Vector Marketing and Cutco

Dekabal

I have a friend who recently became involved with selling "Cutco" knives for Vector Marketing. I've heard both names before but neither has been in a good way. I want to make sure that its actually a scam before I go to my friend about it. Right now he's doing their training program where he has to pitch to 15 people nad apparently he gets paid for it. If it is a scam, can you guys/girls tell me how it works or give me a website that explains why its a scam so have something to show him?

matt has a problem

It's sort of a scam. You have to buy your display kit, then they basically get you to herd in other people to sell for them. If you have a ton of gullible friends and no scruples, sure, you can make money selling crappy knives. Most people just end up out the money they spent on their display.

skeldare

It's basically a pyramid scheme. You're also not alone, there have been others here who've basically asked the same thing

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/15196112

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/10406315

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

It's not a scam (per se) and people apparently do make money at it (just not very many.) Basically you buy the display kit/materials and become a traveling knife salesman. This is how Vector works (they sell encyclopedias and knives and who knows what all else.)

Unfortunately most of these 'salespeople' quickly exhaust their personal networks (and most people don't need a full set of relatively low-end kitchen knives anyway), so it's difficult to recoup your investment.

ed: it's actually not a pyramid scheme; there is a product you are selling which the purchaser does receive. It's just not a particularly great product, and a hard sell even if it were.

oldsak

It's not a scam per se. It's pyramid marketing, which is basically as close as you can legally get to a pyramid scheme.

Dekabal

Thanks for the help everyone. This confirmed what I was afraid of. I talked to my friend and he said he would quit (luckily he hasn't sunk any money into it yet).

JebusUD

Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote:

Unfortunately most of these 'salespeople' quickly exhaust their personal networks (and most people don't need a full set of relatively low-end kitchen knives anyway), so it's difficult to recoup your investment.

That is exactly why they are always recruiting. Basically they recruit you and you buy a display set. Then you sell some knives to your family and some friends. Then you have a hard time selling to anyone else and quit. You can make some money, but it isn't great, and you really have to know how to sell if you are going to do it. Otherwise you just sell to a few people and then leave the job.

Shogun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing

I know of only one person who made money working for Vector and that was because she worked administration at an office.

XArchangelX

Yeah, it's not illegal, but I think it's scammish because the way it's sold to you. You go in thinking you're going to be selling knives as your job, but your actual job is to recruit other people to sell for you. You can make money if you're super pro at recruiting people. Otherwise, you're kinda screwed.

MichaelLC

Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote:

It's just not a particularly great product, and a hard sell even if it were.

Now I've heard that the knives were actually pretty good. The business model is complete shit, but thought the product was decent - maybe that's changed?

AlyceInWonderland

The knives are balls awesome, but everything else about the company is shitty.

I forget where I read it (it might have been here actually), but this guy got sucked into giving an interview, and then stayed for an "orientation". When he realized it was bullshit, he got up to leave, and the guy giving the orientation called him a loser.

Classy folks, there.

JebusUD

MichaelLC wrote:

Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote:

It's just not a particularly great product, and a hard sell even if it were.

Now I've heard that the knives were actually pretty good. The business model is complete shit, but thought the product was decent - maybe that's changed?

I did this for about two weeks. I still have some of the knives. They are nice and have nice handles. But I dunno if they are "balls awesome" or worth the 250$ or whatever for the set. You can probably get decent knives at a normal store for cheaper. So, decent, but expensive.

Tomanta

Yeah, way I hear it is the knives aren't bad but not worth what they cost.