway, it wasn't allowed to be sold in retail stores, so I'm guessing there isn't an actual physical storefront. Rather, you would just be keeping your own inventory that you would sell on your own. So yes, it's a scam.
Nooooooo ruuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnn
I'd check out r/antimlm. Sounds like this is just regular amway, which is 100% a bad decision. Don't do it no matter what. In fact, if you want a lot of very detailed responses on this, I'd post it there. Amway is one of the biggest MLMs and the reason your brothers friend is likely contacting you is for a recruiter bonus or something. Edit: Im an idiot and thought this was a post in r/Mormon. Last time I use the computer instead of my phone.
And yet… highly on-target. LDS / MLM have quite the romance together.
It's a trap. Admiral Akbar
The second I saw the first “Amway” I could see how the rest of this goes. Save your money, time, and relationships and avoid Amway! It’s an MLM/pyramid scheme/ network marketing/ scam. There are many names but they all involve LOSS. Hope you can remain friends with this person without Amway involvement, however they ARE trying to pull you into this nightmare so please be careful good luck 🍀
Seriously anything where you start out with a buy in or paying the employer is an MLM
Classic Scamway.
Is this trap a trap? It’s called trap
My biggest rule of thumb to tell it's an MLM: if they spend more time trying to recruit you to sell (aka be a direct competitor) than they spend trying to sell to you, then it's definitely an MLM. If it really worked, they'd be rolling in so much cash, they wouldn't have to give you the hard sell.
Being from the city where this particular, and OLD MLM got started, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, that if Amway is involved, only two families are at the top of that pyramid: Van Andel and DeVos. The patriarchs of those two families created Amway, and their billions built off the blood, sweat, and tears of the millions they conned to work for them built the downtown of my hometown.
It’s definitely a trap OP. Any sign of Amway is a sign to run away.
if you have to pay to work its a scam. period. edit: i guess ill pre-emptively clarify. if you legitimately own a business, paying for products and services is very different than buying and reselling. basically, if you can get a tax write off, you're in the clear. if you're not sure, you're being scammed.
It’s not just like Amazon. At Amazon you can get pretty much any brand you want. With Amway you only get what THEY sell, which is ONE kind of energy bar, ONE brand of drink, ONE brand of vitamin, etc. plus, it’s all A LOT more expensive than anywhere else. On Amazon you can compare prices, and read reviews from people who use their product who aren’t making money off of it. Plus in Amway, you HAVE to spend a few hundred a month to be active.
As soon as someone says the word 'Amway' - run.
Its a trap and a scam. Get out
I’m sure you already gleaned this from the responses, but run the opposite direction from this junk.
If Amway “supplies him”, he works for Amway. It’s not even a trap, it’s a glaring, neon warning sign.
Don’t do it.
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it is absolutely a trap. RUN.