Author Topic: No, I won't buy into your MLM  (Read 639103 times)

Dicey

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #500 on: October 08, 2017, 10:06:32 AM »
For $4.33 you could make a really nice smoothie at home with fresh fruits and veggies. The smoothies I make in the blender are 500-600 calories(these are big smoothies), and they contain 50-100%+ of your daily fiber, protein, potassium, calcium, other minerals, vitamins, anti-oxidants, etc.
Yeah, but that's a lot of effort. The pre-fab way is fast and EASY! /sarcasm. Just in case it's not completely obvious.

Dictionary Time

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #501 on: October 08, 2017, 02:49:12 PM »
My local library now charges $5.00 for an inter library loan. It used to be free.

You poor thing!  I would have to move, revolt, or run for library board. That would be a game-changer.

Chesleygirl

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #502 on: October 08, 2017, 03:42:37 PM »
My local library now charges $5.00 for an inter library loan. It used to be free.

You poor thing!  I would have to move, revolt, or run for library board. That would be a game-changer.

Yea, it's a bummer but in some ways, I agree with their decision to start charging for that.  There were a lot of people abusing the library services in various ways, for a long time.  They also started charging $50 for a library card for non-residents.

Apples

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #503 on: October 09, 2017, 01:56:43 PM »
My local library now charges $5.00 for an inter library loan. It used to be free.

You poor thing!  I would have to move, revolt, or run for library board. That would be a game-changer.

Yea, it's a bummer but in some ways, I agree with their decision to start charging for that.  There were a lot of people abusing the library services in various ways, for a long time.  They also started charging $50 for a library card for non-residents.

Keeping the foam going...

I try to only ask for 3-4 interlibrary loans a year (I probably check out about 20 books a year) to prevent me going over any sort of threshold of too much hassle.  I don't know where the line is, but I am wary of crossing it in order to avoid this exact situation.

Abo345

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #504 on: October 09, 2017, 10:33:41 PM »
http://www.king5.com/news/they-bought-into-lularoe-to-make-money-now-theyre-leaving-in-debt/477718629

Surprise surprise, being a leggings consultant isn't a good "business" idea. can we talk about this $10k start up cost?! I thought Mary Kay was ridiculous with people spending a few hundred bucks to start up, but wow LuLaRoe blows them out of the water! How and why do people think this is a good idea? When people are being asked to buy thousands of dollars in clothing to "start up", why arent alarm bells not going off in their heads? Like "How likely is it that I can continuously sell hundreds of over priced leggings out of my home while also competing with malls and online shopping, both of which are cheaper and more accessible?"

On a side note, how do I convince people to buy $10k worth of made in China crap from me to "start their own business" lol

Chesleygirl

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #505 on: October 09, 2017, 11:13:32 PM »
My local library now charges $5.00 for an inter library loan. It used to be free.

You poor thing!  I would have to move, revolt, or run for library board. That would be a game-changer.

Yea, it's a bummer but in some ways, I agree with their decision to start charging for that.  There were a lot of people abusing the library services in various ways, for a long time.  They also started charging $50 for a library card for non-residents.

Keeping the foam going...

I try to only ask for 3-4 interlibrary loans a year (I probably check out about 20 books a year) to prevent me going over any sort of threshold of too much hassle.  I don't know where the line is, but I am wary of crossing it in order to avoid this exact situation.

My spouse was probably one of their biggest offenders for a while, with inter-library loans. He'd get dozens of them at a time, then often, forget to go pick up the books once they came in. IMO, made a lot of unnecessary work for librarians.

Our local library also, used to not place limits on how many DVDs that a patron could check out. I was behind someone in line one day checking out over 100 DVDs. All at one time. So now, they do place limits on how many items can be checked out at one time, by one person. But it was crazy for them not to have that rule before. If I worked at a library, I'd get frustrated seeing people take advantage.

Chesleygirl

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #506 on: October 09, 2017, 11:15:37 PM »
http://www.king5.com/news/they-bought-into-lularoe-to-make-money-now-theyre-leaving-in-debt/477718629

Surprise surprise, being a leggings consultant isn't a good "business" idea. can we talk about this $10k start up cost?! I thought Mary Kay was ridiculous with people spending a few hundred bucks to start up, but wow LuLaRoe blows them out of the water! How and why do people think this is a good idea?

They aren't smart enough to realize that they are the customer. Not a business owner or an entrepreneur. But a customer, who just bought $10,000 worth of stuff from a business. 

Does anyone here ever talked to your children about MLMs? I plan to talk to my kids once they get to be teenagers so they'll understand .  As part of their financial literacy education.

frooglepoodle

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #507 on: October 10, 2017, 05:49:30 AM »
http://www.king5.com/news/they-bought-into-lularoe-to-make-money-now-theyre-leaving-in-debt/477718629

Surprise surprise, being a leggings consultant isn't a good "business" idea. can we talk about this $10k start up cost?! I thought Mary Kay was ridiculous with people spending a few hundred bucks to start up, but wow LuLaRoe blows them out of the water! How and why do people think this is a good idea?

They aren't smart enough to realize that they are the customer. Not a business owner or an entrepreneur. But a customer, who just bought $10,000 worth of stuff from a business. 

Does anyone here ever talked to your children about MLMs? I plan to talk to my kids once they get to be teenagers so they'll understand .  As part of their financial literacy education.

I think that's a fantastic idea, Chelseygirl. My son is way too young (2), but definitely worth teaching older kids about it! I used to enjoy tagging along to Pampered Chef and candle parties with my mom as a preteen, but definitely didn't understand the structure. Thankfully it wasn't something I encountered much of, until I married an active duty servicemember. Then I couldn't escape it.

Re, the up-front cost: my understanding is that they spin it as "all businesses require an initial investment". Which they do, but (as is clear to all of us here) this is isn't starting one's own business.

Chesleygirl

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #508 on: October 10, 2017, 08:56:42 AM »
When I was out of college, and living on my own, my dad sort of tried to warn me about "salespeople trying to sell things" I'm pretty sure he was referring to MLMs.

I plan to talk to my kids earlier about this, once they are teenagers; maybe even show them some documentaries on MLMs and how they are scams. The earlier they learn about it, the better.

Travis

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #509 on: October 10, 2017, 09:55:38 AM »
http://www.king5.com/news/they-bought-into-lularoe-to-make-money-now-theyre-leaving-in-debt/477718629

Surprise surprise, being a leggings consultant isn't a good "business" idea. can we talk about this $10k start up cost?! I thought Mary Kay was ridiculous with people spending a few hundred bucks to start up, but wow LuLaRoe blows them out of the water! How and why do people think this is a good idea? When people are being asked to buy thousands of dollars in clothing to "start up", why arent alarm bells not going off in their heads? Like "How likely is it that I can continuously sell hundreds of over priced leggings out of my home while also competing with malls and online shopping, both of which are cheaper and more accessible?"

On a side note, how do I convince people to buy $10k worth of made in China crap from me to "start their own business" lol

And the person convincing you it's so much fun and so profitable is already well established in that neighborhood. 

Nederstash

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #510 on: October 10, 2017, 02:25:53 PM »
http://www.king5.com/news/they-bought-into-lularoe-to-make-money-now-theyre-leaving-in-debt/477718629

Surprise surprise, being a leggings consultant isn't a good "business" idea. can we talk about this $10k start up cost?! I thought Mary Kay was ridiculous with people spending a few hundred bucks to start up, but wow LuLaRoe blows them out of the water! How and why do people think this is a good idea?

They aren't smart enough to realize that they are the customerproduct. Not a business owner or an entrepreneur. But a customerproduct, who just bought $10,000 worth of stuff from a business. 

Does anyone here ever talked to your children about MLMs? I plan to talk to my kids once they get to be teenagers so they'll understand .  As part of their financial literacy education.

FTFY

It's not the leggings that get sold... it's the people

LeRainDrop

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #511 on: October 10, 2017, 10:34:24 PM »
Not sure if it has been posted but I just saw this on TV. I automatically thought of this thread and it made me smile.

This is Boss Life
https://youtu.be/KWbWJ8xweUg

Oh, yes, thanks for adding that one here!  I saw a couple variations of this Avon commercial when I was visiting someone in LA in June.  I didn't even know Avon still made TV commercials.

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #512 on: October 11, 2017, 02:45:49 AM »
http://www.king5.com/news/they-bought-into-lularoe-to-make-money-now-theyre-leaving-in-debt/477718629

Surprise surprise, being a leggings consultant isn't a good "business" idea. can we talk about this $10k start up cost?! I thought Mary Kay was ridiculous with people spending a few hundred bucks to start up, but wow LuLaRoe blows them out of the water! How and why do people think this is a good idea? When people are being asked to buy thousands of dollars in clothing to "start up", why arent alarm bells not going off in their heads? Like "How likely is it that I can continuously sell hundreds of over priced leggings out of my home while also competing with malls and online shopping, both of which are cheaper and more accessible?"

On a side note, how do I convince people to buy $10k worth of made in China crap from me to "start their own business" lol

Most of them do online sales, via Facebook.  Not that I'm defending the business model, but I think very few just sell out of there home, and in fact parties seem to be the smallest portion of the business.

Chesleygirl

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #513 on: October 11, 2017, 02:17:39 PM »
LulaRoe Leggings are a saturated market. So it doesn't matter if they sell online too, or a combination of online and parties. It's saturated. They are going to lose money. I suspect a lot of them want to jump on what they see as a popular trend, but it's too popular. That means it is saturated.


firelight

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #514 on: October 11, 2017, 07:53:10 PM »
It's already happening. I'm part of a Facebook city chat group and I've had three different people post this week that they are going out of business and are selling their stock ($15 for dresses and $10 for leggings). I'm guessing that's the price they paid any they want to recoup the cost. But the leggings they have look so hideous that no one is buying them. Pretty sad when you think about it.

I'm a red panda

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #515 on: October 12, 2017, 12:34:46 PM »
I'm at a women's leadership conference. The speakers are all amazing executives and entrepreneurs, over 70% of the "exhibitors" are MLMs.

Chesleygirl

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #516 on: October 12, 2017, 01:27:59 PM »
I'm at a women's leadership conference. The speakers are all amazing executives and entrepreneurs, over 70% of the "exhibitors" are MLMs.

:(

I went  to  a h.s. reunion last night.  Guess what kinds of business cards I came home with?

Travis

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #517 on: October 12, 2017, 02:33:25 PM »
http://www.king5.com/news/they-bought-into-lularoe-to-make-money-now-theyre-leaving-in-debt/477718629

Surprise surprise, being a leggings consultant isn't a good "business" idea. can we talk about this $10k start up cost?! I thought Mary Kay was ridiculous with people spending a few hundred bucks to start up, but wow LuLaRoe blows them out of the water! How and why do people think this is a good idea?

They aren't smart enough to realize that they are the customer. Not a business owner or an entrepreneur. But a customer, who just bought $10,000 worth of stuff from a business. 

Does anyone here ever talked to your children about MLMs? I plan to talk to my kids once they get to be teenagers so they'll understand .  As part of their financial literacy education.

Clearly there is good money to be made selling Lularoe memberships.  At that price for entry selling the actual product seems ancillary.

11ducks

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #518 on: October 14, 2017, 05:47:51 AM »
Sorry, that's not what I meant.  Yes, $130 / month is expensive, and so is $97.50 / month (plus the $17 coach fee!)

But the actual cost to make the shakes has got to be low.  They are only "expensive" because of the "commissions" they pay coaches to get people to buy the product every month.  The ingredients themselves?  I doubt they are very expensive.

I pointed out at the time that I was spending roughly $4 per person per day on food for my family, so asking to spend THAT AMOUNT on the equivalent of ONE MEAL (not even, it's only 160 calories), was kind of ridiculous.

I don't know what is in these shakes, but I wanted to put something in perspective. $130/30 comes out to $4.33 per shake.

For $4.33 you could make a really nice smoothie at home with fresh fruits and veggies. The smoothies I make in the blender are 500-600 calories(these are big smoothies), and they contain 50-100%+ of your daily fiber, protein, potassium, calcium, other minerals, vitamins, anti-oxidants, etc.

Hey Indexer- care to share a recipe or two? I currently do breakfast smoothies, but something with enough good cals to take me through lunch would be awesome!

Hunny156

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #519 on: October 16, 2017, 03:03:31 PM »
It's already happening. I'm part of a Facebook city chat group and I've had three different people post this week that they are going out of business and are selling their stock ($15 for dresses and $10 for leggings). I'm guessing that's the price they paid any they want to recoup the cost. But the leggings they have look so hideous that no one is buying them. Pretty sad when you think about it.

I have to admit, I've been watching this particular train-wreck for a while, and LLR seems just about ready to implode.  Tons of Facebook pages out there devoted to the glaringly bad defects and cheap quality of this clothing, not to mention all the GOOB pages popping up (GOOB= going out of business), adding a ton more competition to the consultants who are still trying to hawk their wears for whatever ridiculous MSRP that LLR tells them to sell for.

The policy change indicated in the article occurred b/c LLR got slammed with over $50 million in returns.  Not to mention many consultants who return items that LLR deems to be unfit for sale, and they won't return or credit the consultant for a penny, which increases the risk of returning and getting nothing for your trouble.  So, the best way to liquidate is to set up a GOOB sale, and the downward spiral continues!

I just did a quick check on eBay, and there's over 191,000 listings active right now.  Even the GOOB sellers are being undercut.  It's fascinating to watch.  My guess is LLR goes under in 6-12 mo.

StockBeard

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #520 on: October 17, 2017, 11:24:41 PM »
My guess is LLR goes under in 6-12 mo.
I'm always surprised at how resilient MLMs can be: when a market gets saturated, they let it cool down for a few years by moving their efforts to another country/continent. Another strategy is to launch new products regularly and make the older products "obsolete" one way or another to make eBay sales impossible (so when politicians ban a given chemical contained in some MLM product, they actually help the MLM).

A popular Aloe goop mlm have been going on for 40 years, using some of the strategies above.

MrAlanBreck

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #521 on: October 18, 2017, 07:43:53 AM »
Not an MLM, but along the same lines.

An old High School friend set up his own insurance agency.  Okay so far, so good.  I see a couple of posts of Facebook saying he's open and willing to see clients.  Again, no problem.

A couple weeks later I get a Facebook message saying "Hi <Name>", followed by some boilerplate stuff, ending with a request to have a meeting to discuss insurance options.

This was pretty obnoxious, as we had not talked in a couple of years, but I let it go.

Then I got wind from my family that my sister, who had a debilitating stroke five years ago and lives with our folks, got the same message.

I know he just used a script to message all of the people on his friends list, but this really pissed me off.  My dad just said that people do awful things when starting their own venture, and he has colleagues who stay up at night in horror of things they did decades ago when first starting out.  Reading some of the things on this thread, that rings true.

Hunny156

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #522 on: October 18, 2017, 09:28:47 AM »
My guess is LLR goes under in 6-12 mo.
I'm always surprised at how resilient MLMs can be: when a market gets saturated, they let it cool down for a few years by moving their efforts to another country/continent. Another strategy is to launch new products regularly and make the older products "obsolete" one way or another to make eBay sales impossible (so when politicians ban a given chemical contained in some MLM product, they actually help the MLM).

A popular Aloe goop mlm have been going on for 40 years, using some of the strategies above.

That's true, and from what I understand, LLR has already created a few sister brands, one being Honey & Lace, I think.  Which in the wake of the LLR return debacle, re-branded itself to P!phany.  My guess is this is an effort to distance itself from what's coming, and it sounds like some of the LLR consultants are moving over to the new brands (there are a few, I just don't care to know them all).  So yes, LLR will likely continue in some fashion, I have no doubt that the people in charge of this will jump ship to a new version once the sh*t hits the fan, and sadly, a large portion of their consultants will just follow along.

I'm a red panda

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #523 on: October 18, 2017, 10:33:17 AM »
P!phany?

Are you effing kidding me?

(Edit: Google tells me they changed it because it was testing as the name of a lingerie company. That makes sense. I just read it as Mormon because they have a thing with bees, and "Grace and Lace" is the name of a heavily Christian clothing company.  But that still doesn't explain why they changed it to such a ridiculous name.)
« Last Edit: October 18, 2017, 12:25:58 PM by iowajes »

mm1970

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #524 on: October 18, 2017, 11:54:02 AM »
It's already happening. I'm part of a Facebook city chat group and I've had three different people post this week that they are going out of business and are selling their stock ($15 for dresses and $10 for leggings). I'm guessing that's the price they paid any they want to recoup the cost. But the leggings they have look so hideous that no one is buying them. Pretty sad when you think about it.

I have to admit, I've been watching this particular train-wreck for a while, and LLR seems just about ready to implode.  Tons of Facebook pages out there devoted to the glaringly bad defects and cheap quality of this clothing, not to mention all the GOOB pages popping up (GOOB= going out of business), adding a ton more competition to the consultants who are still trying to hawk their wears for whatever ridiculous MSRP that LLR tells them to sell for.

The policy change indicated in the article occurred b/c LLR got slammed with over $50 million in returns.  Not to mention many consultants who return items that LLR deems to be unfit for sale, and they won't return or credit the consultant for a penny, which increases the risk of returning and getting nothing for your trouble.  So, the best way to liquidate is to set up a GOOB sale, and the downward spiral continues!

I just did a quick check on eBay, and there's over 191,000 listings active right now.  Even the GOOB sellers are being undercut.  It's fascinating to watch.  My guess is LLR goes under in 6-12 mo.
I feel lucky to have missed this train.  I'm maybe a bit too old for the demographic.  I got my first LLR invite just this year, when it was already starting to implode.

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #525 on: October 18, 2017, 03:02:55 PM »
P!phany?

Are you effing kidding me?

(Edit: Google tells me they changed it because it was testing as the name of a lingerie company. That makes sense. I just read it as Mormon because they have a thing with bees, and "Grace and Lace" is the name of a heavily Christian clothing company.  But that still doesn't explain why they changed it to such a ridiculous name.)

Pippa is swedish for an activity for two, or more, adults that love each other very, very much.

Maybe they decided to go international?

onehair

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #526 on: October 19, 2017, 07:26:30 AM »
Had a coworker here selling It Works!  It Works is some kind of green powdered supplement.  She asked if I was interested but I politely refused it.  Disclaimer: I do take a powdered green supplement but I prefer to purchase mine at the store or online depending on who has the better special at the moment.  The girl next to me did buy some.  Last week I overheard the poor thing on the phone demanding they refund her for charges they'd loaded onto her credit card.  I think she made one purchase and they kept billing her I haven't had the guts to ask.
Anyone here heard of It Works?

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #527 on: October 19, 2017, 08:18:13 AM »
Had a coworker here selling It Works!  It Works is some kind of green powdered supplement.  She asked if I was interested but I politely refused it.  Disclaimer: I do take a powdered green supplement but I prefer to purchase mine at the store or online depending on who has the better special at the moment.  The girl next to me did buy some.  Last week I overheard the poor thing on the phone demanding they refund her for charges they'd loaded onto her credit card.  I think she made one purchase and they kept billing her I haven't had the guts to ask.
Anyone here heard of It Works?

Yep, we had a cousin into that. The big sell was "wraps" that you wrap around pieces of your body to "melt fat off."

If that worked it would definitely be super healthy, right?? /sarcasm

(She stopped selling them eventually after buying a lot of inventory that she couldn't get rid of. She really wanted to help support her family and had good intentions...but she moved on to selling "toxin-free" makeup. Her husband emailed all family & friends asking them to please buy her makeup as she wanted to be a SAHM. I wrote back saying that I understood the desire, but our financial planning for eventual kids involved not paying for unnecessary expenses, so we wouldn't be ordering, and hoped they understood. Apparently I was the only one to respond at all...so that makeup went away too. Now she's off the MLM train but the rest of the family is selling Younique, cluttering every social feed with not only  the makeup posts but also many posts purely designed to improve their algorithms so that the makeup posts will find a wide audience, like "which bag should I buy, a or b??" I find it an annoying erosion of our social contract, but they claim to be making lots of money so I don't see it going away anytime soon.)

ixtap

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #528 on: October 19, 2017, 08:18:46 AM »
Had a coworker here selling It Works!  It Works is some kind of green powdered supplement.  She asked if I was interested but I politely refused it.  Disclaimer: I do take a powdered green supplement but I prefer to purchase mine at the store or online depending on who has the better special at the moment.  The girl next to me did buy some.  Last week I overheard the poor thing on the phone demanding they refund her for charges they'd loaded onto her credit card.  I think she made one purchase and they kept billing her I haven't had the guts to ask.
Anyone here heard of It Works?

They started of as thinning wraps and branched out into hokey supplements. One seller I know has recently moved onto a vinyl transfer business. She is using everything she learned from MLM, so I only see her kids on Facebook when they are modelling something she made.

jinga nation

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #529 on: October 19, 2017, 08:48:24 AM »

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #530 on: October 19, 2017, 08:50:15 AM »
also many posts purely designed to improve their algorithms so that the makeup posts will find a wide audience, like "which bag should I buy, a or b??"

OH! I knew there was a reason for these types of posts but I didn't understand what they were for. They drive me nuts. I never answer because I figured if I did, they would just try to hit me up to buy something in the future, but they still annoy me.

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #531 on: October 19, 2017, 08:51:21 AM »
but also many posts purely designed to improve their algorithms so that the makeup posts will find a wide audience, like "which bag should I buy, a or b??"

I have a Facebook friend who does this. Had no idea that it was for this purpose.

eddiejoe

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #532 on: October 19, 2017, 11:18:54 AM »
It's already happening. I'm part of a Facebook city chat group and I've had three different people post this week that they are going out of business and are selling their stock ($15 for dresses and $10 for leggings). I'm guessing that's the price they paid any they want to recoup the cost. But the leggings they have look so hideous that no one is buying them. Pretty sad when you think about it.

I have to admit, I've been watching this particular train-wreck for a while, and LLR seems just about ready to implode.  Tons of Facebook pages out there devoted to the glaringly bad defects and cheap quality of this clothing, not to mention all the GOOB pages popping up (GOOB= going out of business), adding a ton more competition to the consultants who are still trying to hawk their wears for whatever ridiculous MSRP that LLR tells them to sell for.

The policy change indicated in the article occurred b/c LLR got slammed with over $50 million in returns.  Not to mention many consultants who return items that LLR deems to be unfit for sale, and they won't return or credit the consultant for a penny, which increases the risk of returning and getting nothing for your trouble.  So, the best way to liquidate is to set up a GOOB sale, and the downward spiral continues!

I just did a quick check on eBay, and there's over 191,000 listings active right now.  Even the GOOB sellers are being undercut.  It's fascinating to watch.  My guess is LLR goes under in 6-12 mo.

I don't find Yahoo.com to be a great source of news, but there is no doubt it is mainstream and reaches a massive audience:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/new-lularoe-lawsuit-calls-leggings-giant-pyramid-scheme-end-184529361.html

Misstachian

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #533 on: October 19, 2017, 01:04:01 PM »
also many posts purely designed to improve their algorithms so that the makeup posts will find a wide audience, like "which bag should I buy, a or b??"

OH! I knew there was a reason for these types of posts but I didn't understand what they were for. They drive me nuts. I never answer because I figured if I did, they would just try to hit me up to buy something in the future, but they still annoy me.

I'm told it's because Facebook shows your posts to more people if you tend to get lots of comments, so they post "a or b" things to increase engagement. Then the selling posts have more eyeballs. I should not care but do find it annoying!

Travis

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #534 on: October 19, 2017, 03:07:02 PM »
also many posts purely designed to improve their algorithms so that the makeup posts will find a wide audience, like "which bag should I buy, a or b??"

OH! I knew there was a reason for these types of posts but I didn't understand what they were for. They drive me nuts. I never answer because I figured if I did, they would just try to hit me up to buy something in the future, but they still annoy me.

I'm told it's because Facebook shows your posts to more people if you tend to get lots of comments, so they post "a or b" things to increase engagement. Then the selling posts have more eyeballs. I should not care but do find it annoying!
This is why you can have 200 friends on Facebook, but only ever see updates from 10 of them. Facebook also has a honeymoon period where you'll see everything a new friend has to say, but if you don't interact with them they'll drop to the bottom of the pile after a while.

Rowellen

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #535 on: October 19, 2017, 04:11:15 PM »
Had a coworker here selling It Works!  It Works is some kind of green powdered supplement.  She asked if I was interested but I politely refused it.  Disclaimer: I do take a powdered green supplement but I prefer to purchase mine at the store or online depending on who has the better special at the moment.  The girl next to me did buy some.  Last week I overheard the poor thing on the phone demanding they refund her for charges they'd loaded onto her credit card.  I think she made one purchase and they kept billing her I haven't had the guts to ask.
Anyone here heard of It Works?

Yes. My cousin was using the wraps. I don't think she was selling them. I don't think they worked. At least not any better than the exercise she was also doing.

also many posts purely designed to improve their algorithms so that the makeup posts will find a wide audience, like "which bag should I buy, a or b??"

OH! I knew there was a reason for these types of posts but I didn't understand what they were for. They drive me nuts. I never answer because I figured if I did, they would just try to hit me up to buy something in the future, but they still annoy me.

I'm told it's because Facebook shows your posts to more people if you tend to get lots of comments, so they post "a or b" things to increase engagement. Then the selling posts have more eyeballs. I should not care but do find it annoying!
This is why you can have 200 friends on Facebook, but only ever see updates from 10 of them. Facebook also has a honeymoon period where you'll see everything a new friend has to say, but if you don't interact with them they'll drop to the bottom of the pile after a while.

That explains why I constantly see stuff my aunts post and not  new posts from other friends. In amongst all the ads that is. They always like and comment on my posts so I feel obliged to like theirs too.

Pizzabrewer

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #536 on: October 19, 2017, 04:34:15 PM »
As a male of more than middle-aged years I have been largely insulated from the MLM pitches.  Lately a facebook friend has been trying very hard to interest me in Arbonne.  No idea what it is, I really have no interest.

I'm thinking about unfriending her.

jinga nation

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #537 on: October 20, 2017, 12:03:40 PM »
As a male of more than middle-aged years I have been largely insulated from the MLM pitches.  Lately a facebook friend has been trying very hard to interest me in Arbonne.  No idea what it is, I really have no interest.

I'm thinking about unfriending her.
Here I was thinking Argonne National Lab has an MLM venture.

gatortator

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #538 on: October 20, 2017, 12:30:04 PM »

Chesleygirl

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #539 on: October 20, 2017, 01:05:24 PM »
As a male of more than middle-aged years I have been largely insulated from the MLM pitches.  Lately a facebook friend has been trying very hard to interest me in Arbonne.  No idea what it is, I really have no interest.

I'm thinking about unfriending her.

Arbonne is expensive skin care products, as far as I know. Their "anti aging set" of skin products retails for around $400. Perhaps they think older people are a good market for these products. I really don't know!

They don't care how old or young someone is, they'll pitch to them anyway or try to recruit them. Lots of people even recruit their own parents and grandparents.

MgoSam

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #540 on: October 20, 2017, 01:29:05 PM »
I didn't know that Arbonne was a MLM. A few years back I asked a friend what whey protein he used and he said Arbonne. I looked it up and saw that it was over $60 for 2 pounds and passed. For that price they better eliminate any possibility of getting DOMS

KodeBlue

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #541 on: October 25, 2017, 06:50:48 PM »
HMM,  don't MLM's usually need a city business license to run a business, especially with on-line and sales components, out of their home?  You have me thinking...
Sad thing is, if they did need a business license, MLM hucksters would just use that help rope in recruits and make them feel more "official". "And here are the forms you need for your business license...you'll need one since you're starting your own business.."
Followed by the victim who just got taken for a couple of grand recruit posting on facebook " I just got my business license! I'm an entrepreneur  running my own business now!" #CEObusinessowner :)

draco44

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #542 on: October 25, 2017, 08:20:32 PM »
I know some previous commenters have brought up the Lularoe returns policy change fiasco, but in case you missed it, that controversy has now led to a class action lawsuit: http://www.businessinsider.com/lularoe-called-pyramid-scheme-by-sellers-2017-10  The suit was filed on October 13, but I didn't see a mention of it in this thread yet.

carolinap

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #543 on: October 26, 2017, 05:32:24 AM »
I was just invited, in Brazil, to a MLM thing based on consuption and selling of RICE AND BEANS (???)
Thay say basically to stop buying what you would usually buy in a supermarket, and instead buying in their market, and invite friends to do the same and collect profits on their purchases.

I'm still confused, never heard of it before.
« Last Edit: October 26, 2017, 05:45:30 AM by carolinap »

carolinap

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #544 on: October 26, 2017, 05:44:46 AM »
I was just invited, in Brazil, to a MLM thing based on consuption and selling of RICE AND BEANS (???)
Thay say basically to stop buying what you would usually buy in a supermarket, in their market, and invite friends to do the same and collect profits on their purchases.

I'm still confused, never heard of it before.

They claim they are better than other companies because you don't have to "sell" anything, just consume what you already consume... but you have recruitment quotas to receive your profits.
« Last Edit: October 26, 2017, 05:47:50 AM by carolinap »

jinga nation

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #545 on: October 26, 2017, 06:08:22 AM »
I was just invited, in Brazil, to a MLM thing based on consuption and selling of RICE AND BEANS (???)
Thay say basically to stop buying what you would usually buy in a supermarket, in their market, and invite friends to do the same and collect profits on their purchases.

I'm still confused, never heard of it before.

They claim they are better than other companies because you don't have to "sell" anything, just consume what you already consume... but you have recruitment quotas to receive your profits.
I see that the Amway/Quixtar model is truly well and alive.
i was asked in 1999 to join and buy bulk TP. How much does a single college kid need when you do all your #2 on campus?

Hunny156

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #546 on: October 26, 2017, 09:42:57 AM »
I was just invited, in Brazil, to a MLM thing based on consuption and selling of RICE AND BEANS (???)
Thay say basically to stop buying what you would usually buy in a supermarket, in their market, and invite friends to do the same and collect profits on their purchases.

I'm still confused, never heard of it before.

They claim they are better than other companies because you don't have to "sell" anything, just consume what you already consume... but you have recruitment quotas to receive your profits.
I see that the Amway/Quixtar model is truly well and alive.
i was asked in 1999 to join and buy bulk TP. How much does a single college kid need when you do all your #2 on campus?

Yes, I'm currently reading Merchants of Deception, and this is EXACTLY the Amway model.

SwordGuy

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #547 on: October 27, 2017, 06:40:06 AM »
[Yeah that's amazing! I wish my library could get any book I wanted as there are a ton that they don't stock.

They pretty much can. It's called "ILL" for Inter-Library Loan.

You tell the ILL librarian what book you want, they put in a request and some time later (a week or months) it shows up and they loan it to you.  Takes time, but they can do it.

I'm a red panda

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #548 on: October 27, 2017, 07:32:53 AM »
[Yeah that's amazing! I wish my library could get any book I wanted as there are a ton that they don't stock.

They pretty much can. It's called "ILL" for Inter-Library Loan.

You tell the ILL librarian what book you want, they put in a request and some time later (a week or months) it shows up and they loan it to you.  Takes time, but they can do it.

My library charges $3 per ILL request (whether they can fulfill it or not).  Another city I lived in charged $11 per ILL fulfilled.

snowball

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Re: No, I won't buy into your MLM
« Reply #549 on: October 27, 2017, 09:35:52 AM »
It costs libraries something like $10-15 to fill a single ILL request, counting staff time on both ends plus return shipping costs.  (I refer to true ILL requests here, not requests that are filled by other libraries within the same system, which benefit much more from economies of scale.)

It's a great service, and people should absolutely feel free to use it when the local collection doesn't fill their needs.  I wouldn't personally mind paying a $3 fee, given that it's not even close to covering the cost of the service, but I'd be a bit concerned about it for other reasons.  If a public library feels it has to charge for this service, that's a sign it's not funded very well in general, so I might lobby my municipality for better library funding in my community.  How supportive councillors are of the library can *really* vary, and is definitely affected by what they hear from voters.

[ETA: well-run / well-funded libraries do keep the cost of ILL in mind when looking at a request, and if it's for a book that's currently in print, they may just buy a copy, especially if it looks like an item others might be interested in too.  ILL requests from patrons are treated a bit like purchase suggestions, in terms of collection development.]
« Last Edit: October 27, 2017, 09:49:23 AM by snowball »