Is The Avon Biz Bad?....25+ Questions For You To Answer

Hi. I am a student (tarynsavon [at] gmail.com) who is seriously thinking about selling Avon to pay for education.I just read about Avon from others.I was surprised. I have many questions but no one to answer them. Would you please these questions?1.  Can I advertise Avon on banners on any type of website for women or business?2.(#) am i restricted to selling in a certain area or can i sell to anyone around the world?(#) so, the internet can be used for everything and i don't have to have books..right?  but if i need books then i don't have to buy a lot. i can buy just 1 or 2 for those who don't have the internet or for spur of the moment sales a school or something..right?(#) what in the world does having other representatives in the area got to do with setbacks? will i be restricted to selling to people in a certain area? or is it that if you don't use the internet competition for the same customers can be difficult..is that it? please explain.3.  are there applications online? if i sign up online will i pay $20 instead of $10?4.  is this statement true?..Whether you use the website or a local Sales Rep., you will be referred to a "recruiter" of sorts who actually receives 10% of your sales commission right off the top, simply for signing you up.5.   is this comment true?...Avon offers a website where your customers can place orders themselves, which is a total nightmare. The prices are never correct, the sales tax is always off, and the website rarely, if ever, loads as it should. Not only is the website difficult for customers to navigate, but it all reflects on you, their Rep. Oftentimes, my customers would attempt to place an order online and decide to cancel it after it had processed. Guess what happens then? I get stuck footing the bill for their canceled orders! 6.  Is this one true? Avon also offers their Reps. a way of entering and tracking their orders via the worldwide web. I would not recommend using this feature. It has the same glitches as the site for customers, only it's very common for  the site to "accidentally" over-order things for you. I've received cases of products that I never once ordered and then had to try and force these products on my few remaining customers because Avon refused to refund my account.7.  Are the following 3 bulletins true?...How Much Money Can I Make?While I won't say that it's impossible to make money selling Avon, it is nearly impossible. After buying additional catalogs, product samples, printing business cards, the cost in gas to deliver the $2.99 order across town, the products on your account that you never ordered, and all sorts of other fees, you will most likely end up owing Avon money.The Pyramid SchemeRealistically, the only way you can make much money with Avon is to sign up Reps. to work below you. As previously mentioned, anyone in a "leadership role" receives 10% of the sales commission of the Reps. below them. If your Reps. have the same headaches as you, and they will, they probably won't stay with Avon very long themselves.Getting Reps. beneath you is not worth the trouble of spending 6-10 hours a day listening to them complain about all of the problems they have with Avon, questions, and constant contact.The Truth, in My ExperienceAvon promises you that $10 is all it takes to begin your lavish lifestyle of raking in over $100,000 yearly for very little work. The truth is that it's very hard to make money selling Avon or recruiting Reps. because the company rips you off at every given chance and treats their Reps. very poorly. Don't sell Avon. You'll only end up owing them.8.  What do you say about this series of 3 questions?1.  Will I be bound to a district of selling only to certain people in a certain area? if so, then will the website be only for those particular customers to use?"the district manager has given you your very own "territory" of 100 houses! It's too bad that territory doesn't include your actual neighborhood, which another rep already has, but it's pretty close by. The thought of knocking on 100 stranger's doors makes you feel a little unsure, but you can start with the people you already know, and see how you do."2. This is sounding more like a sales job at a corporate office cubicle. I was hoping to get away from that. Exactly how much money am I expected to turn in every 2 weeks or even every month?"Avon will be expecting you to submit an order every time, so you have to try, especially because you have to sell well over a thousand dollars' worth of stuff-every two weeks, remember-before they let you take even a slightly reasonable profit of 35-40%. Think you can do that? Most wholesale markup is more like 200%, but hey, it sells itself, right?3. Are the sales meetings mandatory? If so, am I expected to buy the specials for new products at the meetings?  Is stocking or having inventory necessary or mandatory?"You are the customer. You are the one placing the order, and it doesn't really matter whether you are selling to other people or not, as long as sales get made. 9.  Has the below happened to you or even happened often?In this case, is it possible for customers to return their own products? especially when they do not live near me? Or in another state?If not, then what am I responsible for?Avon Representatives should also watch their Avon accounts for erroneous charges by Avon Products, Inc. I have been billed many times for later ordering fees, when in fact the order I placed was on time. The charge for a late order fee is $7.00. I have had to call Avon Products and request (or demand) that the charge be removed on several occasions.Customer returns can add up as many customers don't like the colors of products, or how the products work (or don't work) after they receive them. The representative is responsible for having to ship the product(s) back to Avon Products if the customer returns them. The Avon Representative has to pay the return shipping when the products are sent back to Avon.Also, with the rising gas prices, driving all around to deliver brochures and customer orders isn't very economical. I spent a lot for fuel when I was delivering brochures and customer orders. After considering what I made in commission (versus fuel costs), I didn't profit anything.9.  This Customer fee and return fee is sooooooooo surprising. are they real?*The 'Order Processing Fee' Avon charges you, which is about $2.50 per Campaign.*If you happen to be a few hours late placing your order, you will be charged a $7.00 fee.*If one of your customers decides to return an item for any reason (as Avon advertises), you will be charged a return fee of around $5.00.It does not take an accountant to see that by the time you get payment from your orders, not only will you not break even; you will be in debt to Avon. The only way you will make any money being a regular representative is to have several hundred dollars of orders per campaign (so you will be given a mainly 50% discount at that point), give little or no discounts, order absolutely nothing for yourself, be very strict with your customers (refusing late orders and returns), and order the very basic brochures to give to your existing customers. This proves to be impossible for most Representatives. 10. This Customer fee and return fee is sooooooooo surprising. are they real?*The 'Order Processing Fee' Avon charges you, which is about $2.50 per Campaign.*If you happen to be a few hours late placing your order, you will be charged a $7.00 fee.*If one of your customers decides to return an item for any reason (as Avon advertises), you will be charged a return fee of around $5.00.It does not take an accountant to see that by the time you get payment from your orders, not only will you not break even; you will be in debt to Avon. The only way you will make any money being a regular representative is to have several hundred dollars of orders per campaign (so you will be given a mainly 50% discount at that point), give little or no discounts, order absolutely nothing for yourself, be very strict with your customers (refusing late orders and returns), and order the very basic brochures to give to your existing customers. This proves to be impossible for most Representatives. 11.  Are reps this horrible?  will the below pertain to an online web business?If i decide to sell to people in the neighborhood,will i really be bound to a certain area and have todeal with other reps bothering me?*Hostile Representatives in your area who will do anything to get rid of your business, so they can "claim" the neighborhood as their own.*Other Representatives who inconsiderately steal other area Rep.'s customers and drive all others out of business. 12.  Please explain this..Exactly what does sub-par mean?*Avon's sometimes sub-par products. Although most products are a good deal-occasionally you will be sent something that is of poor quality and over-priced (which can be embarrassing for you as a Rep.).13.  how do you get around something like this?Avon's Representative pricing can sometimes be misleading, and you may order something and end up paying much more than you had planned. 14.  is there a fee for accepting credit cards on avon websites?The Return Guarantee and credit-card acceptance should be up to the individual Representative and not advertised on the brochures (especially if fees are to be charged for returns or credit card imprinters are required to be purchased).how much in products will i have to sell to afford the monthly website charge?Avon-sponsored websites should be either offered to each Representative as a free service or offered for much less than the current $15 per month (plus set-up fee). A monthly fee of $5 or less is much moreseriously. do i have to build a down line of reps in order to make a real buck with the avon company?Until Avon decides to make the changes I mentioned above, the only people who should consider selling Avon are: -Those who go into Avon with the intent to become a manager and have a large "downline" of regular Representatives underneath them (from whom they will make a commission).THIS COULD BE ME..at least one of these samples.  Tell me your truth. Is this comment correct?As it currently exists, Avon is definitely not for people who are low-income and are struggling to put food on the table every night. It is also not recommended for the lower middle-class, stay-at-home mother who has very little access to the "outside world". Though there are rare exceptions, most of the people in these categories will not make any profit and may even end up owing more than they can pay (and possibly causing embarrassment and problems with an unsupportive spouse).In conclusion, keep your hopes and dreams-but don't waste your time and money on something that will sink your boat before it even leaves the dock! While Avon offers some great products at great prices for the most part and can be a good business opportunity (better than a lot of other companies out there) for the right people, most should not pursue selling it. Avon has the possibility of being great, if the company would truly focus on "empowering women".15.  Calculate this for me...if i want to gross $600 each month to help with school, transportation, food, etc. and i don't want to buy extras like books and samples and i only want to buy the internet each month,and i want to figure in losses like customer fees (is there a such thing for internet sales?), broken items, returns (unpredictable, but figure an average amount that is usually seen) exactly how much in sales would i have to make each month?if i wanted to gross $2k each month to pay for everything like a housing, insurance, bills, etc, exactly how much would i have to sell online?16.  I am told that Facebook and Twitter are my only choices..if facebook and twitter are the only 2 places i would allowed to advertise on, then how in the world am i to get traffic for the website?  i would love to hear the answer for that one.  please explain.and why only facebook and twitter? is there something wrong with the other social places? or does Avon own or partner with facebook and twitter? or is it just an extension of the concept of marketing to family and friends.17.  How do you sell via the internet? do you have parties? i have no idea how to plan a successful internet only business and i want to talk to 3 internet only high rollers to see how they advertise and drive traffic to their Avon website. what do you use besides twitter and facebook. if you are one, please tell me how. if you know people like this could you pass my email on to them so they can tell me what to do.  thank you.18.  can i do a commercial/demo for youtube.com?19.  What are the places that I can go for an Avon Mentor?  I like the blogs I see, but what websites, forums, communities, chats, etc. can i get more mentoring information and tips from?20.  i saw directories for women, business, start ups, etc.if i researched it, i may find a directory for cosmetics.is it okay to list Avon in these places?they are a type of advertisement too.in that sense, i found linkedin.com to be like a business listing as well as a professional networking place. is it okay to use this site?21. i saw this on a forum site...is this true? how do i get an ingredient list of all the products?Avon's products aren't good anyway. Their full of chemicals. I got a pair of flip-flops from Avon as a gift and they had a tag that said they could cause cancer.