Melaleuca is an MLM company that sells green home and personal care products. The products are not bad, and I’ve used them before! However, the company and its advocates have a weird obsession about not wanting to be called an MLM.
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In my opinion, it definitely is a multi-level marketing company, but before you fire up your keyboard for the comment section please read my whole Melaleuca review to see why I’m saying, “Yeah, it’s actually MLM guys.”
The main reason people say it’s not an MLM is because you “don’t sell products”. What they don’t understand, is that the membership you sell is the product.
Melaleuca Review
Melaleuca is a very secretive organization. Product prices not listed on the website, a full compensation plan is not linked, and they deny being an MLM company. Their independent business representatives attitudes give the company a bad name.
There are many green product companies out there which have much more transparent policies, and are not associated with the negativity stereotypes of direct sales and MLM. That’s why I prefer to promote affiliate products instead.
What Are Melaleuca Products?
Melaleuca sells natural and eco-friendly cleaning, skincare, and health products. They have a wide range of products, including:
- shower cleaner
- tooth paste
- furniture polish
- laundry stain remover
- tea tree oil
- shampoo
- lip balm
- vitamins
- fiber
- tub & tile cleaner
- …many more!
You can purchase Melaleuca products on Amazon (not affiliate link) from their Amazon store. I’d love to show you some of these products, but Melaleuca has attempted to take down this page multiple times with copyright claims, so I won’t be able to show you their products.
According to their website, they have over 400 products, but you can’t actually read about the products on their website.
Join The Melaleuca Shopping Club Instead!
What is featured very prominently on their website is that you should become a member of the shopping club. The only problem is, you can only become a member if someone refers you to the company.
Thank you for your interest in Melaleuca. Every Melaleuca Member is referred by another member. To learn how you can become a Melaleuca Preferred Member, contact the person who referred you to this site.
In other words, you cannot join unless you have a sponsor, referrer, team leader, whatever you want to call it.
I find it strange that they claim to focus on the products (not recruiting), yet at the same time, they seem to be paying much more attention to the team building aspect, just like MLM companies! As a potential customer, I’d like to know whats inside the products and how much they cost! How can I compare them with other brands?
How Does Melaleuca Work?
Since you can just purchase Melaleuca products on Amazon or Ebay, if you’re wondering how Melaleuca works, you’re probably wondering about the business building aspect. In other words, how do you make money with Melaleuca?
There are some details about how to earn money with Melaleuca on their income statistics disclosure. However, the stats haven’t been updated since 2018, so it’s unclear if they are still accurate.
Typical of multi-level marketing companies, there are many “levels” of selling Melaleuca products.
- Product Advocates
- Business Builder (Director 1-2)
- Director 3-9
- Senior Director
- Executive Director
- National Director
- Corporate Director
As a product advocate, you are simply selling a couple products to people you know. As a business builder, you are still just selling products, but doing it more seriously.
Once you get into Director level 3+, the multi-level aspect kicks in. You will be required to recruit team leaders who will then have their own teams which operate under your team.
Those who have reached these leadership statuses have not only invested enough time to refer several customers, but they have also helped some of those customers start a business and become Marketing Executives. Those Marketing Executives have, in turn, referred additional customers who purchase Melaleuca products each month.
How Much Money Can You Make With Melaleuca?
According to their income disclosure from 2018, Directors level 1-2 earn an average of about $2,000 per year with 8 customers. As far as I understand it, that means, to add $160 to your monthly household income, you’d need to be selling Melaleuca products to eight people.
However, the average earnings of a company might not give you the entire picture of what’s going on. Median income is much more revealing, but they don’t tell us that.
Why use median income instead of average income?
The classic example is that there are ten people in a room who each earn $1 per day. Bill Gates walks in, and he earns $1,000,000 per day. The average income of the group jumps to $91,000. The median is still $1.
Regardless, it does appear that you can make up to $39,987 (according to their report) as a Director level 1 or 2, without any recruiting at all. They do not say how many customers you’d need to achieve that kind of income, but they do say it’s done with 8-16 Personal Customers, and 8-75 Active Customers. They don’t tell us the difference between Active and Personal customers, so there may be some kind of auto-ship involved there, but that’s just a guess.
Is Melaleuca An MLM?
There seems to be some controversy as to whether or not Melaleuca is an MLM. Honestly, I don’t really understand how it could not be considered one. There are so many similarities, it’s indistinguishable.
You get paid commissions based on recruiting people who want to build their teams, and so on. You market products, and get paid on multiple levels.
Multi. Level. Marketing.
There are also many other similarities as explained in this video from an actual ATTORNEY that has tons of experience and knowledge about MLMs.
Note: They are also part of the DSA (along with Amway and other network marketing companies)! The DSA is an organization that many network marketing companies rely on to (often unsuccessfully) distance themselves from pyramid schemes.
Though people use different terms, and like to be pedantic about the differences, as far as I’m concerned, direct sales, network marketing, and multi-level marketing are all the same thing. Pyramid schemes are a little different, in that they are strictly defined as “having no product”, but there are plenty of similarities, which is why MLM companies often get accused of being pyramids schemes.
Even big, well-know MLMs like herbalife and Mary Kay are regularly accused of this.
The idea that Melaleuca is not an MLM seems to be rooted in how the products are sold. Apparently, you pay to join the Shopping Club, but do not purchase products from the person who invited you. You purchase from the manufacturer. In other words, you are paying to be part of a club, like Costco. This was the same pitch from Wake Up Now, which is a now defunct MLM company.
My response to this is:
- I can go to Costco and become a member any time I want without a referral.
- Nobody is paid to recruit for Costco memberships
- If I think Costco is a scam, there’s no army of Costco advocates who get pissed off at me
I’m not even kidding with number 3. It was shocking to see the level of rudeness and from Melaleuca members on ANY blog post or video that say anything negative about the company. Full post from The MLM Attorney, with comments included!
- Product doesn’t work? You’re using it wrong.
- Company is MLM? You are an idiot.
- Didn’t make money? Don’t blame us for your failure
- Products not green enough? You have wrong information
A sure sign that Melaleuca is an MLM is that the members are rabid advocates, and have almost a cult-like mentality, where they just can’t let it go.
Melaleuca published a little PDF called Here’s Where We Draw The Line. In my opinion, they conflate. a few different concepts. They emphasize that customers are not required to “invest” (With Melaleuca there is no “investment.” ), but what they fail to distinguish is that buying the products is not part of the money making aspect of the company. The folks who make the money are the ones selling the membership.
Sure, you can purchase products without being a distributor yourself. That part I completely understand. But the top sellers and income earners of the company are managing teams of people who are also selling memberships. The MLM aspect isn’t about the products, it’s about the memberships they’re selling and the downline building you must do to be successful.
Melaleuca Reviews
Melaleuca reviews are all over the place. Some are amazing, some are terrible. They currently have an A+ rating with the BBB, but they also have a lot list of complaints.
Some people love it, some people hate it. Whether or not you choose to join the company will depend on your goals. If you would like to be able to purchase green cleaning and health products as part of a membership club, then this could be a good company to join.
If you would like to earn money, then this is not a company that I would personally recommend.
How To Turn Green Living Into An Online Business
Melaleuca Review
Products
Business Opportunity
Final Review
If you love green products and want to live an eco-friendly, healthy lifestyle, that’s awesome. If you want to share that passion with other people and make money doing it, you can definitely do that.
Personally, I think you'd be better off starting an online business so that you can reach millions of people, instead of just your local friends and family.
By starting an independent website and linking to products, you can get paid for each one sold. Publish reviews of the products you love, and get paid to help people live green and healthy! You can recommend products from Target, Walmart, and many small companies that have affiliate programs. In fact, you could even recommend Melaleuca products which are sold on Amazon.com.
This strategy makes much more sense long term because you'll have full control over your website, instead of being locked in as a member of a single company, and limiting yourself to what type of products or services you can promote.
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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EHB
I won’t take time arguing with you why Melaleuca is not MLM, but I’m gonna tell you a few things you don’t know about Melaleuca:
1. When you said you didn’t understand why Meleluca is not MLM, among other things you call the people doing business with Melaleuca distributors, but unlike MLMs, Melaleuca doesn’t have distributors, not even one, people doing business with Melaleuca only promote the online store; selling the products outside the official store not only is not encouraged, but prohibited by the company’s policies, that’s one of the main differences, among many others.
2. You ask yourself why Melaleuca don’t give more information about their products to “the average guy that just wants an environmentally friendly mouthwash”, well, that’s precisely because the business model of Melaleuca relies ENTIRELY on references, meaning the company only expects to gain clients when “a family member or a friend introduces it to you”, it’s a shopping club and you can enter only by invitation, sorry, that’s how it works, and according to the financial results of the company, it seems to work vey well.
3. You say that Melaleuca “seem to be paying much more attention to the business opportunity than the actual online store”, well, let me give you some data about that: In Melaleuca, about 88% of the people that has a membership don’t do any kind of business and has no intention of doing it, they just buy the products, so if you say they are paying more attention to the business opportunity, that data says you’re very misinformed (I’m not against being misinformed, but I think it’s not good to be writing and “informing” people about something that you don’t know).
4. You cite a supposed attorney that gives his opinion about why he thinks Melaleuca is MLM, but let me tell you there are other opinions around, given by people with much more credentials, stating the opposite, let me give you a pair of examples: C.L. “Butch” Otter (Idaho Governor): “Melaleuca is a direct marketing company with a customer referral business model that has enabled it to bypass traditional marketing channels without multiple levels of distribution that are typical to MLM. Instead, it focuses on the personal satisfaction of its customers around the world.”, Dale Dixon (President/CEO Better Business Bureau: “Melaleuca does not have multiple levels of distribution, which means independent agents do not distribute inventory from one agent to the next. People purchase what they want for personal use; conversely, people are not compensated for reselling to others. The company’s marketing executives make a commission by referring customers directly to the company, rather than serving as a dsitributor of products. For this important distinction, BBB serving the Snake River Region categorizes Melaleuca as a retailer.” I could cite many other opinions that I think have more weight than some attorney tha posts on youtube, but I think that’s enough to show clearly that there are many others that think differently.
I hope this information is useful to you, and mainly, to the people that reads your article.
AJH
This is off topic, but I just have to comment. I’m a Stay At Home Mom (or SAHM since the use of actual words seems to be diminishing) and I have very little spare time. Before I chose to stay home, I was a workaholic. I worked full time and nights and part time during the days until two months prior to my first son. Having been on both ends of the spectrum, I can honestly say that I have much less time now. Everything I do revolves around someone else’s schedule. Unlike 9-5’ers, my work isn’t done because I finalized a project or the clock says I am. It’s a 24-hour gig. Not to mention with the added isolation, how on Earth are you supposed to network? I suppose it could be different for SAHMs who live in cities- I live out in the country. I honestly don’t have time to build a networking business. Then again, even if I did, I guarantee I wouldn’t do so well over the phone or video conferencing with screaming toddlers. Don’t get me wrong, my kids are tyrants and I love the hell out of them. I love being the one to raise them and witness everything first. That’s the payoff, because it’s damn hard work!!
Now, I’ve done the MLM thing for two of the largest companies. I won’t name names, but even after having been told they weren’t MLM’s, I knew better. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t willing to try products or hear them out. The term MLM gets a bad rep, and lumped in immediately with “pyramid scheme”.. I have to laugh, because in reality, that’s just about every store out there. It’s just a technique, that’s all it is. People can choose to do it for one company, or another, or not. It works for some, it doesn’t for others. I have personal friends who started with very little and joined an MLM and have left behind their jobs because the pulled in 6 figures from it. They worked hard at it and lived and breathed it and earned it. Have I persobally seen success with an MLM? Yes. Those companies are still around and still growing, despite whatever label they do or don’t have. It didn’t work for me, but I don’t blame the companies or my uplines.. I’m the only one to really blame.
Nathaniell
Thanks for the comment, and I agree with a lot of it. However, other companies being a “pyramid” is a lie put out there but uneducated MLMers. The fact is if you join an MLM, you have two tasks: Grow your downline, and sell products. In a real business, there are many people, doing different jobs. The manager manages, the sales people sell. The CEO does whatever a CEO does. Imagine if you walked into an Apple store and every Apple employee tried to get you to work for apple when you bought your iPhone? It would be a negative customer experience. Imagine if you HAD to join the Apple company and sell iPhones in order to own one. Imagine if you had to have 10 iPhones on autoship every month just to get paid.
Businesses don’t work like MLMs.
OK, maybe you just want to focus on selling products. Then you are just a reseller. There’s no “leverage” with the downline, and the biz op suddenly doesn’t seem so attractive. The ONLY people that are making good money in these companies are the ones recruiting and growing their downline. Since you cannot recruit into infinity, the folks at the bottom always lose out. Those “successful” people can’t win without the failure of a lot of folks on the bottom.
Royce
I have to respond to this comment, every business on this planet including Affiliate marketing is all about selling, no matter how it is structured, how many levels of people are in the company, they are all there to do one thing, sell the products the company have for sale and make a profit in some manner, with out cash flow, a business is bankrupt,
Generally the work from home businesses, are done by people who cannot afford the big costs associated with these big companies, that is why these opportunities are created, or exist, for these kinds of people looking for an opportunity to create another income, buy a product, or change their lifestyle.
Why do you think these companies are growing at the rate they are, they offer an alternative.
Affiliate marketing is no different, except you do not talk to a potential customer, and you do not handle product, similar to drop shipping. If a person joins Amway, Herbalife, Melaleuca or whatever, that is their belief, that it can offer them what they are personally looking for, it is a choice or lifestyle.decision. you still have to work just as hard to get customers, through repeat sales, or build a down line, and create volume sales for the company, Either of these is what you are rewarded for If that customer likes what you offer or sell they will come back, to buy more or join, no different to a bricks and mortar shop, you need customers constantly coming through those doors.
Remember these companies do not offer jobs, they simply offer opportunities only.
It depends entirely on which one you want to choose, and how much work you are prepared to put into it..They all work, and work very well for you, if you are prepared to work at them.
These constant arguments on line are just a waist of time. While you have your two bobs worth, which is not much, some one else is building their opportunity, but these stupid arguments will go on and on. Find what you want and do it.
When was the last time you recommended a product to someone you recently purchased or maybe a movie even, you recently went to a new restaurant and recommended it to family or friends, we all do it, you are advertising that company, or giving a free referral, No different ? yes there is a difference, you don’t get paid commission on those referrals.
By the way there is a difference with Melaleuca, they don’t advertise. You do the advertising for them, and you get paid for doing it, so you see, they don’t need to, it is really word of mouth. And you find out all the costs etc when you join, that simple, but that is the privilege of people who join them. They have a yearly cost, but so do a lot of other companies, it cost’s you to join your local gym and the list goes on………
Mike Gonzalez
Meleleuca is the one saying MLM is bad. Yeah, was ugly in the early days, but since the 80s it’s been pretty safe. Here’s why people say Meleleuca is MLM:
DSA member (all other in DSA are proud MLMs).
They pay commisisons on product purchases in your “downline” (“organization” if you insist!)
Everyone has personal use requirements, inventory stocking is so rare.
If Mela is “just a shopping choice,” are you allowed to join an MLM and still make Melamoney?
Your pay structure looks like MLM, you have monthly buying requirements (even if it’s just for personal use) like MLM, you have rules like MLM (the answer to the question above is no, you’re not allowed. Ask Mr. Vandersloot about how that works.)
Break your inferiority complex and embrace MLM! You can still have great products and wonderful people who do good things. (Just because someone’s in MLM doesn’t mean they can’t be good and spiritual. LOL.)
Nathaniell
“MLM is safe”….no way. Just as the millions of people that spend their hard earned money to join these cults and earn $0 in return, only to have the MLM leaders ditch them and start a new company when the business implodes a few years later.
michelle
I recently had a conversation with a melaleuca rep on a job opportunity page after I “liked” a users comment about the reps business speil, I help admin the page, I thought it was gold and describes the deluded thoughts of this melaleuca believer:
Rep: I know you are one of the admin and you may not like to handle my complaint as you clearly didnt give Melaleuca a chance. Thats fine, its just a shopping choice. I am offended by the way people try to turn others off publically as a certain Sandra has a short while ago. I am passionate about helping others as you know. I am about to go Senior director on $80, 000 a year. i feel i have the right to offer the same considering all the unemployed locals. It wasnt for Sandra so shes defamed my post publically. Sheer stupidity when so many are out of work. You once made a comment on a post a few weeks back, which i ignored re MLM. Melaleuca is EXEMPT from MLM. Which i can prove. Clearly you and others google and believe whats written, rather than true hard facts. Sorry for my bluntness but all i do is help others both with health and finances which is NOT a bad thing. I have local testimonies of LOCALS ive helped with Chrons, Cancer, Fibromialga to name a few. Is that a bad thing, i think not. Anyway ive ranted as im angry with people believing utter garbage on google.which is there perogative but have NO right damaging a genuine offer of employment. Anyone can have have an opinion but not on my page. Unlike personal page cant delete. If you prefer not to handle this professionally bh removing Sandras rediculous wrong informed comment. Then who heads this page please. Hope you and your family are well
Rep: Mmmmmm just noticed you are the only one to like sandras untrue comment. Not good for admin
my reply: This is Sandra’s comment: Ladies it’s Selling and promoting MELALEUCA a new Zealand company that makes wellness products and cleaning products etc. Definately not defamatory or anything that you described. I investigated melaleuca for myself including reading all the paper work you gave me, and Sandras comment does give a very good idea about the company. Its peoples choice to work where and how they want and thats fine. However posts such as yours and I noticed a couple of others now promoting the same with the same terminology on facebook need to be upfront about what it is, if your proud of the company why not say its melaleuca, if you like you can post a screed on the opportunity instead of trolling the pages. There is a posts to page area which would be ok for something like this, people can contact you if they are interested.
Rep: Its company policy not to Michelle because of fools who proper gander google. ALL of her info was incorrect. My biggest disapiontment is that admin liked the untruths. I have a few doing business whom i have from past post on this page. They are succesful and earning good money. No longer umemployed struggling on centerlink. How is that so bad. You are anti melaleuca and thats your choice but you shouldnt publically encourage negativity as admin of s page
my reply: well thats your opinion Carole and you are incorrect. There was no negativity in any of what Sharon wrote I just liked it because it said the company name which is fair and reasonable.
Rep: Well I pm her and instead of her just politely saying it’s not for me, she deliberately in her way tried to turn people off. I’ll leave it at that for now, I’ve actually made 2 appointments from the post. I just care about others and love helping them, I am passionately proud of this amazing company and I agree not to break policy. Sorry for your negativity towards a company that helps so many. I Offerred to help a lady not long ago with her daughters health. She wrote this week they are still no closer with so called doctors, not surprising. On the original post you commented trying to convince her it’s MLM and made Melaleuca sound bad. Well it’s not MLM Michelle don’t know where you read that. There is NO buying and selling of stock. There is no monthly expenses like typical MLM like Amway. We are nothing like that. Most party plan is MLM, they have to buy stock in monthly. We are LEGALLY called Consumer Direct. We are 100% exempt from MLM. So please just because you didn’t give Melaleuca a try for your own reasons. I ask you don’t make negative remarks. And not because of any financial gain for me I swear to that, but 100% because maybe just maybe Mela supplements could have helped her daughter, infact I’m sure that could, is that so bad.
I even thought that night even if this was MLM and it’s NOT, who cares, if it helps some one suffering a bad health issue. What if people like you or Sharon publically insist on commenting on what a company might or might not be, on a persons page, whose looking for natural remedy for something as bad as cancer. And they are turned off trusting in that company and miss what could be the answer to their prayers. Do you know why I’m so proud,why I’m so passionate, well it’s because of those I’ve helped with Chrohns, Fibromialga, Cancer, heart disease, little kiddies suffering with Eczema. My monthly cheque whilst is now good, it’s purely a bonus, to helping others. I am a spiritual person and believe things happen for a reason Michelle and I believe, Melaleuca has given me what I’ve always searched for. Not just for the first time in my life financial freedom but sheer joy being able to dedicate my life to helping others. It’s an amazing feeling, finally finding peace aged 58. It’s sad you didn’t look so deep and get the wrong information, idea or feeling or whatever it was because this company is such a family orientated caring company. Which could have helped you so much both health wise as well as financially, remembering it was financial reasons you first looked Into it. I have to wonder if you realised it’s not MLM when you tried to look deeper, wether you might have given it ago and be earning thousands a month yourself by now. Who knows, well all the best with your new job of running the site. Just know Michelle I am a genuine good caring person and Melaleuca is a genuine good caring company. When talking to people about business I always now state to do this business the key factor is you need to be a carer, a giver. All those I know who do this amazing business are exactly that
my reply: there was no negative comment Carole, I liked her comment as I already told you, because she stated it was Melaleuca. Please dont contact me again.
Nathaniell
Sounds like typical deluded MLM zombies at work. You can’t even ‘like’ a comment without getting harassed!
babu
If a company cannot be straightforward about this stuff, there’s no reason to join.
Avi
Babu: This so-called report is full of lies. No matter what you call it, the company manufactures its own products, markets them at prices lower the comparable products sold in retial stores, offers a full money-back guarantee and contrary to what some people say, you do not have to order every month. As far as the comp plan is concerned, this is not the forum to go into details but I will say one thing about it: unlike in MLMs which charge its customers exorbitant amounts of money to buy products and maintain a membership in order to pay big bonuses to the people who recruited them and to the company, this company does pay out generous bonuses out of its own pocket. If you want to make statements, please be fair enough to find out the truth for yourself. Good luck/
Nathaniell
Hmmm, another fully indoctrinated IBO!