quixtar

InfectTheMachine

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How many of you guys have been approached by these quixtar employees promising great things.
I was approached by one, a few months ago, and he was very vague. I was given a business card and exchanged phone numbers with the person. (in my defense, he said he was an e-commerce manager, and i was in the webdesign/software section of the bookstore when he appproached me)

anywho, I was invited to a meeting...WOW these guys totally believe everything they are being told. They also worship the 'rich dad, poor dad' guy. I did my research, and found out that they used to be Amway. reputable company right there, needless to say i turned down my AMAZING business opportunity and i am very glad that i am not in the situation that many find themselves in. If i had joined, i would find myself trying to recruit others, and buying 200 bucks worth of health foods and energy drinks a month.

Are these people thoroughly convinced that they will one day be flying private jets and not having to work? or are they trying to trick others?


-j
 
It's a pyramid scheme, pure and simple, and so could well be illegal where you are.

Run away. Run far away.
 
I've been approached by these people before. The "e-commerce manager" title was probably just a smokescreen, since there are lots of people that are immediately turned off by the name Quixtar.

It's not necessarily illegal, as I believe Mary Kay and such operate on roughly the same platform. However, it is an extremely klunky and backwards way of making money, and the more traditional ways of making money are your best bet.

And yes, a lot of people have to buy $200 of way overpriced goods in order to make the "dreams" of a few elite come true, so in that sense it is a pyramid. I suppose the people do get something for their $200, but it marked up in order to pay all of the dividends, so to speak.
 
actually, there is some money in it. ;) if you go into the business of selling the motivational CDs and tapes that their "independent business owners" are required to buy, you can make a killing.

Otherwise, you are just out 200 bucks a month on detergents and energy drinks that cost you less at your local walmart.

as i said before though, you will be surprised at how many of these people TOTALLY seem to believe they are on their way to becoming millionaires and never working again.
 
Zep said:
It's a pyramid scheme, pure and simple, and so could well be illegal where you are.

Run away. Run far away.
Click to expand...


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no worries, i told them i did not want to be an "independent business owner" as they call it, however, it's a legal pyramid scheme known as multilevel marketing...actually found it in the skeptics dictionary.

Yeah, unfortunately these people find loopholes, then find desperate, already in debt people to pour cash their way.
 
Well, it's not a pyramid scheme, many companies such as Avon run MLM businesses, but all the same I wouldn't trust Amway - their reputation in the field is not good.

When it comes down to it, like all MLM businesses, a small amount of people make money, an even smaller amount make a lot of money, a lot of people don't make any money(or make pennies for many hours of dedication), and some people even lose money.

It's a business. You need to operate it like a business. You need to be business minded, and be good at sales, marketing, recruiting and training in order to stand even a chance of succeeding. Even then your success is in the hands of the people you have bought into your business. And of course, if the business you are involved in decides to change the rules, you have to go along with it.

If you think you have the nous to be successful in MLM, don't join one - start up your own business instead!
 
Quixtar is the internet-era rebranding of the Amway MLM thing. It's the same basic coporation, with the same over-priced products and silly tapes and seminars. Participants, as far as I can tell, are encouraged to aggressively recruit to build their "downline," and the motivational materials are the real cash cow for the higher-ups. Of course, they will likely deny all this, but the reports from ex-Quixtar/Amway people are pretty consistent.

In any case, a tiny percentage (I believe less than 1%) actually make any kind of money on it. It's a hard sell, a lot of work is involved, and it's a tough industry in general (they sell general home goods like you might find at Target or Wal Mart). Due to the costs involved, even the higher-ups generally don't make any net profit on their sales.

If you've got some time and want to read some of the info on it, check out http://www.amquix.info/.
 
It's a business. You need to operate it like a business. You need to be business minded, and be good at sales, marketing, recruiting and training in order to stand even a chance of succeeding. Even then your success is in the hands of the people you have bought into your business. And of course, if the business you are involved in decides to change the rules, you have to go along with it.

If you think you have the nous to be successful in MLM, don't join one - start up your own business instead!
Click to expand...

THat is what my brother says:If you have what it takes to suceed in a MLM,you can make a lot more money on your own,and don't have to feel guilty about in essence conning people that they are on their way to making a fortune when their chances of making a decent profit are really very small.
 
Right out of college I went to a job fair and bumped into a guy from a company called "Primerica".
Details were vague, but he said they helped people with credit problems get their finances in order. A few things struck me as a little off, they asked for references** right off the bat and didn't seem to have a problem with my not being a finance major. They invited me to a meeting & supper. I thought it sounded interesting so I went to the meeting.

I had never heard of a "presentation in a can" before, so I was damn impressed with this guy's sales pitch. I've never seen a sales pitch like that in my life, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Being the a little bit skeptical (and as a matter of routine) I googled the companies name when I got home. Citibank came up at the top of the list so I didn't worry too much right away. However, I then googled "primerica scam OR ripoff".

Holy cow, they had been so full of it I nearly choked when I read about the stories of other people, as well as the pricing and sales tactics. To quote one site, "primerica is the amway of the insurance industry". Furthermore, after reading some of the stories about other peoples presentation experiences, I became suspicious so I googled some of the more iffy statements in the presentation and sure enough the same wording & phrasing* was used in presentations from Ohio to Kansas (I'm in Arkansas).

I don't want to go into great detail but if you're interested in reading up on, what is in my opinion, a good case study of financial occultism I would recommend googling as I did.

Anytime you hear the words "downline" or "upline", to borrow a cliche "IT'S A TRAP!"


*wording and phrasing related to unique offers/invitations to observe the business. Which proved not to be unique. This led me to conclude that the same presentation was used everywhere.

** Insurance company recruiters ask for references because they are infact agents themselves and looking for leads. Never give them a reference you don't want to get calls from a telemarketer.
 
InfectTheMachine said:
How many of you guys have been approached by these quixtar employees promising great things.
I was approached by one, a few months ago, and he was very vague. I was given a business card and exchanged phone numbers with the person. (in my defense, he said he was an e-commerce manager, and i was in the webdesign/software section of the bookstore when he appproached me)

anywho, I was invited to a meeting...WOW these guys totally believe everything they are being told. They also worship the 'rich dad, poor dad' guy. I did my research, and found out that they used to be Amway. reputable company right there, needless to say i turned down my AMAZING business opportunity and i am very glad that i am not in the situation that many find themselves in. If i had joined, i would find myself trying to recruit others, and buying 200 bucks worth of health foods and energy drinks a month.

Are these people thoroughly convinced that they will one day be flying private jets and not having to work? or are they trying to trick others?


-j
Click to expand...

actually they are about to change the name BACK to Amway.

They are not just a bunch of obnoxious twits - they are a cult.
 
I've seen a lot of people say that they aren't a scam, that's just a not so good business opportunity that some people can make work. WRONG. It's a total scam. It's an illegal pyramid (the tapes/books/seminars) that is built on top of a technically legal pyramid (the soap, catalogues and other products). The corporation profits from selling it's products (at a high markup btw) and the kingpins running the scam make the money from the "tools". The legit business doesn't make the pyramid much money but they don't care because it gives them a facade to hide behind while selling the "tools" using cult-like tactics. Think of it as a symbiotic relationship. Stay far far away from this stuff, it will ruin your life.
 
I was in Amway for two years. A lot of the motivational stuff was given to me and many books and tapes that I did purchased I got (as was recommended) from book stores. The few things I did purchase from my upline were mainly cassettes of speeches by other upline people and they were just a couple of bucks each, and for the most part we passed and traded them around so we didn't purchase that many to begin with. Since this is what we all did I can't see how the upline was making much money off the motivational materials.

That being said, enough was enough. The products just can't compete with the big box stores. In fact, I got out after finding a bath mat I purchased from the catalog at Wal-Mart for half the price. The very same mat from the same manufacturer. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Don't get me wrong, I spent a lot of money while selling Amway but most of it was for suits, trips, and materials not purchased from my upline. I'm not defending them, I'm just saying I don't see the things you guys are talking about with the upline making money off of motivational materials. But every upline was different so maybe it just depends on who you signed up with.

And, no, I didn't make any money.
 
Starthinker, Diamond level and up typically make 80-95% of their money from selling the tools. The tapes are a good money maker but the functions are even bigger. In addition when they speak at rallies they are paid a speaking fee (which makes sense of course) typically in the range of $6-10k per Diamond couple.

I'm not your typical outsider looking in at this. My father has been involved in this for 30 years and is still involved to this day. I have pictures of myself and my sister sitting on Dexter's lap when we were children. Trust me when I tell you, the ONLY way people make real money in this business is through the tools. A diamond level income from product is typically less than $100k but the tools income can easily be in the $1M+ range .

I've also been in a position to see internal information from several of the big pins due to helping them with software issues.

BTW for anyone interested in knowing a typical experience http://www.merchantsofdeception.com/ has a good e-book about on persons experience rising to the level of Emerald. This guy was interesting because they didn't let him in on the scam like they usually do. Very much worth a quick read.
 
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