It’s likely that you have come across Arbonne through an email list, on social media or got it recommended by a friend or family member.
Is Arbonne 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 Arbonne review.
First and foremost I must commend you for actually doing a bit of extra research before committing to joining Arbonne. For all you could have known, Arbonne 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 Arbonne 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 Arbonne that will hopefully help you to make the best decision you can in the end.
PRODUCT NAME: Arbonne International
OWNER/S: Petter Mørck
TYPE OF PRODUCT: Health and Beauty MLM
PRICE: $79 + starter kit +autoship costs + $30/year
SUMMARY:The good news is that Arbonne is not a scam or a pyramid scheme, I actually believe it is a legitimate MLM company because it does produce good products and its longevity adds to the company’s credibility.
However, there are quite a few problems that may dissuade you from joining.
The fact you need to recruit a lot to succeed, it’s problems with bankruptcy in the last 10 years, the expensive start up and up keep costs and the fact that most don’t even breakeven as Arbonne distributors, are a few good reasons to avoid joining.
I personally would recommend you skip out on Arbonne because of it’s low success rate but, whether or not you decide to join in the end is completely up to you.
FINAL RATING: 2/5
RECOMMENDED: NO
WHAT IS ARBONNE?
Arbonne is a health and beauty MLM founded by Petter Mørck in 1975. It’s a company that’s global as it operates in 7 different countries which includes, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Poland, Taiwan, UK & USA.
Much like other MLM companies out there, Arbonne has many claims regarding its products saying that they are botanically tested as well as being safe for usage. Moreover the company also aims to regulate the ingredients within their product line by having a ban list of over 2000 ingredients.
The manner in which Arbonne actually promote itself isn’t too dissimilar to the many other MLM’s that I’ve reviewed and let me tell you, once you’ve reviewed tens of different MLM companies, you realise most of them operate in essentially the same way and make bold claims regarding the effectiveness of the products too.
I’ve reviewed a multitude of MLM’s such as :
Which is why I think I’ve got a pretty grasp on what MLM’s tend to do.
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ARBONNE’S PRODUCT LINE
Considering that arbonne is nearly 45 years old, it’s not too surprising that their line up of products is pretty big, as for what categories they fall under, they include :
- Skincare : The skincare category includes the likes of facial cleansers, sunscreen, eye cream, toner, etc.
- Bath & Body : In this category you’ll find essential oils, hand wash, lotion, lip balm, masks and so on.
- Makeup : The make up line consist of common make up such as eye liner, makeup primer, mascara, lip stick, etc.
- Nutrition : This category, as you can guess, includes protein shakes, energy sticks, snack bars, immunity booster, etc.
- Hair : This category includes basic hair products such as shampoos, conditioners, hair sprays, hair serums and so on.
If you want to check out Arbonne’s product line for yourself click here.
ARE ARBONNE’S PRODUCTS ACTUALLY ANY GOOD?
As I’ve not tried any of their products, I decided to do a bit of research on them to see what actual consumers thought of them and this is what I found.
Within BBB it seems like customers in general found the products to be of good quality although, in some cases there were some issues regarding skin incompatibility.
The main problem was the issues and complaints regarding the customer service.
This is obviously a pretty big issue but, in terms of the quality of the products, they seem to be good.
HOW DO YOU MAKE MONEY THROUGH ARBONNE?
As is the case with pretty much all MLM businesses there are 2 ways to make money with them, Arbonne 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
To get started with Arbonne there are actually quite a few costs that you’ll need to pay. The first thing you’ll need to pay for is the registration fee which’ll set you back $79, next you’ll need to pay a reoccurring $30/year fee starting in your second year as distributor.
Of course these fees don’t cover any of the merchandise you need so that you can sell anything meaning you’ll also need to invest in a starter pack. These packages range anywhere from $270 – $500 and finally you also need to spend a further monthly autoship fee to remain active.
This means that you will likely be investing quite a bit of money into Arbonne if you do decide to become a distributor and let me tell you, it definitely isn’t going to be cheap.
COMPENSATION STRUCTURE
Arbonne has a compensation plan just like pretty much all MLM’s so, if you decide to join, it’s definitely a good idea to fully learn the components of the plan.
As for what’s found within the compensation plan, there are 4 main ways to make money with Arbonne, they include :
- Client Commissions : This is the most basic way to make money with Arbonne. You earn retail commissions for every product you sell at a fixed commission rate, which is 35% for normal clients & 15% for preferred customers.
- Overrides : The override commissions are paid depending on the preformance, in terms of the combined sales volume , from your downline team.
- Mercedez-Benz Cash Bonus : As a member you’ll have the ability to win a one year lease on a white Mercedez-Benz for distributors who reach a “Vice President” rank based on his/her team sales.
- Other Cash Bonuses : Much like other MLM’s, Arbonne has various other types of bonuses depending on your personal or team sales performance
There are still a few other components that you’ll have to deal with regarding the compensation plan so I’d recommend that, if you’re planning to join, you check out the compensation plan by clicking here or watching the video down below.
THE NOT SO GOOD THINGS
Like Other MLM’s, You Will Need To Recruit To Succeed
In order to succeed with Arbonne, recruitment is going to play a very huge part. In order to make the most money with Arbonne, you will need to recruit as many people into your downline as you can beacaue the longer they stay active, the more often they’ll purchase products on autopilot and of course the bigger your bank account will become
This is just in theory, the truth is that even trying to recruit people isn’t going to be easy unless you really put yourself out there, which unfortunately can become very spammy, especially if you’re doing it on Facebook and people just don’t like the fact you’re promoting a MLM.
It could ruin relationships too, especially if you try to recruit friends or family because if they fail, they’ll likely blame you for bringing them in.
MLM ‘s inherently aren’t bad but, due to how spammy it can get when you promote Arbonne or are trying to recruit people and the fact it’s actually very hard to recruit as well, makes this element of Arbonne not a very good thing in my opinion.
It Can Get Quite Expensive
It’s actually fairly expensive to start and upkeep your fees as an Arbonne distributor. Just to start up, at the very least you will need $349.
On top of that you’ll also probably spend a further $50 – $100 on autoship costs to remain an active members and be eligible for the compensation plan so, it’s definitely not the cheapest of businesses online to get involved although I can say that it’s not necessarily the most expensive of MLM’s to join or upkeep.
Nevetheless, the high likelihood that you’ll be paying around $1k+ a year to maintain the business is still quite an expensive amount to pay when you can start an equally lucrative if not a more lucrative business model like the online money making method my #1 recommendation teaches.
Arbonnes History Isn’t The Most Reliable
In 2010 Arbonne’s ex parent company, Natural Products Group LLC, actually went bankrupt. Although this doesn’t directly correlate with Arbonne’s business in the modern era, I guess it’s an interesting fact to know and maybe a reason to avoid joining it.
Most People Are Failing
This is, in my opinion, the biggest reason as to why you probably should avoid Arbonne. The fact is that the majority of people are failing so joining them is going to be massive risk for you.
As you can see within the income disclosure statement 62% of all distributors are only making $788 annually whilst only around 28% are making $3450 in 2017. Although this income disclosure is a year old, it still shows how the large majority of people aren’t really making much at all, in fact most aren’t even able to break even.
This is the case with most MLM’s and even though Arbonne’s income disclosure statement does show better figures than the other ones I’ve seen, the reality is that most people are still failing with the company.
THE GOOD THINGS
It’s Been Around A While
Arbonne does have a fair bit of credibility as it has been around for over 40 years. When you take into account how most companies tend to fail within 10 years, the fact that Arbonne has been around for as long as it has definitely is a good point about it.
People In General Like The Products
When I did my research, I found that quite a few people did like the quality of the products, even if they didn’t enjoy the customer service. Companies like Arbonne should at the very least have good quality products so the positive reviews are once again another good point regarding Arbonne.
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IS ARBONNE A PYRAMID SCHEME/SCAM?
The good news is that Arbonne is not a scam or a pyramid scheme, I actually believe it is a legitimate MLM company because it does produce good products and its longevity adds to the credibility that Arbonne has
However, there are quite a few problems that may dissuade you from joining.
The fact you need to recruit a lot to succeed, it’s problems with bankruptcy in the last 10 years, the expensive start up and up keep costs and the fact that most members don’t even breakeven as Arbonne distributors, are all solid reasons for why you might consider skipping out.
I personally would recommend you skip out on Arbonne because of it’s low success rate but, whether or not you join in the end is completely up to how you feel.
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 Arbonne , 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 Arbonne and would like to talk about it, again feel free to do so in the comments below!
Thanks
Amhil