Pyramid schemes/multi-level marketing

[Brodders17]

There was a make up/skin product one going around a few years ago. I do know a couple of people who appeared to do quite well out of it. But i also know quite a few others who havent.
I think those schemes can work well for some, but for the majority they will just be a bit of burnt cash and wasted time.

 

[MD Jazz]

they completely confound me and seem a bit like the stone soup fable?

do you really throw flour, tomatoes, cheese, ham and pineapple in, and it turns out a perfect Hawaiian Pizza?

pleased to hear you love it.

Not quite. But they make things a lot easier and quicker and we have had ours for at least 8 years and no issues - well made gear.

 

[eZyT]

Can't believe how many gullible idiots still exist. Wake the f up.

they've been around since Jesus chucked rocks at the money changers,

and they'll be around long after Dustin Martin is forgotten.

 

[BluesBloke]

Even Anthony Koutoufides was doing Herbalife at one stage. And this bloke wants to become mayor of Melbourne!

 

[tigersnake]

Even Anthony Koutoufides was doing Herbalife at one stage. And this bloke wants to become mayor of Melbourne!

He wants to talk to the people of Melbourne about something important.

 

[tigersnake]

Interesting watch, this episode of SBS' 'The Feed' on MLM schemes. You almost feel sorry for the desperados profiled in it, until you remember how hard you bust your arse at your own job to earn a living.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=310182869848274

So if I don't buy this I'll be chronically dehydrated? Wish I'd known this earlier, I've been drinking normal water like an idiot.

 

[BluesBloke]

So if I don't buy this I'll be chronically dehydrated? Wish I'd known this earlier, I've been drinking normal water like an idiot.

How's the bloke near the end of the documentary. Blew nearly 15k on the big start-up pack to become a big earner. Left the scheme a short time later. Ended up shrugging it off as "Oh well I tried, what have you done? Onto cryptocurrency now".

C***s like him deserve to go broke.

 

[Scoop]

Isganeix, saw that drive friendship groups apart on Facebook. Never seen a bigger cult-like group. Had mothers in a grip. Swearing it was changing their life and setting up their financial independence for generations. Now don't ever see it.

 

[AngryAnt]

The common thread in all these schemes is that the lower level sellers ARE the consumers. All these schemes essentially market to the seller/member - they buy the starter packs, they attend the overpriced conferences, they are sold the "dream". Ultimately the "product" - essential oils, herbalife pills, whatever, is irrelevant. These companies don't really care if you shift the "product" to your friends and family except in that it might keep you in scam for longer.

 

[bigwow]

I worked in the State Bank of Victoria in the mid 80's in a small town between Echuca and Shepparton, and at one point, it seemed like every second person in the town was selling Amway. A couple that got in early made out all right, but it got pretty cutthroat. I lived in Echuca, so wasn't approached, but every day someone would come into the branch trying to flog Amway.

 

[RoarEmotion]

I worked in the State Bank of Victoria in the mid 80's in a small town between Echuca and Shepparton, and at one point, it seemed like every second person in the town was selling Amway. A couple that got in early made out all right, but it got pretty cutthroat. I lived in Echuca, so wasn't approached, but every day someone would come into the branch trying to flog Amway.

Yep the maths doesn't work when new folks are fighting with each other for the same market (and the goods are completely overpriced).

 

[BluesBloke]

Yep the maths doesn't work when new folks are fighting with each other for the same market (and the goods are completely overpriced).

If this is overstepping the mark I apologise, but what was the 'penny drop' or 'lightbulb' moment for you that made you realise the 'business' you were in and had invested time and money into was in fact a crock?

Did family or friends try and set you straight or was it something you had to get yourself?

 

[Bones17]

In the early 1970s, I remember my Parents talking about neighbours who got involved with Golden Products (Cleaning
Roducts).
The Husband was an engineer and quit his job to flog Golden Products.
The neighbours lost their house.

 

[RoarEmotion]

If this is overstepping the mark I apologise, but what was the 'penny drop' or 'lightbulb' moment for you that made you realise the 'business' you were in and had invested time and money into was in fact a crock?

Did family or friends try and set you straight or was it something you had to get yourself?

It’s just kind of a slow realisation that the product is overpriced so the business model I would have preferred - recurring product sales from happy customers - and then those that wanted to to get their own happy customers - is nigh on impossible to achieve.

I never really pushed the business that hard on friends and family. Maybe the products a little too much in hindsight. I was there to make passive recurring income and eventually that became obvious that wasn’t going to be the case. I’ve never had it in me to get people to do things they don’t want to do.

Herbalife tries to churn people into a 5k starter kit (30 years ago) to buy your way to a wholesale discount. That wasn’t me to push for a quick large sale and then burn the person when they couldn’t sell the product or recruit anyone. Clearly that’s what the scripts and leadership pushed - not explicitly - but effectively putting down anyone who gave up or wasn’t successful. Lots of garages out there full of unused vitamins and shake supplements from those who did that. . With the second product I tried some people really liked it and thought it was helping them health wise. Whether placebo or not (and it was probably placebo) it definitely helped some people. I was trying to get it into some health stores - so recruit people who were already into health products. When that happened and it was still a flop then that was it.

I’m a single child of a single mum and I wish someone i respected would have shaken me out of it earlier. They could have just appealed to my math skills and that should have been enough.