Facebook and Pyramid Schemes

thisismynickname2

I'm sorry in advance if anyone sells things through private parties but I...... Oh wait, I'm not sorry. I hate Arbonne, Lia Sophia, and every other pyramid scheme that results in people talking up their stuff on Facebook. It's not a "party". I procure products I want from sources I want. Don't e-mail me about stuff through Facebook when we haven't properly socialized in 5-10 years. My news feed is already clogged with stuff I don't care about, so you've just earned an invite to my "hidden list party". Buh bye. I actually defriended someone for being so obnoxious with Arbonne and she requested re-friendship multiple times, and wondered to mutual friends why I defriended her, before I finally refriended her. Gah. /end snark and rant

Inkdancer

Ugh, so much no.

The worst one was when my mom's bestie got caught up in this diet shakes one. Every time mom saw her it was, "I think you'd lose so much weight, you'd really like these, blah blah blah" and my mom finally snapped and said "Awesome, thank you for telling me I'm fat. You're the one person besides my daughter who's never supposed to do that." It stopped after that but UGH.

afox007

I'm with you on this! If I see one more Scentsy post on Facebook I may end up losing my shit. Espeically since the offending friend not only post regular invites to "virtual Scentsy parties" she regularly makes into into a self serving fundraiser. "All proceeds from the party for this week go to my medical bills" "Proceeds from the event are being donated to my cousins funeral". 

I know it's better than gofundme, but really  I don't need your sob story to guilt trip me into buying the same candles I wasn't interested in last month. 

FiancB

Ugh yep I know someone that sells those ItWorks wraps things and keeps posting about how it makes you lose weight FOR REAL. I want to smack her up the head. Using facebook for advertising is annoying enough without piling lies on top of it. Somebody else sells Nerium and it is so obvious that the before/after pics just have different contrast settings to make the wrinkles look more or less noticeable. It takes everything I've got to stop myself from pointing it out. 

I did get caught up in it and tried to be an Avon lady for a while. Yeah, huge fail. Which just makes me hate pyramid schemes all the more. 

thisismynickname2

OMG the diet shake thing.  People jumped on that bandwagon for awhile.

I was looking at this like, "Well, you just starved off your baby fat. Maybe if you plopped your kids into a running stroller and exercised in addition to eating nutritious meals with proper portion sizes, you could have gotten similar results."

I mean, the woman looked great, but wrong way to go about it. 

ElcaB

I am with you. I wouldn't even be mad if there was one post that said, "Hey everyone, I'm an Avon rep. If you want to order stuff or look at a catalogue, let me know." But the CONSTANT POSTING IS ridonkulous. 

Not long ago, several friends from high school started selling Visalus. It started with one and then they all jumped on the bandwagon, posting left and right about it. Needless to say, that is a bandwagon I steer clear of. 

climbingsingle

I get invited to these dumb parties all the time. Ugh. 

Kauris

I have a friend that sells that Plexus stuff. The Pink Drink, she is invited to my bachelorette and if she says one damn word to try to sell it while we are there I might push her in the lake.

HisGirlFriday13

I have (had?) an IG friend who ONLY EVER Instagrammed photos of her healthy foods and/or her Shakeology crap that she sells. I finally unfollowed her because I couldn't handle more sanctimonious peddling.

Anyone like that on FB gets hidden, immediately, from my newsfeed. Event invites to parties will get declined the first time and un-friended the second.

slothiegal

Oh god don't get me started.  My cousin is ALWAYS joining up with that shit.  And ALWAYS begging me to buy in.  Yeah, no thank you.

I also always know what I'm getting for Christmas, based on which company she's hawking for that particular year....

daria24

I have a friend who sells some essential oils crap and only ever posts "articles" about using essential oils to replace modern medicine. Yeah, I'll treat my pneumonia with lavender oil. That sounds smart. And she's a science educator. Rage face.

adverb1129

I got tricked into attending an Herbalife sales pitch.  One of my friends is a fitness nut, physical trainer and dancer so, when she posted on Facebook to see who would be interested in doing a 30-day weight loss challenge with her, I didn't suspect anything.  When I arrived for the first meeting it was held at a nondescript storefront and it turned out the challenge was to see how much weight you could lose while taking the Herbalife Challenge.

We're still friends but I'm much cagier about accepting her invitations now.

Bubblegum5586

I also hate the non stop FB posts about shakeology. buttttttttttttt I LOVE Lia Sophia Parties. I love jewelry and I love a girls night so it is a win/win for me. But I contact the rep I know, she has never once bugged me about a party or purchasing from her!

chibiyui

I have a friend who sells scentsey' but she only solicits through a group page, not her actual account. And it's like, once a month. No biggie.

I did have two cousins do mass Facebook messages for things they started selling. Those were annoying.

AlexisA01

I know many people who sell that Paleo Diet food line and then I get the constant "Do you want to make 5000 a month" in a message by my friend who is apart of this new pyramid business. The avon and MK reps are very mellow compared to the Scentsy, 31, and It's a wrap reps.

grumbledore

This is me every single time I get an invite to one of those stupid "parties" or see someone's 300th post about IT WORKS!

cleveralias

Lol.. I have a friend who always bombards me with Scentsy.  What annoys me is that she KNOWS I make candles and melts and sell them at fairs and what not.... why would I want a crappy version of somthing I already make??

mysticl

I hate the parties. You invite me to a party where I'm expected to buy stuff so you can get stuff for free? No thanks.  I used to use Mary Kay but I would just call up my consultant and place an order when I needed/wanted stuff.  I never hosted a party.  

I have an acquaintance who I never hear from anymore unless she is sending me Facebook invite to whatever party she is hosting that month.  She loves to host parties.  She has since become a pampered chef rep and wants me to like her page.  

beethery

FiancB said:

Ugh yep I know someone that sells those ItWorks wraps things and keeps posting about how it makes you lose weight FOR REAL. I want to smack her up the head. Using facebook for advertising is annoying enough without piling lies on top of it. Somebody else sells Nerium and it is so obvious that the before/after pics just have different contrast settings to make the wrinkles look more or less noticeable. It takes everything I've got to stop myself from pointing it out. 

I did get caught up in it and tried to be an Avon lady for a while. Yeah, huge fail. Which just makes me hate pyramid schemes all the more. 

A friend of a friend is a professional hairstylist and he sells all that ItWorks shit and I just want to write YOU ARE SELLING LIES, SIR. LIES! on every post about it.

BreMR

I decline all parties, even if it's stuff I like because I hate the pressure I feel to buy crap in those settings.  I had a friend that sold Visalus and lost a bunch of weight and gained it all back.  Then she tried selling it again and I just thought "you proved that it only works as long as you drink that shit..." 

No thanks. 

Marzipan13

Ugh, I can't stand these things.  One FB friend sells ItWorks wraps... another sells Shakeology... another sells Mary Kay...  The worst part is, ALL THREE of these people pull the "I know your wedding is coming up and..." card.  I FUCKIN' HATE IT.   "I used these wraps before my wedding, and it saved me from altering my dress!"  "I drank Shakeology and lost ____ lbs; I know you're trying to lose some weight before the wedding, and I really think you'd love these!"  "You'd really love these Mary Kay products, you can use them for your wedding makeup!


ETF: weird boxes today

climbingsingle

I once attended a Pampered Chef party. I knew they had some pretty neat stuff and I love cooking. I ended buying a few things (that I still use regularly) and stupidly gave the woman my email address. It's been THREE years and I still can't get her to stop emailing me. Every 3 months I get a newsletter from her and a request to throw my own party. I know, I should block her email. 

vh2014

I love my Pampered Chef stuff... and my consultant does NOT post all over her FB page so I'm ok with her and have remained her "friend".  She's a past photography client of mine and I like casually keeping up with what's going on in her life.  I have a few other friends that sell stuff and they post so little about I couldn't tell you what it is... I do look around Christmas time for those posts but generally they post about their lives and that's why I keep them as friends.

BUT I have two different friends that won't stop with the "pink drink"... and all I can do is laugh.  The "I lost 30 lbs since Christmas!" makes me want to say... oh yeah... I lost 40 from January to the end of April on the "clear drink" (water) and the "exercise juice".  I don't... but after reading this thread... I really, really might.  Maybe they'll defriend me. One can only dream.  

grumbledore

I will say I like Mary Kay products, but I buy them from a friend who only orders stuff for people when they ask her to and never tries to sell me anything.  I do get the emails, but they filter into Promos in my Gmail so I only read them if I want to.

SharedJoy

I hate hate hate it when FB friends have shit to sell. One lady constantly posts about Scentsy and when orders need to be in by and her online parties and 'only need $500 more to make my goal'. This is followed by the Disney trip they can afford to take every year because of Scentsy, followed by how their car is breaking down and how she has to walk to the store, and finally followed by how her daughter had a diaper explosion and how she is thankful that Scentsy smells so good. Ugh. (We are no longer friends)

Don't even get me started on being invited to what sounds like a fun Girls Night In but then find out you have to pay $20, bring a snack, and then they want you to buy super expensive products.

pinkcow13

Ugh I hate this stuff. My cousin (also bridesmaid) is selling jewelry for Chloe and Anna? Or who knows, anyways, she asked if I would host a FB party. I told her I would (as long as she does all the work), and ONLY because she is my cousin, and bridesmaid. I'm hoping she decides against it, because she has not mentioned it lately. And I really hate crap like that. We'll see if I can figure out a way out of it!

thisismynickname2

You know what? I'm fine with some of the products too, like Mary Kay. I'm fine with people who are sales reps but don't solicit and are just there if you want to order. 

I do wonder what possesses otherwise normal women to all of a sudden start writing these! super! awesome! facebook! posts! about! how! awesome! their! products! are!

Brainwashed? I just don't get it. Why the fuck do you all of a sudden care so much about ugly purses (I'm looking at you, 31.)  Boredom? Unfulfilled in life and need to feel like a business owner in control of her/his own destiny?  

grumbledore

Those fucking Thirty One bags are so fugly I can't even.

grumbledore

SO UGLY.

thisismynickname2

haha @grumbledore, my best friend was conned into attending one of the 31 parties.  Every woman there but her had kids, apparently. So not only was she subject to ugly stuff, every sales pitch was along the lines of, "And this is perfect for packing Cheerios!"

Not that the sales technique in theory a bad thing, but, ugly combined with lifestyle/no-baby shaming was not her cup of tea. Get us a purse that has a pocket for a flask and then we're talking. 

AzAnnie

I have a friend who keeps trying to sell miracle wrinkle cream and another who posted 12 great things about the miracle wraps! It was done in 12 separate posts!!!!!