The Foolproof Business?

 One of the pitches I heard about Amway was that it's basically "foolproof". And what the speaker meant by that is that when you join Amway, you either make money or save money because you save about 30% by buying from Amway. On the surface, that sounds like a can't lose proposition. How can you lose when you either make some money by selling tuff or at least save money by purchasing at a discount from your own "store"? Well, if you take the statement at face value, you'd be a fool not to sign up right?

But most people do not check into these statements with a skeptical eye. Amway products are generic in nature, but premium in price. And they have to be because Amway's "generous bonus" to the IBOs are included in the cost of their products, not to mention Amway has to make a decent profit. For that reason, you would be hard pressed to find similar products at Wal Mart or Costco that aren't a fraction of Amway's prices. Take the time to do your own comparisons and you'll see. Also, the 30% savings that is referred to is 30% off full retail price for Amway products. It is not a 30% savings from comparable products you can get at Wal Mart or Costco. So, a good example, is Amway's flagship vitamins (double x). Double X multi vitamins (30 day supply) is around $80 at full retail price and the IBO price is about $52 or so. So yes, you have significant savings as an IBO from the full retail price. However, I can get a 90 day supply of multi vitamins at Costco or Wal Mart for about $24.99. You can argue quality, but there are no unbiased scientific studies that indicate that Amway vitamins are any better.

The other flaw in Amway's foolproof opportunity is Amway's money back guarantee. Amway has a decent return policy on products that aren't satisfactory, and they may even refund your signup costs for the business opportunity. But here's the flaw in that refund policy and in the past, resulted in Amway settling (without admitting fault) to pay damages for people who lost money running Amway businesses. presumably following bad business advice by Amway uplines and diamonds. So, look at it this way. You get lured into a business opportunity where you can spend significant time and money after signing up to be an Amway IBO. You can follow upline advice and you can still lose a lot of money. For all your lost time and money, Amway might make some product refunds and refund your small signup fee. Despite what you may have been told, you may have endured significant financial risk running an Amway business. Some people have lost thousands, tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands trying to build their business. It's no consolation to get some product and possibly the signup fee refunded.

Therein lies the scam. If you are trying earnestly to follow upline advice and "hang in there" and try your best, you may expend significant time and money trying to succeed in your Amway business. Big deal if Amway gives back the signup fee. What about the thousands you may have spent on standing orders, attending functions, ordering books, and "driving the miles" to succeed. While Amway may have some small print disclosures about how you may not achieve the same results, there certainly isn't the kind of full disclosure that legitimate business opportunities have. And Amway is legally separate entities from their IBOs because they are "independent". In my opinion, the only way to stop this is to hold Amway accountable for lies and deception used by their IBOs. And that's how it should be - because if someone lies or deceives to get someone to sign up and build the business or to sell products, Amway is certainly a beneficiary of those lies and deceit. They should be held accountable.

Amway is far from foolproof, unless you have been fooled.