Multi-Level Marketing: A Discussion and Warning

[Crimson King]

So, after watching Penn and Teller do a show on MLM and researching one of their guests, I decided to create a post on what I consider to be one of the new evils of our generation.

Multi-Level Marketing is a business model that sells products as well as businesses. Essentially, everyone starts on the bottom level, and as they recruit people, they raise up the rankings and earn more money.

While technically a pyramid scheme, MLMs escape instant legal action because they do sell a product, albeit how devalued it may be.

Read this article by Robert Fitzpratrick on his opinion of MLM, crafted through years of experience and research: http://www.falseprofits.com/MLM Lies.html

So, why am I concerned: I've seen it happened first hand.

My first encounter with MLM was Quixtar and Vector. Vector, which owns and runs CutCo, HEAVILY recruits college students with the promise of easy work, high pay (citing $14 an hour starting), and requiring no experience whatsoever.

One of my more annoyed points from Vector was how they dupe broke college students to spend time, money, and energy on a wasted trip. One of my friends actually got duped for this. First, he had to call everyone he knew and perform a demonstration. The demo was him showing off high-end, high-quality knives. Once the demo ended, my parents, who allowed the demo to humor him, decided they didn't want the items he sold. My friend was undaunted and offered me a position with the company. Being naive, I did no research before agreeing at that second. Once he left, I really probed the company and found they rarely, if ever, actually PAID the consultants, and the consultants were forced to buy a demo kit of $500. When I questioned the "hiring manager" about this, he said "you have to spend money to make money." I declined. A year later, once my friend quit, he stated he never received any money from his sales except for his demo knives that he managed to sell for the same price he wasted.

I've known at least 3 or 4 other people duped into the the same scheme solely because it promised easy money in a tough time. Shortly after this incident, another person introduced me to Quixtar.

While at a book store, a friend and I ran into a girl who we went to school with, but who rarely spoke to us. She stated her brother just started an internet company and was looking for people to hire. I was eager for a new job, and I accepted the offer (as did my friend). I had the first interview at a coffee shop, which was odd, and within seconds, I lost interest.

What she presented was Quixtar, which essentially is an online webstore that sells groceries and the like, I think. The actual store was de-emphasized heavily. She explained the importance of recruiting, drawing a pyramid because Quixtar (formerly Amway) was forced to do that by Congress, and how earning potential was limitless. Not knowing much about economics, I didn't argue and just seethed. Once I left, her brother called to hype it some more, explaining that you will be paid once you meet a quota, but in order to see if you met the quota, you had to pay. I didn't understand it either, did my research, and when she called back, explained how it was investigated repeatedly for scams.

In closing, I just want to make this post as an awareness thread for these impossible business models. Every day, they dupe teens, college students, and college grads to fall for it and pay them while they fail.

Has anyone had any MLM experience?

 

[Grandeza]

A very similar thing happened with my sister. We were at the mall and a group did the general HEY WOULD YOU LIKE TO MODEL? And for whatever reason my parents said yes. Supposedly you could make money off these pictures they'd take of you. Turns out you have to pay to get your pictures taken and then they send them out and MAYBE you get money. Nice scam. Got us for $500. >>>>

 

[El Nino]

Quixtar/Amway is the company that my coworker got involved with. She's been trying to be my friend for the past year, despite the fact that we have nothing in common. I found it odd, but then again I've met weirder people. I went to one of the seminars, realized what it was in about five seconds, and spent the whole time trying not to lmao.

The funny thing is the way the whole seminar sounded like a self-motivation mass group therapy session. I wondered briefly if I was surrounded by cultists.

One key sign of a scam is that they don't show you the model right away. After they did show me the model, they said, "Go home, think it over, but DON'T DISCUSS IT WITH OTHER PEOPLE because they weren't here and THEY WON'T UNDERSTAND."

Also, it's suspicious when a company wants you, as an individual, to buy their products (and only their products, which is kind of the culture that Amway tries to instill on people, in crazy brainwashing style). If they're asking for that, then how does that make you an employee? Doesn't that make you a customer? Which may be the Amway scam in a nutshell.

I'm fascinated by this mainly because my coworker is not a college student and not a desperate person who has fallen on hard times while close to retirement age. She is young, college graduated, working for a legitimate company that offers good job security. But what I think is happening in her case is that she's from an immigrant family, and I know that kind of mentality of always working and not allowing yourself the luxury of dreaming about anything more. I think she's followed what her family members have told her to do in life, and now she sees this as her way to make her own decisions and become something more than a nine-to-fiver.

Of course, I don't think this pathway offers any more freedom than the nine-to-five. At least the nine-to-five is real.

She also likes to throw false praise and encouragement my way, which is something that everyone was doing at those meet-ups. I think this is meant to draw people in by making them feel good. But the praise is empty because it doesn't mean anything.

The problem with the pyramind scheme is that you only make money if you are constantly recruiting more people. And the people on the bottom don't make anything because their money is being fed up the chain.

 

[Crimson King]

Of course, I don't think this pathway offers any more freedom than the nine-to-five. At least the nine-to-five is real.

She also likes to throw false praise and encouragement my way, which is something that everyone was doing at those meet-ups. I think this is meant to draw people in by making them feel good. But the praise is empty because it doesn't mean anything.

The problem with the pyramind scheme is that you only make money if you are constantly recruiting more people. And the people on the bottom don't make anything because their money is being fed up the chain.

Nailed it. Most MLMers work about 10 - 12 hours a day without anything to show for it, so they technically make considerably less than minimum wage workers.

The idea is that you have to move off that ground level as fast as possible so that you can make the big money. Sadly, it's all fake.

You cannot endless recruit, and there is no such thing as infinite markets.

Check out Mancaveworldwide, for the latest one hitting men. It's pretty bad because you have these meetings without any compensation, so you have to spend money on food and drinks and hope people buy $600 worth of stuff so you can make $50. Ridiculous.

 

[El Nino]

Speak of the devil...

She called me just now. I agreed to meet with her at a coffee shop. My brother told me, "If she's your friend, you should tell her the truth before she gets totally sucked in." But, in truth, I doubt I can really call her a friend. And I doubt I can persuade her because she's got this glazed over expression in her eyes whenever she talks about "the business." I have experience with delusional people (a good friend of mine has paranoid schizophrenia), and I think I can spot delusional.

So. What do. I just want to milk her for some more information to see how she ended up in this position, then it's just going to be, "Well, it's really not for me, but good luck to you and everything."

And hope she doesn't stab me in the back at work. >_>

 

[Fuelbi]

So how much do people at the top of the scheme end up making anyways? I'm curious. Not that I'd ever join something as ridiculous as a pyramid scheme though

 

[El Nino]

I don't know how much exactly they make at the top, and I wouldn't trust any numbers given to me by a recruiter. My coworkers were trying to show me numbers in the six digit range (like 100,000 to 600,000 for mid-range people who have been doing it for 2-5 years, and something in the millions for those at the very top). The problem is, there's no climbing the coporate ladder in a pyramind scheme. There's only "building a wider base underneath you" so you're not on the bottom. The whole thinking is *ss backwards.

The Amway scam isn't that the people directly above you take your money (apparently they get paid by the company depending on how much you sell); the scam is that they tell you that you're running a business by buying and using their products when in fact you're just a customer. It's like if you buy a computer and instead of a rebate you get money back if you can convince someone else to also buy a computer from the same company. So you start thinking, "What if I get a whole bunch of people to buy computers and they get a whole bunch of other people to buy computers and those people...?" It's not really a legit business. Like CK said, it pretty much assumes an infinite market, which doesn't exist.

Also, they're careful not to use the word "recruit."

 

[Sizzle]

My family was involved in a MLM called Vemma, which is a nutritional supplement. The taste is actually very good, and they made an energy drink too, which is how I got involved. I think the hardest part of the system was just the timing of it all. When we got into it was during the beginning of the global economic crisis and people could simply not afford to be buying these vitamin supplements. My father personally knows a couple who is very successful with the "business" which was why he was interested in the first place. The successful friends of ours had a bit of an edge because they had more money to devote into it, plus they had a very successful eBay business that they had just sold at the time, so they had a lot of contacts who were looking for this type of product to sell. This couple went on to become one of the top 50 sellers of the whole company, so the results we saw were very real. These people did it full time as a job, where my family just wanted to do it for some extra income.

As far as my end went, it was a combination of laziness, and the fact that college students also simply do not have the funds to do this sort of thing. As a salesman, I believe I was able to sell the product (energy drink) really well, because the taste was good, despite the vitamins and everything in it, and I think I have a knack for it. If I would have really put a lot of effort into it, I think I probably could have seen some really good money because our successful friends above would have contributed to our success as well. The way this company structures their payment is different than others (I think), so my parents did get a couple hundred dollars a month, but most of it was helping my sister and I get on our feet, so they really didn't see any actual profit. The way it works is that since you usually take vitamins daily, you have a recurring amount of vitamins shipped to you every month. So the income is residual, and you only have to make a "sale" to that person one time in order to get them to contribute to your success.

In the end, my parents still drink the supplement as a part of their daily routine, but have long since given up on trying to sell it. I think this point is one of the ways in which Vemma is successful. Since a vitamin supplement is something that a lot of people take, it is easy to get people to buy them without the pressure of having to sell a product.

I can't say I had a negative experience, actually. It did make me realize that there is no such as easy money, and that hard work is what it takes to be successful, just like in anything. I do know that people make a lot of money by doing it, but usually, they get going from the beginning. This gives them the advantage of having a lot of people underneath them, which contributes to their income. I have heard bad stories from other companies, especially Vector, but I thought my experience might be a bit different than others here.

 

[Pakman]

When I was a freshman, I went to the Vector Cutco training/orientation 3day meeting thing with a friend of mine. I opted out of taking the position because of my parents concerns with the whole thing.

They really get some smooth talkers to "recruit" these college kids. The way they portray this position makes it seem easy, profitable, and enjoyable when in retrospect it would have been the opposite of all those things.

 

[Crimson King]

My family was involved in a MLM called Vemma, which is a nutritional supplement. The taste is actually very good, and they made an energy drink too, which is how I got involved. I think the hardest part of the system was just the timing of it all. When we got into it was during the beginning of the global economic crisis and people could simply not afford to be buying these vitamin supplements. My father personally knows a couple who is very successful with the "business" which was why he was interested in the first place. The successful friends of ours had a bit of an edge because they had more money to devote into it, plus they had a very successful eBay business that they had just sold at the time, so they had a lot of contacts who were looking for this type of product to sell. This couple went on to become one of the top 50 sellers of the whole company, so the results we saw were very real. These people did it full time as a job, where my family just wanted to do it for some extra income.

As far as my end went, it was a combination of laziness, and the fact that college students also simply do not have the funds to do this sort of thing. As a salesman, I believe I was able to sell the product (energy drink) really well, because the taste was good, despite the vitamins and everything in it, and I think I have a knack for it. If I would have really put a lot of effort into it, I think I probably could have seen some really good money because our successful friends above would have contributed to our success as well. The way this company structures their payment is different than others (I think), so my parents did get a couple hundred dollars a month, but most of it was helping my sister and I get on our feet, so they really didn't see any actual profit. The way it works is that since you usually take vitamins daily, you have a recurring amount of vitamins shipped to you every month. So the income is residual, and you only have to make a "sale" to that person one time in order to get them to contribute to your success.

In the end, my parents still drink the supplement as a part of their daily routine, but have long since given up on trying to sell it. I think this point is one of the ways in which Vemma is successful. Since a vitamin supplement is something that a lot of people take, it is easy to get people to buy them without the pressure of having to sell a product.

I can't say I had a negative experience, actually. It did make me realize that there is no such as easy money, and that hard work is what it takes to be successful, just like in anything. I do know that people make a lot of money by doing it, but usually, they get going from the beginning. This gives them the advantage of having a lot of people underneath them, which contributes to their income. I have heard bad stories from other companies, especially Vector, but I thought my experience might be a bit different than others here.

I hate to say it, but they got you good. First off, it wasn't your laziness that screwed you over, it was the system that's designed to make you fail, while earning people at the top as much money as possible. Yes, it was a compelling idea, but the better ones are. Look up Zrii sometimes. The end result is you selling things that probably weren't good for the people you were selling to, nor were you really selling the product as much as selling the business.

A quick google search shows: http://vemma-scam-watch.blogspot.com/
Also, some nutritional sites say don't even try the vitamins because they aren't pure. FDA approval, if it has that, doesn't mean much because tainted foods and meats got that too.

 

[Pluvia]

This sounds like an awful complicated job for a student. All my friends get drunk constantly and study, and when they run out of money next year they'll get a job in retail or in a bar like every other student. I don't know anyone that'd have the time or commitment for this.

 

[Life]

I should note that one of Amway's founders wrote a book entitled "Compassionate Capitalism" back in the 90s. Pretty cool read. Although I think the fact that most people don't succeed in such a system is common sense.

 

[deepseadiva]

http://www.mancaveworldwide.com/signup

This sounds so cool!

 

[Crimson King]

I think I cited that one, but to restate:

You only gain money by recruiting and hoping your recruits make enough so your maximum 7% of sales is a lot of money.

To put that in perspective, the VP was quoted as saying the average 12 - 15 person party should garner about $600. The advisor only makes about $150 (25%) total. Then, he has to buy meats and beers, and considering it's essentially a BBQ where you eat and drink all you want, the advisor is going to easily spend over $100 (one of ManCave's products was a set of loaded burgers - 4 $20). Of $600, 7% is only $42. That percentage is the absolute max you get from the people directly below you.

Basically, ManCave makes all its profits off the salesman having parties and buying their expensive foods.

 

[Shadic]

I made about $200 bucks selling Cutco knives in about a month.

Then again, I did get some banging knives, so eh. It was better than sitting around doing nothing, but I don't know if I'd do it again. Sadly didn't help at all for job references, either.

I actually take down the fliers they post at my school for Cutco, it's a bunch of green fliers with rip-off phone numbers and www.workforstudents.com written on 'em.

 

[Crimson King]

$200 a month, at 20 hours a week, is about $2.50 an hour. Modern day slave wages. Furthermore, the banging knives, from what I read, aren't really as top-of-the-line as they are made out to be. Go figure.

As for experience: never name an MLM as your experience because it makes you look foolish and susceptible to scams. Good on you for stopping them at school though.

 

[MattDotZeb]

I was picked up by CutCo/Vector for 18.50 an hour.

3rd day of (unpaid...) training they tell you to purchase the knife set for something like $185 or so. I was against this completely, and did not do so.
From my understanding it was that regardless of how much you sell you still receive the $18.50 for doing a presentation for somebody and it was my goal to milk that and not bother trying to really sell anything.

It was funny. The trainer person was always nodding her head in a suggestive manner after saying something. I don't think a lot of the other people in the my training group realize that she was doing that to us, even when she pointed it out as a way of suggestive selling to customer.

 

[Crimson King]

Yeah, they get "paid" per presentation, but it's actually per hour or per commission, whichever is greater. However, most people get neither. Also, you pay your own gas and set your own appointments.

My friend who did CutCo even read the script that said "nod positively" or something stupid.

That scam enrages me because of how they market it to people who have no way of knowing what it is they are getting themselves into. I've heard they even will give you the knives for free but dock your pay, which means they will just take all your money.

 

[Lore]

Ha, my mom tried to get into one of these things a year or two ago.

After one look at the "free information" package thing, I spent the rest of the day convincing her that it was a ripoff.

It was some nutritional drink, I believe, and the name was Vemma or something. It was a complete scam, through and through.

 

[Dre89]

So how do the people at the top get to the top?

 

[El Nino]

A pyramid scheme starts with those at the top. It grows downward. The base gets wider when more people join. You don't really move up. You just get more people to join underneath you.

 

[Fried Ice Cream]

We should all start our own pyramid scheme with the people in this topic.

IMO.

 

[Crimson King]

Pyramid schemes are illegal, you know?

@Dre., few, if any, recruits get far in an MLM company. Most companies have a super high attrition rate of 50-90% of employees leaving per year, but it doesn't hurt the company since those who stay keep recruiting, and some who leave believe it was their fault for failing.

 

[Claire Diviner]

You know what's scary? A few years back, when I was living in Spokane, WA, I was almost duped into a scheme just like this. I forget the company, and I don't quite remember the product, though I do remember kitchen utensils (it may have been knives, I dunno), and they gave promise of easy money and all of that jazz. I later find out the company weren't as "legit" as they appear to be. The only thing that prevented me from taking the offer was my lack of a car or a friend with a car (made more dooming as I had no friends out there). In hindsight, I was probably very lucky, since at the time, I was alone, on my own, and had barely any money to work with.

I gotta say, Crimson King, I feel this thread can really help a lot of people here.

 

[Dre89]

Yeah CK has probably saved a few bank accounts with this thread. We should get more awareness threads like this.

 

[marketing]

Very informative and interesting article to be read....
online network marketing

 

[deepseadiva]

Oh man.

I laughed and laughed.

 

[Crimson King]

An adbot that uses keywords posted an MLM in an anti-MLM thread. Amazing!

Thanks Dre and Sol. Sol, tell your story to any who will listen. Knowledge is the MLM model's biggest threat.

 

[metalreflectslime]

So, after watching Penn and Teller do a show on MLM and researching one of their guests, I decided to create a post on what I consider to be one of the new evils of our generation.

Multi-Level Marketing is a business model that sells products as well as businesses. Essentially, everyone starts on the bottom level, and as they recruit people, they raise up the rankings and earn more money.

While technically a pyramid scheme, MLMs escape instant legal action because they do sell a product, albeit how devalued it may be.

Read this article by Robert Fitzpratrick on his opinion of MLM, crafted through years of experience and research: http://www.falseprofits.com/MLM Lies.html

So, why am I concerned: I've seen it happened first hand.

My first encounter with MLM was Quixtar and Vector. Vector, which owns and runs CutCo, HEAVILY recruits college students with the promise of easy work, high pay (citing $14 an hour starting), and requiring no experience whatsoever.

One of my more annoyed points from Vector was how they dupe broke college students to spend time, money, and energy on a wasted trip. One of my friends actually got duped for this. First, he had to call everyone he knew and perform a demonstration. The demo was him showing off high-end, high-quality knives. Once the demo ended, my parents, who allowed the demo to humor him, decided they didn't want the items he sold. My friend was undaunted and offered me a position with the company. Being naive, I did no research before agreeing at that second. Once he left, I really probed the company and found they rarely, if ever, actually PAID the consultants, and the consultants were forced to buy a demo kit of $500. When I questioned the "hiring manager" about this, he said "you have to spend money to make money." I declined. A year later, once my friend quit, he stated he never received any money from his sales except for his demo knives that he managed to sell for the same price he wasted.

I've known at least 3 or 4 other people duped into the the same scheme solely because it promised easy money in a tough time. Shortly after this incident, another person introduced me to Quixtar.

While at a book store, a friend and I ran into a girl who we went to school with, but who rarely spoke to us. She stated her brother just started an internet company and was looking for people to hire. I was eager for a new job, and I accepted the offer (as did my friend). I had the first interview at a coffee shop, which was odd, and within seconds, I lost interest.

What she presented was Quixtar, which essentially is an online webstore that sells groceries and the like, I think. The actual store was de-emphasized heavily. She explained the importance of recruiting, drawing a pyramid because Quixtar (formerly Amway) was forced to do that by Congress, and how earning potential was limitless. Not knowing much about economics, I didn't argue and just seethed. Once I left, her brother called to hype it some more, explaining that you will be paid once you meet a quota, but in order to see if you met the quota, you had to pay. I didn't understand it either, did my research, and when she called back, explained how it was investigated repeatedly for scams.

In closing, I just want to make this post as an awareness thread for these impossible business models. Every day, they dupe teens, college students, and college grads to fall for it and pay them while they fail.

Has anyone had any MLM experience?

I read this but I did not understand this. Can someone give me a summary of this? So is MLM like a scam that makes money off of people through exploitation?

 

[BEES]

MLM is the same as a pyramid scheme, for all intents and purposes. It pretends to sell things, but it actually contributes nothing of value, while conveying money from new recruits to the top of the pyramid.

 

[Crimson King]

Say I want to recruit you to my business, 5Linq, which sells consumer electronics. While that seems really profitable, the model doesn't care about selling, but about recruiting. So, you make more money recruiting people to "sell" than you do doing sales demos. It's an endless cycle.

 

[Big_R]

I'm in a frustrating position because my roomate is in a mlm scheme on the side. It's so dumb. They supposedly sell insurance. She has a degree in personal finance. She has not sold anything. I went to a meeting as a favor to her. I was int he same boat as the one poster who was trying not to lol. But it was also kinda dark because of all the people that were buying into it.

It was the cheesiest when I went there too. It was just a small suite they rent out to hold these fake meetings. They give you high fives as you walk and talk like some of the phoniest straight out-of-the-satire-movies business people.

After I went I and was sure of it myself I have told her time and time again to stop. She has her own issues that keep her going to it though. Now I'm not sure if she has paid any money to them , but I know it's all about recruiting and she's not actually doing the job they say she would do.

The worst part is I would tell her to stop going and she just buys into what they say. She says if she tried it would be legitimate. She was only doing it as an internship though and now sticks around for who knows why.

OH and she got an award... A cheap plaque....and she has said herself she hasn't done anything. It's pretty redunkulous if ya ask me....

It's Primerica...so watch out for that ****hole


edit: it was frustrating now i just say she is dumb and don't worry about it

 

[Crimson King]

I'm in a frustrating position because my roomate is in a mlm scheme on the side. It's so dumb. They supposedly sell insurance. She has a degree in personal finance. She has not sold anything. I went to a meeting as a favor to her. I was int he same boat as the one poster who was trying not to lol. But it was also kinda dark because of all the people that were buying into it.

It was the cheesiest when I went there too. It was just a small suite they rent out to hold these fake meetings. They give you high fives as you walk and talk like some of the phoniest straight out-of-the-satire-movies business people.

After I went I and was sure of it myself I have told her time and time again to stop. She has her own issues that keep her going to it though. Now I'm not sure if she has paid any money to them , but I know it's all about recruiting and she's not actually doing the job they say she would do.

The worst part is I would tell her to stop going and she just buys into what they say. She says if she tried it would be legitimate. She was only doing it as an internship though and now sticks around for who knows why.

OH and she got an award... A cheap plaque....and she has said herself she hasn't done anything. It's pretty redunkulous if ya ask me....

It's Primerica...so watch out for that ****hole


edit: it was frustrating now i just say she is dumb and don't worry about it

Wiki showed this:

Primerica's licensed agents who are licensed in life insurance earned an average of $5,156 in compensation during 2009, or an average of $429.67 each month not accounting for taxes. The income level that an agent achieves varies based upon the licenses obtained, "contract level" at which the agent receives commissions and the amount of personal production and commission-based businesses written in the field as well as the size and activity of an agent's organization. This is also dependent on whether the agent is an RVP and is also licensed in securities, debt, and other financial parts of the company.[59]

That's just ridiculous.

 

[Big_R]

I saw that when I was searching for the name because I had forgot. All I got in the group interview/meeting thing was the fact they were BBB accredited and all the positive stats.

That's another sad point. The BBB is supposed to be a consumer advocate type agency but I have heard that they will give you a terrible rating if your business doesn't literally buy membership into their sham. So BBB definitely seems watered down these days best case, a complete sham worst...

 

[Crimson King]

This pretty easy to do. Get every recruiter to make a BBB report that they are great, and do your best to silence all negative reports.

 

[EnigmaticCam]

Ah, the pyramid scheme. Or what I like to call, The Bigger-Idiot scheme.

Some in my family tried to recruit the rest of the family into something like this. Some kind of video-phone device. I watched the whole spiel, video and all. Funny how it barely talked about the actual product and instead talked about how great the company is, and how Donald Trump supported it.

I don't doubt money can be made in those kinds of schemes. But it can only be done in two ways: get in early so you're near the top, or be an awesome salesmen with a vast peer group of awesome salesman. And even then, if you're an awesome salesman, you'd make more money working a legitimate job.

This kind of thing is especially potent against college students, because of the promise of lots of money with little work. Any job offer that requires you to pay money up front should be avoided.

 

[MASAHIROx]

Me and my best friend went to a primerica interview. They begged us to refer people but i didn't want to. He sounded so fake and we had to wear shirts and ties to act like we're going for some professional job.

We both smelled a rat immediately when he asked for us to pay hundreds in licensing before we even get started.

We never went back.

My best friends gf is a ******* tough and believed the whole thing and thought it was a great idea.

 

[Hyper_Ridley]

I got a brochure or something similar from Cutco last summer. Naturally, it didn't mention anything on the $600 dollar knife-set you needed to buy, but it DID mention the $14.95 per appointment. Thankfully my mom knew about them and the moment she saw the name she explained their "business" to me.

 

[Kanelol]

Thus we see another monster of capitalism, hard at work in our society

gogogadgetamerica

If you ask me it's nothing more than Social Darwinism at work

 

[~ Gheb ~]

During the end of November I was looking for a job due to a drastic shortage of money. One of the jobs offered followed the typical MLM patterns: Buy a product and then sell it for profit. I already heavily mistrusted the offer but it's good to see confirmation on that subject for future job searching.

If somebody tries to make you spend money for a job before you actually earn some for yourself, you can assume that somebody is trying to trick you.