How viable is Avon?

sharpee

Hi

I am looking to get a general idea about Avon.

I moved 6 months ago to be closer to my partner, and we are saving up for a deposite for a house. As I work full time on a fixed salary I am looking at other ways to boast my income. I am considering becoming an Avon rep but am not sure if the time and effort are going to bring in enough money to justiy it.

We live in a small village (approx. 5000 residents) and there is already an Avon rep but he/she doesn't drop the brochures through peoples doors and just advertises on the village website. I did pose the question on our village website and everyone was quite encouraging saying that there was plenty of room for 2 reps and that the other one didn't go out their way to get customers.

Now I dont live near any friends or family so it would be mainly customers I could canvas in my area.

I guess what I want to know is; is Avon viable for a 2nd income? And generally how do you deal with the tax implications (i am already a higher tax payer)?

Thanks in advance

Money_maker

You may like to post on the avon thread - lots of reps there to help you out. You wouldn't be able to canvass just anywhere - you are assigned territory which avoids problems.

You wont get rich quick with avon - it takes time and patience. As I say, repost on the avon thread for further info.

lozza1985

I work full time to - and although you have to register as self employed for avon, you don't necessarily need to pay that much tax on your avon earnings, as it takes into account any "costs" you have incurred for running your avon business, so you only pay tax on your "earnings". Costs can be obvious things like brochures, samples, bags etc, but also anything else you have to buy - like if you print things off on the computer, you have paper, ink etc etc.

I love avon, as both me & my partner works shifts, and it is flexible enough to fit in around our lives and we share the work between ourselves. The amount you earn will depend upon how much effort you put in - if you don't get your brochures out to people then you won't get any orders, having said that some is down to luck as well - some people give it there all but even so don't get enough orders for them to want to continue, depends a lot upon how "avon friendly" the area is that you live, but sounds like there are lots of people interested already so you should be fine.

Whether avon is worth it for you all depends upon how much you want to earn - me & oh are pleased with our earnings, and also it means we're saving money as I can get my toiletries a lot cheaper or free in some cases due to creative ordering (if you have a read through the avon hints and tips thread it explains this a lot better).

With avon - as there are no up front costs, you can give it a go and if you don't put an order in, then you won't owe anything, so if you are seriously considering it you may as well give it a go, if you don't try it then you'll never know!

Owain_Moneysaver

You risk annoying the other Avon rep and in a small village it can be difficult if you annoy someone.

OldGreyFox

Have a read of this thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2331009&highlight=avon

geordie_joe

sharpee wrote: »

We live in a small village (approx. 5000 residents) and there is already an Avon rep but he/she doesn't drop the brochures through peoples doors and just advertises on the village website. I did pose the question on our village website and everyone was quite encouraging saying that there was plenty of room for 2 reps and that the other one didn't go out their way to get customers.

It could be that the rep has given up putting books through doors as nobody every orders anything. It may even be that people got annoyed with it. So they have decided to put the add on the web site and thought "right, if you want something come to me, I'm not wasting my time coming to you any more"

Don't forget, many people are different on the web. They may sit at night and read the web site, then give you encouragement, but be totally different when your book comes through their door.

If I were you I would think "We have a rep, and he/she isn't putting books through doors, why not? Surely that is what he/she started out to do, put books through doors then collect orders and make money. Why did they stop?".

Probably because people bought at first, but then the orders dropped off until it was not worth them doing it. So now they are saying "I'm here if you want me, but I'm not coming looking for you any more".