Paparazzi Accessories operates in the jewelry MLM niche. The company launched in late 2010.

Paparazzi Accessories doesn’t provide a corporate address on their website. According to Paparazzi Accessories’ official Facebook page however, the company is based out of Utah.

Heading up Paparazzi Accessories are co-founders and couples Misty and Trent Kirby, and Chani and Ryan Reeve.

So the story goes;

When sisters Misty and Chani began selling jewelry, their original intent wasn’t to begin a national phenomenon.

“We just enjoyed showing people how to accessorize,” explains Misty. But what began as a whim was clearly filling a need.

That business led Paparazzi Accessories’ launch.

Read on for a full review of Paparazzi Accessories’ MLM opportunity.

Paparazzi Accessories’ Products

Paparazzi Accessories’ website states the foundation of their business is in selling

accessories that were trendy, but not too intimidating.

Classic, but never boring. And best of all, incredibly affordable.

Paparazzi Accessories’ jewelry range is a flat $5 per piece.

Paparazzi Accessories’ jewelry range spans necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings.

Paparazzi Accessories claims each of their jewelry pieces is

  • lead-free and nickel-free;
  • one-of-a-kind featuring original design, style, and feel;
  • always changing; and
  • made in China

Note that while Paparazzi Accessories provide a large inventory catalog on their website, visitors have to “login or signup to see all (of Paparazzi Accessories’) products”.

Paparazzi Accessories’ Compensation Plan

Paparazzi Accessories affiliates do earn retail sales, but the bulk of the compensation plan is geared toward earning off affiliate recruitment and ongoing monthly spend.

Paparazzi Accessories Affiliate Ranks

There are fourteen affiliate ranks within Paparazzi’s compensation plan.

Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

  • Consultant – sign up as a Paparazzi affiliate
  • Star Consultant – generate and maintain 50 PV a month
  • Director – maintain 50 PV a month and and recruit and maintain three Star Consultants
  • Premier Director – maintain 50 PV a month, generate and maintain 3000 GV a month and maintain three personally recruited Star Consultants
  • Executive Director – generate and maintain 100 PV and 6000 GV a month, and maintain three personally recruited Star Consultants
  • Producer – maintain 100 PV a month, generate and maintain 12,000 GV a month and maintain three personally recruited Star Consultants
  • Premier Producer – maintain 100 PV a month, generate and maintain 25,000 GV a month and maintain three personally recruited Star Consultants
  • Executive Producer – maintain 100 PV a month, generate and maintain 40,000 GV a month and maintain three personally recruited Star Consultants
  • Fashionista – maintain 100 PV a month, generate and maintain 75,000 GV a month and maintain three personally recruited Star Consultants
  • A-Lister – maintain 100 PV a month, generate and maintain 150,000 GV a month and maintain three personally recruited Star Consultants
  • Maven A-Lister – maintain 100 PV a month, generate and maintain 250,000 GV a month and maintain three personally recruited Star Consultants
  • Jetsetter – maintain 100 PV a month, generate and maintain 500,000 GV a month and maintain three personally recruited Star Consultants
  • Luxe Jetsetter – generate and maintain 250 PV and 1,000,000 GV a month, and maintain three personally recruited Star Consultants (must qualify for two consecutive months before promotion)
  • Impressionista – maintain 250 PV a month, generate and maintain 1,500,000 GV a month and maintain three personally recruited Star Consultants (must qualify for two consecutive months before promotion)

PV stands for “Personal Volume”. Personal Volume is sales volume generated by retail sales and an affiliate’s own orders.

Paparazzi Accessories calculates PV at a rate of 2 PV per jewelry piece ordered.

GV stands for “Group Volume”. Group Volume is PV generated by an affiliate and their downline.

Note that no more than 33% of required GV can come from any one unilevel team leg.

For Luxe Jetsetter and Impressionista, GV per leg criteria is reduced to 25%.

Retail Commissions

Paparazzi Accessories pays commissions on retail customer orders.

Retail commissions are calculated as the difference between the wholesale cost and retail price of ordered products.

Recruitment Commissions

When a Paparazzi Accessories affiliate recruits a new affiliate, they earn 15% of generated “Starter Kit” PV.

Residual Commissions

Paparazzi pays residual commissions via a unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.

If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

Paparazzi Accessories caps residual commissions across three unilevel team levels.

Residual commissions are paid as a percentage of sales volume generated across these three levels as follows:

  • Star Consultants earn 5% on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates)
  • Directors earn 10% on level 1 and 5% on level 2
  • Premier Directors and higher earn 10% on level 1 and 5% on levels 2 and 3

Generation Bonus

Executive Director and higher ranked Paparazzi Accessories affiliates qualify for a Generation Bonus.

The Generation Bonus is paid out via the same unilevel team used to pay residual commissions (see above).

Paparazzi Accessories defines a generation within a unilevel team leg when an Executive Director or higher is found.

This ranked affiliate caps off the first generation for that leg. The second generation begins immediately after.

If a second Executive Director or higher is found deeper in the leg, they cap off the second generation. The third generation then begins after them.

If no such ranked affiliate exists, the second generation extends down the full depth of the leg. As would the third generation and so forth.

Using this generational structure, Executive Directors and higher earn on sales volume generated on up to three generations per leg.

  • Executive Directors earn 1% on one generation pet leg
  • Producers earn 3% on one generation per leg
  • Premier Producers earn 3% on the first generation and 1% on the second
  • Executive Producers earn 3% on up to two generations per leg
  • Fasionistas and higher earn 3% on up to three generations per leg

Legacy Bonus

The Legacy Bonus is another generational bonus.

As opposed to Executive Directors the Legacy Bonus pays on A-Lister or higher ranked generations within each unilevel leg.

Other than that, the generation structure is the same as the Generation Bonus.

  • A-Listers earn 1% on up to one Legacy Bonus generation per leg
  • Maven A-Listers earn 2% on the first Legacy Bonus generation and 1% on the second
  • Jetsetters earn 2% on the first two Legacy Bonus generations and 1% on the third
  • Luxe Jetsetters and higher earn 2% on up to three Legacy Bonus generations per leg

Infinity Bonus

The Infinity Bonus is a bonus percentage, paid on total unilevel team volume.

  • Luxe Jetsetters earn a 0.5% Infinity Bonus rate
  • Impressionistas earn a 1% Infinity Bonus rate

Rank Achievement Bonus

New Luxe Jetsetters and Impressionistas qualify for a one-time Rank Achievement Bonus.

  • qualify at Luxe Jetsetter and receive a $25,000 Rank Achievement Bonus
  • qualify at Impressionista and receive a $50,000 Rank Achievement Bonus

Note that these ranks must be qualified for two consecutive months before promotion is awarded.

Joining Paparazzi Accessories

Paparazzi Accessories affiliate membership is tied to a Starter Kit purchase:

  • Party Permit – $20
  • VIP – $99, includes 35 pieces of jewelry

Conclusion

Paparazzi Accessories cheaply priced jewelry is a double-edged sword.

By being so cheap, it’s accessible and can fit practically any budget.

Does $5 jewelry from China excite me? Not in the slightest – but I’m not Paparazzi Accessories target market.

The danger such cheaply priced goods creates lies with inventory loading.

Right off the bat Paparazzi Accessories affiliates are encouraged to purchase large amounts of stock.

In the mandatory Starter Kits you don’t get to choose what you get.

pieces of inventory hand-selected to offer your customers a broad variety of the finest Paparazzi fashions in every color.

Apparently inventory is always changing, so consistency goes out the window too. There’s no point asking a Paparazzi Accessories affiliate what they thought of their Kit, because you’re going to get completely different inventory.

From the initial mandatory inventory purchase, you’re then looking at $125, $250 or $625 a month in sales or purchases.

A mandatory purchase when signing up is already pay to play, one of the hallmarks of a pyramid scheme. The crux of Paparazzi Accessories’ legitimacy lies in whether affiliates are paying $125 to $625 a month to qualify, or whether they’re making retail sales.

Other than standard retail commissions, there is nothing in Paparazzi’s compensation plant to suggest retail is a focus.

Recruitment commissions tip the comp plan in favor of recruitment, setting up your average Paparazzi affiliate to keep on buying inventory. By the time they realize they can’t sell it all, it’s too late.

Of course this isn’t going to be presented in this manner. Instead you’re likely to be told something like this:

As a Paparazzi Independent Consultant, you are able to purchase inventory for your shows or parties at wholesale pricing, and sell the same inventory at the suggested full retail price.

Then to keep you buying each month;

When a Consultant purchases 1000 PV or more on a single order, a Show Rebate of 10% is processed and included in that month’s commission check.

Residual commissions and the generational bonuses are shallow, keeping Paparazzi Accessories affiliates focused on recruitment over leverage.

And again, there’s nothing to deter this behavior in Paparazzi Accessories’ compensation plan. Nor does the company mention whether it verifies retail sales are being made as the monthly affiliate orders pile up.

The good news is as a prospective affiliate, finding out how your potential upline is running their business is easy.

Just ask them what rank they are, track the corresponding monthly PV and ask how much they’ve made in verified retail sales over the past few months.

If it’s not equal to at least half their monthly required PV, that Paparazzi Accessories affiliate is running their business as a pyramid scheme.

I have hunch this is probably widespread throughout the company, as I’ve seen nothing to even build any benefit of the doubt on.

Something to keep in mind is even if you do find an upline who is working retail, Paparazzi Accessories classify themselves as a “party plan” MLM company.

As the name suggests, the expected primary method of marketing Paparazzi Accessories adheres to is home parties. For what should be obvious reasons, this is a bit of a risk in the current environment (although discard if you’re reading this years after publication and COVID-19 is squarely in the rear mirror).

One final topic I want to cover, which ties into that last sentiment, is Paparazzi Accessories’ recent COVID-19 super-spreader event in Las Vegas.

As of early September, the number of deaths attributable to attendance of Paparazzi Accessories event was eleven. That number has since likely increased, with respect to both directly and indirectly attributed deaths.

To put it bluntly, Paparazzi Accessories’ handling of this disaster has been horrendous.

The company initially sent a communication down the line warning affiliates not to discuss COVID-19 spreading at the event. Threats were made against those that didn’t comply.

Anyone outside of the business who made enquiries was either blocked on social media or simply ignored.

Paparazzi Accessories has not responded to Inside Edition Digital’s multiple requests for comment.

To put it bluntly, this is some of the worst conduct I’ve seen from an MLM executive team to date.

If this is how Paparazzi Accessories handle a life threatening medical disaster they created, god knows how day-to-day operations are managed.

On that basis alone I’d give Paparazzi a wide berth. Throw in recruitment commissions and the extreme likelihood of ongoing inventory loading, I’m just not seeing anything redeemable here.

 

Update 10th February 2023 – Since publication of this review, Paparazzi has reduced its Starter Kits to $20 and $99. I’ve edited in these updated price points in the “Joining Paparazzi” section of the review.

A reader in the comments below also advises that Paparazzi hasn’t published an Income Disclosure Statement since 2022.