Multi-level marketing/pyramid schemes and the people who fall for them

[tasty humane burger]

Sorry to keep posting stories on this thread, like many others MLM's are super interesting to me and this one girl from my school basically ta textbook example for a hun possessed.

This girl is super into JuicePlus and I mean... super into it. She was popular and before JuicePlus her Facebook just contained normal girl statuses about university, her boyfriend and her pets but now her Facebook is insufferable and 100% like the stuff in the Poonique blog linked above. She goes to all the conferences, which I've Googled and cost $$$ but acts like her 'company' have shipped her off across the globe for free. I got invited to her VIP group about 15 times and left almost immediately after every invite.

She even created a 'fitness' Instagram where she posts her ahhh-maaazzz-iiing results. I've seen her say she's 'dropped a dress size' about 4 different times which I am pretty sure would mean she was wearing clothes for 6 year olds considering I would put her at around a UK 6-8 already. Her own 'before' and 'after' pictures whether they are about her weight/hair/nails ALL LOOK THE SAME, just different lighting. And OH GOD she is constantly on live making smoothies or unboxing shite. She graduated this year with a 2:2 from a relatively average uni although she pretty much got mostly A's and B's in school because she was so busy Being ABoss Babe For JuicePlus GirlPowerHun that she fucked her degree up.

I heard that she did try and get a girl we went to school with who is a fitness instructor to be a 'model' for her but she told here where to go (omg hater hun). She recently tried to sell her overpriced garbage to an innocent friend of mine who has piled on the weight in the past few years, she has been yo-yo dieting (following Slimming World but that bs is for another thread) and going to the gym but finding the weight loss slow, after posting about it on Facebook, Little Miss Hun tried to get her 'on plan'. I immediately directed my friend to all the anti MLM source material but she's still considering JuicePlus because whats the worse that could happen.

Spoiler: not even 1/3 of her fb feed from the last 7 days, hardly any of the pics used are hers

PS sorry for the crap quality screenshots -

edit cos typos suck

 

[MY 405]

SHUT UP MY HATERS, BE MY PERSONAL ARMY AND BUY MY CRAP

'Ain’t nobody gonna take your crap:' LuLaRoe founder calls critics 'trolls' and orders her followers to 'snip' them out and 'protect' her

LuLaRoe founder DeAnne Stidham has repeatedly lashed out at critics as the company faces mounting pressure from a $49 million supplier lawsuit.

www.businessinsider.com

This is brilliant. A CEO who begins sentences with "Ain't" (as I said, from the ultra-chic location under the freeway in the "Horse Capital of California") and damn, lady, that is some BAD work, I'm sure it was done in Tijuana too. My bigger question is, as a LLR "consultant" (note the word 'con' here) just exactly HOW are you supposed to "not look at the internet, when that's your main business model? -- LLR Live Stream Auctions and your networking platform for sales and corporate meetings. I swear the day they have their warehouse bankruptcy sale I will be first in line. I love you for posting this!

I think the Trojan horse thing is actually how you could game it.

People with downlines earn commission on all of their downlines’ sales, but Younique doesn’t differentiate between sales to actual customers and things purchased for stock or personal use. It’s all the same to them, as long as the items are getting ordered. That’s probably why the uplines kept pushing everyone to buy those “limited bundles”: They get the commission regardless of what the downline actually does with it. (And of course, they’re always priced just a bit short of getting free shipping...)

It seems that winning strategy is not to get a following of outside customers, it’s to recruit more Younique reps and sell them “stock”.

On top of that, it’s also been established that you can pretty much buy your way into the next rank (even if you’re not trying), and there were secret groups where reps sold stuff to each other. If you had some capital to start with and were manipulative enough, you could easily spend your time just selling Younique entirely to other Younique reps and earning commission for it.

I think you've got something here. My other idea is how much to knock on the back door of the distro-warehouse in the Netherlands and find the dude that'll hand you product like it's trick or treating for a fist full of Euros? I guarantee that dude exists.

Oh and AMWAY HAS FOOD?! Holy shit! What's it like?! It either neither existed when our normally not weird neighbors sold it or it didn't yet exist. Their vitamins spun off into Herbalife. I used to work with someone whose job was to write the BS copy for the packaging, she never saw a single sample of the product she was supposed to create a prose blow job for.

 

[JektheDumbass]

Someone I knew got involved into two MLM schemes; Primerica and Rainbow. Both cases went the same, she did fairly well her first week (she could SELL shit, let me tell you), then they refused to pay her for some bullshit reason (I only remember that one was because she called the sales rep from her personal cell phone rather than the customer's phone, not sure which one. But both gave dickass reasons why the person above her actually would get the commission rather than her). In both cases she left immediately after some choice words.

 

[Monika H.]

This is brilliant. A CEO who begins sentences with "Ain't" (as I said, from the ultra-chic location under the freeway in the "Horse Capital of California") and damn, lady, that is some BAD work, I'm sure it was done in Tijuana too. My bigger question is, as a LLR "consultant" (note the word 'con' here) just exactly HOW are you supposed to "not look at the internet, when that's your main business model? -- LLR Live Stream Auctions and your networking platform for sales and corporate meetings. I swear the day they have their warehouse bankruptcy sale I will be first in line. I love you for posting this!



I think you've got something here. My other idea is how much to knock on the back door of the distro-warehouse in the Netherlands and find the dude that'll hand you product like it's trick or treating for a fist full of Euros? I guarantee that dude exists.

Oh and AMWAY HAS FOOD?! Holy shit! What's it like?! It either neither existed when our normally not weird neighbors sold it or it didn't yet exist. Their vitamins spun off into Herbalife. I used to work with someone whose job was to write the BS copy for the packaging, she never saw a single sample of the product she was supposed to create a prose blow job for.

I'm happy you found that interesting!
I was honestly baffled no one had posted it already since it's from December 2018.
Anyhow this DeAnne chick is insane, there's a slew of screencaps of her actively sending mockery and threats to "trolls".
Y'know, because LLR doesn't have enough lawsuits on their plate already.

 

[MY 405]

I'm happy you found that interesting!
I was honestly baffled no one had posted it already since it's from December 2018.
Anyhow this DeAnne chick is insane, there's a slew of screencaps of her actively sending mockery and threats to "trolls".
Y'know, because LLR doesn't have enough lawsuits on their plate already.

I think the best part of Deanne yelling about "trolls" (as if she actually knows what they are) is that most of LLR Ground Zero is built under a bridge of a freeway overpass. She simply can't get any better!

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

Jesus, that Younique blog account... you can literally see how they were dragging that lady in, one step at a time. It's like watching drug addiction play out.

They say good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions. All I can say is that lady must've racked up a shitload of XP...

 

[The Un-Clit]

Sorry to keep posting stories on this thread, like many others MLM's are super interesting to me and this one girl from my school basically ta textbook example for a hun possessed.

Never apologize fam, these stories are gold! All you want to post, we'll eagerly read.

Oh and AMWAY HAS FOOD?! Holy shit! What's it like?! It either neither existed when our normally not weird neighbors sold it or it didn't yet exist. Their vitamins spun off into Herbalife. I used to work with someone whose job was to write the BS copy for the packaging, she never saw a single sample of the product she was supposed to create a prose blow job for.

OMG Amway food! I almost forgot about this one! Maybe I'm not quite out of stories yet, here's a doozie:

The husband of my then wife's co-worker and sort-of friend was all about the Scamway. We only found this out when invited over to their place to do dinner and drinks one night. The fucking numpty was trying so hard to follow the 'rules to success' that he had RUBY RUBY RUBY scrawled all over the walls, fridge, bathroom mirror etc. as apparently this is one of the key things is to target the level you want to attain and do that shit.

Anyway, he of course used Scamway products everywhere he could, and of course the cupboards were stuffed with Amway-branded food. This was in the mid-90s so they've been selling food for quite a while I'd say. The dinner did NOT consist of Amway food, at least. I don't remember why not, except he maybe figured this would be a bit much at first introduction.

Where this got wierd: after some drinks and conversation where we both made it clear we'd rather have coca-cola enemas then get involved with Amway, after a few drinks more suggestions started to be made that they wouldn't be adverse to a little swinging, if not a full on bisexual four-way! I shit you not.

The amazing part is that we were all in our early 20s at the time, not at all ugly or sex-starved. In fact, his wife was a smoking hot redhead with even creamier skin then my wifes, a slightly less then smoking but very pretty redhead herself. Nothing came of it in the end, and she ended up going into the hospital shortly after for some serious infection and we rarely saw each other after that. To this day I sometimes wonder if I should have put up with a little cock in payment for fulfilling an honest-to-GodBear porn movie fantasy of fucking two girls at once. That shit dosen't come around more then once a lifetime for most people.

 

[Spunt]

Sorry to keep posting stories on this thread, like many others MLM's are super interesting to me and this one girl from my school basically ta textbook example for a hun possessed.

There's one girl I went to school with who is super into JuicePlus and I mean she's super into it. She was popular and before JuicePlus her Facebook just contained normal statuses about university, her boyfriend and her pets but now her Facebook is insufferable and 100% like the stuff in the Poonique blog linked above. She goes to all the conferences, which I've Googled and cost $$$ and acts like her 'company' have shipped her off across the globe for free. I got invited to her VIP group about 15 times and left almost immediately after the invite.

She even created a 'fitness' Instagram where she posts her ahhh-maaazzz-iiing results. I've seen her say she's 'dropped a dress size' about 4 different times which I am pretty sure would make her be wearing clothes for 6 year olds considering I would put her at a UK 6-8 already. Her own before and after picture whether they be about her weight/hair/nails ALL LOOK THE SAME. And oh God she is constantly on live. She graduated this year with a 2:2 from a relatively average uni although she pretty much got mostly A's and B's in school because she was so busy Being ABoss Babe For JuicePlus GirlPowerHun that she fucked her degree up.

I heard that she did try and get a girl we went to school with who is a fitness instructor to be a 'model' for her but she told here where to go (omg hater hun). She recently tried to sell her overpriced garbage to an innocent friend of mine who has piled on the weight in the past few years, she has been yo-yo dieting (following Slimming World but that bs is for another thread) and going to the gym but finding the weight loss slow, after posting about it on Facebook, Little Miss Hun tried to get her 'on plan'. I immediately directed my friend to all the anti MLM source material but she's still considering JuicePlus because whats the worse that could happen.

Spoiler: not even 1/3 of her fb feed from the last 7 days, hardly any of the pics used are hers

PS sorry for the crap quality screenshots -
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God Damn That Writing Style Is Exhausting To Read

 

[Ido]

God Damn That Writing Style Is Exhausting To Read

It is. I rarely use emojis so the few times I actually do I have to fumble around on my phone a bit and wait for it to load up, I couldn't imagine having to write like that unironically for weeks/months/years- however long it takes them to snap out of it.

 

[The Final Troondown]

Yerh MLMs suck, luckily I've developed a handy training program to ensure you never fall for one. Together we can put an end to MLM for only £30 a month, and if you become a trusted anti MLM partner you can make money from home while we do it!

 

[Cosmos]

I love parodies like this.

 

[Monika H.]

View attachment 900951

I love parodies like this.

Imagine if the Bolsheviks during the 1917 Revolution or the Nazis during WWII advertised themselves like that. The world would have been a different place.

Also, I'm autistic and didn't get the "Hun" play of words until five minutes later.

 

[Ido]

Reading all this has made my mind shit out a deeply repressed memory.

Around 2009 (oh god a few months until a decade ago) my mom got back into contact with my now deceased aunt, she was a royal bitch and I've had to redo this part ten times to stop myself from going into any unnecessary detail because this isn't about her. Anyways, she and my mom had just started talking again after 17 years, if only because the rest of the family kind of sprung her on us, she had a problem with taking all of moms achievements as her own, like our house. Near Christmas she wanted to show off my moms manic 14+ xmas tree winter wonderland to her friend and said friend needed a place to throw her Lia Sophia (a dead mlm) "party", so some how it was decided we'd do it at our house. The day the party was to be held it snows. Bad. The lady comes in and it's my mom, my aunt, one or two other people and I, half of the people didn't even show up because it was a blizzard... including the two family members who pushed my aunt on us. I remember sitting on the floor like a tard, eating ritz and listening to her pitch but not much other than that. My mom bought herself a purse and I could've sworn I got those stupid ring watches but that must've been from Avon, which my mom loves and browses the catalog.

Apparently they died off in 2014/15 and had to pay out a settlement. I think it's interesting to see ancient mlm's, especially dead ones that had to pay 6.7 million in settlements, which according to some of the comments here didn't happen... but who knows. I know jezebel is shit but it has a blurb about it. I thought it might interest you guys.

What it is: A jewelry company.
Their pitch: "For just $149, the lia sophia Starter Kit gives you a generous selection of our top-selling styles, along with everything you need for your first five Shows. And with your personal discount, you'll be able to add to your jewelry display whenever you'd like. If you're one of our many Advisors who gets your business off to a solid start, our Excellent Beginnings® program lets you earn an additional $600 in free jewelry samples."
Particularly cultish quote: "lia sophia is a business dedicated to connecting women to their dreams. It might start with owning a beautiful bracelet, necklace or ring ... but it can go all the way to owning your own successful business and changing your financial future."
Real talk:

Former sellers rant about shitty products:

"I actually sold Lia Sophia for a year, and I can tell you the markup on the stuff is UNBELIEVABLE.
Given how much they charge for their stuff, I was appalled by the glaring inconsistencies in quality. Finishes often rub off, pendant holes are sometimes drilled off-center, etc."

— Pink Truth

And share emails that prove sellers are so pressured to get rid of excess inventory that they're sometimes forced to give away their own jewelry for free:

"BTW, if anyone out there is starting their holiday shopping, don't forget that with any purchase in November and December, I am giving a free piece of Lia Sophia jewelry from my own collection. Stop by my official Lia Sophia FB page [XX XXX] and "like" it for a chance at a special drawing in January for a drop-dead gorgeous piece of Lia Sophia, too! ♥"
so she's giving away a piece of her own collection, maybe because she is already having to buy the new stuff for the new catalog, I thought all of the jewelery in her kit is stuff she loves that her and her daughter would wear. Why is she getting rid of it?

— Pink Truth

Also one of my relatives (the one who pushed my aunt on us) has always gotten herself into these scams, she's pretty much a fake country soccer mom trying to look rich. she started trying to sell keto, 12 packs for like $70-$90 and tried to shill it to mom and she had to give up because no one wanted to pay that much for the shit, she did pampered chief... and I know she's done multiple other ones too, she doesn't stick with them long and I never heard of her shilling money for these even though I'm willing to bet she did...

 

[JaneThough]

Ohhh I remember Lia Sophia. They had this lifetime guarantee on all their shitty jewelry, but then went out of business within a few years of starting. I had a few of their pieces, and they tarnished and discolored ridiculously quickly and easily.

I agree it's fun to look back on these old defunct MLMs. It's the closest to an anthropological study on the middle class white woman.

 

[MY 405]

Does anyone remember Princess House Crystal? I don't really know if it was a MLM, it was more like Avon with glassware and shit. But you inevitably knew someone's mom's relative who sold it and they would have a Princess House party and give you a catalogue. I actually bought something nice from them once and still own it years later, but it always seemed sort of fishy, even if their products hold up.

Oh, and Scentsy ... Damn. What IS that shit?! The whole "candle party" crowd of the mid-90s was a riot. They were so damn serious about candles ... I got dragged along to one of those house party things once because I promised to be someone's wingman and thank god they had booze. Here's what you should never do: Do not invite comedy writers to your MLM party ... ever. Definitely, DON'T serve them alcohol. This woman was trying so hard to sell this shit and she was sincerely trying to go over "wick trimming" and I completely lost it. When she got to Q&A, my "Flight Commander" asks: "Why is it that EVERY TIME you light a candle, your husband thinks he's going to get fucked?" Half the place probably ran to beg forgiveness from Christ, and I nearly hurled on some strangers carpet I was laughing so hard. It was a hoot.

But back to Scentsy ... I was at a sci-fi con a few years ago and it was one of those cons where you're not quite sure HOW some of the vendors got invited, but there were TWO of these Scentsy ladies there and I spent a full five minutes leaning against a wall and watching NO ONE approach this woman's booth. Keeping in mind that one of the major complaints about attending cons is the average smell, they were completely among the wrong audience and I finally decided both of these women figured it was easier to buy a booth, get the booth badges and have somewhere to chill while they kept an eye on their "Attack on Titan" kid or something.

 

[Manwithn0n0men]

I dont want to reveal my power level to much (but I think I should be fine)

I worked for a "Publishing company" that was also a "Nutricuticals company" that was also selling real estate in latin america to gringos

and they picked the gringos using their other products "Like a Pyramid"

I can tell y'all about this magical place

 

[Manwithn0n0men]

So I worked for a Outsource Company [a major one] as a CSR. I was hired to work for a MAGICAL company called Publishing Services [They also go by dozens of other names for purely legitimate reasons]

The Agora - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It was founded by a FOR (Friend of Ron Paul named Bill Bonner)

Bill Bonner (author) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Bill Bonner would offer "Free" Financial newsletters and refer to other free financial newsletters published by other "Companies"

These "FREE" newsletters would refer you to some stock information that was 30-90 days old Barons stuff and Stuff about Pump and Dumps of Penny stocks

the author of the free news letter was not pumping and dumping the penny stocks he is shilling (that would be illegal) The Umbrella of the Agora family allowed you to pick and choose WHOSE pump and Dump you would be selling. Which is TOTALLY LEGAL. As is changing your names for business purposes to hide convictions on fraud

And they would refer you to a PAID newsletter.

there are three tiers of paid newsletters all promoting more and more black pilled austrian economics. Then they would offer you 4 confrences a year where you could speak to these ELITE financial advisers

and the tip top of doomer austrian scam sales was having people "Buy" houses in countries where it is illegal for gringos to own houses.....But the con goes way deeper

 

[stets]

So I worked for a Outsource Company [a major one] as a CSR. I was hired to work for a MAGICAL company called Publishing Services [They also go by dozens of other names for purely legitimate reasons]

Cool story, but that’s not an MLM/pyramid scheme.

 

[The Biggest Meme]

I know a few people that just sucked into the Landmark Forum. Not sure if it counts as a MLM scheme but it sure is marketed like one. Happened to me, a friend will invite you to see a 'free motivational speaker' then after the 1.5 hour lecture they will aggressively market their next 800 dollar seminar. Awkward as heck but i got out of there.

 

[TaimuRadiu]

I dont want to reveal my power level to much (but I think I should be fine)

I worked for a "Publishing company" that was also a "Nutricuticals company" that was also selling real estate in latin america to gringos

and they picked the gringos using their other products "Like a Pyramid"

I can tell y'all about this magical place

Was it Chile?