Someone has probably introduced Atomy to you as a great way to “ber your own boss” and get some great skincare products. But you’re probably still wondering… is Atomy a pyramid scheme scam?
First of all, I want to congratulate you on taking the time to research the company.
The main reason that 99% of MLM members lose money is because they jump into it blindly.
This honest Atomy review, with videos, will reveal the true pros and cons of joining the Atomy MLM. This will help you to make an informed decision if it is for you or not.
Atomy Review
What to look for in an MLM
- Low start-up fee & maintenance cost (free + ~$20/month)
- High-quality affordable products
- You don’t have to carry inventory
- An affiliate-like system
- Generous compensation plan
- Company is in the early momentum phase (still gaining momentum)
What is Atomy?
Atomy is a personal care & health supplements Multi-Level-Marketing company founded in South Korea in 2009.
Like any other MLM company, Atomy promotes and sells its products through sales agents.
Atomy’s sales increased from $21 million to more than $1.3 billion in less than ten years. Their membership has also increased, from a dozen individuals in the beginning to more than 6 million globally.
Currently, Atomy offers over 400 products in various categories, constantly releasing new products. In general, Atomy sells the following products:
- coffee
- detergent
- food
- hand hygiene supplies
- hair & body products
- health care supplies
- kitchen appliance
- lip care products
- makeup
- dental products with green tea extract
- skincare products (nutrition cream, eye cream, sunscreen, etc.)
Atomy has expanded into over 13 countries worldwide and is getting closer to reaching their goals of becoming a “global distribution hub”.
The company offers an opportunity for everyday people to become their “own boss” by selling Atomy products and recruiting a team within the MLM.
You can learn more about this opportunity with Atomy in the 3 minute video below…
Many people will watch that video and get very excited about this opportunity.
But rare thinking people like you know that this is just a promotional video created by Atomy.
So you’re probably still wondering…
Is Atomy a pyramid scheme?
Technically no, Atomy is not a pyramid scheme.
It’s possible for distributors to make money just from selling the Atomy products. But this is pretty common for most MLMs.
A better question to ask would be “is Atomy a pyramid scheme in disguise?”…
What is a pyramid scheme?
A company that promises payment to its members for recruiting people rather than selling a product or service.
These are illegal in most countries around the world because it’s impossible for everyone to earn money inside a structure like this.
Just see the Wikipedia diagram below to see why…
Most MLMs, like Atomy, do offer legit products.
However, it’s only possible to make good money ($1,000+ a month) from Atomy if members recruit more people. This makes Atomy very similar to a pyramid scheme in disguise.
Just watch the 5 minute video below to see why…
Success is rare with Atomy
In fact, success is hard to find inside any MLM company.
Did you know that between 73% and 99% of all MLM representatives lose money?
Atomy doesn’t release any income disclosures, unlike many MLMs, and they are not a public company.
That means it’s impossible to tell if their members fall within these statistics.
However, Atomy does have lower monthly sales quotas to remain active than many other MLMs.
This means it should be easier for members to avoid losing too much money each month.
We’ll dig into exactly what Atomy distributors need to do to make money later. But for now let’s figure out…
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How does Atomy Work?
Atomy offers a wide variety of items. The products include personal care, nutritional supplements, and household items. Does Atomy independently market these products? NO.
Remember that Atomy is a multilevel marketing organization. So, they do not spend less money on advertising than other network marketing organizations. Seldom will you see their product offerings advertised on Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram.
Instead, they employ others to market and sell their items on their behalf.
In return, these Atomy distributors will profit from selling their items. They can also engage in recruitment if they wish to earn more money.
Atomy products
Before you dive in, it’s crucial to understand more about the products on offer as these are what you will be promoting.
Atomy has dozens of products on offer under the following categories:
- Supplements
- Skincare & cosmetics
- Dental and personal
- Household
There are too many to go into detail about each one here, but you can find the full product range at the Atomy shop.
It is important to be aware that there are thousands of brands that offer a very similar range of products.
There are also hundreds of MLMs with a similar product range such as:
- LifeVantage
- Poofy Organics
- Rodan and Fields
- Seacret Direct
- Bellame
- SeneGence
- Farmasi
- Mary Kay
- Maskcara
So what makes Atomy stand out?…
Atomy Absolute Skincare- flagship product
First of all, Atomy offers a HUGE range of products. Only Amway out of the MLMs above really compares to this massive range.
But the main product on offer at Atomy is their “absolute skincare set” including:
- Toner
- Ampoule
- Serum
- Lotion
- Eye complex
- Nutrition cream
Some of the stand out features and benefits include:
- Cutting edge dormin technology (Plant derived EGF & natural ingredients)
- Makes your skin glow
- Hydration
- Anti wrinkle
- Firming
- Moisturising
- Nourishment
I’m no expert in skincare products, but it’s safe to say this is pretty much what you would expect from any type of skincare products.
So the only way to actually tell how good a product is, is to test it yourself… or read some honest Atomy product reviews…
You can see on Amazon there are some pretty positive reviews overall for Atomy’s Absolute products. We will dig into these and the pricing in more detail later in this Atomy review.
But for now you can find out more about Absolute in the 8-minute video below…
So…
Can you really make money with Atomy MLM?
It’s pretty hard to make good money from the Atomy MLM.
Sure you can sell some of these products to your friends and family each month. But you’ll do well to make $100 a month from commission with this method.
The few people that do well in MLMs like this are actually more like a full time “sales manager” than someone owning a business or “being their own boss”. Typically these people are quite extroverted and very good at “selling the dream” to aspiring entrepreneurs.
It is possible to make money with Atomy, but most people do not.
How to make money with Atomy MLM
Like most MLMs there are 2 ways you can make money from Atomy:
- Sell products for a commission
- Recruit people to earn bonuses from the sales they make
This is important to recognise:
You do not earn money directly for recruiting people at Atomy
This is how Atomy is not shut down by the FTC for being a pyramid scheme. The reason there is such a focus on recruiting people is because it means you can earn bonuses from the efforts of other people in your team.
Before we get our heads around the compensation plan, you’re probably wondering…
How much does it cost to join Atomy?
It’s free to join!
Yep, you read that right. Anyone can start promoting Atomy products without spending any money. This is very rare for MLM companies and it’s a great sign that Atomy is not a scam.
But there are some costs to be aware of…
Atomy monthly cost
To “remain active” as a sales rep you need to accumulate 10,000 PV (personal volume) points every month.
In English that means you need to sell around $20 of products each month…
This is much lower than many MLMs but it is something to be aware of.
In reality, this means that you will need to allow at least $20 a month to be spent on Atomy products yourself.
But if you are going to join the MLM program you should be using the products yourself as there is no point in trying to sell them unless you personally like them!
So the costs to allow for 1 year would be at least $240.
And this is without allowing for any additional costs such as marketing (building your own website) postage and packaging costs or additional training.
Atomy compensation plan
I’ve looked into over 100 MLMs compensation plans. But Atomy has to be one of the most confusing plans I’ve seen… and that’s saying something!
So I will try to keep this as simple as possible…
There are 4 ways to get paid from Atomy:
- General commission (retail, wholesale price commission)
- Masters’ bonus (Reach “Special agent” additional 0.3-10% if you sell 2.5 million group PV in each “leg”)
- Mastership promotion & incentives (Extra products, trips and cash incentives for “ranking up”, see table below)
- Education commission (6% extra commission if you open an education company approved by the company)
If you are confused by any of that or can’t understand the table above… do not worry! MLMs often use acronyms and unnecessary terms to make it seem like there are tons of ways for you to earn money.
The only thing you need to be aware of is WHAT you have to do to make money, which is:
- Sell Atomy products
- Recruit people into the Atomy MLM
And do you notice that 3 out of the 4 ways to get paid requires you to recruit people?
Atomy uses a “binary compensation plan”, which is certainly not the best plan in my opinion, as most people end up with “one much smaller leg” which makes it hard to benefit from the bigger bonuses.
Just watch the 13-minute video below if you want to try to get your head around this plan a bit more (be warned, it’s confusing!)…
Or you can find the full Atomy compensation plan here.
Is Atomy a scam?
Atomy is a well-established business. On the internet, you will also find positive Atomy reviews.
Hence, this business is a good one.
Therefore, is Atomy a fraud?
Technically, no. With this service, you can earn money, but it’s more complex than the corporation makes it sound.
A substantial amount of labor is required upfront; there is no real assurance of success, and - most significantly – the actual commissions are modest.
There is nothing wrong with front-loading work and earning money afterward.
But if you work hard for three months and only receive a $50 commission, it’s not worth it.
Could you complete the same three months of work (in your spare time) and receive a monthly salary of $500 to $2,000?
And what if you didn’t have to wait three months? Could you begin immediately and receive your first money within one week?
Could you double it the next week?
It is the strength of Digital Real Estate.
And, unlike MLM, you can do this legally from wherever. It is a genuine lifestyle enterprise.
You only need a laptop and an Internet connection.
Some of this program’s most successful students operate their whole six-figure enterprises from:
- A tent pitched in the middle of the forest
- Mexico beach chair on the water
- A modest home in Greece
Just to be fully transparent with you, I am not a distributor myself and I do not endorse Atomy in any way.
I have researched the website, testimonials and information on the Internet to get to the bottom of what this program genuinely does. This is because I have been burnt from programs just like this in the past and I want to prevent others from making the same mistakes.
Common positive reviews
Here are some of the positive reviews we had from Indeed about the job opportunity…
“Atomy is a good business coz there products have a high quality and with reasonable price. No registration fee, no annual fee and its free. Its a global business. Great company to work for, excellent people, excellent team work, the philosophy of the company is to help many people as you can. Value all the iemployees and help them reach their personal goals and to motivate themselves to accomplish company goals too.”
Common negative reviews
And here are the common negative reviews we also got from Indeed…
“Failure, and low production is not allowed.”
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What I like about Atomy
There are a few things that I genuinely really like about Atomy compared to other MLMs out there…
Key terms
- Pyramid Scheme
- recruits members via a promise for payment from referring others to the service rather than providing a product
- Affiliate Marketing
- Connecting a customer to a product they are looking for and receiving a commission for doing so
- Red Flag
- A warning sign
#1 Proven history
Did you know that only 1 out of 3 MLMs survive past 10 years?
Atomy has been in business since 2009.
This is great sign that Atomy is not a scam and is not likely to disappear tomorrow like many MLMs do.
#2 Positive product reviews
When you can find real people leaving positive Atomy reviews it’s another great sign that the company is legit…
It’s important to be aware that many positive Atomy reviews may be from distributors. However, you can find reviews like the one above which is clearly from a legit Atomy customer.
#3 Gaining momentum
This is the best pro about Atomy…
Google Trends shows that more and more people have been searching for Atomy each month since 2009.
It’s far easier to sell something that people are already looking for!
It hasn’t had the early momentum growth that other companies like Farmasi are experiencing, but maybe this will help it be a long term company.
#4 Free to start & low costs to maintain
So many MLMs can cost $1,000 to get started then another $150 a month sales quota to remain active.
Atomy will only set you back $20 a month!
It’s another great sign that Atomy is not a scam as they clearly believe in their products.
There are some hidden truths that everyone should be aware of before just diving into the Atomy “business opportunity”…
#1 Expensive products
This is always a big red flag for me that a MLM may be a “pyramid scheme in disguise”…
- Atomy cream is 4.2 stars = $16.99 per oz
- Amazon cream is 4.4 stars = $9.39 per oz
When you can find similar alternatives (and arguably better alternatives) for half the price it’s a big concern to me.
Seriously just ask yourself this…
Why would anyone pay double the price for something that people think isn’t as good?…
#2 Hidden monthly expenses
UPDATE- A comment below suggests that this section is not 100% accurate. You only become inactive if you haven’t bought or sold anything after one year (not every month).
I’ll leave it in so you can understand what I mean. The principle still applies though as so many distributors still purcahse the products every month (otherwise why did they join it if they don’t use them?!)
The answer to that question is hidden within Atomy’s confusing compensation plan…
Distributor’s will need to sell at least $20 of Atomy products every month to stay active and receive the bonuses or commission for that month.
So when people first join they can sell the odd Atomy product to their family or friends.
But once their family realise they are just paying twice as much (or more) for something they usually get, they end up not reordering and can even become resentful to you if you keep trying to sell them this overpriced stuff.
In reality, it means that Atomy distributors end up becoming the companies biggest customers.
They need to keep buying their products so that they have a chance of “being their own boss” next month. This is the reason why so many MLM members lose money.
And when you combine these 2 hidden truths you can see why…
#3 Atomy is like a pyramid scheme in disguise
The only realistic way Atomy distributors avoid losing money each month is by recruiting more people into the MLM “business opportunity”.
And when any company requires people to recruit it ends up looking like this…
Sure there will be a few people that make good money. And maybe you could be one of them if you work hard! But in order for you to be successful you will need to recruit more people into the company who will inevitably lose money.
And that becomes an ethical decision for many people once they see the wood for the trees.
#4 No income disclosure
Most MLM companies release an income disclosure of what their distributors earn.
Atomy doesn’t do that, which is another red flag and shows the company is hiding something.
But they do have this…
However, it doesn’t show how many people are at each rank and the figures seem like rough guesses.
Sure those figures may look impressive.
But what if I told you that less than 1% of distributors even make it sales master rank?
And just by comparing Atomy to the hundreds of other companies income disclosures, that is actually being generous of how many people will achieve this rank!
#5 No online marketing training
Here’s the truth…
The people that do the best from Atomy and MLMs are the people that understand how to use online marketing to help attract people and sell things 24/7.
However, Atomy doesn’t provide this type of training…
If you’re lucky your “sponsor” may know how to use a bit of online marketing and help you. But if you try to do what everyone else does on social media, you will find you get results like “everyone else” (and everyone does not make money in MLMs).
There are much better ways to use the power of the internet to work for you by creating your own website and attracting real people to your website for free every month.
If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die- Warren Buffet
Ready to make passive income online?
Hey, I'm Mike. I created a passive income online within a year, with no marketing skills or online experience when I started.
Find out how you can tooAtomy does sell a huge range of products that everyone uses regularly.
However, what do I think are your chances of making money from this MLM opportunity?…
If you work really hard and treat it like a full time job then you could recruit a team and help them sell products for you.
But you would need to do that knowing that the majority of them will lose money.
And that’s not my idea of an ethical business model.
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