Multi-level marketing (MLM) - Is it big in Ireland?

I see this stuff all over Reddit and in Vietnam.. I have about 40 face-masks for riding my motorcycle since my girlfriend's mother seems well into it.

Are people in Ireland getting sucked into this shlt? I recently spotted that an extended family member was about to get into this and warned people she'd listen to but no one seems to have stopped her.

Just wondering how prevalent it is. (I'd appreciate not having 13 page of Herbalife).

Balanadan

Ireland is a hot spot for MLM, globally recognised as a soft target.

gctest50

Banners, d'ya like banners ?

dotsman

Balanadan wrote: »

Ireland is a hot spot for MLM, globally recognised as a soft target.

It is? I have never seen or heard of anyone involved. Is it a particular demographic (age/background/rural/gender etc)?

TheValeyard

Id honestly no idea this was a thing

seamus

Generally not a big thing in Ireland. I think overall we're probably pretty poor at the kind of "peer to peer" trading that these schemes rely on.

That is, we prefer to get our stuff from legitimate businesses rather than something run out of the back of a friend's car. In my experience anyway.

Some other countries are really big into the informal kind of trading; a cousin's Thai wife makes frequent trips abroad, buys a load of cheap crap, bring it back to Thailand and then spams the everliving sh1t out of facebook with handbags and jewellery and stuff, and loads of Thai people buy it off her, over facebook. It's just not the kind of business model I could ever see working in Ireland.

Maybe I'm wrong.

I'm not sure if we instinctively don't like doing business with our friends (doesn't end well), or if it's a cultural thing where we only tend to trust stuff that's come from an actual shop.

ohnonotgmail

seamus wrote: »

Generally not a big thing in Ireland. I think overall we're probably pretty poor at the kind of "peer to peer" trading that these schemes rely on.

That is, we prefer to get our stuff from legitimate businesses rather than something run out of the back of a friend's car. In my experience anyway.

Some other countries are really big into the informal kind of trading; a cousin's Thai wife makes frequent trips abroad, buys a load of cheap crap, bring it back to Thailand and then spams the everliving sh1t out of facebook with handbags and jewellery and stuff, and loads of Thai people buy it off her, over facebook. It's just not the kind of business model I could ever see working in Ireland.

Maybe I'm wrong.

I'm not sure if we instinctively don't like doing business with our friends (doesn't end well), or if it's a cultural thing where we only tend to trust stuff that's come from an actual shop.

That isn't MLM though, is it? that is just selling to friends. I remember thousands of people in ireland losing money because of banner brokers. Not sure how that ended up.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/deconstructing-banners-broker-scheme-one-brick-at-a-time-291044.html

seamus

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

That isn't MLM though, is it? that is just selling to friends.

I know, but it's basically the same thing; people trading directly back-and-forth rather than from an actual business.

Lots of MLM scams are basically about weasaling their way into friend networks to try and convince someone to sell the crap to their mates and get their mates to sell to their mates, etc etc.

There are a few outfits that try to run them on a bigger scale - hire a couple of rooms as "head office" and get in a load of young fellas to walk the streets trying to sell crap.

Been quite a while, years even, since I've seen or heard of any though.

LirW

I think it takes a certain demographic for it that you have everywhere.

I know a girl back in Austria being big into MLM, doing it for a vegan cosmetics company and while I can't stand her patronising way to talk to people, she fits exactly into the company's prime target group: Stay at home mothers and young (mainly) women that want to save the world in some sort. The whole MLM network is running because of moms and their mom friends.

seamus

seamus wrote: »

Generally not a big thing in Ireland. I think overall we're probably pretty poor at the kind of "peer to peer" trading that these schemes rely on.

That is, we prefer to get our stuff from legitimate businesses rather than something run out of the back of a friend's car. In my experience anyway.

Some other countries are really big into the informal kind of trading; a cousin's Thai wife makes frequent trips abroad, buys a load of cheap crap, bring it back to Thailand and then spams the everliving sh1t out of facebook with handbags and jewellery and stuff, and loads of Thai people buy it off her, over facebook. It's just not the kind of business model I could ever see working in Ireland.

Maybe I'm wrong.

I'm not sure if we instinctively don't like doing business with our friends (doesn't end well), or if it's a cultural thing where we only tend to trust stuff that's come from an actual shop.

Huge in Vietnam as well and it's why air hostess jobs cost 20k+ to get. That was my girlfriend's family's plan for a long time.

Mr. Incognito

I have no idea of what you are talking about and I hope I never do

LirW

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

I have no idea of what you are talking about and I hope I never do

Basically some friend (their partner) wants to sell you some overpriced crap from some company that only sells via their partners, if they get you on the hook, they get a bonus and even better: if they manage to recruit you as a new trading partner they get a higher bonus.

Mr. Incognito

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

I have no idea of what you are talking about and I hope I never do

Pyramid schemes.

I'm glad to hear they're not common. I used to hear some talk of uncles into this a long long time ago so was mostly just wondering if they're something that's done.

Mr. Incognito

LirW wrote: »

Basically some friend (their partner) wants to sell you some overpriced crap from some company that only sells via their partners, if they get you on the hook, they get a bonus and even better: if they manage to recruit you as a new trading partner they get a higher bonus.

Amway were at this crap in the 80s selling junk.

Who buys tat from friends.

Who even have friends that sell tat.

Get better friends

wandatowell

Herbalife?

valoren

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

That isn't MLM though, is it? that is just selling to friends. I remember thousands of people in ireland losing money because of banner brokers. Not sure how that ended up.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/deconstructing-banners-broker-scheme-one-brick-at-a-time-291044.html

Some of the shills moved onto another new and exciting business venture 'Das Coin' exploiting the buzz surrounding crypto currencies.

irlgoldruler

MLM is huge in the US. One needs to do their due diligence on the opportunity. MLM businesses do work provided you run your business in a professional manner just as normal traditional businesses do.

gctest50

irlgoldruler wrote: »

MLM is huge in the US. One needs to do their due diligence on the opportunity. MLM businesses do work provided you run your business in a professional manner just as normal traditional businesses do.

Pyramid schemes only work for you if you are among the first few and scam tge rest into filling their hallway with crap

Can't work cos after a few "levels"/"grades"/whatever you'd need more than the population of Earth

kneemos

Illegal in Ireland afaik.

JustAYoungLad

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I see this stuff all over Reddit and in Vietnam.. I have about 40 face-masks for riding my motorcycle since my girlfriend's mother seems well into it.

Are people in Ireland getting sucked into this shlt? I recently spotted that an extended family member was about to get into this and warned people she'd listen to but no one seems to have stopped her.

Just wondering how prevalent it is. (I'd appreciate not having 13 page of Herbalife).

Yes. I worked for a MLM company once. Never again. They put on the guise of charity but pocket 90% of the earnings. This is also why i will never give money to charity again. Especially dogs trust, breast cancer and autism awareness

kneemos

Totally illegal.


https://www.ccpc.ie/business/enforcement/criminal-enforcement/pyramid-schemes/

B0jangles

Apparently they do better in places where there are already strong social networks - like in the US, a large proportion of the population are members of a local church - the social pressure to buy products off fellow church-members, especially if they are influential members, would be pretty high.

(I just googled this to check and would you believe it, many MLMs in the US are explicitly religious - they actually target their own people as cashcows to be exploited! - https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/december/divine-rise-of-multilevel-marketing-christians-mlm.html (apparently this is a mainstream evangelical christian publication))

Ireland doesn't really have the same kind of strong faith-based social networks - I'd guess that the people here who are most likely to be enthusiastic churchgoers are less likely to be exposed to online MLMs, and the percentage of the overall population who are socially heavily involved in their church is not very big any more.

silverharp

the only one i ever heard about was an american one Amway

bogmanfan

A friend of mine got into this a few years back. Flogging over-priced Aloe Vera stuff on Facebook. I went along with her to a seminar in Citywest. Very creepy. They basically want you to sell to your family and friends and then recruit them into selling. They're a great way of ensuring you end up alienating your mates cause you're always trying to flog them Aloe Vera toothpaste. It's a total pyramid scheme, and I don't see how they can present themselves as anything else. Horrible business model.

JustAYoungLad

kneemos wrote: »

Totally illegal.


https://www.ccpc.ie/business/enforcement/criminal-enforcement/pyramid-schemes/

Technically yes. Functionally theres many loopholes. I know people working not-MLMs right now

0lddog

bogmanfan wrote: »

........They basically want you to sell to your family and friends and then recruit them into selling. They're a great way of ensuring you end up alienating your mates cause you're always trying to flog them.........Pensions?....... Horrible business model.

Very similar to recruiting of pension salespeople so. :mad:

raik18

Pyramid schemes are only interested in recruiting people to join. MLM actually sell stuff. Yes they also recruit but selling their stuff is their aim. If they only want you to join their team walk away.

namloc1980

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6MwGeOm8iI

Gimme A Pound

Herbalife was banned in Belgium a few years back following a ruling that it met pyramid scheme criteria.

astrofool

raik18 wrote: »

Pyramid schemes are only interested in recruiting people to join. MLM actually sell stuff. Yes they also recruit but selling their stuff is their aim. If they only want you to join their team walk away.

Run away from MLM as well.

goose2005

Women Empowering Women was a huge one around 2002, thousands of marks.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/investors-in-pyramid-scheme-lose-their-case-1.1105438

B0jangles wrote: »

Apparently they do better in places where there are already strong social networks - like in the US, a large proportion of the population are members of a local church - the social pressure to buy products off fellow church-members, especially if they are influential members, would be pretty high.

(I just googled this to check and would you believe it, many MLMs in the US are explicitly religious - they actually target their own people as cashcows to be exploited! - https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/december/divine-rise-of-multilevel-marketing-christians-mlm.html (apparently this is a mainstream evangelical christian publication))

Ireland doesn't really have the same kind of strong faith-based social networks - I'd guess that the people here who are most likely to be enthusiastic churchgoers are less likely to be exposed to online MLMs, and the percentage of the overall population who are socially heavily involved in their church is not very big any more.

also it helps that a lot of these cultures force women to become housewives once they marry - this leaves a lot of educated women frustrated and short of money once the kids come along, prime targets for MLMs

CrankyHaus

I think Amway have a premises up in Ballycoolin. I've never even heard of someone selling MLM stuff here though.

retalivity

Let me assure you that this is not one of those shady pyramid schemes you've been hearing about. No sir. Our model is the trapezoid!