Today we will be reviewing a company called Trades of Hope. Is Trades of Hope a scam? Find out in this Trades of Hope review.
I could only think of one reason as to why you have stumbled of this review.
Someone you know, either a family, friend, or random stranger in social media mentioned this company to you.
They are mostly likely begging you to buy their products, or recruiting you.
I bet it is the latter.
As a disclaimer, I am not affiliated to Trades of Hope in any way.
These days, being able to make money on the side is a pretty good idea.
Especially if you are staying online on the majority of the day.
Since people have been looking up opportunities online more than ever, chances are you have encountered scams. Being able to spot a scam is tricky, since these scammers have become better.
With the advancement of technology, these scams have also become digital. You should be aware about basic scams, like the Nigerian prince scam, phishing, and pyramid schemes.
Pyramid schemes are particularly hard to spot because they often look legitimate at first glance.
These pyramid schemes have gotten better in whatever illegal stuff they are doing, so it is quite hard to tell them apart.
To be able to stop falling for scams, do your research. Consult reviews, like this one.
In this Trades of Hope review, I will be providing information about the company, its products, and how you can make money with it.
Hopefully this Trades of Hope review can help you decide whether you want to sign up for the company or not.
Before we proceed with the Trades of Hope review, check out my #1 recommendation to making money online after reviewing 300+ MLM companies.
What is Trades of Hope?
Trades of Hope is a multi-level marketing company that sells jewelry. The company was founded by Gretchen Huijskens on 2011.
Trades of Hope seeks to empower women from poor countries.
The jewelry is made by women from third-world countries, which are then marketed by the company.
This video can help you know more about Trades of Hope, including their history and their version.
The company sells its products through their independent group of sellers, which they refer to as Trades of Hope partners.
Trades of Hope has the following products available:
- jewelry
- apparel
- bags
- home products
- coffee
The company is currently based in Florida, United States.
Is Trades of Hope a Pyramid Scheme?
Since Trades of Hope members earn money both by selling products and recruiting new members, then it is safe to say that Trades of Hope is not a pyramid scheme.
Just like any other MLM, Trades of Hope focuses on recruiting instead of training its members to actually sell and market their products.
Their jewelry may be made to empower women, but I do not think that that is what is really happening.
Their independent sellers, which are mostly women, seem to be getting in debt trying to stay afloat.
Of course, the focus on recruiting makes the company look like a pyramid scheme.
They are not though; at least not proven yet.
Like Atomy, 4Life, and Forever Living, Trades of Hope is not a pyramid scheme.
No Income Disclosure Statement
Companies that cannot present an income disclosure statement do not look like good companies to invest in.
Income disclosure statements are made to show data about how much earnings the members make. If the company cannot present that, they are obviously hiding something.
The members probably do not make money, and all the advertising they made about how brilliant the opportunity is is most likely false.
Is Trades of Hope a scam? My advice is to stay away from companies who cannot be honest to you.
Is Trades of Hope a Scam?
No, Trades of Hope is not a scam. However, if you are thinking about investing in the company, I recommend that you watch this video first.
However, this video is not enough proof to make us believe that these independent sellers actually make money.
Because the company has no proper income disclosure statement to present, it makes it difficult for us to assume whether or not the independent sellers make money.
Since the company has been here for quite some time, maybe that could assure you a little.
Even if the members actually make money, we have no way to know for sure how much money it is.
Is Trades of Hope a scam? I don’t know, to be honest. We are all left in the dark here, so all we can do is speculate.
How to Make Money from Trades of Hope
There are only two ways to make money with Trades of Hope.
- Selling products. As an Trades of Hope partner, you can purchase products for cheaper warehouse products, then market and sell them for profit.
- Recruiting people. Since this is the primary goal of most MLMs, expect to see this in every MLM you encounter.
In order to start selling the company’s products, you will need to shell out money for initial inventory.
How to Join Trades of Hope
To join Trades of Hope, click this link.
Before you join, I recommend that you watch this video so you will gain further knowledge about how membership works.
You will be prompted to provide your personal details. Once you are done, choose a starter pack, then pay for it.
Starter Packs
There are three starter packs you can choose from.
- Alice Collection – $99 (valued at $198)
- Clara Collection – $99 (valued at $203)
- Asha Collection – $198 (valued at $402)
- Bay Collection – $39 (valued at $108)
Judging from these numbers, these starter packs seem cheaper compared to other MLMs.
You can earn potentially double your investment, that is, if you manage to sell your entire inventory.
Monthly Cost
Like other MLMs, you will need to buy products so you can keep your active status as a Trades of Hope partner.
In order to do this, you need to maintain 10 PV per month.
Along with that, you also need to pay $9.95 per month for the Technology Suite, which includes the following:
- Your own personal website
- Newsletter sent to customers
- Online office suite
- Mobile apps for engagement and marketing
Do not forget that you still have miscellaneous expenses to look forward to, including the cost for marketing, your travels to promote and sell the products, and a lot of other things.
So, are you still thinking that this is a good deal?
Things I Like in Trades of Hope
Established Company
Most MLMs only live for 1 to 3 years, but Trades of Hope managed to survive longer than that.
That is quite impressive from a company that was started as a small business.
Like I said before, do not make this the only basis of you investing in the company.
Empowering the Poor
I actually admire the company’s vision to empower women to work and get out of poverty.
It is a pretty good vision to have, especially since women from poor countries are usually the ones needing help.
Since every piece is handcrafted by these artisans, they are getting a share of profits.
So with every piece you buy, you are helping someone from an impoverished country eat three meals a day.
Things I Dislike in Trades of Hope
High Emphasis on Recruitment
This is the primary way for you to make money in Trades of Hope.
This is not different from other MLMs, even though they tell you otherwise.
Anyway, since this MLM is all about “empowering women”, you may get distracted by that notion. Please do not.
As much as they want to cover-up the fact that this company is a glorified pyramid scheme, this emphasis on recruiting more members just makes them look bad.
Is Trades of Hope a scam? No, but it does look like a pyramid scheme.
Possible Exploitation
To be honest, we have no way to know how much profits the artisans actually get from Trades of Hope.
Seeing that this company does not really have a good reputation when it comes to their data, I do not think that they are sharing to us the full truth about how the women making jewelry actually profit from the company.
Buy Your Way to the Ranks
You need to keep buying products to continue selling products.
That looks like a paradox to you, but that is what Trades of Hope is all about.
You need to keep buying so that you can continue your business. Also, to be able to ascend to the company’s ranks and earn more benefits, you need to keep buying.
This does not make sense, but since the products are quite hard to sell, I think this is how the company is making money: by making you buy its products.
Trades of Hope Compensation Plan
You can view Trades of Hope’s compensation plan here.
This is another example of a compensation plan that will show you a table and call it a day, when in reality, the table is not that easy to understand, unless properly explained.
It is not as bad as reading 20+ pages, but that does not mean that this compensation plan is any good.
You will need to repeatedly read this to understand it. I think even if you do that, you will still not understand most of it.
So here, I found a video that will definitely explain things much better.
The video is not that long which can help you understand the concepts as they are explained in a more condensed manner.
Trades of Hope Ranks
There are 5 total ranks that you can reach in Trades of Hope. To advance to the next rank, members should meet specific requirements and maintain them on a monthly basis.
- CE
- Lead CE
- Advanced CE
- Master CE
- Manager CE
- Director CE
- Executive Director CE
- National Executive Director CE
*CE stands for Compassionate Entrepreneur.
10 Shocking MLM Statistics That You Need To Know!
- Almost 99% participants of all multi-level marketing companies lose money, according to the FTC.
- There are 38% more chances of you profiting from your own any kind of small business than joining these MLMs.
- Success rate of an online business, which will give you financial and time freedom, is 20% more than joining MLMs for making money.
- The odds of you winning a lottery worth $10k among 10,000 people is 300 times higher than actually making money from MLMs.
- According to the AARP foundation, 47% distributors of all MLMs lose their money. Apart from this, 27% do not make a single penny.
- In the remaining 26% that actually make money, 53% of them make less than $5000/year.
- 39% of those 53%, who are making $5000/year quit because recruiting and selling crappy products to friends and family members jeopardized their relationships.
- Forget about building a long term business with MLMs, because 50% of all MLMs participants quit within one year.
- 75% people that joined MLMs say that they will never again join any kind of MLM.
- A poll was conducted in 2018 among 1050 MLM distributors and it was concluded that most of them made 70 cents an hour and 20% of them did not make a sale. 60% of them made less than $500 in sales over the past 5 years and 32% of them acquired credit card debt to finance their MLM involvements.
SOURCES:
Final Verdict ? Trades of Hope
Even though Trades of Hope is not your typical health supplements or beauty products MLM, it still has nothing new to offer to the market.
Sure, the company’s vision is pretty good, but you should also think of this: does your sales really help the women making the jewelry you are selling for marked up prices?
Aside from that, there is also the truth of having to recruit people in your downline.
Who will be the first ones you will recruit? Your family and friends, of course.
And it is not like you can do that easily.
The company does not give you the proper training and tools to work with.
Also, not everyone is a fan of jewelry, which makes the products pretty hard to sell.
Along with the fact that there are accessory stores in shopping centers and markets, you cannot possibly compete with them, even if your intentions are good.
Even if the company is built on compassion, it does not seem like the compassion is attributed to you, the one working for them.
That?s it for my Trades of Hope review.
I do not recommend MLMs. but if you want to make money online, you should check out my #1 recommendation to making money online after reviewing 300+ MLM companies.