IS AMWAY A SCAM?

1,020 thoughts on “IS AMWAY A SCAM?”

• Wow that is funny Josh. Melaleuca you say? You know whats funny? Is that this is a scam just like Amway! Lol sorry this is funny because my aunt tried to get me to sign up with them and after 10 years of being in the business she found out that all her hard work did nothing so she ended up wasting her time with this so called pyramid scheme. Thanks for the offer but I tried them myself and they are no better then Amway. I stand by my word there is no way to get rich unless you work hard and work your butt off. These amway and melaleuca things are just scams waiting to happen. If they do work then as I said post a check for me to see the proof.

• Sorry not trying to be mean here. It’s just all these things people keep telling me sign up for this or that well I have tried a ton of them for years and none of them have given me results and I read the complaints people who have signed up for have and it leads me to believe this is just another scam.

• all i have to say is that people in the Amway business (IBOs) had products shipped to thier houses and had storage full of products, went Door to Door and “tried to sell”, and tried to scam people to make more money. changed there name, then people went on a rant about thier name change, because people thought there trying to cover up something so they changed back to Amway. now days (2012) its all online, no door to door and is deffenantly a pyramid scam. the REAL facts about that is: in corp. america, the person on top of the pyramid makes more money then anyone else reguardless of what happens, no one can make more money then Him/Her. this is where people go wrong.. . in Amway, the lowest person from the top can make more money then the top person, so your 15th downline guy can make 10x more then you. if you dont put just as much as effort as anyone else, then your ass wont get any profit.

  this is the information age. people want to be sold on information not that door to door shit. Amway has changed alot from back then, coming from my grandparents when they did it and my wifes grandparents. there is no pyramid scam, for you people who think that, im sorry because for some reason your too stupid to understand that from an active IBO(when they try to explain how the businiess works). know your facts before you “Try to Criticize” Amway

• *not a pyramid scam*

• Ok David so would you mind taking an actual picture of the latest check you got so I can see the proof that Amway is not a scam? For someone who posts great detail into his response I am assuming you have proof to back yourself up and defend your arguments? If you say the lowest downline can make more money then show me one of your famous checks so that others as well as myself can see that money is being made in this system and that you are not filling us up with words.

  Who is to say I did door to door? I am telling you these people were on dateline NBC and could not even answer the most basic of questions being asked. The executives at amway did not even look like they knew the answers to everything asked.

  All I did was sign up through my friend (whom has not made much) and I went to their meetings and listened to the Amway people and did exactly as I was told step by step for years and here I am now not making more then my day job. So if Amway is for real then why have I as well as many others who follow the system as we are told step by step not made profit from this?

  Show me a picture of one of your checks and I will believe you. Otherwise I wont bother arguing anymore and I will stick to my conclusion that Amway is a scam.

• @david.

  your pitch sounds very familiar and confused like every other person defending amway on here.I denied it is a scam, but you lot obviously find that word terribly offensive and you immediately start calling someone dumb for even suggesting it. I can see how many people think it might be a scam,because the hard work you lot keep telling us that needs to be done is not actually enough for majority of people to succeed at it.Naturally, when you put that work in and are still at the bottom, you are entitled to call it a scam. i would say luck is a strong component in any successful amway business or any business, but you lot don’t mention that?Why?

  you say lowest downline can make more money than top executive, CAN not DO.That little word c-a-n changes the meaning of your sentence. The meaning behind it suggests that it might happen, very unlikely to happen, may never happen,but it still could. it does not mean definitely that it WILL happen, as you lot like to imply.Plain English would say straight out most down liners don’t make money. if you were an ibo and said that straight out at an Amway meeting, most new comers would head for the door.

  I also can’t really believe that people at the top, working harder than anyone else would really like the idea of a low end downline making more than they do,otherwise
  why work hard at all.It also negates and contradicts the whole supposed Amway philosophy that hard work is most important.Businesses in the whole world never work that way, and that is why I find some of your comments confusing, and may explain why so many people here think it is Amway is a scam

  Amway is built on the pyramid principle like every other retail business, but where most other retail businesses have three /four levels such as producer,whole saler, seller and customer, amway adds many more levels to their pyramid,with the ones at the bottom best called something else, I don’t know what,suckers maybe. suckers are good for business, as it is said,there is one born every minute.amway needs suckers to survive, and they may never run out of them.

  The title of Amway is short for American Way and those of us who don’t live in America may well have better ways of doing things. Amway invites us to share the American Dream, but neglects to point out that any wonderful dDream can easily transform into a nightmare

• The people who fails without doing any actual work in a systematic way they always fail, and they put blames did not work it is like you want to loss weight but don’t want to do the workout which is required

  Simple common sense to think, if amway is a scam then why would miss america pagent, and the fortune 100 top companies like best buy, sears, bank of america who are great in market would. Become their partners, just think about itm its a simple common sense it works

• Jason-

  Are you here to contribute proof? Do you have a check that shows the amount of money you have made in the system? I rest my case. Exactly what I thought. Show me proof through a check by taking a picture of the check and posting the link here or else I wont believe you because I have been with Amway for years putting in more then the required work and have not made anything.

  I make more at my day job then I ever have with Amway. Amway you say is not a scam fine the prove it by posting a check picture you have earned so we can see the proof. My guess is that just like all the other people here who defended amyway you will be just like them and not even bother to respond with a check of proof. I have asked about 4x already that anyone who is going to sit here and defend Amway post a check of proof and so far not one person has done so proving my point that amway is a complete SCAM.

  I have done my work paying into the whole system and doing step by step what the people of Amway told me to do for years putting in more then the needed amount of work and I have not seen my benefits. I know because I have worked for them many years and not made more then my day job. So please do us all a favor and save me the frustration mate. Take a picture of your check to prove and defend your statement or else I won’t believe you and I am sure not many people will.

• just think about it.you say

  I have, but I have not changed my mind.

  Some amway supporters here,just dont get it. Not only do they not actually read what their opponents say,they repeat the same cliches again and again. Frankly to quote Rhett Butler, I don’t give a damn.

  I thought about it, whatever it is,again just then. Nothing happened.

  It is probably time I thought of sometime new or retired from this debate.like other people should.

  Ok,nevertheless, I will still think about it.

• Many Ambots have come and go, and all the MLMer’s spew the same rhetoric over and over without proof. We had a Amway guy on campus that would try to recruit the freshmen who joined our cultural organization. I think he got a couple people sucked in every year. But his recruits always followed the same cycle: curiousity, excitement, ecstatic-IBO-24/7-can’t-be-lazy-gotta-share/recruit mode, recession, then poof, silence and gone.

  I was told this recruiter got a decent sized check and framed it to show off. I’ve found that this is uncommon but not rare. However, what they don’t say is that those kind of checks are far and in between, not to mention the amount of travel expenses and time lost in order that get that check.

  What I really want to see is someone’s Schedule C. I’ve had many IBO scoff at me, but what I tell them is honest: if you are making the amount that you are boasting, I would gladly sign up. Heck, I’ll sign up my grandmother.

• Short story:

  Two years ago I was talking to my friend about her spring break plans. She had been in Amway about 2 years at that point (and still is in it, unfortunately). Her response? She was going with her upline to “meet” people at the mall and they were going to stop at a couple malls in various cities.

  I’ve been approached 3 times in one summer by MLMers (2 Amways and 1 Primerica) when I worked a kiosk in our mall. One pretended to know me (I grew up in a different city), one commented me on my sales skills then pitched me his sale, and the last one saw me reading manga and then commented on how smart I seemed and he needed someone like me for his new e-commerce business. Haha MLMers.

• You all really dont know unless you have been in the bisiness. Period the end. I have been in Anway for 5 weeks not months weeks now and have made roughly 900$ on the side. Let me ask you all. How would 900$ change your life? What could you do with 900$? Im a kid making some good money on the side selling products people like Sandra Bullock, Kurt Warner, Miss America and olympians endorse. Do im going to continue to make money and everyone out there who failed becuase you didnt know how to or to lazy like everyone in America to make the money. I really do feel sorry for you. O and i do make more money then the 3 people directly above me. So it can be done. So im going to go see a customer make some money. Yall haveva great day settling for the money you get.

• now i understand what some of ya sayin but you know what you cant fake 3 millon…… ppl

  if you guys understand nothin comes without hard work so for those ppl that sayin shit about amway ask your self this where you workin on your biz everyday or ya where sittin at home and waitin for somethin to happen infact amway growin everyday no they right at 10 bi……….sales for those who say shit what at there is better

• Cody Jefferies you are dam right bro those guys cryin and sayin its not workin and scam and all thats just bc ya where to lazy and didn make money thats doest mean the company bad whos bad is ya if amway its a scam then they would be out of biz long time ago whats sad is some ppl have no goals and dream haha funny yeah in this biz you can hang there for 4 or 20 years and not grow its all control by your action if you only work on your biz once a week of course no money and who said sucess is easy no one that why only 3 % of usa are rich so either you be with them or not what cody jefferies said is very true my upline makes more money then his up up up line ,,,,for some so thats a scam ya dont even know whats scam mean so funny excuse excuse thats what ya all about just becuse ya quit and all ya have to say is bad stuff ask your self this where you doin action everyday no thanks you

• show me someone takein action i show you money work smart not hard

• hey. i m also going through amway. so should i join amway or not?

• I have a friend getting into Amway and I just wanted to read up on this, and I can easily see that this is a SCAM.
  Thanks to the ones who commented defending Amway and their poor grammer I can quickly see the dummy’s falling for this.

  Thanks again, and GOD bless

• My friend took me to the amway presentation and when they said that they will need $200 to start i instantly thought it was a scam. The person speaking trys to be very persuasive that amway is legit but he sounded like a con artist trying to make quick money.

• Ridiculous.

• Cody Jefferies and tarek,

  You spout the same ambot/MLM speak that I have heard hundreds of time. And Cody, you have been in it less than 5 weeks and yet you are so confident? I’ve seen dozens of friends fail and that is right about the 9mo-1 year mark. Talk to me in a year, when you have done your taxes and balance your income/expenses.

  I don’t need to put my hands in the fryer to know that it will hurt. WHO knowingly chooses to invest money and just sits around being “lazy”. Do you guys even read what you write?

• i once knew a lady (widow) who was sucked into this garbage. I kept printing out reasearch on the web that smashed Quixtar for its fraudulant policy. She would not listen and begged me to attend one of the many brainwashing meetings. She even flew from NJ to Florida for one of their so called conventions.

  I asked her one day how much she has spent on this cult like scheme. she replied 6000.00.

  I then asked how much have you made?

  Her reply was “nothing”

  I told her she was a fool and we parted company.

  What gets me is how stupid people really are that they allow themselves to get sucked in.

  Buy your items at Wallmart or a similar store.

  Tell Quixtar to shove it

• larry johnson:

  I agree 100%.

  Real entrepreneurs understand that the key to success in almost every entrepreneurial endeavor is finding a consumer need or a problem and meeting that demand with the best possible solution.

  Amway is a solution in search of a problem. As a consumer, do you ever wish there were a way that you could get quality consumer products like supplements, vitamins, cleaning products, energy drinks, personal products or water filters?

  The answer is: NO. You don’t have to wish… or even think about it. You just stop at WalMart, Kmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens, or any of a million other places with what you need at decent prices convenient to where you live and work. Failing that, you get on Amazon.com order whatever the hell you want and it appears in a day or two with free shipping and no annoying ex-friend trying to get you to go to the Holiday Inn to play rah-rah with a bunch of phony losers.

  You see, the only need Amway fulfills is the need in a bunch of broken people to belong, to feel that they are part of something, to feel like for once in their sorry ass lives THEY are the ones with the inside track, THEY are the ones with the winning ticket, with the secret to success, with the insider stock pick or the tip from the horse trainer that the fix is in, bet it all on I’mALoser to win in the sixth.

  But, hey, somebody padded their wallet with the widow’s $6,000 right? The moral of the story is, be the one selling the Amway Tool Scam and maybe you’ll make a few bucks. Just be sure you’re enough of a douchebag to still sleep at night after preying on a delusional widow. If you are, go for it!

• I had a friend in the past who got involved with Amway. Sometimes I still wonder how she’s doing. Our friendship ended over Amway. She and her husband’s whole lives suddenly revolved around “building their business.” Their nights and weekends were consumed by attending Amway events and listening to Amway tapes. They tried to suck me into it once, but I hated the whole idea of it. It was the last straw for me when they invited me over for dinner one evening. When I accepted, she said, “Great! As long as you’re coming over, can you babysit while we attend an event?” I felt incredibly used an manipulated. It was the last time I talked to them.

  Now I have a neighbor who’s involved with it and I’m trying to figure out a puzzle. Can anyone here offer me a hint? A while back, my neighbor asked if she could have Amway deliveries sent to my house. I think she gave me a reason at the time, but I don’t remember it. I work from home a lot now and I’ve noticed whenever I’m home, she’s had a delivery sent to my house every Friday. They arrive between 11 – noon. She must watch for it because by 4 – 5 pm, the package is gone. I’d never know it was there on days I work at the office.

  I was home this past Friday and had my lunch out on my front porch. While I was eating an unmarked white van drove up. It looked kind of like a wheelchair transport vehicle. The drive pulled an Amway package out of the back and handed it to me. Then he pulled into Maria’s driveway (the Amway distributor) and delivered a package there, too. That blew my theories out of the water as to why she’d have things delivered to my house.

  Does Amway always use unmarked vehicles for deliveries? Why would a distributor have products delivered to a neighbor’s house?

• I am not part of Amway, but I know it is not a scam. The only problem with Amway is the people who do not know what leads are!

  This free webinar will explain what leads are and how to obtain more prospects.
  [deleted]

• With the rising prevalence of online and social media posts like this one (ones that organically rank high for searches on “Amway Scam” type keyword searches) are causing quite a lot of concern to the companies they talk about.

  Having a background in social media having worked at an ad agency for many years I know Amway is aware of this posting and have actively sent their PR drones out to defuse this post and others like it by submitting comments glorifying Amway hoping to curtail the “Amway scam” message. So take those positive comments with a grain of salt, chances are their originated from an Amway plant. Its called reputation management and it is all the rage in today’s highly social internet age.

  I always live my life by these simple rules when it comes to business opportunities:
  1. Google what ever the biz opportunity is + the word scam and see what comes up
  2. If it seems to good to be true, that’s because it isn’t
  3. If they require you to pay for anything it is a scam

• @Deanne, I too am curious why she had packages delivered to your house. I assume it’s personal, like her husband telling her no more or something of that nature. Curious, but I think it may just be unique to her.

• Ive been approached by an Amway IBO recently and decided to let him give me his pitch. Ive since met with him 3 times, hes bought me dinner all three of those times and even drove for an hour in traffic on a friday night just to meet me near my house and let me demo some of the products. Not only that, he offered to front me the $156 buy in to get “registered”. I didnt actually take his offer because i wouldnt feel comfortable with him paying that much for me. Im thinking of getting registered simply because i would save money on my phone billl and get a check in the mail for buying things that i would usually buy anyways, it would just be in their name brand, which is pretty good stuff to begin with. Im not too sure what to think now. He kept emphasizing that its all at your own pace and he doesnt want to persuade people who “are not the 2% of people who want to be succesful”. Im not sure what to do. Ive read a lot of stuff online, but a lot of it is outdated and Amway seems to have cleaned up their act a little bit. Any advice? I mean, what do i really have to lose?

• Why not just buy the products from him? Why register…do you really want to ‘go into business’ with Amway? Read the stories on this site, you stand almost zero chance of making money. The 2% line is pure salesmanship 101.

  Good luck with your decision. Let us know how it works out.

• This is not a scan. I have been an IBO for the last 3 months and with a great training and support team I have made at Lear $500

• The negativity around Amway is astonishing! But I keep asking myself one question, what kind of scam goes on for decades without the law doing something about it? I can promise you that people who are naturally negative will find a problem with any other MLM opportunity . We need to understand that MLM is just another marketing model – which is proving to be lucrative and less costly.
  It is sad that when a company opens up access to the common man to have some kind of a chance at business success, it is always put down like this.

  Have I tried Amway before? yes… Did I stop because I think it is a scam? …no. Is this type of business model for everyone?… I don’t think so. Are their products of a superior quality?..Yes and I still buy them even today.

  Am I posting this from an Amway plant? … No no no. Am I a stupid broke person as mentioned in one of these posts?… Hell no and I have my Master’s degree to prove it.

  Will I give Amway a chance in the future?… I suspect so.

• I was approached by a amway rep, and he gave me all his sales pitch, i asked if im going to buy ur prouducts then sell to my family and friends, then why do i have to pay amway, im working for amyway and paying them money as well. Shouldnt they pay me?

• Any business scheme that makes you pay to get in is a scam. Like all of those “make 3000 a month, working from home!” you know it’s too good to be true. The catch is you have to send in $20 first, and then they will get back to you. Yeah, right.

  Amway is the same. It’s set up so that the company NEVER loses money. You take on all of the risk. If you take on all the risk and do all the leg work, why should they get a cut of the profits youve earned? Makes no sense to me. You’re better off selling your own stuff door to door, in a business you own.

  SCAmway was a scam back in the 80s, I can’t believe people are still falling for it.

• The actual “customers” of Amway are not the people buying the products, the real customers are the employees (the ones going door to door). It’s a brilliant business plan, and totally legal, but a scam nonetheless.

  You should not be paying a company to do their work, they should be paying you. Period.

• Amway is a wealth distribution system that transfers money from gullible, annoying dreamers to greedy, annoying schemers.

  Ahh, America. The rich get richer and the poor get scAMWAYed.

• I am an IBO and couldn’t stop laughing at all the negative comments people put on here for Amway. Sad to say, all of the the negative comments are the result of poor information and if you actually are looking into making money on the side, talk to someone who actually knows what they’re talking about. Not a blog where people can say whatever they want… like I’m doing right now lol

• Hey guys, I want to shed some light to the company. I’ve been in for about half a year and some of your allegations are true and some are not. Amyway isn’t for the weak. They pressure you into going to the meetings and especially the 200$ functions they hold about three or four times year. Not to mention they also profit off of the “tools” such as the motivational books and cd’s they sell. They also pressure you into buying “standing order” which are tools given to you once a week. I do feel sorry for the poor souls who are on “standing order tools”. The only person who doesn’t have it is me. Your uplines pressure you so much to attend these expensive functions. I was extremely reluctant to go to a 200$ function for one night and it isn’t worth it. It is all motivational and not educational nor instructional. I will agree with you guys in that it is indeed, unethical to sell these tickets and “tools” when only a slim percentage of the IBO’s will succeed. They always spout the sentence ” go diamond ! we’re waiting for you” when in reality, less than 1% of IBO’s will ever become diamonds. about .057% if I’m not mistaken. Now it’s the question of will it work or not? The benefits that come with Amway is pretty good. You can save 18% off your total bill if you’re with AtnT,12% off tmobile bills, and etc. too many to name. Now the simple concept is this. If you are already purchasing things like laundry detergent, dishwasher soap, toothpaste, and especially energy drinks, buy it from amway and they will give you a PERCENTAGE of you’re money back for being loyal to them. If you reach 7500 POINTS for 6 MONTHS out of the fiscal year with at least 2500 on your second leg, you will get a 15,000 dollars check. I am currently at 2500 points and about 4000 more points to go. The only way to make money is to sell and buy the products yourself. Some items are over priced and some simply aren’t. You absolutely must be SMART about making decisions, especially in Amway.
  Another thing I will have to mention is that most of the higher ups are in it for the win. They will do EVERYTHING in their power to MAKE YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY buy you have to fight back and simply say NO. When I ask other platinum leaders for advice, they would never say anything but “listen to your upline”, which is a HUGE RED FLAG. So how do you get away from all these immoral business people? Simple. Ignore your platinum, Ruby, and Emerald uplines, ESPECIALLY your diamond uplines. It is true that “you need to spend money to make money” but it depends on how you view that. as a “business owner” you need to budget and attend these functions by using the money that you EARN FROM AMWAY. not out of your pocket. I would like to write more but I’m tired. Amway is a good business if you know how to work around it. For the future IBO’s and current IBO’s, good luck.

• persons who are in continuous education system BWW and are ready to change for good can do this business.

• I was in the business for about a year. I think SCAM is not the right word for the business. YES you CAN make money! It is likely that you WILL NOT make much. We made about 200.00 for the first few months, but then turn around and paid for our web site (50.00) or means of communication about 30.00 and then buying all of our household product which costed a lot. Yes the products are good, they are backed by a 180 day guar. and made in the USA, but they are highly overpriced to where no one i knew wanted to pay that much for them. The economy is bad they can’t afford to pay higher prices, no matter the quality. Don’t even get me started on my upline! I got judged if I bought my kids birthday and christmas presents…My husband got judged because they had a hunting trip planned for the fall during a big “conference” –<which bored me more then benefitting. Yes I heard a few good things for the busines, and for life in general. But it was not worth the drive two states away, and the money for the tickets hotel, food and babysitting. All those ones on this site that are doing it now, just to let you know you are all told the same info…it hasn't changed much! you will say things like "why would companies such as sears, best buy etc want to partner with us if its a scam. You will be taught to tell people who are not intersted that they world needs broke people, and you make a good one. You will be big on "dreaming" which isn't bad, and you WILL learn the word edify! Am I right? Nothing what your saying is new or original!!! You are like a parrot…And yes your upline may seem great life friends, but a good portion of them are only interested in you because they want you to be a strong leg. I did the same exact things that all of you are doing and saying…but in the end I didn't want to be controlled, and sometimes you find out things about the business or upline that you really don't want to be apart of. It is awesome how positive and bright the people are, and motivation is definately a good thing, but It wasn't worth it for me. Yes apparently I make a great broke person. BTW aren't ibos taught to not seek out negetive information? so why are you googling amway with the word scam???
  Good luck!

• Mr. Robot
  you make excellent points!! I spent a lot in standing order! They definately pressure you a TON! I was friends with my upline, and now since i quit we don’t even speak…i guess don’t mix business with pleasure!! but it does work for some, and thats great! But it takes a LOT of patience and effort. I make a decent living where my hubby can stay home with the kids. I honestly love my job! I never thought i’d say that but I do! I might not have Julie duncans closet, or Brads cars but we are doing alright for ourselves. Maybe one day I will take Mr. Robots advice and just start doing the business with out world wide…It does help with the motivational crap, but it also hurts your profit, ESPECIALLY when your just starting out!

• I became an Amway distributor in the early 1983. My upline Pearl hosted propaganda rallies (“business meetings”) at a local hotel that lasted well into the early moring hours. They would continue it at Denny’s since it was the only thing opened at that hour . I got so fired up one time that I even went to try to recruit said local cops into “the plan” the other only thing except for hospitals open in the wee hours of the morning. I finally saw through the scam when I went to pick up a small soap order at my direct distributors place. Mr successful lived in a basement apartment in his parents house in a lousy town.. His place was literally covered with Amway products. Bathroom had only Amway everything. Ditto the kitchen. He even had a makeshift chair made out of full soap boxes. His small apartment looked like a mini-warehouse, which it really was. If he made so much money why couldn’t he get nice furniture? Amway is a con. Anyone who tells you differently is either in Amway trying to scam you into buying tapes, books, seminar tickets (the real money is in this scheme) or they are seriously brainwashed and desperately need a cult deprogrammer……

• Right now I am an IBO. The person that signed me up paid for everything and drove me to the place. I actually went to an Amway meeting before, a friend that I didn’t talk to much at the time invited me. Of course it’s the usual “I can’t really say much about it” “Basically you……” “Someone would have to talk more with you..” and so on lines when you want to know exactly what it’s all about. It’s also interesting how they can mention “big business men so wear professional attire” and really most of the meeting someone speaks and the crowd cheers as if they are in a concert, sporting event, or carnival of some sort. So and so became platinum “Yeah WOOOO!!!! Wooooo!”

  Too true about the “get on standing order, read the books and listen to the CD’s filled with invaluable information” and of course “go to such and such even for $200 it will change your life.” Really? Personally I don’t see why any of those trips, listening to people talk about how well they are living will change my life. How about certain training meetings filled with information that can advance you 6 months, a year, 2 years, etc. Nothing more than listening to people go on and on. Don’t get me wrong, around these people you won’t be depressed, however I fail to see why exactly you need to wear a suit or a nice dress just to hear a bunch of people cocking like crows.

  It’s enough that you spend money on gas going and coming back, are expected to buy each book, each CD, etc. Then eventually you are charged $6 each meeting. It doesn’t even matter your financial state, they expect you to be able to do all this, and even put out hundreds of dollars for the “life changing conventions”. How is it life changing when you are hearing the same things over and over?

  How about getting more people. They want you to ask all people, it doesn’t matter who. They are curious, even as you may have been if you were approached. It doesn’t matter if you are unsure they can really go on you to try to call as many people as you can, and of course the “be excited” stuff. In the end you can get some people interested and signed up. However, be prepared for people to change the way they look at you. And be prepared for people all of a sudden not answering their phone when they see your name.

  So really it all depends on the person as the IBO. I say if you have a decent job then you can give it a shot. It would be best if you make it seem you have interest but can’t afford to sign up, so you don’t pay anything. Then take your time to buy products. Don’t blow off your pay check, just use spare money and also try substituting certain products that you would buy for Amways products, and try to buy from partner stores. Hell, if you need one buy a phone as that gives great PV. If you are in broke phi broke, then you shouldn’t join as you could feel as if you have to recruit a lot of people to generate income, when really you would come across as annoying. If you have a good paying job, then you can join and simply take advantage of discounts from partner stores, a Credit Card that gives additional PV per dollar spent, and other benefits.

  Really is it a scam? It isn’t a scam, but they do/have a lot of suspicious things. You can look at people there and feel as if they sound like robots, you can see how people say it is like a cult, you can see certain things, but really it is something that can make you money. The question is would you be willing to put a lot of things on the line? And looking at your situation, if you don;t have much money or any money would you be willing to call all of your contacts, contact people on social websites (even those you don;t even know), seek people out in public places to join in?

• a scam if it was so easy to make money like this then everyone in america would be doing it and we would all be rich

• Well, I’ve been in Amway for 2 months so far and I must say that this is not a scam. I am also with LTD, a third party support group partnered with Amway. I’ve gotten emails from LTD STRESSING control of your finances. They’ve stressed that the business materials are optional and that’s it. I personally use Direct Deposit to get my bonus money so don’t ask me to show my money on the internet, but I did get a bonus check of $539. That’s not bad for being in for 2 months. The best thing about it is that I have not spent nothing on the items last month, in which I got the bonus.

  What a lot of you do not understand is that this is a 2.0 age. We use computers to make sales and thus, eliminating the need to purchase large inventories of products. In my two months of making over 300PV I’ve only spent about $108. That was just for the Ribbon Gift cards Buy 5 for the price of 4 because the holidays are coming and I want my customers to have cards right away rather than ordering them online. Again, it was OPTIONAL. I didn’t have to do it, but I wanted to.

  If you are complaining because someone told you that it cost $200 to become a Amway IBO, you should have looked at the Amway Website. It clearly says that you can own a business for as little as $64. Matter of fact, if you had gone through the registration process, you would have to decide whether you want to pay $64 for the business registration alone, or if you would want to add a extra $83. the extra $83 is only for the welcome kit. That gives you products that you can sample but that with the business registration would be $164. If you was sponsored by a LTD member like me, you would only pay $25 for registration and again it’s OPTIONAL. Which mean, in reality, if I sponsored you or anyone else have sponsored you, you have the choice to only pay $64. I sponsored someone who I told to only pay $64 because they could not afford $200 but they honestly wanted t be a IBO. Heck, I split the payment so that he could pay $30. That’s ho I run business for dedicated IBOs, I help them become one!

  The only thing is that I did not get any PV or money for it. So that proves that you don’t earn money by sponsoring alone. You and those you sponsor have to sell products because that’s what retailing is! If he had brought the Welcome Kit, it would count as a customer sale and I would have gotten 50PV only because it counted as a sale, If any other IBO have lied to you, I’m sorry, but I only will tell the truth about the business plan. Money can motivate dishonesty but money was not my reason for becoming a Amway IBO.

  But back to the bonuses

  Now, PV is ONLY BONUS PAY! We can’t forget that you get retail profit for every product you sell. So actually I made more money than I posted. It gets better though, FAST TRACK incentive program gave me a extra $$$ for sponsoring 3 IBOs, making 50PV in Customer Sales and helping my downlines make 125PV (they made a little more though). So they have to make sales and I have to make sales in order to get the bonus. I don’t know, maybe this was a good month for me, but next month will be better because of Christmas and the Ribbon Gift Cards. I even have my own website created even for promotion. Again, I spent less than I got paid.

  So in conclusion:

  Amway is for those with a entrepreneur spirit. I personally view sponsoring people as a Interview. I ask probing questions before sponsoring so I can see where your mind is. If you are not ready to grow with Amway, I won’t sponsor you. It’s that simple. A lot of you have been sponsored and not filtered. I like to filter people who I don’t think will be serious about their business. The Reason? Because then I will have to deal with people like some of you, calling Amway a Scam. But I can say, honestly, it’s not even close to a scam. But then again, people have accused many legit businesses of being scams. So I’m not surprised…

  I am all about the truth. If you want to know more, you can email me at [redacted]. Or simply call Amway and ask them yourself. I know they will give you the right answers like I would. I won’t expose how much money I make, or show you a bank statement because well, that’s stupid. I don’t expose that to total strangers. Just know that I am financially stable. :-) Besides, you cannot show Amway bonus checks past $200 public, on the internet, without approval of Amway Corporate. This is just a measure that Amway is taking to fight off those who promise that you’ll get rich quick.

• if you want to call this a scam
  then i sure hope you dont buy shares or ‘play’ the stock market….

  i have worked as a PA to one of the directors of one of the top THREE derivative trading companies in the world.
  and i can tell you, THAT IS A SCAM….
  they make BILLIONS a year, on artificially driven stocks and shares…
  and then, to top it all, most of those stocks are SO overvalued, it’s CRIMINAL…
  yet it is LEGAL….

  and i sure hope that when you go buy at Woolworths or PicknPay,
  that you know that every product you buy there,
  is making a MINIMUMof 32% profit – CLEAN profit –
  and that these profits go to the shareholders of that company….
  oh yes, and that YOU ARE PAYING for that profit directly out of your pocket…..

  just because something is LEGAL, does not make it GOOD or TRUE or HONEST.
  and just because something is ILLEGAL, does not make it BAD….
  just look at the drug and alcohol laws…
  alcohol is much more dangerous than smoking cannabis…. yet which one is LEGAL??????????????

  if you believe in the product – in this case Amway –
  and by that i mean, if you believe that the product you are selling is GOOD and DELIVERS ON ITS PROMISE
  then MLM is a win win for everybody in the line.

  sure, those above you make more than you.
  and they earn a degree of profit from your buys,
  but then ANY company you work for, is the same story.
  those ABOVE you earn more than you,
  and the MORE YOU PUT INTO THE COMPANY,
  the better the salary of your BOSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  and sometimes you know more than them,
  but because you are not ‘in’ then you just stay where you are….

  with MLM, what you put in is what you get out.
  it’s as simple as that.
  no patronising.
  no control.
  you are your own boss.

  as to the cds and books and conferences etc
  you do not HAVE to go or buy etc.

  with the CEP, which is R270 a month, you will receive all the coaching you need.

  as to the BRAINWASHING, well then, i suggest you stop watching your TV or reading ANY newspaper or magazine,
  as of RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  i tell you, ignore the anti, and just try it.

  YOU decide what you buy and what you spend your money on.

  no one, no one, can FORCE you to….

  take care

  laura

• “Angela (October 24, 2012)

  This is not a scan. I have been an IBO for the last 3 months and with a great training and support team I have made at Lear $500”

  If you worked 20hrs/wk at minimum wage (here it’s $7.25) in those three months you would’ve made $2,900 minus tax/etc. FYI

• I would not consider Amway a SCAM. I started just a few months ago and I have already covered what I payed to start up. To those of you who say, “if you pay to get in it’s a scam!” then McDonalds is also a scam, as you have to pay them money in order to start your own store in their franchise, and I don’t think many people consider McDonalds a dirty scam business. Don’t get me wrong, Amway is not easy and it is most definitely not for everyone!

  Like others have said you need to be careful because the “upline” will pressure you to buy unnecessary things. And to those of you saying, “I make more at my day job, or at minimum wage” well excuse my language, but no shit.

  When I was given the Amway pitch I was not told this will forever change your life and you will never need to work hard again!!! It was given to me by a college student like myself. I found a consistant group of customers who enjoy the Amway products and will keep buying(finding a win-win for you and customers is essential). And this gives me the benefit of making a few extra hundred dollars a month….I go to college…..that is HUGE. It pays for groceries, gas, and the occasional Qdoba. I only take a few hours a week to dedicate to Amway(which you need to spend time on it consistently to be successful), and would never consider replacing a day-job for this or working full time with Amway(too much stress).

  For right now it is working well for me, will I still be doing it in 9mo to a year? I have no idea. But right now its extra cash for taking away some time from Halo 4 to talk to some people and see if they like the products(people are a lot more willing to talk about sales if you don’t shove it down their throats and know when it’s time to stop).

  One of my current mentors has been doing this for 3 years now and he seems like a really nice and chill guy. Maybe I just found a good “upline” I’m not sure. But he is making around 2 thousand a month doing the program and not getting obsessed or going overboard. That’s 24 thousand extra a year. If I can reach that level (not saying I will) that would be that much more when I graduate school on top of my current future job and that’s great! If it doesn’t work out, I have already covered and will not have lost any money, so I really don’t see how it’s a scam. And I will have graduated college with a computer science degree and making enough money as it is. Anything Amway can put on top with continued effort over time is just a bonus. It’s supposed to be a nice plan B from my point of view and not expected income.

• the real money in Amway is what the upline earns from holding and personaly speaking at all those conventions and meetings. Most IBO’s never earn much selling soap but do spend alot on books, tapes, and paying fees to attending meetings held nall over the place. You are not required to buy this junk or attend, but the upline will try to convince you really NEED to buy it or you won’t be sucessful. And Amway does not porduce the added “TOOLS” . When you run out of money or refuse to pay for more books, tapes or go to more costly meetings, you are dropped and shunned by your new “Friends”.

• I call BS on a bunch of you! But anyways I agree with Matt! That happened to me…

• Upline? Is that another name for a Pyramid?

• I don’t think Amway is a scam. Would they really be able to get away with such a big pyramid scheme by breaking all kinds of “laws?” I don’t think so. With that being said, those meetings are the most slanted, jaded and fake things I’ve ever attended. I felt like the people I was around were a bunch of socialites and phonies looking for a way to retire early so they don’t have to work like the rest of us. Basically some successful person, (who knows for sure if they really are successful, maybe they are?) in the Amway company will present a business model to you. Usually the Business model will make sense. Basically you buy your own products and have them shipped to you, often products that you would be purchasing anyways from a local supermarket, like Laundry Detergent, Energy Drinks, Cosmetics, and the like. As you buy these products, you earn point values resulting in money returned to you. BUT here’s the kicker, the person that “got you” or is your “IBO” gets a chunk of that sale, because they are on top of you. And the person that got them gets a chunk of that sale as well. THIS IS A PYRAMID, BUT it’s a legal one. The most frusterating part of the meetings is that NOBODY WILL EVER GIVE YOU A DIRECT ANSWER ON WHAT YOU DO TO MAKE THIS WORK! And the training tapes and CD’s, same thing! Just constant “I was able to double my income, spend more time with my family.” They don’t tell you what you are doing, it’s just too many question marks. But it’s that way for a reason. They often will say things such as “This is not a pyramid” or “I was skeptical when I first joined.” Why would they give away the secret and scare you away? You have to convince people to BUY products from you or YOU WILL LOSE MONEY! I don’t know about you but I actually LIKE my friends and family and would prefer not try to get them to buy items from me that they can get through normal means.

  In the meetings there are so many lines that are repeated over and over again such as “take control of your life” “Spend time with family” “retire early.” I would call these “attention grabbers” Perhaps 1 or 2 % of the most talented Amway IBO’s can actually use those attention grabbers and say that truely applies to me. The other 98% either make just enough money to stay slightly intrigued or get burned out, but the majority of people end up losing $. Now, hear this out, Amway would not have a business if they constructed their meetings or business models in any other fashion. It’s truly brilliant! If they gave you facts on how few people actually make money “becoming platinum and diamond” and JUST how much work, good luck, and how agressive you have to be, very few people would take the IBO title on, and volume would be signifcantly reduced. Do they want this? NO WAY! The fact is, they are terrific advertisers, you just have to be smart enough not to bite of more than you can chew. This could work for someone, but it has to be someone special. They CONSTANTLY advertise “ANYONE CAN DO THIS.” That is NOT true. You have to have a keen sense of business to make this work, and SOME people DON’T possess this skill, even if they work hard.

  I don’t slam Amway all the way (no pun intended). They’ve got some cool products, and the prices aren’t unreasonable. I enjoy the energy bars and drinks and such. But would I ever get convinced into being an IBO? NO WAY!

  Great opportunity, just know what you are getting yourself in to.

  Hope this helps!