MLM for the gullible

[SpringIsComingAlways]

MLM everywhere on social media...living my own life selling tat @bossgirl

Apart from people at the very top is MLM just aimed at gullible people recruiting more gullible people?

YABU all type of people join MLM and make shedloads of money

YANBU it's just for gullible or vulnerable people

In case anyone doesn't know MLM is multi level marketing.... getting others to sell products you sell, like a pyramid with commission to those above you in the scheme...think YouNique, bodysuit, fake perfumes, smelly candles, make up that is ridiculously overpriced due to commission, etc etc..... they come and come and spread as much as covid

@Fgs1

When I say lied about her lifestyle. She had somehow got the home and car but without the means to pay for it. So the desperation came. And ultimately the downfall. Very dramatic.

Reminds me of a rep in an MLM a few years agowho posted that with her MLM earnings she had bought a castle! Wow, what an achievement, or was it? Turns out the property was actually for sale by the real owners (I found the listing). Someone who knew them posted a query on her fb page and she quickly edited the post to state that they were 'renting to see if it fits'. What a liar she was/is. Still duping and exploiting for all she's worth today, sadly (but with much less success, thankfully).

I don't know if this counts as an MLM but recently a lot of people I know have started talking about Thermomixes, and some have become consultants.

It's really bloody expensive, even if I did want one, and quite frankly I don't need one. And yet they keep telling me it will change my life. It's starting to sound a bit cult-like.

None of these women are particularly gullible as far as I'm aware.

I have a body shop bod on my friends list who keeps going live! Now I did join her group because I do actually like body shop products but man she’s annoying

[quote fairgame84]@ketosavedmylife

Yes she did tell and no she's not trying to recruit me and has no reason to lie to me. She's not vulnerable. She's trying to recruit others but she knows I'm a lost cause as I'd never do it so she doesn't waste her time.
She's a supply teacher and didn't get any work in lockdown one so started bodyshop.
Her husband works full time and has done all the time.
She's levelled up in that she now an area manager, I think that means she gets a free bodyshop branded suitcase on wheels.
She makes approx £200 per month from it but works constantly doing videos and competitions. She gets lots of freebies and uses these as competition prizes or as gifts for family. She enjoys it but says it's hard work. I think she put in about £200 to get started. If she broke down her earnings she'd be on less than minimum wage.

She's not as obsessed as my other friend was when she did forever living as that dominated her life and it was awful being around her. Bodyshop friend only talks about it when I ask, she sees it more of a hobby than a job and she still seems normal.[/quote]
Its tough being a supply teacher at the moment, I am sorry about your friend's situation. Really hope things improve soon for everyone. Glad you are there for her and she hasn't alienated you.

@JayAlfredPrufrock

It’s a storyline on Corrie at the moment.

I don't watch Corrie but it's great that MLMs are being exposed on such a wide platform. (I am assuming they are not showing lots of people making lots of money).

I have a friend I was at school with who is a Bodyshop hun, she was actually very book-smart at school, great at absorbing knowledge and passing exams but a whole lot of thick about lots of other stuff. She's constantly posting about how her DD's riding lessons are paid for by Bodyshop - they're not, she has a professional job, because of being book smart.

I have another friend in Aus who has started posting cryptic messages on her FB about "new opportunities" and "new beginnings" and being "so excited to start this journey" and I just KNOW it's some MLM shite.

@ScrambledSmegs

I don't know if this counts as an MLM but recently a lot of people I know have started talking about Thermomixes, and some have become consultants.

It's really bloody expensive, even if I did want one, and quite frankly I don't need one. And yet they keep telling me it will change my life. It's starting to sound a bit cult-like.

None of these women are particularly gullible as far as I'm aware.

A former colleague of mine bought a Thermomix about 15 or so years ago, he never had much money anyway, so it surprised the whole company. I mentioned how expensive they were and he came out with "Oh yes, they can be, but if I run demonstrations and sell three of them, mine's practically free". He then wanted to invite all of us for demonstrations, but my boss put a stop to it sharpish.

Vorwerk (the company that owns Thermomix) were always a doorstep company. They now have some shops, but rely on doorstepping, too. Not sure they fully qualify as an MLM, but the makings are clearly there.

I have a friend who has a degree from Cambridge, but got sucked into an MLM whilst she was a sahm. She's brainy, but naive - not an ounce of cynicism in her body.

It used to cringe to see her try-hard posts on FB which were often met with either deafening silence, or a gentle put-down from someone who could see through it. I found it really hard to know how to tell her to get out of it. Thankfully her DH was supporting her financially so it didn't matter that she made no profit, and after a couple of years she decided to give it up.

My local Facebook is currently having a support local small business drive and they are full of MLMs posting in them about their bloody wax melts, makeup, usborne books.

I have two friends who have poured their savings into scentsy. No profits as yet. They should be banned.

They are awful. Literally just a legal version of a Ponzi scheme, where the ones at the bottom of the pyramid pay for the ones at the top.

Years ago a now-famous author tried to sign me up for one selling aloe products. I thought it was an actual job opportunity. They took me along to the house of the person the level above and gave a big presentation. It was really creepy. Felt a bit like they were trying to get me to join a cult.

Is there a new one called 7kmetals? It seems to involve buying silver coins? My MIL and SIL seems to be involved as they are being tagged constantly in posts on FB and congratulating all these new members of the team.

I hope it is, it couldn't happen to a nicer pair.

@Imissthegym

My local Facebook is currently having a support local small business drive and they are full of MLMs posting in them about their bloody wax melts, makeup, usborne books.

I have two friends who have poured their savings into scentsy. No profits as yet. They should be banned.

I answered a FB page post from the local Council about 18 months ago, trying to set up networking business breakfasts for small traders in our Council area. Sounded really good - meet other people in the same situation as me, trade skills - you do my tax return and i'll write you some content for your website.

But I did ask for a guarantee that they would be excluding MLM sales reps and the reply from the organiser was "Everyone's welcome". So I didn't go.

@JayAlfredPrufrock

Many years ago a perfectly intelligent friend of mine told me about a fabulous new scheme aimed at empowering women. It was called Hearts I think. You paid £1500 to join a ‘ group’ of 20 women and then recruited for your own group. As you moved up the chain you received the money from lower down. That was it. Simple. She took out a bank loan.

She was mightily affronted when I refused to join her group.

I then did the maths for her.

I remember that 'hearts' thing doing the rounds. That was a pyramid investment (Ponzi) scheme rather than MLM though the principles on which they operate have some things in common.

Pyramid investment schemes are illegal in the UK so you should report anyone running one.

Scentsy is so expensive!! It amazes me that people pay those prices!

In the space of 2 weeks I was invited to join about 5 mlm Facebook groups, it was relentless!

The bodyshop sellers always say they're not like the other mlm's, they're the good ones 🙄

Is Krizma a MLM? I've had 2 pop up but they seem to sell really random shite.

It’s a load of absolute tosh. I know of one lady who is the queen of MLM, involved in about 4 rackets and peddling the junk. She is an absolute nightmare in real life and couldn’t organise a dance in a barn.

She is constantly going on about how much money she’s making and then later that day she asks ‘does anyone has a 2nd hand tyre for my Ford fiesta?’

It drives me wild and she has just up my ex-wife to one of them and I just despair.

Also the bodyshop sellers I know use phrases like "support my small business" "running my own business" and "being my own boss" drives me insane and the constant buying their products to donate to teachers, NHS, care workers etc

They also have 'area managers' and 'brand ambassadors' - it's not the same as being a real area manager is it?

God I hate MLMs with a passion and could go on for hours but TikTok have recently banned anything to do with MLMs from the site so I'm really hoping other social media platforms follow suit.

This thread has just confirmed my suspicions about a recent interaction I had with an acquaintance, who was trying to sign me up as a customer/salesperson for Utility Warehouse. Her method of attack was to ask could she practice her interview technique on me and when I asked what it was all about, she told me it "would benefit me". That was when alarm bells rang.

I spent nearly an hour listening to her trying to rope me in. I was really offended by the approach; not just because she was abusing our friendship, but because she dropped in halfway through that she thought I could do with the extra cash because I had a kid. She had targeted me because I was a Mum, and had made assumptions about our home set-up on that basis.

Never see MN-ers criticise Neal’s Yard but it’s as much an MLM as any of the others

@MaidofKent78

The life coaches model leaves a particularly sour taste in my mouth. Counsellors, psychologists and registered life coaches undergo a lot of training, are registered and adhere to a strict ethical code of conduct. Where is all of this within the Life Coach MLM model (I'm happy to be proved wrong with this)? The potential damage of this unregulated practice could be vast and it's highly unethical.

A lot of the coaching businesses are ex MLM people who made money at the “peak” around 2015 (so by luck not ability) and happened to recruit large numbers at the time and have subsequently realised that it is not sustainable but that there is money to be made by “coaching” other innocents without having to be their upline. Or they made no money but have another income source which is used to imply success. By harnessing the sunk cost fallacy it’s possible to keep people plugging away at a scam while believing that if they just apply the Law of Attraction and keep following the rules/buying the Programme then success is surely around the corner. It’s a cruelty and the emotional cost of believing you are somehow faulty when it crashes down on you should not be underestimated.

I see the irritating people on FB as victims but the hardened uplines and coaches who KNOW they are tricking people are truly abhorrent. Especially when you have been watching them for a few years and had a look at their publicly available accounts and can see that the dream they’re selling or the coaching they’re giving is at odds with their bankrupt or insolvent status or the massive directors loans propping up their “success”.

I’m a psychotherapist and I agree @MaidofKent78, we go through post grad training and hundreds of hours of clinical supervision, lots of ongoing training and hoops to jump through to maintain accreditation. We learn to be as ethical as we can, to question what we do all the time and as part of good practice we also learn the limits of what we should do. There are no such boundaries among the MLM coaches/mentors. I shouldn’t think any of them have insurance either. There are a few who stray into a sort of quasi therapy and of course some people searching for support are pulled in by the inviting looking “friendship” on offer. Often these people are very vulnerable. I can think of one MLM coach who is currently straying into childhood trauma as his hook for potential paying customers. I’ve already seen people damaged by the self blame and toxic positivity of this world of self serving gurus.

The problem is that we allow MLM to carry on as it likes in the U.K. We’ve got the Direct Selling Association telling lies in the media and obscuring the nature of MLM. None of them have to produce income disclosures showing figures for total sign ups including those that drop out in the first year. If they did have to provide this it would show that around 99.6% of all sign ups to MLM make no money or lose money. That would be a good start at least wouldn’t it?

Mlmtruth.org has a list of MLMs if anyone wants to check if a company is MLM. I also recommend the BBC documentary The Secrets of the Multilevel Millionaires which is still on iplayer (in case anyone didn’t see it). @TheFuckingDogs yes, Neals Yard, BSAH, Usbourne and Avon are always wheeled out by the DSA as examples because they know people will recognise them as having a high street presence or a traditional direct selling persona (Avon, though it’s now MLM) and won’t see them as bad, when actually they are just as bad.

I am part of a Facebook support group for children with a severe childhood condition. One member tried to sell me tropic as a treatment. I’d never heard of it before and it wasn’t until a load of other members posted warning me not to buy them that I realised it was a bunch of lies.

Says something about the people who sell this stuff that they would prey on mother’s of children with chronic conditions.

I have a really nice ex-colleague who is selling knock off perfume on Facebook, I assume it's the latest MLM fad but it's embarrassing, the sort of dodgy thing you pick up from a town market in the mid 90's as a teenager.

A friend of mine sells scentsy and is doing very well from it.

I'm happy for her (but felt very guilty when she messaged before Xmas trying to get me to buy stuff for people for Christmas. Not my/anyone I knows cup of tea)

Tropic is another MLM, although as we saw on a recent Tropic thread certain people will try to persuade you otherwise by calling it “social selling.” Antisocial selling would be a more accurate description of such a murky scheme.