Paparazzi Jewelry Review: Legit MLM or Pyramid Scheme?

If you’re considering becoming a Paparazzi Accessories Consultant, a legitimate concern may be whether the company operates as a legal pyramid scheme or potentially as a scam.

Naturally, you might be hesitant, questioning if they genuinely adhere to ethical business practices.

Chances are, you were introduced to Paparazzi’s opportunity by a friend or family member, and it’s entirely reasonable to conduct thorough research before committing.

Interestingly, a friend of mine recommended that I join Paparazzi Accessories. While I’m not particularly drawn to MLM opportunities, my financial stability through steady passive income allows me to explore different ventures without worry.

So, I thought, why not take a closer look at the scheme? Perhaps I could uncover something intriguing. Consequently, I decided to join the scheme for a month.

Throughout this review, I’ll share my firsthand experience to assist you in determining whether Paparazzi Jewelry operates as a legitimate MLM or if it exhibits characteristics of a pyramid scheme.

What is Paparazzi Jewelry?

Paparazzi Jewelry is a company that started in 2010 and is known for its affordable and stylish jewelry and accessories. They operate as a multi-level marketing (MLM) company, similar to Premier Designs.

If you’re interested in fashion jewelry and want to sell Paparazzi products, your job would involve promoting them to people who share your interest in affordable and trendy accessories.

The unique selling point of Paparazzi Jewelry is its affordability – all their items, including rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and hair accessories, are priced at $5, except for those in the Zi Collection, which cost $25. Sellers earn a commission of $2.25 per sale, giving them a 45% profit on the $5 products.

What makes Paparazzi Jewelry stand out is that their products are nickel and lead-free. This is important because these substances, common in cheap jewelry, can cause skin irritation. Paparazzi Jewelry’s commitment to being nickel and lead-free adds to the appeal of their items.

As a seller, you can use various methods to promote and sell Paparazzi products, such as hosting house parties, selling online, and using word of mouth.

Overall, Paparazzi Jewelry offers a way for you to earn money by selling affordable and stylish accessories.

Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative

Who’s Behind Paparazzi Jewelry?

Paparazzi Jewelry was founded by sisters Misty and Chani. Originally, they started by selling custom jewelry, and over time, this passion grew into the MLM (multi-level marketing) business that Paparazzi Jewelry is recognized for today.

The official website of Paparazzi Accessories mentions Misty and Trent Kerby, along with Chani and Ryan Reeve, as the co-founders of the company.

What Are the Paparazzi Jewelry Products?

Paparazzi Accessories offers a variety of affordable jewelry and accessories. If you’re thinking about joining their MLM business, it’s good to know about their products:

1. Hair accessories
2. Necklaces
3. Bracelets
4. Earrings
5. Rings

Most items are priced at $5 for retail customers or $2.75 for “Paparazzi consultants” who get a 45% discount.

Paparazzi’s products come in various themes like Urban, ENCORE, Zi Collection, Monthly Fashion Mix, and special editions for occasions like Valentine’s Day.

It’s worth noting that there are other MLMs that offer similar products, such as Stella & Dot, Vantel Pearls, and Trades of Hope. So, if you’re exploring MLM opportunities, you might encounter comparable items from these companies as well.

Paparazzi Jewelry Compensation Plan

When you join Paparazzi Jewelry, the more sellers you recruit among you, the more money you earn.

Not only do you get 5-10% of the sales that your “organization” (the people you recruit to Paparazzi Jewelry) makes, but you also get 2-3% of the sales of the new recruits.

If you make it to the top levels of the program, you can also qualify for some pretty hefty cash rewards, such as these:

• Luxe Jetsetter – $25,000
• Impressionista – $50,000

To qualify for cash rewards, you must maintain a PV (personal volume) of 250 (about 125 sales per month) and an OV (organisational volume) of 1,000,000-1,500,000 (about 500,000-750,000 sales within your organisation).

Some people may find this easy, but most people can hardly imagine hiring that many employees – let alone one.

Here’s a summary of the benefits of increasing your rank in the pyramid:

• 10% rebate for 1,000 PV in a single receipt
• 15% commission from your downline’s initial starter kit
• More bonuses as you level up in your team
• $25,000 bonus when you reach Luxe Jetsetter level
• $50,000 bonus when you get to the Impressionista level

Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative

How to Become a Consultant at Paparazzi Jewelry?

You may become a Paparazzi Consultant/Distributor by following these three steps:

1. Find a Consultant (as your upline sponsor)

You can choose a Consultant in your area by going to the Paparazzi Accessories site. If you are accepted, your name will be added to the list of Consultants (for future registrants).

2. Buy a Starter Pack. 

Three packages are available:

• Starter Kit– Priced at $99, valued at $175 (it contains 35 pieces of jewelry).
• Small Home Party Kit – Priced at $299, valued at $600 (it contains 120 pieces of jewelry).
• Large Home Party Kit – Priced at $499, valued at $1,000 (it contains 200 pieces of jewelry).

3. Launch Your Business

You may do this by hosting parties, promoting on your website, and posting on social media.

Is Paparazzi Jewelry an MLM?

Yes, Paparazzi Jewelry is definitely a multi-level marketing company.

As a paparazzi consultant, you sell paparazzi jewelry and accessories to customers and earn commissions (direct sales) 

According to the MLM business model (the pyramid principle), you need to recruit members for your downline. They in turn must recruit other consultants to join their downline.

Whether legal or illegal, the whole thing looks like a big pyramid.

A legal multi-level marketing business allows people to earn income by selling products to a retail market, usually friends, family and colleagues.

As a distributor of Paparazzi Jewelry, you will need to build a solid team along with making your own sales if you want to make the big bucks.

Simply put, you will earn commissions from direct sales through your own efforts as well as commissions from your downline, which serves as passive income.

• Learn more about multi-level marketing.

Is Paparazzi Accessories a Pyramid Scheme?

Paparazzi Accessories is not a pyramid scheme.

They sell legitimate products, whereas a potentially illegal pyramid scheme focuses primarily on recruiting people (with products as an afterthought).

When it comes to making false claims and/or linking products directly to the recruitment process, things get murky, not necessarily with Paparazzi Jewelry, but with other MLMs 

For example, if you could only acquire the company’s product by becoming a member and recruiting others, it would be considered an illegal pyramid scheme 

New recruits are forced to stockpile a lot of inventory, which then becomes the main source of product sales for the company.

There are no retail sales (in other words, most products are purchased by recruits within the pyramid).

To encourage retail sales, Paparazzi Jewelry requires its consultants to meet certain personal sales (PV) goals each month.

However, with any MLM, things can get dicey when distributors who have trouble selling retail end up buying their own products just to increase their own volume.

Deceptions and false claims about the product itself can also get a company into trouble.

Compared to MLMs selling health and beauty products, for example, jewelry is not such a big problem.

One area where Paparazzi Accessories may have a little difficulty is that it cannot monitor every distributor/consultant and it is common in MLMs for some aggressive recruiters to misrepresent income and sell lifestyle rather than their company’s products.

Nevertheless, Paparazzi Accessories is not a scam, but a “rogue” consultant could be running some kind of scam. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. Multi-level marketing has many dangers.

• Learn more about pyramid scheme.

Did I Make Money as a Paparazzi Accessories Consultant?

So, in my first month as a Paparazzi Accessories consultant, I didn’t make any money. I actually joined just for fun, because I enjoy being a detective. Even though I’m good at sales, I’m not comfortable trying to get my friends and family to join.

Recruiting people to join as consultants under your team is the best way to make more money with Paparazzi Accessories.

You will earn a percentage of what your downline makes, as well as a smaller percentage of what their downline makes.

The first thing Paparazzi Accessories told me to to do is to reach out to my friends and family.

So, if you’re okay with recruiting your friends, you might make some money. As your team grows, you can earn commissions from their sales, like 5% to 10% from your immediate team and 2% to 3% from their teams.

Paparazzi’s jewelry is all priced at $5, except for the Zi Collection. The deal is, you get them at a wholesale price of $2.75, so selling them at $5 gives you a $2.25 profit (which is a 45% commission).

But here’s the catch: I didn’t sell any because, honestly, the jewelry seemed substandard. They claim it’s non-toxic, but I could tell it wasn’t up to snuff.

My dad used to run a jewelry store, and he could immediately spot that these pieces might be cheaply made in China. So, no sales for me.

Selling jewelry requires creativity on the part of Paparazzi consultants. You should get some help with this from the consultant you signed up with.

Apart from that, you should consider finding a statement piece. It should be something you would love to own and that you can easily sell. 

In order to turn a profit, you have to sell 60 pieces of jewelry.  

After a while, people are likely to tell their friends about your products and you’ll generate business from word of mouth to hopefully hit your product sales targets. 

Paparazzi Jewelry consultants must maintain a personal volume of 100 PV to remain active. 

How Much Does It Cost To Join Paparazzi Jewelry?

In order to become a Paparazzi consultant, I’ve paid some money.

There are three entry points…

To begin, you can choose from a range of products for $99, $299, or $499. 

As some people would have you believe, this is not the only cost.

In addition, you must allow for the costs of staying “active” as a Paparazzi consultant.

Technically, you don’t have to be a consultant. 

You, however, will not be able to receive commissions or bonuses for your downline. 

If you want to make money from Paparazzi Accessories, you will need to sell 50 PV (personal volume) points per month. 

In monetary terms, this means you must sell $125 worth of products per month at retail value. 

This means you will have to purchase the products yourself if you are unable to sell this much. 

Taking advantage of your 45% discount, you need to budget an additional $56.25 per month.

The following could be your first year’s expenses:

• $99-$499
• $56.25 x 12
• Total cost in your first year = $774 – $1,174

Paparazzi Jewelry Complaints

I saw a bunch of complaints about Paparazzi Accessories on Better Business Bureau, and many were about the jewelry not being good quality. That’s not shocking to me because my dad discovered that their jewelry has harmful metals in it.

Why did they bring in these not-so-great jewelry pieces from China? It’s all about keeping the prices low. This way, they can offer a higher commission to get their consultants to bring in more people. It’s kind of like a pyramid scheme.

Here’re some examples…

Customers aren’t happy with the company’s accessories. How about their consultants? Well, it’s not any better. Most of them are labeling it as a scam that leaves them with a lot of useless jewelry.

Here’re some complaints I found on Glassdoor…

Praise for Paparazzi Jewelry

I personally believe most MLMs are a waste of time and money, but there are few pros wroth mentioning here to make this review unbiased.

1. Profit Margins Are Good

It’s a pretty good commission rate for an MLM to earn 45% on a sale, even for $5 (keep in mind that it’s still less than $3 per sale).

Because of this high commission rate, if you can sell well, you may not need to recruit anyone.

However, it is essential to recruit people to build a highly profitable business as one of their consultants.

2. Customers May Buy Their Products in Bulk Due to Low Price Tag

Even though volume selling is generally not the best way compared to offering high priced products, the $5 price makes it very easy to sell multiple items to customers.

It is possible to earn a considerable amount with a successful house party.

Because of the low price of these jewelry items, prospective buyers are more inclined to purchase multiple items because they feel they are getting a good deal.

3. A Wide Variety of Products is Available

Paparazzi Accessories has a big collection of products under the costume jewelry category.

They’ve got rings, bracelets, necklaces, and more.

This makes it easier to sell because customers often buy a bunch of items at the same time.

Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative

Criticism of Paparazzi Jewelry

I don’t recommend Joining Paparazzi Jewelry to make money because of the following cons.

1. Low Sales Dollar Value

As I’ve already mentioned, it may work well if you sell in bulk, but you’re still only making less than $2.50 per sale.

I do not think this low commission amount will get you very far unless you bug your friends, family members, and even strangers at the store to buy your products.

2. Hosting House Parties May Be Annoying

Hosting house parties is another potential drawback of selling Paparazzi Jewelry.

It may be problematic for those who don’t like face-to-face selling, since it is the best way to sell a lot of jewelry quickly.

Your friends and family may be annoyed if you invite them to yet another one of these MLM “house parties,” which I’m sure they’ve all heard of or attended at some point.

3. Paparazzi Jewelry Sales Representatives are Rarely Successful

A MLM company’s success rate is rare.

MLM representatives lose between 73% and 99% of their commissions.

I would say that at least 75% of Paparazzi Jewelry consultants lose money after looking at their income disclosure.

I found the Paparazzi Jewelry’s full income disclosure. 

97.23% of consultants make less than $900 a month on average.

As a result, you have very little chance of making money from this.

So don’t expect to make a lot of money from Paparazzi Jewelry. It won’t happen.

4. Your Success Will Rely on the Person Who Recruits You

The person or “team” you join as a consultant has a great impact on your success 

You can succeed if you partner with someone who is willing to teach you how to use online marketing to sell 24/7.  

There is only so much jewelry you can sell in person or at a “home party”. So at $2.25 per necklace sold, you will not make much money per month.

5. You Have to Meet the Monthly Sales Quota

To remain an “active” Paparazzi consultant, you need to reach a monthly sales quota.

57 dollars may not sound like much, but if you don’t sell any (which most people don’t, if they only try to sell them to friends and family in person which most people do) then it adds up over the course of a year, especially in addition to the starting fee that you already paid. 

There are better options with lower overheads that can be built with time. I will tell you a much better alternative to make passive income at the end of this review.

6. Paparazzi Jewelry Does Not Provide Online Marketing Training

Online marketing training isn’t offered in a “real” way.

You can watch some random videos to help you set up your “personal duplicate website”.

Paparazzi, however, does not provide training to help you attract visitors to your website every month and make this a “passive income.”. 

7. Paparazzi Jewelry’s Popularity is Decreasing

It’s probably no secret that the most successful MLM consultants are those who “get in early” while the momentum is still rising. 

There won’t be many people already working there since these people can help the company grow. 

On the other hand, Google Trends shows that Paparazzi Jewelry is on a downward trend. 

As other MLMs such as Farmasi are currently experiencing, it’s been through its “early momentum phase.” So it will be even harder to make money if you join Paparazzi Jewelry now.

Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative

Is Paparazzi Jewelry a Scam?

I can’t call Paparazzi Jewelry a scam because of legal reasons. It’s actually just an MLM company that relies a lot on getting new members to grow.

Whether this MLM is right for you depends on your interest in selling costume jewelry and building a business around it. If you like doing that and are good at selling in person, it could be a good way to make some money.

But here’s the thing, since each jewelry item is only $5, you’ll have to sell a bunch to make good money. You get about $2.50 per sale with a 45% commission.

However, if you’re really good at selling in person or online, those sales can add up fast.

Still, I wouldn’t suggest Paparazzi Jewelry if you’re aiming to make a lot of money online.

Is There A Better Way to Make Money From Home?

If you want to make a full-time passive income from home, I’d suggest you to start an affiliate marketing business.

However, I’d recommend you to get started with the most reputable platform: Wealthy Affiliate instead.

Wealthy Affiliate is an all-in-one platform for building your affiliate marketing business from scratch. It offers you a free account (including a free website) with comprehensive training on SEO (free traffic methods), which enables you to get started with affiliate marketing right away without paying a penny.

But How Much Can You Earn with Wealthy Affiliate?

A 21-year old student from Wealthy Affiliate was able to earn $7,395 in just 1 week, which means he made more than $1k a day…all while using free traffic methods.

For more information, you can check out our full review of Wealthy Affiliate.