Image via WikipediaEvery business is about adding VALUE to something. The short version is the old adage "buy low sell high". A restaurant take raw ingredients, cook them, and create dishes which it then sells to customers. Buy low (prep) sell high. It adds value to making the food cooked and edible.
A supermarket selects produce and other products from various vendors, ships them to the market and presents them to customers by giving them convenience by offering everything they need in one place with vast selection and good prices. It buys low and sells (somewhat) higher. It adds value to the merchandise it sells by providing convenience of selection and location.
You get the idea.
Business need labor. They need workers to perform functions. Restaurants need cooks, waiters, dishwashers, busboys, and more. Supermarket needs cashiers, stockers, managers, and so on. But it doesn't change their fundamentals: buy low, sell high.
Even MLMs like Amway Nu Skin, and so on do "buy low sell high". You buy stuff cheap from Amway, and sell them at a profit to other people (who are NOT Amway members). Added value is in having a local rep that essentially sends stuff to your house and visits you to talk about new products and usage tips and whatnot.
TVI Express sells a bunch of empty promises to members for $250, and when there's enough $250 gathered, they pay out a small portion ($10000) to one guy and claim this is a business. What it really is: a pyramid scheme.
FACT: TVI Express sells nothing
It is hard for me to understand how can people accept a scam such as TVI Express as a legitimate MLM for over a year in the United States, and no one bothered to ask this fundamental question: what does it sell?
TVI Express FAQ #3 was very clear, "You do not need to sell any products".
What sort of business is it if it sells nothing? How can it make money without selling anything?
Yet it does take in $250 + fees per member. And pays a member $10000 if they can recruit 200+ other members (not necessarily all by him or herself, but through his/her downlines as well). In fact, recruiting is the ONLY way to get paid in TVI Express. There's nothing about making money by selling anything. Most people don't even know what they're supposed to be marketing, except TVI Express itself, which is just recruiting.
There are all sorts of weasels out there claiming TVI Express does have a product. however, what sort of product is it when it's NOT even on their website? Also, a product in a MLM is bought by members and resold to outside (non-members). Can you even do that with TVI Express? No!
Thus, TVI Express has no product, and any explanation otherwise is a red herring.
FACT: TVI Express does NOT sell a service
Ah, but I hear your doubt. Maybe TVI Express is selling a service? Yes, a service can be sold too. A haircut is technically a service, but it can be marketed as a product. Money management is a service can be sold.
However, TVI Express does not claim to sell any service either.
Consider this... If they sell travel, that's between whatever travel vendor they use and the consumer. TVI Express is not even a reseller. Merely an affiliate of WCTravel, which is Travelocity.com You can easily become an affiliate yourself and cut TVI Express out of the loop.
So why join TVI Express at all? What do you GET for $250? What service?
Any claim that TVI Express offers a service is a red herring. Such service can be had for free, and thus your $250 is going toward a pyramid scheme. The service is a disguise.
FACT: TVI Express members don't know what they are supposed to sell (except TVI Express itself)
Heck, even TVI Express members can't agree on what exactly is the product (or service) they are selling! The official website says nothing about the product/service, just that you can make plenty of money, and it somehow combines internet, MLM, and travel. Sounds like Dilbert-esque jargon? Exactly! It's got buzzwords up the wazoo, sounds impressive but says nothing concrete. People everywhere make up their own definitions on what they *think* people want to hear, instead of the truth, and they don't even agree!
Did you know that in Indonesia, the owner of the Indonesian TVI Express office, and the first presidential associate there, Ms. Goernawan, told a local newspaper that TVI Express is NOT multi-level marketing, even though it recruits people like crazy? If it is not MLM, and it sells nothing, what else can be it besides a scam?
FACT: TVI Express is NOT a Travel Club
Some people even think TVI Express is actually a travel club, even though they join as "distributors" (of what?) Since when does joining a club will make you rich?
Is club a "business" that buys low and sells high? Yes, if it offers real benefits to its members. Automotive clubs such as AAA offers travel discounts and towing service to members, as well as insurance, but it charges membership fees. It is a valid exchange... Buy low is the low cost of procuring such services, and publicize the discounts in the member magazine and guidebooks and such. Sell high is the all the membership fees rolling in (and insurance, and ads delivered to members, and member information sold to marketers, and so on).
Does TVI Express offer any real benefits? No, yet it costs $250 to join. The booking website? Relabelled Travelocity.com which is free to use. The 7-day-6-night vacation you supposed to get? Impossible to redeem, and since June 2010 costs extra $150 USD in 'fees and taxes', and all participating hotels listed are in India! In fact, TVI Express website never referred to itself as a club or any sort. Such an explanation was invented by members to score more recruits! It is buy $250, sell nothing!
Furthermore, a club continues to operate by charging periodic fees. It can work without recruiting new members. You cannot operate a club on one-time fees without additional streams of income. What sort of income does TVI Express have besides one-time membership fees? Nothing. They don't sell ads. They may get a tiny percentage of commission on travel actually sold but judging by the FAQ "you don't need to sell any products" 99% of their income is from the fees. Thus, TVI Express cannot continue to run a real club on one-time fees without continual influx of new members. That makes it a pyramid scheme.
FACT: TVI Express is NOT a "loyalty club"
Next you ask, but what about supermarket and hotel and such "loyalty clubs", where you join and enjoy discounts?
"Loyalty clubs" are FREE. In such a 'free' operation, the product is YOU. That's right, the product is YOU the member. They are providing discounts in order to track you, the member better. They know what you buy, when you buy it, where you buy it, even how you paid for it. You give up such information for the discount. You also give up some rights of privacy as you will receive various other special offers. And in such operations, there is no referral needed.
In a loyalty club, you are being marketed MORE products.
In TVI Express, there is no product. So you cannot be marketed for more products.
Thus, TVI Express cannot be a loyalty club.
FACT: TVI Express is NOT a referral program
Next you ask, but aren't I just referring people to TVI Express? Even banks do that?
Referral program is NOT a business. It's a part of PROMOTION or MARKETING for a business, but it is not a business in itself.
A bank's referral program is used to market itself and its services.
TVI Express has no services, as explained before. Its benefits are fake and impossible to redeem. Thus, it cannot be compared to a bank, or any other legitimate business and referral programs for such a business.
FACT: TVI Express is NOT a money-makes-money business
Remember "Buy Low Sell High"? You need money to "buy low". If you have no money, you can 'borrow' some money. However, to compensate the original owner of the money you need to pay interest. That is not a problem if your business makes plenty of money to afford the interest. So to facilitate this banks are born, to concentrate the money and lend them out and formalize the interest paid to depositors.
Then you get into situations where some people want to buy a share of the company that is making plenty of money, so you get the stock market. Then investment houses, stock brokers, and so on. Again, service.
But the fundamentals don't change. In a business, you add value to something, through labor, to create something people will pay $$$ for, and believe they got their money's worth. It is summed up as "buy low sell high".
Coca-Cola? Makes syrup water. But people buy it and think it is worth their money.
GM? Makes metallic boxes that burns fuel and moves. People buy the cars and think it is worth their money.
Amway? Makes vitamins and whatnot. People buy them and think they're worth their money.
Bank? They provide money-related services. People go to banks because they need the services.
Investment places? The brokers are making trades, offering advice on investments, and so on. They are offering a professional service, just like doctors, lawyers, and more.
TVI Express? Makes nothing, sells nothing, provides no useful service. People join think they can make money... by recruiting other people. That is a pyramid scheme.
How can people ignore all these glaringly obvious problems (at least to me) and sign on their friends and family?
No comments:
Post a Comment