I've been looking for new material, and having a lot of fun coming up with these mini reviews, plus it ups my post count which I admit makes me sort of a forum nerd. Maybe someday I'll have enough courage to actually try out an MLM company instead of spending all my time writing about them, until then though, think Ill stick to "admiring" all these grand financial opportunities from the sidelines lol. In my search this morning, one company I have seen pop up countless times, is Longaberger. This is one of those companies that I sort of overlooked a lot of the time, maybe because I'm not all that interested in baskets, but its not always about how interesting the product is, but how marketable it is, so let's take a look.

Longaberger actually started all the way back in 1896 when the Longaberger family arrived in Dresdon, Ohio and hired 5 basket makers during a time when baskets were basically a major part of most homes and were common as say, a toaster is today. The genuine need for baskets in most homes made them an excellent choice of product for a company to sell in those days, and it wasn't long before the Longabergers managed to start a very successful business, which is still alive today. The Longaberger company is located in Newark, Ohio but also operates a facility in Frazeysberg, Ohio.

The company's mission is to Stimulate A Better Quality Of Life for its customers and distributors alike.

Longaberger's main product line consists of gift baskets, which come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and are designed to hold everything from bread, fruit, napkins, pretty much anything you feel has a suitable home in a basket. It also sells its product pre-packed as gifts, with the more usual items such as fruit or silver inside, but also its own line of food products such as food toppings, sauces and other similar items like jams and jellies. In addition, Longaberger also produces a line of wrought iron products such as tables and chairs, which are always good selling items to their longevity and durability. There is also pottery, tea sets, and candles, which make for an overall decent supplier of home-based products.

Now Longaberger actually also has an online store called Longaberger Homestead, and this baffles me, because it sort of defeats the purpose of having distributors that operate their own web sites....doesn't it? Maybe I just don't realize how common this is, but doesn't something like this put a damper on all the little guys working for the same company?

Despite my nitpicking with Longaberger Homestead, getting involved with Longaberger is a pretty safe and straightforward decision as far as worrying about scams go, but their on line store is something I can't quite figure out. Longaberger Homestead has virtually all of their products readily available for sale, but why would anyone bother buying through any of their home distributors when you can go directly to the source? This being the case, I'm not sure how interested I would be in giving them a try knowing my replicated web site wouldn't serve much purpose. Anyway, that's my main confusion with the company thus far, lets talk a bit about their compensation plan...

The Longaberger Compensation Plan enables individuals to become Longaberger distributors with four different choices, which include a free membership, a $49 Easy Start Kit, a $229 Business Basics Kit and a $459 Business Builder Kit, which all differ based on the amount of products you start off with. Methods of distribution vary and can be implemented via one-on-one demonstrations, home presentations and Longaberger replicated web sites, which is ok, but depends on how many other people are doing it, and just how different you can make your site. Like countless other MLM's, you can earn commissions, team bonuses, and discounts. You can also earn hostess dollars and rewards for pulling off home parties.

So that's these guys in a nuttshell. If you can manage to outperform their own online store, Longaberger Homestead or if you have bigger guns in the one on one department, you can probably carve out a nice niche with them.