Beautycounter MLM Review

Hey there sea changers, and welcome back to my series of MLM reviews. Today we are going to a take venture into the world of beauty and cosmetics with my Beautycounter MLM Review. The online sale of beauty products can be extremely lucrative with many making a good living selling items via online stores and affiliate marketing.

Added to this obviously is the massive array of cosmetics based multi level marketing programs that are available. So, is Beautycounter an MLM program worth looking into? Let's have a look and see..

What is MLM?

Multi-level marketing (MLM) programs are the traditional mainstay of the ‘party plan' world of products such as Tupperware, Mary Kay and Amway etc. and, of course within the beauty/cosmetics market. Not to mention that fact that MLMs have become more popular in recent times – mainly due to the fact that much of the sales and marketing is now being managed online.

The ‘multi level' aspects of MLM come from its hierarchical nature in which you make commissions based not only on those that you sell to, but also the sales of those whom you ‘sign' into membership arrangements as well.

In short, the process works as follows:

1. You join the program, either via referral from another person (known as your up line) or directly through their website.
2. You promote the products of the company via parties, workshops or online.
3. As you make sales, you offer incentives to your customers to sign up as a member of the program (there are different names for this but they all mean the same thing).
4. That new member is then placed ‘underneath' you in a hierarchical arrangement (known as your down line).
5. You, and a number of levels of your up line, then gain extra commissions for everything they sell as well.
6. If they manage to refer their customers into memberships, they also become a member of your down line allowing you to make up line commissions as well.

The number of levels of your up and down lines will vary depending on the program you have joined. Commission rates will also change as your down line grows or contracts and many will also offer other incentives such as total company sales percentages and/or access to membership prizes as your own business grows.

Who are Beautycounter?

Beautycounter was founded in 2011 by Gregg Renfrew after she learned that the US only bans 30 ingredients from personal care products. After this realization, she created a company that ” set out to transform the beauty industry by creating clean, high-performing skin care and makeup”.

This had led to today where they now list 1800 ingredients that they refuse to use in their products to ensure the “cleanest standards in the industry”.

Beautycounter is based in Santa Monica, CA in the United States.

What do they Sell?

As above, Beautycounter work within the beauty industry with a massive range of clean living products including:

Skin Care

• Regimens, Collections & Sets
• Moisturizers
• Serums, Treatments & Masks
• Cleansers
• Essence & Toners
• Eye & Lip Care
• Face Oils
• Sun Protection

Makeup

• Face
• Eyes
• Lips
• Sets
• Brushes
• Makeup Remover

Bath & Body

• Moisturizers
• Body Wash & Scrubs
• Hair Care
• Sun Protection
• Hand Care

Product costs appear to fall into the low to medium price range of around $30 to $100 per item keeping them in line with such competitors as Monat and Younique.

MLM Program outline

The Beautycounter MLM program calls their members ‘Consultants' who are part of what appears to be a simple program with a common retail and downline commission structure albeit with limited bonus options included. I was unable to locate the Beautycounter compensation plan on their website however it did appear in an online search so here are the basics as I have found them…

Base Commission rate: 25%

Down line commission rates: 5 – 9% to 3 levels (level 1 down line is 5%)

Minimum monthly spend to qualify for commissions

To qualify for downline commissions, Consultants are required to meet monthly CV targets of at least 300 per month. This can be made of personal or customer sales. Base 25% sales commissions however can be earned without the need to meet or maintain sales targets.

Payment terms: Monthly.

Application required?: Yes, Application form on website.

Purchase requirements to join: Yes

New consultants are required to purchase a Starter kits at costs ranging from $79 up $776. Examples as below:

Marketing materials provided: As per starter kit above.

Within most MLM programs, rankings and commissions are determined by the total personal volume (PV) generated by the Stylist and their down line within a calendar month with points assigned to each product. These point allocations can range from 50 to 100% of the retail price of each product (before tax and shipping) and vary from item to item and currency of sale.

From what I can work out from the Beautycounter MLM compensation plan, PV is calculated at 100% of the USD retail sales price however downline commissions (non personal sales) are paid on 75% only. This means that if a product is sold for $100 with a Commissional Volume (CV) of 75, then payments are calculated on $75 of the sale cost not the full $100. Hence, then if a downline commission rate is 5% then the payment to the stylist would total $3.75 (i.e. 5% of $75).

How can I get paid?

Ok, so from what I can garner from the compensation plan, there are 4 ways in which Consultants can make money when they promote and sell Beautycounter products. These are fairly straight forward and as found in many other MLM arrangements. The 4 payment options for the Peach MLM program are outlined as follows:

1. Retail Commissions

These are the base commissions earned by the general day to day retail sales that Consultants can generate via parties, popups, social media or online via their personalized website. These are paid as follows:

Minimum sales targets are not required to qualify for the 25% retail commissions.

2. Personal Sales Bonus

The personal sales bonus provides for extra commission payments when certain sales targets are reached as follows:

Personal Sales Bonuses are made in addition to Retail Commissions.

3. Override Commissions

Override Commissions are Beautycounter's version of the traditional unilevel commission structures prevalent within many MLM programs. Within the Beautycounter MLM program, commissions are paid to 3 levels based on the rank of the Consultant as follows:

Consultants must meet sales targets of at least 300 CV to qualify for Override Commissions.

4. Frontline Business Builder Bonus

The Frontline Business Builder Bonus is a commonly utilised network marketing payment option that rewards Consultants for nurturing down line members to higher ranks within the program. In this case, monthly bonuses can be earned as follows:

Consultants must be at same Paid-As Title or higher to receive the monthly bonus.

Ranking structure

Beautycounter, as with most MLM programs, uses ranking structures on which to base commission payments and other bonuses upon. Beautycounter ranks are as follows (note personal and team sales qualification targets as well):

Again, as is common with almost all MLM programs, rank progression is determined by both the number of members within the Consultant's down line, and the total sales made by those members per month. Ranks can rise and fall based on the ability (or dis-ability) to reach the required member and sales targets.

What is good about it?

So, after a good look around the site and looking at all the options I could find, I do like the following:

• Commission rates for entry level sales are good.
• Program is simple and easy to follow.
• Commissions can be earned without the need to meet sales targets

What is no so good about it?

There are also some things to be aware of including:

• There are some joining costs.
• There is not the large array of bonus options as found in some others within this niche.

How much can you make?

Peach does provide an income disclosure statement on its website and as with most MLM programs, it can be seen that the percentage of members making the upper rank levels – and hence earning a living – is very low. Income outlines on the website are as follows:

For the full year 2020, earnings for US Consultants before expenses were:

• The average total annual income for all Consultants was $1,861.
• 25% of Consultants had no sales and therefore earned no Commissions
• 35% (26,205) of Consultants earned more than $500
• 22% (16,501) of Consultants earned more than $1,000
• 1% (679) of Consultants earned more than $30,000. The median earnings of the top 1% of Consultants was $50,365 (Average was $54,328).

In 2020, first-6-month total earnings for US Consultants before expenses were:

• The median total first-6-month income for new Consultants was $103 (Average was $444)
• 30% (6,613) of new Consultants had no sales and therefore earned no Commissions
• 50% (11,265) of new Consultants earned more than $100
• 23% (5,136) of new Consultants earned more than $500
• 12% (2,664) of new Consultants earned more than $1,000
• 2% (366) of new Consultants earned more than $3,700

My final thoughts

Look, MLM is not an easy platform to make money in and there is not much that I have seen here to put this program above the many others I have seen. However, the program is pretty straight forward with common commission arrangements and the ability to make sales online or via person to person methods. So if you are passionate about clean living beauty products with a large customer list at your disposal and the ability to generate good sales via online processes, then the 25% base commission rates might just appeal here.

Once you have joined, there are not the usual financial pressures of needing to make minimum personal purchases in order to qualify for commissions as long as you can make them within your down line. Although from what I can see, I think if you are going to succeed within this MLM program, you will need to have a good array of demonstration stock on hand.

You may also need to bump up your personal purchase quota if customer sales alone are not enough for you to qualify for commissions within a particular month.

I was unable to locate any negative reviews in terms of non-payment etc. although there were some negative comments (not as many as most others however) about the quality of customer service and the MLM program itself – although it was not really anything that is uncommon in regards to MLM programs or products within this niche.

Conclusion

So there you have it, my honest review and appraisal of the Beauty counter MLM program. I hope it has been of assistance but as usual, if you have any questions or experience with this program please do not hesitate to reach out by commenting below – especially if any of my information is inaccurate.

Are there any other programs you have been looking at but want to know more about? If so, please comment below and I will do my best to get some details for you.

Do you want further assistance with any of the above or need help to build your own beauty product based website?

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Until next time

Have fun

Paul

Note: If you make a purchase from this page, there is a very good chance that I make a commission from it – these commissions do not increase your sale price.  This may include sales made via Wealthy Affiliate.