One of the selling points of the Amway business is for people to do the work once and then reap financial benefits for life. Thus the term lifelong residual income or passive income. But that simply does not happen for the vast majority of IBOs. The reason why most IBOs do not have a sustainable business is because their business is not based on sales to genuine customers with a genuine need. Most IBOs themselves will not buy Amway products once their affiliation to Amway is over. Many IBOs are willing to pay the "premium" prices while they believe Amway will make them rich, but when the reality sets in that they are not making money, somehow their loyalty to Amway products goes out the window.
If you are an IBO doing your 100 PV monthly, then your only way to increase volume is to sponsor downline in hopes that they will also do their 100 PV as shown in the plan. And even if you are somehow able to accomplish this and sponsor a bunch of people as shown in the plan, chances are that many IBOs will "do nothing" and of the remaining, some will move 100 PV, but they will likely quit in one year or less. The attrition and failures in Amway make it nearly impossible to build and sustain a group. Even diamonds are working hard to help their downline keep up the volume or they too, will fall out of qualification. Has anyone actually heard of a diamond who walked away from Amway and is collecting large residual checks while doing nothing? IBOs often talk about it but not a single one can name one of these individuals.
In many or possible most cases, IBOs are only selling the Amway opportunity and not Amway products. They sell the possibility or hope that they will build a business, walk away and collect untold wealth for the rest of their lives. It isn't going to happen. Say for example, you sold 100 PV monthly on a consistent basis to customers. These customers will automatically go online and make purchases when they run out of their products. If you are lucky, they will also refer friends to make purchases. But most IBOs do not sell products, they are selling the opportunity. Thus once the business building stops, so goes the product purchases in most cases.
That brings up the next point about why an Amway business is not sustainable for most. The products cost more than most other retailers. That will limit the potential for customers and referals. Amway defenders like to cite quality issues, but most customers who shop online aren't familiar with Amway products and have no way to know whether Amway has quality products or not. That leaves them to decide based on prices. And Amway in general, costs much more than Walmart for the same or similar products. A tough sell indeed and for these reasons, I find the Amway business to be unsustainable. There is no other conclusion that can be made.
As is clear now to any unbiased person who has examined the issue, Amway products are merely a cover for selling the Amway racket to naive people who are dazzled by dreams of wealth.
ReplyDeleteBut no business is ultimately sustainable on dreams and hope alone. You have to have a competitive product, you have to have real customers (not just yourself and your family), and you have to have a livable income from it. Amway provides none of this. That's why it is a fake, make-believe business.
It's also why many up-line persons tell their down-line not to bother trying to sell Amway products. "Sell The Plan!" they scream.
This by itself is proof that Amway products are really nothing more than plastic casino chips in a racket that is essentially concerned with recruiting more suckers into it.
Just as a casino profits from the hopes and dreams of suckers with plastic chips, so also does Amway profit (at its upper levels) from the mindless enthusiasm of its down-line IBOs.
Agree with your analysis. But I'll point out that in a casino, people are well aware that the odds are against them. In Amway, they are fooled into thinking they are nearly assured of success if they follow the system.
DeleteSince something like 99.5% of Amway recruits don't make anything at all after expenses and most of them obviously soon get discouraged by a dose of reality and then drop out, then how many does the IBO actually need to recruit in reality to have anything even resembling a sustainable business? 500 or so? Where do you find all those people, show them the plan, sustain their enthusiasm for wasting their time and money etc.?
ReplyDeleteAlso, How much of a bonus check does Amway pay for 100 PV and how much did the IBO have to pay over retail price to get that "bonus"? Looks and sounds like paying a dollar for a dime.
You get about $10 bonus for 100 PV but the hard part is paying about $300 for 100 PV when you could have gone to WalMtart and paid $150 for the same stuff.
DeleteYou need to recruit about 100 people to get about 6 decent legs. To do this you need to contact about 12000 people and show the plan to about 2000. Thats about 20 people a week for 2 to 3 years. Every night of course. You dont need to bother about selling products. The model is about getting recruits to self consume. This gives you the volume. You need to find a about 3 people who will do exactly as outlined. This is the multiplication aspect. Thats how the big pins got there. It takes a unique set of skills to do this. Thats why so few can do so. Most end up recruiting their cousin and stacking products in their garage. They go no where. But tvey play a vital role in building volume. As one leader said get them in faster than they leave.
DeleteEven sponsoring 100 people is no assurance of going emerald or diamond. My former sponsor recruited more than 100 downline but it all fell apart and he's a nothing pin now.
DeleteI would agree there is certainly no guarantee. But one thing is certain that if you cant do that you will not survive cery long.
DeleteAgreed
DeleteYour source of income comes from exploiting your low level downlines. Remember that downlines are very difficult to control.
ReplyDeleteYour dealing with uncontrollable factors, your downline quits and encourages other downline to defect or quit the business. Once that happens, your network collapses.
Yep quitting can become contagious, especially when IBOs aren't making money.
DeleteThat's why those stupid "functions" are necessary. Up-line insists on your attendance at them because all the hoopla and hype and "rah-rah-let's-go-team" bullshit are designed precisely to keep you enthusiastic and "fired up" about a business that is actually costing you money.
DeleteWhen you have some fat-assed Diamond screaming "You'll all be millionaires!" as he waves photos of his rented limousine and mortgaged mansion, you might forget for a moment that all you're getting ia a ten-buck monthly bonus check.
Yes, the rah rah meetings are to pump you up even when you are making $10 but still taking losses due to the expenses for the cds and functions.
DeleteExplain why products from Amway come with 6 months satisfaction guarantee in North American market (some even not manufactured by them), as for quality the only way to know about it is to experience it(similar to those who just look at car don't see any difference between high-end and low-end as they look similar with 4 wheels, those who value their & their loved ones safety knows where to invest) & while you folks were not educated about the business opportunity over 70 other "retailers" are part of the ecosystem in the NA market.
ReplyDeleteAnd the vey fact that you bring in Walton family(indirect distributor) to compare with FMCG products available exclusively through IBO's who educate on Direct Selling & Free Enterprise shows your lack of understanding of opportunity as a whole.
The business not only sustained but grown in last over 50 years shows you guys are not educated enough about the business opportunity & the quality products and cost per use and the word of mouth marketing.
May GOD grant you folks wisdom to do something positive with your life & while doing that help others.
I tried the Amway products and they were not better than the stuff I could get at WalMart. They Amway products just costed more for no reason. If Amway stuff was "so good", they would be on Walmart's shelves and making way more money than thru the MLM distribution process.
DeleteThe reason for growth was expansion into foreign countries, where the Amway scam is not well know like it is in the US.
I did gain wisdom and used it to start this blog so people can find pertinent information.
To Anonymous at 6:47 PM:
ReplyDeleteYou are an idiot.
There is no six-month return guarantee that will ever be honored by Amway. Have you ever TRIED getting anyone in Amway to take back a product and refund you for it? They will hem and haw and hesitate and delay and give you all sorts of insane excuses as to why it can't be done. You have to fight tooth and nail to get a refund!
Your stupid jargon doesn't work here, pal. You can talk about "business opportunity" and "direct selling" and "ecosystems" at some half-assed Amway function, but they cut no ice here.
May GOD grant you the wisdom to stop being an asshole.
What business other than Amway or MLMs have to use the pitch about getting your money back? And yeah, there are stories about difficulties in returning items.
DeleteI can sense you folks are loosing "cool"...
DeleteSeems all hear say opinions of you folks ...NO FACTS.
You folks have either not experienced it or have been Mis-informed.
No answer to why those 70 other brands have joined, some where you probably shop as con-Sumer anyway if you are in North America.
And the type of language used shows that you have lot to learn in life to be a good citizen of civilized world.
May GOD grant you sense to help make this world a better place than what you found, for your generations to come.
Maybe you should learn the correct spelling of "losing". You have yet to present any facts.
DeleteThe 70 brands that joined did so because Amway IBOs will sell or buy their products even with a premium price. Those brands don't turn around and sell Amway products. It's a one way street. By the way, did you know that WorldCom and Enron were also Amway brands?
And I highly doubt that God would approve of a dishonest scam where people get shortchanged.
Don't worry I have a return policy for my maure facial cream. If it doesn't stink it won't take out a WRINK! HAHAHA JK...but seriously if you hate my stuff just fill out this 10 page form then call my customer service in India to explain your problem, and then they will connect you to one of my customer service agents in the U.S. who will forward 30 pages of documents that must be returned within 48 hours from your UPLINE back to us, and then you must call back to our customer service in India, this time it is not toll-free SORRY THEY ARE EXPENSIVE CALLS! Then they will reconnect you to the United States (For a small fee...transferring calls across that many thousands of miles needs to be charged), and finally we will get you a 50 page document which will need to be filled out before the next blue moon, and we will issue your return. Fail to comply with these terms will result in immediate forfeiture of your rights to return my manure, and any fees you have incurred during the return process. Have a great day, and remember you have 6 months of a window to return my manure so make sure you get yours TODAY!
ReplyDeleteSounds about right. LOL
DeleteTo Anonymous at 5:04 AM --
DeleteThose "70 brands" haven't joined Amway at all. They simply allow Amway to sell their stuff. Do you honestly believe that any big company would seriously and intimately involve itself, financially, with a two-bit MLM racket like Amway? If I give some old household things to the local Goodwill Society for them to sell, does that mean I've "joined up" with Goodwill?
Amway freaks keep screaming about how they have "partnered" with big companies. What utter bullshit. These big companies barely know that Amway is alive.
May GOD grant you the sense to get out of Amway before you go completely broke.
Amway has about 3 million IBOs worldwide who are taught mob like loyalty to Amway and partner store brands. Why wouldn't any company want to push their stuff at a premium price to brainwashed IBOs.
DeletePeople forget though, the Worldcom and Enron were also Amway "partners". Funny how IBOs always exclude that information when bragging about their partners. LOL
Yes Joe, you're right about that.
DeleteMost people in Amway are fairly stupid, and their herd-like loyalty and lockstep mentality mean that they'll tend to buy anything linked to the company. So quite naturally big corporations allow Amway to sell some of their stuff in Amway catalogues and stores. As a result, Amway freaks run around screaming that Amway has "partnered" with these big corporations.
It's a total lie. Amway has no "partnership" with these big corporations. The corporations are just using Amway as a means of raking in some extra cash from brain-dead IBOs. It's no more of a "partnership" than what exists between a pole dancer and the guys in the audience who stuff dollars in her panties.
I agree. It's more of an affiliate program than a partnership. It's not like these companies are in turn, selling Amway stuff.
DeleteThese companies are smart, they can exploit a closed audience that is loyal to the Amway catalog to a fault.