Welcome to our Paparazzi Jewelry Review!
Has someone approached you asking if you would be interested in making money selling jewelry? Are you thinking about becoming a Paparazzi Accessories consultant, but are concerned that it might be a scam or pyramid scheme?
We are here to tell you all you need to know about Paparazzi Accessories or Paparazzi Jewelry as it is often called.
We will detail what you need to know about this business opportunity, and also delving into whether it is a business opportunity you should consider, or whether it is actually a scam.
Know that we are not associated with Paparazzi Accessories in any way. The research for this review has been done using information and/or testimonials that are available online.
What that means is, this is our opinion and we do not recommend business opportunities for the sake of it. If we feel a business opportunity is not right for you, we will not recommend it to you.
If you still have questions after reading our review, feel free to reach out to us in the comments section and we will help you as much as we can.
Before we get into the review…
If you are sick and tired of finding scams online and are looking for a legitimate way of making money online, then Test Drive Our No.1 Recommended Program for FREE!
Paparazzi Jewelry Review Summary
Product Name: Paparazzi Accessories (Paparazzi Jewelry)
Founder: Misty and Trent Kerby, Chani and Ryan Reeve
Product Type: Jewelry MLM company
Price: $99 to $499
Best For: An experienced Network Marketer
Summary: Paparazzi Accessories offers a business opportunity to make money selling jewelry as a direct seller or recruiting a team using the MLM or Multi-Level Marketing method.
They are known for their affordable costume jewelry, which costs $5 each. But the biggest problem is that success with MLM is rare and the income disclosure does not change that fact with 70% of their consultants earning an average of $22 a month and that is without taking into account the costs.
There are also complaints about the training received from sponsors and product quality.
Paparazzi Accessories offers an interesting concept with an affordable jewelry range, but it still has the usual failings of an MLM – lack of effective training…
Rating: 40/100
Recommended? No
Table of Contents
What is Paparazzi Jewelry?
Whilst it is often called Paparazzi Jewelry, it is actually called Paparazzi Accessories. It was established in 2010 by sisters, Misty and Chani.
It started out with them selling customized jewelry which led to them launching it into an MLM or Multi-Level Marketing Direct Selling Business. It is similar to Origami Owls. They are known for their affordable costume jewelry, which they sell for $5 each.
The business opportunity comes in as you are becoming a consultant that sells this costume jewelry to the public and recruiting a team or downline under you.
Paparazzi Jewelry Product Line
Paparazzi Jewelry focuses on the costume jewelry scene. It is inexpensive and almost all of their range sells for $5.
These include:
- Rings
- Necklaces
- Bracelets
- Earrings
- Hair Accessories
They do have a collection called the Zi Collection; these items are priced at $25.
They are unique and are affordable, but they are also nickel-free and lead-free. These are usually the elements that cause skin irritation and are common within cheap jewelry, so this is a nice route for them to take.
Can You Make Money at Paparazzi Jewelry?
That depends, do you like fact-to-face selling?
Not everyone is, but the emphasis with them is to host house parties. It is the best way to sell jewelry as ladies can look and feel whilst at these parties.
But the success will depend on how big your social circle is. MLM tends to put a lot of strain on your friends and family who are normally your first customers. But how long will they want to keep coming to these parties? Can you expand your reach?
The majority of the range is sold for $5 each, apart from the Zi Collection which is sold at $25 each. It is embedded into their branding, so you are not going to be able to charge more. You buy your jewelry to sell at a wholesale price of $2.75, which gives you a profit margin of 45%. This means that each unit you sell gives you $2.25 in your pocket.
But, as the product price is so low, you are going to need to shift a lot of units to make what we would call a full-time income. This is what leads so many people within MLM to start wanting to recruit a team, so you can earn more money from this business opportunity. As you can earn between 5% and 10% for sales made by your immediate downline, and then another 2% to 3% on their downlines.
But that is why most MLM’s recruitment side starts to look like a pyramid scheme and it is often asked whether they are in fact a pyramid scheme…?
Is Paparazzi Jewelry A Pyramid Scheme?
The first thing you need to know is that a pure Pyramid Scheme is illegal, they are predominantly opportunities where you make money through recruitment alone. They promise huge profits based on this recruitment, which never pans out. The FTC is always on the lookout for them and have even closed businesses like Digital Altitude and MOBE because their promises were unfounded.
As Paparazzi Jewelry offer you products and there is the option to sell the products alone without recruiting, it is not a pure pyramid scheme.
But the problem is not with Paparazzi Jewelry, but all MLM’s. The recruitment side of any MLM is where the real money is. You can make some money selling their products, but if you are able to build up a huge team under you, and you are able to help them build up their own teams and they are all making sales that is how you can start making some real money with MLM.
But that is the bit that starts to look like a pyramid, and it is extremely difficult for someone to actually climb the steps of the pyramid. Especially if you lack any sales or online marketing experience.
Whilst we are convinced that Paparazzi Jewelry is not a pyramid scheme, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t walk a fine line.
But things that the FTC state you should look out for, such as outrageous income claims can be made by MLM consultants without the company knowing.
False claims or deceptions have been made by a number of health and beauty-based companies and the FTC have taken action.
Examples include Neora, which is a skincare company. The FTC claimed they were an illegal pyramid scheme and was sued. Part of the reason was it had been making false claims about their supplements.
Another MLM company shut down by the FTC and ordered to pay $150 million, was Advocare. Another company in the health and wellness sector.
This doesn’t mean Paparazzi Jewelry are the same, but like we said it cannot control its consultants or distributors who might be making these outrageous claims to try and get more recruits in.
Paparazzi Jewelry does have legit products to sell, and technically you do not need to recruit at all to make money from this business opportunity. But it is where the money is with MLM, if you have the experience or are willing to learn the skills needed to be successful with MLM but if you explore that route, it does work like a pyramid.
Getting Started at Paparazzi Jewelry...
To become a “consultant” with Paparazzi Jewelry, there are a few steps you need to take. Unlike most, you cannot actually sign up with the company themselves. You need to find a local consultant (who will be your upline).
Step One – Find a Consultant or Sponsor
Go to the website and you will be able to choose from the consultants in your area. Once accepted, your name will be included in the list of Consultants. This is so when others have a look, they will be able to choose you.
Step Two – Buy a Starter Pack
There are three packages for you to choose from:
- Starter Kit – Priced at $99, with a retail value of $175 which includes 35 pieces of jewelry
- Small Home Party Kit – Priced at $299, with a retail value of $600 and contains 120 pieces of jewelry
- Large Home Party Kit – Priced at $499, with a retail value of $1,000 and contains 200 pieces of jewelry
Step Three – Launch Your Business
You do this by hosting local home parties, promoting on your website or using social media.
They make it sound so simple but know that if you lack any real sales or recruitment experience, this may be a lot harder than you might think. For example, the website that is provided with most MLM opportunities is a duplicated website. That means it is the same website for all the consultants. The problem with duplicated websites is that they do not allow you to exploit the best free traffic generation route, SEO. A duplicated website will never rank at the top of Google, because the search engines hate duplicated content.
That only leaves you paid routes to get traffic to your website and paid traffic via social media. Both can be expensive and misplaced without the right strategies.
If I were you, if you are still interested in becoming a Paparazzi Jewelry consultant, take the time to learn how to build and market your own website that will not have the same problems. With the right training, it could really make the difference.
One thing to note about your starter kits is that you have no choice on what you receive, they are pre-selected. Each kit includes marketing materials, repair kits.
Once you have bought your starter kit and received your products, you can go out and start selling… However, there was one thing I did notice when you really dig into the opportunity.
There are restrictions that are put on you. For example, you will not be permitted to go outside of a certain area. You also cannot order individual pieces; you need to order in bulk even if you do not need certain ranges of jewelry and you will need to reach certain quotas to remain active. Let’s dig into the compensation plan to explain more.
Haven't Made Your First $1 Yet?
Paparazzi Jewelry Compensation Plan
Most MLM’s compensation plans are complicated. When you start to look at the different ranks, they will always give you an idea of what you can earn, and it is always a mouth-watering figure that they always seem to convince you that you can achieve. For example, the Luxe Jetsetter and Impressionista levels.
But it is not as easy as it sounds to reach those levels. There are requirements, such as earning commissions to stay at a certain level.
For starters, you need to have a Personal Volume of 50 and this level increases as you rank up. A 50PV requires the equivalent of $100 sales. With items selling at $5, you need to be selling 50 pieces every month to remain active.
There are also other benefits as you increase your rank:
- 10% rebate for 1,000PV in a single receipt
- 15% commission from your downline’s initial starter kit
- A number of bonuses as you level up your team
- $25,000 bonus when you reach the Luxe Jetsetter level
- $50,000 bonus when you reach the Impressionisata level
Of course, to reach that level you are going to need to have a PV of 250 yourself and have an OV (your team’s sales) of 1,000,000-1,500,000 which is $500,000 to $750,000 sales per month.
I am not saying it is impossible, but when you see statistics that show 99% of people walk away from MLM having lost money, you can start to realize that the success is very rare, and you do need to have certain skills with regards to MLM. You might be one of the few that can sell or recruit like a pro, but for the rest of us it could be an opportunity that will never lead to anything.
Recommended: How to Increase MLM Sales
P.S. This program enabled us to Create a 4-Figure Monthly Passive Income Stream. It’s Free to get started and costs only $49/month to go full-time!
Paparazzi Jewelry Complaints...
You will always find positive and negative reviews about most things, and this is no different when it comes to Paparazzi Jewelry. I did find it interested that this company is not BBB accredited, considering it has been in business over 10 years now, you would have thought this would be different.
The complaints on the BBB website are typically about either the products or the consultant who sold the products, or the lack of training coming from their upline.
See a couple below:
Here is the problem I have. Being able to market products, regardless of the business model requires training or at least the ability to learn how to market products. We use the affiliate marketing business model, but it is the same with network marketing. If you do not know how to market products to the right people, then you are doomed to failure.
You would expect that having an upline sponsor would mean that you would be learning from that sponsor, in the same way we help the people we sponsor (but with affiliate marketing).
But like most MLMs, there is no criteria to become a sponsor. So, the reason there are so many complaints about the lack of training from the uplines is because they lack the experience or knowledge to help you.
By Paparazzi Jewelry putting a barrier between themselves and you, this means that training is not going to come from them but your sponsor. You will not know your sponsor, but you will choose from a list. They could be anyone. They could be a really successful distributor with the business or someone who lacks any real knowledge and has just signed up a couple of days before you.
That is why so many people fail at MLM, the training is woeful and yet the hurdles to earn money are really high.
If MLM is still something you want to pursue, we can help you but by helping you learn online marketing so that you can market your products to a wide audience with your own website that you fully control. Learn how to increase MLM sales with this helpful guide (or keep reading, we have a better alternative you could try to sell jewelry, without buying a starter kit)
What We Liked About Paparazzi Jewelry
Here is what we liked about Paparazzi Jewelry:
#1 Decent Commission Rate
Earning 45% on a sale is a pretty good commission rate for an MLM. You do have to keep in mind though, that it is still less that $3 per sale
#2 The Price Makes It Easier to Sell in Bulk
$5 per item does make it much easier for you to sell your items in bulk to your customers. Considering the price of other jewelry lines, they are more inclined to buy a number of items instead of just the one. Impulse buys could help there too
#3 Wide Variety of Jewelry and Accessories
You do have the advantage of having many different products within the costume jewelry category. This might help enhance sales through customers buying a number of different items all at once.
What We Didn't Like About Paparazzi Jewelry
Here is what we didn’t like about Paparazzi Jewelry:
#1 Low Item Price
It might make it easier to sell if the items are low, but it makes it much harder for you to sell enough to make this worthwhile. You are only making $2.25 on each item, so if you go to the trouble of hosting a house party and only sell 5 items, that has earned you $11.25.
Has that covered the cost of the home party or your fuel and other expenses?
The commission rate is good, but not when you compare it to the item price. You are going to need to shift a lot of jewelry to make this worthwhile
#2 Large Emphasis on Hosting House Parties
Hosting parties comes with expenses. You need to stock up on food and drink to soften your customers up to make sales. All of these comes with a cost, and yet you may not even sell enough to cover costs.
There is also the added disadvantage if you are not the outgoing type, as you need to be someone who likes face-to-face sales to make this work. There is the also the problem of how often are your friends and family going to keep coming to these parties?
#3 Hurts Relationships
The pressure to sell and remain active in the hope of earning back your investment does take its toll of friend and family within MLM. They will come along and help you out at first. A girl’s night in with wine and having a look through some affordable jewelry is fun at first…
But how long do you think that will remain the same?
65% of people walk away from MLM (losing their money) because the pressure to sell was starting to affect their relationships. It is a hard fact to avoid, but it can become a real strain.
They will buy some bits at first, more because they are your friend but that is not an effective business strategy in the long run.
Recommended: How to Increase MLM Sales
#4 Scalability
There is also a problem with scaling this business, especially as they limit the area you are allowed to operate in. It reminds me a little of how slimming world works. My wife knows the consultant at her local slimming world group, and they are only allowed to advertise or promote in a certain area, even if they are really successful. They then push you to become a group consultant as the only way to scale your business.
#5 Success is Rare with MLM
Without the right training and support, I think anything can be difficult. But when it comes to MLM, they are great at selling the opportunity to you, but they are not great at offering you the right training for marketing. That is why success is so rare, people see the sales pitch and think that is great. But they do not know how to operate a business that requires sales or recruitment. I know a lot about online marketing, but I still think I would struggle in the MLM world because I am not an extrovert and I hate selling to people. I would much rather help people and earn money that way through affiliate marketing.
If you are going to consider Paparazzi Jewelry as a business opportunity, know that to be successful you are going to need to give serious thought about how you plan your business.
How are you going to break the mould, where others have failed? What additional training do you need to take to be able to market yourself properly on social media. Are you willing to build your own website, to be able to expand your reach? If so, we can help you with our top recommended training program. To become successful at any form of marketing, you need the right training and we have found it HERE.
Haven't Made Your First $1 Yet?
Can YOU Make Money with Paparazzi Jewelry?
I have to say, yes you can. But you need to really think hard about it. Like we just said, if you know online marketing or are already operating within network marketing with jewelry already then it might be something you consider.
To see how well others are doing, we took a look at the most recent income disclosure for Paparazzi Jewelry.
It shows that 70% of their consultants are in the Star Consultant range, but the average monthly earning is $22.83!
18% are a Director and are earning an average of $152.20 a month.
This makes me question whether the right people are signing up for this business opportunity or whether it is worthwhile at all or not.
Personally, I wouldn’t even contemplate those figures, considering you have to factor in the costs of hosting parties, fuel costs, buying stock, etc.
After considering that, I would say it is extremely difficult to get to the Producer level, which is where I would consider that a much better income report. But after costs, this is not the reality.
Paparazzi Jewelry Alternatives?
There are other jewelry MLM business such as Stella and Dot, Origami Owl and Touchstone Crystals, but I am guessing that you might not be all that into MLM?
That is fine, MLM is not for everyone, but that does not mean that there are not better alternatives out there with the ability to sell jewelry for a profit.
Sell Jewelry with Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing has many differences to MLM, amongst them are:
- There is no upfront fee (Yes, it is FREE!)
- There is no Face-to-Face Selling (Yes, no Home Parties)
- There is no recruiting a team
- You have the freedom to promote any products or services you want (yes, you are not tied down to one MLM company)
- You do not need to hand-hold the transaction (earn whilst you sleep)
Affiliate Marketing is a free way of promoting other people’s products and earning a commission on anything sold.
Everyone’s heard of Amazon, right? They have the world’s largest marketplace and has an affiliate program.
Sign up for FREE, with the Amazon Associate program and then you have the ability to earn money from promoting any product that Amazon sells. There are thousands of affiliate programs to match any niche and they are all free to sign up with.
If someone purchases a product after clicking your affiliate link (a special link to say it was you who recommended the product), then you earn a commission.
If you are still interested in making money from Jewelry, Affiliate Marketing has a much kinder learning curve. There are a few things you will need to learn, but the key difference is you haven’t just bought a starter kit with a company that is expecting immediate sales. If you do not meet quotas in MLM, you are taken off the program and you will have lost your investment.
Affiliate Marketing is nowhere near as brutal. Many of the companies who offer affiliate marketing offer fantastic training on how to increase sales. But the fundamental difference between MLM and Affiliate Marketing is the success rates.
With the right training, affiliate marketing has been shown to be successful and can become a truly passive income stream (earn whilst you are away from your laptop).
You blog will be working for you, even when you are asleep.
Consider, no pressure to sell, no pressure to pay for or host jewelry parties. No need to buy stock to be able to sell it and worry where you are going to store it.
All of your time will be spent on reviewing other people’s jewelry and offering an opinion and then seeing people clicking on your links and making you money. It is perfect for introverts.
If you want to see how you could get started for FREE, then check out our Step-by-Step Guide to Affiliate Marketing. You will soon see that anything is possible with Affiliate Marketing. Or you might want to see our guide to getting started with Amazon Associates.
We love Affiliate Marketing and it is proven to work with our top recommended training platform, when you compare the success stories of Affiliate Marketing to those with MLM, the differences speak for themselves.
My Paparazzi Jewelry Review
Whilst Paparazzi Jewelry is definitely not a scam, or a pure pyramid scheme I have to question whether this is a viable business opportunity for you.
Building an online business in a pressured environment like MLM is not for everyone. There is a lot to learn, but they do not offer effective training themselves. They rely on their sponsors to do it, but there is no requirement for them to be proven trainers and that is why 99% of people fail at MLM.
To be successful with MLM, you need to be able to sell and recruit effective people into your team and train them to make sales.
But even if you are effective at doing this, selling $5 low quality items can only earn you so much and the income disclosures shows for sorry reading.
Hosting home parties seems to be an in-thing for selling jewelry but is not everyone’s cup of tea and has extra costs associated with it, which they will conveniently not tell you about.
If you are still reading this, I thank you and have only one final thought. If you are serious about selling jewelry, I would urge you to at least research a little more into Affiliate Marketing before you take the plunge and invest money into an MLM. It has a much kinder learning curve, doesn’t require you to buy stock and has proven success routes. Learn more with our Step-by-Step Guide to Affiliate Marketing.
How We Make Money Online
We are not a fan of MLM, not because it is illegal or that it isn’t profitable, but because it is really restrictive, and the expensive costs involved.
That is why we recommend Affiliate Marketing. It is our top recommended business model for anyone wanting to make money online.
The reasons are simple…
- You don’t have to recruit anyone to make money
- You have the freedom to promote any products or services you want and not get restricted by only promoting products from one MLM company
- NO face-to-face Selling is involved
- It is FREE to get started
In fact, with affiliate marketing we are close to earning a 4-figure monthly passive income stream. With the right help and guidance, you can too. Click here to find out about our top recommended training platform for learning affiliate marketing.
Thanks for checking out our Paparazzi Jewelry Review! If you have any questions or comments to add, then please write them in the comments section below. 😉
Affiliate Marketing Vs MLM – Which One Is Best Option For You?
Financial Education Services Review – Legit MLM or Pyramid Scheme?
Paparazzi Jewelry
$99 - $499 Pros
- Decent Commission Rate
- The Price Makes Bulk Sales Easier
- Wide Variety of Jewelry
Cons
- Low Item Price
- Large Emphasis on Hosting House Parties
- Scalability
- Success is Rate with MLM
- Can Hurt Relationships
Any kind of MLM business distributes more than 50% (or 33% on this particular case) of profit among participants in the multi-level distribution channel. Out of the rest of the money, you take off the sale benefit of the company itself and the rest would be the actual cost of the product.
To develop this kind of business you need to have a great eye to identify who would be good at this and who else only could be a final consumer. Failing on this judgment will always work against you (once you show your compensation model to a current customer, he/she will understand he/her money are not perceiving any value *due to the multi-level payment system benefits distribution).
I do really prefer your alternative option, it seems to be more suitable to me (hating to sale in person anything to anyone) and also more sustainable in time.
Thanks for this very complete company review post!
Hey Juan,
thanks for checking out our review. We prefer affiliate marketing too, it is a much kinder route for beginners who need to learn marketing. It doesn’t have the overheads like MLM and has seen a much better success record.
All the best
John
The paparazzi jewelry appears to have an amazing array of collections that seems to be very affordable. The jewelry business has always been appealing to me. When I came across paparazzi jewelries, I felt the nudge to learn more about them. It is very good to learn that their jewelries are nickel and lead-free as that is a sign for good quality. The pricing is good, but I can clearly see from this review that a lot of units would have to sold to make a full-time income from your sales. Overall, I think the sales aspect of the business is somewhat considerable. Thanks
Hey Rhain,
I think you would need to utilise much more than just home parties to make a success of Paparazzi Jewelry. If you can utilise other marketing methods, then it might be possible to earn a full-time income.
Thanks
John
Thank you for this thorough Paparazzi Jewelry review!
You are right in saying MLM is not for everyone because I am among those who failed in this business model. And I think you’ve touched on what makes 99% fail in MLM: lack of training. In any business, knowledge, and skills is what makes the difference between those who succeed and those who fail. This is exactly what many MLM companies forget!
Just like you, I prefer affiliate marketing. This is the business model where your earning potential depends on you and not on someone else. And the most part, unlike MLM, there are any fees or start-up cost involved.
About Wealthy Affiliate, do they offer web hosting services?
Thanks!
Hey Sebastian,
thanks for checking out our review. Training and wanting to learn are fundamental when you want to achieve anything. People go into these things to make money, but do not treat it like a business.
As soon as you realise that, you are on the right path to achieve success.
Wealthy Affiliate do offer web hosting, and a website builder and all the training needed to achieve anything with online marketing.
Read more in our full review
John
Hello John, thanks for sharing this review of Paparazzi Jewelry. The MLM business opportunity looks like an amazing way to make some good amount of money. However, I got really pissed off to see that directors are earning an average of $152.20 per month. This is definitely not what I want at all. MLM requires a lot of work to be done. Recruiting team members is not an easy task and making such amount of money per month is totally useless! I’d rather do Affiliate Marketing where my earnings are 100% based on my efforts. Moreover, it’s my own business that will serve me on the long run.
Hiya,
I think it comes down to many people jumping onto this opportunities and lacking the training to actually make this work outside of their initial circle. Selling to friends and family is not a business model. The only legit way of making serious money is to work at it, and MLM is one of the hardest ways of doing it because you need quick results to keep it viable.
Affiliate Marketing is a lot more forgiving, especially as you do not need to pay upfront to do it. Whatever route you take, you need training in online marketing to succeed and that is why we will always recommend Wealthy Affiliate’s training.
The ability to learn and the willingness to learn is what will make the difference when it comes to any form of online marketing.
All the best
John
Hello all!
A few points of clarification for this review…
The earnings you are showing for each level are based off of commissions from downline sales. These are not reflective of the $2.25 per item commission you keep when you sell your jewelry.
I know this because I sold over 25,000 pieces of jewelry this past year and I don’t have a downline. My focus is on sales – not recruiting. I work this business about 25 hours per week, so it’s a very nice income for the time put into it…
Also – there are no territories for Paparazzi. That’s a misconception.
Facebook live is the most popular way to sell at this time, but home parties and events work for some people as well.
Lastly, the training available to every consultant is extensive – it doesn’t just come from your direct upline. There are dozens of training groups on Facebook and many trainings from corporate.
This business isn’t for everyone. It is straightforward and not complicated. You will get out what you put in – just like any good business.
Thanks for allowing me to have some input. I know your intention is to inform well, so I hope this helps that along.
Hey Jenn,
thanks for sharing your experience with us. I agree with you, MLM is not for everyone. As I delve more into them, I seem to find that it is some of the distributors that are giving MLM the bad name, rather than the business model itself.
If the products are something you are really interested in and can get behind, I think MLM will work for you. But if people are only going after the money, that is when you start to see the problems arise.
People buy because of the person as well as the product, you need to believe in the product to have that.
thanks again for sharing a valuable insight into what you have achieved!!
All the best Jenn,
John