Polaris Global cofounder ignores own income disclaimer
There’s a fine line in MLM between guaranteeing an income and stating potential earnings. Either way when you pair up a income dollar amount with a business opportunity, you’re implying that this is the ‘standard’ income of those involved in the opportunity.
Most MLM companies acknowledge this and have some sort of income disclaimer and guidelines set in place to stop their distributors making misleading wild income claims.
Polaris Global is no different, the company has a clear income disclaimer and independent distributor agreement addressing this issue.
For the most part Polaris Global distributors are compliant and whilst income potentials might be mentioned, explicit dollar amounts are not.
It appears if you’re the co-founder of Polaris Global however, that these company rules don’t apply to you.
Polaris Global co-founder Rachel Oliver has been credited by fellow co-founder and now boyfriend, Shane Krider, for bringing in 80% of the company’s past revenue. It’s obvious how Oliver stepping down as an independent distributor and taking on a corporate role could harm Polaris Global’s revenue.
After being quiet on the marketing front for the past month, recently Oliver has started advertising the Polaris Global business opportunity on Facebook. Her advertisements have raised the eyebrows of a few people.
One Facebook ad states a commission of $10,000 per sale.
This ad seems acceptable. Despite having a dollar amount represented, it’s factual and simply states a possible commission per sale available through Polaris Global. No worries.
Oliver’s other ad however goes one step further.
‘Make $3,000-$5,000 per week’? That certainly sounds like if I apply and am successful I can expect to make anywhere between $3,000 and $5,000 a week.
If this job advertisement was put up by a regular Polaris Global distributor they’d probably get the crap kicked out of them by compliance.
Polaris Global’s income disclosure explicitly states that
No incomes are represented or guaranteed in any amount for any participant. Any representation or guarantee of earnings would be misleading.
The Polaris Global distributor agreement’s ‘General Standards of Advertising’ (section 24 h.) guidelines contain similar clauses.
• Exaggerated, unwarranted, misleading or deceptive statements are
prohibited.
• Guarantees or promises of specific results are prohibited.
I don’t know about you but when I see ‘make $3,000 to $5,000 a week’ I’d say that’s a pretty specific representation.
Oliver’s advertisements even appear to be in breach of Facebook’s own advertising guidelines. Section 4b states that
Adverts must clearly represent the company, product or brand that is being advertised. Products or services promoted in the advert must be directly available on the landing page.
The landing page used in Olivers Facebook ads is boomingbusinessonline.com. ‘Polaris Global’ nor any of its products and services are mentioned in the Facebook ad or on the boomingbusinessonline.com landing page.
Polaris Media Group, then trading as Liberty League, first cracked down on its distributors advertising dollar amounts back in August 2009. Meanwhile Rachel Oliver has been with Polaris Global since it was Liberty League International. She joined in 2007 and should be well aware of the company’s distributor guidelines and income disclaimer.
Especially seeing as now she’s a co-founder of Polaris Global itself. Of course being a co-founder she’s probably above the naughty stick of Polaris Global’s compliance department. What are they going to do, kick her out of the company?
Abuse of corporate power, flaunting of the rules or innocent mistake…what do you think?
May 14th, 2010 at 5:16 pm LC(Quote)
What is left to say? A disgraceful double standard.
Mistake? Dumb but not that dumb.
Flaunting of the rules? Unlikely, she has been the chief informant of the rules in Australia.
Abuse of corporate power? A possibility. Abuse seems common place in Polaris Media in various forms.
Another possibility? She’s out of Australia now. Maybe heading back to the original basic tactics that saw her success to begin with is all she knows. Perhaps Polaris Media have changed the rules yet again. They love change.
May 15th, 2010 at 2:28 pm B B(Quote)
Hey guys. If everyone on Facebook goes on to that ad and reports it as “Spam/Fraud” I would imagine Facebook will eventually take it down. Have a click on it!
Shane has 5 friends on Facebook. Out of 400,000,000!! Quite the networker!
May 15th, 2010 at 6:54 pm over.the.lies(Quote)
B.B. i just logged onto facebook to mark her post as ‘spam’as you suggested and it was already taken down with the msg;
‘This listing was flagged as spam by the community and removed’
i’ve never looked at the ‘FB Marketplace’ before… but now i’m on the hunt for other ‘spammers’
May 15th, 2010 at 7:11 pm over.the.lies(Quote)
omg… they are all through ‘marketplace’ – in every possible category they could squeeze their ad into… including one from Mr haggard… who has placed 30 of these marketplace ads in the last month… something to keep an eye out for!
lots of repeat offenders- same distributor- lots of ads, with statements like..
“I’ll Show You How YOU Can Sort Your Life Out”
“Our products are in HUGE demand”
“Join our Leadership Factory”
“Be financially free”
wont take FB long to tighten their posting filters i’m sure…
May 15th, 2010 at 7:14 pm over.the.lies(Quote)
whats more interesting is how ppl that have made multiple listings within a short period of time (like 10 within an hr) change locations… from Mumbai, to Coloundra, to Perth, to Auckland…and so on and so on…
They are getting desperate..
SCAM SCAM SCAM
May 15th, 2010 at 7:40 pm Fred(Quote)
NICE WORK
May 16th, 2010 at 4:32 am blatant lie(Quote)
She also states that the business is “Not MLM”???
May 16th, 2010 at 7:48 am just curious now!(Quote)
I just went to the marketplace and still see all those ads up.
May 16th, 2010 at 8:22 pm Was scammed(Quote)
Some seem to be up and others are blocked.
I have reported her to support. I’ll be interested to see what happens.
There are so many innocent and gullible people in cyber space. Let’s stop more from being scammed.
May 19th, 2010 at 8:19 pm over.the.lies(Quote)
oh gosh- more and more FB marketplace ads for the polaris global scam is popping up everyday… i cant keep up!
they must be plugging it on their ‘training’ calls this week.
always surprises me how much time polaris global distributors – who apparently have booming businesses and are so busy enjoying their incredible lifestyles- spend desperately advertising, (scamming/pleading/posting) on places like facebook. If they were all experiencing ‘lead abundance’ like they make out- why aren’t they prospecting potential team members, or sailing around the whitsundays, or masterminding with their ‘huge’ teams….
If the comp plan worked liked they hoped it would in September- all those who have been in for any period of time- say… since Sept 09, (8 mths), they should all have found 5 generals by now because the opportunity is so awesome and everyone is going to want to be a part of it.. (yea right…) and they would’ve found their 5 and those 5 would’ve found their 5 and because the pyramid keeps growing- they should all be sitting back, living off the residual income and bonus pools….
but rumour has it… no one is making any sales- i mean having new excited, ‘at cause’ team members knock down their doors begging to join their teams… and even the most loyal stalwarts who jump out and give fake testimonials on prospecting calls and introduce guests that dont exist are starting to question whether there will be an event in August and if the company is heading for complete financial ruin…
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!! Or should that be sheeple?
May 21st, 2010 at 7:33 pm Susan Shaw(Quote)
You people are seriously unhinged; this site is not set up to be magnanimous; the owners (too cowardly to put their names on ‘who is it”so you just dont know who owns the domain name – but there are 3 of them!) make money from advertising the very mlm companies they rubbish; they have never been in the direct marketing business and know nothing about it; they allow personal insults about people on the website; your pathetic comments are laughable; anyone who attempts to defend these businesses is basically putdown personally.
There is no real debate; just abuse; keep it up; when people joining my business tell me about this site I just take them to all the personal abuse and they get that it isn’t real and just invaded by the few same sad people. they get it and suddenly this site loses all its power!
Thank you OZ you are now helping my business and have become laughable!
May 21st, 2010 at 8:01 pm over.the.lies(Quote)
thanks for the laugh susan!
do u even know the meaning of the word ‘magnanimous’?
maybe u should’ve looked it up before trying to sound intelligent with big words!
oh by the way- that above sentence isn’t abuse- it’s a comment- a statement- my opinion.
And i dont know who you are trying to discredit- but u have done a pretty good job of blowing holes through your own debate- and all in the first sentence!!
I am an ex-polaris distributor who wants to warn other people about the lies and manipulation that exists within the company. I traveled overseas to conferences, attended supercharged saturdays, was a guest on calls, was in action and ‘at cause’ for long enough to learn that i needed to stop lying to myself. I am now comfortable enough to know my truth about that experience and the scars it left- and yes share it with others.
So- yeah- what was your point again? Cuz u lost me with the babble and your frenzied, yet strangely planned out post.
I was close to EMC members that personally told me about things that went on behind the scenes – and if you knew you would be very disappointed and ashamed- like i was and like most that have left were. But never fear- since releasing myself from the herd at polaris- i have never felt freer! Life is great- and i don’t need to be a part of Polaris to experience an abundant life. In fact- Polaris only ever made me feel insecure and inadequate.
I have nothing to gain by posting on this site, (i do not own it either)- i am merely sharing my experience and will continue to do so, until the Spin Doctors at Polaris start taking responsibility for the manipulative, deceitful ‘business’ that causes way more pain then joy.
Susan we can tell your scared- because you know you dont know who to trust in Polaris these days. We can tell- yes it’s that obvious- that you know you aren’t seeing the results you expected- but while you continue to lash out at us- for merely telling it how it is- innocent, trusting people are still being betrayed and robbed under the pretense of becoming wildly successful with polaris- which is an oxymoron in itself really.
Good luck Susan- and don’t be afraid to come back and let us know when you really learn to look in the mirror- because as they say.. ‘what u see in others is a reflection of yourself’.
PS. mag·nan·i·mous (adj.) 1. Courageously noble in mind and heart. 2. Generous in forgiving; eschewing resentment or revenge; unselfish 3. high-minded; 4. free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness: eg. to be magnanimous toward one’s enemies.
May 22nd, 2010 at 10:59 pm K S(Quote)
Come see Rachel Oliver in June in Australia http://www.livebusinesspresentation.net use welcome and welcome for the user name and passwords. Bring your questions.
May 23rd, 2010 at 2:13 am Bruce(Quote)
whats more interesting is how ppl that have made multiple listings within a short period of time (like 10 within an hr) change locations… from Mumbai, to Coloundra, to Perth, to Auckland…and so on and so on…
They are getting desperate..
SCAM SCAM SCAM
May 31st, 2011 at 10:18 pm Oscar(Quote)
Hi “over the lies”
What did u find so off?
Were the possible 6 figures just a ridiculous exaggeration? I’m considering joining. I’m confident of successfully being able to Market the BFE and new distributorships if I do.
BUT: I don’t know about the course itself, whether it is really groundbreaking and worth the money.
I want to retail BFE also, because without that, you honestly have no legitimacy. People are simply buying a business opportunity that relies on more people buying a business opportunity and so forth.
If I buy, and I don’t feel that BFE provides the ingredients and recipe to allow anyone to pursue their goals and change themselves, I’ll be pulling out.
Cheers.
June 1st, 2011 at 8:45 am Boris(Quote)
According to Polaris’ own website, the wholesale price for BFE is $2,285 (retail $2,855). It’s difficult to see any real value for money, considering how many local educational opportunities there are these days.
For example you can do a 13 week course through the Open Uni. on “Marketing Concepts” with Swinburne University here in Australia, which will set you back $1,090, and which will provide a genuinely recognised qualification on the way to possibly completing a degree.
My local Uni. in Sydney has loads of courses on just about every imaginable topic and which generally cost a fraction of the Polaris offering.
When you factor the possible $cientology input to BFE, I know which type of course I’d choose.
June 14th, 2011 at 2:45 pm Curious(Quote)
I spent several hours looking at the website and youtube. However, I’m still not certain how they actually sell the products. It seems to me they sell membership and members buy products themselves.
Is it a scam? Should I join?
June 14th, 2011 at 5:21 pm Boris(Quote)
The majority of attendees at the Polaris events are there because they have bought into the business “opportunity” and have been pressurised to go “full boat” and “step up to leadership”. They are told that they need to spend big in order to earn big.
Very few of the attendees seem to actually manage to achieve any retail sales and need to recruit new “entrepreneurs” to try to get a return on investment. In other words it’s a Pyramid Scheme.
Simple really. You need to recruit to make any money. ie Pyramid.
June 15th, 2011 at 9:16 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
@Curious
That’s the general idea. In essence, apart from Beyond Freedom nobody is buying those conferences without a business opportunity attached.
Basically the idea is you wow someone with your ‘lifestyle’ and then convince them to join Polaris so they can have the same. This means signing up and buying all the products.
They then realise that in order to have the lifestyle they need to go out and sell Polaris to someone others (as was done to them)… and this process perpetually repeats itself.
Products, what product?
June 28th, 2011 at 1:53 pm Former distributor LLI/POLARIS(Quote)
Hi Curious
I hope you see this before making a HUGE mistake! I did everything I was told to by my advisor and I actually believed what the ‘Leaders’ were all saying. I lost $60k and put my family under huge financial pressure.
Basically, you become a ‘product’ of the ‘product’ and unless you find many others willing to give you their money – you will not make any money. They promise you the world but deliver nothing!
June 28th, 2011 at 2:27 pm was scammed (ellie)(Quote)
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June 29th, 2011 at 3:54 pm K. Chang(Quote)
The whole idea of
that is a buying club (like CostCo), not a business opportunity.
And if all you do is recruit (not actually sell anything), and who you recruited must also recruit (no selling), that’s starting to sound like pyramid scheme.
And how many of these “self-development” products does one need any way? It’s a self-liquidating market. Talk about a dead-end!
June 29th, 2011 at 10:33 pm Scooby(Quote)
i was contacted by Pauline O’Hollaran yesterday and was told about the great opportunity and financial freedom this company can provide.
Pauline said that she had already made 35k for the month. This business plan is a joke. Has anyone had any dealings with Pauline? Racheal Oliver looks pretty hot!
June 29th, 2011 at 10:51 pm K. Chang(Quote)
For a fully US legal perspective on what’s legal and what’s not, read Grime and Reese’s MLM Primer:
http://www.mlmlaw.com/saleswatch/Primer.htm#buying
Discusses what constitutes a “buying club”, “pyramid scheme”, “Multi-level marketing”, and so on, and what are the legal definitions of each in the US. May not apply to your area, but good reference none-the-less.
Keep in mind this is a lawfirm specializing in MLM law. If they tell you what is legal, they are far more trust-worthy than your upline or some “opportunity” distributor telling you what’s legal and what’s not.
June 30th, 2011 at 6:09 am Boris(Quote)
Polaris distributers quote the full amount of sales as what they “made” for the month. Pauline could have “sold” herself two tickets for the Influence event in Tahiti in November. These tickets cost $16,245 retail. I’m sure we will see photos of her having a wonderful time with all the other great leaders of the company there.
It will be interesting to see what sort of location the conference has booked. The main island of Tahiti, while very nice, is not the tropical paradise found on the outer islands. The main administrative centre for French Polynesia is located in Papeete, which is quite a bustling city, far removed from the white sandy beaches and palm trees of Bora Bora.
Associated costs are high on the islands as many consumables are brought from mainland France. Anyone thinking of attending the event could be in for a shock at the extra costs they will incur.
August 1st, 2011 at 7:34 pm Donna(Quote)
Well over.the.lies, if you are an ex Polaris distributor, you should have used their personal development program, then maybe you wouldn’t be so angry, hurt, bitter and twisted.
There’s so many people out there like yourself who fail & like to blame anyone but themselves. The more people they tell, the more they believe themselves that it wasn’t their fault, that it was in this case – Polaris.
Just face it you failed, not Polaris, so deal with it, put it to rest & get on with your life.
August 1st, 2011 at 9:56 pm B.F.(Quote)
With a system that is mathematically programmed to make 90 % of the participants fail, it is nothing but stupid to blame these people for failing.
I recruiting stops, it does not matter if the people left with Polaris are “high achievers, big thinkers, people who have that burning desire to change their personal and financial situation, people who are willing to learn for themselves and inspire others” or if they are “angry, hurt, bitter and twisted”. 90 % of the people left with Polaris have lost their money. Period.
The attitude of the people inside the group might impact on who are the loosers and who are the few winners, but there is no way to deny the fact that most participant will lose their money. If the recruitment stops, there is not enough positivity in the world for the last sign up to make an income. Reason: The product is not possible to sell as retail (read: extremely overprized and probably worthless if you are not going to promote Polaris).
For sure, I believe that the personal development program can make any brain-washed member believe that it was worth every dollar, but in the end of the day that would not be a benefit, as these people will be even more in danger when the next “business opportunity” strikes.
August 1st, 2011 at 11:03 pm K. Chang(Quote)
@Donna — blame the individual, not the system, eh? Standard MLM evasion tactic. It just “had” to be the person that failed, not the system. Modified “ad hominem” attack.
August 2nd, 2011 at 12:25 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Ah the good old ‘Polaris is infallible line’.
I don’t really blame Polaris’ distributors for trotting this one out. CEO Shane Krider is a Scientologist and therefore must believe that Scientology is infallible right?
What’s Polaris based on again? Of course it’s infallible to its members.
August 2nd, 2011 at 8:43 pm Dani(Quote)
I am considering joining Polaris. I know the goal is to sell the product of self development. If you have a product to sell can anyone tell me what the major problem is? It seems that everyone is skirting the issue about the actual product that is for sell.
Can you join the group and sell the product and make money or is the only way to make money signing other people up to sell the product?
August 2nd, 2011 at 11:29 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
@Dani
The problem is that Polaris is sold as an opportunity rather than a retail product line. Were you yourself approached with a business opportunity or did someone try to simply sell you BFE?
This then means that new members go off and try to recruit other members into the Polaris family as was done to them. The business opportunity is what gets sold, not the products.
Yes you can, but here’s the problem. If you’re looking at Polaris as a business opportunity, would you go to one of their conferences or purchase BFE without a business opportunity attached?
If you want further clarification on this, just look at how Polaris is marketed on the internet by their distributors and ask the person who’s trying to recruit you how many non-members attended their last event.
That should answer most of your questions.
September 12th, 2011 at 2:43 am Ben(Quote)
Hello – I’m wondering where I can find a close look into this program or a completely objective review website (not one that also sells the very products that they review!)
I’m willing to give in that it’s not a complete scam but I want to know how many people would actually spend huge money for a self help program when there are tons of books or dvd’s for much much cheaper.
Also, being that in order for an individual to sell a product he must believe in it first, is this course based on universally accepted and sound principles (like Napolean Hill, Dale Carnegie etc.)?
Please someone help me with this.
Thanks a lot
September 12th, 2011 at 1:43 pm K. Chang(Quote)
@Ben — a couple points
1) As you’ve pointed out, self-improvement is already full of competitors of all price points and formats. These big ticket items are luxury items and thus sales is already restricted in this down economy.
2) AFAIK, this review site doesn’t sell anything (not even a T-shirt)
3) There’s the problem that you must believe in the product to sell it, but you can’t believe in it unless you tried it… thus… you have to be your own first customer… and make your upline rich.
Next is the crucial decision point:
is it easier to sell the product to several people, i.e. convincing each of them to pay big bucks for this, or is it easier to convince some OTHER people that if they recruit people, and teach them to recruit (like you’re doing to him now), they’ll be able to sit back, do little and still get money, like your upline’s doing now?
Which is easier for you? Which is what you will do, not what you SHOULD do? Keep in mind everybody wants to easy way.
Congratulations, you just had a MLM epiphany.
September 13th, 2011 at 3:12 am Ben(Quote)
Thank you K. Chang for your response, though I’m still left with more questions than answers.
I guess I just don’t want to risk $2,500, being that I can’t find clear cut info on this business… and I certainly ought not believe those who are trying to make money off me. I’m I the crazy one here???
As they say “Whatever!”
September 13th, 2011 at 7:47 am K. Chang(Quote)
Nope, you’re not crazy. You just had your MLM epiphany: MLM model relies on using (abusing?) your downlines, basically let your downnlines make you rich, instead of actually selling products.
Consider reading my little article on this subject (NOT about Polaris, but MLM model in general)
http://kschang.hubpages.com/hub/Networking-Marketing-is-doomed-to-failure-its-all-about-the-dream-not-reality
September 13th, 2011 at 3:45 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
@Ben
Grab yourself a coffee and start reading…there’s 64 articles on Polaris Global (formerly Liberty League International, Polaris Media Group and Polaris Global Marketing) and thousands of comments for you to peruse at your leisure.
Navigation buttons are on the bottom, see you in a few days!
September 14th, 2011 at 1:12 pm Ben(Quote)
K. Chang
Thanks – I just glanced on your blog; quite a long piece, I’ll have to read that…
ozsoapbox
Thanks to you too. I’ll grab a coffee and do some more reading.
p.s. Being skeptical as i am I appreciate you directing me there so this way I can better research and have conversations with more people. Hey it’s a big decision for me…
September 21st, 2011 at 2:13 pm Sandy(Quote)
Thank you everyone for your post’s it’s been an interesting read which I appreciate as I think I may of just saved myself a lot of money and heartache in not joining Polaris.
Why is it so hard to find a legitimate home based business? I’m a hard worker and don’t want to be ripped off by people like this…
November 24th, 2011 at 11:37 am Boris(Quote)
The Polaris Tahiti event is ready to rock and the great leaders are already there. Rachel has aged a little, but I’m sure all the attendees will have a great time even if they will return home considerably poorer and maybe even in debt. One Polaris recruit has this sad message on the Polaris facebook page “Natasha Johnston
Looking at sharing accomadation in Tahiti, message me privately if you are interested? ”
Cheap accomodation is just about impossible to find in Papeete and travel between the islands is very expensive. I spent some time there in the nineties and loved it, but for those paying up to $16,000 for the conference + hotel + airfares + keeping up with the krolivers, it may just break the bank. It would be great to hear from anyone attending the event!!!!!!