Tuesday, November 1, 2016

How To Lose Tons Of Money In Amway?

When I was recruited into Amway, I was told that I could make money, which would roll in forever and ever. Residual income. That was the concept that appealed to me when I was recruited. I was also intrigued when I was told that I could do as much or as little as I wanted. The plan seemed achievable at first, until the realities of the business began to sink in.

However, when I signed up, my sponsor told me that I would be wasting my time signing up to sell products (not verbatim). That if I was going to get involved, I may as well try to build an organization and make the big bucks. I consented and then he immediately told me that I needed to get on standing order. I was told that standing order was a tape subscription and it was only $6 a tape. Nobody ever mentioned that every other week, it was a two tape set, so you are committing to 6 tapes/cds a month and upline also expected that you purchase more because you can't listen to the same ones each day and learn.

After a week or two, I had registered a couple of my friends into the business and my sponsor tells me that I cannot be a leader without attending all of the functions, and that I cannot listen to the same tapes over and over. That's when my expenses shot up like crazy. Of course I was excited with the folks I had sponsored so I went along with the plan, and I was edified for it so it seemed like I was "being an emerging leader".

Amway defenders question how I could possibly spend an average of nearly $1000 in a month for tools. Here's the breakdown, and although my WWDB group experience may not apply to all, I certainly continue to hear similar stories of abuse. I've also seen and heard of others with similar experiences.

Standing order $36 a month. (6 tapes/cds a month @ $6 each)
5-7 extra tapes/cds each week $120 - $168 a month
Amvox $24 a month
Open Meeting $6 a month
Regional functions $24 a month
Subtotal: $258/month

Major functions (4 times a year) I live in Hawaii, and major functions required mainland travel at peak travel times (January, March, July, October).
Round trip airfare $700
Hotel: $240 (for 2-3 days)
Rental car: $150 - 50 per day for 2-3 days)
Function tickets $100 - $150
Meals and other misc expenses pushed a major function to over $1200 for each trip.

These costs, not including gas money and other incidental expenses, totals about $8000 a year. Add in the cost of products and you are spending about $1000 a month on Amway. Yes, the products are not really a business expense, but then again, how many of those over-priced products would you buy if you were not an IBO? Do any former IBOs still buy double x? Do IBOs actually sell any double x? I believe these customers are rare.

If your sponsor told you that Amway would cost you nearly $1000 a month (high end, including product) or $150 a month (low end, not including products), would you still join? Once you agree to register, the expenses are then slowly revealed to you and in many cases, called investments into your business. Be wary and ask tough questions as to whether these items help you to make a profit, or whether they take away your profit.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This shows how the upper level Amway types are liars. They cover up the REAL costs of being an IBO. No one would sign up in a two-bit part time business selling soap products if they knew beforehand that it would cost them $12,000 per year just for overhead!

I don't know how these scumbags in Amway sleep at night. Lying, stealing, abusing your down-line, wrecking marriages, and leaving people bankrupt -- are these the characteristics of an ethical business?

Amway needs to be destroyed. There's no other way to get rid of this plague.

Joecool said...

Yep, lying is about the only way that Amway can be promoted. Telling the truth and full disclosure wouldn't help to sell Amway at all.

Unknown said...

I had the same experience. Enrolled as an IBO. Then had to spend about $800 per month! $359-$400 in products to maintain my 100 point personal volume. The rest was trainings and travel. If I didn't continue to maintain this, I was somewhat shunned or perceived in an unfavorable light. I simply found the associated expenses to be unsustainable. Though, to be clear, I believe the Network Marketing model is one of the most ethical business models ever devised. I agree that the most important thing is to FOCUS ON INCOME-PRODUCING ACTIVITIES... and learning how to improve in a financially sustainable way. Some MLM opportunities are more accessible than others.

Joecool said...

The only income producing activity is selling product but because MLM products are not competitively priced, they are difficult to sell.

Anonymous said...

To Benjamin Flynn --

In what sense is network marketing (or MLM)an "ethical business model"? That is an irrational statement in the light of the practices that you have described.

You urge people to concentrate on "income-producing activities." But that is exactly what your corrupt up-line was doing with you! They shunned you and perceived you unfavorably because you didn't pay money for training and travel -- activities which put the lion's share of cash into their pockets. Was that "ethical"?

They wanted you to spend money on things that were of no financial use to you as an IBO. You found the associated expenses to be "unsustainable." But your up-line didn't care, since they merely wanted to make a profit off you. How the devil can you call such a business "ethical"?

Anonymous said...

So what Ben is saying is that those associated expenses are "unsustainable" but it is okay because those expenses are "investment" for "the business.".

I have a question. Prove that those "investments" will result to INCOME producing investments.

방문자 said...

Hey, i am ibo from south korea. This blog is very interesting. I read about 10 posts. None is as same as my situation. We don't sell tapes. No functuon ticket. No up line forces to buy things. I guess you got bad luck with your sponsor. We also often hear that we ahould meet good sponsor as well. And you said you couldn't sell products due to expensive price. I am in real estate. Real estate has never reasonable price but still are sold. Price really doesn't matter. I think you are just not a sales person. Recommend you to listen brian tracey. You can still learn sales skill.
I wonder how much time did you invest to learn skills.

Joecool said...

Thanks for commenting, but WWDB is in South Korea so I have difficulty believing what you claim.