Friends,
There are a lot of pre-occupations, apprehensions among people regarding Network Marketing and companies operating in this domain.
And the major reason for all this is Information not being shared with people in proper form, people being ignorant, and few people who try to project themselves as High Intellect Person, they pretend to be very knowledgeable on this subject, advise people with their half knowledge.
Here We are disecting an email doing rounds these days. A very foolish copy pasted material sent across in emails. Our Postmortem report is in BLUE colour.
"Hi
TO ALL MY FRIENDS,
PLEASE DO NOT MISUSE FRIENDSHIP FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES. I am writing this mail after being deeply hurt
DISCLAIMER : It's true that I haven't gone through all the materials for the different companies operating here. In fact I'm still pretty ignorant about them. If something I wrote doesn't seem right or fair, please correct me. I also am still learning about this subject. I will never be responsible for the contents of this mail as those are my personal views based on the contents obtained from the internet. I've never belonged to QuestNet, GoldQuest, or any similar organization, and I have no financial stake in their success or failure. However, at least 6 people have approached me about these companies during my last two weeks, including close friends, so I've done some reading about the advantages and disadvantages of joining. Here are my conclusions .
Your disclaimer (a good jargon) suggests that you are not well read about the direct selling businesses but still you are being very particular in suggestions, warnings and conclusions.
Anyways good editing work accomplished out here!!!
I suggest rather than pasting all the material from a particular blog and making it a striding mail in the name of your conclusions…you could have simply put the link….you picked it from a blog where all were not s/w professionals but here maximum are…..anyways good compilation.
It is unfortunate and hurting that some of my close friends are trying to use friendship for business purposes .
Oh boy it's a big blooper…ur close friends!! and again they are using u people as business objects…..I think friendship needs a whole new definition out here…
You are accepting here that you are still learning on this subject..... dont you think its too early to start deriving conclusions ???
A. The good
1. Some participants will make money.
The nature of these companies is that older members are rewarded by profits from sales to newer members. If you work hard, sell skillfully, and are one of the early joiners in your region, you may indeed make a profit.
I guess only hard work pays off not your early joining. One who knows the system very well won't deny the fact that one who has joined later can even earn more than his predecessors (Balance factor).
But how will you know since you already mentioned that you are not acquainted with the system.
But are you a analyst.."The good". In depth knowledge matters??? …oho…sorry I forgot it's a copied material!!
B. The bad
1. The great majority of participants will lose money.
Unfortunately, if you work hard, sell skillfully, but are late to join, it's practically impossible to make enough sales to make a profit.
In my analysis I have the advantage of a computer science education which taught me about trees. One interesting property of binary trees is that the number of nodes with two children is always less than half the total number of nodes. Examples:
# with 2 children: 2 # with 2 children: 4 # with 2 children: 7
Total # nodes: 5 Total # nodes: 11 Total # nodes: 15
So, no matter how many people join, more than half of them will lose money. In practice, in these organizations it's not enough to have only two other people beneath you – to make a profit you need more. So the number of people profiting is actually far fewer than half.
Anyway you don't need to study computer science to see that most participants lose money. You can just read about the many other countries where these systems have already bankrupted large numbers of people: Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, the Philippines, etc. See the links below.
Hey comp. professional, is businessman and salaried professional synonym. Your 'The bad' suggests that both are.
Did all six of your friends (they approached you correct!!) promised you a fix return kind of salary in this business???
Is every business venture a successful one?? I have studied somewhere (with your permission to use words like somewhere!!) that 9 out of 10 businesses started by salaried professionals are failures because they lack business expertise (lack of funds, in-depth knowledge, trusted resources, business acumen, patience etc.).
From your suggestion it seems that nobody should try out any kind of business venture because not everybody is going to earn and because business requires investment which is nowhere compared to network marketing and you will go bankrupt.
And of course to support even my argument no computer education is required because everything is quite explicit!!
You have said network marketing has bankrupted people..big talk…Just one single person can you present before us who has gone bankrupt.. Just one…just one….can u!!!!!!!
You can't because the investment required is never that high in network marketing but you won't understand. You just need to go through marketing basics.
I firmly state that there is nothing called as small time businesses only small time businessman.
Those who strive hard always end up winning.(let me see your links and answer at the end of the mail).
And yes..... Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Philippines..... business running absolutely running fine in all these countries..... We have personally met people from these countries who are really doing great in this business.
3. Time spent on these systems distracts people from productive work.
Of course people are free to spend their personal time and money as they choose. However, from a broader point of view, a society suffers when smart, hardworking citizens leave school or quit their jobs to devote themselves to unproductive work.
You may ask: why is work for these companies not "productive work"?
This is a fair and subtle question. Here's how I see it. "Productive work" is effort which satisfies someone else's pre-existing desire or need. A street sweeper leaves the street cleaner for those who walk it. A taxi driver helps people get where they want to go. A computer programmer causes a computer system to behave as a user requires. Even a prostitute can very easily defend her work as satisfying a desire.
Are you trying to get nominated for some critic acclaimed awards? or recently you have started reading editorial sections of various newspapers.
Anyways you are merely trying to measure the depth of the sea by romping on the sea-shore.
Just for your knowledge sake utilizing spare time is a productive work. Your examples are good but of no relevance out here.
Nobody is pulling out time from office hours and people are just utilizing their spare time where normally you spend more time and extra money.. here you save it all.
People who are associated here.... are majorly working on weekends and after office hours.... We strongly believe that we are utilising our TIME here and making few extra bucks.... Now you are free to consider your Time on weekends as productive which you pass by watching TV.
But the only benefit produced by these companies, aside from the indirect benefit of sales training, is that a minority of their members make profits – and these profits simply come straight from the pockets of the majority, who lose out. No other service is provided. They're just a complicated way of shoveling money from one person's pocket into another, with the biggest recipients sitting in other countries.
What will you say about the companies whose manufacturing units are outside India and they are just marketed in India . Nike shoes, high tech devices like chips,cells n all .. the biggest recipients sitting in other countries.
For your knowledge every company which wants to do business in India has to get registered under Indian companies act 1956 and if it's a foreign company they have to invest back some protion of their profit…
Questnet enterprises India private limited is properly registered under that act and hence agreed to all laws.
You can always check out the in mca.gov.in (ministry of company affairs website).
http://www.mca.gov.in/DCAPortalWeb/dca/compName.do
Other references:
1. Indian Government Certification of incorporation for Gold Quest International Details CIN : U36911TN2001PTC46464 under the companies act 1956 (Number 1 of 1956 ) on 18.01.2002 given by Mr.M.Chandanamuthu, Deputy Registrar of Companies Tamil Nadu .
2. International Certificate of Incorporation for Gold Quest International by Territory of the British Virgin Islands The International Business Company Act ( CAP.291,292) Sections 14 and 15- Number : 234644 On 16th September 1998
And quest is paying proper custom duties as others:
India Customs invoice details Duty payment to Indian Government at chennai airport on 02.05.2002 of Rs.16,65,931.00 (Sixteen lakhs sixty five thousand thirty one only) accepted by Mr.T.A.Subbiah Deputy finance manager of the State Trading corporation of India Ltd, for 100 gold coins &100 silver coins (3110.40 grams gold & 3 Kg Silver) from Honk-Hong, worth $20650 (Customs Duty Rs.25 for per gram gold, 2.5 % service charge on CIP value. Through The State Trading Corporation of India, TNGST Number 0300185/1.4.95, CST Number 20436, Area Code Number 016 Chennai House 4 th Floor, 7 Esplanade, Chennai 600 108. e-mail sts.chennai@vsnl.com
Direct selling is legal in India and that is approved by government of India and I guess your views are entirely personal. for your information and learnings which you need badly :
20.02.2003 The Hindu ( Business line ) Direct selling is legal - Government of India Direct selling companies seem to have got a clean chit especially from the government in a statement to the Lok sabha, the minister of state for consumer affairs, food and public distribution said '' The provisions of the prize chits and money circulation scheme (banning) act, 1978 seeks to ban the promotion or conduct of prize chits and money circulation schemes. The provisions of this act had come up for scrutiny before the supreme court of india, which has ruled that the ' Network Marketing Plan' and direct sales of goods and services by the direct selling companies do not fall in the mis chief of the afore said act. The Indian Direct Selling association (IDSA) in a press release said "this answer gains significance in the backdrop of genuine direct selling business being wrongly equated with ilegal money rolling/pyramid companies this answer should put to rest any doubt that may have arisen on the appliciability of prize chits and money circulation scheme (banning) act, 1978 to network marketing or direct selling companies." Mr. Harmeet pental, chairman IDSA said that direct selling was recongnised and legalised form of selling genuine products in over 100 countries. in india this methodology was being confused with money circulation schemes due to lack of accurate information and understanding of the concept.
Government of India clarifies on direct marketing companies. The centre has clarified that direct selling/network marketing companies do not fall under the preview of provisions of the prize chits and money circulation scheme (banning) act, 1978 which seek to ban the promotion or conduct of prize chits and money circulations schemes. This clarification was given in the lok sabha a couple of days ago in a written reply by the minister of state for consumer affairs, V. Srinivasa prasad. He said the provisions of this act came up for scrutiny before the supreme court which ruled that the 'network marketing plan ' and direct sale of goods and services by direct selling companies would not fall within the ambit of this act. Quoting the minister clarification Mr. Harmeet pental, chairman, indian direct selling (IDSA) said this answer gains significance in this back drop of genuine direct selling business being wrongly equated with illegal money rolling/pyramid companies.It should also put to rest any doubt that may have arisen on the applicability of PCMCS act to network marketing or direct selling companies. He said that current members of IDSA includes AMC cookware and amway india enterprises and added that direct selling was a recongnised and legalised form of selling genuine products and services in over 100 countries including Japan, the U.K., the U.S., Europe and south east asia. under the IDSA banner a consumer had the right to get his money back within a specfic time period without any questions asked. This clause in the world federation of direct selling association code of conduct protected the customer from any pressure sales.
Now you can even challenge TDS(Tax deduction at source), form 16A , ISO9001-2001 Certifications.... I can do nothing about it because you are not fully acquainted.
4. These systems encourage you to think of friends and relatives as potential sales targets, rather than as people you respect and love.
This is what I most dislike about these companies.
If you haven't already, you will probably soon encounter the phenomenon of the friend/relative who suddenly can't shut up about how great this company is and how dumb you are for not joining. Now, it's a feature of capitalist society that we are surrounded by unpleasant people working hard to convince us to buy things we don't want. But it's very sad when the person pushing you used to be your friend.
To me, the greatest tragedy in other countries hit by these systems – greater even than the bankruptcies and the suicides – has been the large numbers of former friends who end up bitterly divided when one or both go broke. As one Sri Lankan man said (just before the pyramid there did indeed collapse): "How will I face my colleagues and friends whom I persuaded to invest in the firm if this scheme collapses, as I hear it has in other countries?"
I have already mentioned that your conclusion about your friends is entirely demanding for a new definition for friendship.
Now don't talk about capitalist society as I don't want to be Marxist in defense.
Marketing of cell phones, refrigerators, Televisions could get hit by your staunch stance as everybody has already one and now it's just these big companies are creating needs…
And I don't get any broader sense by your arguments.
Just answer me when somebody buys a car he just invites 10-15 people for pooja and somebody opens up a shop and invites 300-400 of his acquaintances. Will he sell them for fewer prices because these people are his friends….
Nobody wants to spoil friendship for a meager benefit its just they are sharing the business opportunity.
"Aside from whether you approve of them, do you know if these companies are legal?"
I've read that they've been made illegal in some other countries, including Nepal and Bhutan (see links below). I've heard different claims. The thing is, I don't care too much. Even in the world's most responsible countries there will be things which are legal but not right, or illegal but right. Governments will never be in a position to make all our decisions for us.
"Not all network marketing/multi-level marketing companies are scams."
This is true. For example, in the US, Tupperware has historically used a somewhat similar scheme to sell its products. (See the Wikipedia articles on "Multi-level marketing" and "Pyramid scheme", linked below.)
The difference, once again, is price. Tupperware containers are popular for their own merits and are bought by non-members who consider them a good deal. These non-member customers are why Tupperware has existed for decades without collapsing.
However, as far as I know none of the companies using these techniques operate like Tupperware. Instead, they sell products pretty much entirely to their own members. No non-member would consider paying the prices they charge. What they're really selling is membership, and when they run out of people who want to buy that, those who joined last will find that what they bought was worthless.
Again you have copied a lot a grasped a little.
"Government is being responsible in making traffic rules and people in breaking them"
I have already replied regarding legality in India.
Did you ever check out nike's latest collection range starting with 7200..my god just shoes…that to just marketed in India but whats the compostion????
Is there any logical argument behind the Peter England shirt being close to 500 and
Provogue being 1400….is the cloth material only playing crucial role in price tag difference???
Arvind mills make denim cloth for almost every denim jeans brand in India but again some are sold out for 300 and some for 2500…why????
And if you know the answer than next time you won't ask how much gold?????? Better you look for other cost comprising factors.
Regarding case against V.eswaran:
There's nothing to worry about the charges as this has resulted from a dispute among initial founders of GQI (GQI WAS EVEN NONEXISTENT AT THAT TIME) way back in 1998 when they all were working as partners namely Vijay Eswaran, Joseph T. Bimark, Tagumpay Kintanar, Donna Marie Imson ...so this particular person who has filed a case Patrick c. zunigi from phillepines, was separated from the organization Diversified Global Holdings on the basis of noncommittment and other issues. This was well with in the rights of board of directors and then he filed up a case of cheating of his own share,the case is till date a long pending one 9years .
Now in the court of phillepines they have to be present and if Vijay Eswaran is a malaysian citizen and other 3 being fillipinos(citizens of phillepines)but currently outside country, Interpol would be contacted by local authorities that is the procedure world wide and red alert by interpol means the member countries of interpol have to honor that in any case.
Nothing could happen in these type of cases either people are absolved of the charges or there's outcourt settlements.
Now even World bank president Wolfowitz has been removed so does that hamper World Bank initiatives.
Many a Top Directors of big Indian companies are facing charges should we quit those companies??
"NST(News strait times) said the official also claimed that the 'issues relating to the matters reported, including in respect of Indonesia and one of QI's businesses, had been overstated and inaccurate"
BUT ALL THIS HAS GOT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH GQI (GQI WAS EVEN NONEXISTENT AT THAT TIME) AND OUR BUSINESS. THIS IS MATTER BETWEEN THE GUYS AT THE TOP AND A PERSON/PARTNER EXPELLED.
We need not worry about all these.
Amidst all this V-JAKARTA international concert for QI Group was a big-2 success
6. "Do you have any links with information about these companies?"
Sure. Here are a few:
· Pretty good Ethiopian Reporter article about GoldQuest:http://www.ethiopianreporter.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3461
Did you read out the conclusion (final three lines) of the article.
· Long and detailed argument between people for and against GoldQuest, including many good links by a passionate critic named Python (not me!): http://forums.vr-zone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=19179
Did you read Python's comments carefully ??? Or just jumped to the conclusions ?? Here what he says.....
" It has been banned in Nepal and Bhutan and has collapsed in teh Phillippines, Sri Lanka, India and a number of other countries."
He mentioned INDIA also there..... Do I need say more ??? He says it collapsed in INDIA also.... BOY... within two weeks you said 6 people approached you... and your Python says it collapsed in INDIA... Its making me laugh MAN... To me it seems he is just one of you who doesnt have anything PRODUCTIVE WORK to do.
For your KIND INFORMATION GOLDQUEST is doing business in all these countries NEPAL, BHUTAN, SRILANKA, PHILLIPPINES. There might be turbulances at times as the LAW of the LAND is not the same in all countries of the world.
Even your PEPSI or COKE do not operate in all the countries ??? They were also dragged in controversies having PESTICIDES in the drinks......
Merely a blog and I can suggest you a few blogs which even say that due to outsourcing jobs which you people are doing have actally compelled US people to suicide…..so its ur choice how you take the blogs……
How do you react to the news that IBM USA is planning to lay off another 1.35 lakh workers and these jobs could be outsourced to India…..please do some research on this issue as well because even those unfortunate people are humans……
· Details about Sri Lanka's disastrous experience with GoldQuest:http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/89307/1/85http://www.pyramidschemealert.org/PSAMain/news/srilanka.htmlhttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/26/microsoft_trumpets_pyramid/
I have already mentioned with India it's a altogether different scenario and everything which is sold out in India but not manufactured is causing the money to flow outside. But should we take it that way than who will buy our exports.
Are you supporting globalization?????
With srilanka and other poor countries the conditions are not good for investment (internal wars n other factors)….so their central banks thinking is partially right…
But we can't compare it with our country.
Even in INDIA while we were a very conservative economy.... MNCs were not allowed to operate in INDIA.
· Two interesting critiques of MLM (multi-level marketing): http://www.quatloos.com/mlm/mlm.htmhttp://www.vandruff.com/mlm.html
Two interesting critiques….
You study the Pros of the system:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizopportunities/networkmarketing/investigatinganetworkmarketingcompany/article35744.html
In the most legitimate MLM companies, commissions are earned only on sales of the company's products or services. No money may be earned from recruiting alone ("sign-up fees") that is registration fees in our case
If participants are paid primarily from money received from new recruits, or if they are required to buy more product than they are likely to sell, then the company is a pyramid or Ponzi scheme, which is illegal in most countries.
We are into referral marketing we don't buy and sell or have targets or annual purchase.
Are you able to distinguish between making money and loosing money??????
· Wikipedia on some related subjects:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_schemehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMM_(pyramid)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Albania(search for "pyramid" – yikes!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki :- we can always edit(add, delete and modify) teh things over there so its just a channel not a source. We can add other links showing everything as positive so even that should be believed. why only negation???
· And of course to be fair you may also want consult the companies' own sites, such as: http://www.quest.net/http://www.goldquest.com/http://www.zlighthouse.net/
· Or, do your own online survey by Googling "goldquest" (or "goldquest pyramid", etc).
Try out other things and justify them as well and then say is google a judge:
http://www.billparish.com/msftfraudfacts.html Microsoft fraud
http://www.petitiononline.com/mno87918/petition.html Reliance into illegal activities
Try and find out what pepsi and coke has done to the world and india and all negatives and spread a campaign against them rather than relishing coke on pizza-hut .
And now you carefully study above two…what should I take and I know everything don't put me a reply…
AND BROTHER NOW I AM TIRED OF REPLYING YOUR MAIL SERIOUSY…NEXT TIME JUST WRITE DOWN YOUR VIEWS…DON'T COPY IT FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE……
Government has already done their part way back in 2003 and everybody of us know that except for you people who just know one side of the story.
RBI and Railways released special coins at occasions and were auctioned for many times higher prices…..is this a foolish act????
FAO of the United Nation Ref letter of FAO (UN) SP 23/4 - 07/11/2001 Says that To Whom It May Concern - FAO has granted to Gold Quest the exclusive world wide rights to conceive and implement numismatic programmes for gold coins, denominated " FAO Gold Coins Programme " using the FAO name and/or its emblem and bearing the inscription " Fight Hunger to reduce poverty " or any other inscription agreed upon by the parties, Gold Quest has been appointed by FAO as " Exclusive World wide Agent of FAO Gold Coin Programme " , The rights include conception, production, sale and distribution of gold coins bearing the name and/or its emblem . Signed by Siday Aidara Chief - Unit for Liaison with national Committees ( GIDN ) .
Do you think that UN(FAO), Vetcian city, ahimsa foundation, TTD trust, Jagannath puri temple, Manas kalian, Devi durga trust , Royal authority of Bhutan,TITAN and all those authorities are big fools to have tie ups with Quest.
Regarding cases and everything I will just say that we don't hide any facts if u don't believe me ask any of the members.
Now these type of things come and go, so there's nothing called as a cause of worry.
We are all responsible people and even we can't deny our accountabilities.
We first carry out research and then comment which is not visible in your mail.
YOUR Conclusion: QuestNet is another MLM scam which is propagating like Chikungunya in India. My advice is please do not join in such schemes. 99.99% of the people lost their money in any MLM scheme. Please be aware of it...
You said 99.99% people are loosers. My dear computer professional just study basic maths and than think logically if only 1 out of 10000 is earning how long the system can sustain.
Was this a some kind of joke. You say that you are serious and then you act senselessly like a big dumb and please..please don't just copy blogs and mention them as conclusion in your name.
(Think thousand times before you write(..copy…) such a long and tiring mail…..)
Last but not the least thanks a lot dude...people like you keep us awake and aware all the time. And its just a reply to the mail nothing personal
