Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Amway IBOs = Unpaid Employees?

What happens to many unsuspecting people is they join Amway thinking they will attain wealth and riches by "owning their own business", but in reality, they have basically become unpaid commissioned employees of Amway. You don't get health insurance, vacation, or any fringe benefits. You get to work unlimited hours and you get commission by moving products. You can leverage your commissions by increasing this unpaid sales force by sponsoring others into your downline.

Some people do succeed employing this method, but you will need to be an elite recruiter in order to get people to sell Amway products for no salary. You are also handicapped right from the start because past IBO behavior has soiled Amway's reputation in the US and Canada. This point is supported by the fact that Amway's sales appear to be growing the most in foreign countries and not in North America. Seems that everyone I know has been at one time, involved with Amway (and had a bad experience) or knows of someone who had a bad experience (i.e. tricked into attending a meeting, or deceived in some way about the opportunity or the products).
Even if you are a great recruiter, your likelihood of attaining Amway success (emerald or higher) is a tiny fraction of 1%. And for those who attain Amway success, they have great difficulty in sustanining that level. It is why there are hoards of "former" emeralds, diamonds and platinums.

You may hear about how Amway was found "legal" by the FTC or that Amway is #1 in online health and beauty sales. All of this may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that an IBO is basically an unpaid commissioned Amway salesperson. You absorb all the business expenses, pay for your own training, and you get to share your commission with layers of upine (more middlemen), some of whom do not help your business, and some who don't even know you exist. It's a great deal for Amway but not for IBOs. You move their products and aborb the expenses and in doing so and they pay out a commission. As for any awards or credits Amway receives, it's great for Amway, but you are an IBO - an independent business owner. You are not Amway.

Bottom line - if you can get people to work for free, you can find numerous opportunities to get rich that are much better and more lucrative than Amway. :-)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

After reading how this pyramid scheme works, I would add that Amway IBOs=Unpaid Suckers too! What is offered (actually not offered) to sign up as an IBO is astonishing. In my opinion, this is the worst deal for a person.

As an employee of a company you get all kinds of benefits as mentioned here, paid vacations, health insurance (eye, medical, dentistry), bonuses, pay increases each year based on your performance, constructive feedback on your performance that helps you strive to become an better professional and possibly lead to promotions (aka more pay), paid time off for the birth of a child, paid time off to mourn for the passing of a person in your immediate family, a professional environment to work in, paid sick time off (some companies group sick and vacation time together that can be used for either case), a 401k that your company will contribute to, agreed upon work hours (and once your shift is completed, the rest of your day is yours), hourly workers are paid for overtime, company functions are an expense of the company and are paid by the company not you, and finally a PAY CHECK on a regular basis for your services that you can spend on what you want or save it if you so desire.

Even folks who work as a contractor for a company get a better deal than signing up as an IBO. Contractors will agree to work for a company for X amount of time and for an agreed upon hourly rate. Since the contract is temporary (but can be extended) and doesn’t offer any employee benefits such as a 401k or health insurance, a contractor normally is paid more money in general then an employee so he or she can purchase insurance and other items in the private market.

What do you get with signing up as an IBO? You are forced to show up for meetings at night and on weekends (without being paid). You are told to spend your personal money on buying overpriced amway products which depletes your funds but gives you uplines a continued commission check. No 401k. No insurance. You are not paid hourly for your efforts. No paid vacations. No paid time off for family events. You are expected to pay for company functions. Etc.

Bottom line: Don’t work for free. You deserve better.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely correct. In Amway the ordinary IBO doesn't make money -- he HEMORRHAGES money to enrich his up-line. And close to 99% of Amway IBOs don't make a dime in the business.