Is Melaleuca a Scam or Pyramid Scheme? My Review! [2021]
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Welcome to my Melaleuca review 2021!

Melaleuca claims that it has only one mission: to enhance the lives of people and at the same time protect the environment.

The health can be improved with their innovative, one-of-a-kind natural solutions backed by science.

On the other hand, the company has been at the forefront of highly concentrated, harmless, nature-derived products that clean homes without making the world a dirtier place.

No matter what the Melaleuca claims, the best way to substantiate its claim is to read the authentic reviews on the web.

This is where I must congratulate you for taking your time to do your own research about Melaleuca.

Let me be honest with you; I’m not affiliated with Melaleuca in any form. Instead, my purpose is to reveal you everything about this company.

Is it really that easy for Melaleuca to fulfill its promises? Is it worth your time? And most importantly, is Melaleuca a scam and pyramid scheme?

That’s all I will be incorporating in this review.

So let’s start;

Product Name: Melaleuca

 

Founder: Frank L. Vandersloot

 

Product Type: MLM

 

Price: $29 to start + $19.90 per year

 

Best For: People who love MLM business

Is Melaleuca a Scam

Summary: Melaleuca is an MLM company that deals in health and wellness niche, and it is operating since 1987. The Company claims to produce products that will improve the lives of the people along with protecting the environment.

 

On the whole, the Company is a legit one, and it is one of very few MLM companies whose products are of much better quality.

 

Rating: 50/100

 

Verdict: No

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What is Melaleuca?

The person behind Melaleuca is Frank L. Vandersloot, who created this company in 1987 in a village, Idaho.

Over the 30 years, the Company has grown up to $2 billion giant and operating in nearly 20 countries across the world.

In other words, the Company is a multi-level marketing company and is working in the health and wellness niche.

Honestly speaking, if you explore this niche, there are thousands of popular brands and market is fully saturated. Few other popular ones are Amway, doTerra, and Nerium.

Melaleuca Product Line

The Company has over 400 products created by their scientists and is the largest manufacturer of consumer packaged goods in the Northwest America.

Is Melaleuca a Pyramid Scheme

Let me just present you some of the categories:

  • Nutrition
  • Medicine cabinet
  • Beauty
  • Hair Care
  • Household
  • Bath & Body
  • Home Fragrances
  • Essential Oils
  • Cosmetics
  • Home Cleaning
  • Etc…

Melaleuca aim is to improve three areas of your life:

i). Your Health

To improve your health, the company has manufactured wellness products, supplements, functional foods, nutrients, and breakthrough innovations.

These products naturally and successfully manage weight, increase nutrition, and advance health.

ii). Your Environment

Though very few companies complete their social responsibility, Melaleuca always be in a leading role to improve our environment with non-toxic, home cleaning items.

These items are harmless for your home and enable you to live clean without the dangers of harsh and caustic chemicals.

Melaleuca promotes concentrated products which require less water to make, less fuel to ship, and less plastic to package.

iii). Your Finances

Melaleuca is an MLM company, and it provides you the option to reduce debt and increases your monthly income.

However, you need to recruit people for this business to earn money.

I will explore this option further within a few seconds.

What Are People Saying about Their Products?

Despite being operating in a saturated market, its growth over the years has confirmed its products quality.

The matter is subjective as you see people with different viewpoints on their products but on the whole, I can say that their products are far better than most other MLM businesses in the market.

That’s not the only opinion from me rather it is backed by many people who have already used its products.

Let’s look at the few ones;

Review 1
Review 2

How to Make Money from Melaleuca?

Melaleuca is an MLM company, and the only way to make money from this system is either to sell products to earn retail commission or recruit other persons to earn from their compensation plan.

But before you get started, you need to pay $29 and become their “Independent Marketing Executive,” the term they use to denote distributors.

Basically, you’re like purchasing a low-cost franchise that provides you the right to resell their products. Then you make a commission based on the products sold.

Melaleuca Compensation Plan

Their compensation plan is very confusing and complex. But I will try to make it as simple as possible.

There are 2 types of income you can earn, i.e., commissions and bonuses.

Let’s look at one by one;

Commissions 

You can earn commission from persons who were either enrolled by you and enrolled by others.

If you enroll a customer there are two types of commissions you can earn;

  • Product Introduction Commission – When you enroll a customer, you will receive 50% of product price on purchases in the customer’s first month.
  • Personal Customer Commissions – Beginning with the customer’s second month, you will receive the commission on purchases by all customers you personally enrolled.

The monthly commission you will receive depends on how many Active Personally Enrolled Customers you have during that month.

If others enroll a customer you will earn;

  • Organization Commissions – You’ll get 7% commissions purchased by your downline (7 levels deep) who were enrolled by others.
Bonuses
  • Advancement Bonus – There are 49 statuses, and each time you move forward you will earn an advancement bonus.
  • Pacesetter Bonus – Once you complete the Independent Marketing Executive application and agreement in your enrollment or the following month, you will be eligible for this program.
  • Mentoring Bonus – Once your personal enrollees’ advances to the next status you can qualify to earn a mentoring bonus.
  • Core Mentoring Bonus (CMB) – Directors 3 and above can qualify to earn the Core Mentoring Bonus when others in your core organization move forward from one status to the next.
  • Double Core Mentoring Bonus – Whenever a Director 3 or above retains a 2nd new personal Director 3 through senior Director, their CMB will be doubled.
  • Leadership Growth Bonus – It earns when you reach Senior Director or above position and have new growth in your 7 level deep down the line over a two month period, and it produces an average of 30 or more leadership points or more.
  • 20/20 Bonus – This was when you enrolled 20 active preferred customers within a time span of 5 months you will earn a one-time $500 bonus.
  • Monthly Car Bonus – The Company will pay for a new car once you reach the status of Senior Director and it pays for two new cars once you attain the status of Executive, National, and Corporate Director.

Pros & Cons:

The Good

1. BBB Accredited

Melaleuca is accredited with Better Business Bureau since 1987 and have ratings of A+.

Just to mention that BBB is a reliable site to get the company’s info and it isn’t easy for the companies to have ratings of A+. Even the Company has maintained this rating for more than 30 years.

Rating doesn’t mean that the Company is a worthwhile opportunity rather its purpose is to tell you how much complaints have been received and how the company resolved those complaints.

BBB Accredition

2. Long History

Another thing to comment about Melaleuca is it’s in business for more than 30 years. Operating in this industry for such a long period is a miracle.

You are always under observation of FTC, and in the past, you could see the examples of MOBE and Digital Altitude which didn’t last long for more than six years.

3. Pretty Good Products

As I have stated earlier, the Company has very decent products, and it’s very surprising for an MLM company to offer that.

However, I haven’t said about their compensation plan is also good as its sole focus is to recruit people and I don’t recommend you to choose this path.

Concerning buying the company’s products, I haven’t found too many issues about their quality.

The Bad

1. You are Forced into Auto shipping

To maintain your membership with the Company, you need to spend at least $35 each month. Even if you aren’t able to enroll people in the system, you have to pay this.

Even I have read the complaints about people finding it hard to cancel their membership after using their credit cards.

This is a big red flag on this company.

 Melaleuca complaint 1
Melaleuca complaint 2

2. Poor Customer Support

If you lose your card and your bank account is compromised don’t even bother calling them they will charge you regardless. There are tons of complaints all over the web about poor customer service.

Either they don’t listen to you or if they listen but wouldn’t provide you with any solution at all. If you ask for cancel your membership, they will ask you for a lengthy cancellation procedure and charging your credit card unless it is finally canceled.

Don’t expect to cancel your membership before 2 to 3 months.

It simply means you will also be charged for that months either. That’ poor tactics and the only purpose for these delaying tactics is to make more money.

3. Massive Complaints in BBB

There are 152 complaints registered with the BBB against the company.

That’s way too much.

If you see the types of complaints, the majority have issues with their products and billings.

Such a huge number of complaints should not let our eyes blind.

Melaleuca complaint 3

4. Expensive Products

I have worked on many popular MLM companies, and it was difficult for me to convince people to join those sites. This is the case with Melaleuca as well.

Simply, on one side the products are expensive as compared to its competitors’ prices and on another side, they don’t provide value.

This problem is common for whole MLM industry, see Zurvita, Juice Plus+, Monat Global, and Kyani, to name a few.

People don’t join them due to their products, rather their sole purpose of joining those sites is to make money by recruiting other people.

Products are pure crap, thus makes extremely hard for their members to convince other people to buy them.

Luckily, we have Melaleuca which has pretty decent product line. Their products though expensive but offers much better value.

5. Limited Earning Potential

Despite the time and effort, you put in Melaleuca, at the end you only have few bucks in your hand.

That’s true….

Though Melaleuca is one of the trusted MLM sites offering valuable products, still this issue is with it.

You can get a paycheck of $100 to $120 per month. Even for that 100 to $120, you need to spend 3 to 5 hours daily. That’s a lot of work.

It is famous that less than 0.5% of people are successful in the MLM businesses.

Additionally, some studies have shown that approximately 1% of people can get their initial investment back.

These are not my claims and if you think otherwise then just give me one example from sites like Juice Plus+, It Works, Traffic Authority, and Empower Network, to name a few, that has a success rate greater than this

If you think Melaleuca can replace your 9-5 job and earns you a big money, believe me, that’s not going to be happening.

Honestly speaking, I am not going to waste my time on such sites and I don’t like to waste your time too.

Is Melaleuca a Scam?

Melaleuca is not a scam because it is still legitimate site that provides its customers with legitimate business opportunity. We have no right to say it is a scam, unless ordered by the FTC.

Like most MLM companies, they have their merits and downsides.

The Company offers some good products that are also in demand for people who are health conscious.

Melaleuca also allows people to take part in its business model and earn a commission for promoting its products to other people.

Despite legitimate, I don’t recommend you to start this as an income opportunity.

Can Melaleuca become your cash cow and provides you with the lifestyle that it promises?

I wouldn’t think so, but that’s just my opinion.

There are easier options out there when it comes to making money online.

Is Melaleuca a Pyramid Scheme?

Before looking at whether Melaleuca is a Pyramid Scheme or not, let’s first understand what is a pyramid scheme.

Everyone has a different perspective but what I believe is that the company must have the following characteristics to be called as a pyramid scheme;

  1. The pyramid scheme doesn’t offer real products to sell. However, they may purport to sell a product, but they often simply use the product to hide their pyramid structure.
  2. Whether the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, or vice versa? For the former, it is a pyramid scheme.

If we look at Melaleuca, it has over 400 products that people are already using in their day to day activities. Hence, it isn’t a pyramid scam.

Final Verdict:

Though Melaleuca is a legit MLM company, I can only recommend you to use their products as I have heard a lot of good news about them.

However, for making money, please put your focus on your own online business rather than working for someone else behalf.

That’s where I recommend my favorite business model called as, Affiliate marketing, which is the only method I recommend to make money online.

Let’s look at the reasons why I prefer affiliate marketing over MLM;

  • Unlike Melaleuca, you don’t have to recruit anyone to make money
  • It gives you control and ownership that Melaleuca doesn’t
  • You don’t need to be involved in face to face marketing
  • You have the option to promote any products you desire and not being bound only to promote one MLM company
  • It’s Free to get started

Don’t put so much effort on Melaleuca and other similar MLM businesses as if the Melaleuca gets shut, all of your efforts will get vain.

See the previous examples of Digital Altitude and MOBE. There are no such risks in the affiliate marketing business.

To earn a full-time income from affiliate marketing, I only recommend seeing my #1 recommended product Wealthy Affiliate.

What’s your thoughts on my Melaleuca review 2021  and your opinion onIs Melaleuca a Scam?” please share your thoughts in the comment section.