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Original poster

To think sodding Sell-You-Stuff parties are a work of the Devil ...

266 replies

Fecklessdizzy · 30/11/2011 22:25

Rant Alert ...

Seething (and stinking of garlic). Just got back from Stupidly-Overpriced-Cookware demo that I wasn't going to go to on account of having a foul cold and not being interested in podding out fifty quid for a casserole dish.

The friend who was hosting the thing was panicking about no-one turning up and guilt-tripped me into coming along to make up the numbers so I sat through the demo ( think shopping channel but much, much duller ) When the demonstrator handed round the stuff she'd cooked at the end I had a nibble or two then made my excuses and started to slink off when she says " Not buying anything, then?" My mate says " Oh, Feckless isn't feeling well, I made her come " and the bloody demonstrator whips back with " Shame, lucky it didn't affect your appitite, though! "

Snarl ... BlushBlushAngry

OP posts:
TheHamish · 02/12/2011 07:43

Seriously though. We're just trying to eke out a living that fits around our families. If you really don't like selling parties, don't go, your friend will get over it.

And if you do go, but don't want to buy anything just put the catalogue/ order form down. Eat the biscuits, have a cuppa, say goodbye and leave. Say no thanks, or don't say anything. Don't be guilt tripped into buying stuff.

We're not all pushy and evil, you know. Just say no.

Catslikehats · 02/12/2011 07:44

£3k for a set of pans - they'd need to get up and do the bloody cooking for that. And self clean.

Here in the UAE there is a captive audience for sell your stuff parties: transient population of woman with too much time and money on their hands combined with a keeness to fit in and make friends, equals a healthy profit for the dullest purveyors of even the most tedious shite.

There are also numerous people who sell their own stuff, that crucially people actually want and really do make a decent living. If selling is for you (and it most definitely isn't for everyone) pick your market, pick your product and don't sign all your profits over to someone heading the scheme.

TheHamish · 02/12/2011 07:55

Sorry ASPP, crossed posts. Slow typing on iPhone!

TheFowlAndThePussycat · 02/12/2011 08:00

I've hosted a few, mostly because I understand why people do it as it's pretty hard finding a job that fits around your family and I admire them for being enterprising. I wasn't going to do any more because I felt I'd done my bit for all the local reps and my friends are sick of parties now! Then my friend set herself up selling gifts at parties so I did one for her because her stock is beautiful and I doubly admire her for doing it all on her own terms and keeping the profits! That's my last one though.

On the whole though, I don't think people on this thread are giving the reps much credit for working bloody hard and trying to make a living. Its certainly not the easiest way to go about it, I wouldn't do it for all the tea in china!

FellatioNelson · 02/12/2011 08:08

Sorry Ann Summers lady - you may for all I know be someone I love on here in your usual guise, but my heart is absolutely NOT bleeding for you. You know the deal with these things - you have acepted a job which is commission only. You make a living out of selling something people can get on the high street, and you do it by making them a captive audience and they will probably make a guilt purchase. You do not do your job so that you can enable the hostess to get the free gift 'she really wants' - you do it to make money for yourself. If she doesn't get a gift out of it then you've had a low-earning night too. The whole concept of the gift for the hostess is to incentivise her friends to buy your stuff out of guilt and solidarity - and you know it.

FairyOnTheXmasTreeMcFlouncer · 02/12/2011 08:17

Why shouldn't she make a living out of selling something you can get on the high street?

I have Body Shop parties all the time and I could get the same stuff in the shop, but if I buy it from my rep, she gets paid a percentage instead of the company trousering all the profits. Cant see any harm in that?

FellatioNelson · 02/12/2011 08:27

There is no reason she shouldn't Fairy and if she can, then great. But to turn it on the customer, who in all honesty is usually there out of a sense of duty to the hostess and nothing more, if she has a poor sales night, is out of order. It's all very well saying 'if you are negative it's better that you don't come' but she will know as well as I do that they learn all kinds of tactics to make sure the turnout is a high as possible ( 'don't forget to phone round all the friends you've invited and remind them that morning so they don't forget etc etc.) The whole thing is cynical and they rely heavily on guilt and people's inability to say the word No loudly and clearly. People go out of guilt/duty and tell themselves they won't spend, and they hope no-one will notice. The agent knows this. She also know that many people's resolve crumbles when they get there and they end up buying at least one token thing out of embarrassment at being seen as 'the person who came and drank the wine but didn't buy anything.' - BOT because it's the thing they really want and have been searching for all their lives. It's a cynical gamble they take.

FellatioNelson · 02/12/2011 08:28

NOT (not BOT!)

Thistledew · 02/12/2011 08:45

The worst selling party I have ever been to was in the late 90s. The woman was selling a holiday 'capsule wardrobe', which consisted of a sports bag full of shapeless jersey clothes. The idea was that they were multi functional so you could use the same garment as a beach cover up, then with the assistance of a scarf used as a belt, and a tacky broach, you could rearrange the garment to resemble a frock for going to a restaurant in the evening.

It was truly dire. I don't know who decided that people might want to wear these shapeless jogging-bottom clothes, let alone why anyone going on holiday would want to forgo their normal clothes and fashion sense for the 'convenience' of wearing the same sweaty dress all week.

Unsurprisingly, she failed to sell a single item.

JugglingWithGoldandMyrhh · 02/12/2011 09:09

I'm amazed that some people are prepared to put on a party with food and drink just so another "friend" can come along and ruin the atmosphere with lots of hard sell.
Just have a party FFS !
Need an excuse ? Birthday ? Christmas ? Royal Wedding ? etc. etc.

TheHamish · 02/12/2011 09:19

Juggling, would you like some Frankincense to go with that Gold and Myrrh? I've a lovely Frankincense hydrating cream here...

Wink
FellatioNelson · 02/12/2011 09:28

I'm snorting at the mental image of me on holiday, having only packed three things, and turning up for dinner each evening with yesterday's dress wrapped around my head as a fetching turban, then the following day putting my legs through the sleeves and making it into crotchless trousers, and then twisting it into bulky rope the next day and wrapping it around my waist. My bet is we wouldn't get many offers of drinks and chats from other couples on that holiday. Grin

JugglingWithGoldandMyrhh · 02/12/2011 09:34

Ooh thanks Hamish

  • I need another as I dropped mine Grin
  • Does make the kitchen smell lovely and Christmassy though !
TheHamish · 02/12/2011 09:37

It can be yours if you book a party!

JugglingWithGoldandMyrhh · 02/12/2011 09:42

I'm not hosting Angry

Not for all the Frankinscence of Nebuchadnezzar Xmas Grin

WidowWadman · 02/12/2011 09:51

My mother hosts a tupper party twice a year. I get the cast offs when she clears out her cupboards to make more space. I also let myself be "recruited" by her tupper presenter lady, as she needed to increase her numbers of minions in order to win some kind of weekend away trip or so. It meant I had to sit through a mindnumbingly boring training session and got a huge bag full of tupper stuff for free as presentation material - apparently normally you pay for it out of your commissions, but the tupper lady did that out of her own, so she could go onto that trip for free.

I wonder to this day whether it wouldn't have been cheaper for her to just pay for that herself.

TheHamish · 02/12/2011 09:52

See! You CAN say no, and I don't think any less of you.

(party pooper)

Miette · 02/12/2011 10:19

Funny to think of someone using a jersey dress as a beach cover up and it getting covered in sand and seawater and bits of seaweed and then going home, having a nice shower, putting on makeup and then putting the sandy/ seaweed/ seawater dress back on with a brooch and a scarf belt for the evening.

DollyTwat · 02/12/2011 11:16

Was that a Weekender party thistledew?
I went to one if those and the awful woman made me model all her jogging bottom clothes. I was a shy 19 yr old and hated every minute of it. She did give me a top as a thank you which I never wore

alemci · 02/12/2011 11:23

were those clothes called weekenders? I remember going to a Mary Kay party, skin care and make up. very expensive.

do you remember Pippa Dee and Oriflame from the 80's. my mum did have a couple of those.

rightlymoaningminnie · 02/12/2011 11:36

They sound more and more cultish. 'tried to recruit me', cult-like reverence for the product, 'my rep'.

The woman who gave away her own tupperware to a poster, in order to go to her conference is interesting. And cult-like.

A few people have mentioned that they ended up with loads of their product, which they had already paid for when they decided to stop. It must be very common for people to do a party once, and then decide that it is not for them. Do you think that this is part of the business plan, that the person who decides to buy some stock to start selling is often the single buyer.

thenightsky · 02/12/2011 11:52

Lads... I give you....

the 3k pan thread

Thistledew · 02/12/2011 11:55

It could have been called Weekender, but it is so long ago I can't remember. I also got roped in to model, but only after the woman who had first agreed to do so dropped out. I seem to remember that she was about a size 12, and I was at that time a skinny size 8 so the clothes looked doubly awful on me.

One of the selling points of this kit was that it all came in a made to measure bag, that was just big enough for the clothes. There didn't seem to be an answer for where you were supposed to put your wash bag, or a spare pair of shoes, let alone all the other clobber essential for a holiday.

Thistledew · 02/12/2011 12:02

I just remember the woman who was selling giving off an increasing air of desperation as we all sat boggling at this horrendous range of clothes that no one was interested in buying. I think she had had to buy several kits from the supplier and was not able to return them. This had been about her fourth party and she had not managed to off load a single item. I think that she had realised that she had made an expensive mistake, and whilst we all felt quite sorry for her, we couldn't imagine what had made her think it was a good idea in the first place.

I seem to remember that I was supposed to get a top for being the model too, but they didn't make them small enough to fit me, so I said I would never wear the one she offered!

Alouisee · 02/12/2011 12:06

Aargh - anyone remember Cabouchon Jewellery? I did that for a bit when I bought my first flat and wanted to earn extra money. I didn't have one party but I used to take the brochures to work with me and I did very nicely out of people who wanted nickel free earrings. I did quite well out of people in the pub too.

#EmbarrassedNow

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