Welcome to my Nature’s Sunshine review!
You might have been acquainted with this MLM company through a friend or family member.
They told you how amazing their products and even life-changing.
And at some point in their presentation, they mentioned that the company is also offering a business opportunity.
It might have aroused your curiosity, and wanted to know more.
If this is your concern, then you have come to the right place.
In this review, I will provide an analysis of their compensation plan and help you determine if they’re legit or not.
So is Nature’s Sunshine a scam? Or are they a reliable source of income?
Let’s begin…
Nature's Sunshine Review
- Name: Nature's Sunshine
- Website: naturessunshine.com
- Founder: Gene and Kristine Hughes
- Price: Initial membership fee is $40
- Recommended?: Not really
What is Nature’s Sunshine?
Nature’s Sunshine is an MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) that specializes in selling health and wellness products.
The company was founded in 1972 by Gene and Kristine Hughes. They are currently offering over 500 products of 13 different categories.
Some of their flagship products include—
- Liquid Cleanse – a product that’s supposed to help maintain the good health of the liver and intestines.
- Paw-Paw Cell-Reg – it boosts the immune system.
- Heroes Probiotic – it is vitamins for kids.
- Dieter’s Cleanse – it is a cleansing supplement.
- And there’s many more.
I have reviewed other health and wellness MLMs in the past. You can check them out if you like—Usana, Monavie, Rain International, Stemtech, and Touchstone Essential, to just name a few.
Or you may check the entire list here.
I won’t be discussing their products any further since our main focus here is their business opportunity and determine whether they’re a good investment or should you search for other opportunities.
Let’s continue and find out…
Nature’s Sunshine business opportunity
The hallmark of Multi-Level Marketing is their complex and almost incomprehensible compensation plan.
Those offered by Nature’s Sunshine is no different; they are so convoluted that it appears like you’d need an expert finance person to decipher the entire thing.
In dealing with MLMs, you only have to remember two things—
- Retail commissions – it is income based on retail sales
- Recruitment – it is the bread and butter of MLMs because it is where most of their bonuses and commissions are based from
And to make things even more complicated, they offer two types of a compensation plan for two membership plans—
- Classic membership plans
- Legacy membership plans
The difference between the two membership plans is that the classic is customers, retailers, and health consultants.
On the other hand, a Legacy membership plan holder is ideal for customers and wants to become part of their network.
But in my opinion, they are essentially the same because both are based on the recruitment.
Also, as you might have surmised, Legacy membership yields higher income compared to classic.
I have had a headache and took me a while to comprehend their compensation plan. I will provide a thorough analysis in the next section so you could have a better understanding of how it works.
So, let’s continue…
What are its income streams?
Unilevel Commissions
I will explain them more thoroughly in this section.
The unilevel commissions a Classic member would earn is summarized as follows—
Representatives in the ranks of Members and Managers won’t benefit from unilevel commissions.
Star members – representatives under this ranking, receives 12% unilevel commissions based on their 1st level network. But they are required to have at least 1 Manager under them at the 1st level.
District members – representatives under this ranking, receives 12% and 4% unilevel commissions based on their 1st and 2nd level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 2 Managers under them at the 1st level.
Area members - representatives under this ranking, receives 12%, 4%, and 2% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 5 Managers under them at the 1st level.
Regional members - representatives under this ranking receives 12%, 4%, and 2% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 10 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 15 managers under them.
Divisional members - representatives under this ranking receives 12%, 4%, 2%, and 0.5% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 15 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 40 managers under them.
Senior Divisional member - representatives under this ranking receives 12%, 4%, 2%, and 1% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 20 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 70 managers under them.
National member - representatives under this ranking receives 12%, 4%, 2%, 1.5%, 0.5% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 22 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 100 managers under them.
Senior National member - representatives under this ranking receives 12%, 4%, 2%, 2%, 1% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 25 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 200 managers under them.
Global Elite - representatives under this ranking, receives 12%, 4%, 2%, 2%, 1% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 25 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 200 managers under them.
The unilevel commissions a Legacy member would earn is summarized as follows—
Representatives in the ranks of Members and Managers won’t benefit from unilevel commissions.
Star members – representatives under this ranking, receives 10% unilevel commissions based on their 1st level network. But they are required to have at least 1 Manager under them at the 1st level.
District members – representatives under this ranking receive 10% and 7% unilevel commissions based on their 1st and 2nd level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 2 Managers under them at the 1st level.
Area members - representatives under this ranking receive 10%, 7%, and 4% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 4 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 5 managers under them.
Regional members - representatives under this ranking receives 10%, 7%, and 6% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 6 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 15 managers under them.
Divisional members - representatives under this ranking receives 10%, 7%, 6%, and 3% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 8 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 40 managers under them.
Senior Divisional member - representatives under this ranking receives 10%, 7%, 6%, and 5% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 10 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 70 managers under them.
National member - representatives under this ranking receives 10%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 3% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th level networks, respectively. But they are required to have at least 12 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 100 managers under them.
Senior National member - representatives under this ranking receives 10%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 5% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 15 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 200 managers under them.
Global Elite - representatives under this ranking receives 10%, 7%, 6%, 5%, 5%, 5%, and 1% unilevel commissions based on their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th level network, respectively. But they are required to have at least 15 Managers under them at the 1st level. In addition, they must have a total of 200 managers under them.
Rebates Commissions
The monthly rebates commissions a Classic member would earn is summarized as follows—
- The Representative of Nature’s Sunshine doesn’t earn anything if the Qualification Volume is fewer than 99.
- The representative earns a 10% monthly commission if their Qualification Volume is between 100 and 299.
- The representative earns a 12% monthly commission if their Qualification Volume is between 300 and 599.
- The representative earns an 18% monthly commission if their Qualification Volume is between 600 and 999.
- A 27% monthly commission is earned by the representative if their Qualification Volume is between 1,000 and 2,999.
- A 30% monthly commission is earned by the representative if their Qualification Volume is above 3,000.
The monthly rebates commissions a Legacy member would earn is summarized as follows—
- The Representative of Nature’s Sunshine doesn’t earn anything if the Qualification Volume is fewer than 99.
- A 10% monthly commission is earned by the representative if their Qualification Volume is between 100 and 499.
- A 15% monthly commission is earned by the representative if their Qualification Volume is between 500 and 999.
- A 20% monthly commission is earned by the representative if their Qualification Volume is above 1,000.
Smart Start Bonus
The representative of Nature’s Sunshine earns a specific bonus if their first personally recruited representative or customer avails at least 100 QV.
For Classic membership plan holders, they earn 30% commission on the first level, 10% in the second level, and 5% in the third or higher level.
For the Legacy membership plan holders, they earn 40% commission on the first level, 10% in the second level, and 5% in the third or higher level.
If you want to check out the entire compensation plan, click here.
How much will it cost me to join them?
The membership fee is $40. Also, this is the same annual fee that the representative of Nature’s Sunshine has to pay.
In addition, it seems like there’s an upsell that’s supposed to help the representative to get ahead in the business—
- The online training program which would cost you $399.
- Coaching certificate, which would cost you $549.
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Is it a reliable source of income?
Success in Multi-Level Marketing is extremely rare.
According to a study conducted by the Federal Trade Commission, 99% of people who join MLMs are more likely to incur losses than gain any profits as a result of investing in their business opportunity.
This instance was elaborately discussed in Jon Taylor’s book, “Multi-Level Marketing Unmasked.”
It was further added that MLMs fail to meet expectations because of two primary factors—
Capitalization
Have you heard of the term Garage Qualified?
It is a special term used to describe MLM representatives that tend over purchase company products for the sake of improving or maintaining their personal volume.
In an MLM setting, for you to advance in rankings and earn a higher income, you need to hit a specific level of personal volume.
This can become problematic, especially if the representative is failing to recruit sufficient people under their network.
No new member means that there’s no income coming in as well.
Aside from this, they would pretty much feel obliged to maintain their personal volumes to remain active and eligible for bonuses and commissions.
Combine the elements of no earnings and maintaining their personal volumes, it equals losses.
If this continues, the representatives may feel frustrated and quit the business opportunity eventually.
Recruitment
As mentioned, recruitment is the bread and butter, or the lifeblood of MLMs, to put a more accurate description.
This is so because the entire structure will collapse without this vital factor.
Imagine this—if the people at the very bottom of the network weren’t able to recruit new members, it means that they won’t earn anything as well.
As mentioned earlier, they still have to pay specific amounts regularly to maintain their status in the organization.
Now, this will eventually lead to losses if such a condition continues and then would cause the MLM representative to become inactive and quit the business opportunity altogether.
This cycle will continue up to the next bottom level and then to the next and so forth and so on…
It will continue up unit the business is finally extinguished. As you see, such a business model is unsustainable and very flawed.
It may not collapse right away, but it will eventually in the long run.
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Is Nature’s Sunshine a scam?
I did not find any reason to believe that Nature’s Sunshine is a scam or pyramid scheme.
They are a legitimate MLM company that sells health and wellness products.
However, some of you might argue that MLM companies are essentially a pyramid scheme that disguises themselves as a direct selling company.
Although I agree to some degree, they are technically different because of legality, I would say. Multi-Level Marketing is legitimate because they offer something of value in return for your initial investment.
And these values are in the form of retail merchandise, which they can sell for profits.
On the other hand, a pyramid scheme is high-risk because you don’t receive anything after paying the initial investment. What you get is only a promise of high returns.
And it is for this reason that they are illegal and even banned in certain countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, just to name a few of them.
What I Don't Like About Nature's Sunshine
Success is recruitment-based
Your chances of earning significant and reliable income are based on the recruitment.
They had a legal problem in the past
Some of the products were said to be illegal in Brazil.
In 2009, there was an allegation that they attempted to bribe Brazilian officials in importing their products between 2000 and 2001.
What I Like About Nature's Sunshine
The company is in business for a long-time
Nature’s Sunshine is in business for over 45 years. Being in the industry for a long-time says a lot about the company’s credibility.
Final thoughts
I hope my content has helped you in answering the all-important questions—is Nature’s Sunshine a scam? Or are they a good source of income?
Although the company is technically legitimate, I still don’t recommend them or any MLMs for that matter.
The chances of earning any significant income are low, and incurring losses are more likely.
Continue to the next section and discover how you can achieve financial freedom online…
Why I choose Affiliate Marketing over Multi-Level Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is a better option than Multi-Level Marketing for few apparent reasons, and it includes the following—
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Yes, what you’ll basically be doing is to promote a brand using an affiliate link through your online site.
And then, you earn commissions anytime someone engages the link you’ve provided and use it to buy the products or services offered on the landing page of the brand you’re promoting.
Of course, the success of this endeavor also relies on the quality of traffic being driven into your website.
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Well, I guess that’s just about it!
Thank you for taking time off and reading my “Is Nature’s Sunshine a Scam” content!
I hope to see you next time!
Peace!
