A friend of my wants to sign me up for this business, but when I went to talk to some of the members alot of red flags popped up.

From what digested, Quixtar seems nothing more than a pyramid scheme. The only way it'll work out for me personally is by investing alot of money and people into it.

I was wondering about your comments on this?

Hi Robert

I am sorry if my opinion on this matter sounds harsh and some may see it as misled. I am sorry for this but it is a very strong personal view i have which i would like to state plainly.

Firstly on Quixtar, i am sure that i have read it on another board but i am under the impression that it is part of or affiliated in some way with Amway. If this is unture please accept my mistake i dont want to be deceptive in anyway.

Ok on to MLM/Pyramid scheme's. Yes i know they are supposedly not the same thing but. From what i have read and seen a MLM program is just a disguise for a Pyramid Scheme. No matter which is it they all start with one person at the top and flow down building levels wider and wider. The difference as i am aware is that a pyramid scheme does not have a product where MLM does.

Now for why they all fall down. The only way to make money is to sign up more people. But there will be a point where there are no more people to sign up, at this point there becomes a problem. In pretty much every MLM scheme i have seen you have a minmum monthly spend somewhere between 50-150 or more a month.

This is where the first problem arises you greatly decrease your target market because there is a great number of people who cannot afford it. So back comes the MLM company stating but they are every day products you can buy our product instead of what you would buy at the supermarket. Yes this may be true but i am not aware of to many supermarkets that make enough profit on their goods that they could pay a commission to 6 or 7 people above you and still make money on their products. This leaves you with the problem that the products you are buying from your MLM company are now costing you more then if you were buying them from the supermarket.

This is where many people get caught up, yes it is great they you have this MLM business you can now make some money with but you are spending more to buy the same products you buy at the supermarket. Now how many people actualyl go into a MLM business thinking about they have to sign people up to benifit, they all do of course but how many actually can find enough if any people to join up so they are making money.

I have seen one recently that does the same thing with phones. The stats that they are working on is that you need to find 100 people who spend on average of $100 a month on their phone and if you have that many people you will make $800 a month. I dont know about you but i can think of no less then a dozen ways that i could make $800 a month without having to go out and try to convince 100 people to sign up to use a MLM phone company. I could go and find 20 people who will pay me $40 to mow their lawn once a month a lot easier and make the same money for maybe working every saturday.

To finish off the way i see every MLM business/scheme/oppertunity what ever you want to call it, is as a pyramid scheme in disguise. They will never work except for the few that either start them or that get in a real good spot that they have a lot of suckers that will sign up. The problem they will find is that they have to work really hard to maintain the people they are signing up because people arnt stupid if it isnt working for them they will leave, and if you dont have the type of personality needed you will not be successful in a MLM scheme.

One thing that is interesting though is i though Pyramid schemes where illegal, i knwo they are in Australia and thought that they were in the US as well. But the fact that Quixtar is fiarly well know it wouldnt still be around if it was purly a pyramid scheme, they would ahve to have it disguised some other way if it in fact is.

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Joel Brown - Orion Networks
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I came to the same conclusion after a little research and feedback from knowledged people in this area. Unfortuately, my co-worker decided to not listen to my advice.

In or around 1999, Amway Corporation re-organized their corporate structure. A new Corporation was formed as an umbrella for 5 seperate companies. Alticor is the new parent company; Amway became the MLM for Europe and Asia, and Quixtar was formed for North America. So yes, Amway and Quxtar are related.

I object to the notion that a "pyramid scheme" is the same as Quixtar or any other Multi-level Company. Although many MLMs are deemed "illegal pyramids", simply stating they are a "pyramid" based on structure, is distortion of the legalities.

A "pyramid" has a legal definition, despite your correct assumptions on some flaws in the MLM structure. But Amway/Quixtar is "legal" by definition of what makes a company an "illegal pyramid" versus a proper MLM structure.

And some "legal" MLMs have done some illegal things, so caution in choosing an MLM is always advisable.

I am involved in no MLM programs, so I don't have a horse in this race. I see a difference in MLM and pyramid, or Ponzi, schemes.

Saying the only difference is that MLM sells a product is missing the point. MLM is a way of selling more of a product. A Ponzi scheme is presented as an investment. An MLM program is presented as a business. A Ponzi scheme promises a return for investing. If you give me $100, I will give you $200 back. MLM doesn't promise anything, but allows you to determine the profits by how hard you work, and how good a sellsman you are. Any MLM program that claims you don't have to sell anything is, in my opinion, in danger of being or becoming a Ponzi scheme.

Some schemes cloud the issue by offering a token product. That is a product that no one really wants, but is presented as the reason for the program to exists. I have seen several of these around the Internet. Some of them are doing very well. I don't trust any of them. Look into any opportunity carefully. If the program exists more to recruit than to sell, then I recommend caution.

You must be an expert salesman, of a product or yourself, to be successful in MLM. If you are looking for an easy way to make money or to retire in two years, MLM is not the answer, and that is why so many people believe MLM and pyramid schemes are the same. Many MLM companies over-promise. When the new member does not succeed in a few months, he no longer believes in the program and thinks he has been scammed.

Affiliate programs are huge right now. What if I made a program and said if you put a banner on your page and someone purchases through it, I will give you money? If you get someone else to put a banner on his page, and someone makes a purchase, I will give you money for that too. Few people would have a problem with this. I'm not making crazy promises. I'm just giving you a way to make some extra money. This is the same thing as an MLM program. Perhaps I will do this, and call it the "Enhanced Affiliate Program." Doesn't that sound better than Multi-Level Marketing?

Cheers,

Jason

A Ponzi scheme is where you continuously bring in new investors, and use the money invested by those new investors to pay the older investors. Offering a return for investing is 100% legal, and is done every day by millions of companies.

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Gordon

There is actually a huge Quixtar Yahoo Group with an associated forum. They lure people with high quality business discussions and basically push them slowly into their desired direction. Once they 'cooked' the mind of the newbies they approach them and offer this great deal ..... Quixtar. Once you say yes you gain access to the Yahoo group and the person who signed you up acts as your mentor.

Happened to me. I guess what the mentor did not expect that I a) researched Quixtar and b) that I started reading the Yahoo group messages from the very beginning. These archives are a great thing. In their early days this group had exactly described how they will approach new members and how they will 'brainwash' people and get them to sign up and join the 'pyramid'. My 'mentor' had followed exactly their own manual from the Yahoo group when trying to 'cook' me.

Well, I did not sign up with them for obvious reasons. My advice - just stay away from Quixtar and any sort of MLM. No matter what people say - somebody has to pay the price and it is usually the last person joining the 'program'.

Christoph

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