Is it common to lose money when selling avon?

Question

I am not referring to when you spend your profit on avon. I am thinking of selling. I am a stay at home mom just looking for something to do during the day. I don't need to make tons of money on it but I want to break even at least. I don't know how much the catalogs, bags, and samples are. If you have any answers, thanks.

Answer 1

This is a good question! Of course you can lose money when ever you go into business for yourself. But let me just tell you my experience since becoming a rep last summer.

I just want to sell makeup on my website, which I list below, but whenever anyone found out I sold Avon, they always said "I love Avon!" or "I buy a lot of Avon stuff, I just never had a rep until you moved here" So to make a long story short, I am now selling at a 50% profit.

There are a lot of ways to lose money in sales. I have heard about a lot of ladies losing money because people order but don't pay. Avon doesn't make you pay upfront but my rule of thumb is to only order something IF the customer pays upfront. I have been very polite to my customers when I tell them I only accept cash before I order and they always pay. This way, you are not stuck with a lot of stuff~! Also, you need to refrain from buying a lot of stuff yourself when they have sales, in hopes of selling it, later. You will have the opportunity to buy at discount prices once you KNOW what your customers want. For instance, I have a lot of customers who buy Imari for themselves and friends, so I bought a bunch wholesale. But this is the only product I buy in bulk.

As for bags, cheap. samples are inexpensive unless you give them to everyone in the world. Until you start making money, you can get free samples with the new products, like fragrances. I like to buy lots of foundation (makeup) samples, cuz that is the only way to KNOW if it will match. I only give them to ladies who are looking for foundation.

Catalogues: you can buy just a few at first then as your customer base grows, you can buy more. Shipping is free once every 2 weeks.

Avon is generous with their profit margins. Your first 4 campaigns will reap you a 50% profit, so you might want to get your list made up in advance, especially now that Christmas is almost here! You might try an open house type party with a bunch of brochures and take orders for Christmas!

I think it is only 20 dollars to sign up. If you are interested and need someone to help you get going...I would be happy to show you the ropes, of course it would have to be online only, since I live in the Southwest.

Good luck in your search for a new 'career'.
Ginny

Answer 2

It depends on how much money you put into it. Avon is great because you only pay your membership fee which if I remember is quite small compared to other businesses. You do have to buy the books to give out but they're not a lot either. But you don't have to buy a stock of product to give out like you do with say Mary Kay or amway. One of the things I used to do was to buy the sample packages of a bunch of products...they're not a lot either (I think $1-$4 depending on what it is) and I'd get a selection of perfumes and creams and lipsticks, etc. then I'd have an "Avon Party" and invite around 5-6 people, let them look through the books and try out the products, I always sold a lot that way. This time of year you'll want to order some of the Christmas decorations for yourself, they have some really nice ones, the trick is to order them in the first campaign they appear in then when you have your party and people can see how nice they look they'll order them too. Don't order anything you don't want to have for yourself anyway, but try to do it that way when there is something you like. If I remember correctly I had to sell about $300 worth of stuff to make $100 for myself. It's something you can definitely do and if you're proactive about it (having the parties etc) you'll sell way more than that in no time. It's like any other business though, it takes time to build it up and if you just drop of order books you won't sell as much. Good luck and have fun with it!

Answer 3

There is generally an upfront investment in certain supplies like samples. Then you get the product for a lower price than your customers and make money off the profit. With Avon, you don't generally have to keep inventory (you can just order it when someone orders it from you), but if you do keep an inventory and don't sell what you have ordered, then you can lose money.

Answer 4

Bags and samples are not that expensive..the books are about 50 cents each..My mom sold Avon and gave it up because she got tired of the bull. they would send her products she didn't order and charge her for them.She then sent to back (supposed to be free) and they always charge you a fee when you have to send something back. the last few months she sold it, people would order things and AVon either always ran out or forgot to send them..Then we have to call long distance and talk to them and tell them to send it. They have went up on taxes twice in a year.. They charge 75 cents to each customer just for placing an order. my mom did O.K. She didn't get rich or anything. The biggest problem was that they sent too much, not enough, or the wrong item..They always overcharged us. Good luck if you decide to do it.

Answer 5

I have made a couple of hundred selling AVON. It costs $10 to sign up and you can cancel at anytime, you don't have a minimum order so the potential is very good.

If you want to talk more about it you can email me at [e-mail]. I am not into leadership or anything so I won't try to sign you up. :) You can just ask more questions if you would like.

Answer 6

I'm a stay at home mom also, and I would like to share what I do with you. Contact me for more info. [e-mail]