Usborne Books

sam010185

Hi, I'm new to this forum and am looking for some advice about Usborne Books. I'm currently on Maternity Leave after having my son nearly 3 months ago. I don't really like the prospect of going back to work fulltime as I don't want to miss my son growing up or pay extortionate fees for childcare! Going part time isn't an option in my job as there would be far too much work for me to cope with in part time hours plus my company aren't too keen on this. I never really enjoyed working there anyway.
So, I have been looking at various 'homeworking' opportunities and so far the one that looks most appealing is Usborne books. I have done Avon in the past and found that I didn't really make much money from it and I don't think that Ann Summers, Body Shop etc. are my cup of tea.
I'm really wanting to know if there is money to be made from Usborne books, I've looked at the testamonials on their website but I'm always a bit dubious with these as to whether they are from real people or not!
At the moment I have noticed that Usborne books has an offer on where it only costs £5 to start up so would be looking for some advice quickly before the offer runs out!!! (in the nicest possible way lol!)
I'd be looking to make around £400 a month so if this isn't acheivable with Usborne, is there anything else I could do either along with Usborne to top up the money or instead of?
Thanks in advance for your advice!!

hamsterholly

Hi Sam

Welcome to the board and congratulations on the birth of your son

I have just replied to the pm you have sent me.

I can vouch for the testinomials as I have met some of the people !!!

Its really hard to say yes you can earn the same amount each month as each month is different. One thing is there is no limit as to how much you can earn so it is basically in your own hands. The highest commission cheque paid out to date for 1 month was 17k. Not bad for a months work. Sadly it wasnt me.

Best of luck and yes a fiver is a great deal !!!

Tracey

sarahh56

Hi I also sell Usborne and have done so for the last 3 years. £400 is a lot to achieve when you start out as you will need to build up a client base etc, however it isn't unachievable.

Usborne do not allow you to sell other 'similarly competitive' type products as well as Usborne but for example you could get a part time job elsewhere.

For a small outlay you could start up and see how it goes and if it's not enough then you will have still earned something.

Good luck with whatever you choose

Chloe5

On the other side of it several people I've known in various playgroups, schools etc have set it up and closed it down mainly because tbe books are so much cheaper to buy elsewhere - namely ebay and amazon.

sarahh56

I agree 'some' of the books are cheaper elsewhere, however our catalogue is 144 pages long, I don't think people realise how many different titles there are. Also we now get offered many similar offers ( and get commission too) so they then work out cheaper.

lucky_me_2

I can remember the books from school we used to bring a little magazine home every so often! They are also local to me in Eynsham and they are legit! Are the rules the same as Avon etc? In that you can not sell them online at all?

joeyjimbles

Hi
I sell them and find that as long as I'm proactive I can make quite a bit of money. The key thing I've found is to go outside of your normal circle as that gets a bit wearing after a while and I really didn't want all my friends to think that everytime they saw me I was going to sell them a book.

So targetting all the brownies, playgroups, startwrite groups, schools and new mums groups makes a lot of sense. Local hospitals and health centres will often let you put up a poster and I've found that has led to lots of party selling.

Also things like summer fairs and christmas fairs can be good although I've found that up here people tend to want to take the book away with them rather than make an order(understandable - they don't know me so why would they give me money?) so I do have to speculatively order likely titles and hope that they will sell. Which they do.

Its true that Book People and Asda do have some of the titles cheaper than you can sell them - its good to be aware of what they are selling cheaper as I've had complaints in the past and its tricky to deal with that as apart from discounting yourself.

Your team leader will be full of good advice on what works in your area and realistically at such a low price you can't really lose on your initial investment as currently you get an awful lot of books for very little money.

joeyjimbles

Sorry meant to say that you can have an online presence too - there is a templated website that you can sign up to but you will receive less commission from a book sold that way and your customer will pay postage too.

They still do the leaflets for schools etc - I've just done two orders that way which have earned me over £100 each.

jap200

I was an Usborne 'Organiser' for 2 years. Basically it was a bit of fun, but not an income by any means. I think I earned a total of £2000 in 2 years of quite hard work.

Plus sides:

• You can take your baby/toddler along to daytime events
• The books are lovely
• It gets you out of the house to meet some nice people

Down sides:

• The start up deal is good, but you will need to spend £100+ on top of this to build up a minimum number of books to be taken seriously
• There is no way someone in your/my position can make £400 a month just from selling the books
• Just like any other party plan idea, the profit is in recruiting others to do the same and then getting a small slice of their sales. Personally I loved selling books but hated the recruitment side of it.
• Despite what they say, if you go to todder groups, school fairs or other events, people will want to take the books away with them. The only way to do that is to hold a lot of stock, which you have to buy in first and then lug around with you.
• If you don't sell your stock you will end up with a pile of dog-eared books
• The book people, Red House and even Wilkinsons sell these books much more cheaply
• I did not like having to give up evenings and weekends - time I would have like to spend with my husband and babies
• Don't be fooled by the £17K cheques someone else here mentioned. Only a handful of people right at the top of the 'tree' get these because they signed up donkeys years ago when it all started.

Lots of the usborne organisers have their own websites or Ebay shops to sell the books through, which is perfectly allowed. However, these are people who have been in the business a long time and qualify for free shipping direct to customers. If you sell online when you start up you will have to charge a delivery fee on top.

If I were you I would sign up for the £5 no-obligation deal and just keep the books. PM me if you want some private advice and remember that other Usborne organisers reading this will be salivating to get you to sign up with them, so take what they say with a pinch of salt!

lucky_me_2

joeyjimbles wrote: »

Sorry meant to say that you can have an online presence too - there is a templated website that you can sign up to but you will receive less commission from a book sold that way and your customer will pay postage too.

They still do the leaflets for schools etc - I've just done two orders that way which have earned me over £100 each.

Thank you that advice was really helpful I have had a look on their site and they are just literally minutes away from me too! Sounds very good, the only thing that confused me was their 5 pound set up fee sounds too good to be true..had a look at the forms that you need to fill out and there is no mention of the 5 pound anywhere.

I do not have children and I am wondering whether I really have enough contacts to do something like this (I work for a small company) and have a small family.. but for a 5 pound start up I may just give it a go. I also like the ideas of going to fates and craft fairs possibly but didn't know if this would be allowed!

Thanks for everyone's advice certainly a good idea!

hamsterholly

jap200 wrote: »

I was an Usborne 'Organiser' for 2 years. Basically it was a bit of fun, but not an income by any means. I think I earned a total of £2000 in 2 years of quite hard work.

Plus sides:

• You can take your baby/toddler along to daytime events
• The books are lovely
• It gets you out of the house to meet some nice people

Down sides:

• The start up deal is good, but you will need to spend £100+ on top of this to build up a minimum number of books to be taken seriously
• There is no way someone in your/my position can make £400 a month just from selling the books
• Just like any other party plan idea, the profit is in recruiting others to do the same and then getting a small slice of their sales. Personally I loved selling books but hated the recruitment side of it.
• Despite what they say, if you go to todder groups, school fairs or other events, people will want to take the books away with them. The only way to do that is to hold a lot of stock, which you have to buy in first and then lug around with you.
• If you don't sell your stock you will end up with a pile of dog-eared books
• The book people, Red House and even Wilkinsons sell these books much more cheaply
• I did not like having to give up evenings and weekends - time I would have like to spend with my husband and babies
• Don't be fooled by the £17K cheques someone else here mentioned. Only a handful of people right at the top of the 'tree' get these because they signed up donkeys years ago when it all started.

Lots of the usborne organisers have their own websites or Ebay shops to sell the books through, which is perfectly allowed. However, these are people who have been in the business a long time and qualify for free shipping direct to customers. If you sell online when you start up you will have to charge a delivery fee on top.

If I were you I would sign up for the £5 no-obligation deal and just keep the books. PM me if you want some private advice and remember that other Usborne organisers reading this will be salivating to get you to sign up with them, so take what they say with a pinch of salt!

Could I just say as per the handbook you are not allowed to sell the books via ebay shops and can only sell the books online via a templated website.

Also you cannot just sign up purely for the books as jap200 has stated. Yes it is only £5 to join and for this you will get just over £100 books and stationary but you need to place a £100 plus order within your first 12 weeks. The average party is £170 so this is achievable.

Sam the op has joined my team and I have given her honest advice from the start so I disagree with you saying people should take our advice with a pinch of salt.