There is a lot of fuss about the business done by Questnet International. I especially hear the words "Gold Quest International" is a scam. Let us see at some of the facts below.
- Overpricing - Any product in traditional market is overpriced. I will explain taking a few examples
a. The price of water is only Rs. 2/- per litre - the manufacturing cost. Everyone knows that. We buy it for Rs. 10/-. Or even for Rs. 15/- sometimes. So, everyone is a looser in that case as the company as well as the middle men(advertisers and retailers, warehouses) are getting all that money. It is 5 times the original cost.
b. Take any Peter England or Park Avenue or Reid & Taylor shirt, trousers, suits etc, or Adidas/Reebok/Nike shoes for that matter. If we can compare the original price(manufacturing cost) of these products, it will be about 5 to 10 times the original price. We call it as "Brand Value". We are paying for it. When ever we see such products. we say. "Wow! You are wearing Adidas shoes. Park Avenue shirts." etc. Because most of the people in lime light(celebrities) wear such brand valued products and some of them might be brand ambassadors of such products.
c. Another example can be given to watches. Shahrukh Khan is the first Indian brand ambassador of Tag Heuer - a Swiss Company from 1860. The actual manufacturing cost of these watches wouldnot be what the customer pays for. But there is this brand value which adds upto the product cost at the end.
d. Take Mercedes Benz or Rolls Royce cars . I know that the cars are "The Best cars" in the world. But, when the prices of the cars are compared to the manufacturing cost, they are atleast 3-5 times higher. This is added up to the brand value as well as the advertising cost.
e. Another example is jewelry. Take for example Tanisq Jewelry or Nakshatra diamonds. what might one expect the actual value of gold or diamond be? They are much higher than the original cost. Ofcourse some of it would go to the making of jewelry depending on the complexity of its making.
f. It is the same case with electronic goods as well.
I’m not against advertisements or the companies or products. What all I want to put forward is there is a huge difference between manufacturing cost and selling cost. It is common in everyday life, which is done based on the advertisement cost, the "Brand Value", shipping cost, cost for warehouses etc.
The only thing Gold Quest does is half the price of the product is given back to the customers who refers this products to their friends as they are saving against the advertising cost and there are no middlemen involved in it. The product directly comes from the manufacturing unit to your home.
We only tend to see the metal cost and not the brand value of the company or the advertisement cost of the products from Gold Quest International. The products are recognized my International organisations like UNO(FAO), Vatican City. So, I would say that. yes. this company has surely got a very good brand.
- Legality - Coming to legal issues, I have seen many people saying that this type of business is not legal in India or somewhere abroad. I would like to point out some facts.
a. The referral commission we get is post tax dedcution. The tax goes to Government of India, which is one aspect.
b. Secondly, this company is registered in India under "Company Act". There is also ISO 9001:2000 certification for the quality of the product. Any company would not get this certification without being legal. One can check out the registration no. RQ91/3349. Its validity is until May 2008.
c. It might be illegal in countries like Srilanka and Iran because of some other reasons. But we donot see that it is legal in many developing as well as developed countries.
d. There are some legal issues for this company. Which company doesnot have leagal issues. To name a few, Microsoft, Google, major pharma companies. many more have legal issues. But why don’t people stop buying their products.
There are a few legal issues I have to address here. I have read an article in Hindu which says about arrest(submitting passport to supreme court) of Ms. Pushpam Appalanaidu, MD of Gold Quest International in India. What most of us do is. read this news and say. some fraud has happened and hence she was arrested. I digged up some information regarding this arrest. There was a brakedown in the machinery which mints these gold products and the customers didnot recieve the products at the specified time. Hence they have lodged a complaint against her. But, when the products were delivered to them, all the complaints were taken aback. which didnot come in any news.
- Pyramidal structure - Most of us are confused whether this kind of network business comes under pyramidal structure or not. And if it does, then it is quite obvious that there will be saturation.
This business is not pyramidal based. If one sees it only in the view of Gold Quest business, well. it might be. But, there are many many parrallels to Gold Quest which are being lauched by Questnet International in India pretty soon(by the end of 2007) where as in other countries they are in full swing. When consumables like telecommunications, techology products are lauched, there is no end to the demand for such products. So, speaking with respect to Quest net International, this business is not based on pyramidal structure.
- Easy money - I have been into this business from 1 year but was only active for the past three months. I have put in my effort. I have earned my investment back within this period and earning much more than that now. I see people saying that this business is an easy money earner. I strongly disagree to this as I know how much effort I along with my team have put in. I spend my fulltime during weekends and atleast 2-hrs everyday after office hours. I visit places to meet my friends. "IT IS NOT AN GET RICH SOON BUSINESS". One needs to know about the business before he introduces someone into this business. This would happen at a faster pace when you are working as a team. If the person who introduces you has a good knowledge about it and when he/she gives you full support, only then people can earn at a faster rate. I make sure that everyone is earning under me. I have a team of 32 within 3 months. Already 10-12 of my downlines have got their first cheques. It is only possible with good team effort and good relationships
From the above facts. I don’t think it is a fraud or a scam. The only thing which we are not able to digest is the hard reality we are living in.
The last thing that I would say is, if one wants to earn that extra buck apart from salary or regular income, this is a wonderful way to do it. provided he/she has a very good team to support. Otherwise, I’m pretty much sure that the case will end up in a failure. Donot join into this business just for the sake of joining. If you are only ready to put in some extra effort along with yo