Different between MLM and Pyramid scheme - are any MLMs ok?

[JustAnotherDayWorkingAtHome]

So can someone help me with the above. I found out about some products I liked the sound of but when I looked a bit closer it looks like the company is an MLM. This set alarm bells ringing. Do any of these MLM companies actually sell a legitimate product and are morally sound? I am just now instantly skeptical about something I thought sounded really good.

Same shit, unethical setup just with a different name.

@Itsnotover

Knowing what I know, I always avoid anything that is MLM nowadays. Not least because you will always be overpaying for a relatively inferior product.

I don't want to sound like I'm defending Avon (pending clarification on when they started requiring reps to buy stock), but there's no way their goods can be described as over-priced!

@AuntieStella you’re right Avon doesn’t have expensive products like many MLMs and if someone is a retail customer who has never signed up as seems to be the case with @Aprilx then it’s easy to see why April thinks the reaction is over the top. It’s quite rare that people are pure retail customers and they don’t get damaged.

Unfortunately the reaction to MLM and what it does to people who sign up, isn’t over the top at all with regard to what happens to people who sign up to “sell products” as it’s almost impossible to make money for the vast majority. There’s a huge deception going on about the nature of these businesses which rely on recruitment. Anyone selling product alone is very likely to lose money over all, but people are never given the truth of it and no MLM in the U.K. is required to publish the reality of the losses. Lots of people may be happy to earn small amounts of money on a sporadic basis or lose a bit because they buy more than they sell, but this is not how MLM is sold to people and most enter into MLM very much needing income from it and banking on it being a solution. There’s a lot of bullying of people once they’re in an MLM which can make it difficult to leave too.

Like all scams it attracts people with few options by positioning itself as a solution to whatever someone needs to solve. I’ve seen it damage some very vulnerable people and watched one MLM deliberately target MH patients in one facility where I worked.

Re Avon, you might find this article interesting www.talentedladiesclub.com/articles/is-avon-really-a-better-mlm-or-is-it-a-pyramid-scheme/

If you like the products, go ahead. All companies cost their products to afford their infrastructure, uplines, supervisors, line managers, area managers, managing directors. MLM of not.
Just don't be taken in by misleading claims eg being the only provider of 'pure' essential oils - all reputable, suppliers offer neat essntial oils, However, I find DoTerra oils very expensive and I do research costs as I use essential oils in my work, so like quality and fair price.

She will get a cut off the products you sell.

They are all basically the same

Stay away, or at least keep your eyes open and don’t spend more money than you can afford to loose

They're all scams. End of.

I refuse to support anybody involved in these. I've been invited to many groups and to 'Like' many pages and so on. I'm so confused by how the person's friends and family don't even tell them it's all a con. But the most likely scenario is they don't know themselves.

Because pyramid schemes are illegal, MLM founders got around that by selling shitty products, even though there is no difference in principle: getting people to pour all their money in the hope that they too will get rich as a result. Aka, ‘speculate to accumulate’. It’s not about the product, what they’re selling is a dream.

Hugely popular with Mormon housewives, and in fact you’ll see a lot of MLMs began in Utah (the laws of which are favourable for MLMs, due to lack of regulation of the industry).

A friend of mine sells Usborne books but she says it's hard and can't make a living from it. Her dh is the breadwinner.

She also said that it's very hard finding the books in stock to order them for customers so they have a group where consultants have to ask each other of they can find x book. She said it was frustrating!

@Jennybeans401 a lot of Usbourne books are also cheaper elsewhere - in reality the reps are the customers. So many people have dropped out of MLM because of the cost of living and the realisation that it’s a hopeless way to make money. This has lead to Usbourne rebranding. They’re about to change their name (I forget what the new name is). This will lead to a new crop of victims who don’t do any due diligence and don’t really connect it to Usbourne. They will experience all the classic problems your friend has had. MLM is a waste of time at best, at worst it’s extremely damaging to people. I really recommend people look at Talanted Ladies Club articles, MLM Lies Exposed on FB and the Anti MLM Coalition website.