Monday, September 4, 2017

Why Amway Was and Still Is A Scam?

When I was a younger man, I was pitched Amway as a shortcut to untold wealth. That in 2-5 years, everyone could be millionaires walking the beaches of the world and living the high life. All we needed was 2-5 years of work and to dedicate yourself to the "system". If you do all of the "core" steps for 6 straight months, 100% of the time you would succeed. That was the teaching then and based on my observations and discussions with current IBOs, that's basically what is taught now. Therefore, I still believe that Amway was and still is a scam.

Amway products are not priced competetively. The "generous" 30+% bonus that Amway pays out is included in the cost of Amway products. And that's before an IBO adds markup for their own profit. I know that many IBOs are willing to sell at their cost to reduce the amount of PV they need to self consume. This is based on various discussions I've had with IBOs and some of them are desperate to move volume, even at cost. Therefore, Amway products cannot be competetively sold because of these reasons. NOw that's not to say there are no good deals from Amway. A few products here and there may very well be decent value, but overall and in general, Amway products cannot compare to similar products that you can get at a retailer.

The other scam is the Amway "tools" system. Upline promotes the system as your key to success. The system consists of a voicemail system, CDs, books, functions, sample kits and some other materials. These costs can vary and some upline will foot the cost for new IBOs in the beginning. But the system itself has no verified record of success. Some uplines or IBOs will claim that everyone who went diamond was on the system, but to that I say every lottery winner had a ticket. Just because there are some winners doesn't mean that the system was responsible for their success or that the system works for most people who use it. Success in Amwayis often short lived and unsustainable. (See how many former platinums and diamonds there are).

Amway is still promoted as easy, simple or "anyone can do it". The fact of the matter is anyone can win the lottery also. Amway defenders like to harp that Amway isn't a game of chance. To that I say isn't it sad that something that isn't a game of chance has the same dismal results as agame of chance? My old LOS, WWDB (Worldwide Group) used to claim they were the best and most profitable. Yet there are fewer diamonds (In the US) now than when I was involved many years ago. Shouldn't there be new and many success stories? There aren't. And it's why I believe that Amway was and still is a scam.

No comments: