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My Sis-in-Law is Trying to Sell Me Amway


MorningStar

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We just went down for a family reunion in Utah for the first time in almost a decade and two of my SILs didn't come due to anxiety. One let us see her separately and the other strung us along twice, telling us she was going to, but didn't show up. The second time we were heading out of town and could have taken the shorter way, but she sounded pretty convincing that she was going to see us. We got there and waited. And waited. Finally she sent a message saying sorry, she wasn't going to make it. The first time we tried, she said she was slammed with previously scheduled meetings. 

Yeah, Amway. She and her husband are trying to sell it to everyone or get people under them, including my elderly in-laws (who warned us). Not cool. She just emailed me to ask if I was aware she and her husband have on "online business" and asked for our support. Didn't tell me what it was. That is my biggest pet peeve - when people ask if they can sell me something and don't bother to name the company. I don't get it. People have done that with DoTerra. "Hey, can I come over and talk to you about some things that could help?" Just tell me you want to sell me DoTerra! 

Anyway, I'm feeling annoyed and like she's trying to use me. The last time she personally contacted me, she had gotten as far on Candy Crush as she could and needed to recruit other people. Um, nope. 

Feel free to share your annoying stories. I'm having a pretty bad week and this is just one more straw on the camel's back. I can ignore her and offend her or I can tell her no and offend her and risk getting in a back and forth about why I don't like companies like Amway. 

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MLM:  a real scourge on the world and especially on Utah.  A vulnerable underbelly of the church.

In Colorado, I've known a handful of people who are heavily involved with Amway, Life Vantage/Protandim, etc.  One guy had a comfortable living as a chiropractor retired from it and go full time with Life Vantage (he was still in his 40s).  My wife's sister in Arizona is at "diamond" level in Life Vantage then she and her husband left it to go into three other MLMs.

We are opposed to the concept.  Something immoral and cynical about it.

Edited by longview
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50 minutes ago, MorningStar said:

We just went down for a family reunion in Utah for the first time in almost a decade and two of my SILs didn't come due to anxiety. One let us see her separately and the other strung us along twice, telling us she was going to, but didn't show up. The second time we were heading out of town and could have taken the shorter way, but she sounded pretty convincing that she was going to see us. We got there and waited. And waited. Finally she sent a message saying sorry, she wasn't going to make it. The first time we tried, she said she was slammed with previously scheduled meetings. 

Yeah, Amway. She and her husband are trying to sell it to everyone or get people under them, including my elderly in-laws (who warned us). Not cool. She just emailed me to ask if I was aware she and her husband have on "online business" and asked for our support. Didn't tell me what it was. That is my biggest pet peeve - when people ask if they can sell me something and don't bother to name the company. I don't get it. People have done that with DoTerra. "Hey, can I come over and talk to you about some things that could help?" Just tell me you want to sell me DoTerra! 

Anyway, I'm feeling annoyed and like she's trying to use me. The last time she personally contacted me, she had gotten as far on Candy Crush as she could and needed to recruit other people. Um, nope. 

Feel free to share your annoying stories. I'm having a pretty bad week and this is just one more straw on the camel's back. I can ignore her and offend her or I can tell her no and offend her and risk getting in a back and forth about why I don't like companies like Amway. 

Sorry. I hate MLM’s. I think they are immoral. Ignore or say no. Whichever will be easiest.

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My husband's mission president reached out to him several years ago and asked us to join he and his wife for dinner meeting that turned out to be something similar to Amway. Didn't see that coming, and then he kept after us. It was so annoying. 

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MS... I would be perfectly honest and tell her you will not be participating or ordering.  You don't have to be rude, etc., but I'd be firm so as to leave no doubt.   You have no obligation to spend your hard earned funds and buy products you really don't want just because she is family... if there does happen to be a product you would like to have,  go ahead and purchase it while still being firm that you will be buying only that product... 

GG

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I hate MLM.  Every one has a brother or sister-in-law who does this kind of thing or comes to you with every new diet, health food,  supplements, essential oils, etc. as a know it all.  They are in my family.  If you tell one of your family no once, it will never happen again.  Word gets out.  The same thing happens if you turn a family member down to loan them money.  No one in the family will ask again.  

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I had to laugh simply because as I read this thread I could see the same type of strategies that close friends have done to my wife and I. The last one was the bishop's son-in-law who asked to see us. I did not have a good feeling about it, asked him why; he said it was a good business opportunity; I clarified that it was not Amway; he said no. Comes to the home and in 15 minutes of talking we finally press him to admit it is amway. Thank you, but no thank you. 

I have a dear friend that lives in Utah, drives around in a Mercedes and his entire career has been in these types of businesses. I agree with others - I find them immoral and unethical. 

Saying "no" to another does not need to be accompanied by an explanation. "I love you and want the best for you, but I am not interested." She will push and then you say, this is not for me and I know you will respect my position. Sorry we could not get together last time we drove our of our way to see you. Let's talk again soon. 

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10 hours ago, MorningStar said:

Feel free to share your annoying stories.

Don't really have any. As a general rule, I don't do business with family or ward members.

If your kid is selling candy bars for their school fundraiser then sure, I might just snag one or two (or five). But that's about it. 

And that's probably for the best. If one of those snake "essential" oil reps ever came to my house and tried to sell me on that nonsense, there's no way on earth I could keep my comments to myself. 

I think the only time my wife and I ever had someone over was in a previous ward, we had a bishop that we were good friends with (he and his wife). He happened to sell insurance and whatnot, and at some point he asked me if he could swing by sometime and drop off some materials (note: he made it clear he wasn't in any way acting in his capacity as a bishop).

Anyway, he came over, talked to us for about 5 minutes tops, and basically just said, 'hey, if you're ever interested in getting life insurance or whatever - here's my card.' That was it. I never bought any financial products through him, and we continued to be friends just like we were before (alternating dinners and everything).

 

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13 minutes ago, bluebell said:

String her along, sound pretty convincing about it, and then at the last minute tell her you got slammed with a previously scheduled meeting and will have to decline.

Hahahahahaha! I just don't understand why she can handle going to those meetings, but she can't handle seeing family. 

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I hate when out of the blue people I've known in the past try to friend me on FB. I fell for it twice, both women were in my former ward and I was quite excited at first. After friending them back, I start seeing their posts of things they're selling. One was for an expensive skincare line, and the other just became a realtor. The skincare one personal messaged me that she'd like to send me some trial sizes of the product to try. I shouldn't have said yes because she kept after me, then I told her I didn't like the trials because it made my skin feel extremely dry the next morning. The realtor isn't so bad. And then recently, again I was friended by a high school guy that I barely knew, I checked out his profile, and he was selling something. :( I didn't friend back.

Another one, which is the daughter of my husband's former mission president that I mentioned above (small world) also friended me awhile back. She's a health coach, with a large company that sells products, much like Amway. She is constantly on FB with thoughts about life and life as a health coach and changing lives. Turns out my sister in law wanted in on it and she became a health coach as well through the MP's daughter, they met in Utah County, again small world. Turns out this woman, whom I went to school with and really a nice lady, makes as much as 10,000 a month, if my SIL is right. But I don't think my SIL is doing it anymore.

Edited by Tacenda
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2 hours ago, MorningStar said:

Hahahahahaha! I just don't understand why she can handle going to those meetings, but she can't handle seeing family. 

Oh, family has so much more baggage and you actually have to pay attention to people's emotions.

Maybe one good thing to come out of her mlm will be higher level of tolerance for family gettogethers.

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5 hours ago, Tacenda said:

I hate when out of the blue people I've known in the past try to friend me on FB. I fell for it twice, both women were in my former ward and I was quite excited at first. After friending them back, I start seeing their posts of things they're selling. One was for an expensive skincare line, and the other just became a realtor. The skincare one personal messaged me that she'd like to send me some trial sizes of the product to try. I shouldn't have said yes because she kept after me, then I told her I didn't like the trials because it made my skin feel extremely dry the next morning. The realtor isn't so bad. And then recently, again I was friended by a high school guy that I barely knew, I checked out his profile, and he was selling something. :( I didn't friend back.

Another one, which is the daughter of my husband's former mission president that I mentioned above (small world) also friended me awhile back. She's a health coach, with a large company that sells products, much like Amway. She is constantly on FB with thoughts about life and life as a health coach and changing lives. Turns out my sister in law wanted in on it and she became a health coach as well through the MP's daughter, they met in Utah County, again small world. Turns out this woman, whom I went to school with and really a nice lady, makes as much as 10,000 a month, if my SIL is right. But I don't think my SIL is doing it anymore.

So, I ditched Facebook last week and so I no longer have this problem. 😉 I had this happen a few times and it was so annoying.

*Getting used to being Facebook free is a bit difficult at first but I am starting to really like having limited information about people. I’ve got messaging threads with my family and that is just fine.

Edited by bsjkki
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I love network marketing. I listen to anyone that has one to share, although of course I can't be a part of all of them. While I personally haven't been successful in one, I think they have better products, better customer service, and you are supporting your family and friends instead of some faceless store chain.  I also think everyone should have a backup income, and this works as well as anything. Of course, it would be nice to be more transparent when talking about it. I have been blessed by being in community and learning attitudes and skills with money, people, health, etc. It's so fun for me! LOVE Amway's stuff.

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1 hour ago, Maidservant said:

I love network marketing. I listen to anyone that has one to share, although of course I can't be a part of all of them. While I personally haven't been successful in one, I think they have better products, better customer service, and you are supporting your family and friends instead of some faceless store chain.  I also think everyone should have a backup income, and this works as well as anything. Of course, it would be nice to be more transparent when talking about it. I have been blessed by being in community and learning attitudes and skills with money, people, health, etc. It's so fun for me! LOVE Amway's stuff.

I just looked at the price of laundry detergent and stuff though and it's so expensive! I would be more likely to support them if it were affordable and if they weren't trying to get my in-laws under them to make money. They are not well at all. 

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1 hour ago, Maidservant said:

I love network marketing. I listen to anyone that has one to share, although of course I can't be a part of all of them. While I personally haven't been successful in one, I think they have better products, better customer service, and you are supporting your family and friends instead of some faceless store chain.  I also think everyone should have a backup income, and this works as well as anything. Of course, it would be nice to be more transparent when talking about it. I have been blessed by being in community and learning attitudes and skills with money, people, health, etc. It's so fun for me! LOVE Amway's stuff.

I'm glad you spoke up! I guess I shouldn't be such a stick in the mud! 

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On 9/3/2019 at 8:15 PM, MorningStar said:

We just went down for a family reunion in Utah for the first time in almost a decade and two of my SILs didn't come due to anxiety. One let us see her separately and the other strung us along twice, telling us she was going to, but didn't show up. The second time we were heading out of town and could have taken the shorter way, but she sounded pretty convincing that she was going to see us. We got there and waited. And waited. Finally she sent a message saying sorry, she wasn't going to make it. The first time we tried, she said she was slammed with previously scheduled meetings. 

Yeah, Amway. She and her husband are trying to sell it to everyone or get people under them, including my elderly in-laws (who warned us). Not cool. She just emailed me to ask if I was aware she and her husband have on "online business" and asked for our support. Didn't tell me what it was. That is my biggest pet peeve - when people ask if they can sell me something and don't bother to name the company. I don't get it. People have done that with DoTerra. "Hey, can I come over and talk to you about some things that could help?" Just tell me you want to sell me DoTerra! 

Anyway, I'm feeling annoyed and like she's trying to use me. The last time she personally contacted me, she had gotten as far on Candy Crush as she could and needed to recruit other people. Um, nope. 

Feel free to share your annoying stories. I'm having a pretty bad week and this is just one more straw on the camel's back. I can ignore her and offend her or I can tell her no and offend her and risk getting in a back and forth about why I don't like companies like Amway. 

If I were you, I would stay away from network marketing.  I've done it too many times, even when I knew I wasn't going to succeed because I've learned that it is just not in my nature. Buy the Amway products that you like, of course, some of them are quite good, but stay away from the business, whatever you do.  That's my advice.  If you're asked, just smile and say "I wish you well, but it's not for me."  One of the rules of sales is never to take NO for an answer, but eventually they will.

I've actually been in Amway about five times.  Never succeeded because I couldn't make myself do much recruiting.  I honestly liked the products (back when they just had a few cleaning products) and so mainly bought what I wanted at the wholesale price, and believe it or not I actually had three bona fide customers during one of these stints.  The last time we joined it was because one of our sons joined -- my wife turned to me during the recruiting meeting and said "Looks like we're going back into Amway!"  Mainly to support the son.  That was the last time. Interestingly, our son's sponsor had actually taken Amway seriously as a retail business -- he was an actual pro salesman -- and supported himself purely at retail for several years, and had a number of business accounts.  Odd but true!  Then his sponsors encouraged him to do recruiting, too.  We later found out that our sponsorship upline made most of their money selling "sales aids" -- meaning books and tapes.  Both marketing and enthusiasm books and tapes.  Which seems very unethical, but we were on our way out of the business by then.

Later we were recruited into ACN, which sold telephone-related products and services, including what seemed at the time to be a cutting edge product/service: a videophone.  We were able to find a number of customers for that -- it could be used as a normal VOIP (broadband)-based telephone, but to enjoy the video feature one had to call someone else who had the same videophone.  This was the Iris 3000 Videophone (see the Wikipedia article -- I contributed the photo!)  It had quite a potential, it seemed, and it was even featured on one of Trump's Celebrity Apprentice episodes (Season 8 Episode 4).  What killed it was the subsequent rise of mobile videoing on cell phones.  We never made a profit, and in fact after going to multiple conferences in various places across the country, we spent far, far more money than we ever made.  I will say one thing positive however.  These conferences made us travel and experience many things we never would have experienced otherwise.  We had previously been very confirmed home-bodies, and hardly went anywhere, even for vacation.  My now-deceased wife and I traveled to places like Phoenix, Boston, New York, Detroit, Chicago, Anaheim and Salt Lake City in our time with ACN.  It was fun, actually.  We might never have made a dime, but we were together, and got to places we would never have gone to without it.  If it hadn't been for the failure of the videophone to take off, it might have been a decent business.

A friend of mine in my US ward has been involved in multi-level marketing for his whole life, and is even a cofounder of a successful MLM company. They seem to have reasonable products, but we've never been customers, and by the time we got to know him we were permanently immunized against MLM.  This friend actually wrote a book on how to select the best MLM for your needs: "How to Select a Network Marketing Company".

Very few people actually make money in MLM.  Just like very few people make money playing professional sports.

 

Edited by Stargazer
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16 hours ago, MorningStar said:

I just looked at the price of laundry detergent and stuff though and it's so expensive! I would be more likely to support them if it were affordable and if they weren't trying to get my in-laws under them to make money. They are not well at all. 

One of Amway's claim to fame is that their products (such as the powdered laundry detergent -- SA-8 it was called) are very concentrated and thus last longer than the commercial powdered ones, which are diluted with fillers, or the commercial liquid ones, which are diluted with water. As I recall, the box of SA-8 came with this tiny spoon which was all you were supposed to use with one load. We found that it was more economical than store-bought.  Don't know if that quality assessment is still the case.  The interesting thing from my point of view is that some commercial products started offering more concentrated versions, and I think that was at least partially due to competition from Amway.

The thing to keep in mind with any MLM direct-marketing company is that they have to offer some very unusual features in order to stay competitive. What @Maidservant says is largely correct -- you'll find some very good and sometimes unusual and distinctive products being offered by MLMs.  It's like anything else though.  If it's useful to you then by all means use the product.  If not, there's no reason to do so.

Some here have suggested that MLMs are unethical -- I would have to disagree with this assessment, in principle.  Of course there will be some individual unethical models or business practices, that's unavoidable, since we are all human.  But buying and selling is buying and selling.  If you give good product or service for the money, it's perfectly ethical.  If not, it isn't.

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1 hour ago, Stargazer said:

One of Amway's claim to fame is that their products (such as the powdered laundry detergent -- SA-8 it was called) are very concentrated and thus last longer than the commercial powdered ones, which are diluted with fillers, or the commercial liquid ones, which are diluted with water. As I recall, the box of SA-8 came with this tiny spoon which was all you were supposed to use with one load. We found that it was more economical than store-bought.  Don't know if that quality assessment is still the case.  The interesting thing from my point of view is that some commercial products started offering more concentrated versions, and I think that was at least partially due to competition from Amway.

The thing to keep in mind with any MLM direct-marketing company is that they have to offer some very unusual features in order to stay competitive. What @Maidservant says is largely correct -- you'll find some very good and sometimes unusual and distinctive products being offered by MLMs.  It's like anything else though.  If it's useful to you then by all means use the product.  If not, there's no reason to do so.

Some here have suggested that MLMs are unethical -- I would have to disagree with this assessment, in principle.  Of course there will be some individual unethical models or business practices, that's unavoidable, since we are all human.  But buying and selling is buying and selling.  If you give good product or service for the money, it's perfectly ethical.  If not, it isn't.

You do have a point. BTW, my MIL swore by their detergent. 

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On 9/4/2019 at 9:03 AM, MorningStar said:

Hahahahahaha! I just don't understand why she can handle going to those meetings, but she can't handle seeing family. 

My theory is that the mlm community is based on success, where as family is based on connection and there is a real intensity around true connection. 

my opinion, FWTW

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3 hours ago, Stargazer said:

One of Amway's claim to fame is that their products (such as the powdered laundry detergent -- SA-8 it was called) are very concentrated and thus last longer than the commercial powdered ones, which are diluted with fillers, or the commercial liquid ones, which are diluted with water. As I recall, the box of SA-8 came with this tiny spoon which was all you were supposed to use with one load. We found that it was more economical than store-bought.  Don't know if that quality assessment is still the case.  The interesting thing from my point of view is that some commercial products started offering more concentrated versions, and I think that was at least partially due to competition from Amway.

The thing to keep in mind with any MLM direct-marketing company is that they have to offer some very unusual features in order to stay competitive. What @Maidservant says is largely correct -- you'll find some very good and sometimes unusual and distinctive products being offered by MLMs.  It's like anything else though.  If it's useful to you then by all means use the product.  If not, there's no reason to do so.

Some here have suggested that MLMs are unethical -- I would have to disagree with this assessment, in principle.  Of course there will be some individual unethical models or business practices, that's unavoidable, since we are all human.  But buying and selling is buying and selling.  If you give good product or service for the money, it's perfectly ethical.  If not, it isn't.

MLM's have left a bad taste in my mouth ever since this Mary Kay rep invited me to a "makeover" and it was a sales pitch to sell it after we put some samples on ourselves. She asked me, "Have you ever thought about giving up your dream of singing and selling Mary Kay?" "No." They can't just end it with trying to sell you stuff - they want to get you in the business too. I would rather just shop on my own without any pressure from anyone. 

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My friend's brother sold Amway in the late 70s. I bought an Amway Queen pots and pans set in 1978 from him. It was a good investment for my "hope chest", which was something you could collect for back in the day. I got married in 1981 and am still using that same set. The only item that didn't survive as long was the frying pan. And of course Mary Kay (as you have mentioned) was popular back in the day. It is annoying when people are not up front about their intentions. I do not know anyone now involved in any MLM company.

M. 

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1 hour ago, Maureen said:

My friend's brother sold Amway in the late 70s. I bought an Amway Queen pots and pans set in 1978 from him. It was a good investment for my "hope chest", which was something you could collect for back in the day. I got married in 1981 and am still using that same set. The only item that didn't survive as long was the frying pan. And of course Mary Kay (as you have mentioned) was popular back in the day. It is annoying when people are not up front about their intentions. I do not know anyone now involved in any MLM company.

M. 

When I was an Amway guy, I tried out the Nutrilite nutritional program and felt that it made a good impact on how well I felt.  On the other hand, I tried out another one from some company I don't think is in business any longer, and it had the same effect. 

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1 hour ago, MorningStar said:

MLM's have left a bad taste in my mouth ever since this Mary Kay rep invited me to a "makeover" and it was a sales pitch to sell it after we put some samples on ourselves. She asked me, "Have you ever thought about giving up your dream of singing and selling Mary Kay?" "No." They can't just end it with trying to sell you stuff - they want to get you in the business too. I would rather just shop on my own without any pressure from anyone. 

Yeah, and like I say, I am immunized against MLM now.  I don't mind politely telling people who want to interest me in such things that they're wasting their time.  It actually hasn't happened in many years, so I haven't had to exert myself very much with it.

Oh, and by the way, Morningstar, how would you like to get in on the ground floor of this exciting business opportunity I've found?  <chuckle>  Just kidding.

Off on a tangent, now...

Our former bishop (now in the stake presidency) took advantage of the early stages of Bitcoin when a single Bitcoin cost about $100 -- not as an MLM opportunity, though. I don't know how many he bought, but a single Bitcoin is now worth $10,000.  I noticed this Bitcoin thing around the time a Bitcoin was going for about $500 (sometime in 2014). But I didn't do anything about it, partly because I would only have dared to buy two or three of them, and I thought it was going to flop completely anyway.  I was clearly wrong!  And besides that, one doesn't have to buy an entire Bitcoin -- the smallest Bitcoin fraction possible is a satoshi, which is one hundred millionth of a Bitcoin. At the current rate, a satoshi is worth about one cent. I think.  Or maybe a hundredth of a cent.  But of course, one doesn't use satoshis, yet.  Anyway, I digress.

The guy who got me and Waltraut into the ACN business later gave it up (because even he, with his boundless enthusiasm, couldn't make enough money at it). But now he is in a Bitcoin MLM of some kind.  I haven't asked him about it because it's an MLM, and I don't want to know.  :D

The interesting thing is, there are lots of "cryptocurrencies" out there, not just Bitcoin.  Interesting times!

 

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