Is Agnes and Dora a Scam & Pyramid Scheme? – My Honest Review? (2021)
Welcome to my Agnes and Dora review 2021!
Agnes and Dora is a clothing Company that strives for recognizing and empowering women both professionally and personally.
Along with this, it also provides an earning opportunity so that they can work in the comfort of their home.
No matter what the Agnes and Dora claim, the best approach is to confirm their claims by reading honest reviews on the web.
You should be appreciated for taking your time and doing research about Agnes and Dora.
It is good to see that you have landed on my review page as I'm not associated with Agnes and Dora in any form. Instead, my purpose is to reveal the truth about this platform.
Is it really that easy for Agnes and Dora to fulfill its promises? Is it worth your time? And most importantly, is Agnes and Dora a legit or a scam?
That’s all I will be covering in this review.
So let’s start;
Agnes and Dora Review Summary 2021
Product Name: Agnes and Dora
Founder: Buffy Bandley
Product Type: Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)
Price: $1500
Best For: People who love fashion
Summary: Agnes and Dora is a similar company like LuLaRoe. It was launched in 2013 by Buffy Bandley. The Company sells leggings, skirts, tops, layers, and bottoms. To start this business opportunity, you need at least $1,500 for the starter kit. After that, you also need to spend money on inventories.
The Company is a legit one; however, I don’t recommend it as a long-term business. The earning potential is limited, and also you are putting all eggs in one basket. To relieve from this threat and total dependency on this Company, I suggest you start an affiliate marketing business.
Rating: 60/100
What is Agnes and Dora?
Buffy Bandley founded Agnes and Dora in 2013. Buffy Bandley is the niece of LuLaRoe founder, Deanne Stidham. It is a direct sales Company created by women for women.
The Company is the destination for fashion highlighting the latest trends for confident, social, and active women.
It offers quality, fashionable apparel at affordable prices that allow women to feel good in mind, body, and spirit. Their products are available through Independent Sales Representatives.
Since its launch, there is a lot of buzz about this Company for women. This is due to the competitor LuLaRoe.
Due to particularly rouse of the LuLaRoe lawsuits and worries of an over-saturated market; women have been searching the Internet for LuLaRoe alternatives and top LuLaRoe competitors for the past few years.
So, the first name that got their attention is Agnes and Dora. The name Agnes and Dora come from a book written by Buffy’s Grandmother in 1960’s called “The Secret Power of Femininity.”
Agnes & Dora is a wholesale/retail company marketing clothes alike to LuLaRoe and is now one of the main LuLaRoe competitors.
So, we need to wait more time until we reach a better conclusion.
Agnes & Dora Product Line
Agnes and Dora has a diverse catalog of clothes including skirts, tops, layers, bottoms, and accessories. Let’s look at the claims they make about their clothes;
a). High-Quality Fabric
Nearly all Agnes and Dora clothing items are manufactured from a mixture of rayon and spandex, making them soft to the touch and somewhat flexible.
Some styles are even offered in modal fabric, making them soft, breathable, and less likely to shrink or pill.
b). Affordable Pricing
Unlike other direct sales clothing companies, Agnes and Dora's prices are reasonable. If you want to choose between Agnes and Dora vs. LuLaRoe regarding pricing, there is a substantial difference.
For example, the duster in Agnes and Dora is priced at $48; however, the Sarah cardigan from LuLaRoe is one of their most costly options having the price of $70.
Let’s see the leggings comparison; LuLaRoe leggings are $25 while Agnes and Dora's leggings are slightly cheaper at $22.
c). Consistent Sizing
Consistent and clear sizing is the thing that every woman care about.
Clothing sizing in Agnes and Dora is straightforward and covers all their products, making it simple to find the best fit for you.
The same sizing is also applied to their line of leggings as well.
Shoppers may see that the sizing system for Agnes and Dora leggings makes finding their correct size much easier:
d). Wide Variety of Styles
Agnes and Dora offer a large collection of styles.
For example, the Company's website currently showcases 4 different types of tunics, 11 t-shirt styles, and 6 different Agnes and Dora dresses.
e). Traditional Patterns and Wardrobe Staples
The prints and patterns on the dresses of Agnes and Dora, leggings, and t-shirts stick to more old-style prints, like fine florals, geometric patterns, and stripes.
Some shoppers may discover that these types of prints are easier to integrate into their existing apparel.
What Are People Saying about Their Products?
If you look at the product quality as claimed by different people, I have seen mix opinions from the people.
Some are asking about good quality stuff at reasonable prices and also there are different varieties available to choose among the large collection.
Still, there are others who aren’t satisfied with the products, but those are very few. The reason may be due to the Company is a new one, and people are slowly shifting to it from LuLaRoe.
How to Make Money from Agnes and Dora?
To earn money from this site, you need to become a rep, a name they use to denote distributor.
Currently, they are accepting reps from the United States only. Rather than offering commission, they used a credit based system to encourage reps to recruit new consultants.
The Company provides merchandise credits which you can use for future orders.
The Company has startup packages that range from $3500 to $5000. There are three types of starter kits that you can use from;
- Jump Start Kit ($1,500) - This kit is a least expensive offered by the Agnes & Dora brand. The package includes Promotional Rep Credit of $150 which will work through till the end of September 2018.
- Launch Kit ($2,500) - This kit offers you with adequate inventories for an initial launch to display at the party and let your friends shop. The package includes Promotional Rep Credit of $250 which will end on September 2018.
- Inventory Set Up ($3,500) – The package includes enough inventory you need for your first couple of weeks of business. The package includes Promotional Rep Credit of $350 which will end on September 2018.
Once you have purchased the startup kit, you can choose the inventory that you want to sell.
This means choosing specific prints and sizes for your customers, which helps avoid the issue of getting stuck with products that your customers aren’t buying.
The Company uses a uni-level structure for placing representatives under you:
- Level 1 Recruits—Representatives personally invited and recruited by you. Credits are determined based on 5% of their inventory orders.
- Level 2 Recruits— Representatives brought into the company by your Tier 1 representatives. Credits are determined based on 2% of their inventory orders.
- Level 3 Recruits— Representatives brought into the company by your Tier 2 recruits. Credits are determined based on 1% of their inventory orders.
However, to reap the benefits of their compensation plan, reps need to maintain a minimum of $500 in inventory purchases each month.
Additionally, individual inventory orders must come at least a total of $100.
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Pros & Cons:
The Good
1. Decent Product Line
I have gone through some of the review sites, and I found most of the people are completing their goods.
They are also comparing it with the LuLaRoe’s products regarding their quality, and even some are more fan than the LuLaRoe.
So, if you are planning to sell clothes, you don’t have to be concerned about much.
However, as the Company is new, I request you to wait for some more periods and see how people react to them.
It also provides a diverse catalog of clothing with decent profit potential.
2. Focus Is On Retailing Not Recruiting
If you look at the system of the site and how does it work, you come to know that their focus is more on selling their products rather than on recruiting people, which is the essence of network marketing companies.
If you recruit people, you will get benefits, but if you cannot do that, you have the option of selling clothes to other people.
3. BBB Accredited
Agnes and Dora are accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) having A+ ratings.
There are only seven Agnes and Dora reviews, which is a remarkably low number even for a new business.
It could mean that not enough people familiar with Agnes and Dora, or it could mean that customers are neither delighted nor frustrated with their products.
4. Free Website
The reps get free access to a clean-cut, easily-navigated website to sell their Agnes and Dora clothing online.
The company also offers professional stock photos, which removes the need to buy costly photography equipment and provides consultants more time to work on their business.
The Bad
1. High Cost to Get Started
It’s less than LuLaRoe, but when you compare it to other opportunities such as affiliate marketing the up-front cost is high.
You need at least $1500 for the Jump Start Kit, though you have to buy inventory items separately.
For this, you must require at least $5,000 to be able to start from some inventory.
2. Laborious Work
You are still working for every dollar. For example, you can make passive income with an online affiliate marketing business and see every morning to commissions.
On the other side, with a retail business (Agnes and Dora), you are always dealing with inventory, orders, shipments, invoicing, complaints, items return, home parties, and so on.
What begins with the hunt of freedom turns into another job?
3. Dependency on One Program
It could be very disastrous! You are totally dependent on a single company, as well as being bound to their rules and restrictions.
If they change any of the rules, it could affect your business a long time.
If you remember Honey & Lace, they come up with a new name, Piphany with new terms and conditions.
Though the new version is better from the previous, it also affected many old affiliates as well who had put so much effort.
4. No Training on Driving Traffic
Most of the reps are using the strategy of face to face marketing.
For this, they are arranging parties and partner with small businesses such as gyms, yoga or dance studios, etc.
However, if you want to scale it up, you need to go online. But the issue is you aren’t provided here training on how to use social media platforms, starting a blog and running an e-commerce store.
5. The Company is Declining
That’s true! It is also surprising for me. At first, the Company came as a substitute for LuLaRoe. They try to improve some of the dark areas that LuLaRoe has.
This made him great success in the year 2017 but since 2018 the Company is starting to decline and we have to wait until where it goes.
The reason may be high startup cost, and also other new companies came up with better and cheap options for consultants.
If you look at Piphany, Buskins and Legging Army; they all start with the help of few bucks at the start.
Even you don’t have to carry inventory at all, and all of your customers’ orders will be entertained by the Company and ship products directly to them.
6. Other Cost
You need space for inventory, and initial kit and your regular purchase require you to have space where you can display them to your customers. You have to either buy a store or rent it.
Apart from this, you also need to incur the cost of transportation which is also a major cost in the given scenario.
If you somehow want to promote your business, you also need a good budget in the form of social media, starting a blog, arranging parties and many more.
7. Limited Earning Potential
Despite the time and effort, you put in Agnes and Dora; you could be only able to earn few bucks for a month.
Even for that few bucks, you need to give proper time on a daily basis. Think it as a fulltime job. That’s a lot of work.
That’s true....
Though Agnes and Dora are one of the trusted companies in the direct sales industry, still this issue is with it.
If you think Agnes and Dora can replace your 9 to 5 job and earn you a sustainable income from home, believe me, this isn’t what you are looking for.
Is Agnes and Dora a Pyramid Scheme?
Some direct sales companies operate as pyramid schemes, and consumers often confuse legitimate direct sales companies with pyramid schemes.
- The pyramid scheme doesn’t have real products to sell. Most of the time, they may somehow purport to sell a product, but this is due to hiding them their pyramid structure behind this product.
- The pyramid scheme encourages you to make sales based primarily on the number of consultants you recruit.
Its best not to get involved in any pyramid schemes, rather your focus is selling goods directly to the customers.
But if you look at the Company; they offer real good products which are also in demand from the women. And the focus of the Company is on selling its products rather than recruiting.
Want to Earn a Full-time Income From Home?
Is Agnes and Dora a Scam?
Despite the issues I have raised above, Agnes and Dora is not a scam.
It provides legitimate business opportunity with real products. Like most direct sales companies, they have their upsides and downsides.
The Company offers decent products that are also in demand from people.
They also limit the number of reps, and for those that get in, the market is less saturated. Every new person that joins is possibly a competitor.
Despite legitimate, I don’t recommend you to start this as a fulltime business opportunity. This is due to;
- The trust of people on the Company has started to decline as shown by the above image taken from Google trends
- You need pretty high upfront cost
- There is also another ancillary cost on inventory storage, shipping, and other costs
So, do you think Agnes and Dora become your cash cow and provide you with the lifestyle that it promises? I wouldn't think so, but that's just my opinion.
There are economical and simpler options out there when it comes to making money online.
Final Verdict:
Though Agnes and Dora is a legit MLM company, I recommend you to put your focus on your own online business rather than depending on someone else.
Don’t put so much effort on Agnes and Dora and other similar direct sales businesses; you are totally dependent on them.
That’s where I prefer Affiliate marketing over direct sales marketing, which is the only method I recommend to make money online.
Let’s look at the reasons why I prefer affiliate marketing over direct sales marketing;
- There is no need to recruit people
- You don’t have to be dependent on one company, and it gives you control and ownership that Agnes and Dora doesn’t
- No face to face selling
- You aren’t just limited to promoting one product only. Indeed the sky is not the limit.
- It's Free to get started.
If you want to know how to get started in affiliate marketing and build an empire from home, don’t wait for more and see my #1 recommendation, i.e., Wealthy Affiliate.
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What's your thoughts on my Agnes and Dora review 2021 and if there is any question in your mind, please ask me in the comment section.
