MyMoneyBlog.com

Whole Foods has a new app where you can now order your groceries directly inside (instead of having to go through the Amazon app, which still works too). To get you to try it, they have a $10 off $50 offer with promo code APP10. Works on both pick-up and delivery.

In this current low-regulatory environment, I was surprised to see that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the State of Washington, and Amway just announced a $225 million settlement over “Unfair and Deceptive Business Practices”.

Multilevel Marketing (MLM) firms, sometimes called “pyramid schemes”, have a common set of criticisms and the settlement details offered some detailed examples of those criticisms. If you have thought about joining an MLM, you should definitely read the entire thing.

Most Amway “Independent Business Owners” (IBOs) lost money. Amway promises you an easy, ready-to-go business opportunity. $40,000+ a year on the side sounds great, right? In fact, the majority of IBOs spent more money purchasing Amway products and paid training materials than they ever made back from Amway. Not really a great side hustle when most people joining ended up losing more money than if they did nothing at all. At least if you deliver for DoorDash, you’ll get paid for your time.

The primary goal is to recruit more IBOs (build the pyramid). You end up getting the most commission when you recruit another person as an Amway IBO (who then buys the products), not actually selling products to customers. The products are nothing special. The “business owners” themselves are the source of profit.

Amway pressured IBOs to buy product themselves and then pretend those were real sales. The settlement states Amway and its affiliates deceptively instructed IBOs to falsely report product sales that never happened. This was designed to create the illusion that Amway’s revenue came from legitimate retail sales rather than internal recruitment purchases. This in turn makes the next recruit think it’s a great business.

Expensive paid training materials and seminars. Another significant source of revenue for people who actually made money at Amway was by selling proprietary training materials and seminars to new IBOs. Many are pitched as “required” for success.

Beyond the $225 million judgement amount, which mostly goes to past Amway IBOs, the settlement will enforce the following new rules to try and counter the above dangers for future Amway IBOs:

• Actually sell 70% of your product: IBOs will be required to sell to others at least 70% of the products they purchase from Amway each month.
• Reduced Recruitment Compensation: Recruiters will receive substantially reduced compensation if the IBOs they recruit buy products but do not resell them.
• Sales Tracking & Receipts: IBOs will need to report all of their customer sales promptly, including the actual sales price, and Amway will send receipts to all of an IBO’s customers.
• No paid training during first year. Amway can’t charge new IBOs for any training or “mentorship” during their first year.

I hope that news of this settlement travels so that people can be informed of the potential dangers of most MLM programs. I’m sure some members make a little bit of side income selling the turnkey MLM product, but the facts are the most just get eaten up in the machine and end up with a bunch of unsold product in their garage.

MLMs are definitely on my “Simply Avoid” list. Beyond having to bother my friends and family, most MLMs don’t have much upside potential because the product is a commodity. I would tell my kids that even the more successful Amway folks would have been better off creating their own business based on their own set of unique products, knowledge, and/or skills. It’s very cheap to start a business now – keep your downside low, and your upside high.

Image source: Amway

Audible has a new promo for $0.99/mo for 4 Months + $20 Audible Credit. This offer is targeted but should be widely available for past customers as long as you haven’t done a trial very recently (it worked for me and I’ve done 5+ free trials in the past). Offer ends October 7, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT. Cancel anytime.

With Audible Standard, you get 1 audiobook credit each month, so that’s 4 credits over 4 months. With the newer and cheaper Audible Standard plan, you only get to listen during that month and then you lose it. (Audible Premium lets you keep the audiobooks forever.) The $20 credit should cover at least 1 additional audiobook at full price and then offset some of a second one, which you get to keep forever. Audible Standard renews at $8.99/per month, so be sure to set a reminder after your four months is up (cancel 3 months from now and it won’t renew).

(Note that I am an Amazon affiliate and Amazon doesn’t let me put links in e-mails, so you may have to visit the original post to see all the links. Thank you.)

With Audible Premium trials and book credits, once you buy an audiobook, it is yours “forever”. (With Audible Standard, the monthly free book only lasts during the month you pick it.) You can go back and listen whenever you want, even if your membership is not active. Through these promos I have the entire Harry Potter collection read by Jim Dale (though now they have the new full cast edition) and currently finishing up the Percy Jackson series for the kids to listen to during roadtrips. More recently, Project Hail Mary was also good as an audiobook.