If You Sell Mary Kay Products on eBay…Beware!

Just wanted to post this to increase the likelihood that resellers and liquidators will see this. I have posted this on eBay as well.

Mary Kay Inc Files Lawsuits Against Numerous eBay Sellers of Mary Kay Products

Dateline: December 4, 2008

If you sell Mary Kay products on eBay…beware! Mary Kay Inc. may be coming after you.

In the last week, several eBay sellers of Mary Kay products have been served with lawsuits.

You may also be aware of the ongoing lawsuit that Mary Kay Inc. filed against Touch of Pinks Cosmetics, and eBay seller who also runs a separate online store selling Mary Kay products.

The Mary Kay consultants who spend their days policing the listings on eBay and turning Mary Kay sellers in to Mary Kay Inc. are surely gloating and celebrating now. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that these sellers have done anything wrong. And especially given that Mary Kay Inc. has yet to win any judgment against seller Touch of Pink, these additional lawsuits seems a little premature and aggressive.

If you sell Mary Kay products on eBay, I would urge you to make sure you be careful — whatever that may be, I suppose, at this point. Mary Kay Inc. is out for records from these sellers to see if they are purchasing products from active consultants and directors in the company. They assert that this is interfering in their business.

We will have to wait to see how this all plays out, but either way, it is vitally important to anyone liquidating all those excess Mary Kay products on eBay, and for that matter, other sellers of similar products.

Don’t Confuse Sales Hype For Positive Thinking

If I had a dime for every time someone calls this site negative, I’d have quite a few dimes! 

One of the immediate indoctrinations new Mary Kay consultants are subjected to is the idea of “positive thinking”  They are encouraged to eliminate all “stinkin’ thinkin’” from their life to open the door to success in their Mary Kay “business.”

Now, I am a FIRM believer in the power of a good attitude. I’m especially convinced of the need to be able to “see” the outcome you desire, what many call visualization. If you can’t imagine an certain scenario or outcome, it’s doubtful you can experience it, as you have to be able to even see it as a possibility. So you won’t find me dismissing some of the tools that many who talk about positive thinking.

BUT…the rah rah sales hype of Mary Kay functions is really NOT the same thing as being positive.

It is, however, a good sales practice used by many companies, designed to get members revved up and excited, to overcome the discouragement that often accompanies sales. You see, as humans, we just don’t feel great when we put ourselves out there in the world and receive rejection. As a sales person, you have to keep knocking on doors and calling people, no matter how many “NOs” you receive.

The mistake that many in Mary Kay make is thinking that even speaking of these doubts or challenges is negative.

It’s NOT. It’s smart.

How effective do you think many of our businesses or even the government would be if they only talked about great something is, without acknowledging the obstacles or challenges that exist as well. If they never brought up the so-called negative stuff, how would anybody create strategies or plans? How could you anticipate things and create “Plan B”?

Being positive is not about letting only cute little motivational sayings cross your lips. It’s about being SMART. It’s about seeing the big picture and choosing to continue to move ahead. It’s about embracing your failures instead of coming up with euphemistic phrases to cover up your pain and need for collaboration, as in having a bad week, yet coming to a sales meeting saying that your week was “unbelieveable.”

The Mary Kay brand of “positive thinking” can make one feel truly depressed in a short amount of time. One can’t continue to lie to themselves and continue forging along and it isn’t wise either. What’s needed is a true, honest discussion of the challenges the salesperson faces and talking with others to find ideas. And NOT just sugar-coated ideas that don’t even translate to reality.

The “positive thinking” served up by Mary Kay is dangerous. It’s a kind of brainwashing that works well for the company, getting women to continue buying products they probably won’t be able to sell. It’s clouds the eyes of women to what’s really going on.

Did You Ever Give Mary Kay Products As Xmas Gifts?

I was just thinking about this the other day…

Did you, when you were a consultant, ever give MK products as gifts as Christmas?

This time of year, every Mary Kay consultant is being bombarded by ideas for packaging “gift sets” for the holidays to tempt their customers. And being encouraged to host an Open House, which, for most consultants, are a complete waste of time.

I certainly sold a few things around the holidays, but by no means as much as directors would have me think I should. From listening to them, it would seem everyone gives nothing but MK at Christmas.

And I never gave MK as a gift at Christmas.

A Story From a Male Mary Kay Consultant

Your Name: Thomas

Date Joined MK : June 1995

When Left MK or Still Active?: June 1998

Initial Inventory Purchased: 1200.00

How were you recruited?:
I met an MK consultant at a municipal fair who had a booth there with another consultant. At the time, I was selling Avon products. I expressed interest in MK products and their business plan. About two months later I signed up with MK.

Memorable experience you had in MK:
The great weekly sales unit meetings. I loved them! Very useful information on sales, marketing, and presenting information on the products.

What did you learn from MK?:
I learned alot about sales techniques, product presentation, and building your own self-confidence.

What are you doing now? :
I am a waiter. I have a master’s degree, but jobs in my field are scarce.

Additional Comments:
I have fond memories of my time as an MK Consultant, and I was so impressed with the high caliber of women (and one man) whom I associated with in Mary Kay. I can see both the great things, and the negative things, about the company.

Rachel’s Getting Ready To Do a Facial, But Took Time Out To Tell Us How Wonderful MK Is

Your Name: Rachel

Date Joined MK : 04/28/2008

When Left MK or Still Active?: Still Active

Initial Inventory Purchased: $200.00

How were you recruited?:
Asked to have a facial, loved the products and asked to have an interview and thought it would be right for me.

Memorable experience you had in MK:
First seminar just past July, It was so well put together and it was just a real eye opener about how you can make this business work for you!

What did you learn from MK?:
Being a Mary Kay Consultant is a great way to meet new people and help out women all over.

What are you doing now? :
Getting ready for a Facial.

Additional Comments:
I love my Mary Kay business! If you do it correctly it can give you wonderful things!

True or False: It only costs $100 to join Mary Kay

TRUE and FALSE.

To become a Mary Kay Consultant, you must sign an agreement and pay $100 for your “starter kit.”

However, in order to stay “active,” you must place a $200 wholesale product order with the company every three months.

Now, it makes sense that you can’t just sign up and never place a product order. That would be silly, since the whole point is to sell the product. And it makes sense that in order to be considered a Consultant that you would have to order certain minimums to be able to represent the products.

What doesn’t make sense is the big presentation on “initial inventory packages” that comes after one has signed the agreement, and the sudden push by your Director to start your Mary Kay venture with hundreds, even thousands, of dollars worth of inventory.

The problem is that in my observation and experience, Directors almost always emphasized the $100 starting figure and never mentioned what came after that: a hard push to buy an “initial inventory package.”

Many women know nothing of the impending “Inventory Interview” they will be subjected to once they join MK and many current consultants feel guilty recruiting women with what they feel is only half of the story.

Quit Calling Us Negative

I’ll keep this short and sweet.

Why do Mary Kay consultants show up here to tell us, very impolitely and usually rudely, how negative we are?

It always amazes me how nasty some of their chastizing comments can be, yet they come here to call us negative?

I think a lot of the anger, the need to call us negative, comes from fear. Fear that if you actually stopped and stepped back from the rah-rah of the Mary Kay cult-like experience that you might see the same things. And that’s scary because then you’d have to deal with lots of things. All the same things that so many of the women here had to deal with.

Critical examination of an issue is NOT negativity. It’s just plain smart.

Brenna Will Be Tearing Up That $100 Check She Wrote Yesterday

Your Name: Brenna

Date Joined MK : August 7, 2008

When Left MK or Still Active?: August 8, 2008

Initial Inventory Purchased: None

How were you recruited?:
I recently moved to a new area and a lady randomly called me and said she wanted to welcome me to the neighborhood by giving me a bunch of free MK products and a free facial. (The “free products” were actually just a bag of those stupid paper samples tied with a ribbon–Thanks for adding to my recycling bin lady) That facial took 3 hours. My husband was pretty annoyed since it was his day off.

Memorable experience you had in MK:
The hilarious “scripts.”

For an answering machine: “Hi Sue. This is Mary. You ARE coming to my Mary Kay Debut, AREN’T you? I REALLY need your support. You CAN come, CAN’T you? I KNOW you’ll be there. I’ll count on you as coming unless you call me. Can’t wait to see you!!!!!”

Can we say “shoot me now to redirect my agonizing pain?”

What did you learn from MK?:
That all of life revolves around winning a free watch.

What are you doing now? :
Full time parent, part time art instructor.

Additional Comments:
I was actually really excited about the idea at first. I am an artistic stay-at-home-mom, and the thought of doing makeovers for a living was attractive. So, I sent in my hundred dollar check with the lady who came by today. Not until after I signed everything, did she tell me that the minimum starting inventory was $600! Luckily, I had known someone who just ordered as they got orders, so I knew that it couldn’t be the “real” minimum. She finally admitted as much when I pressed her.

Now that I have been researching and thinking about it tonight, I came to realize that when it comes down to it, MK parties are just plain cheesy, as is all the literature that I’ve been given so far. I don’t want to be some kind of pink robot.

As far as “reinventing the wheel goes,” I’m a creative person, and if I were to do it, I would want to do it my own way. No pressuring, just girls having fun gettin pretty!

The recruiter wanted me to make a list of 50 friends/relatives for my debut party, and the script she gave was soooo whiny and pathetic. “I’m counting on you” blah blah. AND she was going to be the one giving facials at the party–some strange old lady no one knows? I was thinking of telling her no way on that humiliating party, but then I started having visions of going door to door in my neighborhood handing out flyers, inviting other full time moms to a block party to meet the neighbors. The tag line would be something like: “How excited would your husband be if you actually had makeup on when he came home from work Friday night?” (Since most moms of toddlers can look pretty haggard at the end of the day)

I did the math though, and I would need thousands of customers to make a living at all. So the question remained, even if that worked, where would the other thousand customers come from?

I already got suckered once with Cutco (selling knives-$215 starter pack-got my money back on that one too). The whole reason I was interested was to try to contribute financially to our family as a SAHM. But it definitely sounds like I would have to sacrifice a lot of family time to be successful at this.

And now, hearing that the product is not all it appears to me, especially that the mineral line could even be harmful… I called the MK lady and told her to hold the $100 check until I can “get more info” from her. She agreed, so I will go by tomorrow and tear it up. Also, I am going to exchange the Mineral foundation powder I bought for the Medium cover foundation. I prefer tumorless lungs, actually.

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who was so helpful in sharing their opinions. You saved me lots of time and money!

Seminar Escalator Accident Sends Consultants Flying

A worker at the Dallas Convention Center suddenly hit the reverse switch on an escalator carrying Mary Kay consultants to lunch on Friday, 18 July, injuring at least 10.

Crayton Webb, spokesperson for Mary Kay Inc., described the women involved in the incident as positive and upbeat.

“That is indicative of the Mary Kay women,” said Mr. Webb

Oh brother.

How incompetent does a worker have to be to reverse the direction of an escalator when there are people on it? Makes you wonder if he just wanted to get his jollies watching these women topple.

Hmmm…how “positive and upbeat” will these women seem if they file a lawsuit for negligence?

In Business, You Don’t Turn Your Customers Into Competition

I remember well the “recruiting interview” I did with what ended up being my third team member.

I went over all the usual stuff and then asked her if she had any questions for me.

She said, “It all sounds great and I’m really excited about Mary Kay. But there’s one thing I don’t understand. Why would you want to recruit me? Wouldn’t I then be your competition? It seems like that wouldn’t be something you’d want to do.”

Yikes! Read more

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