Mary Kay Review
Company: Mary Kay
Website: www.marykay.com
Products: Skin care, cosmetics and fragrance
Type: MLM
Rating: 3/10
Mary Kay Complaints
The only way to know more about the complaints is to investigate what other people are saying about this company, their products and also their compensation plan. For now I think we should take a look at all of the complaints that people are having and whether we should take these complaints seriously.
Complaint 1 (About their products)
This customer is complaining about the products itself and it looks like she has got an allergic reaction from these products. She also spent $300 on these products and she is struggling to get her money back. This complaint comes from consumeraffairs.com
Complaint 2 (About their Compensation plan)
This customer has been a consultant for almost 6 years and it looks like she is losing money BIG time. With these type of MLM companies you need to buy all the product in order to promote them and almost all of them have this “occult” feeling to them that draws in new people to invest more money into their program.
Is Mary Kay a scam?
This is a question that I hear almost every day and decided to write this review about them. First off Mary Kay is a company that sells beauty products through their website www.marykay.com and they also have a business plan that works through network marketing or MLM in which they compensate their partners.
I am not such a big fan of MLM in general because it has a lot of major pitfalls that makes the whole business model unstable and very hard to accomplish and maintain. I really hate the idea that you need to buy the product in order to sell it and this does not ethically make any sense.
There is a little bit of controversy about their products also. I am a male so the products do not get my interest, but from the opinion of others I realized that the products are overpriced and not that good at all. I would put this company on the borderline of scams.
Mary Kay Products
The products are mainly beauty products and the price tag is very high for most of them. We also need to consider the complaints about the product before we can even think about buying them. Below is a list of some of the products that you can buy from Mary Kay:
- Makeup
- Gifts
- Body & sun
- Skin care
- Fragrance
- Men’s cologne and skin care
Mary Kay Compensation plan
Like most other MLM type companies this one has the same compensation plan as the majority. I will explain them to you in greater detail below:
1. Direct sales
You will be encouraged to hold house parties where you invite your friends to try some of their products. When some of them fall in love with one or more of these products and decide to buy them from you, you will a 50% commission. This part is very straight forward and you will have the title of consultant.
2. Team sales
This is where the whole MLM part comes into play. This company openly admits that it is not an MLM company, but if you earn a commission from the sale that another person is making, then it is considered MLM. Only the first part about direct sales is not MLM, but the Team sales section is.
You will earn 4% commission from your 1st active team member to 4th and 9% from your 5th and upwards. When you become a director, you will earn a 13% commission from what your team makes and this is why I call this company an MLM.
Companies do not want to associate themselves with MLM because of the bad reputation that it has. They will always try to use words such a group or team sales to hide the multiple level structure. If you have to buy the product in order to sell it, then it is definitely an MLM. First you need to buy their starter kit of $100 and then you are set.
Do I recommend Mary Kay?
With all the things that I have told you about this company, I presume that you have already made up your mind. First you need to ask yourself if this company is for you and if it is not for you, then which company should you join?
This company is for experienced women that knows how to promote a product. If you are a new to network marketing and you are not a woman, then you might have a hard time promoting the products from this company. There are some people that are making money with this, but it is the minority or let’s say the 1% on the top of the ladder. If you have networking experience and you know how to build a team and also how to train your team, then it might work for you.
If you are new to network marketing in general and you have almost zero experience in it, then I would advise a different route.
How I build a passive income online
The way that I do it is through affiliate marketing which is one of the easiest ways to start an online business nowadays. You are not required to buy and product in order to sell it and you are also not dependant on other people to scale your business.
You have full control over the products that you promote (without actually having to buy all of them) and you can dominate almost any niche possible. there are thousands of niches and millions of products to promote and if you build a website around a niche that might be your passion, then you will make money.
One of my websites is one where I promote mattresses online and I am earning a monthly income from that website. I have not touched that website since January 2015.
Get started with your own Affiliate marketing business in less than 5 minutes
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Very interesting review about Mary Kay.
I have heard of Mary Kay before and I would of thought that they might have been one of the more refutable MLM companies going around seeing as they are so big.
But I suspect that the business model of MLM’s and network marketing leads to pyramid schemes, complaints and scams!
I would much rather spend my time doing as you suggest and learn about affiliate marketing, a much better business model that can lead to long-term success!
Great review 😉
~John
Hi John.
MLM is going to go dead one day because more people are realizing that it is simply not worth it. Everyone is on their horses when a new MLM company appears, because everyone thinks that it is going to be the next best thing.
For me affiliate marketing is easier to scale because you are not reliant on an inexperienced sales force.
Hello Viljoen, thanks for posting. I’m not that familiar with Mary Kay but do have some experience with other MLM companies. I found out that this type of business is not for everyone…me included. I tried it but it didn’t work for me. It takes a special person with a little luck and good timing to be successful at this. I was not successful, but have met a few people who are doing very well for themselves. Also, if you take anything and a large enough sample of people, someone won’t like it.
Good luck in the future.
Hi Susan
Multi level marketing is not for anyone. You need to be able to learn hard selling techniques in order to make money with MLM.
The people that make the most money from MLM are those that are able to train their downline in how to promote the products.
Hello
noce site and I hear where you are coming from
best of luck
Paul
Hello Valle
I would like to say that your site is very interesting and so much information about how things are not always as good as they seem – Mary kay blew me away as they are one of the old time favourites!!!!
Great informarion about everything and it makes you wonder how easily people can get fooled into things
You site was very easy to get around and well laid out – I do not like the blog roll type of site but yours worked very well and good job on this.
The only thing was that I tried three times to leave you comments on different pages and each time was thrown back with the captcha message but managed to find two pages that would accept my comments
good job and best regards Paul
I Paul and thanks for the comment.
There is a lot of work behind the scenes of this website and thanks for the compliments. Will check into the comment system to look for the mistakes.
This is a great review of Mary Kay cosmetics. I have never used their cosmetics and after reading your review I am going to stay well away from them.
I have been in MLM companies in the past and do not like them. I will stay away from them at all costs. Affiliate marketing is a much more viable option to earn extra money and be your own boss.
Christine.
Hi Christine
I have to agree with you on this one. There are only a few mlm companies that are really worth it. Most of the companies have low quality products that are overpriced and their compensation plan makes it hard to scale your income.
So many people think that a downline is a blessing, but it is actually a curse.
Well it doesn’t matter what MLM company you choose – you will always fall headlong into a pit of complaints..
Why?
They’re all a waste of time!
Seriously, the only way they can remain sustainable is by not being profitable for 90% of their members – this will never change.