Melaleuca Review, Is This MLM Money Making Opportunity for You?

Did you get approached by somebody that wants you to represent Melaleuca and their products?

You might be a little sceptic and wants to do the proper research before deciding if it’s for you or not. Good for you, for going the extra mile before deciding.

In this Melaleuca review, we highlight the good and the not so good, so that you can make a decision for yourself to go with the Melaleuca opportunity or stay away.

Melaleuca says that they are The Wellness Company …and the Largest online wellness shopping club there is.  I almost thought I’d had to take their word for it until I discovered a little tiny link to peep into their inventory of products at the bottom of the page. There, you will see that they actually do have products galore!

Vitamins and supplements, food, beverages, medicine and remedies, cleaning supplies, home fragrances, dental care, skin care, pet care… [catching my breath] hair care, facial care dental care and …more.  All the products look very alluring and pleasing to the eye—as if they are saying, ‘hey beautiful, buy me’ [flash the smile].  How they did that, we may never know.

Melaleuca Review, Is This MLM Money Making Opportunity for You?

Website: Melaleuca

CEO: Frank VanderSloot

Est: 1985

The Company

Melaleuca was established in September of 1985.  Since that time, CEO Frank VanderSloot has watched over its growth.  It is now an international company with customers around the world.  It has over 500 products and still adding more!  The company and its scientists are committed to creating and offering superior products and its growth continues.

But Is Melaleuca an MLM Company?

They refer to themselves as  “the world’s leader in referral marketing” but members and even the founder has denied that Melaleuca is an MLM company, in the past. Have they changed their minds?

MLM – referral marketing… sounds similar to me.

Let’s look at the definition of MLM according to Wikipedia.

MLM also called referral marketing. So in a way, they kind of confirm themselves that they are now an MLM company.

Here’s a screenshot from their own compensation plan of the different active statuses you can have within the company, looks like different levels to me…

So why are some still claiming that they are not an MLM company? Please and I mean this, if you are a representative of Melaleuca and don’t believe your company is an MLM please explain WHY in the comment section below.

The Melaleuca Products

The company is truly diversified in its offerings.  If you can afford it, Melaleuca looks like it would be one of the top online places to go for quality products. But are they?  They actually look like the products you would use in a boutique hotel or Bed & Breakfast.  This would be a great market for them.  Their soaps, lotions and other skin care products would be a great fit for those markets.  Categorically speaking, it looks like there are 14 product lines; however, several of them overlap.  So we’ll group them relatively below.

Hair and Skincare:  ln this category, you have shampoos, conditioners and lotions along with hair treatment products and styling aids.  Sei Bella and Affinia are the prominent name brands for the hair products and Renew is the brand for skin lotions and therapy.  Sun Shades and Body Satin are other brands available.  Although it is a different kind of skin care, we also lumped facial care into this section as well.  Clarity, Luxury, and Affinia are the popular name brands offered.  What was interesting to see was that they also offered make-up and facial powder as additions to the facial care line.

Food and Vitamins:  Their food products are more like snacks and drinks rather true meals.  Simply Fit, SplashH20, Access and Fiberwise are some of the product name brands offered.  Peak Performance vitamins and supplements round off the name brands.  They have multivitamins for all ages and other supplements they offer to promote a healthy heart, bone and joints, eyes, prostate and immune systems.  You’ll also find antioxidants and an array of products to help with digestive, brain and urinary tract health.

Home Care:  In this grouping, we have placed laundry detergents, additives, stain treatment and fabric freshener.  Also, they offer kitchen and bathroom cleaners, glass cleaners and disinfectants and furniture polish.  They round off this grouping with home fragrances.  Fresh Rain, Cucumber & Green Tea and Warm Spice Cake are a few of the scents offered to refresh your home.

Pet Care:  ProCare and Premium are the two name brands they have in the pet care category. Dog and cat treats along with treats for their skin and coats were being offered.  That’s kind of cool that you can shop at the same site for your pets.  I noticed that they also placed some of their cleaning products in this section as carry-over products for cleaning carpets, rugs and floors.

So it all looks good but what are Melaleuca consumers actually saying?

Feedback from Melaleuca Consumers

To get the real scoop I did some digging around and founds some feedback on the products. The below reviews are from pissedconsumer.com:

The Positive:

This is a recent review and I’m happy that this person had a good experience because many don’t, with the company but WHY are they still denying that it’s an MLM??

The Negative:

Here’s another unhappy customer…

and another one…

I could have kept submitting unhappy reviews, these are just a few of them, there are a whole lot more.

What about the Melaleuca money making opportunity?

How Do You Make Money with Melaleuca?

It was hard enough trying to find out how to get into the company catalog.  They really don’t want you to just go snooping around without them knowing who you are.  I can see the catalog, but I have to request and be approved for an account.  No.  I just can’t sign up.  I had to give up my phone number and email address.  Now, I’m waiting for a secret password to see if I’m approved.   -_-   They’ll let me know.

The one thing I did find and I quote from their website;

If you would like to be earning a residual income like this, we encourage you to contact the person that referred you to Melaleuca and they will help you get started.

Sounds like an MLM to me.

The best way to find out how to make money with Melaleuca is to read their compensation plan. When I do my reviews I really want to give you as much proper information as I possibly can but to be honest, just looking at the Melaleuca compensation plan made me confused. Confusing not very easy to understand compensation plans.

There are so many different levels, there are so many different qualifications and commission types/bonuses that it’s NOT very clear when it comes to their compensation plan.

Another thing we can look at is the income stats.

64%  become customers. If I understand this correctly though you can’t just buy a bottle of shampoo, you have to sign up for the monthly auto shipment. So you are locked into paying around $80 – 100 monthly until you cancel and we know what a hassle that can be.

24% become product advocates. Some of these people give the money making opportunity a try, they refer at least one customer but less than eight.

12% starts a business with Melaleuca and will achieve director status, which means that you have referred at least eight customers.

The next step is Initial leadership status and after that Advanced leadership status.

Now out of the 12% that decides to start Melaleuca as a business, 86.7% of them only reach director status and refer less than 8 customers.

Final Thoughts / Is Melaleuca Worth It?

So, even though the products are saying ‘buy me’; to some buyers, they are not as good as they imagined them to be.  Several comments online compare Melaleuca to Amway (as far as having a similar business model).

Personally, I don’t think I’m that impressed with the company.  Not just because they made it hard for me to get in to see what they offered, but also because I didn’t get a sense of connection when I initially visited the site. The mission statement (right above the button) says their mission is “To enhance the lives of those we touch by helping people reach their goals.” How? …By becoming a customer?  I’ll pass.

Personally, I don’t think it’s worth spending the reported $80 a  month to maintain an account with the company–with no real clear way of possibly earning some of that cash back.  But there are those who do.  It appears to me that a company like Melaleuca takes the advantage of that market of people and does very well.

For people looking for an opportunity to make money, there might be one discovered after you create the account and get inside, but only if you love the product though.  But think about it—if it’s that hard to get in; imagine the difficulty of getting out. We saw some of the difficulties people had canceling reading their reviews. My idea of an income generating opportunity is one that tells you about itself from the start.  It offers you the ability to explore and is inviting to potential associates.  I see none of that here.  Thus, I’m not impressed.

So Now What?

If you are still looking for a way to make extra money or maybe even a full-time income there are better ways.

What about setting up a website on a topic you enjoy. If you were curious about Melaleuca you are probably interested in wellness and health, perfect area to start a website about. There are many different areas within the health niche that you could be focusing on, skin care, weight gain/loss, makeup, everyday well being… the list goes on.

Maybe you were just curious about the money-making opportunity, then you could start a website on any topic you enjoy. There are websites about anything and everything sports, interests, movies, tools, health issues, knitting…

You might think, that’s all fine and dandy but how do you make money?

Websites can be monetized in many ways, adding ads and affiliate programs are just two great ways to do it. If you are curious to read more about it here…

How to Create a Website and Make Money with It!

What route will you take? I would love to hear from you in the comment section below,

Have a productive day,

Vicky