Ambassador What?! My Input on Paying To Be An Ambassador

 Hey guys!!!

So I wanted to discuss my recent becoming an Ambassador for a business catered to baby clothes and toddler clothes and why I am no longer going to be apart of their page. I wanted to do this because a lot of Moms who are new to becoming an Influencer aren't aware and those who think this is legit a way to become one. I was one of them back in the day , thought I would try it out recently and discovered it is not worth it. 

I was approached on my Instagram for my daughter and me by this boutique called Lorentine Boutique. It wasn't them but one of their scouts telling me my daughter was cute and to reach out to this boutique to become apart of their brand. I was curious so I reached out. Which to be honest was pointless because it was EXACTLY what I thought! The owner of the account wrote me back telling welcoming me and told me what they offer their ambassadors and what you had to do to become one. 

Ladies, if a brand is wanting you to pay for their product... THAT IS A SCAM! That is them making profit and making you think you are important, but you are just another customer. But I know you all are wondering why I went with it, truth is I wanted the 50% off and wanted to see the clothing they had and if it was worth promoting. 

So I made my purchase, a cute romper, some shoes, and a onesie / diaper cover set. Total was $70.00 with no free shipping. On their website I noticed they said they were Canada based and all of their items ship from there. I was like ok cool, but upon searching their site prior to purchasing I noticed  A LOT of clothes that looked a lot alike from items on Amazon. More expensive than Amazon and I was not about to pay more than Amazon. Also once I paid for the things, their Instagram got taken down or they took it down and I was left to write the scout who found me asking what the hell is going on. The person told me they got hacked and they went to a new account.. This new account wasn't even new, it was over a few years old. Something didn't sound right.. 

So after purchasing I waited forever for shipping and noticed 2 out of my 3 items shipped, and guess where from?!?!?! NOT CANADA!!!! This company doesn't ship from Canada... No, they ship from CHINA and have it shipped TO THEM and then they ship to you! : Inserts a face palm here: It took 3 weeks for the items to come to me and then I contacted the company via email asking where my 3rd item was because it hadn't shipped yet and when I clicked on the product it lead to a link that had been broken. No one replied for a week and when I wrote the company on their Instagram they didn't even open it. Finally they reached out and it turned out they had been out of stock and refunded me. 

I waited a month and a half for everything total time. I waited for them to respond in that time and it wasn't worth it at all. The shirt was not soft at all, the diaper cover was cute , the headband for the set was a pain to keep on my daughters head. It didn't go well together at all. I didn't really care for it and the cost of the set was ridiculously priced for how cheap the product was. 

All in all I refuse to promote a company and get commission off their false site. But I wanted to write about my experience and also share these kind of scams. So if you are ever finding comments in your feed asking for a collab or them saying to write a page and tell them so and so sent you, just ignore it. But if you are unsure of what these scams look like, allow me to share Lorentine's Ambassadorship.

These companies WANT YOU to PAY FOR THEIR PRODUCT! They will make you feel special by offering you a % off. Lorentine offered me 50% off for lifetime. They would share my content with their tens of thousands of views daily they have. (Mind you they don't post often at all and their stories aren't active either. They also didn't have hundreds of thousands of followers.) They wanted me to make a discount code to give 25% off for my followers. The code DOES WORK by the way. So that wasn't false. And any sales from that code I made 15% off which would be paid monthly to me via PayPal. 

They claimed their ambassadors were on Tiktok, however I have yet to see any ambassador of theirs on there to be honest. They wanted me to post content of my baby only wearing their products in bright and clear photos claiming part of their proceeds go to Cross Roads for Families. Which was a non-profit that helps parents and children leave domestic violence. I haven't heard of that here so I don't know if it is Canadian based. When I googled it nothing came up but places here in Massachusetts. 

So if you get approached by these brands wanting to collab, have them email you and be upfront with them about what you do. Don't settle for brands who make you pay for their product for photos in return and 50% off. You're worth more than working for free! Know your value and set your price! I hope this helps and no one becomes a brand ambassador for them. I will no longer trust these kinds of scams. I know my worth and I have set my price. Don't fall for these kinds of pages. 

Until next time. 

Sonja-Leigh