AIBU to think selling Avon is a mug's game?

[mummysherlock]

New to this so bear with me lol and apologise in advance for potentially long post.

About a month ago, an Avon sales leader approached me in a shopping centre in town and asked if I would consider being an Avon Rep. Now I've never done anything like this before so wasn't sure but I have recently returned to work part time after being a sahm for 2 years, whilst I was at home we were relying soley on DP's income to pay mortgage and bills etc so fleetingly thought it would be nice to have a little bit of money on the side to top up our joint account again and go towards the DC's Christmas presents. I also thought if I could get some discount on the products they would make nice Christmas gifts for some family members. So I replied 'maybe.' She gave me the latest catalogue, a leaflet about rewards reps can receive and took my phone number advising she would call me in 3 days to see what I thought.

So 3 days later she phones, ask if she can sign me up, and proceeds to arrange a date to come and visit me at home a week later for what I was led to believe by her wording would be an 'informal no obligation chat'

When she arrived at my house a week later she came in laden with catalougues and order forms and said 'so are you looking forward to earning some extra money then?' As if I had already agreed to definitely become a Rep. She then started the whole pitter patter about how successful she is: 'selling Avon is really easy' she trilled. 'I made £££ in my first campaign, in no time at all I was made a sales leader and shortly after that I was earning so much I was able to quit my previous job and live on my earnings from Avon.' 'Then after that I was promoted to advanced sales leader, you could achieve this you know.' I told her that I already had another job and was really looking just for a bit of extra cash in the run up to Christmas, to which she replied 'oh that's fine, you'll have no problem at all, everyone has heard of Avon and there is lots of positive feedback on our products.' She then told me she would allocate me some streets to distribute brochures to, and told me to distribute them among friends, family, mums at the school gates, the hairdressers etc and said loads of customers put really big orders in at Xmas. She then showed me how to fill in the order forms, said once I had some orders she would come back to the house and talk me through placing my first order and it would be really simple. She then got out a glossy flyer detailing the rewards you could get if your first 4 orders were over a certain amount, a hamper of toiletaries if your first order was over X amount, box of free make up for order 2, designer handbag for order 3 etc.

In hindsight she was quite pushy and persuasive and I found myself agreeing to sign up.

So she said selling Avon was easy. Well 2 weeks later I can honestly say it has been anything but. Easy my ass! I spent ages filling in all the order forms with my name, contact details, delivery dates etc, placed them with the brochures in the plastic bags, then walked round the streets in my territory, posting them through letterboxes, I also delivered them to nursery, work, hairdressers etc, explaining to people that I was now doing Avon, to have a browse through the catalogue and if they wished to place an order that I would be collecting the forms the following Monday. The sales leader also gave me the address of a lady who had so called spoken to her personally and told her she wanted an Avon Rep and was going to be placing regular orders, so I went to her house, she was out when I called so I left her a note explaining who I was, that my sales leader had advised that she liked the products and was interested in ordering, and that if she would like to order this time I would be back to collect on Monday.

Anyway on the Monday I went and collected the brochures and forms, and found I had a grand total of 1 order. To the value of £35.00. Friends, family and work colleagues had not ordered a thing, despite me reminding them on the Saturday that I would be collecting on the Monday. The lady who was so called really interested, she didn't even leave her brochure out for collection. There was a car in the driveway so I knocked on the door but no answer. I drove round on 2 other occasions again no brochure and no answer. The other households in my territory I knocked on the doors of those who hadn't left the brochures out to be told 'thanks but no thanks' of the others left out half of them had written on the front 'not interested, no more brochures please' and one house I went to there were 2 identical brochures out, one was from another Rep. The best bit? The one and only order I did have, the customer didn't put their name address and contact details on the order form, so when I got home and opened all the bags with the forms in I didn't have a clue who it was for!

So I rapidly came to the conclusion that if I was going to go into all that faff just to get 1 order back and obviously not then earning anything as the value of the order was below £75.00, it really wasn't worth me carrying on, so I emailed sales leader, explained everything and said with this in mind I no longer wished to be a rep. She replied back that she had loads of successful reps in her team, which made me feel I had somehow done something wrong, so I googled 'pros and cons of being an Avon Rep, and low and behold, loads of other experiences just like mine, eg pushy sales leader signing them up, telling them it would be really easy etc then found they made a pittance. Also some other alarming stories about reps who had returned orders when customers changed their minds, only for Avon to say they hadn't and started demanding money and threatening with debt collectors. This in itself confirmed my decision to quit. Sales leader then responded with 'well it does take a while to build up a good customer base' - yes the same one who said she had shedloads of orders on her first campaign and was quids in!

Also the more I think about it, the people who are successful reps really have to treat it like a full time job to even get a decent profit, also as order values will differ each month there is no guaranteed income, you don't earn anything for order values under £75.00 so essentially work for nothing, even on orders above this you then only get to keep a quarter of the order value despite the fact that you have done the donkey work of distributing the brochures, collecting them, processing the order forms and putting the orders through, then delivering them to customers often at unsocial hours. Plus out of this 25 percent commission you get you have to pay for the next lot of catalougues and bags, plus as it is considered an 'income' you have to declare to HMRC so have tax and NI deductions.

So really AIBU to think for most people it really is a mugs game and not worth it?

Oh and yes I do now feel rather embarrassed and stupid as I'm normally quite a sensible person and would look into things properly before agreeing to them. As mentioned before sales leader was incredibly pushy. Oh the joy of hindsight.

[Welikethemoon]

Yeah, it's definitely not the worst, but you do have to buy the catalogues and you have to buy the actual products with your own money for each order then collect the money back from the customer, but if they suddenly decide they don't want it and won't pay up you are stuck with it. Then you can return it, but that costs postage. So I ended up keeping a lot as it wasn't worth the postage. Never made anything like the money the rep promised.

[MsVestibule]

moon most of that isn't accurate. You don't have to pay upfront for the goods - you have to pay for them two weeks later, by which time you should have delivered all of your orders and received the money from your customers.

Returns are free - the person who delivers the goods collects your returns package.

I've done Avon for about four years. It took me a long time to build up a customer base, and it's no money spinner, but I probably earn NMW and I can choose the hours I work. It's enough for a good family weekend away every year.

[MrGrumpy01]

I have an Avon catologue. I like some things especially their children's range and other bits. My Avon lady must be doing ok as she has been doing it for a few years but I imagine it is on top of another job as she often comes around tea time.
I'm not sure how much the betterware people make though.

[RachelRagged]

Oh this brings back memories .

I was suckered in once as well , , and like another poster said, it was only once I tramped round the streets, took the orders, walked to a town house where oddly I had to put the book, with orders, through the letterbox .

That was the first and only time and I've kept away from the like of Avon ever since.

[Dontneedausername]

I do Avon. I think the first mistake you made was just dead dropping all your books. I actually knocked on door and asked people if they would like one. Never delivered to people who weren't interested. So I built up a small customer base. I have their mobile numbers and text everyone a few days before Collecting to remind them to leave books out. I don't make a lot, it's definitely pocket money. But it gets me out of the house and I've made new friends doing it. I'm not a pushy social media advertiser, I'm strictly word of mouth.

[ginghamstarfish]

I did Avon many years ago and it was ok, but surprised it still exists in this day and age. Multi-level marketing seems to be more about the 'team leaders' recruiting more people under them, so they move up the ladder (and of course they get a bonus for each new person and a percentage of the sales too). Neals Yard seems to be a posher and more expensive version of this today - lovely products though!

[HeCantBeSerious]

Avon is rubbish. Furthermore, they test their products on animals so that's a big fat NO from me. Wouldn't touch their stuff with a barge pole.

And owned by Nestle, so you can add baby harming into the mix.

[angryangryyoungwoman]

I think it's exploitative to the people selling it as it's a lot of work for little money, the products are not only shit but unethical too, and it is becoming more like a pyramid scheme as the company has changed emphasis from products to recruitment.

[SparklyLeprechaun]

It used to work 20 years ago when people didn't do Internet shopping. But the days of mail ordering are gone. I don't bother ordering from a catalogue when I can press a few buttons on a computer at my own convenience, why should I?

[GlitterIsTheEnemy]

I think it can work but you need a decent reliable customer base and not going door to door. I think people are unlikely to buy anything from a random person just dropping off a catalogue.

My friend in work has been doing it for years, she only does it in work and puts in orders for £700-800 every campaign. No idea what she makes on that but she seems happy with it. We work in a large company and she has lots of regulars that come to the office to collect the books.

[Welikethemoon]

Vestibule - well maybe I'm remembering wrong or maybe they have changed it, this was about 10 years ago. It's still not going to replace a job, probably not even minimum wage unless you have a fantastic customer base.

[EdithWeston]

Avon is at the respectable end of this type of marketing, because it's got a real and competitively priced product and the start-up costs for reps are low.

But you are probably looking at making maybe up to £250 per campaign if you rely only on selling things yourself.

If you want to make more, then you need to start working as a distributor and making a network of recruits (ie what the person who signed you up is doing). If that doesn't appeal to you, then you don't have to do it and there is no cultish pressure to do so. But you do need to be realistic about how much you'll make.

[IHaveBrilloHair]

I used to buy a fair bit a few years back, but now I can get everything online I wouldn't bother, I've new nail varnishes arriving today with my groceries.

[thewooster]

This brings back memories. I once did a Betterware round and god it was tough going. I was given an area and people were really ratty and nasty but I picked up a few orders. The tough part was putting the catalogues back out there again a couple of weeks later and expecting them to order again. Plus I had to remember where the ratbags lived so I didnt get shouted at again. Not the correct job for an introvert like me. I didnt stick at it long!

[Livelovebehappy]

I love Avons Anew face creams. They're the only things I get from a girl at work who shares out the brochures and gets quite a few orders. But she did tell me once that they don't get commission from anything sold in their sales books, so I always feel guilty ordering things from there, even though there are quite a few bargains to be had.

[OnTheEdgeOfItAll]

Ok, first of all they don't test on animals. Secondly, many customers wait to see if you are a reliable rep or a fly by night, you can't expect loads of orders at your first attempt. I have done Avon previously, but don't at present as I don't have time.
It is not a get rich quick scheme, and it is not easy. However, there can be lots of good things about it. (It was popular at toddler group, especially in the run up to Xmas.)
Good Points - access to very cheap toiletries and make up for yourself and your family. I was using the kids bath stuff & shampoo, as well as shower gel etc for the rest of the family and if you buy right it is far cheaper than the pound shop and delivered to your door.
Also, I like that you can return make up. I have so much shit that I have bought in Boots etc, and when you get it home the colour is wrong or whatever. You need to know your products, know what you can recommend.
If you engage with people and talk to them about the advantages such as being able to try products with no obligation to keep them, they can get a full refund or exchange the product, then you will make sales. If you fail to engage then you won't.
If you want to get bargain stuff for yourself and a few quid on the side, it is fine. You need good advice from seasoned reps that can tell you how to make the most out of it. There are loads of methods reps use to get a better deal.
Avon et al are by no means perfect, but in any sales position you have to put a hell of a lot of work in to get anything out of it.

[OnTheEdgeOfItAll]

Unless something drastic has changed there is commission from sale booklets. It's only the rep book, which she isn't meant to show customers that doesn't pay commission. She would get less commission though, as it is percentage based.

[AllPowerfulLizardPerson]

"Ok, first of all they don't test on animals"

I'm afraid they do.

It's true that in the past they didn't, but this changed when they started selling to China (which requires that testing to comply with laws there). Even Snopes agrees that there is testing of parts of the range.

[Fluffyears]

Avon don't test on animal ms in the U.K but the sell in countries where animal testing is mandatory so they still test abroad.

[Robinkitty]

I used to sell Avon but just to family, friends and at the toddler groups I used to go to. I made a few quid but I was skint and appreciated that few quid. I used to enjoy doing it, wasn't worth the time once I got a proper job though

[OnTheEdgeOfItAll]

They were one of the first to stop uk testing, and countries such as China require it from ALL companies selling certain types of products.

[Meadows76]

Avon don't test on animal ms in the U.K but the sell in countries where animal testing is mandatory so they still test abroad.. I couldn't support a company that tests on animals regardless of the location. I don't know how people can buy from these diabolical companies.

[mumonashoestring]

It probably was worth doing before everyone had an internet connection and access to order for themselves - they even do a points scheme to incentivise people placing their own orders now so I don't understand why anyone would order via a rep any more.

[JellyBelli]

You don't earn anything for order values under £75.00! Thats shocking, IDK anyone who could afford to spend that much.
Avon perfumes used to be good value for money, but the modern ones just arent. I buy the vintage ones if I buy them at all.

[littleshirleybeans]

I became a rep last year and did very well. I knocked on doors and introduced myself, was chatty and friendly as well as knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the products.
I printed out my contact details etc so that I didn't need to keep writing out the order forms! I gave samples with every order and a gift with orders over a certain amount. That was my USP and it did work.
I made good money and had a good customer base. Became a sales coordinator and that paid for last Xmas.
I did enjoy it and I put 100% into it. Sometimes I was literally up all night putting through the orders and if something had sold out, I'd try to choose a suitable substitute.
BUT I exhausted myself doing it. Stopped after Xmas to give myself a break. Haven't gone back and I don't miss the nights trudging round the streets in the cold and dark.
I almost had my finger amputated in someone's letterbox and nearly broke my blooming neck falling on someone's unlit path!