MLM Survivors Homepage. Amway and Quixtar

	Quixtar Rules
	On March 4, Diamond Paul Miller, President of the ADA Board, announced that "Your ADA Board has asked Amway to take the strongest possible action, from a two- to five-year suspension up to termination, against any distributorship responsible for the improper Web sites." On March 5, 1999, Amway's Senior VP Ken McDonald sent out the following Amvox: We are aggressively moving forward to administer the terms of our contract for folks who are outside the Rules as it applies to the Internet. We've designed a quick response method, a 24-hour turnaround. We've added dedicated staff just to do e-commerce rules. We've become proactive rather than reactive on e-commerce Rules. We've already resolved 42 issues, we've got 15 in process, and 51 folk were contacted today. Remember, in order to keep this business opportunity shining bright, you need to accurately portray quixtar, and the best thing that you can say about quixtar is that it's a completely new business model designed specifically for the Internet, and backed by Amway. McDonald then runs through the rules: No spamming. Web sites touting Quixtar must be passcode protected. No representation of the Amway Sales and Marketing Plan on the web sites. You can't put the names "Amway" or "Quixtar" or any of Amway's other trademarks on the website without permission.

Quixtar Rules

On March 4, Diamond Paul Miller, President of the ADA Board, announced that "Your ADA Board has asked Amway to take the strongest possible action, from a two- to five-year suspension up to termination, against any distributorship responsible for the improper Web sites."

On March 5, 1999, Amway's Senior VP Ken McDonald sent out the following Amvox:

We are aggressively moving forward to administer the terms of our contract for folks who are outside the Rules as it applies to the Internet. We've designed a quick response method, a 24-hour turnaround. We've added dedicated staff just to do e-commerce rules. We've become proactive rather than reactive on e-commerce Rules. We've already resolved 42 issues, we've got 15 in process, and 51 folk were contacted today. Remember, in order to keep this business opportunity shining bright, you need to accurately portray quixtar, and the best thing that you can say about quixtar is that it's a completely new business model designed specifically for the Internet, and backed by Amway.

McDonald then runs through the rules:

No spamming.
Web sites touting Quixtar must be passcode protected.
No representation of the Amway Sales and Marketing Plan on the web sites.
You can't put the names "Amway" or "Quixtar" or any of Amway's other trademarks on the website without permission.

I guess the Independent Business Owners are really independent, aren't they?

Of course, being IBOs, many of them have operated with total disregard for the Rules. So much so that late in March, McDonald sent out this message:

"So effective Monday, March 29 . . . that's three days from now . . . a zero-tolerance policy goes into effect. These violations will be cause for suspension from sponsoring for at least six months. So look at the calendar - that means that anybody who's suspended will not be able to participate in the opening of ."

McDonald specifically mentions three rules: spamming, making income representations, and "violation number three is signing up anyone into the business today. Why? Well, because there is no business yet. doesn't start until September 1."

How does this jibe with the real-life experiences of distributors and prospects? Here are some representative e-mails.

"I'm very confused as to what is going on!

"My husband and I were solicited to join INA (Quickstar) which we were told is a sister company to Amway. We paid a $161.00 for our pin number but when we received our kit, it was all Amway products. Our pin card for INA (Quickstar) also has Amway stamped all over it.

"We were originally told that the new Internet mall will incorporate the same "point system" as Amway and all retailers must submit to the point system to be a part of the mall but the whole thing so far seems to be centered on Amway. Everything from their literature, the pressure to go to meetings, Anvox system, buy their books, tapes etc ... none of which my husband and I are interested in, in the least.

"You are right in what you stated on your web site, that there is a lot of hype about this mall. There are no real solid answers to any of our questions regarding it. We have been told that it will be the largest Internet mall and that new stores will be added daily, but as far as who is going to be apart of it, no one really knows. And this makes me very uneasy.

"I have more questions at this point then I do answers."

Here's another comment:

"if we cannot recruit people for Quixstar why the videos they are putting out do exactly that? There is no mention in the new video (Net Gain) about waiting till September 1, to become a distributor which leads me to believe the whole thing is misleading. I'm wondering also why INA (Quixstar) (which we are supposed to be a part of) is holding symposiums starting this month?"

Another distributor wrote:

"Amway distributors are not allowed to sign up, register, or preregister those persons interested in joining Quixtar, until it in fact becomes a company. If this is true, why are meetings still being held to gain new recruits for Quixtar. You can recieve your access number for a nonexistent mall in a company which does not exist within a few days. I was at a meeting last night and there was another one scheduled for tonight."

It is obvious that large numbers of distributors are violating Amway's own rules. It remains to be seen whether Amway will take any real action to restrain them. It certainly hasn't restrained abuses in the past.

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This page updated Jun-05-99