Their hidden business was the profits of the amway educational books and tapes. Only the higher tiers like diamonds and up, reaped the benefits from sales.

I was approached by an amway "IBO" in college and they had so much enthusiasm and really made it seem like I was getting in on a million dollar business plan. Being a naive freshman I ate all of it and joined them for a fee I had to pay to be an IBO. Once I joined I figured ok all I have to do is sell the food and health products to college students. But then I noticed wow these prices are way to high for an average college student"s means. You could go to a grocery store for cheaper prices and more product! So I decided ok must be quality products so I ignored that red flag. Then another red flag popped up, the people that recruited me wanted me to buy from myself meaning to stop buying from grocery stores and to live off of Amway. At first it seemed like it made a lot of sense I mean what bakery buys cookies from walmart right? But then I had a realization for weeks I couldnt sell anything to anybody and I realized, they didnt have many customers either! It was at this moment when I realized that the main consumer of Amway's products is the "IBO"! They make money by convincing the people they recruit to buy from themselves while getting a small percentage back in pay. Also the recruiter gets a percentage of whatever you sell hence the "pryamid scheme", which they try to deny, is alive and well. Also to add to the scam they have a website system that supposedly you cant make real money without until you have it. So I also signed up for the $50 a month website that would help my sells but that is another way they make money off of an "IBO". Also they lied to me and said that they make no money from recruiting me and only from my sells and a small percent at that. But I read all of the fine print of becoming an IBO and found out that once I officially became an "IBO" they got money from my "fee". It also explained why they where trying to hurry me into turning in papers that I needed to sign after doing the online part of becoming an IBO. Then I went on youtube and saw the quikstar scam covered by NBC and did my research and found out it changed its name to AMWAY. So after leaving the cult I was of course harassed and they tried persuading me to come back but I had seen through the bs and I advise anyone who runs across this scam to run while you can!

The impressionable young complaint writer isn't silly but rather correct - Amway *did* change their name, not once but twice. Amway earned a bad reputation, and changed its name to Quixtar. Then years later, it changed back to Amway. The complaint writer simply didn't do quite enough research or have an advisor to inform them completely about Amway's sketchy past.

I was invited to attend an Amway seminar back in 1990, and instantly my "scam" warning bells rang. I thanked the person who invited me for thinking of me, and ran the other way. That person, who at the time thought Amway was going to be the answer to her own dreams, soon realized she needed to go find a real job and did so.