We also were in business in Amway and we DID make money.  We worked hard and earned it.  BUT, as with any business, especially a direct marketing, we had uplines (the people above us) who were cheats and liars and only wanted money for themselves, not others.  They in effect, stopped us at a certain level from making anymore money.  We changed to a different group, but by then our dynamic was gone and we couldn’t do much.  As with any business, NOT just Amway, you have to deal with people.  And THAT is the problem.  My husband got tired of fighting and not getting anywhere and he quit.  I am still in it because, let’s face it, the products ARE the BEST.  We started sometime around 1986.  We met some fantastic people, we had the time of our lives, and it WAS our life.  I missed it terribly, and I still miss alot of those people.  But through it, we came away with MANY many good things learned, and still do have some very close friends from it.  My upline now is my VERY best friend in the world, more like a sister.  We are older now and have plenty of money for ourselves, so our interest is not in making money at this point, but simply living our wonderful lives now.  If you are out to make money, you CAN do it in Amway.  But the right way is the way to do it.  Don’t cheat, be good to your people, and really believe in what you have and what you can do.
I was very glad to see this site from Nathan, because this is the real story.  Unfortunately people lie cheat and steal in every area of life and this is no different. Just be aware. And as we didn’t do, don’t be afraid to go all the way upline if your immediate sponsor isn’t helping you.  We should have, but didn’t. 
Give it a try and if nothing else you may meet lifelong friends through it.

sharm6420 Great points here. Thank you for sharing your story and experience. And are you still involved as an IBO with Amway or no?

And I agree… Nothing to lose and you get a chance to improve your mindset, personal development, and meet some great people and make new friends 🙂

I was in, my upline made diamond in 1983, and has not progressed since, even though he’s been at it for over 40 years. He had to go out in the real world and get  a job with all the “losers” after all those years. John and Maureen Minaudo of Charleston, SC. Look ’em up, ask them about their PV!

keneddies If they went diamond they should be making at least $400,000. Them going back to get a job is either a lie you just made up or they quit. Stop hating on amway, you’re probably one of the broke ones.

Yeah, sure, they got back working with the losers bacause they are making all that Amway money?
You people are being fooled like thousands and thousands before you. Time will tell.

ShariffDuruGordon keneddies 
I was a very broke Ambot, in debt up to my ears, but I’ve recovered now, and everything is much better. Open you eyes and your mind and do some diligent research, if you can torture your brainwashed self to spend some time thinking NEGATIVE for a moment or two.

Do not trust HASEEN Health & Beauty Supply on Amway.com, it’s a fraud! 
Let me tell you my experience with a personal retail seller of HASEEN Health & Beauty Supply on Amway.com.
I found this girl in a social event once who was selling some
vitamins and beauty products at a table with her family. Her family was
selling with her, so I thought it was a family business and looked
trustworthy. So, I bought a vitamin bottle from her at the event. Then
later she added me to her Amway account called “HASEEN Health &
Beauty Supply,” where I could buy more products if I wanted.
She asked me to schedule an appointment with her in person, so I did,
but she did not show up to the first one. Then we scheduled another
appointment a month later and she cancelled that last minute. She kept
pushing the appointments, so I was thinking—maybe she is just busy and I
let it go. Then finally we made another appointment and yet again, she
was trying to cancel the appointment last minute. So, I started to
realize she is inconsiderate and careless about this. I told her I can’t
keep ruining my schedule for her, so then she showed up finally. She
came in and she was very unprofessional. She kept asking if my family
wanted to buy anything and I can tell right away she does not care about
her customers at all, she is just desperate for money. She is also a
very fake person and makes up a lot of excuses. 
So at my house, she showed me an eyeliner and a mascara that I liked,
so I bought it from her. The total was supposed to be $35.00, but I
gave her $40.00. When I showed her the $40.00, she changed the price and
said “Yeah it is $40.00, not $35.00 with tax,” which made no sense. She
did not want to give the change. She even had change because she kept
opening her purse, and money was falling out of it. She was very
unorganized. At that time, I didn’t care so much about $5.00, so I let
it go. She left in a hurry and I realized she gave me the wrong eyeliner
color, when I told her 10 times, I wanted black, and the mascara was
also used. So I contacted her again to tell her about the issue and she
said she can bring the black eyeliner to me soon. 
So, again, she started making appointments to meet with me and
cancelled all of them months after months, even when I told her clearly I
wanted it before I go off to vacation during spring break. Then,
finally after 10 cancellations and after my spring break, I came back
from vacation and by chance she was coming to my college campus. So, she
said she can meet and exchange the wrong blue eyeliner with the right
black one. She also suggested that she can bring the vitamins as well,
so I said sure. So, then again last minute she made excuses and said she
will be late, but I let it go because at least I will get my things
finally.
So, finally when we met, she packed the vitamins and the eyeliner with
an extra sample of an energy drink in a fancy bag and I returned the
blue eyeliner. The total was $18.00. Again said she does not have
change, when I was about to give her $20.00, hoping she will get the
whole $20.00 bill, since I let it go last time. So, I was trying to show
her she cannot keep doing that, so I went and broke the change myself
from a nearby store and gave her exactly $18.00. 
So, after she left, I opened the bag and saw that the eyeliner was
some liquid eye liner, and she gave me the wrong vitamins as well. I
started to realize she is actually very careless and fake. She is very
desperately hungry for money. So, I called her right away and told her
all the items in the bag are not what I wanted, and she is said, “Oh
yeah, we don’t have the black eye liner in stock anymore, and I am sorry
I cannot come back right now, I am on the highway, maybe we can meet
again later.” This pissed me off because it had only been less than a
minute before she left and I looked outside the window, her car was
still there, where she was sitting in with her whole family inside. So, I
told her “Wait, you are not on the highway, you better come back or
I’ll sue you.” So, she came back right away and I told her “You cannot
be dishonest to your customers and you have to tell them all this
information before, not after you sell them the wrong items.” She then
started to say, “You told me you wanted the multivitamins, you did not
say you wanted the regular ones.” Then, I said, “Do you want me to show
you the text, I stated in the text exactly what I wanted about 10 times
almost every month, and you still bring the wrong things.” So, she was
quiet because I had proof. I told her she was ripping me off. Then she
started to say, “Listen this is an online business…” And then I told
her, “then you should be honest with your words and business, and not
sell outside of your online site or tell your customers they can buy in
person, nor make any appointments in person.” She had nothing to say.
Then I told her, “I want my money and the old eyeliner back and you can
take your bag back.” Then even after all of this, she had the audacity
to say, “Oh sorry, I cannot give you the money, I put it away.” This
totally pissed me off even more, she loves to make random senseless,
stupid and absurd excuses, just so she can have some money. So, I told
her “Okay, fine then, I will just call the cops and they can settle this
for us.” Then she quietly went to her car, and got the money, and my
old eyeliner back for me. She left with her family in the car. I cannot
believe her family lets her do this and supports her to be a disgusting
fraudster. 
She is insensitive, greedy, inconsiderate, and a cheater. Do not trust her.

I got sucked into this program only to find out to get started you have to spend $300 in your store each month. This wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t stuck part-time at Wal-Mart. I could flex my schedule to fit my mentor’s just fine, I already thought the way they want you to in the first place, and I welcomed learning new things but I just couldn’t afford it and no one is going to help you because they’re all trying to make their own business succeed. Then I tried talking to my mentor and he seemed more selfish than anything. I would have to starve myself on perfect water and protein bars and he only thought about how me leaving would affect HIM. I hate people, always will and this just made my social seclusion worse. If you are reading this to because you just got dragged into too, don’t follow through with it unless you have extra money to throw around. I was also learning nothing I didn’t already know. And you’ll always hear people saying “Well if you knew how, why aren’t you successful like us?” Well my answer is because I haven’t tried yet. Every meeting you hear the exact same things. I even had the infortunity to go to this year’s Spring Leadership. The most interesting part of it was the band at the very beginning. Every person had the same thing to say, the only diversity is how they got to where they are now.

Nathan
I amPlanning to join Amway . 😉 Your
article is very good ….. you have written it quite honestly. I know people who had undergone same
situations as yours …….. It’s really good that you understood and pulled yourself out.I
am myself an Oriflame constultant BUT I never joined Oriflame with the
intention of making money or business as I already had a job when I joined
.I was looking for quality face washes
with anti pimple propertiesand yes i
got some good quality products though not all. I amanOriflame
Consultant for past 7 yearswithout any
kind of performances and effort , i never attended any training, never ever
listened to my upliner , who said same things as your upliner did ,never wasted time, never hasseled any of my
friends and family , I never approached anyone in anyway to join under me or buy
products because I was stubborn and knew that was not my cup of tea , I could
sense thatsomething is not rightwhat my upliner always said. Though my attitude of never approaching
anyone made a few to approach and buy products …. These were the people who
were either genuinely attracted to the products or curious about what I am using.
I am still an Oriflame Consultant happily using the facewashes and my upliner
had stopped advising me long years back . NowI have a question and it would be great if you have time to answer . Howare the Amway Nutrilite Products ? i am going
to join with intention of consuming some Nutrilite Products 😉 not for making business.

You’re an idiot , at first I thought you were making a valid point about some idiots comment, but when I looked up from your comment & looked at theirs, I saw that they didn’t use that many capitals at all. So, no, you’re the idiot. You rude dumbass.

havent started yet but i dont trust it so im most likely gonna deny my recruiters this saturday… to have to buy into the company is BS in itself

interesting

TonyGonzalez1 Good work, don’t trust any multilevel marketing scam (MLM) All of them conceal the 99%+ loss rate that consumers are bound to face due to the impossible math of a pyramid scheme. It’s not opinion, all MLM companies carry an investment loss rate greater than 99%. Companies like Amway, Herbalife, Monavie, USANA, NuSkin, Veema, Xango and a few hundred others, all scam you by implying you can earn extra income by buying into the companies products, and then recruiting new participants who sell and recruit for you in something they call a “downline.”

These businesses sell the hope of getting rich by recruiting recruiters to sell overpriced products that don’t move in real markets. The products of any MLM have to be extremely cheap to manufacture and must retail at inflated, unrealistic prices because in effect, the products are simply used to move money into the pyramid scheme. Just remember that there are several hundred MLMs in existence in 2014 and all of them are scams.

Thank you for sharing your experience with Amway. They have definitely impacted the world. I like learning from people’s experiences like yours. Thanks for sharing!

One of my best friends (whom I’ve known since the 3rd grade) has become a Amway IBO. He and I are very close, however we have different interests. He invited me over one night to participate in a meeting and I agreed. After the 2 hour long meeting, I knew that this was a scam to make money off of him. I tried to tell him and convince him that Amway will just make money off of his hopefulness by selling him hope (making him buy motivational tapes). No doubt I love the guy, but damn his pride. He’s a very committed guy and great at whatever he chooses to do. 
Apparently the lesson they are currently teaching him is to not affiliate with those who are not interested in Amway (myself and numerous other friends). So it sounds like Amway is not only trying to take over his life, money, and hope but now they are trying to have him stay away from his friends. Even true friends.
Well Amway… I want you to know that even though your system may be very manipulative, you won’t be able to mess with me and my friends. You can try all you want to tell my best friend to forget his friends, but you won’t have the control to tell his friends and tell them to stay away from your loyal IBO. I hope you burn in hell for being responsible for ruining other powerful friendships due to your greediness. It’s never going to work on me or my best friend. I’m an electrical engineer who’ll do my best to provide him 20 times better advise than you’ll ever give him. So go ahead and try to tell him different, I don’t mind handling a challenge.

Lmao i like how these amway fanboys are calling people that have real jobs broke lol 99% fail rate.. Dont use that excuse that people don’t put in the work, I can put in 100% effort to sell dogshit, but I wont make anything cuz its still dogshit. You are ignoring the 99% fail rate and apparently ignoring the 100% success rate if you get a real job. I heard someone saying you aren’t bound to the 9-5 chains in amway . As a Real business owner and many real business owners know that in owning a Real business u wish u had that 9-5 and thats it. Owning a real business is 24/7. So pull ur heads out of ur asses

I agree most have a high loss rate because there is no system in place to help. I have found one which is already in the global 100 in its first 3yrs of business. The CEO takes no salary and inventory is free. You can’t loose with a guy like Jeff Olsen leading the way

i am a amway ibo and i love the freedom it give me of not having someone tell me what to do, yes it work no not event your upline it not work, you meat people help people plus the new items they have gotten are better then anything you get in the store today

I used to be an Amway and NuSkin distributor. I think the biggest problem with this type of business now is that, everyone knows about it and have heard about it.  There are so many many companies just like this and many more coming into the market. People are just plainly sick of hearing MLM product proposals. I do see a problem with this type of business but if your committed and willing to work hard, I can see that you will be successful.  I am not one who want to continue pressuring people to buy and make the minimum purchase to get my commission.  Many fail because they value friendship over their business and they don’t want to constantly hound their down-line to make their monthly quota.

Good on you for sticking up to your friend . Back in 1997, I was introduced to Amway. I even went to the conference that was in another state, here in Australia.
It was really stupid and like a cult.
I hated it. I would never hassle people to make money. It is so wrong on so many levels.
I don’t even like Amway products.

luv sweets That’s very cool that you wouldn’t want to hassle people for money. The problem with every MLM is not that you must hassle others, it is that you must lie to them at the same time. For a little bit of money. Not cool. And not legal under FTC Section 5.

Using the “amway scam” keyword and fooling people saying that Amway is a legit company. What happens is, this post comes on top of search results when some one who wants to know if amway is a scam searches for it in google. Then they convince the person that amway is great and not at all a scam. This is a web technique to distract and fool people, and actually nail them to the cross! I am 100% sure that the person who has written this article is from Amway itself. Stay away from Amway and other MLMs, which are ways of marketing crappy products for a higher price, which otherwise no one would have bought in the market/stores. 
On the author:
Ok, if this guy is atleast 1% true, that he is super successful and everything else, how come his website is worth on $960 after running it for 2 and a half years? Plus, if he is genuine, why has he hidden the contact info and other details on his hosting provider (check whois?) by paying for privacy. No legitimate business does that !
The website statistics on facebook say that: it has been liked only 2 times (proof that no one follows his in reality) and has been shared 58 times (probably this guy has shared it himself). 
http://whoismachine.com/review/nathanargenta.com

I could not agree more that Amway will take over your life and it will also help you lose boyfriends too. My daughter is going to be. Senior in high school along with her ex-boyfriend. His parents have started this and now they brainwashed him into it. His mom talked to my daughter about supporting him and he did too. She stood firm in her answer of “no”. Unfortunately it cost her their relationship of 18 months because she would not support him. Well buddy, good luck finding bother girlfriend as her because you are never getting her back! So sad that he valued Amway over their relationship. I absolutely can’t wait to watch his parents fail along with him, I hope A,way sucks them beyond dry.

Lol doesnt mean you a anway fan that you broke if you with amway and if you still broke. You must be really dumb boy since what you learn from amway you apply it in real life you can be succesful even without amway. You could hate on amway but you still doing your retarded ass job that you dont even like and still be taking orders from others. Grow up guy if you dont like it please dont comment since you know what? YA YOU STILL FUCKING BROKE.

Lmaooo exactly ^^^

Lmao! Thank you ^^^^^^

If your daughter really loved him she would have supported him.I’m positive if they stick through it their business will flourish and the only ones that will look dumb are you and your daughter.

Okay seriously I had to stop and comment because there are several people who don’t know a thing about amway and are spitting these idiotic comments.Look Amway is number one in the direct marketing businesses.That company is great for so many reasons!
One! We provide quality products that give you money for buying them! Not only are they great but they’re biodegradable! (What’s better thsn saving earth) And they have guarantees if you don’t like it.Walmart doesnt do that and your stuff is used for a couple weeks and thrown in the trash.
Two! Even if the person is above you.As long as you built up your own business you will be winning.You can even surpass the one above you,since you guys are so damn worried about your recruiters getting rich off of you.(No one in amway thinks like that btw because sometimes we forget this is a business and we actually see each other as a family working together and supporting one another.)
Three! Not only do you gain friendships but you also learn so many things with these people.They have these inspiring cds about these people who started out just like you did but sometimes in even worser conditions and struggles.
Four! Last but not least! You actually get a shut load of money.Lol.There so much more the bonuses and the trips and the crazy fun events & inspirational conventions! Ufff Amway is amazing if you want to change your life I strongly think you should just go to one convention and don’t let anyone tell you this thing is a scam because the scams are the ones robbing you of your dreams.Goodbye and goodnight

Loved your article by the way Nathan!

yoonyoung People don’t know facts, people are unaccountable, people need leadership period. As a IBO with prior military service and had spent 5 years in the service building soldiers into leaders this business is dynamic. If the plan is not followed it will fail, but only fails if the IBO does not follow the blue print laid out by the upline who has fruit on the tree. Thank you for your post!

snowsean720 The mp3’s are not just for motivation but also knowledge of the business and how to think, multi-millionaires think different from employed people, which is taught through Business of the 21st century it lays the format of how to not think like an employee, being employed is a scam and a pyramid. one you never make more than the ceo, two you pay into social security which you will never see a penny of, that is a ponzi scheme. 

Association is powerful, if you wanna be huge at the gym you associate with built people that is what they are talking about with friends. They are saying surround yourself with like minded people, example; do you spend a lot of time with people that snort cocaine? Case and point.

To your last paragraph, I’ll bury you in facts you can fight yourself all day long, and revel in ignorance, or accept the facts and move forward. This is an open challenge, my number is 503 719 3613 schedule an appointment so we can be face to face, its what real men do, If you can’t rise to the challenge I understand since truth is hard to face.

JonBrandusa luv sweets Are you really hassling? Drop ship to house of products they already buy and are not being paid from? Small business owner vs. Consumer, hands down no contest, tax deductions make money off of products vs. just buying them and going back to your job again for more money? Being broke sure is fun! Apple knows more than all of us, reflecting on others your own insecurities is sad. Yes the challenge is issued and open.

cookie1972 I agree this business shows your relationship, you either build it together or your relationship parishes, not because its bad but because one or the other is unwilling to grow, it also has you learn about relationships an example is reading the book about the 5 love langues to IMPROVE your relationship. You only fail the business if you quit, weird how its like the gym, if you go you succeed if you don’t you fail, challenge is open.

TonyGonzalez1 Oh do you mean a business licence? Yeah your totally right….Costco makes you purchase a membership for 55 dollars to get in or 110 to get 2% back, total scam BS, you need leadership and World Wide Group provides that.

JonBrandusa TonyGonzalez1 Please use QUANTIFIABLE data to back your claims, thanks!

keneddies Like the gym if you get a membership there is no guarantee, it only works if you use the membership.

ElizabethMaryArmstrong : Hey so i just signed up With Amway and I Wanted to know how it all Works. i kind of know how to get income But I Just Waant to know your point of view, can you tell Me?

So you say Amway is scam, then you sell a tool to get people into that scam, you must be kidding!

It’s actually kind of sad and pathetic how many IBOs in this company come in on their own blogs and comment sections of others to stand firmly behind their cult. I don’t blame you guys, it’s ok, you’ve probably already spent a lot of money, probably lost a lot of friends, and due to the con artist ways of your up lead have convinced you that you just have to stay positive as they rape your wallet.
One thing to consider, all the followers of Charles Manson supported him without fail, to the point they were willing to murder for him. Some of these people are still stuck under his grasp thru having faith in his false prophecies all these years later and all this prison time later.
If you actually take a moment to listen to the initial presentation it is chock full of responses that induce excitement and impulsivity.
1) They repeatedly say how if you heard bad things about our company we don’t care and we don’t want you anyway. Anyone saying bad things is wrong. But we have spies in the audience, which they admitted to, to be sure you never touched your phone (explained by checking for bad work ethic, not admitting people are doing research) and immediately after “selected” everyone that simply listened and sign them up.
2) They talk about how you are working now to give more money to your boss, but overwhelm you with slide shows and facts to think no one is going to be making money off you in this company, but then contradict themselves to say the founder owns the Orlando Magic, so he must be making lots of money off us, much more than the 20,000 a year you claim I can make if I convince 75 different people to spend 100 “points” each.
3) They make a list of exclusive major brands like Target, Disney, and Bass Pro Shops. All brands that I do agree are major. But within those lists they sprinkle in the name of their random energy drink and cleaning products as if they will sell themselves on brand popularity alone. I never heard of these brands and consider myself an avid shopper.
4) Just like a sociopath conning you they follow the same practices:
A) sell you all your biggest dreams (financial freedom, cars, vacations) and make you think they are reality. They hijack your fantasies.
B) blame any mistakes you make on your bad behavior and never take accountability. It is never their fault. Yet studies show only 3% of people even make back initial investments. At 97% failure I kind of doubt only 3 in 100 are good employees and 97 in 100 are making horrible mistakes
C) They completely isolate you from family and friends that may have the ability to lift back the veil they created for you and expose the con.
D) after initially heavily inflating your ego they begin to devalue and kill that same ego by constantly telling you how you are not performing properly or being motivated enough.
I apologize to all of you who have been conned. If you disagree with my statements, go google “relationship with a sociopath” or “how sociopaths con people” and you will see the exact facts I stated.
Amway picked the wrong person to play their game on when they picked me. I am a doctor of psychology and have years of experience dealing with PTSD as a result of involvement with sociopaths. It takes these poor souls years to recover from their physical, emotional, and financial ruin left in the wake of a socipath.
Just because it is a real company does not mean it is not implementing sociopathic techniques to win your affection and money.

Amway is not a scam. The reason why people fail to be successful is because it is hard work just like any other business and not because it is a scam. Good people skills is a must for this kind of business and definitely, you need to be intelligent and clever in marketing your products just like in any other business. A lot of people fail in this business because they have little idea about money making skills or business skills. I have worked in corporate and I know the common thing among all the companies in the world is that they exaggerate about products, the lifestyle you will get and the money you will make. ALL companies do that. The only difference is that in Amway you are not sitting in a company building for your work. Rest depends on your selling skills.

I was in Amway but unfortunately with someone who said he put in the work. No he did not. The reality is we were in Worldwide had “friends” our up line saying how much they loved us. I lost very precious years with my babies because we had to go to meetings, out of town functions oh and “show the plan”. Well by the time my youngest was starting high school and all of the “dreams” were nowhere in sight I said “I am done”
We made no money, no “dreams” came to fruition and someone else spent time with my babies/children. And I was to become a certain type of wife. My identity was not mine anymore. Ever heard of Stepford Wife?
Now, after leaving Amway/Worldwide those wonderful “friends” you know up line have never returned my calls.
You can do anything you decide to do. Just don’t give others false hope. Be honest and be you.

yoonyoung how about we just eliminate monthly quota? everything will be perfect. We need to talk yoonyoung. I was with amway not once, but twice. And my only problem with amway is montly quota which is common with most MLMs.

JonBrandusa luv sweets running a business with credibility is very important.. I totally agree. But the problem is not the company necessarily, it is actually the IBOs. well, most IBOs lol

I have heard India has banned 6 of amways product. But I am not sure which one’s are they. Guys could any one please tell me if Amway’s protein powder is also included in the banned list, As I am taking it as a protein supplement. I also just saw a nice review video and thought its good, but I still dont want to be consuming a banned product.. review video I am referring to is http://amwaynutrilitedaily.com/amway-nutrilite-protein-powder/amway-protein-powder/