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[Elle:] The members of the Anti-MLM Coalition joined together to expose the truth and lies in the multi-level marketing (MLM) industry. As well as a number of anti-MLM allies, we also recognise the work of those who have been tirelessly spreading the word on their chosen MLMs of interest, often long before our group was formed.
We created this website with the aim of being a useful resource page for all things anti-MLM. We’re united in a common mission, with a variety of specialities and knowledge.
If you’re not familiar with this scheme, you may have heard it referred to as “one of the world’s largest direct selling businesses…” according to their YouTube channel. We’ll give you a very brief overview (with credit to the Amway Wiki entry), and include hyperlinks to sources of interest.
Founded way back in 1959 by Richard DeVos Sr. and the late Jay Van Andel in Ada (MI), Amway (short for “American Way”) is an American company selling health, beauty, and home care products – it uses the MLM model to distribute its products.
Amway recruits independent distributors (referred to by the firm as independent business owners” (IBOs) [yes, really] to sell products directly to people in their community, or “sponsor and mentor other people to become IBOs“.
Richard DeVos’s daughter-in-law is Betsy DeVos, the 11th United States Secretary of Education. Her husband is the elder son and former Amway CEO, Richard Marvin “Dick” DeVos Jr. who served from 1993-2002.
Today, Doug DeVos (youngest son of Richard DeVos), serves as the President of Amway (since 2002), with Steve Van Andel (son of Jay Van Andel) serving as Chairman.
Amway’s brands include Artistry, Atmosphere, Body Blends, Bodykey, Body Works, Clear Now, eSpring, Glister, iCook, Legacy of Clean, Nutrilite, Peter Island, Perfect Empowered Drinking Water, Personal Accents, Ribbon, Satinique, Artistry Men and XS.
Its largest selling brand is the Nutrilite range of health supplements (marketed as Nutriway in some countries).
What’s in a name?
Back in 1999, the founders of the Amway corporation established a new holding company, named Alticor, and launched three new companies: a sister (and separate) Internet-focused company named Quixtar, Access Business Group, and Pyxis Innovations (later replaced by Fulton Innovation).
After virtually all Amway distributors in North America switched to Quixtar, parent company Alticor elected to close Amway North America after 2001. This move and its possible reasons are discussed by blogger Anna Banana in her article Who Remembers Quixtar?:
“…[The theory is] the name change was to get away from Amway’s bad image. Creating the new name Quixtar would take people a while longer to figure out that it had something to do with Amway. Rebranding themselves with a new name and a new image…”
In June 2007, it was announced that the Quixtar brand name would be phased out over an 18- to 24-month period in favor of a unified Amway brand (Amway Global) worldwide.
Anna Banana reflects on this: “…It might have worked if the greedy bastards had priced their products to be competitive with other products in the marketplace, and if they’d gotten rid of the troublemakers and the tool scam. But no […] Its now been a few years since Amway has been referred to as Quixtar…”
Signing up
To get started as an Amway IBO, you’ll need to part with some money – its MLM, after all. Their website promotes them as a “low-cost, low-risk way to make extra money.”
The Amway website states “…The start-up costs for Amway Business Owners is less than $100 annually in every country where Amway operates and is fully refundable within 60–180 days if a person decides Amway isn’t for them….”
So in addition to paying a start-up fee, it would seem there are additional costs that come into play too.
The website also states that “…Amway Business Owners cannot make money apart from product sales. An Amway Business Owner could recruit a million people and if none of them generated product sales, nobody would make any money...”
In this review, it is stated to “remain an active member, you need to either purchase for yourself or sell approximately a minimum of US $300 per month. This figure may vary from country to country and there are exchange rates to consider, but that’s basically the figure everyone is up for on a monthly basis...”
Controversies
These listed below are literally just a small handful. You can find far more within the links provided in this article.
Amway has been investigated in various countries and by institutions such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for alleged pyramid scheme practices (further reading provided at the end of this article).
In 2004, Dateline NBC featured a critical report based on a yearlong undercover investigation of business practices of Quixtar. Links to the videos can be found further below.
Some Amway distributor groups have been accused of using “cult-like” tactics to attract new distributors and keep them involved and committed. Allegations mentioned within the Wikipedia article include resemblance to a ‘Big Brother organisation’ with “paranoid attitude to insiders critical of the organisation“, seminars and rallies “resembling religious revival meetings” and enormous involvement of distributors, despite minimal incomes.
Interesting. What is Amway’s answer as to why “some people post negative stuff” about them online?
There’s quite some shade in that answer, don’t you think?
“…While most Amway Business Owners have a positive experience with Amway, owning your own business may not be right for everyone. Like with any business, the higher your income goal, the more effort it takes. While for some people this is motivating, others may not have what it takes…”
Of course, we’ll forget the whole 99% of Distributors Lose Money in Multi-Level Marketing thing. 😉
Where can I learn more about Amway?
There is a significant amount of information out there regarding Amway. Here’s just a small selection of what we have found so far, starting with Mr Robert FitzPatrick. Anything we’ve missed? Feel free to comment below:
Robert FitzPatrick on Amway
President of Pyramid Scheme Alert, Robert FitzPatrick is an expert in examining and revealing deception and fraud in bogus home-based businesses. He the co-author of the book, False Profits; the first book-length analysis of pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing ever published.
His White Paper, “The Amway Industry”, which details the extensive influence-buying of the multi-level marketing industry and in the failure of federal regulators to protect consumers from pyramid marketing fraud, has been read by staff circulated among members of US Congress.
For state regulators, he produced a PowerPoint review of federal prosecutions of multi-level sales schemes that are based upon continuous recruitment of new sales representatives. He also published a widely-read booklet on the landmark federal case brought against Amway (when known as Quixtar).
Essential reading:
- “Half of Amway’s Products Are Retailed. Really! Plus Other Wacky Numbers“
- “A Typical Phone Call from an Amway (or other MLM) Hopeful“
- “Amway’s Deceptions“
- “Analysis: Amway Accused of Fraud; Pays $150 Million; Where’s the FTC and DOJ?“
- “Study of Ten Major MLMs and Amway/Quixtar“
Booklets and e-reader documents:
- Amway/Quixtar Sued as Pyramid Scheme (January, 2007)
- The Case for Reopening the Amway Pyramid Scheme Case: An Inquiry into the Legality of Multi-Level Marketing
- False Profits: Seeking Financial and Spiritual Deliverance in Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Schemes by
Ethan Vanderbuilt on Amway
“The Internet’s most trusted scam buster” is on-hand to provide his thoughts on the Amway ‘opportunity’.
- “Amway Scam? Yes It Is In My Opinion!“
- “Amway is a scam and crushes the dreams and opportunities of millions” (video)
- “John Doe And The Amway Scam” – a guest post by Dr John Doe from themlmsyndrome.blogspot.com.
Scott Johnson on Amway
Former Amway ‘IBO’ Scott Johnson is “dedicated to stopping the Amway Tool Scam (RICO fraud), lack of retail sales (illegal pyramid) and other MLM scams.”
Notable articles, to name but a few:
- “The Earliest Evidence of the Amway Tool Scam“
- “What is the Basis of the 99+% Level of IBOs Losing Money?“
- “Find Out if your Upline Was Scamming/Will Scam You“
- “Desperate and Illegal Tactics“
- “DeVos Lies, Van Andel Nods His Head in Agreement“
Married to an Ambot
Real stories always carry significant impact. California blogger Anna Banana shares her experience of what it is like to be married to “an Amway cult-follower.”
“I expose the lies that our upline told, and what happens at Amway meetings and functions. I leave the explanations of why Amway is a poor business opportunity or the tool scam to other bloggers. This blog mainly exists to curse out my former upline, aka the cult leaders, and to let everyone know what kind of idiots I had to put up with. Feel free to join in or live vicariously!“
Dateline NBC
Dateline is a weekly television newsmagazine/reality legal show that is broadcast in the USA on NBC.
In 2004, Dateline featured a critical report based on a yearlong undercover investigation of business practices of Quixtar, as it was known at the time. Featured in the videos are Bo Short (former Amway Diamond), the late Bill Britt (Amway Crown Ambassador), Larry Winters (Amway Double Diamond), Greg Fredericks, Dexter and Birdie Yager (Amway Founders Crown Ambassadors), and Eric Scheibeler (former Amway Emerald and author of Merchants of Deception).
Also read “In Pursuit of the Almighty Dollar” by Chris Hansen, via Consumer Alert on Dateline.
AMTHRAX
This site presents another point of view on the Amway “scam or opportunity“, designed to inform people of what they might expect to see when building an Amway business. “I want to give prospective and current distributors another perspective on the opportunity,” says the site owner. “This ‘other side of the plan’ is designed to help people make an informed decision on whether to join, continue, or leave the business.”
Amway’s Checkout cameo
Just for a bit of comic relief, Amway gets a cameo appearance in Door Knockers : Arbonne sketch, from Australian consumer affairs show, The Checkout.
Other Useful Anti-Amway Resources
- Amway: Selling the Dream of Financial Freedom
- Amway – The Dream or the Scheme?
- “Amway: The Untold Story” (mirror site)
- Ambot.0 – Inside the minds of the Amway scam faithful
- Amway Global Cult Intervention
- Amway UK – A Rare View of the Forced Amway Experiment
- The Financial Jonestown: My experience with the Amway Motivational Organization (AMO) URAssociation
- The Truth About The Amway Global Opportunity
- The Real Amway Global Blog
- How Cults Work by Cultwatch
Books
- Amway: The Cult of Free Enterprise by Steve Butterfield (South End Press, 1985)
- Combating Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best-selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults by Steven Hassan (Freedom of Mind Press, 2015)
- False Profits: Seeking Financial and Spiritual Deliverance in Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Schemes by
- Merchants of Deception by Eric Scheibeler (Createspace Independent Pub., 2009)
- My Father’s Dream by Erik German (Kindle Edition, 2011)
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