Is Scentsy Worth Selling? My Scentsy Review

In this Scentsy review we’ll find out if Scentsy is worth your time and effort. We will answer the question ‘is Scentsy a scam or legit’?

Scentsy is a multi level marketing (MLM) company.

In most MLMs, there are two main ways you can earn money:

1. By selling a product that is not sold in retail stores. In order to obtain the product you must order through a consultant, or on a consultant’s website, and
2. By receiving commissions from the sales of your downline (i.e. people you recruit into your network)

What this means is you need to able to sell products to people. If you genuinely want to be successful in a MLM company, you want to be recruiting new distributors who are also selling a lot of products. In the latter scenario, as well as selling products, you need to be able to sell the ‘lifestyle opportunity’ as well.

Let’s take a look at Scentsy.

Some basic information about Scentsy:

• Website: https://scentsy.com/
• Founded by: Orville and Heidi Thompson
• In operation since: 2004
• Price to join: Starter kit is $150 plus local tax and shipping
• Recommended: Only if you like MLMs; are familiar with the model so know what you’re getting into; and have mad MLM sales skills (this may only be about 1% of people who read this review)

My Scentsy review will take you through the following sections:

• What is Scentsy and how does Scentsy work?
• How do you get paid with Scentsy?
• Is Scentsy legit?
• My recommended way of making money online

What is Scentsy and how does Scentsy Work?

Scentsy is a fragrance company. Their product line covers:

• Fragrance systems – warmers and wax, diffusers and oils, fan diffusers and pods
• Unplugged fragrances – fragrance flowers, car bars, room sprays, scent circles, scent packs and travel tins
• Laundry products – dryer disks, laundry liquid, fabric softener, washer whiffs
• Cleaning products – all-purpose cleaner, bathroom cleaner, counter clean, dish soap, fabric spray
• Body – bath bombs, body cream, body wash, hand cream, hand soap, lotion, soak, fragrance mist
• Kids – blankie buddies, buddy clips, scentsy friends, scentsy sidekicks
• Pets – pet shampoo, dog detangling spray, dog deodorising spray
• Collections

Interestingly, in the FAQs on the Scentsy website, the question is “Is Scentsy a Multilevel Marketing (MLM) Company?”
The response is:

Scentsy is a party plan company, which is characterized by a social event — typically in a home, in person or online — where independent Consultants promote the products of their choosing within Scentsy’s product lineup. The party plan model gives Consultants the advantage of being able to help multiple customers experience the products at one time.

Since they don’t seem to want to answer that directly, I will for them – YES. Scentsy is a Multilevel Marketing (MLM) Company. That wasn’t so hard now, was it?

All Scentsy products are sold exclusively through independent consultants, with no retail sales. Scentsy consultants also receive a portion of the sales of any new consultants that they recruit. If that’s not a MLM model then I don’t know what is. The BBB categorise Scentsy as “home party planning” and “multi-level sales”.

If you’re thinking of becoming a Consultant, Scentsy say that they will provide the following support to you:

• A personal sponsor (and team)
• Scentsy’s customer support team
• Ongoing personal and business development
• Online training and business tools
• Free marketing resources

The Scentsy Compensation Plan

The full Scentsy compensation plan is available here.

It is similar to other MLMs where you get paid through commissions and recruiting people to the program.

I don’t know about you, but this compensation plan doesn’t seem all that great to me.

Personal Retail Volume (“PRV”), is the global point value of commissionable products you sell and how Consultants are paid commissions. All products are assigned a PRV point value, which is then converted to local currency using a peg rate specific to each country.

You need to be aware that there are monthly sales requirements for Scentsy Consultants. You need to generate sales resulting in 200 points or more in PRV in at least one month within any consecutive four-month period. The 200 points in PRV can come from individual customer orders, party orders or online orders made through your Personal Website (“PWS”).

Is Scentsy A Scam or Legit? It’s LEGIT! But…

MLM is a legitimate business model and Scentsy is no different. Whilst it isn’t for everyone, you can earn money. There are real products, and a published compensation plan. They have been in operation for over a decade, and are worldwide.
Scentsy even has A+ rating with the BBB:

For a MLM, an A+ rating is excellent.

The fact is, the Scentsy model It is all about selling as much product as possible for maximum income, and recruiting others to do the same.

What you REALLY need to know about MLMs

It’s important to know a few statistics about MLMs.

Jon Taylor PhD, in “The Case For (and Against) Multi-level Marketing” published by the FTC, researched MLMs and his research found:

• In the first year of operation, a minimum of 50% of representatives drop-out.
• After five years of operation, a minimum of 90% of representatives have left the company.
• By year 10, only those at or near the top have not dropped out – approximately 95% of representatives have dropped out by then.

It appears that Scentsy follows this same pattern.

To get a feel for what the Consultants actually earn with Scentsy, read more in the income disclosure statement for Australia here.

The United States follows a similar pattern to Australia. Read more in the income disclosure statement for the United States here. 

Let’s take a closer look at the summary of earnings from the income disclosure statement:

The average annual commissions for Group 1 (Consultants who were with Scentsy for all 12 months of 2018) earned an average of $1,989 for the entire year. This group includes the top earners, so the average earnings for the majority of Consultants is FAR LESS than that.

As you can see from Group 2 (the Consulants who were with Scentsy for less than 12 months in 2018, including those who joined Scentsy for the first time, and those who left Scentsy either due to inactivity or for other reasons) only earned an average of $239 for 2018. When you consider that the starter pack is $150, and the Consultants are responsible for costs associated with parties etc, you can see that for the majority of people who start with Scentsy will not make a profit, let alone a sustainable income.

In my opinion, Scentsy is going to be a losing proposition for anyone who is not an absolute MLM guru. And yes, those people do exist. I know a few MLM gurus and they make loads of money. However, they are in the vast minority.

What you need to understand about MLMs is that you have to:

• Be an exceptionally hard worker
• Live and breathe it
• Be prepared to speak to anyone and everyone about it
• Be incredibly resilient, and able to take rejection
• Be able to sell, convince and influence others

To answer our original question “Is Scentsy worth your time and effort?”, I would suggest that for most people, the answer is a resounding no.

Don’t want to spam your friends and family? Want to create a genuine online business?

If you don’t want to hassle your family and friends with products that they don’t want or need, there is a much better way to start a new career from home

My preferred way to make money from home is via the affiliate marketing model. 

• No direct selling.
• No products to purchase or handle yourself.
• No recruiting. 
• No parties. 
• No minimum sales.
• No reliance on other people.

Have you had any experience with Scentsy or with other MLMs? What did you think?