What about setting up a website...?

At this point, I would have to say it's not a good idea. Apparently, even though I was given the authority/approval to do this by my District Manager, Haydee Otero, I just received a letter from Avon's Legal Department (that after investing over $30,000 of my own time and money into my site) that I must take it down or lose all privileges as an Avon Rep. Avon gave me approval and written acknowledgement that this was my intention; and I acted on this. Now my District Manager is trying to deny it, and Avon Corporate is saying that her word is not valid, anyway. Both the District and the Corporate offices are trying to deny their responsibilities to me, the Avon Rep. They gave me the go-ahead to invest tens of thousands of dollars of my own, and now do not want to take responsibility for this...

Although my District Manager, today, recalled on the phone that I only joined Avon with the understanding that I could set up this website. She is, nevertheless, now denying that she gave the authorization to do this, even though I have it in writing. In fact, to this my District Manager added that it was her word against mine and I couldn't prove anything since I don't have it in writing..... but I do... in her hand-writing. I have refused to take down the site until I am reimbursed for my expenses and am in receipt of letters of apology from both Avon Corporate and the District Manager, since I have not done anything wrong.

I spoke with Ms. Weiss (from Legal) on 6/24/97. I am awaiting a return phone call from her, before we take any action.

Our site was done professionally. And we got approval before implementing anything. We even used approved advertising, per Haydee's instructions. (When I asked how I could get this approved advertising, Haydee told me to copy it from the brochures. I asked if it was available on disk. She said it wasn't, but that I could copy it from the Avon website, if I knew how.) Many of our graphics were designed and customized for our site, using approved Avon materials.

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What a powerful network we can be if we are linked together... as many of us have been through this website.

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In fact, Avon has been involved in the development of my website, not only since the beginning, but this is ongoing. For example, several Avon Reps have contacted me to help them find buyers for products they have in stock; others have asked me to help find out-of-stock products for their customers. Through the internet, we have leveraged the power of this medium to help one another out. I told Haydee months ago that this was one of the ways we were using this website and she thought it was great. In fact, she said that she would mention it to some of the other Reps, because maybe they will want to post their products to buy/sell on my site. Now, Avon wishes to take away this privilege... and to keep each Avon Rep isolated from the other.

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It is getting harder and harder for Reps to compete with Avon Corporate

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It appears that anyone who has set up a website in the past has come up against this -- and their "privileges" to sell Avon were threatened. Of course, a giant company like Avon is advertising through their own Corporate Site online and penalizes their Reps for doing the same. It is getting harder and harder for Reps to compete with Avon Corporate -- between maintaining their own 800 number, the order by mail/catalog program which circumvents the Reps, running their own website, etc. Yet they couch it in .... we can refer you to your local Avon Rep. for personal service. Of course, their Customer Service people act like local Avon Reps, on an as-needed basis. This is nice if you are an Avon customer; but it is threatening if you are an Avon Rep. Moreover, Avon claims to deny Reps the rights to sell overseas or through Retail outlets. I don't know about your districts, but this is certainly pervasive in ours.

Please don't get me wrong. I really enjoy selling Avon and my customers love the products. But setting up a website without Corporate Approval is forbidden, apparently. I cannot give you a go-ahead to do this, nor can a District Manager, apparently (even though the District Manager is the designated person in Avon's Advertising/Promotion Guidelines which I followed).

Since I get so many questions on this issue, I just wanted to let you know how Avon is handling this with regard to my presence on the internet.

Thanks for stopping by my site... and thanks for all the compliments about the site. Feel free to send a letter to Avon about this, if you want. With enough Rep. pressure, maybe they will do something about it.

7/7/97 - When I last spoke with Avon Corporate, they were going to call me back with information. I still haven't heard back from them... I sent them a letter, in writing, to follow up, to explain that I am in compliance with their policies. I acted with acknowledgement in writing, from Avon's designated person in authority.

6/26/97 - I spoke with my District Manager today. She told me that a big part of the problem with my website is that Avon is getting pressure from other Avon Reps who have seen my website. They are upset because they have been told they could not have websites of their own or they have taken them down when Avon asked them to. And now they want Avon to give them permission to put them back up.

If you are trying to help us all win over Avon's hearts and minds on this issue, I urge you to send focused letters explaining how you would use the site and how the site would increase your business, and hence, help Avon make more money -- without jeopardizing their image and trademarks. By showing them my website and those of the other few remaining online, you are only making it more difficult for us to demonstrate the effectiveness of this medium.

I have explained to those of you who have asked, that this site is not directly generating a significant amount of revenue. The issue about taking it down or leaving it up is not about making money. It is about understanding the power of today's technology and gearing up for the market and leveraging all resources to reach your customers and service them.

Avon does not seem to understand that this is a communications medium. It is impossible to conduct one's life without using the internet. How could we possibly conduct our business without it? Avon can't!

Avon needs to understand that the internet is just another communications tool. It is like a telephone or fax machine. How could you do your business without these tools?

For my customers, my website is a quicker more instant venue for getting information from me. And it allows them to reach that information when it's convenient for them. My customers have busy lives. And some of them browse the most recent offerings and specials at 1 o'clock in the morning on my site.