To think that lockdown is partly responsible for the explosion in MLM?

[Nickelallergy891]

Every day, I mean every day, I log on and another Facebook friend seems to be pushing Scentsy/Body Shop/Avon/Yoooounique. I've really noticed it more in the last couple of months. As much as I find these posts annoying (I unfollow immediately), I can't help but worry that many women are getting themselves caught in a horrible trap, and I feel so angry that these sort of schemes even exist!

In my opinion, any "Job" that requires someone to pay for a start up kit isn't a job at all.

Has anyone else noticed a huge increase in these sort of things, and do you think it's mostly down to lockdown?

@tunnocksreturns2019

I have a Facebook friend who moves from MLM to MLM to MLM. And yes, a new one for lockdown. It makes me sad because it’s such a waste of her time and talents.

I too have a facebook friend a bit like that. She and several of her friends are involved in different ones. They seem to spend their entire time both promoting and buying each other's stuff.

One day they will all sit down and wonder who has the money

Why do they say things like

I absolutely love my shakes!
They make me feel so full and satisfied and amazing!
I've not been feeling great but just had one and now I feel.lush!
If your interested in making a lifestyle change
Weight loss
Better skin and nails
Fill your body with nutrients

(This is pretty much word for word )

It just doesn't sound like them, are they given pre-written phrases to use or has she been possessed!??

If it's Travel Counsellors, it's not an MLM.

While I'm all for freedom of speech, I feel that anyone promoting an MLM on here should face a 120-day (4 month) ban from MN. MLM's are misogynist.

Yes they are definitely encouraged to exaggerate their earnings and claim they bought expensive items with the wage from the MLM. In reality it was bought/leased by themselves

I have a friend who did younique and claimed she bought this and bought that. Her purple card paid for these days out etc

It didn’t. Her dh and her part time job did.

One day she just stopped posting about younique so I’m guessing she’s called it quits

I have a relative who was involved in an MLM very early on and did very well out if it. At one point her income was over £30k and she went on free cruises and travel incentives. And I know 100% for certain that these were from the MLM, not to gain likes on social media.

However

• she was one of the earlier reps and therefore was able to build a large team
• it took a number of years to build up to that level
• it was like a full time job, not a job on the side as many MLMs are which persuade you you can make a fortune working 2 hours a week
• the products were actually good and worth the money
• the products were of the type you could sell at fetes and fairs, so not limited to social media or parties (although they do parties too)

I know someone that was selling younique couldn't stop raving about it for couple years and how they have the best mascara etc. Free meals out all paid for on her purple card. Then suddenly she stopped just like that. Couple weeks later she said on her Instagram how it was making her so depressed and why she stopped etc

Another lady selling Scentsy went to Florida for first time with hubby and kids (not paid by scentsy) to me didn't/couldn't holiday properly as everyday at least 6-7 times a day constantly posting about wax melts etc I mean just take your holiday like a normal person. That must have been exhausting keep having to post!

This gives me the rage. I have a friend with existing mh issues who's been sucked in. Her problems have been exacerbated and about a month ago she was sectioned. No sign of her being released yet. Her upline couldn't give a shit.

“I have a relative who was involved in an MLM very early on and did very well out if it. At one point her income was over £30k and she went on free cruises and travel incentives. And I know 100% for certain that these were from the MLM, not to gain likes on social media.

However

• she was one of the earlier reps and therefore was able to build a large team
• it took a number of years to build up to that level
• it was like a full time job, not a job on the side as many MLMs are which persuade you you can make a fortune working 2 hours a week
• the products were actually good and worth the money
• the products were of the type you could sell at fetes and fairs, so not limited to social media or parties (although they do parties too)”

The only way to make money in MLM is to recruit. The quality of the products and actually the products themselves are irrelevant. Many top bots don’t touch the products and you can see examples of this on the BBC documentary “The Secrets öf the Multilevel Millionaires”. MLMs ARE pyramid schemes and their victims are the ones who sign up believing they’re joining a product selling business. In reality they are the customers and their uplines are paid on what they purchase (not on what they, as the downline, sell). I run a website with a few others which you might find interesting www.mlmtruth.org

@youokhun Thank you for this brilliant response. It seems to only take about a month from a person selling products to posting messages saying "Join my team!". This just proves exactly what you stated. The only money in the products is the money going straight from the victim to the company/uplines.

I can’t stand MLM’s but I do feel sorry for the women whose income has dropped so much in lockdown that they’re being sucked into it.
It’s rarely men joining MLM’s is it?

I don't know much about MLMs, my all had just signed up to Tropic which I didn't know was an MLM, but don't they potentially help sahm s get some independence financially?
How can that be a bad thing?

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit

I don't know much about MLMs, my all had just signed up to Tropic which I didn't know was an MLM, but don't they potentially help sahm s get some independence financially? How can that be a bad thing?

The vast majority make a loss overall.

Couple of friends do this with Body Shop and Arbonne - the latter is pretty aggressive with it. The former has recently started. Neither seem to see that selling to friends is a problem. Saw a post this morning about a load of stuff that her earnings have bought. Not sure if it’s real tbh - seemed excessive to me. But I was more concerned that it seems to be acceptable that actually her friends have enabled her to purchase the goods from sales of lotions and potions. Surprised she’s been sucked into it but I suspect it’s something else that’s due to Covid and lack of work etc.

That should have said my sil has signed up to Tropic.
Presumably you just give it the elbow though if you don't make anything?

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit

That should have said my sil has signed up to Tropic. Presumably you just give it the elbow though if you don't make anything?

You have to pay upfront for a lot of the stuff. Most end up out of pocket. Many also manage to piss off family and friends in the process with the constant bombardment. They are told how to act and what to say to people to encourage them to ‘buy in’. A lot of what they are told to say to people is untrue.

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit

I don't know much about MLMs, my all had just signed up to Tropic which I didn't know was an MLM, but don't they potentially help sahm s get some independence financially? How can that be a bad thing?

Easy

You spend £150 on the kit. Well they say free kit but it’s taken out of your pay until it’s covered. It’s then only bare minimum items so you spend more money to get more options for customers to look at

Then you start to bug people to buy stuff. At first great, all your friends but a little something.

Then they don’t and no one buys anything.

In the meantime you’re pressured by your team leader to get people buying and you need to recruit too.

You buy more stuff for your kit to promote it.

In the end, it’s a waste of time, money and mental health

YANBU they are exploiting people (women) with financial worries due to covid it's awful.

Oh right, I didn't know that.
I'm quite surprised, my sil was previously in a professional job, I didn't think she'd be that daft.

Can I ask if you think utility warehouse is the same?

A family member has joined them it cost them £100 to sign up and now they’re trying to recruit all their friends and family to switch to them.

I’m going to have to say something soon because they keep inviting me to join their Facebook group all about it and I really don’t want to.

Thanks @Nickelallergy891. Yep you’re exactly right. The pressure to recruit is there as soon as you’re on the inside. I have never met anyone who makes more than irregular pin money just by selling product. When they actually do some proper book keeping it’s rare they have made any profit at all. If they then price up their time spent on MLM then they really see how “profitable” it is.

On mlmtruth there is a master list which is a right old nightmare to keep up to date but which will tell you whether or not a company is MLM or not. Utility Warehouse and Tropic are MLM.

For anyone who doesn’t know much about this scam then there are some great resources, some mentioned upthread but I’ll just stick them all down:

MN Money Matters Botwatch threads
Anti MLM Coalition on FB, Twitter & web
Botwatch blog
Elle Beau blog
MLM Lies Exposed FB page
Talented Ladies Club (mentioned upthread)
Timeless Vie
Robert FitzPatrick of Pyramid Alert (expert and very useful for understanding Pyramid schemes in depth)
The Dream Podcast
Follow hashtags antimlm and antimlmmovement on Twitter
Sounds Like MLM but Okay and SLMLMBOK
MLM Police
Steve Hassan - expert on cults and closed groups
Dr Alex Stein - expert on cults/coercion/extremism
BBC Docu The Secrets of The Multilevel Millionaires - on iPlayer

I warn you - it’s a rabbit hole!

@Mydogisthebestest

Yup

They had to pay an upfront fee and are now encouraging others to do it

Definitely MLM

If you want to know more about Tropic, which is an MLM have a look at this:

www.talentedladiesclub.com/articles/how-much-can-you-earn-with-mlm-tropic-skincare/

MLMs don’t help SAHMs, or anyone else. The only people MLMs help are the CEO and the directors of the company. Susie Ma is laughing all the way to the bank. The lowly unpaid sales reps won’t make much money from commission and many people lose money.

I wonder how many people who have been sucked into these schemes have registered with HMRC as being self-employed?

Yes. What I'm shocked about is the amount of teachers including more senior staff doing it!

I'm in an mlm nightmare at the moment....i have a relative doing 2 mlms...im really struggling to keep my mouth shut about how exploitative they are...the rest of my family see nothing wrong in them....im sooo sick of seeing loved ones buying a load of crap they dont want to 'support' relative.