Is Mannatech A Scam? (Is This 25 Year Old MLM Still Worth Joining?)

It’s likely that you have come across Mannatech through an email list, on social media or got it recommended by a friend or family member.

Is Mannatech a scam? Is it still a good business opportunity to delve into? You probably want to know if it is right, that’s why I’ve written this review to help you out.

First and foremost I must commend you for actually doing a bit of extra research before committing to purchasing or joining Mannatech. For all you could have known, Mannatech may very well be a scam and rob you of your money so this review could help you find anything peculiar about it.

To be totally transparent with you I haven’t used Mannatech so I can assure you that I will not attempt to sell you on it unless of course it’s worth investing in.

What I will aim to do is provide you with an unbiased 3rd party review of Mannatech that will hopefully help you to make the correct decision in the end.


PRODUCT NAME: Mannatech

OWNER/S: Samuel Caster

TYPE OF PRODUCT: Health and wellness MLM

PRICE: $49.99/year + starter kits

SUMMARY: No, As far as I can tell Mannatech is a legitimate MLM company and not a pyramid scheme or a scam. The company has been around a long time and the reliability of their products is pretty cool too however, In my opinion there’s more bad to the company than good.

The negatives about the company include, most people are failing as distributors where only less than 1% of members are making a full time income, if you’re not good at recruitment you will not succeed, Mannatech has dealt with mult million dollar law suits and the company has also been called out for falsely advertising the benefits of their products.

These issues make it hard for me to recommend you join Mannatech even if it is a “Well established” company. I’d suggest you skip this business opportunity.

FINAL RATING: 1.5/5

RECOMMENDED: NO


WHAT IS MANNATECH?

 

Mannatech logo

Mannatech is a health and wellness MLM company founded by Samuel Caster in 1993. It’s a Texas based company and mainly sells dietary products and supplements, a pretty common line of products in the MLM industry.

As with any company out there, Mannatech also have a goal and this to “fight global malnutrition”. They aim to do this by producing usingtheir “real food technology supplementation”.

So this is the basic concept behind this MLM company and honesty, it’s not very different at all from all the other health and wellness MLM’s I’ve reviewed such as Jeunesse, Scentsy, Xyngular, Isagenix, Ameriplan or Team Beachbody.

Anyways let’s move on to the company’s product line.

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MANNNATECH’S PRODUCT LINE

Mannatech has a bunch of different categories within their line however, they also have a  patented flagship product called “Ambrotose”. Ambrotose is basically sugar pills and powders that are made using glyconutrients and aim to assist and support cellular communication within your body.

This all probably sounds like scientific mumbo jumbo to you so I guess the video below should help you understand the product a little better.

As for the category of products on offer, there are 5 of them and most of them implement the patented Ambrotose technology, these 5 categories include :

Mannatech products

  • Integrative Health : This line consists of a multitude of nutritional supplements that help improve the overall health of an individual including both the health of the body and mind. 
  • Targeted Health : This is a line of supplements that target very specific needs of the body, such as joint & cartilage, heart, immune system, digestion, stress, bones, and so on
  • Weight + Fitness : As the weight and fitness line, naturally this area will consist of sports drinks, supplements & shakes to help burn an individuals fat, cleanse their body and so on. 
  • Skincare : This is just your run of the mill skincare line that includes products such as facial cleansers, moisturizers, creams, etc.
  • Home Living : This is their essential oils product line

For a more indepth look at the products that Mannatech offers, click here

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ARE MANNATECH’S PRODUCTS ACTUALLY ANY GOOD?

You’re probably a little curious about the quality of the products on offer right? Of course as I’ve never tried the products myself I can’t speak for their quality however, I did to a bit of research and this is what I found.

Within bestcompany, it seems like most individuals who’ve used the products belive them to be pretty solid and with the 6 month guarantee, they appreciate the reliability of the products as a whole

Mannatech review

Mannatech review

 

 

Although there will be people who suffer side effects from using the product line, for the most part it seems as if the products are generally good.

Of course the prices of the products are a little expensive but besides that, it seems the feedback is mostly positive regarding the quality of what’s on offer.


HOW DO YOU MAKE MONEY THROUGH MANNATECH?

As is the case with pretty much all MLM businesses there are 2 ways to make money with them, Mannatech 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 Mannatech there are a few things that you will need to do. The first thing you’ll need to pay to for to become an official Mannatech distributor is the $49.99/year associate membership fee.

Mannatech associate program

 

After paying for that you’ll get access to certain perks as can be seen above. This includes training, tools to assist with the business, discounts on the products and a 180 day money back guarantee.

It’s not the most amazing of resources but it does seem to at least provide you with the basics and also doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg to buy.

After paying this membership fee the next thing that you’ll likely purchase is one of their 3 starter kits, the 3 starter kit options you have include :

  • Basic Pack – $99-$169
  • All-Star Pack – $499
  • Premium All-Star Pack – $999

These packages aren’t really too expensive to get, well the first one at least, although I’m sure you’ll be persuaded to get one of the 2 more expensive kits by your upline because its has “more monetary potential”. Technically yes it does but, that also means you’ll be spending a lot of money too.

all in all, it doesn’t seem to be insanely expensive to get started with Mannatech although, you will need to purchase stock so that you can sell on a regular basis so you will need to spend a fair amount as a distributor anyways.

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COMPENSATION STRUCTURE

Mannatech uses a unilevel compensation plan which is also quite in depth.

 

The plan actually consists of 18 different ways through which you can make money but I’ll just go over some of the more important categories :

  1. Retail Profits : You make a profit when you purchase a product at the wholesale price and sell it at retail price. You basically make the difference between the 2 prices. For example if a product costs you $80 to purchase at wholesale price but $100 at its retail price, you’ll make the difference which will equal a $20 profit 
  2. Direct Sign Up Bonus : These are commissions you earn when your downline purchases any of the sign-up packages. 
  3. Team Bonus / Team Development Bonus : This area of the plan involves commissions and bonuses earned when you recruit people into your teams and also help your team members build their own downlines and move up in rank.
  4. Leadership Bonus : In this bonus, you’ll earn commissions based on the performance/sales volume of your downline teams. 

Of course there are another 14 different ways through which you can earn through Mannatech so, if you’re serious about joining the compensation, it’s imperative that you actually read everything the plan has to offer.

You can also check the video below if you want an In depth look at Mannatech’s compensation plan.


THE NOT SO GOOD THINGS

You Will Need To Be Very Good At Recruitment To Succeed

In order to to make it with Mannatech, you will need to be a good recruiter. This is actually pretty apparent by the way its compensation plan pays you the more you recruit and the more you help your downline recruit and move up in ranks.

Although I do think it’s possible to succeed through just face to face selling and direct selling in general, the majority of the potential within Mannatech does lie within the area of recruiting.

And recruitment isn’t easy to do at all!

In fact a majority of the time, MLM members tend to recruit their own family members due to their lack of skill in recruiting strangers. Of course because family or even friends trust you, they’ll probably join believing your words.

The problem here is that if they fail (which is highly likely), they will blame you for bringing them in and in turn you relationship can be strained.

The thing is that yes, you can succeed with Mannatech if you have the skill set or are willing to invest a lot of time learning about how to recruit and whatnot however, the average person isn’t going to be so willing to invest so much into it, maybe you’re in this same bracket so, unless you’re willing to put in the work, Mannatech isn’t going to be worth it.

False Health Claims By Distributors

Some distributors have been going around falsely claiming certain health benefits about Mannatech’s products. These claims are absolutely ridiculous saying how the products can cure cancer, AIDS, autism and so on.

Because of all these claims, Mannatech was officially called out….

In 2017, the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) sent out a warning letter to Mannatech accusing them for marketing several of their supplement products illegally as medical agents and for selling adulterated & misbranded products.

Although this isn’t the fault of Mannatech themselves, they obviously don’t claim that any of their supplements can cure some of the worlds most lethal diseases however, what this does point out is the lack of good training they have teaching distributors what and what not to do.

This whole issue depends on your perspective, I don’t really think Mannatech are 100% to blame in this situation as the can’t just monitor every single one of their distributors however, the lack of training on this area as I said earlier, probably has a big part to play in this warning letter.

So Many Lawsuits

Mannatech have dealt with various lawsuits over the years. Some of their most high profile lawsuits include having to bay $7 million in texas for their deceptive marketing tactics and further $11.25 million in March 2008 to pay off their plaintiff class.

These a are only their most high profile cases, they’ve had to deal with other things over the 25 years that they’ve been around.

To me, this makes it hard to recommend Mannatech as a company to join as they’ve just had too many brushes with the law over the years and this is cause for concern especially for a distributor because for all you know, the company has a chance of going under even if if they’ve survived and prospered through these scandals every time.

I just don’t think Mannatech is a very reliable company to join

Most People Fail

Mannatech’s 2017 income disclosure shows how most distributors are actually failing, honestly this isn’t very surprising but if you were planning to become a Mannatech distributor beforehand, this might put a spanner into your plans.

 

Mannatech 2017 income disclosure statement

The income disclosure above basically breaks down every rank with the company and from the looks of it, it seems that only around 2.5% of distributors are making a decent income of around $1k/month and significantly less than 1% are making a fulltime income.

In fact if you classify around $25k/year to be the minimum full time income, only 44 members, in terms of the average, are reaching this goal.

So in short the rate of success for new distributors will be abysmally low with the majority of members not even making $100/month or just about enough to cover the basic expenses.

If you’re serious about becoming a distributor for Mannatech, I can tell you now that’s it’s going to be far from easy.


THE GOOD THINGS

It’s Been Around A While

I guess the fact its been around for over 25 years adds quite a bit of credibility to Mannatech. Most companies tend to fail within 10 years so the fact Mannatech has been around 2.5 times longer than that shows that the company, as a whole, has quite a solid foundation.

Of course the lawsuits it’s suffered are still concerning if you were to join.

It’s Products Are Reliable And Somewhat Trustworthy

The products that Mannatech offer are actually quite reliable when compared to its health and wellness competition. The reason why I say this is because they have :

  • Over 100 patents
  • 17 human clinical trials which have been published
  • Invested over $50 Million in research and product development
  • 180-Day Money-Back Guarantee for all their products

Take these points as you will but, to me, they do add a fair bit of reliability to the products they sell.

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IS MANNATECH A PYRAMID SCHEME/SCAM?

No, As far as I can tell Mannatech is a legitimate MLM company and not a pyramid scheme or a scam. The company has been around a long time and the reliability of their products is pretty cool too however, In my opinion there’s more bad to the company than good.

The negatives about the company include, most people are failing as distributors where only less than 1% of members are making a full time income, if you’re not good at recruitment you will not succeed, Mannatech has dealt with mult million dollar law suits and the company has also been called out for falsely advertising the benefits of their products.

These issues make it hard for me to recommend you join Mannatech even if it is a “Well established” company. I’d suggest skip this one.


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 Mannatech, 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 Mannatech and would like to talk about it, again feel free to do so in the comments below!

Thanks

Amhil

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