It’s likely that you have come across Travelling Vineyard through an email list, on social media or got it recommended by a friend or family member.
Is Travelling Vineyard a scam? The reasons why you’re here is because you have want answers right so, that’s what I’m going to provide for you within this Travelling Vineyard review.
First and foremost I must commend you for actually doing a bit of extra research before committing to joining Travelling Vineyard. For all you could have known, the product could be a major scam so the fact you’re here right now, researching whether or not that’s the case is a pretty smart move on your part.
To be fully transparent with you, I am personally not a member of Travelling Vineyard so I can assure you that I will not attempt to sell you it unless of course it’s worth investing in.
What I will aim to do is provide you with an unbiased 3rd party look at Travelling Vineyard that will hopefully help you to make the best decision you can in the end.
PRODUCT NAME: Travelling Wine
OWNER/S: Richard Libby
TYPE OF PRODUCT: Wine Selling MLM
PRICE: $99
SUMMARY: No TV isn’t a pyramid scheme or a scam, it’s a legitimate MLM company that definitely has potential although it will have very little potential for the majority of individuals.
The things I like about the company are the relatively moderate pricing for the wines, the company’s longevity and the relatively cheap start up costs.
However, the fact of the matter is that you will need to be good at recruiting to succeed and I mean very good otherwise you won’t be able achieve the goal of making over $1k+ and joining the elite 1% of all members.
It’s your decision in the end of the day but, I personally would suggest looking into other business opportunities, maybe even an online one where you’re not just tied down to promoting products for one company. This business model is affiliate marketing and is what I personally do to make money online.
Check out my guide for a more info on it.
FINAL RATING: 2/5
RECOMMENDED: No
Table of Contents
WHAT IS TRAVELLING VINEYARD?
TV is a MLM company that focuses on selling wine and was founded in 2001 however, around 2010 the company went bankrupt and was then purchased by its current owner Richard Libby. Of course since the TV’s bankruptcy, the whole system behind the company, besides its core of selling wine, was built up again.
TV isn’t the largest of MLM companies I’ve reviewed with there only being 5k+ distributors and it’s also limited to 39 US states making it a pretty big compnay in USA but, it definitely isn’t an international business.
It’s quite an interesting concept selling wine through a MLM based business, in fact there aren’t too many MLM’s that work within this niche so, it’s not really competitive when it comes to direct marketing however, it’s definitely going to be hard to make sales considering the scope of the alcohol and specifically the wine industry.
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TRAVELLING VINEYARD PRODUCTS
Of course TV’s products consists of wines and they can either be bought as a single bottle or in multipacks. A single bottle of wine will set you back around $15 – $20 whilst the multipack prices will work out to be cheaper than $20 per bottle.
3 bottles will cost you $56, 6 bottles will cost you $115 and 12 bottles will cost you $231. The savings aren’t anything spectacular but the price for TV wines aren’t all too expensive so it’s upto you if you want to make a little extra per sale.
As for how good the wine s are, it does appear to get pretty good reviews online and the complaints for the most part are regarding the poor performance and often pushy nature of a wine party host trying to get people to buy the wine instead of letting them tatse and decide for themselves.
HOW DO YOU MAKE MONEY WITH TRAVELLING VINEYARD
As is the case with pretty much all MLM businesses there are 2 ways to make money with them, TV being no exception.
1. The first method is by directly selling the product to other individuals and in return make a commission for the sales
2. You make money through your recruits and downline, by getting residual income by following and meeting certain criteria as well as make money through bonuses and incentives due to meeting company set goals.
HOW TO GET STARTED
If you want to join TV and become one of their wine guides, the first thing you’d need to do is find someone to sponsor you and then you’ll need to pay TV fees to join. There are actually 2 start up packs you can purchase, the kit I reccomend and TV suggest you get just to save a few bucks is their Essential Success kit.
The essential success kit is $99 and comes with the following gear :
- 10 bottles of wine
- Magic decanter aerator
- Stainless steel corkscrew
- Survey forms
- 6 bottle tote
- 2 wine pourers
- Hosting brochure
- Fast start guide
This kit is valued at $225 which isn’t too bad and would result in a healthy profit If you were good enough to make some sales.
The other success kit is worth $179 and of course comes with more wines and more value overall.
COMPENSATION STRUCTURE
TV has a pretty in depth compensation plan and it something that you will need to learn If you decided to join the company.
I’ll briefly go over how the system works down below but first I want you to understand how many ranks there within the company.
- Wine Guide
- One Star Leader
- Two Star Leader
- Three Star Leader
- Four Star Leader
- Team Leader
- Senior Team Leader
- Director
- Ruby Director
- Emerald Director
- Diamond Director
- One Star Diamond Director
- Two Star Diamond Director
- Three Star Diamond Director
- Four Star Diamond Director
I can tell you now that 15 different ranks is quite a lot and obviously each rank requires you do a lot and sell a lot to achieve (although mostly moving up in ranks will be because of your ability to recruit).
Now moving onto the components of the compensation plan.
Retail Sale Commissions
The first way you can make money with TV is by selling their wines and this is typically going to be method most people will initially gravitate towards.
As for how much you make, this will be dependant on how many bottles you sell and ultimately the sales will determine your commission percentage.
The percentages are as follows
- $1 – $399 = 15% commission
- $400 – $1249 = 20% commission
- $1250 – $2999 = 25% commission
- $3000 – $4499.99 = 30% commission
- $4500+ = 35% commission
What this means is that if you want to make at least $1k/month you’d need to generate around about $3.5k in sales per month. This in turn means you’d need to sell around 150 – 180 bottles of wine. Of course there are multpacks available which are roughly a hundred a piece meaning 30 sales would probably be enough to generate around $1k per month.
These figures honestly aren’t all that bad, it’s just that making so many direct sales without any kind of traffic source or widespread outreach is going to be hard nevertheless, I do believe it is very possible to make $1k if not a full time income purely through direct sales if you’ve got a solid system in place.
Recruitment commissions
This is probably going to be the biggest earner for anyone looking into joining and creating their own business through TV. You’ll earn more commissions from your downline members the higher you rank and of course the higher you rank, it’s likely that the more people under will mean that you’ll earn commission essentially on autopilot.
Various Other Bonuses
The retail sales and recruitment commissions are the 2 big money makers but there are also other bonuese which the company offer, most of which you can learn about by watching the video below.
THE NOT SO GOOD THINGS
Recruitment Is Very Important
Okay, I understand it definitely is possible to make a full time income just through direct sales however, in terms of the overall profits you’ll make, moving up in ranks and in turn qualifying for all of the other various bonuses, it’s pretty obvious TV wants you to recruit as many people into your team as is possible.
This isn’t anything new and no, from the looks of it TV definitely doesn’t only focus on recruitment but, it’s definitely one of the most important elements when it comes to finding success within TV and any MLM for that matter.
So if you’re not willing to learn how to recruit effectively, whether face to face or online, TV probably won’t be the system for you. On the other hand if you are good at recruiting or are willing to learn how to do so, I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to succeed.
In the end of the day I’m not a fan of this recruitment aspect when it comes to MLM’s but, if you are and also really like wine, maybe you’d work just fine with TV.
Most People Will Fail
According to TV’s 2017 income disclosure statement as I couldn’t find their 2018 statement, the large majority of members are in fact failing.
Literally roughly 1% out of all of the members were making $1k+/month. So out of 5122 members only 60 were able to generate $1k a month so your chances of making TV a successful endeavour is going to be quite hard to do.
Of course it is possible to get to the top ranks but, you and I both know achieving it will be very very difficult.
THE GOOD THINGS
It’s A Brand That’s Been Around A While
I know that the company did eventually collapse in 2010 but, since then it’s been going strong so I’ll have to applaud TV from getting outta the dumps so to speak. So technically speaking it is nearly 20 years old and that’s not a small achievement by any stretch of the imagination.
It’s Not Too Expensive To Join
The start up costs are actually pretty resoanble at the $99 cost for a kit. This is a lot better than soo many other MLM’s out there that require you to pay anywhere in the region of $1k+ a year to start up and maintain your membership. Therefore, relative to MLM’s, TV’s pricing is pretty solid.
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IS TRAVELLING VINEYARD A PYRAMID SCHEME/SCAM?
No TV isn’t a pyramid scheme or a scam, it’s a legitimate MLM company that definitely has potential although it will have very little potential for the majority of individuals.
The things I like about the company are the relatively moderate pricing for the wines, the company’s longevity and the relatively cheap start up costs.
However, the fact of the matter is that you will need to be good at recruiting to succeed and I mean very good otherwise you won’t be able achieve the goal of making over $1k+ and joining the elite 1% of all members.
It’s your decision in the end of the day but, I personally would suggest looking into other business opportunities, maybe even an online one where you’re not just tied down to promoting products for one company. This business model is affiliate marketing and is what I personally do to make money online.
Check out my guide for a more info on it.
MY PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION
I personally will always recommend against using a MLM business model to make money, not because you can’t make money through it (you totally can) but, the system has always seemed shady to myself and is kinda synonymous with the likes of a pyramid scheme or scams (MOBE and Digital altitude).
Instead I prefer working with something created through ones own means and is ultimately dependent on yourself and your work ethic alone.
This method I’m talking about is affiliate marketing.
The reasons as to why I recommend it over MLM based structures are because
– there is no need to recruit constantly
– it is a legitimate method that has been working consistently and continues to grow as more businesses want individuals to promote products
– and because it is free to start up, no unnecessarily large start up funds needed.
The service I recommend is Wealthy Affiliate. It’s free to sign up to and will get you set up and ready to start your affiliate marketing journey within minutes, as it did for me when I begun my journey.
If you have any questions that you would like to ask me regarding TV , feel free to do so in the comments section below and I will get back to you as soon as I can. If you have your own thoughts about TV and would like to talk about it, again feel free to do so in the comments below?
Thanks
Amhil