I was in Amway Australia. This review covers my experiences. You’ll discover if this is a scam, and if this MLM is one that you should go ahead with.
It’s tough for me to admit this, but I didn’t see any scam. Well, that’s because it’s not a scam at all, as they are a real and certainly legitimate company in Australia that has been running for decades.
Look – I was new, I was young, I was naive and they caught me out with their hype.
But the truth is, in 202023 it’s incredibly hard work to build most MLM businesses. And this review by an Australian will tell you why.
Pro-tip: If you’re constantly being asked by friends and family, then just say no. Of course, in a kind manner. 🙂 It really helps them out, as they might think you’re still interested, so they can instead focus their efforts on others that might actually be interested in this opportunity.
Amway has somewhat of a global reputation and that is undeniable. But the opportunities they claim to provide for those who want to join it require a lot of work.
They do offer multiple ways to join their community as an IBO, also known as an Independent Business Owner. While some of these might seem tempting, the chance of success (6 figure income) is quite unlikely.
Let’s see why I would say no to the “opportunities” that Amway,
You will spend money before making any
First thing you will need in order to officially become an IBO with Amway is to be one of their clients. This means you will be buying products that you might not always need or even use. It can be exciting because you will make all kinds of plans about how you can use or potentially sell those products.
After a while, you will realize that you are just spending money to remain active in the Amway scheme. Often this is done with the hope that soon you will get a nice income for all your dedication. Some people do stay for the products which are of great quality,
You need to pay to get yourself motivated
Your upline will provide you with a lot of motivational stories and materials. This helps to keep you interested and engage in the Amway opportunity. After all, you need to know what your dreams are and what you are working towards.
But these materials that are meant to keep you motivated don’t come for free. If you refuse to pay for the variety of training materials that your upline person recommends, then you might really struggle. Selling these materials is just another way for Amway to make money before you do.
People simply don’t make enough money with MLM
There are a few people that make an income on Amway by selling the products to others and recruiting individuals just like you. I’ll certainly praise that! But the percentage is definitely not one that works in your favour.
The odds of hitting a 6 figure income are incredibly low and for some members, even close to zero. It might seem like it is worth a try as long as you have nothing better to rely on, but truth be told, there are some excellent opportunities out there that don’t involve selling to friends or family.
It’s many hours of work
If you think it’s just a few hours a month to make a solid income on Amway, then think again. You will most likely spend a lot of time (and money!) going to events, speaking to friends and family and generally without an income initially.
As a beginner, it’s even worse! You will need to understand the system, learn sales and marketing, in order to find the best recruits for this business.
This implies hours of searching, talking to potential clients, getting to know the products you are promoting and finding those individuals to recruit. It’s tough, really tough.
But it can work. It’s a heck of a lot of work. If there’s one challenge, it’s building an Amway business.
The middle man will always be there
Your Amway sponsor will be your boss. You have the possibility to become a sponsor as well, for the people that you recruit, but you are never truly independent in this business. If you were independent, you could sell the business for a profit.
But it’s not your business, as it doesn’t belong to you. It’s owned by Amway, as per the Terms and Conditions. This is totally OK if you choose to just be a customer. But if you’re looking to build a solid business, then you will have to take part in a variety of activities such as seminars, conferences and showing friends/family.
You really need to be great at sales
If you have no sales experience, making money on Amway is simply a long shot. You need to know how to advertise and sell the products that this company provides for you. And you need to have great communication skills.
Popular YouTuber Always Marco talks about recruiting in this video:
For some people, these abilities come natural or after many years of study. At the same time, others might start from scratch if they want to activate in this industry. But even so, Amway would have to be one of the toughest MLM company to chase.
Amway Australia has some bad reviews
Before you devote yourself to
The harsh truth is that when something seems too good to be true, it probably is. This is the case with most of the MLM industry. Please note that some people leaving negative reviews aren’t actual representatives, either past or present. So take other comments with a grain of salt, as I’m someone that was in this scheme.
If you want to give it a fair try, remember that it’s going to be a lot of work. I’ll say that it’ll be much tougher than you ever expect it to be. Much like any type of business, whether that be online, offline, a hybrid or MLM scheme. It takes a lot of courage and dedication to find success with anything.
Alternatives to Amway (That aren’t MLM)
So what would I do instead? The truth is that eCommerce is knocking out network marketing companies. Amway, being so big, might be
It’s becoming tougher and tougher for MLM schemes to launch going forward. The consumer is becoming more informed since it’s not 1994 anymore and research online is super easy. After all, you found me through a Google search, just like you’ll easily find better opportunities than Amway.
I’d highly consider building an online business as I have done three times over now. I have multiple sources of income with the best part being that my customers always win, every single time.
The Road to Success in 2023 is EASIER
The truth is I quit Amway. This is because the road to success was a lot tougher than many other opportunities out there. By choice, I consider myself a winner actually having cut my losses short.
I’m not the only Josh who quit Amway either…
Seth Godin, in his book called ‘The Dip’ highlights that quitting is 100% OK if it’s justified. It’s called strategic quitting, where you leave behind things that aren’t serving you, or those that you think won’t serve you in the future.
With MLM schemes, I know that it wasn’t for me. Plus, I didn’t want to be the 1 in 1,000 to win if 999 people behind me are losing.
When to say YES to Amway
To be fair, I want to detail the times when you should say yes to Amway Australia, or any other marketplace.
- You are prepared to put in a lot (and I mean a lot) of work
- You’re passionate about the products and the value they bring
- Friends and family keep asking and you don’t want to feel bad
- You just want to enjoy the products without doing the business
- When you’re not aware of many better opportunities out there
Mostly you do need to be enthusiastic about this company if you choose the business side. This is less important if you just want to buy some products.
In summary
I consider winning when you make a full-time income, after all it’s what we all strive for when building a new business. I have done this multiple times now.
If you still want to give Amway Australia a chance, then I would absolutely go for it. Personally not for me, but we’re all different.
Just say no if you’re being constantly pressured to join because friends and family often think you’re still interested. It’s frustrating for them too, as they could spend that time approaching other people instead.
How Amway Rates for Australian Representatives
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Products and their Value
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Business Building Potential
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Reputation in the Market
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Feedback from Customers
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Motivational Seminars
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Delivery Network
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Friendliness of Reps
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Income Potential
A Summary of Amway Australia
This summarizes my experiences with Amway, particularly as an Australian. I’ve considered that if you’re reading this, you’re either a new person doing research, or an existing representative (IBO) of their ‘system’ in 2019. So this is how I’ve come to this conclusion.
Hi Josh
thankyou for the feedback on your experience and tbh, I feel the same way. As an Amway IBO I didn’t go as hard as you did but my main problem was, I didn’t believe the products were that good or certainly not good enough to promote. As an example, we had the water filter which was fantastic, great filter and actually saved us money annually on the cost of bottled water because we couldn’t stand the taste of the water here in Perth. The only drawback was the annual cost of the water filter cartridge replacement @$320 annually. I say this because we now have a refrigerator with a built in water filter that seems really good and at an annual cost of $100 for replacement filters, is actually way better value.
Anyway, I am still interested in an online business and am considering Shopify, it seems to be getting better reviews that Amazon, what do you think? I am open to suggestions. Your opinion would be most appreciated.
Many thanks,
Adam. VW
Perth
Hey Adam, great to hear about your experiences too. Shopify is a great platform though you will need to find your own customers, while Amazon has its customers right there on the platform. It’s generally easier to start with Amazon first before diversifying towards Shopify or WooCommerce.
Hi Joshua,
Thanks for your insights about Amway and Amazon. Me and my partner just recently joined Amway. I was a bit hesitant at the beginning, but because I can see that my partner really believe that this Amway will work in the next 5 years time, so we finally joined. Our struggle at the moment is how to introduce this platform to our friends and family (the recruiting part)., definitely not easy.
We are not from sales background and totally don’t know how to do it. But at the same time, I also half way of learning on how to sell on Amazon (before I join Amway). At first,I thought maybe I can do both Amway and Amazon, I want to give my full support to my partner. But deep down myself, I have this voice telling me that I should focus on either one, because both businesses require sum amount of money, and I don’t want to waste it just on products to meet the points. I do admit the products are good and I like some of the products. Then the last few days I started to find the facts for both businesses. I found out that Adam was in Amway business when he was very young (yes, I’m one of the RE students, thanks to you Joshua! 😊). Then, it got me thinking deeper why is Adam doing Amazon now instead of doing Amway, he must have the answer. But I’d rather do more research online and when I get across to your blog, where you were one of the IBOs as well, and choses Amazon over Amway, it’s actually opening my eyes. Tbh I need justification, because it’s for me and my partner’s future. Thank you for sharing Joshua!
I just have another question, I still haven’t decided if I should sell on Amazon US or Amazon AU due to the pandemic, riots, and the not good relationship between US and China and India, in the long run will this issues impact the US market?
Thanks again for sharing your journey and experiences Joshua! I highly appreciated it
Thanks Liny, yes Adam was in Amway well over 20 years ago. I think we know why he’s such a charismatic speaker now… 🤪 There are a few hundred ex-Amway reps in his community actually and even one of the speakers last year said on stage in his opening address “This places feels familiar…has anyone heard of Amway?” lol
I left Amway in 2012 as I realized MLM itself wasn’t for me (speaking to friends and family about an ‘opportunity’ 😐 as a shy person) as well as seeing the challenging nature of the industry. There are still a few good companies out there which are more ground floor as opposed to having peaked in growth many years ago, yet if you want a company that is sustainable and basically built the industry in Australia, it’s certainly Amway. To hide behind a computer, never make a phone call while living anywhere in the world – well that’s best achieved through digital assets and eCommerce such as Shopify and Amazon.
While I think the train has left the station, one good thing about Amway is their annual conference. It’s solid as a personal development conference even if you never recruit a single person, you’ll still get good value.
I’d start in Amazon USA still unless you lack starting capital, then go with our local market for low MOQ orders. This pandemic and riots are just temporary. Remember that Australia is going into a recession right now and this will impact consumer spending. Play the long game (5 to 10 years) as opposed to what might happen next week.
Hi Joshua,
Thanks again for sharing! I have decided to go with the US market and thanks! Is there by any chance if I can contact you in case if I’m looking for some advices or inputs? 🙂
Hello Joshua,
My Wife was recently encountered with Amway Platform by a source from LinkedIn. She is very much interested in this and as per the guidance from the sponsor of her from Amway she now wants me to Join the sessions along with her. I have joined one of the 6 sessions before registering with Amway and after the session (Also based in the previous knowledge about Amway) I noticed that it all depends on selling the products and adding people to your network.But, the sponsor suggests that selling products is just 10% of income generated and 90% of income will be from building the network. I have mentioned the same with my wife but from the sponsor she was influenced by the fact that just building the network and using the Amway products for ourselves and by the post network people would do in fetching a profit for us. I don’t believe it to be the case, What I felt was the main source of fetching a profit would be by selling the products.
We are currently working elsewhere Monday – Friday and we were told that weekly 12-15 hours of work for Amway will do and after 3-5 years of time we can quit our current jobs and completely shift to Amway.
Could you please give me an insight of it and Correct me if I am wrong in Understanding the concept.
Thanks in Advance!!
Hi Sai, I believe the sponsor is correct – roughly 90% of results do come from building the network (i.e. asking your friends and family to join) as opposed to selling the products themselves. It’s just harder to sell the products typically than to recruit others into Amway’s system. There isn’t much profit in selling the products unless you tie it in with a wholesale distributor which is quite difficult and must be aligned with Amway’s policies and procedures.
In terms of input hours, it’s a total piece of string, unfortunately. For some people, they might see results sooner than the hours you have described, but others can do the same work for 7 years and still only yield a part-time income (if any), so it isn’t like a job where you do X and you get Y after Z amount of time. It all really depends on a myriad of factors including your past experience, confidence levels, how serious you are and whether your friends and family are receptive of the idea of enrolling. Once you’ve maxed out selling to friends and family, then it can be quite difficult to scale.
My #1 recommendation would be to ask your sponsor to help you interview 5 people in Australia who have quit their jobs and now earn a full-time income through Amway in the last 2 years. Ask them how long it took, where their profits came from, what challenges they had and what they wished they had known before they started. This will help you build confidence in their system in 2020 or at the least, find out if this business model is right for you.
Hi Joshua,
Thanks for your time. Your explanation was extremely helpful!!. I will definitely follow your recommendation and will ask our sponsor.
Thanks Again!!
Hi I found this online. I think you are directing towards right direction. Help your wife to build the business. To be honest Joshua hasn’t understood the concept if entrepreneurship or anything about how amway works. But he has written a long story based on his opinions. May I know which platform you are in. I mean the education system. Please do not get advice from who already quit from something it will make you also a quitter. Amazing opportunity leverage it. I’m an engineer and last four years myself and wife building the business go-getter. Any significant thing you need some efforts.
There is not free tours to success. Some people want easy money . But amway gives you really money so need some real efforts. Thanks 😊
Amway marketing has conflict of interest and is not an ethical business model
Really funny reading through these reviews. Anything worth while requires hardwork. I’m not defending any of these companies Amazon or Amway. Because these companies know that their success and wealth isn’t determined by any opinions but they do welcome honest & constructive feedback just like any other business who strives to bring a fair compensation for people they associate with.
MLM OR NWM platforms has been battered badly by those who can’t develop a growth mindset on seeing the value of the vision to impact people, because they are in it for themselves.
So if you have failed in pursuing partnership with multi Billion dollar companies who have given you a fair go. Then maybe you will continue to fail in other ventures. But I guarantee you a 100% you will succeed in your job because you would rather someone tell you when and not to have a break or a RDO.
If you really want to know from the source I honestly encourage you to call the company directly and speak to the ceo. Rather than taking the opinion of someone who failed miserably in it and then now making it your truth.
Amway is a great company, they have impacted thousands of people to reach their dreams by leveraging their compensation plan. Meaning they have made it available worldwide for you to build a network asset in any country that’s available in. Just as Amazon and Uber or AirBNB.
It only works if you put others before your own selfish desires. I live tonserve people and help them achieve their dreams. As a buy product my goals and dreams are reachable, only by helping others discover their dreams because they have been blinded by society to build their bosses dreams.
Good luck in finding your own truth and if a job in 30 to 50 year plan is what fills your cup, the. Goodluck to you also.
criticise Amway & promote your business at the end, is an old technique now.
See how he promotes FBA at the end (many people fail & succeed in FBA also). do share that stats also
I started my journey with Amway 4 years ago, now I am a Platinum in Amway & making more than $6k (in hand) per month from Amway business
It was consistent effort of 4 years that my wife is free from job & soon in next 1-2 years I am planning to come out of job & build Amway business full time & faster.
If you are looking for quick rich scheme, better play lotto.
IMO it’s just as “easy” to get your own products and sell them these days, keep a higher margin and do a better job without annoying your friendship group with MLM rubbish.
Just search online for “how to start an ecommerce brand” or “how to start a cosmetics brand”.
Find suppliers on Alibaba, test them, negotiate terms, go private label, do your market research, launch.