Autoship - Good or Evil?

In the network marketing business, autoship is a common occurance. Some people say any plan that requires autoship is bad and illegal. Others say why not as long as the minimum is a small amount and the person knows that going in?

Or is it a little of both?

Long ago, my husband and I were involved in a pet food MLM. Now we had lots of cats, so for me this was a good thing (the cat food was excellent -- my kitties were healthy and their coats were glossy). I certainly used up all the autoship, and in fact ordered extra every month. There was a catch though.

We couldn't choose our autoship -- we had to get both cat and dog food. This was a wee bit of a problem seeing as I had no dogs!

But I had a lot of customers with cats that I could sell to, and did. Sure, I didn't mind having a bag or two of dog food around for the occasional sale, but my true sales market was cat owners. So the dog food kept piling up...and I eventually ended up donating a lot to my local animal shelter.

This is an example of an autoship that is bad in my opinion. You are not allowed to choose your product or products, but rather have to take what they give you. Or else. And if you don't do an autoship in any given month you lose your position. Or even get kicked out of the company!

I know of many companies who make autoship a requirement if you want to earn money from your downline. And here is where I am going to make a statement where some people boo and hiss me, and tell me I am nothing but a scammer.

I don't think autoship is necessarily a bad thing if:

• You can choose your products and change them as often as desired.
• You can turn off autoship temporarily and not lose your position/title.
• The monthly minimum is small.
• You would use the product(s) anyway -- they are good, reasonably priced and do what they claim.
• You use some of the autoship to have a few extras on hand for in-person sales, since you do most of your sales orders via the company's replicated website (or your own website).

Personally, I do think you need to use your company's product. You need to be able to tell this to everyone you meet, whether for sales or recuiting. If you don't use at least some your company's products, I'd be leery of buying them myself, as a customer. Why should I? You don't trust them.

That being said, there are companies that take autoship too far. Who require large monthly minimums -- far more than you could use in a month. Who have you totally lose your position if you miss one autoship. Or worse.

One time I was booted out of a company because I mis-judged the date by which I needed to place my order. One day's difference and I was gone! If I wanted to re-enter I had to pay a large fee (over $200) to do so. (No, I did not re-join.) Now maybe that was my fault for getting my dates mixed up, but I'll bet it happens to almost all of us -- and emergencies do happen.

Now I'll throw in another caveat: if your products are not consumable, you should not have to do an autoship. So if it's not a product you would use up and need to re-purchase every month...that is not a valid plan for using an autoship.

So is autoship good or bad? You need to take a close look at your company's autoship requirements. Are they minimal and reasonable - something you would do anyway? Are they a hardship? Is it the only way you can make money? (Hint: if recuiting people who do autoship is the only way to make money, run quickly in the other direction!)

Assuming the company is falling within legal boundaries, it's up to you if you go with a plan that does autoship. For some, it's a convenience. For others, a hardship. Figure out what is best for you.