|  | 
10-11-2008, 09:36 PM
| | Trilla | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Orange Park, FL | | | Anyone know anything about international marketing companies (networking)?
Sign in to disble this ad
I just had an interesting phone call with an old friend. For purposes of privacy or whatever, I'm going to leave out the name of the company and my friend.
Anyway, he told me about some side work he's doing. It's with an international marketing company. The problem is... that's about all I know. I'd have to attend a meeting to find out more.
From what I understood, you basically network with people. The idea of the company is to direct customers to shop online, rather than entering a store. This way, the company saves money for shipping and you can get a cut. Basically cutting out the middlemen. I understand everything about the process EXCEPT what I would do to direct the customers online.
He didn't mention anything related to actually making money. It just seems like the point of the business is to simply inform others that it exists, and get them to join. Then there is an endless amount of people who know about this company.
It sure seems like you'll make money for doing nothing. But obviously, the world doesn't work that way. It just feels weird. For instance, I had to log onto a site as a guest to get this information. Makes me think they want my IP for something. And then I get asked some out of the blue personal questions, like what my girlfriend's name is, etc. And the fact that I'm not obligated is iterated several times.
It just feels off to me, and I'm probably not going to bother with it. I don't know what could be done with the information I've given away, anyhow. It was probably just my friend being curious about how my life is now, since we haven't talked in 5 years. But the fact that this whole company seems shrouded in secrecy, it makes me wonder about it. I can't even find their website, or any information pertaining to the company through some major search engines.
Basically, has anyone went through this type of experience? Any information about it would be appreciated. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I think it's just differing views. He believes in that company, but I think it's a scam. So I feel like I'm being deceived.
__________________
Posted up in front of Popeye's in a Maybach...
Last edited by RandomEvent : 10-11-2008 at 10:11 PM.
|
10-12-2008, 09:16 AM
|  | Supporting Curmudgeon Moderator | | Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Suburban Chicago, IL | | Sounds like a typical multi-level marketing scheme to me. How recently had you heard from this friend before this? MLMs typically want you to contact everyone you know to draw them in.
Not that Wikipedia is the authority in anything, this may give you an overview of the business model: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing
__________________
Ken
If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.
As I cuddled the porcupine he said I had none to blame, but me. |
10-12-2008, 09:22 PM
| | Trilla | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Orange Park, FL | | | Thanks for the info.
__________________
Posted up in front of Popeye's in a Maybach... |
10-12-2008, 09:27 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Rochelle, Illinois | | | Many companies make money by redirecting the products of others and pocketing the difference in price after the transaction without actually adding any value to the product (such as a physical distributor might do). This is always parasitic to an economy and too many such companies taking money out of the system without adding any value hurts the economy.
IMO.
__________________
Purple is a fruit.- H. Simpson
|
10-13-2008, 02:14 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Finland, EU | | | If you don't find any info about a company in the internet, it's quite certainly a scam. A marketing company that doesn't even market itself in the internet?
__________________
"..one day when someone comes up to you asking for advice you realize that it's never been the equipment at all." - Ken Rockwell, photographer
|
10-13-2008, 06:35 AM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Eh? | | | Asking personal info straight up? Are you sure this ain't some Scientology subdivision?
__________________ Quote:
Originally Posted by tom once dead  Also to prove my Australianism, I've been stung by an irukandji jellyfish before, while snorkelling at an island looking at stingrays. | |
10-13-2008, 01:28 PM
|  | The older I get, the better I was. | | Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Pasadena, CA | | | If it doesn't sound right, it likely isn't. These days, pretty much ANY reputable company can be found somehwere on the internet. |
10-13-2008, 01:48 PM
| | TB's resident Rush freak | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Minneapolis, MN | | Quote:
Originally Posted by L-A Asking personal info straight up? Are you sure this ain't some Scientology subdivision? | SHHHHHH! They're everywhere!  
__________________
Lefty Union Member #101
Minnesota Bassists Club #10 Quote:
mongo2: "Well, you did barf on your bass."
Fassa Albrecht: "It was an ACCIDENT!"
| |
10-13-2008, 01:53 PM
|  | The Lowdown Diggler | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Huntington Beach, CA | | | Pyramid scam. Good luck with that. |
10-13-2008, 02:17 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Madison, NJ | | Quote:
Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar Pyramid scam. Good luck with that. | Yep, if it sounds too good to be true, it definitely is.
It's a shame pyramid scams get passed off as "marketing" companies, giving my future field a bad name.
__________________
- Timothy P. Lyons
Your Neighborhood Friendly Candyman
|
10-13-2008, 02:18 PM
| | The Lowdown Diggler | | Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Huntington Beach, CA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by tplyons Yep, if it sounds too good to be true, it definitely is.
It's a shame pyramid scams get passed off as "marketing" companies, giving my future field a bad name. | Yeah I never got that either. I used to work in an ad agency and I did a lot of marketing stuff. This stuff is not even close. |
10-13-2008, 02:20 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Harpers Ferry WV | | | Stay FAR away. Someone will be getting rich, it won't be you. |
10-13-2008, 03:31 PM
| | Trilla | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Orange Park, FL | | | Thanks again everyone. I'd come to the same conclusion. I just asked here in hopes that my friend wouldn't be trying to rip me off or something. Well, maybe he really believes it. I certainly don't. I won't bother with it anymore. I never planned to.
__________________
Posted up in front of Popeye's in a Maybach... |
10-13-2008, 03:44 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Eh? | | | Calling a pyramid scam marketing is like calling 4chan graphic design.
__________________ Quote:
Originally Posted by tom once dead Also to prove my Australianism, I've been stung by an irukandji jellyfish before, while snorkelling at an island looking at stingrays. | |
10-14-2008, 02:32 AM
|  | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Quote:
Originally Posted by RandomEvent Thanks again everyone. I'd come to the same conclusion. I just asked here in hopes that my friend wouldn't be trying to rip me off or something. Well, maybe he really believes it. I certainly don't. I won't bother with it anymore. I never planned to. | As they say :
"With friends like that, who needs enemies!!??"
__________________
“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
Charles Mingus | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off | | | |
