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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To consider joining Avon?

38 replies

Cosmogirl86 · 26/09/2019 13:38

I have two twin boys, aged 8 weeks and I'm not sure what will happen after my maternity ends due to childcare cost etc.

I'm considering joining Avon as a work from home job but I am not sure. Any one here have experience of it? I intend to sell mostly online, using social media to advertise.

How did find it. I genuinely don't want to be torturing my family and friends every month to buy things but I'm not sure how easy it is to gather a customer base

OP posts:
Norma27 · 26/09/2019 13:40

No no no no no!
Awful to join any mlm company. 99% of people who do lose money.
They are also not a cruelty free company. Absolutely awful.

P1nkHeartLovesCake · 26/09/2019 13:41

Nobody makes decent money from this kind of thing

OneForMeToo · 26/09/2019 13:42

Not worth it. You will spend more time picking up and putting out books than a postman for a handful of £5 orders. Only people who seem to enjoy it are those who dump the books in the staff room of large companies and pick up £100’s of orders in a week of doing nothing

amyrose1978 · 26/09/2019 13:43

I tried it for awhile, but to be honest I ended up losing money.

CatToddlerUprising · 26/09/2019 13:44

You would have to register self employed and submit tax returns. Doesn’t seem worth the hassle to be honest

AloeVeraLynn · 26/09/2019 13:46

Don't do it.

sweeneytoddsrazor · 26/09/2019 13:47

You might make a bit of money if you have lots of friends who buy make up. You probably wont make a lot putting books through doors. I think Avon is slightly different from other schemes such as JP and younique in as much as all Avon reps I have known do not try and get you to sign up to anything.

LeekMunchingSheepShagger · 26/09/2019 13:49

I don't think Avon is technically an MLM because you aren't expected to recruit other people. I could go on the Avon website and buy anything any time though so I'm not sure what the point of a rep would be?

StickyProblem · 26/09/2019 13:49

I don't agree with MLM but I have bought from my local Avon lady who doesn't recruit.

If you buy online and pay for delivery the stuff comes pretty quickly.
If you buy online and want the Avon lady to bring it round it takes weeks. If I wasn't supporting her business I would just buy online. So make sure that you'd make enough money if people bought from your online store and had it delivered directly. Also make sure if you can that there isn't a local Avon lady who already has all the local loyalty, because I'm not sure if Avon would let you start anyway.

Cosmogirl86 · 26/09/2019 13:54

It seems like most people think it's a bad idea then! I might have to find something else, or go back to work

OP posts:
Tashd · 26/09/2019 13:57

This reply has been deleted

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conderellainyellakissedafella · 26/09/2019 14:00

Don't do it @Cosmogirl86 I've never sold it but i have used Avon suncream as a teen and eye make up remover too. Both times I ended up in hospital due to an allergic reaction. Happy days! (Not 😁)

conderellainyellakissedafella · 26/09/2019 14:01

The products are harsh and they are not animal friendly

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 26/09/2019 14:02

It just seems like an odd and overly expensive way to buy stuff.

As a customer you can't test/smell/try things before you buy, on which you are relying on a picture in a small paper booklet. Then you have to wait.

or you could go to any supermarket or boots/superdrug and do everything above a lot quicker and cheaper. Even if you're homebound, there seem to be better options.

mclover · 26/09/2019 14:05

Join some flexible working mums groups on FB to get some ideas. Being a virtual assistant is quite a popular one

WithTwilightAsMyGuide · 26/09/2019 14:08

I did it for a while, made £20 - £30 every 3 weeks, for a ton of work. Really not worth it and I think you have to pay to join now.

IrishNinja · 26/09/2019 14:10

I had a pretty bad experience with Avon. I was making a small amount of money in my local area, but was building up a decent client base. Then on the last Christmas delivery I was mugged, was in hospital for 6 days. I had a lot of money on me which obviously was all taken. I contacted Avon, with the crime number, even sent pictures to them of the injuries. I asked if I could have some extra time to pay them for the goods I had received and delivered. At no point did I ask them to wipe the debt. Point blank no, you pay now. I couldn't so they ended up passing it to a debt collection agency who were actually a lot more reasonable to deal with! This was a long time ago now but it actually messed my life up for a considerable amount of time. I won't touch them with a barge pole now.

European12345 · 26/09/2019 14:13

Is your company happy for you to have another job whilst on maternity leave? I believe mine didn’t allow it.

keepingbees · 26/09/2019 14:16

I did it when I was in a similar position to you, thinking it would fit around my young DC and bring me in a bit of money. It was quite a while ago though so things might have changed, but here's my experience of it:
There's a lot of upfront costs, you have to buy your brochures, order sheets, paper bags, everything. People are supposed to have the book for a few days then leave it out for you to deliver to another street. They don't. You end up knocking on doors and chasing books that people have lost or thrown out.
You also have to pay for the orders upfront, so you're massively out of pocket until you deliver the orders and get people to pay. Which is ok if you have the money, BUT then people don't answer the door, don't have money in the house, ask you to come back when they've been paid, etc etc. You go through so much hassle for very little money back.
Avon are also supposed to support you but don't. You're supposed to be given areas that are exclusive to you, but then find someone else is putting books through. Avon also hassle you with sales calls all the time too.
I gave it up pretty quickly! Unless you have a large amount of family and friends who will place orders regularly you're unlikely to have any kind of reliable income.

Littlepeak34 · 26/09/2019 14:20

Just another idea... you could do matched betting. It’s not a regular income but brings me in around £1k a month on top of part time job. I spend 2-3 hours a day on it.

FluffyAlpaca19 · 26/09/2019 14:26

You need to think outside the box when it comes to employment after kids. I targeted charities, local authorities & schools for term time Admin jobs. It took a bit of time but paid off in the end as I know have a p/t job paying £800+ monthly. It's nowhere near my old salary but I don't pay childcare, I get all holidays off and it's flexible.

Imo mlm and Avon sales type jobs require a lot of effort for very little pay back. It won't be a regular amount that you earn for the effort that you put it.

What's your education & employment background? Any transferable skills? Can you pick up a few evening supermarket shifts while partner cares for kids until they're school age?

www.ten2two.org/
Try this agency, they're exclusively flexi hours so suit parents.

FluffyAlpaca19 · 26/09/2019 14:28

www.peopleperhour.com/

YouokHun · 26/09/2019 14:44

No no no!!!!!! Avon is now MLM. FB pages are chic full of Avon and other MLM distributors desperately trying to recruit downlines because you CANNOT make any meaningful money by sales alone. Research shows that over 99.7% of sign ups to MLM lose money. Please don’t do it. Have a look at botwatch.blog or MLMtruth.org for more information on how this fraud operates.

RatherBeAScummerThanASkate · 26/09/2019 14:49

Second matched betting

YouokHun · 26/09/2019 14:50

I'm a Rep and Sales Leader with Avon, and if you put the effort in then you will get the benefits

@Tashd this is not true. It’s been shown to not be true time and time again; there is no correlation between effort put in and successful outcome. The only way to make money in MLM is to build a huge downline. That will never happen because of Avon saturation. I would really urge people not to get caught up in product based pyramid schemes.

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