Is Nature Sunshine A Scam?
Company: Nature Sunshine
Website: www.naturessunshine.com
Type: MLM
Products: Herbs, Body Cleanse Solutions, etc.
Rating: 6/10
Will Nature Sunshine Scam You?
Nature Sunshine an MLM company with a promise to help customers to get better in terms of their health and wellness with their line of products. If you can make new relationship work and network with people with ease, you might be able to work with this program. You can resell their products, build your own team of marketers and try to move up the rank. At least this is what you are told to believe upon joining this program. However, the question is how can you do this?
As far as Nature Sunshine is concerned, you don’t have access to any training material that will help you in selling and promoting their products. That might not even be something you can seriously consider if you are just going to sell products. It gets even more confusing if you are supposed to introduce more people to the program but you don’t know how to go about it.
Nature Sunshine Products
- Energy Vitamins
- Herbs
- Essential Oils
- Enzymes
- Brain Health
- Digestion
- Body Cleansing Solutions
- Antioxidants
- Amino Acids
- Personal Care
Nature Sunshine compensation plan
It seems Nature Sunshine is trying to be unique in term of the structure of its compensation plan. Instead of asking, you to pay a membership fee, you can join free. However, you have to purchase products worth $40 before you can become a member.
As far as I am concerned, there is no difference between this company and other MLM companies in that you will pay with cash or buy some products before you can be a bonafide member. It could just have been that you should pay for your membership fee, instead of having to purchase some products. Well, that is my own opinion and everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.
You can be rewarded with the two enumeration plans set up by Nature Sunshine. These include the legacy plan and the classic plan. According to the information I gathered, the legacy plan is ideal for network marketers. Retailers, medical professionals, and customers can take on the classic plan.
As a legacy member, you can recruit other people to the program. You will be responsible for training them and pointing them to the right direction. Besides this, you will be offered different bonuses and commissions based on the number of people you are able to bring into the system.
Another thing I was able to gather is that you will get rebates on your purchases too. If you don’t know, you have to maintain certain amount of purchases every month to keep your points and stay in the program. If not, you will lose your membership.
There are also three levels; level 3 for starters and level 2 and 1 for senior members. Every newly recruited rep will start at level 3 and progress up to level 1. At level 1, each rep will be entitled to 12% commission, 4% for those in level 2 and 2% for level 3.
Should You Join Nature Sunshine?
If you have read any review on this website before, you will have seen that I use to make much emphasis on your selling skills. I consider this the most important factor that will help you decide whether to join an MLM program or not. If you have good selling skills, you can sell as much products as you can and meet up with your monthly target.
I also like to keep silent on introducing other people into a program like this. This is because it is very difficult to get people to trust you enough to join such a program. Some people will even reject your offer if you decide to pay the fee to join.
It is only after you have decided on these two can you determine whether to join or not.
Is Affiliate marketing better than MLM?
I prefer affiliate marketing to MLM because MLM is already saturated. I have to compete against hundreds if not thousands of other people in a single niche. If I join Nature Sunshine now, I am bound to be selling products there and introducing people into the system. This means that the people I introduced will be selling the same product as I am. Furthermore, there are other MLM companies out there selling the same thing as this program with lots of reps too. I don’t know what I will call these. Competition is solid and only the fittest will survive in this situation. If I decide to go with affiliate marketing, I can delve into other niches that have little to no competition. As long as technology continues to advance, different niches will continue to be created.
Another important factor that makes affiliate marketing endearing to me is the experience level required. Affiliate marketing is great for beginners too; a novice can start affiliate marketing with little to no experience. Affiliate marketing also requires little to zero capital to start with.
If you learn about a successful affiliate marketer, you can simply imitate his method or strategy and achieve the same successful result in maybe a different niche. If you are a fan of Brian Tracy, you will appreciate this better. For MLM, the experienced level required is quite advance. Most MLM companies don’t have training, tutorials or blueprints that can teach you on how to promote their product or opportunity. You are simply on your own.
Finally, I will go with affiliate marketing anytime and every time because it allows me to control the business from anywhere. My success is not tangential to the success of other people. If I decide to go on vacation for a long period of time, I don’t have to worry too much about my business because it can be run on autopilot – I can outsource most of the tasks to a VA (Virtual Assistant) who can help me take care of things while I’m away relaxing.
Learn How To Start Your Own Affiliate Marketing Business
Very informative. Seems like shades of Herbalife. Two things concern me here. First is Multi-level marketing. From my experience it is very difficult to recruit members and in this case maybe more so with non – existent training. The other concern is, I would be hesitant to prescribe items like this without any training or information of how they may effect peoples medications.
How would you know if these supplements interfere with current medical conditions or result in side effects. Good review of company.
Thank you
Hi Rhys
They are very similar in fashion. One should be very careful to buy nutritional products from companies such as this one. Their website looks very professional, but do not let it fool you.
There is also nothing unique about this company which makes it a hard sell.
I know of tons of Healthcare MLM & the market is huge for these people. Health is the most important factor & many people are sort of exploiting this well-known fact. I did join one in the past but the prices of the products sort of puts me off after several months. It is crazy at how pricey those stuff that keeps you alive are.
I am very serious when it comes to health product, because you just don’t play with another person’s health. The prices of these products are getting ridiculous and then you have to buy them just qualify in order to sell them. Sorry, this is just not for me.
Wow, I had no idea that Nature’s Sunshine was an MLM. My dad used these products years ago as they were the go to product line that an iradologist he was seeing recommended. My dad swore that these products helped get him healthy and changed his life.
My dad asked me if I could find out for him where to purchase these products because he has some old symptoms coming back and wanted to see if these products would help again. I assumed I could find them for him at a health food store, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I am involved in 2 MLM’s so I can’t believe I didn’t realize Nature’s Sunshine was one as well.
Thanks for the info!
Hi Simone
Many companies are using the MLM marketing style to promote their products. THey do have some good products, but the compensation plan is a bit over complicated for new people to understand.
You have presented a very good comparison between the MLM and affiliate marketing regarding some of the fundamental commitments and partial cost between the two.
The total cost would vary depending on all what you choose to do, but the MLM will cost you more. The MLM also requires a lot more time and effort in recruiting and sales end which most people are not willing to get involved in to make the business work.
Affiliate marketing is the better choice as you mentioned.
Just to participate in MLM needs a lot of cash. Then you also need to promote it and that can also put a lot of strain on your budget. With Affiliate marketing you do not need to buy anything and you can put all of your money into promoting the products either through building a website or PPC.
I started with a MLM company about a year back. Its in the health and wellness sector. Great products and a decent compensation plan. But at the end of the day, I didnt like how they trained you to get new customers and prospects.
It just wasnt for me. I have now started doing affiliate marketing and am finding it way better suited to me!
Hi Shelly
Most MLM’s have a cult feeling to them. If you have ever been to a conference then you will know what I am talking about.
Affiliate marketing is so much easier than MLM. You can also make a passive income from it by building your own website.
Hello,
Hah! I should have known nature sunshine was a MLM. Not that I am knocking MLM’s. Like you said if someone is good at and willing to push a product hard they will likely be successful. The part that gets annoying is when those people keep hitting up family and friends. They become the person people see in the store from afar and leave before they are seen. Not to mention if someone is an introvert selling in person is just not a great option. I agree affiliate marketing sounds like a good replacement with huge potential.
Great read!
-Anthony
Hi Anthony
There was a time when I bothered family and friends with MLM and it did not work out that well as you might have guessed.
I am also not the type of person that would introduce strangers on the street with the next best money making opportunity.
Hi Valie,
This is a company that I never heard of. Looks like there’s something new in the MLM neighborhood again.
But this is going back to all the wellness craze; buying into products that do not prove their safety for consumption and worse, buying fake products to start a so-called business which is in fact a pyramid scheme.
I don’t see any future with this one. Better off doing other online business like affiliate marketing.
Hi Cathy
Especially when it comes to enzymes. People are selling this stuff like crazy and the sad part is that there are very little evidence that enzymes are really healthy for you.
People should not play with the health of others just for money. This makes me mad.
I agree with you on affiliate marketing, although the proof is still in the pudding as they say. Like anything else you need to build up a skill set and learn about the basics of marketing and sales even when working on the Internet. However, the upfront monetary investment as you have rightfully pointed out is minuscule compared to a brick and mortar business. You will still need a business plan and put in the work. As the old saying goes: “The harder I work the luckier I get.” Anybody who tells you, you’ll get rich over night is a scammer… also beware of all the self-declared Internet gurus out there…there is no justification ask people for of dollars for a webinar series and some BS pep talk. Sorry for the long rant…and thanks for the informative article…I am not even getting started what I think about MLMs…
Many people have been brainwashed in thinking that the internet will make them rich overnight. It takes a lot of work and time to make REAL money online. Everyone has to start somewhere and there is a learning curve involved with Internet marketing.
The nice thing with Affiliate marketing is that you do not need a lot of money to start with. You can even start for free if you want to.
I had a lot of bad experience with MLM> Another big disadvantage that it has is that they all have limited products. That means if you want to switch of products or ad some others, you depend 100% of the company if they want it or not. I also stick with Affiliate marketing, it’s much more easier than MLM. Great Review My friend
Thanks Javier.
Affiliate marketing is more flexible and if you know how to build a website around a niche, then you are golden. I tried MLM before and it did not work out for me because of various reasons.
Affiliate marketing is much better than MLM in almost every aspect.
Good review of the Nature Sunshine. I agree with your final verdict and like you I prefer affiliate marketing over MLM opportunity simply because I don’t have strong selling skills. That’s why I think MLM is not for everyone. It’s a very specific business opportunity. If you don’t have face to face selling skills MLM is very limited for you. But I like that you don’t say that Nature Sunshine is a scam because many websites call every MLM a scam only because they don’t understand what MLM is or because they simply don’t like it.
MLM companies are legit, but there are so many other Pyramid schemes that looks like an MLM. You need to be able to distinguish between the 2.
I know of some people that are making a lot of money through MLM, but they use hard selling techniques and a ton of hype to build their downline.
The other question that always seems to remain unknown is how do we know for sure that we are selling melatonin 3mg, and that it’s not just cornstarch, since there is no liability in supplements. Truly, I believe that the FDA, or another company needs to start ferreting out what’s real, and what’s fake, since there is nothing in place to govern this area. I could sell you Magnesium, and you may be eating chalk, and that fact alone bothers me. I can’t look to Dateline to do a thorough study on millions of companies who claim x, y and z. People believe that if a company says that this bottle has vitamin C in it, and it doesn’t… who do you turn to? I cannot, as a lay person, hire a lab to test every product out there, but you get where I am going? Someone needs to put this in place! ALL of these supplement companies need someone to hold them to a standard, and actually test if what they claim is in the bottle, is actually what’s in the bottle. Way too much leeway to allow these companies to not adhere at all, which makes me trust no one until I know a company comes along and vouches for what’s in a bottle labeled melatonin or magnesium. It’s a sad state of affairs when the Land of the Free, and Home of the Brave does nothing to protect her occupants from ingesting gosh knows what!
Hi Laurel
I feel your pain. The fact is that if you have a balanced diet, then you do not need to take supplements. Most of these companies like to use statements such as: ” Did you know that the average person has 2 times less Mg than the body needs” All of these statements are created to develop a demand for the product.
MLM is usually bad enough by itself but I’m always amazed at the price of some of these products – I mean are they really to this quality level? DO they really deserve this mark up? As for an opportunity this looks no better than every other MLM option out there – a waste of time!
Oh my! You can do well in either MLM or affiliate marketing, but the truth is that most fail at both. If you are an extrovert, MLM is likely better for you and if an introvert you have a better chance at affiliate marketing. To be successful at either requires a lot of self-discipline and a bit of smarts.