Being hounded by friend to buy Tropic skincare products

[Icantrememebrtheartist]

Friend had a baby and is now harassing everyone she knows to buy these ‘amazing’ products. It’s so obvious it’s a MLM thing.

Has anyone used these products? Are they any good?

I feel a little bit sorry for her because it isn’t the first MLM thing she’s tried to flog to everyone she knows.

If she's pushing it on FB just snooze her. If she's texting or emailing you, send her one message saying you are not in a position to buy any products and to take your name off her group text/mailing list. If she still continues to annoy you, either ignore or block her for a while.

I feel guilty for buying them now but I have funny skin that reacts badly to most things so it's nice to find something I can use

The products are ok, but what I don't like is the harping on by the rep about how bad and eeeevil normal products are for your skin with all the nasty chemicals in them. Clearly what I normally use is fine as my skin is pretty good! I can understand looking for something else if you don't get on with the normal stuff in Boots, but I don't have a problem with it.

It doesn’t matter to me whether the product is good or bad, it’s a MLM and I refuse to give that sort of thing a penny of my money.

I've been to a couple of parties and find it creepy how they bang on about how amazing, kind and beautiful the founder is - she was on The Apprentice and was, IIRC, not the sharpest tool in the box. It's almost cult like. Is that normal for MLMs?

I hate this - when you don’t buy anything they get annoyed with you for not “supporting” them. Real friends wouldn’t pile the pressure on!

Realistically I would distance myself going forward, so give her dead replies and and restrict her/mute her on socials so you don’t see her posts. When she gets out of this phase in 6 months time, you can reconnect

Oh this - I had a complete stranger - friend of a friend - try to add me as a friend on FB - quick look at her page showed all this expensive shite - I didn;t friend her!

I have an aquaintance on social media who is now on her 3rd mlm...so embarrassing as they have all been make up/beauty ones...take the hint love...mlm schemes wont make you any money....pack it in and find a proper job !!!

Friends always raving about tropic, weirdly she doesnt sell it but her other friend does. Just seems very expensive.

Suppose it's the same as norwex - I love their bathroom cleaner but refuse to buy from pyramid scheme

I've got friends who have and do sell younique make-up, BodyShopAtHome, Neals Yard, chocolate for Chocoholics and Avon - an abundance of bloody Avon!

You name it they all do it round here

The first rule is don't just buy something as a one off you'll be hounded forever more!! Say no and stick to your guns!! X

An ex friend (note the use of the word Ex) started pedalling this 2 years ago. She not only told me that my dermatologist prescribed treatment for melasma (which worked a treat after years of trying) could be treated with a cucumber and spinach serum but she also came to a party at our house and spent all day trying to flog her tat that was 90% commission for the up line to our guests.

The next day she messaged every single person on my FB friends list to try to recruit them. We're no longer friends and my melasma is still under control

@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows

I've been to a couple of parties and find it creepy how they bang on about how amazing, kind and beautiful the founder is - she was on The Apprentice and was, IIRC, not the sharpest tool in the box. It's almost cult like. Is that normal for MLMs?

Absolutely normal. If you find video footage from MLM company conventions, you can see them being treated like rockstars - music playing them on to stage, whooping crowds, flag waving....

Forever Living - another MLM - whenever it is the founders birthday, the reps bang on about how grateful they are to him and how he is the most amazing person to give them this opportunity etc etc (ignoring the fact he is extremely wealthy thanks to the MLM he founded while most of them won't make money from it)

I use and love tropic, after radiotherapy last year my skin was a shit show, a friend sent me the abc skincare as a wee present and it helped my skin so have stuck to it. I realised if I became an an ambassador I got 25% off. I signed up and use it purely to get products I would be buyin anyway l, cheaper. I haven't been pestered once to make targets etc.
I do see alot of people flog it on Facebook and as with anything I don't want to see on my feed I unfollow and move on.
If you feel she is pestering you just say your happy with your skincare and hopefully she will get the hint. X

A colleague of mine is a tropic "ambassador". She has the spiel of how "horrified" she was to discover all the "cancer causing chemicals" in the products she used to use and how this is "all natural" she's always waving the catalogues around the staffroom and even personally hand-delivered me one when I was off for a while.
Apparently they have a "charity", so that was where our work Christmas donation went one year.
When I went on maternity leave, work got me a leaving gift - lo and behold a pile of Tropic stuff. And it's annoyingly really nice 😬! I'll never buy it though.

Isn't that a suncream brand? We are not even out lockdown yet. Is she normally batshit?

Just tell her you tried a few products before and your skin reacted very badly to them, so you don't want to risk trying any of the others as you must be allergic to one of the natural ingredients. (If you don't want to just tell her to sod off)

@NotExactlyHappyToHelp

It doesn’t matter to me whether the product is good or bad, it’s a MLM and I refuse to give that sort of thing a penny of my money.

What @NotExactlyHappyToHelp says. The products are largely irrelevant and if the company has chosen the MLM business model then they’ve had an ethical bypass and buying from an MLM just perpetuates the scam. Tropic will tell you it’s not MLM and will tell you it’s “social selling”, this is smoke and mirrors. Lots of reports coming through of people losing money in Tropic and spending far more than they earn.

How is the average person with an average network of friends ever going to sell enough product to make a regular income? Beginners luck gives people a false sense when in the first month people buy out of loyalty or novelty, but who needs a £40 face cream every month? The temptation has to be to build a team as that is the only way to make money in MLM. Product selling alone is not a way to make a consistent living wage (occasional pocket money only).

Today a friend of a friend of mine has said she’s quitting Tropic because even bolting it on the side of a very successful beauty business with the extra reach that gives her, she still can’t make any money.

The best way to shake off a pestering MLMer is to interrupt them and say “can I just stop you there. I’ve tried Tropic and sadly I’m very allergic to all their product and can’t have it anywhere near me, so no”.

It's really sad how these companies and their recruiters target people who are desperate. I loathe all of these MLM schemes but it really is hard when some friends who are usually really smart get caught up with that sort of stuff. I am aghast at the price of a lot of the stuff that often seems to be barely safe. Some of the cremes and lotions are actually the same price as good premium brands, like Clarins, Vichy or Sisley.

Bloody MLMs! Tropic does, however, have its uses. No, really: bear with me. (I’ve posted about this before on another Tropic thread.) If it wasn’t for Tropic, I wouldn’t have found concrete proof that my man (now ex man) was cheating on me with another woman. Before Christmas, I was perusing a Tropic bot’s social media when I saw a familiar sight: a photo of my man’s foot. I recognised this ghastly appendage straight away as he suffers from terrible eczema on the sole of his foot. It’s so bad that he’s been going to hospital for treatment.

The caption beneath the photo (taken from a WhatsApp screenshot) included this glowing testimonial:

“Just want to say a massive thanks for recommending Tamanu balm. My partners eczema improved massively after only using it for two weeks 😍😍😊. Could not be happier. 🥰 Thank you”

I didn’t take that photo or write the testimonial, so it was obvious he had another partner. Obviously this was a sexual partner, not a dancing partner, as he wouldn’t be doing much dancing with a foot like that. After a bit of sleuthing it transpired that the owner of the foot has been in a relationship with the Tropic bot’s mother for a number of years - he left his wife (to whom he’d been married for over 40 years) for her. He and I were together for 16 months.

He certainly put his foot in it. Tropic bot’s mother is quite welcome to him and his manky foot. So, thank you Tropic! I’m sure the sleazy bugger didn’t think his foot would end up on FB and Insta for all to see - including me.

As for the Tropic bot and her mother, I have one word: “aciu” as you say in your language.

I just hope he keeps his socks on in the Mosque.

@LibyanFeet o.m.g.

@LibyanFeet

Bloody MLMs! Tropic does, however, have its uses. No, really: bear with me. (I’ve posted about this before on another Tropic thread.) If it wasn’t for Tropic, I wouldn’t have found concrete proof that my man (now ex man) was cheating on me with another woman. Before Christmas, I was perusing a Tropic bot’s social media when I saw a familiar sight: a photo of my man’s foot. I recognised this ghastly appendage straight away as he suffers from terrible eczema on the sole of his foot. It’s so bad that he’s been going to hospital for treatment.

The caption beneath the photo (taken from a WhatsApp screenshot) included this glowing testimonial:

“Just want to say a massive thanks for recommending Tamanu balm. My partners eczema improved massively after only using it for two weeks 😍😍😊. Could not be happier. 🥰 Thank you”

I didn’t take that photo or write the testimonial, so it was obvious he had another partner. Obviously this was a sexual partner, not a dancing partner, as he wouldn’t be doing much dancing with a foot like that. After a bit of sleuthing it transpired that the owner of the foot has been in a relationship with the Tropic bot’s mother for a number of years - he left his wife (to whom he’d been married for over 40 years) for her. He and I were together for 16 months.

He certainly put his foot in it. Tropic bot’s mother is quite welcome to him and his manky foot. So, thank you Tropic! I’m sure the sleazy bugger didn’t think his foot would end up on FB and Insta for all to see - including me.

As for the Tropic bot and her mother, I have one word: “aciu” as you say in your language.

I just hope he keeps his socks on in the Mosque.

Omfg

@LibyanFeet glad you got rid of the scaley footed cad. It’s the only really positive MLM outcome I’ve ever heard. I’m not sure it’s the sort of PR Susie Ma is after though 🦠🤢🦶🏼

I've got a cousin posting stuff everyday I bought the cheapest thing to be supportive and it cost me £20 for tiny tube if nothing

Oft used on MN but a useful one in these situations: No is a complete sentence.

Just say no, and if she keeps pushing you, tell her to fuck off. I hate these MLM schemes and how they turn normally nice friends into pushy pain-in-the-arses.

Vile cult that preys on vulnerable gullible women, like all MLMs. I wouldn’t buy their products if they made me look 20 years younger