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Did anyone ever succeed at one of these?
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I started reading comics in the 70s as the ads to sell Grit and Greeting Cards and seeds to get great prizes were fading out, but I've seen a lot of ads trying to snooker folks into selling more substantial products. Here's the back of a comic someone was selling here.. My question to older timers than me or maybe someone remembering dad or an uncle or older brother trying these schemes...were they all scams? I am looking at this ad and thinking some poor shnook bought a bunch of these jackets "wholesale" thinking he could re-sell them..or did he just have samples and took orders?  (seriously, was everyone just wandering door to door trying to sell encyclopedias and vacuum cleaners? Were there really all these door to door salesmen in the 50s - 70s? I remember John Holmes in a movie as a door to door vibrator salesman...seems kind of personal....A different world I suppose. No internet to order from. Maybe department stores weren't easy to get to. Still had the Sears catalogue though?

Voodoo 17 BC.jpg

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As many people succeeded at these things as used their polaris sub to cruise the bay, firing missiles.

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We got the seeds, we got the christmas cards-they sent em to ya and no one bought any.  Cant remember wut we did with em.  There were and still are door to door salesmen-mostly cleaning products and magazines subscriptions.  They can be incredibly difficult to get rid of.  As kids we didnt have the training these guys get so our sales pitch was mostly 'ya wanna buy any a these?'

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I can recall the Fuller Brush Man coming down the street I lived on and stopping at every house to try to make a sale. Also, I recall the Electrolux and Kirby Vacuum companies having a salesman making rounds. My mother actually bought a Kirby vacuum and I thought it was very strange that a vacuum had an attachment to sharpen knives.

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I had some dude knock on my door and go into a LONG spiel about his mother had 5 vessels burst in her brain and he needed gas money to go see her.  He was VERY angry that he had spent 5-6 min doing his spiel and wasting his time and I didnt give him any money.  Side note you cannot have '5 vessels' burst in the brain.  One vessel means immediate trip to hospital you cant just have 1-2-3-4-5.  It's not like firecrackers bruh.

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3 minutes ago, Tony D said:

I can recall the Fuller Brush Man coming down the street I lived on and stopping at every house to try to make a sale. Also, I recall the Electrolux and Kirby Vacuum companies having a salesman making rounds. My mother actually bought a Kirby vacuum and I thought it was very strange that a vacuum had an attachment to sharpen knives.

My mom sold Fuller Brush in the mid sixties.  Also, she bought an Electrolux from a door to door salesman in the early seventies.  That was after he vacuumed the house.  lol

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My mom...

Vacuum salesman came said it was so powerful it could even vacuum a marble. He proceeded to vacuum a marble without the vacuum "breaking".

Anyway mom bought it, 2 weeks later the vacuum was broke, because the salesman had vacuumed the marble...

It took 2 weeks, but then when my mom ever went to answer the door she brought a baseball bat with her...

Red heads!

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Not from the leather jackets, but I did one to sell Christmas cards.  They sent you a booklet with examples of all the cards.  I walked all over our town (total population ~2000) and hit up everyone that would answer their door.  I sold quite a few and probably scored at least $20 for my cut.  I placed my order with the company and paid for the cards, received them several weeks later and then went out and delivered them.  I only did it the one year because I started a paper route and made more for the amount of work.

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3 hours ago, the blob said:

I started reading comics in the 70s as the ads to sell Grit and Greeting Cards and seeds to get great prizes were fading out, but I've seen a lot of ads trying to snooker folks into selling more substantial products. Here's the back of a comic someone was selling here.. My question to older timers than me or maybe someone remembering dad or an uncle or older brother trying these schemes...were they all scams? I am looking at this ad and thinking some poor shnook bought a bunch of these jackets "wholesale" thinking he could re-sell them..or did he just have samples and took orders?  (seriously, was everyone just wandering door to door trying to sell encyclopedias and vacuum cleaners? Were there really all these door to door salesmen in the 50s - 70s? I remember John Holmes in a movie as a door to door vibrator salesman...seems kind of personal....A different world I suppose. No internet to order from. Maybe department stores weren't easy to get to. Still had the Sears catalogue though?

Voodoo 17 BC.jpg

That’s a suggestively placed arrow (or sheep depending on how your eye catches the first glance)...

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2 hours ago, kav said:

I had some dude knock on my door and go into a LONG spiel about his mother had 5 vessels burst in her brain and he needed gas money to go see her.  He was VERY angry that he had spent 5-6 min doing his spiel and wasting his time and I didnt give him any money.  Side note you cannot have '5 vessels' burst in the brain.  One vessel means immediate trip to hospital you cant just have 1-2-3-4-5.  It's not like firecrackers bruh.

I'll give the Jehovah's witness people money not to knock on my door anymore!

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7 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

 

Ever meet a fellow by the name of Hill?  Hill?  Hill?  Hill?  Hill?

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Just now, kav said:

Ever meet a fellow by the name of Hill?  Hill?  Hill?  Hill?  Hill?

I had to do a presentation one time that I was totally not into for some of my peers.  When the boss asked how we were going to present and wanted to see a demo, I broke into Rock Island changing some of the words... those that got it laughed... those that had never seen the Music Man had no idea what the hell was going on.  Boss thought it was funny...   I did it Hugh Jackman style... lol 

 

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1 minute ago, Buzzetta said:

I had to do a presentation one time that I was totally not into for some of my peers.  When the boss asked how we were going to present and wanted to see a demo, I broke into Rock Island changing some of the words... those that got it laughed... those that had never seen the Music Man had no idea what the hell was going on.  Boss thought it was funny...   I did it Hugh Jackman style... lol 

 

I was teaching a music class so watched that one 5 times a day.  It grows on ya.

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I sold Christmas Cards a few years.  The first week I had the catalog, I knocked on doors forever and got about three sales.  Friends and family bought a couple and I was almost at the 12 boxes I needed to get the prize I wanted. Then fate stepped in. My Aunt offered to take the catalog to her office where some two hundred females feared her tyrannical management style. I was disappointed when she only sold a couple dozen for me. She was great for Cub Scout candy and Girl Scout cookies. Then I was visiting relatives and a neighbor had the rocket kit I was hoping to get. It was garbage, not what I expected. I ended up taking a dollar a box instead of the prizes.

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2 minutes ago, shadroch said:

I sold Christmas Cards a few years.  The first week I had the catalog, I knocked on doors forever and got about three sales.  Friends and family bought a couple and I was almost at the 12 boxes I needed to get the prize I wanted. Then fate stepped in. My Aunt offered to take the catalog to her office where some two hundred females feared her tyrannical management style. I was disappointed when she only sold a couple dozen for me. She was great for Cub Scout candy and Girl Scout cookies. Then I was visiting relatives and a neighbor had the rocket kit I was hoping to get. It was garbage, not what I expected. I ended up taking a dollar a box instead of the prizes.

They were planning on shafting you with a cheap toy that was nothing like the description.  Kudos for turning the tables on em.

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I did one of those stationary/cards sales things once, where you didn't get money but you could basically get credit to pick prizes out of a catalog. I think i got a microscope and a Mr. T poster.

My greatest sales feat as a kid was in 4th grade, when as a school we were doing a fundraiser, selling popcorn tins, stationary, candy, all sorts of stuff. The kid who sold the most won a $50 Toys R Us gift certificate, and I was determined to win it. Sometimes with those fundraisers, the parents will buy a bunch of stuff so the kid can win, but while my parents were supportive, they didn't bail me out. I had to earn it. So I knocked on every door in my neighborhood and every neighborhood within a day's bike ride. I sold the everloving carp out of those popcorn tins and boxes of candy. I was a sales machine. It was Glengarry Glen Ross, and I had the leads! And at the end of the sale, I did it, I won the damn thing. In my mind's eye, I imagined I'd be filling up a cart with goodies from TRU. $50 seemed like a ton of cash to a 4th grader. I think I ended up getting a Nintendo game and a couple of GI Joes. I don't even remember what I actually bought with the money. . But that wasn't the point. The point was that I EARNED that prize. I've rarely been so driven in my adult life!

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