Anyone ever hear of "Market America"? Legit or a pyramid scheme...

[teddyFBI]

So I talked for around 2 hours with my cousin (who, for whatever it's worth, is in her late twenties with a college degree from a top liberal arts' school and a Masters from NYU in something or other). Anyway, seems she's got herself involved with a company called "Market America" -- I won't waste too much space describing it here, you can Google it to find out more, but essentially it's a huge consortium of independent sales reps who hawk products -- their biggest seller is nutritional supplements -- but make MOST of their money by recruiting other people to install *under* them and do the same thing...hence the suspicion that it's just a big pyramid scheme, although all the Market America reps are quick to deny that metaphor and have all sorts of pre-packaged explanations about how they're different from such illegal pyramid schemes.

Anyway, somewhat to my chagrin, within the first 20 minutes of my cousin explaining to me what her new business was all about, it began to feel more and more like a sales pitch, trying to get *me* involved in it. I'm just not interested, but I'm wondering how concerned, if at all, I should be for my cousin. Like I said, she's smart, well-liked, articulate, educated, all that good stuff...and my initial reaction is that I just don't see how someone with all that going for her would fall for a shady 'pyramid-type' scheme -- but maybe I'm being a bit hasty. I don't want to pass judgment on the thing until I know a bit more about it, hence this post. I did some googling, and there's a ton of positive info out there about how quickly-growing a company Market America is, and how there's like 40,000+ independent sales reps (like my cousin)...but there were also a lot of web pages from people claiming that it's just a big con, and despite their protestations that it's *not* a pyramid scheme, at the end of the day only a very small fraction of their reps make anything at all (oh yeah, there are costs to being a rep too...like a few hundred dollars / month). They described Market America as basically a big cult, whose members are just brainwashed with promises of a 6-figure income within 2-3 years, and even had all sorts of slogans that we could expect their sales reps to use to us in their not-so-subtle sales pitch about how many millionaires the company has made - **many of which I heard repeated to me verbatim by my cousin in her "talk" with me**.

I've always considered myself to be quite entrepreneurial, and a real positive-thinker -- I don't want to be the perpetual skeptic who only looks for the downside to these things, so I listened to everything my cousin had to say to me, and was as enthusiastic with her as possible, telling her how awesome it was to see her so passionate about this new venture. But inside, every warning bell I possess was sounding an alarm. So anyone here have any personal or 2nd-hand experience with this company?

[superadvisor]

Ever heard of Herbalife?

Same concept really, "Wellness products" but the real money is made is recruiting. It's a publicly traded company.

Just because it's legally legit doesn't mean it's also still not a scam. I'm sure there are also a handful of people who have become millionaires off these products, but they got in early and are cashing in on the 40,000+ independent sales reps. If you or her have any intentions of making a living off this business venture you need to ask yourself if you think the company and business model has the potential to gain another 40,000+ independent sales reps or is the company on it's last leg and you're trying to board a ship that's already sinking?

[gordongecko]

I dono about calling it a scam, but it could just be a bad deal. There is a difference. It's hard to call something a scam if all it does is waste your time (I know time = money blah blah), but there are a ton of commission based sales gigs that just suck.

[maxtower]

If she is spending money to be in this program I would advise her to stop, she will most likely fail. If she isn't spending anything to do this recruiting, then she is only wasting her time and she'll eventually figure it out and quit.

[gull]

Pyramid scheme, aka "multi level marketing."

It sounds exactly like a scam that my old roommate almost got sucked into.

[bills217]

I had a very similar experience recently with someone who's a rep for Quixtar, which is basically the same thing...the person is also a guy I like and respect.

Basically, it's like you say, these people just get brainwashed somehow with delusions of grandeur...a very few ppl, usually that got in early, make money at the expense of everyone else, but the others are totally blind to this, it really is a lot like a cult...very sad really.

I'd stop short of calling it a scam as long as they're not using dishonest sales tactics, although many do - especially those that specialize in health products...it is common to hear them making claims that certain products have been known to cure cancer etc., which is illegal.

Still, even with honest sales tactics...it's about as close to a scam as you can get. At very best it is a waste of time. Stay far far away from it and try to convince your friend to as well, although if they're like the people I've encountered that are part of it they are probably way past the point of being rational about it.