Younique and facebook

[Paddington68]

One fo my friends has recently started selling this stuff - Younique make-up.
On Facebook she has become this embodiment of positivity, lots of quotes, lots of photos. Then she does these videos about the product and her happy, happy life.
I know that in real life she doesn't have a happy, happy life and we (she and I) have talked previously about how other people's happy, happy, facebook can be damaging to mental health or hide mental health issues.
AIBU to think younique is like a cult and tell her to stop the pretending?

I am surprised people have success with home parties, I know that whenever friends have tried doing MLM the parties have failed miserably due to nobody wanting to go. I certainly turn down invitations to product parties. I don’t want to go to something I’ve been invited to purely to try and sell me things.

Massive “wow” at the Bottiest Bot, straight out of Botsville!

Hey BAB. u ok hun?

My MLM bingo card is full!

All MLM is bollocks, aimed at quite the sensitive and gullible.Seeing posts on Facebook about how their life is now muchly fulfilled by being able to work from home (alienating everyone around them) is quite sad really.

Please don't believe everything you hear or read...

I don’t, especially not from MLM cult adherents.

Why should we be impressed when you say you’ve got customers in Australia? I once knew a girl from Australia, she painted her arse like a dahlia. A penny a smell didn’t go down too well and tuppence a lick was a failure. She didn’t seem to mind. People all over the world get sucked into this MLM nonsense all the time. It’s a global scam.

Have you been to a Younique rally? Were you impressed? That Younique Bot in the BBC documentary got on the stage at a cult rally to compare Younique’s CEO with none other than Jesus Christ.

Can you imagine if the real JC got roped into an MLM scheme? The Last Supper would’ve been really awkward for the twelve huns ... and today vicars up and down the country will be blessing their communion aloe juice and making the sign of the cross with a mascara wand.

I'm watching that documentary right now (thanks for posting the link BSintolerant )

My friend started selling it sent me a couple of samples & I won a mascara that looked like I glued pubes to my eyelids. The eyeshadow was invisible

Wow! For someone who purports to have a 'normal job in education...you use a lot of strange punctuation.....!!!
In fact the style sounds just like....ellebeau's insight into Poonique!!!!!

I'm guessing BAB is a high up who joined MN to argue the fabulousness of the whole setup.

@BAB0484 Re: Newborn help, it's probably best to start a new thread in the 'Parenting' topic. Hope you get the advice you're looking for.
Not everyone on MN is nasty like these lot!

@peachgreen Oh my Christ that is deplorable....

So very sorry for your loss

The only way you're earning £800-1000 a month from younique is if you have a big pool of recruits below you. You're never selling that much makeup a month. Not possible.

Younique is a load of shite I know a woman who sells it she is constantly posting crap all over facebook about it. I work for Avon am slowly building up a team I make no money from it because I end up spending my commission on stuff for myself. I would rather have Avon make up over younique.

New reps are taught to exaggerate their lifestyle (fake it till you make it) to encourage friends to join the pyramid beneath them. Telling lies about income is part of the system - it wouldn't work otherwise because nobody would join.

Another recommendation for the podcast The Dream, it is an amazing insight into MLMs.

It actually made me well up.a.few times because this whole shit show makes me so angry. these 'companies ' should be illegal.

It’s pyramid selling and it’s a miracle that it hasn’t been banned since pyramid selling is illegal.

The recent BBC documentary on MLMs was quite good but this blog by someone who was sucked into it is brilliant and well worth a read:

ellebeaublog.com/poonique/

I don’t think you stand a chance of persuading your friend to stop. She will not want to admit that she has been an idiot. Especially when she has been an idiot so publicly. You’ll probably have to wait for her to figure it out for herself. Unfortunately she will probably lose a lot of friends along the way as they get sick of the hard sell. The basis of the “business” is actually the recruitment of other sellers who have to buy very expensive product starter kits. The make-up itself is just a distraction. So every friend or family member that she recruits will also be left out of pocket. Whatever you do, don’t let her persuade you to join the cult.

Hi BABS, welcome to Mumsnet, and you are welcome, MLMs are, however, not highly thought of.

The majority view on Mumsnet is that MLM recruit vulnerable ladies, and virtually no one makes much money, and many lose, once samples, kit, training, monthly website fees, withdrawal fees are taken into account. The only people who do make money are people who have a big down line, encourage them to spend money. Presenters are the customer. People who fail are left with the feeling that they are the failure, when really the system is broken.

BABS can you advise how much of your monthly income is from sales (at 30% this would equate to selling approx 170 mascaras, that's an extraordinary amount)? Or is some of the income from down lines.

You must be at least green status to get 30% commission... can you advise of all the people who have been in your down line, how many are still active, and how many have dropped out?

A friend of mine started selling some sort of weight loss / hair thickening/ diabetes curing fruit powder shite.
She bombarded me endlessly with invites to buy the stuff, become a " bossbabe" ( I already have my own, legitimate and highly industry specific, business) etc.
When I eventually got fed up and messaged her with " please stop trying to flog me your snake oil", she replied " it's not snake oil Hun, it's vegan", sigh

Someone added me to a group, the mascara looks crap. The marketing photo and the product being used are totally different. It looks clumpy and cheap. Its 23 pound, if I'm going to spend that I'll buy the Lancome or some other decent brand.

Can you explain where the testers for your parties come from if you've only ever bought the initial kit?

We earn Y cash which enables us to buy products which we use to replenish our kits... I have never spent anymore than the £69 start up kit.

Can you not see that those two statements are directly contradictory? If you've had to pay to replenish your kit, self-evidently you've paid out for more than the start-up kit. It makes no difference that the money you used for it came out of what you've earned, it's still your money paying for basic stock, rather than having it provided for you as would be the case if you worked in Boots.

Iv had friends getting involved in this type of selling, different companies not younique, they become almost brainwashed, it's a nightmare, the products are always really expensive, iv been bombarded by fb posts, invited to selling parties, in the past iv bought products to be supportive but that was a huge mistake as they then want you to buy more. I have found that with my friends it usually dies off when they realise they are not making any money. One of my friends spent £2k attending seminars, she never made that money back. Btw I buy younique mascara on eBay regularly it's approx £5

@BAB0484 Clearly isn’t making money. None of them are. But part of the whole scheme is to tell everyone that you are successful. It’s all about mindset babes!

Attached are the stats for Nuskin which is exactly the same as Younique. Same model of recruiting, same awful products, also based in Utah.

89.2% make £0
1.09% make £870
0.04% (36 people) make £18,100

These are global statistics. So it’s fair to say these MLM “businesses” will not provide you or your family with an income. The only people making any money are those who have 1000s of downsells (i.e. mugs who they have convinced to join the cult).

(Figures taken from the recent BBC documentary on Multi-Level Marketing)

I don't think Younique makeup is worth the expensive price tag. I've been to one of the home events. It wasn't for me. I much prefer Avon, its better value for money.

As for the presenters - the bbc documentary really showed it for what it was. Only a few people make good money from it and thats mostly from recruits not actually selling to the public. I would hide the posts from my feed - the false positivity screams insecurity to me. Good for people who make an amazing income but thats hardly anyone.

BAB0484 . this is a full stop not 3 dots which means something completely different.

I have built my little business by me... for me
The biggest lie in MLM world. You have not built a business. You are an unpaid sales rep who gets paid a bit for flogging someone else's product.

If you ran a business then you'd be in charge of your pricing, you'd be in charge of product development or product sourcing, you'd ensure your team were paid the minimum wage, you'd give your team employment rights.

People who think sitting on their sofa posting

💙💚💗💛💜💙 ready to dream big? Hate your job? Want to spend more time with the kids? I have a fabulous opportunity for you.💙💚💗💛💜💙

have been taken in and groomed by lies because their up lines need more downlines in order to make money. That is not a business.

It's also telling that the lies are so pervasive that many women jump from one MLM to another hoping the next one will be different.

" it's not snake oil Hun, it's vegan"