Serious MLM question

[Anonymous]

I hate MLM because it is commoditizing friendships.

[Anonymous]

OP, listen to the podcast The Dream. Pretty much sums it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all MLMs require sellers to buy and stock inventory.

They all require them to make a certain amount of sales to stay active or to get the discounts. Sellers often end up buying the stuff themselves to meet those goals. Same thing.

As for the question about quality ... you're paying $20 for a lipstick that should cost $7. It's not even the same quality as, say, Clinique.

Listen to The Dream. The companies get their profit from the sellers, not from you, the consumer. They don't charge sellers wholesale. They charge them slightly discounted retail, and the additional up-charge you pay nets the seller a couple of dollars.

This. They don’t care if the seller sells one thing. They have already made their money from the seller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because it's based on selling to your friends and family, which is crappy.

Many small and local businesses have gotten started by selling to friends, family, neighbors. Amazon and target didn’t start out as national name brand chains.

Bezos never invites people to his house for a "wine tasting" then tries to guilt them into buying essential oils.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no dog in this, but it is interesting that people are keenly anti-exploitation when it comes to MLM, but don’t boycott big businesses that underpay their workers. MLM sellers often have better work options, where your local Walmart or McD worker does not.

Nice try, but no. Walmart does not require people to put their own money in before they get a paycheck.

And there are big box stores that are known for treating their workers better - Costco is one. Target is more progressive than WalMart.

[Anonymous]

Third recommendation for The Dream.

There is absolutely zero reason to support any MLM. The only people making money (and lots of it) are the owners. It's disgraceful.

[Anonymous]

If they had better names, maybe I would try.
It's like the founders couldn't spell or were 11 years old naming their "bizniz"
JamBerry
Senegence
Younique
Seacrets

Gtfooh

[Anonymous]

I like Younique’s rose mist.
But I am sure if I looked around, there would be a comparable mist somewhere else.

Sha’nnan Watts was very successful in her work for the MLM company Le Vel.
She made lots of commissions selling Thrive products which she heavily promoted.
She also earned the car bonus & was rewarded w/three free trips a year.
San Diego, Dominican Republic, New Orleans + Vega$.
She also got enough people working under her that she got the product for free.

While few and far between, it IS possible to be a huge success in MLM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like Younique’s rose mist.
But I am sure if I looked around, there would be a comparable mist somewhere else.

Sha’nnan Watts was very successful in her work for the MLM company Le Vel.
She made lots of commissions selling Thrive products which she heavily promoted.
She also earned the car bonus & was rewarded w/three free trips a year.
San Diego, Dominican Republic, New Orleans + Vega$.
She also got enough people working under her that she got the product for free.

While few and far between, it IS possible to be a huge success in MLM.

Of course, just like it’s possible for my son to be a superstar in the NBA! If that doesn’t work out, he could be president of the United States. Anything is possible, right?

[Anonymous]

1). MLMs make money by selling to consultants. They do not care if the consultants make money as long as they stay invested in A) buying more product from the MLM and B) recruiting others to do the same.

2) the vast majority of MLM sellers end up losing money—the amount they pay to stock the merchandise ends up being more than the small amount they recoup by selling at a slight markup.

3) Therefore, if your friend works for an MLM as is doing middling-to-poorly, the best thing you can do is to refuse to buy from them so that they are encouraged to stop doubling down on more merchandise that they end up stuck with.

If your friend is doing really well at their MLM, you should end the friendship. Because either your friend is ripping off the people below them in the pyramid unknowingly (and they are an idiot), or they are doing it with full knowledge (and they are a terrible person).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like Younique’s rose mist.
But I am sure if I looked around, there would be a comparable mist somewhere else.

Sha’nnan Watts was very successful in her work for the MLM company Le Vel.
She made lots of commissions selling Thrive products which she heavily promoted.
She also earned the car bonus & was rewarded w/three free trips a year.
San Diego, Dominican Republic, New Orleans + Vega$.
She also got enough people working under her that she got the product for free.

While few and far between, it IS possible to be a huge success in MLM.

Wait, you’re propping up a woman who was murdered by her husband (while she was pregnant and who also killed their 2 young children) as an example of someone successful with MLMs??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Ok, I hate MLM's as well, but I have to assume that some people are actually making money. I know some women who have been selling the same MLM for years. I can't imagine they would continue to do it if they weren't making any profit.

Yes, but the people making money are the people who actually recruited the most additional people and they are making money off of those lower in the pyramid that they recruited (and who are losing money). So they make money by recruiting more people who have to pay into the scheme just to make a profit. If that isn't a classic example of exploitation, I don't know what is. At least when Walmart and Target take advantage of their employees, they do so by paying them a paycheck instead of making them pay into the system to pay their bosses and recruiters.

The entire point to the pyramid is that you want to push yourself up to the level that you make money by recruiting more people at the lower levels who put money into the system for you to make a profit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know DCUM hates all MLM. But my question is - why? I understand the annoyance of the fake BS, pushy sellers, #momboss nonsense. But I have to say, some of the products are very good and if the sellers aren’t annoying or pushy, why would you categorically refuse to buy any of it? Honestly curious. You have to admit that not all MLM sellers are terrible, right? I know some who have never even mentioned their products to me, let alone tried to sell me anything.

Every single one of the products has a higher quality and less expensive non MLM alternative. There are no MLM products that are truly original or that have anything you can't get somewhere else.

And I would never support them because the structure itself is predatory. Specifically they target women and tell them that this bussiness will make all their dreams come true etc. it's all BS and frankly kind of sad.

Oh for the love of God, you STILL cannot spell the word business??? What is wrong with you? Do you think we forgot that you ranted for pages upon pages misspelling "bussiness?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like Younique’s rose mist.
But I am sure if I looked around, there would be a comparable mist somewhere else.

Sha’nnan Watts was very successful in her work for the MLM company Le Vel.
She made lots of commissions selling Thrive products which she heavily promoted.
She also earned the car bonus & was rewarded w/three free trips a year.
San Diego, Dominican Republic, New Orleans + Vega$.
She also got enough people working under her that she got the product for free.

While few and far between, it IS possible to be a huge success in MLM.

Wait, you’re propping up a woman who was murdered by her husband (while she was pregnant and who also killed their 2 young children) as an example of someone successful with MLMs??

And I heard that the husband was stressed about money problems...

[Anonymous]

The MLM scams exploit vulnerable women, sellers & buyers.