1. Who selects these items? They are all extremely unattractive! My advice is to accept the cash!

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2. Is cash even an option?

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   • The information offers a cash option!

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3. They probably have a stock pile of these past cheap heirlooms. Taking the cash definitely makes more sense. I never understood all those cheap pins, ladders, ribbons etc. It’s like being some kind of girl guide. Work at Wal Mart, you probably get pins there, items at a discount, benefits and an actual real pay check.

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   • “They probably have a stock pile of these”

     They look pretty much the same from year to year.

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4. What would you say the value is?
   Do they try to pressure to you to get the prizes instead of cash? They as in everyone.

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   • There is absolutely pressure to take the jewelry instead of the cash. Because starry-eyed consultants can see the jewelry and be inspired.

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5. Under Queen’s Court of Personal Sales:

   $40,000 personal estimated retail production

   “Estimated”: that’s Mary Kay Corp tacitly admitting they don’t keep track of retail sales. Nothing is stopping them from doing so, except embarrassment.

   Because it’s never $40,000 in retail sales. It’s $20,000 in “wholesale” purchases by the consultant; sales could have easily been zero. (Do double-credit months count for these baubles? If so, is could have been less than $20k in purchases.)

   What a racket. There’s no honest records-keeping. No real numbers. It’s a business run on the “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” accounting system.

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   • PRODUCTION. Not sales. 🙂

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     • your sales count, any sale you get on your personal website or that you process with a credit card and give to the customer counts towards the total…..

       • LOLOLOLOL – okay, so if someone orders through your MK site and MK ships to them directly, it counts. But 99% of of this is based on the consultant ordering products from MK.

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6. I would like to know what the real value v.s cash award is on a average…Tracy, do you know?

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   • It depends on what value you’re looking for. Resale value? Amount you’d pay at a jewelry store? Amount MK pays.

     MK has a sweetheart deal because they buy such a large volume year after year. But they can’t let consultants know that. The items have to seem very valuable.

     So. Half million circle of achievement: Grand Duchess ring or $3,750 cash. My guess is that they tell you the ring is worth about $6,000 to get you to take that instead of the cash. And MK probably pays about $2,000 for the ring. If you tried to pawn it, I bet you’d get around $1,000 if you’re lucky.

     The rings are what people in the industry might call “dirty diamonds” or “frozen spit.” They look cloudy and dirty no matter what. When you first clean the ring, it will sparkle. Wear it a couple of times, and it looks dull and dirty again. BUT THEY’RE DIAMONDS. And that’s all MK needs… for the MK ladies to brag about diamonds and for potential recruits to hear about and see “diamonds.”

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     • “My guess is that they tell you the ring is worth about $6,000 to get you to take that instead of the cash.”

       I had the same thought. So, they’d pay income tax on $6,000 instead of $3,750, then find out later the ring is only worth about $1,000, if that much.

       Much smarter to take the cash, but they won’t be able to show it off on social media. “Look what Mary Kay gave me just for doing my job!”

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     • Thanks! So appx 1/6 of stated “value”. Yes, I meant to resell to a jewler as that is the “true” value of jewelry in my book.

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     • Well hell, they look dirty and dull for the photograph! The big moment in the sun, and this is all the sparkle the photog could manage? Yikes!

7. They should take the cash and put it on their credit cards ???

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8. That first “Duchess” ring (the one on top) looks like a repeat. I’ve seen this ring several times in the Seminar prize brochure, so I would bet that it’s a leftover stockpile from previous years. Same with Double and Triple Courts.

   The rings I ever earned were of the crappiest quality when it came to the diamonds. The other precious stones (garnets and peridot in particular) were of slightly higher quality. Slightly being the key word there. I sold several of mine at yard sales, and others I gave away to a friend for her daughters’ dress-up/princess box. The cash option wasn’t an option when I was in the cult, but the company *did* try to tell you that this worthless rings and bracelets were worth “hundreds of dollars.” And they put it on your 1099.

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9. The Reign Rose ring reminds me of the JLo pink engagement ring knockoffs that they used as hostess prizes several years ago.

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   • They were using the JLo junk jewelry ring when I was in MK in 1999!!!

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10. When I look at the triple star achievement necklace, all I can think of is Kimberly Perkins. She put her diamonds on as if they were armor to give us the “what for.” I’m sure she would argue that they were an outward manifestation of her spiritual armor.

    I think it’s a lovely statement necklace and certainly not as old fashioned as some it the rings. I like the pink ring and the leaf vine. However, the leaf ring isn’t a statement piece, which is the whole point of big gaudy rings.

    How interesting though that prizes count as income. It’s the same as on game shows. I bet it’s a surprise to many when they get their tax documents. It was to me and I only “earned” the quarterly prizes. Taking the cash is the sensible option…

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11. They have jewellery that looks just like this for $10 at my local shops, lol.

12. I never remember being offered a cash option! To be fair, I would have selected the ring the first time around, but I thought my subsequent rings were ugly and would have loved some extra cash instead.

    Same with the cars. I should have kept the Subaru that I loved and taken the cash instead of the Grand Am. If I hadn’t been pressured into driving the “trophy on wheels,” I could have banked that extra money and not stressed about copays in slower months.

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13. These look so cheap and full of spit diamonds. 🙁

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