Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

Hi everyone,

Last night I attended a business meeting with a friend of mine in Absecon. My friend recently became an IBO (?) with this company Quixtar/Alticor.

Before going my friend told me the guest speaker was a multi millionaire who worked about 10-20 hours a week.

The speaker spoke for an hour and a forty-five minutes. The first hour the speaker Jeff Hathaway painted a nice picture of his financial situation and the riches that awaited everyone in the room.

The next forty-five minutes he discussed the theory and practice behind Quixtar/Alticor and how he wanted to make everyone in the room a millionaire.

Has anyone here ever heard of this company or tried this out?

He did do an excellent job of motivating the crowd and captivating everyone's imagination in the room.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this company or this type of environment.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

Quixtar=Amway

Quixtar expose

Avoid, avoid, avoid.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

Multi-level marketing? I could be wrong about this, but isn't that like pretty much the definition of a pyramid scheme? I don't know anything about this and the whole thing smells ludicrously fishy.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

DO NOT WANT.

It's Amway dude. I mean, literally, it's the same company. I've been suckered into two presentations, they put on the hard sell etc., but it's still a goddamn pyramid scheme and the people in it all act like Branch Davidians who just drank the Kool-Aid.

Google is your friend on this one.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

I don't know anything about these companies, but a quick search identified Quixtar and Alticor as being owned by a parent company, which owns one other brand - Amway.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

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he wanted to make everyone in the room a millionaire

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Wait guys, its not a scam, this is a noble servant who just wants to make other people rich!

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

[ QUOTE ]
DO NOT WANT.

It's Amway dude. I mean, literally, it's the same company. I've been suckered into two presentations, they put on the hard sell etc., but it's still a goddamn pyramid scheme and the people in it all act like Branch Davidians who just drank the Kool-Aid.

Google is your friend on this one.

[/ QUOTE ]


I Googled it and I found reports on both sides of the fence.

I agree with your Branch Davidian comment. Everyone seemed way too nice and eager to help. I mean way too nice.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

[ QUOTE ]
This is Homer Simpson, aka Happy Dude. The court is making me call everybody back and apologize for my telemarketing scam. I'm sorry. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, send one dollar to Sorry Dude, 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield. You have the power.

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

Hi Mike. Yeah, it's Amway. I went to a presentation with friends. Quite creepy in the way people get sucked in to this so hard. Speaker I saw was very motivational as well, but I ran away.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

My girlfriend (soon to be ex) got dragged to something like this a few months ago by her best friend from college. Her friend moved away for months to work for this company with her husband and when she came back she tried to get all of her friends to go. Afterwards I was sitting there listening to her friends all laugh about it. They said their friend had turned into a cult member and was actually trying to rope everyone else into it so that she could make money off of her friends. When I heard about the scheme I couldn't believe that people actually fall for this [censored]. I also thought it was ridiculous that someone would try and rope their friends in when the only reason is to get them under them in the pyramid thing or whatever. If you could work 10-20 hours a week and make X million, you would either keep it to yourself or work 40 hours a week and make 2x million.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

My parents have been into to this for about 10 years now and let me tell you its a huge waste of time and money. Yes there are people that have made millions doing this but people have made millions in the tech industry too, doesnt mean you should run out and start a new tech company.

Heres some stats from their site

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*The following are approximate percentages of Direct Fulfillment IBOs of record in North America who achieved the illustrated levels of success in the calendar year ending August 31, 2005: Diamond .0120%; Emerald .0320%; Q-12 Platinum .1683%.



[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]

The average bonus and cash payments earned by a Diamond IBO in 2005 were $146,995.

The average bonus and cash payments earned by an Emerald in 2005 were $72,241.*

The average bonus and cash payments earned by a Q12 Platinum, an IBO who qualifies at the Platinum level all 12 months of the year, were $47,472.*


[/ QUOTE ]

Really not that much money considering how much work you have to put into the business to get there. Just what your average wage is going to be once you factor in the years you spend essentially making nothing.

Having said that, theres nothing inherently illegal about it. Its not a pyramid scheme and they have been to court several times to prove it. Also, they have a huge catalogue so if you find some products you like theres nothing wrong with joining up to purchase them directly. Just make sure you stay as far away from the motivational weekends as possible, that stuff will brain wash you.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

I attended a quixtar meeting about 6 years ago while I was still in high school. They tried to hype it up telling us it's just getting off the ground and how it's going to make everyone rich. I never did anything else with it after they tried to tell us we had to pay 150$ or something to "get started" at which point I didn't like the sound of it anymore. There was a guy from my school that got really involved in it devoting his life to getting people started under him, and I think he failed miserably at making any money.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

I think you should try it out. It seems like rounding up a bunch of people who have never sold anything is the best way to create a sales team.

Sorry Mike..couldn't resist.

Fred G Sanford

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

Quixtar/Amway is great if you don't mind becoming "that guy" to all your friends. I don't mean that in a sarcastic way. Some people really don't mind becoming that guy.

Remember in the movie "Go" when the cop was trying to sell Amway to the Party of Five dude? That is really how these people are. Cheers if you're down with that.

Why does this make you a pariah to most of your friends? The whole point of MLM is to get people in your "downline." The most effective way to start is to tell everyone you know about this awesome opportunity where all they need to do is build their own downline to get rich! To be a good salesman with this crap, you need to go hard at first, leverage the trust your friends and family have, fight resistance a little, then move on if you can't win.

Pretty soon you've run out of friends to bug and suddenly you find yourself making "business investments" in leads, "business investments" in lectures, and so on. It might work for you, but it doesn't work for most. Most people either realize the game and leave, or they burn all their cash on seminars and leads, then leave.

OR they join the little economy that supports the idiots playing the game, then they get rich.

That said, let me introduce you my eBook, How to Sell MLM Leads to MLM Idiots. Take a gander and then refer it to friends. I'll give you a 15% commission on every sale you make. AND I'll give you a a 9% commission on every sale your friends make that you referred to the program!

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

Definitely Amway and definitely a scam/cult.

Two families who were friends of my parents got into this back in the mid 90's. They all ended up losing money and dropped out a few years later. The father of the one family was so depressed he ended up turning to a Christian ministry instead! lol. True story.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

In case people did not know, this is my real account.
Mike Gallo is the gimmick account, hence the worlds oldest gimmick.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

[ QUOTE ]
In case people did not know, this is my real account.
Mike Gallo is the gimmick account, hence the worlds oldest gimmick.

[/ QUOTE ]
OK now you're just being weird with this whole Gallo/Sanford stuff.

Anyway, I will point out one startling thing about the two meetings: the houses where they were held were easily $1M+ properties and the hosts were people who apparently had very successful careers previously - one was an attorney, the other a physician.

I still have yet to resolve in my head the dichotomy between how dumb it is to get involved in this and these very successful people who did and apparently succeeded. I mean, maybe they were lying about being successful with Quixtar, but you think if they were failing at it they'd just go back to their six figure jobs that they still worked part-time.

After the first one, the guy that invited me took me out to lunch a day or two later. He was "surprised" by my resistance and said that "everyone else had signed up already", and that I was "the only holdout". There were like twenty other people at the meeting, this was just such a bald-faced lie that I shut him down right there and ended the discussion.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

From what I know about it, the people who make huge bank do so from selling the shiny packaging: seminars, tapes and books. Much bigger margins for those items and only the top of the pyramid gets to sell them.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

[ QUOTE ]
Anyway, I will point out one startling thing about the two meetings: the houses where they were held were easily $1M+ properties and the hosts were people who apparently had very successful careers previously - one was an attorney, the other a physician.

I still have yet to resolve in my head the dichotomy between how dumb it is to get involved in this and these very successful people who did and apparently succeeded. I mean, maybe they were lying about being successful with Quixtar, but you think if they were failing at it they'd just go back to their six figure jobs that they still worked part-time.

[/ QUOTE ]

My "upline" explained to me that it would cost $200 to start. $25 for cd's books and seminars, $175 to become an IBO.

If I purchased $250 a month worth of my ordinary household supplies like energy drinks, detergent and the like, I would earn 4% of the total money spent.

The real trick is to duplicate. I would have to learn the system and teach it to someone.

I liked the belief that I need to surround myself with people sharper than myself.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

I worked for Alticor for ~18 months. I wasn't a distributor, I worked for the actual company. Being from that area and also having worked there, I probably know more Amway horror stories than most.

My advice would be to stay very far away from this type of business. The vast majority of distributors make nothing or next to nothing. Top distributors make more money on the sale of motivational/instructional materials to their downline than they do on actual Quixtar/Amway product sales.

Meh, I could go on and on for hours about what I know about Quixtar.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

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From what I know about it, the people who make huge bank do so from selling the shiny packaging: seminars, tapes and books. Much bigger margins for those items and only the top of the pyramid gets to sell them.

[/ QUOTE ]

True. You have to be Platinum or higher and none of these products are produced by Amway/Quixtar. The top distributors either produce their own materials or buy them wholesale elsewhere.

Back in the 70s or 80s was when this first became a major problem for Amway. It sounds strange, but Amway itself isn't as bad as it's top distributors. Amway didn't like the fact that their people were running this side business of high-priced seminars, books, tapes, etc. Partly because it cut into the sales of actual Amway products and partly because they felt like their new distributors were getting ripped off.

Now you weren't just pressured into spending $100-150 to get started in the business. If you REALLY want to show you're serious about being successful, you need to buy $300 worth of promotional materials and drive 400 miles to the $49.99 monthly seminar in Cincinnati.

So Amway told their top dogs that they had stop their side businesses. Their top dogs told them that they would leave Amway and take their downlines with them. Amway caved because they really had no choice if they wanted to survive and it became the Scamway that it is today.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

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Meh, I could go on and on for hours about what I know about Quixtar.

[/ QUOTE ]

please do

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

Bumped an old hilarious thread just for you Mike.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...rue#Post6380328

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

[ QUOTE ]
Quixtar=Amway

Quixtar expose

Avoid, avoid, avoid.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just read that, pretty eye opening. Thanks for the article.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Quixtar=Amway

Quixtar expose

Avoid, avoid, avoid.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just read that, pretty eye opening. Thanks for the article.

[/ QUOTE ]
By the way, it's worth noting that Chris Hansen wrote that article, apparently before he became a full-time pederast chaser.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

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Meh, I could go on and on for hours about what I know about Quixtar.

[/ QUOTE ]

"Ask me about working for a cult-like pyramid scheme" is a thread that I would be very interested in reading

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

[ QUOTE ]
"Ask me about working for a cult-like pyramid scheme" is a thread that I would be very interested in reading

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

Meh, I could go on and on for hours about what I know about Quixtar.

[/ QUOTE ]

"Ask me about working for a cult-like pyramid scheme" is a thread that I would be very interested in reading

[/ QUOTE ]

It wouldn't be very interesting, though. Alticor itself has a pretty typical work environment. Eeveryone working there knows the history of the company and most are well aware of what goes on "out in the field". Other than going through a detailed explanation of their business model during orientation, there is no "indoctrination" into the Amway culture or anything.

The only thing that was annoying was the regular tours being held for IBO's. Once every couple of weeks everything had to be "just so" because some group of IBO's from Tennessee or California was going to be coming through next Tuesday. Any sort of contact with IBO's was surreal. They were all way too happy to be wandering around a sea of cubicles in some bland 30-year old office building.

I don't know how many times I was asked by an IBO why I worked at Amway for an hourly wage when I knew firsthand about this fantastic business opportunity. I'd have to explain nicely that it wasn't for me, etc. They were constantly recruiting.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

Hey man, everybody uses toilet paper. Get yourself a piece of the action.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

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I don't know how many times I was asked by an IBO why I worked at Amway for an hourly wage when I knew firsthand about this fantastic business opportunity. I'd have to explain nicely that it wasn't for me, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's something I've always wondered about the people who answer late night calls for the "Make $$$ out of your home working one hour a week!" infomercials. Ok, so why again are you working an 8 hour graveyard shift answering calls for $7/hr?

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

[ QUOTE ]

Anyway, I will point out one startling thing about the two meetings: the houses where they were held were easily $1M+ properties and the hosts were people who apparently had very successful careers previously - one was an attorney, the other a physician.



[/ QUOTE ]

I find this interesting as well. My one experience with Quixtar came at a law firm I worked for, from one of their best trial attorneys (I guess that kind of makes sense [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]). Maybe those types of people are successful w/ quixtar because people listen to them/trust them.

I bet those weekend seminars are about as creepy as you can get outside of an actual "we're going to fly to Mars" cult experience.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

Hey_Porter,

Heh yeah, the worst part for me on the first one is that I was forced to oblige and play along - my employer had just given this guy notice, he was supposed to be a full-time consultant on our staff but we couldn't put him out billing anywhere so we let him go with only two weeks' pay. He lashed out and threatened to sue, so in order to placate him I went on the meeting and the subsequent lunch.

The second one was with a guy I had met in the grocery business, knew him for all of about two minutes and he was pitching me Quixtar, this probably two years or so after the other guy's attempt. This one was much more personal, just him and a guy at the rich dude's house. It was the hardest effing sell ever, and ultimately I just signed up for the $50 or whatever just to get them to leave me the hell alone. Then I had to put up with the guy calling me every Sunday night to ask me if I wanted to place an order. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Man, it must have sucked to call everyone every week in the hopes that they'll order fabric softener sheets or whatever just so you can make 40 cents on the transaction.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

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Man, it must have sucked to call everyone every week in the hopes that they'll order fabric softener sheets or whatever just so you can make 40 cents on the transaction.


[/ QUOTE ]

I think the people who succeed don't think it sucks at all. In fact they probably get excited as each phone call is a MONEY MAKING OPPORTUNITY!

Honestly, imagine if you could just sit at home and call people to sell them every day items they need anyway? People will be knocking down your door once they see our high quality products at low low prices.

What are you waiting for? PM me now!

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

[ QUOTE ]
I still have yet to resolve in my head the dichotomy between how dumb it is to get involved in this and these very successful people who did and apparently succeeded. I mean, maybe they were lying about being successful with Quixtar, but you think if they were failing at it they'd just go back to their six figure jobs that they still worked part-time.


[/ QUOTE ]

All the money you make when you hit diamond is from becoming a motivational speaker and selling tapes.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

LoL AMWAY...I had a roommate who had a degree in engineering (2.2 GPA but nevertheless)...he quit his engineering job to goto law school.

He never told us until recently that he got such poor grades b/c he did AMWAY and sunk in over 15k into the company. We make fun of him daily about AMWAY.

what a dope

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

my parents are really active in this, have been for about 10 years, make decent money, want the wife and I to do it. Our steadfast refusal has been the source of a few tense moments

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

The loser dad of one kid I sorta knew from highschool was doing it and got all his son's friends to do it, a couple of which were in the top 10 of my class, and the valedictorian. (That confirmed my belief that high school GPA is about as solid predictor of intelligence as stool density is)

Somebody asked me if I was interested in going to a introductory meeting with them and I lol'd pretty [censored] hard and said, "you know it's a pyramid scheme, right?" The next monday after that I got some dirty ass looks from the loser's son.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

[ QUOTE ]
my parents are really active in this, have been for about 10 years, make decent money, want the wife and I to do it. Our steadfast refusal has been the source of a few tense moments

[/ QUOTE ]

They might make decent money but do they include the costs of travelling to all the conventions? I'm sure a lot of people in Quixtar do the same kind of shadey bookeeping that lots of gamblers do to convince themselves that they arent losing as much money as they really are.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

My sister was involved in Quixtar... all her "friends" were in Quixtar, then she started pushing away and none of her "friends" want to see or talk to her anymore.

It's a cult.

Stay away dude.

Re: Quixtar/ multi-level marketing
 

When I was unemployed back in 2001, I got approached by a Quixtar rep. My wife and I were walking our dog in the park and, as happens sometimes, struck up a conversation with another couple when our dogs greeted each other. They were middle-aged, looked relatively well off, and were friendly.

During the chit-chat, my employment situation came up (what do you do for a living?) and the guy said he might be able to help me out after hearing my work background and education. Gave me his card. I had no idea what Quixtar was at that point, so nothing on the card jumped out at me.

We spoke on the phone a few days later and within a minute, he went into his pitch. While I had never heard of Quixtar until then, the "DO NOT WANT" neon sign flashed above my head and I declined.

[censored] [censored], getting my hopes up.