Is Paparazzi Jewelry a scam? I’m going to help you answer that question in a little bit. Maybe you’re thinking of joining because someone you know (or maybe even someone you don’t know) has told you that it’s a great opportunity and you can be your own boss.
Well, I’m glad you’re doing your research before signing up because there are some things you’ll definitely want to know. Things aren’t always as easy as they seem. Especially not in the world of multi-level marketing (MLM).
Let’s dive right in so I can show you what I mean.
What is Paparazzi Jewelry?
Paparazzi Jewelry (officially known as Paparazzi Accessories) is an MLM company started in 2011 by co-founder Misty Kirby. The other founders of the company include Misty’s husband, Trent and Misty’s sister and brother-in-law, Chani and Ryan Reeve.
Paparazzi specializes in costume jewelry that is only $5 per piece.
They have:
- Necklaces
- Bracelets
- Earrings
- Hair accessories
You can only order through a consultant.
How Much Does it Cost to Join Paparazzi?
In order to become a consultant with Paparazzi, you will need to first purchase a starter kit. There are three to choose from:
- Preview Pack: $99 – You get 35 pieces of jewelry with this pack, plus business tools.
- Small Home Party Kit: $299 – You get 120 pieces of jewelry, plus business tools.
- Large Home Party Kit: $499 – You get 200 pieces of jewelry, plus business tools.
Other costs to consider are:
- Other business expenses like business cards and brochures
- Vendor event costs
- Home party costs such as food and drinks
- Stocking up on inventory
- Gas to go to different events
Paparazzi Compensation Plan
There are a couple of ways to earn money with Paparazzi:
- Retail Sales
- Build a Team
1. Retail Sales
For retail sales, you will make 45% commissions. This is a good commission, however remember that each piece of jewelry is only $5. You’ll have to sell a lot of jewelry to make a living. A. Lot. of. Jewelry.
2. Build a Team
Let’s face it, the only real way to earn a good income in an MLM is to build a team. Let’s see if we can figure out what this looks like with Paparazzi.
First, let me note that in order to get full commissions, you will need to remain active. You remain active by having 50PV (personal volume) each month. Each piece of jewelry is worth 2 PV, so you will need to buy and / or sell 25 pieces of jewelry each month. (That’s $68.75)
(Side note: In order to remain active as a Consultant, you need to buy 200PV, which is 100 jewelry pieces, in a year. )
You can earn unilevel, generation and legacy bonuses. The top two ranks can also earn an infinity bonus.
There are 14 ranks in Paparazzi:
- Consultant
- Star Consultant
- Director
- Premier Director
- Executive Director
- Producer
- Premier Producer
- Executive Producer
- Fashonista
- A-Lister
- Maven A-Lister
- Jetsetter
- Luxe Jetsetter
- Impressionista
Each rank has its own sales requirements and team building requirements in order to move up. Since compensation plans give me a headache, I’ll just link Paparazzi’s here so you can check it out for yourself.
You can also watch this video:
Paparazzi Jewelry Income Disclosure
Unfortunately, Paparazzi doesn’t have an income disclosure. It’s OK though. We already know what it would say from looking at the ones from Origami Owl, Color Street, It Works! and others.
They all disclose the same thing – just about 99% of people in MLMs don’t make any money. In fact, according to this report posted in the FTC website, more than 99% of people in MLMs lose money.
Just a tiny few people make a really good income. And the worst part is, they make it from the people below them who are losing money.
Ouch.
Positive Reviews and Complaints
Oh boy, I found a lot of Paparazzi Jewelry complaints. But, I also did find some positive reviews. Let’s go over those first. Positive reviewers said things like:
- The company provides quality products that everyone can afford
- This is an awesome company to work for
- A great product for a truly affordable price
- My customers are in love with these products
The people who had complaints said things like:
- I was a consultant for three years and my upline never trained me, they were worried about their own advancement
- I bought from a Facebook live and the consultants said they shipped the items but I don’t have them and they refuse to respond to me
- I was a consultant for 2 months and the company canceled my account
- I paid for jewelry that I never got
Most of the comments I saw were either issues with consultants not communicating what was happening with orders, or issues with customer service at Paparazzi.
Here’s one that would frustrate me too if I were in this person’s shoes:
Here’s another complaint from a Consultant who feels threatened by her upline:
Yikes!
The BBB gives Paparazzi Accessories an F rating. This is due to the fact that they don’t deal with any of their complaints.
From what I’ve read from ex-consultants, they actually did pretty well selling the jewelry. Most of them were able to sell a good amount. But then they had to reinvest their profits to buy more jewelry.
They also said it took a ton of time to sell everything and they didn’t feel it was worth it.
Related Articles:
Is Paparazzi Jewelry a Scam?
So, is Paparazzi a scam? Is it a pyramid scheme? No, it’s not. Not technically, anyway. Plenty of people will call it a scam and a pyramid scheme because they hate MLMs. There’s a whole anti-MLM movement that’s popular on YouTube and Reddit.
Because of that, what was already a difficult task (making money with an MLM) will become even more difficult. People are getting wise to the issues that MLMs have, including Paparazzi.
Pros
- Inexpensive to get started
- Inexpensive jewelry pieces make them easier to sell
Cons
- You have to sell a lot of jewelry pieces to make a good amount of money
- The money that you do make generally gets reinvested back into buying more inventory
- The best way to make money is to build a team, but that comes with its own problems
- Because MLMs have high turnover rates, you have to constantly be looking for new recruits
- You have to constantly train new people how to duplicate what you do
- More than 99% of people lose money in MLMs
- If you do happen to make money in an MLM, it’s only because people below you are losing money
- MLMs are generally closed-market systems, which means that Consultants are the customers and buying most of the product
I could go on and on for days about why joining Paparazzi is not the best business idea. I think this video from Savannah Marie sums it up nicely:
An Alternative to Paparazzi Jewelry
I get it that you like the idea of working a business on your own time. Maybe you are looking for additional income. Or maybe you want to replace your full-time income.
What I’ve seen time and time again (and what I’ve experienced myself) is that MLMs are NOT the way to do it. You end up with less money than when you started!
Well, I have an alternative for you. Even if you like the idea of selling jewelry, there’s a better way to do it. It’s called affiliate marketing.
I went from MLM to affiliate marketing and here’s why.
Affiliate marketing is promoting other people’s products for a commission. It’s different from something like Paparazzi Jewelry though because you don’t have to buy a starter kit, hold any inventory, host Facebook parties, or in-home parties or any of that stuff.
There’s no recruiting, uplines, downlines, team members, training, phone calls, cold messaging or bothering your friends or family.
Instead, you set up a simple website like mine, and you provide good content to the people who are looking for it. Within that content you can promote things that you recommend.
If it’s jewelry, you can sign up for Amazon’s affiliate program, Etsy’s, or any of the countless others that are out there. You place your affiliate link in your content and when someone buys, you earn a commission.
Promote any of these from Amazon, or anything else listed on their site!
You can also promote jewelry boxes, cleaners, watches, or anything else that you like! It doesn’t cost you anything to join affiliate programs because you’re essentially helping them sell their stuff. It’s awesome and much easier to work than MLMs.
Let me explain it in more detail for you here.
Conclusion
Is Paparazzi Jewelry a scam? No, it’s not. Will you make a full-time income from it? Chances are very, very good that you will end up losing money with it. As a reminder, over 99% of people lose money in MLMs. Being in an MLM is only good for the business owner(s) and the people at the very top.
The good news is that you can still promote jewelry (or anything else that you want) and make a commission from doing so. Except it’s not as risky when you do it through affiliate marketing because you don’t need to buy any inventory.
Click here so I can tell you what affiliate marketing is all about.
