To be pissed off an MLM stall turned up at toddler group this morning?

[diditallgook]

Went to our usual Wednesday group only to find someone standing behind a table with a load of skincare products. It was really awkward and made people feel obliged to buy something (I didn’t.)

I don’t normally sweat the small stuff but I am wondering if I should mention something - but then I’ll look like a pain, won’t I?

Wouldn’t bother me at all!!! If you don’t want to buy then don’t, others clearly were happy to. Doesn’t bother me if it’s an mlm, I won’t join myself but if it’s working for others fair play to them

Surplus stock doesn't exist in an MLM lol and you got duped. All of those products were there because that person had purchased them and clearly not been able to flog them without discounting and pretending it's a surplus clearout.

I would only say something if they were trying to recruit me (or others). In that situation you probably have a bit of a moral obligation to speak up because lots of people really don’t understand how toxic and scammy these things can be. So something along the lines of ‘no thank you I’ve heard one too many horror stories about these things’ should do it.

If they are just trying to sell bits then no I wouldn’t complain, that seems a bit mean spirited.

Which encourages the reps to buy without any orders, and then they end up with surplus stock.
At least with the pre-MLM 'Avon Lady' you placed an order, she ordered it and then made the difference on wholesale vs retail cost. Nobody was ever going to make a fortune, but it provided some pocket money for people.
Now, like all MLMs, they are told to recruit to make money, and to pre-order stock that may or may not get sold on a tabletop somewhere. Someone is winning and it's not the rep.

MLM’s are horribly exploitative. My DHs cousin is in one (and apparently very high up in the pyramid 🙄), as soon as I had my baby and was on maternity leave she was on me to sign up and get involved. Was being sold the same old trope other pp have mentioned here ‘work your own hours’ ‘extra income for baby and you’. I did my own research, read through forums and watched videos about how trapped people have gotten by spending their own money on shite they can't flog.

I have an old school friend who's trapped in these schemes, every time I look on Facebook she's posting about a new one. The latest venture is a travel business. I feel sorry for her but don't understand how she keeps getting duped into doing them!

I dont like them so I don't buy. I'd like to see them banned.

But if people buy, they come back. And you can't now make the case that noone wants them there because someone bought something.

As you did, the best tack is not to buy and they won't come back.

Not that it matters but I thought the same when I first read it, just having the words aggressively and belligerently in there irrelevantly threw me off vs saying ‘I’d rather not say.’

Just open your mouth and say “ no thanks” and walk on by………not difficult!

I’ve never really purchased from these or got involved in any way, but I’ve seen a couple of acquaintances on social media apparently doing really well with them?

One was tropic (I think) abs the other Body Shop? Always going on about how much they were making now they were “self employed” and getting whisked off on holidays. Is that not true? It appeared to be.

ETA: just checked and Body Shop person is now “Oriflame”? Never heard of it, but claiming to be doing well and going on free holidays lol

The thing to do is to hold a very loud conversation with the seller about how the last time you tried the products you came up in such a virulent rash your GP sent you as an emergency to the Dermatology Unit at the local hospital who said they had last seen such a reaction when someone fell over in a patch giant hogweed and nearly lost their sight.

Complain or suggest get loads of booths each day

A really close friend of mine did Body Shop for a while. Maybe she was different as her intention was never to make oodles of cash, but just to provide a bit of extra income selling products that she used herself.

I think she did it for about 18 months or so. No pressure at all on her to recruit or to purchase surplus stock. She made a few quid, I occasionally bought products that I liked from her to save me trekking into town, as did other friends.

I saw firsthand the training sessions (virtual) and it was all a bit vomit-inducing. Not my thing at all. Lots of "go us momtrepreneurs!" etc. My friend isn't like that in the slightest and I think she found it all hilarious - she's got two severely disabled DC and literally just sold to her friends. I think she just about made the minimum to stay as an authorised seller 😂 But she quite enjoyed it at the time.

I can also say she did regularly get sent freebies to either use for demos or to give away.

But she didn't do stalls or push people to buy. And lots of people really like Body Shop products so it's not as if any of us were buying out of pity. It was just like when the Avon lady used to leave a catalogue at your door - if you didn't want anything, you just ignored the catalogue 😂

I don't know if the Body Shop system has changed since as this was about 3 years or so ago.

I've seen other acquaintances pushing the whole MLM bollocks online and it's a totally different beast. Forever Living, Younique, and those bloody candle things, whatever they were called. Absolute BS.

The only thing I'd say is that often the women who end up in these schemes are desperate mums who don't have any other options. I've seen a few talking the usual MLM BS but it's just desperation as they don't have any other way of earning money.

OP wasn’t rude at all. You haven’t read her post properly.

The problem with this scam dressed up as a business model is that by allowing someone to have a stall at your toddler group, summer fair, christmas market, whoever says yes to allowing them to set up is giving them legitimacy and putting them on the same level as your woman along the road who makes cakes, or someone who buys wholesale jewellery in bulk and sells it on.

People attending events - especially one where many people know each other - are going to feel obligated to make a pity purchase. Something they don't really need or really want but buy to be nice, or because they feel sorry for the seller. Which in turn gives the seller false hope that actually it's not a scam and people do want to buy their overpriced nonsense. So in turn they order more and more "stock" for the next fair and get deeper and deeper into the red.

The whole thing is unethical and should be illegal, and that's before you even start talking about the nonsense they spout about working around your children and winning cars/cruises.

There's a podcast called "Life After MLM" where people are interviewed about their experiences - Amway is a regular one and is the most hated by the hosts!

Oriflame was a MLM make up company in the US back in the 80s.

Always going on about how much they were making now they were “self employed” and getting whisked off on holidays. Is that not true? It appeared to be.

The only bit of that in any way true is that they are self-employed. All the rest of it is bollocks. 99. something % lose money or breakeven. If they were honest about how they weren't making any money, that's not going to encourage others to sign up as reps too, is it? So they "fake it till they make it" by lying through their teeth about their income. Or fail to differentiate turnover from profit.. Yes you might be selling £3000 worth of stuff a month, but if you're buying £2950 of that yourself, you're not making £3k a month, are you?

Fancy cars are on lease agreements and conditional on you continuing to put through orders of £x per month so you are paying for it yourself. Holidays - from what I've seen the accommodation might be free but you pay your own flights and attend "sales events" which are basically brainwashing while you're there. And you don't get to choose when you go.

Oooh! What MLM was it?! I'm fascinated by them, purely because they're so utterly batshit.

An old work colleague of mine belongs to one... Farmasi it's called. Some Italian brand that literally no one has ever heard of. Every Single Post of hers on FB is some shocking promotion of some random product. Harping on like it's God's own nectar, and the most amazing products ever to exist.
But before this it was Body Shop, which, strangely was ALSO the best thing ever... Until they closed down their MLM to much controversy.

Just don't buy anything, sorted!

We had the book one come to our toddler group and I genuinely felt bad for her as she was clearly new and nervous but wasn't planning to buy anything
Until I found toddler DS reading one of the books he'd pinched off the table! I bought it off her as I felt it was fair and she told me I was the first sale she'd ever made with tears in her eyes. Hate MLM and everything they stand for

Oh god they get everywhere don't they?

A couple of friends of mine have been sucked into the travel one. It's slightly alarming to see how their whole language changes and you can't have a conversation about normal things. As they are both friends I can tell the spiel as they use literally the same buzz words and sentences. (Although one of them once got drunk and started berating her friends for not 'supporting her' by buying holidays)

Ugh, no — you’re totally right to be annoyed. Toddler group is for juice, snacks, and trying to have half a conversation while stopping your kid from eating Play-Doh, not being cornered into a sales pitch. MLMs are the worst — one minute it’s “hi hun,” next minute you’re being guilt-tripped into a £30 face scrub. Bet it was some bloke’s idea to let them in too — probably thought “what harm can it do?” while never having set foot in a toddler group in his life.

This is exactly how I feel about it and it’s why it isn’t as simple as ‘well don’t buy it then.’

My Body Shop acquaintance has shifted to Oriflame, so I think BS closed down or something?

She doesn't try and flog me anything but is always posting about the boss babe mumpreneur stuff. I think she does make some money but dunno how much.

Another acquaintance (never met irl) private messages me about once a month wanting to connect about her "opportunities". Took me a while to find out it was bloody Juice Plus. After a polite no thanks and then a more insistent no really, I now just ignore her messages and wait with interest to see what the next one will be. Assume she is told how many people a month to message and what sort of tone to use to get a response.