Market America is an unusual MLM, simply because they have so many products that you can promote. The products don’t just fall in a single category either. Market America has clothes, beauty products, health and nutrition, groceries, and more.
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This is possible because Market America runs a brokerage model. As such, the products that you’re promoting weren’t created by Market America. They come from a variety of different sources.
Some of the products are part of recognizable brands and can be easily found elsewhere (like Gillette, Vicks, and Estee Lauder). Others come from brands that can only be found through Market America (such as Motives Cosmetics).
The style has some advantages and some disadvantages. Many of the products come from evergreen industries, so there will always be demand. You’re also promoting reputable brands, which could make it easier to promote sales. On the flip side, neither the products nor the prices are particularly unusual.
It’s also worth mentioning that Market America isn’t as unusual as its marketing suggests. The company promotes its opportunity as ‘The Unfranchise Business’. In practice, the system is a fairly conventional MLM, with similar advantages and disadvantages to the other MLMs out there.
Two Ways To Make Money With Market America
As an MLM, Market America offers two classic ways to make money. The first is simple – promote the products. This can be done in person and/or online. The other approach is team building. Market America calls this an Unfranchise Model, but the company just follows a fairly typical binary approach.
Both ways to earn can work, but how good are they? In this post, I examine the options in detail and consider whether Market America is a realistic way to earn income.
Make Money From Product Sales
Market America’s brokerage model leads to a very impressive selection of products. We’re not going to talk much about the specific items for two reasons. First, there are simply too many products to consider. Second (and most importantly), many of the products are pretty typical.
You can buy many of the brands at your local store. While Market America does have some exclusive products too, these still follow the same general styles as their branded counterparts. The base prices on Market America’s websites aren’t that different than you’d find elsewhere.
That being said, Market America does claim to have the ‘best price’ on some products and significant sales on their Daily Deals (for products sold through their websites). One advantage of ordering through them is the convenience of buying online. Another is the Cashback program for customers.
Even so, there aren’t many advantages of buying from Market America, regardless of whether customers do so in-person or online through a distributor. This isn’t good news when it comes to making sales.
It’s also worth mentioning that customers can buy from the Market America sites directly. There is no need for them to go through a distributor. Processes like this undermine distributors and make it more difficult to consistently earn money.
Earning Money
Market America doesn’t just offer two different ways to earn, it has two entirely different models. If you’re only interested in product sales, then you can join as a Sales Representative. Representatives buy products at a discounted price and can then sell it on for a retail profit. There is no subscription fee to joining as a Sales Representative.
While this process might sound appealing, it has limitations too.
One problem is the buying and reselling approach. This involves investing your own money in products and then trying to make a profit. If you can sell everything that you buy – great! If not, you could be seriously out of pocket.
Reselling is a particular problem with Market America because the company has so many different products. How are members going to work out which ones to buy? The main way would be to order only when customers say that they want you to, but that doesn’t work well either, as convenience is a key reason why customers would order from you to begin with.
The second problem is that you don’t get a website. Your only way to earn is by reselling physical products. That’s no good.
Alternatively, you can become an Unfranchise Owner. Despite the marketing, the benefits you get are the same as most other MLMs. Oh and there’s a $129.95 subscription fee.
The subscription fee provides you with various websites that you can sell products through (including shop.com and motivescosmetics.com), along with some training. Even so, you’re not getting any physical products, making the subscription fee a pretty expensive one.
As for the websites, they’re simply replicated versions of what Market America offers. You get the same sites as every other member. The main difference is that you’re considered the referrer for your sites. This means that if anyone makes a purchase, you can earn money.
While replicated websites aren’t amazing, they do have their place. If you can’t sell online, you can only ever target a local audience. Selling to friends and family members gets old fast and there simply isn’t enough demand. You need to expand your reach and being online is the most powerful way to do so.
Even so, Market America doesn’t strongly focus on making money online. This means that you probably won’t get the training that you need to fully take advantage of the websites.
There’s one other thing to mention, the amount of money that you earn. Market America doesn’t provide many details here. They simply state that members earn between 30% and 50% in gross retail profit. This figure applies to in-person sales and it isn’t clear how much you earn by making sales online.
Make Money Building A Team
As with most MLMs, the team aspect of Market America is where the main income potential lies. Even if you make a large number of sales, you’ll never access all of the bonuses that can be found through team building.
Interestingly, Market America distributors often say that the company isn’t an MLM, it’s something better. The most common explanation is that Market America doesn’t use the typical pyramid-like compensation plan that you see in many MLMs. They use a binary model instead.
The comparison is even shown on some of the marketing from Market America (although the company itself has stopped saying that they’re not an MLM). Market America uses the structure on the right and claims that it is better.
The two approaches are different, that much is true. The left-hand structure is a unilevel plan, where a person’s position in the downline determines commission percentage. The right-hand structure is a binary model, where the position of recruits isn’t nearly as significant. Most MLMs use either a unilevel or a binary structure, while some use both.
Market America depicts their binary system like this:
The style is fairly typical. The main difference is that Market America tracks BV and IBV separately. BV stands for Business Volume and refers to the sales of products that are exclusive to the company. IBV stands for Internet Business Volume and is for any products from partner stores.
It’s difficult to know what the two types mean in practice, as Market America doesn’t provide the information on their website. However, you would likely need to hit specific BV requirements to hit new ranks or obtain some bonuses.
As for the binary structure, it does have some advantages. It simplifies your earnings calculations and allows you to focus on growing the two legs of your downline. This can be less confusing and you don’t have to worry about who recruited who.
There are some disadvantages too. With a binary model, your income isn’t based on the performance of your team as a whole. Instead, it is connected to how the two legs perform compared to one another.
You are only paid ‘team earnings’ based on whichever leg does not perform as well. This seems very unnatural to me. In an ideal world, we would be compensated for the total sales of the team, not based on some arbitrary rule designed to make growing our business difficult.
This approach to earning creates an odd situation. If one of your team dramatically outperforms the other, you could end up with a relatively high number of sales, but low income.
Market America Marketing
One final area to mention is that Market America tends to use some odd and hyped up phrasing. One example is their shopping annuity idea, which is described like this:
When you get down to it, Market America is actually talking about the time that people save and changes to their shopping habits. This has nothing at all to do with the concept of annuity, yet Market America seems to be in love with the phrase.
They also make this absurd statement:
Here’s the thing. Even if Market America was fantastic as a way to earn money, the company isn’t revolutionizing anything. They’re offering the chance for customers to shop online and earn cashback, while giving representatives the ability to earn money. None of those processes are even unusual these days.
Can You Generate Reliable Income With Market America?
The Market America Review
Products
Business Opportunity
Final Review
While Market America isn't as amazing as the company's marketing suggests, it could still be a reliable way to make money. They do have a wide selection of products and the ability to sell online is a key advantage. Earning 30% to 50% for in-person sales isn't horrible either, as long as you choose products that will actually sell.
The most important point is to do your due diligence. Make sure you carefully consider your audience and whether the products are likely to sell. Think about the way that you want to make sales too. Are you planning to rely on in-person sales and use the purchase and resell model? Or, will you mostly focus on online sales?
The online angle is certainly more powerful, especially these days. If you plan on this approach, you may need to find extra training elsewhere so that you can get the traffic and interest that you need.
While we're talking about online sales, it's worth mentioning that Market America feels a little old fashioned. The company isn't nearly as popular as Amazon and some customers may hesitate about using it. To me, it feels like there just aren't enough reasons for customers to purchase from Market America.
MLM Critic & Author: Nathaniell
What's up ladies and dudes! Great to finally meet you, and I hope you enjoyed this post. I have to be honest though. I'm not a big fan of MLM. Tried it. Hated it.
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Tom Elliott
A lot of misconceptions and incorrect information in this review. Incomplete at best. Not just about Market America, but there are misperceptions about networking & direct sales altogether.
Fact is, most people don’t do their homework before jumping into something. Then they feel entitled to call themselves a “business owner” because they paid a registration fee, but with only 30-60 minutes of exposure and an excited friend or family member who talks them into it, they never before even considered starting a business. So they “sign up” and expect money to roll in. NOTHING works like that. If someone starts a pitch with “all you have to do is…”, turn and run.
That said, it doesn’t mean network companies are scams. They’re not. Sure, there are some that have a lot more gimmicks than others, but people need to understand the requirements and the systems before they jump into something. And that’s true whether you’re talking network marketing or traditional business. If you had $200,000 and decided to jump into real estate, for example, sure you could buy a house. But if you don’t know anything about real estate investing, determining cap rates, and what goes on your Schedule E in your tax return, expect to lose a lot of money learning lessons the hard way.
But most people won’t gamble with $200,000. Much easier to throw $400-$500 into the hat and “sign up” hoping to beat the odds. Sitting on your butt doing nothing and “learning as you go” isn’t going to yield good results… doesn’t matter if you’re talking about doterra, Market America, Amway, Nuskin, Herbal Life, or dozens of other distributorships.
I’ve picked apart hundreds of companies… stair step breakaway models, binary models, unilevel matrix, forced matrix, and others… There are “gimmicks” (for lack of a better word) in each of them, and likewise there is opportunity in each of them. But when I hear about people who “do” a home based business, it makes me shake my head. People “do” hobbies. They “do” THINGS. People “build” businesses and “work” at growing their businesses. So when someone “signs up” into Market America (or any other company), and someone says, “What do you do?” and they answer, “I do Market America”… their credibility is shot as a business owner right there.
If you work at Walmart, you don’t “do” Walmart. If you own a McDonalds, you don’t “do” McDonalds. If you’re job is a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader, you don’t “do” the…. well, never mind.
So you can tell the business minded enterepreneurs from the wantrepreners by the language they use and the posture they develop. You can make significant money in most companies… but the work is not “easy” and the leveraging of the compensation plans will differ.
My biggest beef with the reviews here is that the information is skewed and somewhat misrepresented. (Example: “You need 10-15 preferred customers to be qualified for commission checks.” No, you don’t. You need 150 business volume per quarter, have at least one personally sponsored, qualified distributor on each of your two legs, and make $200 in retail sales per quarter. Can be one customer. Can be 10 customers. So to draw conclusions and evaluate an opportunity based on misinformation is just as bad IMO as the people who mislead others by saying, “All you have to do is…”)
If you aren’t retailing $200 of products in a 90 day period, you’re not running much of a business. The $200 of products equates to about 150 BV, so the two requirements basically coincide. And having two personally sponsored individuals to expand distribution is the contractual requirement to be eligible to earn commissions on 100% of the entire team’s collective productivity.
I will agree, training is problematic at times. It’s not that training isn’t available. It’s that most people “sign up”, sit on their butts, and wait for the money to roll in without getting the necessary training.
The key is to manage expectations. Sponsor people who you would choose to manage your store if you had a brick and mortar business…. which is probably NOT your mother, father, sister, brother, neighbor, cousin, friend. Quality control. Interviews. Trial runs. And training. But it has to start with the right people. And people who aim to meet just the minimums will surely fall short… but they probably have done so in most other endeavors, too. Looking for easy money? Don’t expect to find it in network marketing. It’s work.
Nathaniell
All of this is predicated on the assumption that MLM companies are legit. I get what you’re saying about some of this stuff, but the point is that most MLM companies are marketed as “business opportunities”, and the fact is that not everyone can earn money in the biz. Only the major recruiters. So for recruiters to get recruiters, they have to make it look like a great opportunity, so they end up selling the “chance to get rich” instead of selling people on the idea of being a product salesperson.
If you want to sell stuff, do that. If you want to recruit for companies, do that. Don’t recruit people to a company claiming that you can make money selling stuff, but then turn around and say “actually, if you really want to make money you gotta recruit a team”.
Because make no mistake, the people who actually earn money in MLMs are the ones with large teams, and the teams that get teams.
Is it possible for everyone to have a big team? Nope. That’s the pyramid aspect. So MOST folks end up paying money into the system and not getting anything out of it. All the money flows to the top.
Adrian
I’m from Singapore so 2 months ago I joined shop.com after about a year of studying it. My high school scout mate was in the company close to 3 years and she’s already ranked professional coordinator meaning she gets at least $1875 weekly.
No, it’s not because of the quick money I saw that attracts me to the business, first off the products works and they didn’t hard sell the program to me, instead they kept telling me during seminars and workshops that this needs plenty of hard work, if I think it’s easy money I better be not wasting time and money into the business, its my own business now.
Don’t be mistaken, I’m 45 and been to 3 other mlm model type company. I don’t think its fair as I read your article, the vipes I got here is way negative. I should think someone need to be at least attending its programs for a bit before deciding to write about shop.com and if you day you did then fair enough it just didn’t suit you this business model, but it has helped many in my country.
Hard work is key to anything we wanna achieve in life, nothing is free and if it sounds too good, run. Based on what I know and learned so far, this company will be around for another 50years benefitting anyone who is hardworking with not just sight but a vision.
I’ll say give it a go the next opportunity you come across, don’t join cuz no one will hard sell in the company, if they do talk to a business partner that won’t, only a good leader can bring you far enough. I’ll favourite your website and once I’m a professional coordinator ill share with you the good news, go experience it yourself my friend.
Adrian Soh
Gerry
Marlet America (MA) is an interesting vehicule. I have been in this system for 1 year. I saw a lot of people going on stage to day they make that level of income (1875$/month) BUT HIS WAS NOT TRUE ! This was a way to influence new comers ot sign. Unfortunatly MA is just a broker site. If you join make sure you actualy have a a website and sell products.
This article is real and the binary system does not work. You need to “balance” the 2 leags (left and right) to make your commissions, which actually is almost impossible. Guess who os getting the money fro your sales? (yes, your sponsor and the top line). Your chances to earn money with MA is less than 3% (the top earners). I prefer to sell directly and MAYBE to utilize MA and their products to attrack some new customers. But anyway, it will tak eyou over 2 years (with all monthly fees) to be able to earn maybe 300/ per week, Hard work, cheap labor form the MA management. This is a fantastic system for the MA owners ! (sic)
Good luck
Gerry (Canada)
Natalie Davie
Hey Nathaniell, my boyfriend has been sucked into MA and it consumes all of his time and money. I have such a bad feeling about it all and need help understanding it more. It would mean the world to me if you could answer some of my questions. Let me know if you can! Thank you.
Nathaniell
Sure thing, just post them here!
Brian
Run!
PPT
If you have been to any Market America business presentation or seminar, they will mention this business requires a lot of hard work, nobody says it is easy. Why it is difficult? Mainly because of the reputation of MLM. Most people are sceptical about this industry, they heard many people got conned and did not earn any money. Strangely, people do not choose to believe the success story in the direct selling industry compare to traditional business.
If you have a business, you need to tell people you have a business, your family and friends are the first you inform. It’s not sales pitch for MLM only, all business need marketing. I hope by today, your friends and family already know you have this website. And if they are supporting you by reading, you get the good web traffic which means can help you to attract advertiser.
To start with, I am just an opportunist, I am open to any way getting extra income. Market America is not the first Direct Selling company I venture into and I have earn some money but not lots of money from this industry. But I do see this company is offering a fair deal, they give good products, good training, good website, good compensation scheme and the never ending technology enhancements (without paying more). My daily routine is like any person who own a business, introduce my website, share my products, if you think this is a good business model, I welcome you to be my business partner and I will show you how to earn money by just changing your shopping habits, yes! just simply spending the money you already spending and sharing it with the rest.
Lastly, for anyone who is looking into Market America business. Are you willing to treat this as a business and put in the effort and run it like a business? If yes, you may be the next person in the million dollars club and get residual income for your next two generations. If you thinking it is a quick get rich scheme or going to ride on your family or friends success, I think you need to look elsewhere…
Nathaniell
I disagree that the first people you should try to sell things to is your friends and family. Feedback will not be honest, and your business needs to rely on real customers.
Tina
I joined MA and I’m selling the websites.
Yes, it’s an investment. Yes, its complicated. But the opportunity is there for people who can focus. It’s a fun challenge. I only recruit people who are ambitious and confident. Definitely not for wusses.
Nathaniell
The last company that referred to people as wussies crashed and burned pretty hard. Referring to people as losers because they don’t want to join your biz op isn’t very nice IMO.