Is American Bill Money (ABM) worth the time? For some, the real question has more to do with the nature of this company–what exactly IS American Bill Money?
American Bill Money is described on its official site as a “24/7 marketing system”. Basically, you pay to sign up to get “marketing leads” you get to recruit other people into doing what you just did–pay a fee for leads and “free” marketing postcards (postcards that are not “free” unless you pay the fee) you use to market with.
Did we mention that you can only buy the marketing postcards from ABM and that making your own postcards is grounds for termination from the program?
What are you selling? The ONLY product you are selling is the opportunity to sign up, pay the fee, and recruit OTHER people to sign up and pay the fee. Your reward in all this is a convoluted scheme described on the American Bill Money official site exactly as follows:
“Everyone you personally refer to ABM (except your 3rd, 7th, & 12th) Earns YOU $75 a Month ($900 a year) Each.”
Every person you sign up owes YOU “their 3rd, 7th, and 12th referral which are coded to you and you get paid on them as if you referred them yourself.” The website promises that this process has “staggering” profit potential. “This process repeats itself from each person you get paid on infinitely deep” and “Each person owes you 3, & they become 9, that become 27, that become 81, that become 243, and so on, infinitely deep.”
How much do you have to pay? Anywhere from $125 a month (“postcards not included” at the time of this writing) to a whopping $3k (which offers five thousand “free” marketing postcards included”).
Is American Bill Money worth the time? Ask yourself that question while reviewing the official site and you will find a section of the site proudly mentioning an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
However, a look at the BBB official site reveals the following:
“American Bill Money has been the subject of a BBB advertising challenge referencing a logo violation on their website.
The company’s use of the BBB TORCH logo implies that they are affiliated with the Better Business Bureau, yet our records show that they are not a BBB Accredited Business. Their use of the logo without permission constitutes trademark infringement and is a violation of the trademark rights of the International Association of Better Business Bureaus, Inc.
Upon request from the Better Business Bureau, American Bill Money has removed the BBB TORCH logo from their website’s advertising.”
To be fair, this may have been an honest mistake made by a company that did not understand what it means to display a BBB logo.
However, combined with the fact that this company is engaged in multi-level marketing schemes doesn’t lend a lot of willingness in the minds of some people where the benefit of the doubt is concerned. This does not point at all to the company’s day-to-day doings, but for some consumers, the red flag is plenty to keep them away.
American Bill Money has no product to sell aside from marketing leads (the potential customers you will be trying to market ABM signups to) and postcards, sales letters, and other marketing items. Your goal is to convince people to spend the money YOU spent signing up and getting THEM to turn around and recruit MORE people.
Your ABM marketing efforts are basically aimed at catching people who ALSO want to do exactly what YOU are doing–and that can be a VERY hard sell.
Is ABM worth the time? You be the judge–we refer you to comedian and host of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver’s discussion on multi-level marketing for some enlightenment on MLM in general. After watching that clip, it may be far easier to make a truly informed decision about what to do with marketing schemes like these.
Joe Wallace specializes in personal finance, military affairs, and consumer protection topics. Since 1995, his work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and collects unusual vinyl records, which gives him an excuse to write the vinyl blog Turntabling.net.
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