4 minutes ago, charliebadenhop said:

Amway is a multi-level marketing company, which basically means it is a pyramid scheme.

 

Their goods are ok quality, but not special, AND expensive. Not crazy expensive, but expensive. 

 

They make the lions share of their money from the various sales associates they have, that buy product for themselves...

 

Very few people do well "money wise" working for them. 

Some do, ask Bill Britt, sadly he has passed away, but he made a lot!

On 12/10/2023 at 7:23 AM, Kevin1908 said:

The reason I asked is that a Thai woman I chat with on line said the she is working for Amway. I hope she hasn't been conned into joining a pyramid scheme.

 

I would avoid anyone involved with Amway.

 

"........noted that Amway founders Van Andel and DeVos "accomplished their success through the use of an elaborate pyramid-like distribution system in which independent distributors of Amway products received a percentage of the merchandise they sold and also a percentage of the merchandise sold by recruited distributors"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amway

 

"Because it corrupts people with greed. Normally you go to work every day, come home, maybe do some shopping, and then you look forward to the weekends when you can go fishing with your best friends Bob and Suzy. But all of a sudden, Bob and Suzy start selling Amway - so instead of having a nice fishing trip with Bob and Suzy, it's just like your weekend has turned into Bob and Suzy selling you stuff because they want your money. They are no longer really your friends. They just see you as a source of more profit. Who the **** wants to hang out with Bob and Suzy anymore and buy into their stupid multi level marketing ****. Amway did this to them. Don't be Bob and Suzy. If you want to make money, do something you love. Don't beg your friends for money by selling them toilet paper and crap they can get at Walmart."

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-so-many-people-detest-Amway?

 

See also:

https://www.quora.com/How-many-people-really-succeed-selling-Amway

 

I suspect that many Thai people may be especially vulnerable to its lure and its methods.

 

I was horrified when I first saw that it had a presence in Thailand.

 

 

Define "pyramid system". Amway is a MLM vendor, MLM stands for "multi level marketing". The comparison to pyramid is relevant although Amway has been doing nothing else, in an honest way.

 

Your wife sells Amway products to any third party among your friends and acquaintances for 133%
Your neighbour sells Amway products to you at 121%
Your neighbour gets the products from another neighbour down the road at 110%
That down-the-road-neighbour gets it from a fellow across the city, latter gets it from Amway directly at 100%

The money is made by the mark-up commission, i.e. shampoo at USD 1 sees an increase of, say, 10% from one to the next level. So your wife closes the sale and everyone in between has a cut of 10%. 

The products are usually good but just too expensive; a natural result if too many people make money without adding product quality to the item you buy ;-) 

1 hour ago, proton said:

Thats strange, so many say it is a pyramid scheme.

Not sure what country you are in but in Australia pyramid schemes are ILLEGAL. So Amway has been in Australia 54 years (April 1971) and if a pyramid scheme why still running?

5 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

Not sure what country you are in but in Australia pyramid schemes are ILLEGAL. So Amway has been in Australia 54 years (April 1971) and if a pyramid scheme why still running?

 

Why is it banned or partially banned in several countries then, if it's just selling over priced products. The sellers are pest as bad as JW's knocking on your door selling religion

 

https://backtofrontshow.com/amway-banned-countries-list/

 

Country Name	Extent Of Ban
China	MLM is completely Illegal
Vietnam	MLM is completely outlawed
Bahrain	MLM is completely Illegal
India	Partially banned
United States	Partially banned
United Kingdom	Partially banned
Canada	Paid a heavy fine of $45 million but wasn’t banned
Australia	Faced backlash and legal issue but didn’t get banned

3 hours ago, Kevin1908 said:

Yes I gather that is what they are doing. So they pester their friends and family to buy Amway stuff then they get commission on sales. Is that right? I can't see how they can make enough sales to get a living income.

My soon to be ex sells Protein Bota B. She buys it for 3500 baht or there abouts and only makes 200 baht per sale. Less of course her costs in sendiing it to her customer. I assume also this is a pyramid that she had to buy into. For the amount she sells it seems a hell of a lot of effort and outlay for very little return.

For many that sell in these systems it is very hard to make good money. However, there are actually people that are good sales persons, and can bring in a lot of baht every month. Most of the successful ones combine it with other business. For example a hair saloon, where waiting customers have a table with the catalogues on. Another women I know, is running a normal village shop, where everybody knows she is a seller for Amway, Giffarine, Cute Press and some more.

Amway is far from the best and most profitable system for distributors. Some other systems can actually give about 30-35% in profit of every sale. Cute Press is one that, done the right way, give about 30% in general all over. If we compare that to, for example, a village shop they normally only have 15-20% in profit. However, they live on the sale volume that are usually higher.

41 minutes ago, proton said:

 

Why is it banned or partially banned in several countries then, if it's just selling over priced products. The sellers are pest as bad as JW's knocking on your door selling religion

 

https://backtofrontshow.com/amway-banned-countries-list/

 

Country Name	Extent Of Ban
China	MLM is completely Illegal
Vietnam	MLM is completely outlawed
Bahrain	MLM is completely Illegal
India	Partially banned
United States	Partially banned
United Kingdom	Partially banned
Canada	Paid a heavy fine of $45 million but wasn’t banned
Australia	Faced backlash and legal issue but didn’t get banned

MLM is a broad description of businesses that operate on same business principle as Amway but NOT specifically Amway.

 

This chart proves that Amway specifically is not fully banned in any country. THANK YOU.

3 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

MLM is a broad description of businesses that operate on same business principle as Amway but NOT specifically Amway.

 

This chart proves that Amway specifically is not fully banned in any country. THANK YOU.

 

Fully banned in China, Vietnam and Bahrain 

1 hour ago, Sydebolle said:

Define "pyramid system". Amway is a MLM vendor, MLM stands for "multi level marketing". The comparison to pyramid is relevant although Amway has been doing nothing else, in an honest way.

 

Your wife sells Amway products to any third party among your friends and acquaintances for 133%
Your neighbour sells Amway products to you at 121%
Your neighbour gets the products from another neighbour down the road at 110%
That down-the-road-neighbour gets it from a fellow across the city, latter gets it from Amway directly at 100%

The money is made by the mark-up commission, i.e. shampoo at USD 1 sees an increase of, say, 10% from one to the next level. So your wife closes the sale and everyone in between has a cut of 10%. 

The products are usually good but just too expensive; a natural result if too many people make money without adding product quality to the item you buy ;-) 

Strange values quoted. A distributor buys an Amway product from Amway at a set price. And then is supposed to sell it to a customer at a fixed price. If a distributor sells for more or less then that is his doing not Amway.

 

Like I mentioned in a previous post what do you think supermarket chains do?

 

Just now, proton said:

 

Fully banned in China, Vietnam and Bahrain 

MLM is fully banned in those countries not Amway specifically.

 

It states MLM not Amway.

 

If you cant get your facts straight then don't bother.

 

1 hour ago, Dazinoz said:

MLM is fully banned in those countries not Amway specifically.

 

It states MLM not Amway.

 

If you cant get your facts straight then don't bother.

 

 

So you deny Amway is pyramid, but admit it is multi level marketing, and as such selling over priced products

On 12/9/2023 at 9:35 PM, Kevin1908 said:

Can somebody tell me what this online business Amway is? The web site is in Thai, I am hoping it isn't a pyramid seller.

 

Amway is a pyramid scheme. Another one in Thailand is Unicity.

 

The only way sellers can make real money is by bringing more people into the company to sell so they get a cut of the profit. Most sellers don't make much money, but if you're good at "evangelising" and bringing people into the company who sell a lot, you can do well. My friend was convinced by another friend to join Unicity. She talked for weeks about how good it was and even tried to sell products to me. Ultimately she never made any money gave up, and focused on her real job and never mentioned it again.

On 12/9/2023 at 9:35 PM, Kevin1908 said:

Can somebody tell me what this online business Amway is? The web site is in Thai, I am hoping it isn't a pyramid seller.

It is exactly that. A pyramid seller of cleaning products. Been around since the 60's.

1 hour ago, proton said:

 

So you deny Amway is pyramid, but admit it is multi level marketing, and as such selling over priced products

What is your definition of a pyramid? And it has nothing to do with selling over priced or not products.

 

1 minute ago, CFCol said:

It is exactly that. A pyramid seller of cleaning products. Been around since the 60's.

Shows what you know. Very little.

On 12/10/2023 at 12:56 AM, sidjameson said:

They make money hiring the salesmen who have to buy a lot of product. Gf still owes money to them 15 years after leaving the company having never made a cent. Stear clear.

It wasn't Amways fault...

There are many millionaires, even in Pattaya WHO KNEW HOW TO SELL.

 

PS., Here's Pattaya's "Pyramid" location (nice store);

392/64 Sukhumvit Rd, Bang Lamung, Chon Buri, Thailand,

 

My gf buys health products and eSpring water filters there.

"Pyramid Schemes are, however, fraudulent schemes, disguised as an MLM strategy. The difference between a pyramid scheme and a lawful MLM program is that there is no real product that is sold in a pyramid scheme. Participants attempt to make money solely by recruiting new participants into the program."

 

"https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=589698990&cs=0&sxsrf=AM9HkKlFnmNT4UK5DCK7JSdvx9NKBsWi6A:1702275021789&q=Why+MLM+is+not+a+pyramid+scheme%3F&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjKi-bP3IaDAxXu1jgGHci0DWIQzmd6BAgLEAY&biw=1547&bih=812&dpr=1"

A friend of my ex-wife was in Amway, and convinced my wife to get involved. Went to one motivational presentation (expensive) and got a starter pack of cleaning products. I was very distrustful and worked out prices and tested products, in my opinion they were typically at least 25% more expensive to nearest equivalent. Sure, if you are a good sales person and con your friends and family into buying products, you might make some money, but to me it was a case of relying on the goodwill (or gullibility) of your customers to buy something which was cheaper in a supermarket. Ethically, that sickened me so refused to sell anything.

My Amway story:

 

In the late 70's, moved to California with my young wife and son for a job. Three years later moved back home to South Dakota. 

A distant friend, one I'd only see rarely when I met up with my good friends, called me up and talked about how he missed me, would like to catch up with he and his wife. I thought it was quite suspicious, for as little I knew about this guy, but my friends were all scattered now, and my wife says it'll be good to have new couples' friends. 

So, we invite them over and cook up a meal. 

Within minutes of arriving, I get, "So John (not my real name), have you ever thought of bettering yourself, owning a mansion, a yacht, etc." Continues to rattle on while I'm thinking, what's this guy talking about. 

Then it hit me, Amway salesman! I looked him in the eye and said, "is this about Amway?" As he nodded and started proclaiming the merits of Amway, I stood up and said GTFO. 

That was the day I learned to trust my instincts. 

You nailed the reason on the head.  It is a form of a Pyramid scheme.  A seller promotes his relatives and fiends to buy Amway products from him and also to become a member so that each individual can get their friends and relatives to also do the same.  Each level above those bottom tiers make money off those sales.  So, you can if you get many tiers below you, you don't have to sell much and make great income!

On 12/9/2023 at 3:35 PM, Kevin1908 said:

Can somebody tell me what this online business Amway is? The web site is in Thai, I am hoping it isn't a pyramid seller.

been there done that. It is a "legal" pyramid scene.

 

Those on the top get all the money. Those at the other end make peanuts. There are just to many in the so called bottom line. And it is not only in Thailand. All over the world the same story.

 

The products are not so bad but expensive yes. 

 

Not waist your time for try to make a second salary every month.

Religions are the biggest Pyramids!

Governments protect them.