Melaleuca and Cabi - Anyone Work for Either?

My mom signed up for Melaluca. It's based off a point system and you have to spend a certain amount of "points" per month. She wasn't using the stuff fast enough so it ended up costing her more and more so she finally had to cancel all of it. That was years ago and I think she still is trying to use up some of the stuff. It was just way too stressful for her. You get all excited about it at first then reality kicks in and you don't keep doing it. I don't even know what Cabi is. Good luck.

I don't care how many people say Melaleuca is on the up and up. Those people have obviously never tried to cancel a membership. I tried cancelling my Melaleuca membership and it took a YEAR because they kept sending back my letter of cancellation. I dealt with a vast number of dishonest Melaleuca staff and I am glad to be rid of the company.

Also, when I purchased Melaleuca, I didn't intend to be in the business portion. One day I got a check for a couple of dollars in the mail. I called to ask about it and they said that meant someone in my downline signed someone up. That felt very MLM-ish to me. I also wonder why they headline as Work At Home United. Why can't they just be up front about it?

S., I know you care about natural products. Bug is right, Melaleuca is a big green washer. If you can, get ahold of an ingredient list (if you can! The company has been very secretive about ingredients in the past) and put each ingredient through www.ewg.org You will see for yourself that there are much better products on the market.

Diane says "Direct selling is honorable."

Okay. I'll agree with that.

But MLM isn't. MLM takes advantage of friendships and family relationships.

Sell a product that doesn't require you to take advantage of your interpersonal relationships and alienate people. Make something nifty and sell it on Etsy. Provide a nice service. Whatever. But don't do MLM.

I have two friends who work for/with Melaluca. There seems to be a lot of push for not only them to transfer their whole family over to the products, but to get someone to buy into reoccurring product shipments. I declined both friends because I did not want to get caught up in it. At least with Avon, you can buy one thing and that's it. Melaluca seems like a MLM to me and not something I would encourage someone to get into, frankly.

With Melaleuca, you are trying to sign up other people to purchase the products on a monthly basis. You have to purchase quite a bit to make that point value each month..... my daughter signed up, and I signed up under her. I wasn't interested in promoting it to other people, and just purchased things for me.

I do like the products, but frankly, I don't do THAT much cleaning, so I still have some product left a couple of years after I cancelled..... I wasn't really interested in the food (snack bars, drink mixes, meal replacements), or other items, so it was tough to come up with the points each month.

My daughter tried to get others to sign up under her, but didn't have any luck. Everytime she got someone interested, they decided not to. She wasn't even doing the presentations (over the phone), but her manager was doing the talking.

I did Melaleuca. It's not for everyone, and obviously wasn't for me. I loved their products but had to spend about $50 each month on items that would take me months to use. I couldn't get people to sign up fast enough to actually make any money. But, there are lots of people who just take off with it and make really good money, really fast.

They are both MLM's, some require an upfront investment. ALL require you to recruit people to be under you so your check gets a little bigger.

What you have to remember is that parties, etc will get old for your friends and neighbors. Around here, we run from people in the MLM/direct sales because of the high pressure sales pitches they put on everyone to join the team and buy their wares.

I prefer to just give them a check to go away.

OMG, since when is using Melaleuca (Tee Tree Oil) a business? That stuff has been around for ages and available at any store??? I'd stay far away from a business with such a narrow market. Yikes.

Melaleuca is the same, basically. You are selling their products. And regardless of what the company tells you, for Melaleuca, you MUST purchase a monthly minimum of products. They are GOOD products, but if your family isn't big enough to use enough, you will be buying stuff you don't need to make the number of "points" monthly that need to be purchased (it works out to about $50-70 a month, depending.

Any sales person that tries to tell you differently is lying.

I don't know anything about CABi but Melaleuca is direct sales too. There are several ways to do network marketing/direct sales: 1 on 1 appointments, or parties/events. I can tell you that you cannot make money from your kitchen table in direct sales - you have to work directly with people!

Direct selling is honorable and the way things used to be done before big supermarkets and box stores eclipsed even the small businesses. Think Fuller Brush, Avon - when salespeople went door-to-door. Even the milk and bread delivery used to be door-to-door.

If you are evaluating any direct selling company, be sure they are members of the Direct Selling Association (which is by invitation only to the best, scrutinized companies). You can find their member list on line.

You also don't make money unless you have other people below you who are selling - there are only so many people you can reach on your own. There are ways to evaluate the compensation plans as well - you do NOT want a binary plan where you only sponsor 2 people and then wait for them to sponsor others, building evenly. If one of those people stalls, you stall. You want to be able to go as "wide" as you want - as many people on your first level as you can get. And you want to be able to go "deep" - being paid at least 5 levels deep on the people you sponsor and the ones they sponsor.

You also want to be sure you have a compensation plan where you can make more money than the person who sponsored you, and where money doesn't bypass you and go up to the upline sponsor if your people don't do what they hope to do (which happens all the time in a binary system). Make sure that commissions never go back to the company either. Happy to give you more info on this.

You also want a consumable product so people are ordering every money - the product has to have value, be better than what else is out there, and be something that people get excited about. You also want a broad-spectrum product. For example, MaryKay is a great company (and in the DSA) but your market is women, and only women who wear makeup and use skin care. You don't market to men or families with children.

Don't let anyone tell you that direct selling is a "pyramid" - it's not. Pyramids are illegal, first of all. If a company publicly trades on a a stock exchange (NYSE, NASDAQ, etc.), it is not a pyramid. Pyramids only make money for the top people, and all the little people do all the work. In fact, most economists say that corporate America is a true pyramid - the CEO gets the big bucks, the VPs get medium bucks, and the workers get less and less, and have no hope of ever rising up the ladder. Think WalMart or AT&T or Microsoft. Those workers get a salary, period, no matter how many hours they work. In direct sales, you make according to your hours - you have to work smart, for sure. You can't get fired (unless you are dishonest and the company cancels your distributorship), and if you want more money, you work harder.

And make sure there is no monthly minimum - there ARE companies that do not require that. You also want a money-back guarantee or something like a 90% 1-year buy back.

But it's work. It's a relationship business. You have to be entrepreneurial or it won't work.

Let me know if you need more info on direct selling or how to evaluate the compensation plan.

My friend worked for Melaleuca and I bought from her really to just be nice. I have to say it made me EXTREMELY annoyed at Melaleuca AND at my friend. You HAVE to spend a certain amount each month (they put it in terms of points) and if you don't need to buy anything that month they still charge you and send you something. You end up having to spend way more than you ever would normally on these kinds of products. To quit the program was a pain in the rear. Finally I had to write a letter to their upper office. This was 4 years ago and I'm still really annoyed at my friend. Anyway, over the years I have found friends that sell stuff for companies like this and that are always trying to get you to buy from them are annoying. I don't think business and friendship should mix.

I am not familiar with CABi but I am an independent marketing rep for Melaleuca through Work At Home United. Melaleuca is NOT a MLM like someone else posted (there are many differences which I would be happy to discuss but no need to post them all here).

You can work at home, at your own schedule. You do need to do some presenations but you are NOT selling anything. You provide information about the company and products, help them get signed up, provide answers if they have questions...you market but you do not sell anything. Since the products are what people need all the time (unlike candles, kitchen supplies, etc.) you don't have to keep going back to the same people over and over.

I have a hard time NOT spending money each month because I typically want more than double the points required (and we are only a 4 person household with one away most of the time). Because they are products you need anyway, it's not costing you extra...you just don't buy it elsewhere. If you want more info, feel free to message me.

are you still in the Cherryville area? If so, the market is limited once you go thru your friends/family. :)

& there's the rub......clientele is limited in our neck of the woods....for any business such as this. I wish you Luck, tho'!