Is Vector Marketing A Scam?

The response to our article about the Vector Marketing Scam has been overwhelming. We get tons of emails every day from readers all over the United States thanking us for the article and sharing their own experiences with us about working for Vector Marketing. Many of these former employees agree that Vector Marketing is a complete scam and hope that such articles will warn other unsuspecting youth away from joining this type of get rich quick scam. Others write to let us know how wonderful their experience working with Vector Marketing was, or is, and about how much money it is possible to make as a sales person for the company. We also, of course, get many emails from Vector office managers and administrators furious over our scam article and asking us to take it down. Not that we would ever do so dear readers. Reporting to you the truth about Internet scams and other malicious schemes is what our site is devoted to doing.

Evaluating Hundreds of Emails and Forum Posts

But, we have taken the time to really look at the emails we are receiving and understand what our readers are telling us. We have been working hard to compile a file of all of these emails, meticulously keeping notes on what readers have to say about Vector Marketing, as well as closely following online forums and other sites all reporting on Vector Marketing.

Which then, after all of this research, now leads us to the big question: Is Vector Marketing A Scam?

After evaluating all of the information we have been receiving about Vector Marketing we can now clearly say that Vector Marketing isn't exactly a scam-but it isn't an honest and forthright organization either. So that you can better understand why so many debate about whether Vector Marketing is a scam or not, we have outlined the basics of how employment with Vector Marketing works.

How Vector Marketing Works

To do its bidding, Vector Marketing specifically targets young and inexperienced employees and posts ads on college campuses. The majority of people who answer Vector Marketing employment ads are between ages 18-24 (according to our research). Employees in this age group can be more easily fooled and manipulated, are less experienced in the work force and with the rules of employment and are more compliant-meaning less likely to argue with management or ask questions about what they don't agree with or understand. This is the ‘go with the flow' work crowd.

Ads for positions with Vector Marketing advertise that employees will make anywhere from $11 per hour to $15 per hour. Every person who writes in gives a different pay per hour number from the ad they saw, but generally the amounts fall within this range. However, what the ad does not say is that there is no pay per hour. You are a sales person who is paid per sale. But, we will get to that later.

You then call the number on the ad and set up an interview at a Vector office. Many people have written that the offices where the interviews are held (all reporting from different locations) are a bit shady and seem very impermanent. Most respondents say that when they arrived at the office for an interview there were many other young people like themselves also waiting for their turn.

After the interview you are invited back for an all day (unpaid) orientation and training session. This is where you learn more about the job. You are being hired to sell Cutco Knives and in the training session you will learn all about these knives and about how to sell them. You are then asked to put down a $120 deposit for the knife kit that you will use when trying to sell the knives--this deposit is suppose to be refundable when you return the knife kit at the end of your employment. Many respondents argue about whether or not you will get this money back--some did, some didn't. Vector administration tells us that you will.

So How Do You Make Money?

You make money only by selling knives: there is no store for you to do this in. It is your responsibility to go door to door, or to call up everyone you know and to try and make demonstration appointments. At these demonstration appointments you make your sales pitch, show the knives, and hope to make a sale. Basically you are trying to sell to your friends and family. You receive a 10% commission for every set of knives you sell and this commission will go up to 15% after you sell $1000 worth of knives. This now explains why the ads posted by Vector for this position all claim that you will make a different amount of money per hour. It all depends on what you sell. And, of course, if you are not selling, you are not earning. Furthermore, you are not reimbursed for gas or your time.

Is Vector Marketing Right For You?

If you do not know a lot of people whom you can set up demonstrations with, and hopefully sell knives to, and if you are not a traveling salesman type or if you need a secure income that you can count on, then Vector Marketing is not right for you. However, if you think you can find customers and get out there and sell the knives, then this could be a good opportunity for you. In some ways the position is much like a real estate agent--find you own clients, make a sale, earn a commission.

Why Do People Say Vector Marketing Is A Scam?

So, why do so many think Vector Marketing is a scam? Well, because they don't give you a lot of this information. For some reason Vector has a policy of misleading its employees and future employees. One Vector Marketing receptionist writes that she is told to mislead everyone who calls, avoid answering questions, and do whatever it takes to get people in for an interview. She can't tell them what they will do in the job, about the deposit for the knives, or about how they make money. That is all a surprise for orientation and training--which no one is paid for. And since you are left to your own devices to try and sell the knives, and because your average 18-24 year old is of course going to ask mom and dad and Aunt Millie to buy the knives so that they can make money through commission, they feel that this entire employment is a scam. They could make much more money just asking family and friends to give them the money rather than purchasing the knives.

The fact that Vector keeps its employees and future employees in the dark says a lot about the company's practices and ethics. If they feel so good about their company why not just tell people about what they will have to do and about how they will earn money. Why all the secrecy?

So, is it a scam?

Not completely. Technically it is possible to make some money if you have the right type of personality and the energy. But for most of Vector's young and inexperienced ad answerers, the job is a major waste of time and they would be better off working in a fast food restaurant or retail chain store earning a steady paycheck.

However, there is one thing that most respondents do agree on-they love the Cutco knives!

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