Friday, June 8, 2012

Buying From Yourself?

One of the apparently common practices among major IBO groups is still the concept of "buy from yourself". I believe IBO leaders teach this because most people are not familiar or not comfortable selling goods and services. Therefore, to teach buy from yourself makes the business an easier sell. In reality, an Amway IBO is simply a commissioned salesperson with no benefits. But presenting the opportunity that way is unlikely to yield results either, thus the buy from yourself has become a common practice. It sounds like something that most people can do, rather than emphasizing the need to sell to people you don't know.

Buying from youself makes you a customer and not a business owner. Buying from yourself doesn't generate your business a profit. Would you open a car dealership to buy a car? Now I am not suggesting that supporting your own business is a bad idea. What I am suggesting is if you are the primary or exclusive customer of your Amway business, then you aren't really running a business. You are simply a glorified customer. I believe some or many IBOs fall into this category because they are simply unable to move products to non IBOs.

What an IBO is really doing is paying his upline's bonuses. Amway overcharges more than 30% of the cost of their product. They have to do this in order to be able to pay IBO bonuses. Since most IBOs are at 100 PV or less, the lion's share of the bonuses earned are channeled upline when a purchase is made. It is not a level playing field as some IBO leaders might suggest. Also, some of your uplines who don't even know you might benefit from your efforts. Now that's residual income right?

What compounds the situation and makes it worse is when an IBO pays for standing order or attends functions where some of these IBO leaders may teach this bad business practice. You as an IBO already pverpay for products for which upline gets most of the bonus, but then the problem is made worse by IBOs paying to receive this bad advice. When I was an IBO, I heard speakers talk about skipping rent or mortgage payments to attend more functions, or having your family skip a meal so you can buy standing orders. Buying from yourself is just another example of bad advice given from upline to downline. What makes it worse is that some uplines profit by giving bad advice.

Are you buying from yourself almost exclusively? Can you think of any truly successful business where the owner is the main or possibly the only customer? I can't think of any.

8 comments:

efra said...

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Anonymous said...

I have to say I laughed with each of these "articles." I have been an Amway IBO for many years. I have never been a fraud, I have never tricked anyone into going to a meeting AND I make over $100,000 a year -- and I'm still new! Most of my friends who sell Amway make more than I do! Anyone who says its a fraud are jealous they just can't make it work for them because they don't have what it takes. Leaders naturally float to the top. Amway doesn't have to defend itself.

CSG
Panama City Beach, Florida

Anonymous said...

no it doesn't, because there's nothing to show for it!

Anonymous said...

CSG,

You say you have been "an Amway IBO for many years," and in the same breath, say "I'm still new." Something doesn't add up. No?

But, you assure us, you make "over $100,000 a year"!!! (Nothing about whether that is gross or net, however). And, to boot, your "friends who sell Amway" make more than you do! Sign me up!

Definitely, we are all oh-so jealous of your talent for mendacity and effortless prevarication!

Stunning, the immense depth of the evil of humanity. God help us all.

--Daniel

Joecool said...

Daniel,

I also noticed that too and my BS meter went off!

Anonymous said...

It's dangerous to bring a BS meter near an Ambot since the needle lurches so violently off the scale they usually break. One can go through a lot of BS meters listening to a "new" Ambot talk about the $100,000 they make annually. Must be part of the "dream" because that money always seems to disappear when he wakes up in the morning. But just keep on faking it until he never makes it.

~Dave

Joecool said...

I keep hearing that magical 100K, which is good, but you won't like like a king on 100K. Not to mention, many people make more than that with a job.

Anonymous said...

got money? :p