Someone introduced you to Melaleuca products and the business plan, so you came to my post to find out, “Is Melaleuca A Scam?” If yes, you’ve come to the right place.
In my Melaleuca review, you’ll learn the below topics to make up your mind. I am also sure that you can make better decisions once you read my review to the end.
- What is Melaleuca?
- Melaleuca Product Lines
- How To Make Money With Melaleuca?
- Melaleuca Compensation Plan
- Melaleuca 2022 Income Disclosure
- Melaleuca Pros & Cons
- Is Melaleuca A Scam?
- My Alternative To Make Money Online
Without further ado, let’s get started!
Disclaimer: As the owner of Smileaffiliatesuccess.com, I have tracked down special deals for products, tools, and services mentioned herein. When you click my affiliate links on this page to make a purchase, I may get a small commission, and you will definitely get a great bargain. This is a win-win advantage for both of us.
What is Melaleuca?
-Summary of Melaleuca-
Product Name: Melaleuca
Founder: Founded in 1985 by Frank VanderSloot
Product Type: Health & Wellness MLM
Price: $19.00 + $99-$299 starter pack + 29 Product Points for each month
Recommend: No
Melaleuca is a health and wellness MLM company. For more than 35 years, it has been selling environment-friendly nutrition supplements, cleaning supplies, and personal-care products. It also provides people with a business plan to make money.
It generates more than $2 billion in annual revenue, and 25 percent of its revenue comes from Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
According to the US Federal Trade Commission study on multi-level marketing companies, fewer than 0.29% of Melaleuca distributors profit, and more than 99% of distributors lost money.
The founder said that “this business model is for those who want to supplement their income,” but is it true? Let me show you more details right below, so you can be the judges yourself.
Melaleuca Product Lines
Melaleuca has more than 400 kinds of products. Here are the major product lines:
- Health Nutrition & Supplements: Vitamin, fiberwise powder, meal replacement powder, protein powder, etc.
- Medicine Cabinet: soothing balms, pain relievers, allergy relief, etc.
- Bath & Body: shampoo, soaps, hand sanitizer, body wash, body lotion, etc.
- Household: cleaning clothes, glass/toilet/kitchen/carpet cleaner, mops, etc.
- Essential Oils: single and blended oils(similar to doTERRA and Young Living)
How To Make Money With Melaleuca?
There are two ways to make money with Melaleuca, and it’s the same with other MLM business opportunities.
- Retail Commission: Sell Melaleuca products to make retail commissions
- Recruitment: Recruit people under your team to hit group sales for extra bonuses and incentives
You don’t make money with Melaleuca by recruiting but by the group sales you and your team make for each month. This is the difference between calling it a legitimate MLM business and a pyramid scheme.
Getting Started
There are options that you can choose to become a Melaleuca member or affiliate. I will focus on sharing the information about becoming an Independent Marketing Executive(distributor).
- If you enroll as a Regular Member, there is no cost. What you can do is purchase Melaleuca products at retail prices.
- If you enroll as a Preferred Member, the cost is $19. You will receive a 30-50% discount off regular prices if you order a minimum of 35 product points each calendar month.
- If you enroll as a Preferred Member & Independent Marketing Executive, the cost is still $19. At this stage, you are receiving all the benefits of Melaleuca Preferred Member and the opportunity to make money with Melaleuca.
To start your Melaleuca business, you can choose any of the starter packs to showcase the products. The price ranges from $99 to $299.
To qualify for the commissions during any given month, you must have at least 35 product points, around $100 per month. Now, let’s calculate the total cost of joining Melaleuca as a distributor for one year.
- $19 sign-up fee
- $99-$299 starter pack
- 35 product points each month: $100*12=$1,200
The best you can get is $1,318, while the worst is $1,518. Other costs, such as additional training, travel, gas, food, or miscellaneous expenses, are not included, so the total cost must be higher than my calculation here.
Melaleuca Compensation Plan
Most MLM likes to create fancy terms and acronyms to make people see loads of ways to make money, causing people feel sleepy. Melaleuca is no exception.
However, Melaleuca’s compensation plan could be concluded into the below three points.
- Commissions: You can earn 7% commissions and a 30-40% product discount for the products you purchase.
- Organization Commissions: You enroll new members into your organization and help them to make sales. You get extra bonuses by achieving team product sales. (7-20%)
- Extra Bonuses: Advancement Bonus, Mentoring Bonus, Leadership Growth Bonus, Monthly Car Bonus, etc…
What I Liked About Melaleuca
TOP#1 Good Reputation
There is positive feedback for Melaleuca’s products, and customers love the way Melaleuca cares about our health and the environment.
Melaleuca understands that only good products and services could make a company last longer, and they did a good job. Let’s read some positive feedback from Melaleuca’s happy customers:
TOP#2 The Longevity
Melaleuca was founded in 1985, which means it has been running the business for over 38 years. 90% of startups failed in the first five years. Melaleuca lasts because of the high-quality products they make, and those do solve people’s problems.
Another thought on the long history of Melaleuca is that If I had to choose between a new and an old MLM company, I would go for the old one first. Doing this could avoid many uncertainties for the new MLM companies.
TOP#3 A+ Rating on BBB
BBB stands for Better Business Bureau, and HERE is Melaleuca’s page.
A good rating doesn’t mean it’s perfect. I will talk about this later, Melaleuca still has issues with the cancellation process.
Ugly Truth About Melaleuca
TOP#1 Expensive
Compared to the other competitors, Melaleuca’s product prices are high. It is because they have to mark up 30-40% of the price to pay a small portion to all distributors. Otherwise, this business model can’t last.
Take coffee blend as an example; the price for a Melaleuca’s preferred member is $9.99 for 10 oz, while I could get many cheaper options online.
TOP#2 Melaleuca 2022 Income Disclosure
Melaleuca’s 2022 income disclosure told us some interesting numbers; you’d better read them before registering with it.
- 10% who started their Melaleuca business and achieved Director status made annual income from $274 to $33,047. The average annual income is $2,073.
- It takes people average 370 months to reach a director status, which is 30 years.
- For director 3 or above, they make $2,830 to $82,571. Only less than 5.6% of all Melaleuca distributors can achieve this status, which takes them 29 years to reach director 3 or above status.
I don’t know about you, but spending 30 years to make money with Melaleuca doesn’t sound ideal. I will choose other methods to make extra money, and let me show you my alternative in one minute.
TOP#3 Cancellation Process
On Melaleuca’s BBB page, most complaints are about the cancellation process.
Melaleuca’s cancellation includes a lot of paperwork, and it’s not as easy as clicking a cancellation button.
In order to cancel, it is necessary to follow the instructions and guidelines provided on the website, and to print out the cancellation form and sign it.
And then, you can either email, send, or walk to the nearest Melaleuca’s showroom to submit it.
Let’s read some unhappy customers’ comments:
Is Melaleuca A Scam?
No, Melaleuca is not a scam. It’s a legitimate MLM company that has run the business for over 38 years. The products receive positive feedback, and people love Melaleuca because they care about people’s health and the environment.
But, I don’t prefer MLM business to make money. Why? It takes more investment, time, and effort to start an MLM business. Not to mention the low success rate.
When it comes to making money online, there are plenty of options on the internet, such as freelancing, dropshipping, GPT sites, drop services, or affiliate marketing. Wanna know my top pick?
My Alternative to Make Money Online
My alternative to making money online is through affiliate marketing instead of promoting Melaleuca products in person.
Imagine you sell Melaleuca products to your friends, family, or anyone you know. Don’t you feel embarrassed or blushed? They might avoid you ever since.
Doing affiliate marketing will save you from that:
- It’s free to start your affiliate marketing business.
- You don’t need to buy physical products and sell them face to face.
- There is no monthly minimum sales quota in affiliate marketing.
- You don’t recruit people to become your downlines to build a team.
- You are not restricted to promoting one product. You can promote anything you like!
- Work on your schedules & you are your OWN BOSS!
You only need to start a blog running an affiliate marketing business with quality content. So every time people land on your site to read your product reviews or other articles, they will find insight and value.
If they like it, they may purchase the products or services via your links. Here comes your earning potential.
The platform I am using currently is Wealthy Affiliate. You will find all the proven-to-work training courses, every Friday night LIVE training courses, one keyword research tool called Jaaxy, 24/7 site support, and the most friendly community.
You are more than welcome to check my full Wealthy Affiliate review HERE, or click the button right below to start your online journey with us.
Wealthy Affiliate Income Proof
Here are some of the most active members from Wealthy Affiliate. Each of them did succeed in generating a sustainable income to replace their 9-5 jobs. You are more than welcome to check their stories HERE.
- I Made Over $1 Million With Affiliate Marketing.
- Can someone make a full time income promoting WA? You bet they can!
- What Does $1000 Per Day Look Like?$
- 40,000 In One Weekend
- A Very Humbling $12,803.26 Month – August Progress Report
- It’s Getting Better: $500+ in 2 Days
- Newbies Pay Attention! $5,195.20 Affiliate Check for June: Thanks WA!
- Joined the 10K Per Month Club. January Earnings $13,481.39
- New Record: $1,300+ Per DAY! Affiliate Marketing Works & Rocks!
- Made $7,395 in a WEEK: First Black Friday Results!
I hope you enjoy this review and you are more than welcome to share ideas or leave your comments below. I will reply as soon as I can, thanks.
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Hi Matt!
Thanks a lot for your comprehensive review. Melaleuca is (unbelievably) long on the market. I mean, 35 years for an MLM? Wow! I can understand why many people would sign in with them. On the other side, there are some warning signs, people searching for an extra or full-time income shouldn’t join. The headline being, income. Did it take 25 years for people to reach a maximum of almost $85k/annual? That seems almost like a bad joke. Your recommendation seems to offer a quicker, more efficient, and enjoyable way to achieve online income. It’s definitely worth considering. Cheers
Hi Julius,
Yes, Melaleuca has thrived in the MLM industry for more than 35 years. It’s pretty surprising, isn’t it? If people take this opportunity as a side hustle, I don’t see the harm in joining Melaleuca. But just as you mentioned, this may not be the right choice to replace your 9-5 unless you can spend a few years trying to recruit people under your team to hit group sales for commissions.
I will suggest people try my recommendation, Wealthy Affiliate, to start a blog running an affiliate marketing business. It’s affordable than MLM opportunities, and no prior experience is needed. 🙂
Matt
Hi Matt, I came across your article Is Melaleuca a Scam. It reminds me of multi-level marketing, which I’m not too fond of, but I do like the idea of affiliate marketing. I was involved with a company selling products just like Melaleuca, and I found them to be quite pushy. If you didn’t perform well, my uplevel soon dropped me instead of guiding and showing me how it works. Thank you for providing this article.
Hi Yvonne,
Yes, MLM businesses need downline affiliates to purchase products to stay active with the compensation plan. This is also why people don’t feel like joining an MLM business to make extra money. If you can turn yourself into a recruiting machine or full-time sales manager of any MLM company, you will be successful very soon. However, the success rate of MLM businesses is close to 1%.
I suggest people try affiliate marketing to make money online because you will have a higher success rate. I’ve leveraged Wealthy Affiliate to generate a stable income, so I know it’s possible. If you don’t know which route to go, Wealthy Affiliate might be the answer. 🙂
Matt