Is Jeunesse a Pyramid Scheme Scam or a Legit MLM? [2022 Review]

Jeunesse Review

The overview and rankings

Success Stories: 1 out of 100

Price To Join MLM: $29.95 + $199.95-$2,299.95

+ 60 PV a month = ~$90 a month (30 out of 100)

What to look for in a MLM:

What is Jeunesse?

Jeunesse is a skincare and health Multi-Level-Marketing company that was founded in 2009.

Jeunesse is a French word that means "the time when you are young". 

The focus of the MLM is to provide skincare and supplements that help people look and feel younger. They also provide an opportunity for everyday people to make money from home.

The 3 minute video below explains more about this opportunity...

Many people will see this video and get excited about becoming "their own boss". 

But your smart enough to recognise this is just a promotional video created by Jeunesse. So you're probably still wondering...

Is Jeunesse a pyramid scheme?

Technically no, Jeunesse is not a pyramid scheme. 

It's possible for distributors to make money by selling the products without recruiting anyone into the company. 

However, it is very hard to make any significant money this way or even cover the monthly sales quota. For that reason Jeunesse is very similar to a "pyramid scheme in disguise". 

Let me explain what I mean by that...

What is a pyramid scheme?

A company that promises members payment for recruiting more people into the company rather than selling a product or a service. 

These are illegal in most countries because it is impossible for everyone to earn money inside a company that only pays people to recruit. 

Just see the Wikipedia diagram below to see why...

Jeunesse does offer legit products like most MLMs. 

However, there is a huge focus on recruiting to make any money at the company. It's the ONLY way to make any "residual income" that the sales videos always mention. And a MLM that needs you to recruit to avoid losing money is like a "pyramid scheme in disguise". 

Just watch the 5 minute video below to see why...

Success is rare with Jeunesse

The truth is, it's hard to find success inside any MLM.

Research has proven that between 73% and 99% of all MLM representatives lose money. 

From some simple maths and dissecting the confusing income disclosure from 2014, you can see that 98.8% of all members made less than $2,000 for the year.

Later on in this Jeunesse review, I will show you why it costs at least $1,309.90- $3,409.90 per year to "remain active". 

So it's safe to say that at least 98% of all distributors lose money inside Jeunesse.

How does Jeunesse Work?

Jeunesse offers a range of beauty and nutritional products. 

But instead of spending a lot of money on advertising and marketing they get everyday people to sell their products and recruit more people into the MLM business. 

In return these "distributors" can get paid for working from home.

In theory, it's like a win-win!

But let's find out who really wins shall we? (hint- it's the owners!)

Jeunesse products

If you are serious about joining any MLM, then it's vital to understand more about the products they offer. 

Jeunesse sells a range of nutritional supplements and anti aging products like creams and gels.

Here are some of their main products:

• Luminesce ($44.95 ~ $137.95) - Skincare products to help restore luminosity, firmness & smoother skin
• Instantly Ageless ($74.95) - Facial cream to hide eye bags, fine lines, wrinkles & pores for 6-9 hours
• NV (Stands for "Envy") ($55.95) - Mist facial spray 
• AM & PM Essentials ($139.95) - Multivitamin supplements
• RESERVE ($137.95) - Antioxidant fruit juice
• FINITI ($144.95 ~ $289.95) - Another supplement
• ZEN Bodi ($21.95 ~ $399.95) - Health drink 
• M1ND ($137.95) - Supplement to support memory and reduce mental distraction
• MONAVIE ($175) - Health drink 
• Naara ($41.95) - Collagen drink
• NEVO ($71.95) - Energy drink with no artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners

It's important to be aware that there are thousands of brands that offer a similar range of products. There are also hundreds of MLMs that offer a similar thing such as:

So what makes Jeunesse stand out?...

Jeunesse Instantly Ageless- flagship product

Their flagship product is really the Instantly Ageless eye-bag remover cream (the video below is pretty cool!) There is also a real focus on helping people look and feel younger as you can see in the diagram below...

But I know what you're thinking... it's still quite similar to other products that are out there. 

So the only way to really know how good the products are is to try them yourself. Or do what most people do and check out the reviews about them...

Overall there are pretty positive Jeunesse reviews online, which is a great sign! 

We'll dig into this in more detail later, but for now you can see how the "instantly ageless" eye cream works in a real time 90 second demo below...

Can you make money with Jeunesse?

You've already seen that over 98% of Jeunesse distributors lose money. So it's clearly not an easy task to make money as a distributor. 

But what do those unicorns that do make money do?

Can you really set up a "residual income" with part time work?

The short answer is no. 

The real money in this company is made from extroverted people who use social media to advertise Jeunesse products. They sell the dream of "being your own boss" to people and then spend most of their time on Zoom calls with their "downline". 

The most successful distributors are really a full time "sales manager". 

They encourage their "team" to sell and recruit more so it gives them bigger bonuses. But the majority of  their "team" will actually end up losing money and buying the products  themselves to remain active. 

How to make money with Jeunesse

There's really only 2 ways to make money as a Jeunesse distributor:

1. Sell products
2. Recruit people (and earn bonuses from their sales)

This is pretty standard for all MLMs and the reason they are not shut down by the FTC is because you won't get "paid directly" for recruiting someone. You just get bonuses from the sales they make. 

Notice the difference?

How much does it cost to join Jeunesse?

It costs $29.95-$49.95 for the starter pack...

But you will also be "encouraged" to purchase a "product pack" for $199.95-$2,299.95. They come with a range of products for you to try or sell on. 

But the costs do not stop there...

Jeunesse monthly cost

To "remain active" you need to sell 60PV (personal volume) points every month...

So you will actually also be "encouraged" to purchase a "monthly autoship" for 60 PV. Because if you can't sell 60PV in a month your account will be suspended. In reality, that means setting up a standing order for a product that costs around $90.

This means the minimum expenses you need to allow for your first year are:

• $29.95
• $199.95-$2,299.95
• $90 x 12

Total cost for 1 year = $1,309.90- $3,409.90

And this is without including additional costs for training, marketing or postage and packaging. It's obviously much less than running a bricks and mortar business like a restaurant, but it's certainly more than $30!

Jeunesse compensation plan

For some reason MLMs love to make their compensation plan harder to understand than a drunk Scotsman. And Jeunesse is no different!

So I will do my best to keep this simple.

There are 7 ways that Jeunesse will pay you...

1. Retail profit (up to 35%)
2. New customer acquisition bonus ($25-$250 depending on their product package purchase)
3. Team commission (bonuses when you have two "legs" aka recruits that accumulate 100 PV per month)
4. Leadership matching bonus (5-20% bonus on sales your downline make)
5. Customer acquisition incentive (5% additional bonus on recruits product pack purchase if you have 5 regular customers, 10% if you have 10 regular customers)
6. Diamond bonus pool (share 3% of total sales in Jeunesse when you reach Diamond rank)
7. Lifestyle rewards (incentive trips if you reach certain ranks/ quotas) 

Do not worry if you are still confused by all of that! They use weird acronyms and complicated terms to make it seem like there's loads of ways to make money. 

The reality is there are only 2 things you can do:

1. Sell products
2. Recruit people

And do you notice that 6 out of 7 ways to get paid require you to recruit people?

#justsaying

Anyway, you can learn more about the compensation plan in the 14 minute video below if you'd like to get your head around it a bit more...

Or you can find the full 10 page Jeunesse compensation plan here. 

Is Jeunesse a scam?

No!

Jeunesse is technically not a scam. 

They sell legit products and pay you like they say they will. 

But too many people join without really understanding what they need to do to make money. They try it for a year or two, lose money and then point the finger at the company.

The rest of this Jeunesse review will expose the hidden truths so that you can make an informed decision if it's right for you or not...

Common positive reviews

Here are some of the positive reviews we had from Trust Pilot about the job opportunity...

• "As the products as the business part are absolutely amazing! This is a such a great company and I'm super happy to be the part of it."
• "They are making my life easier and showing the perfect way 24/7 to achieve my goals."

Common negative reviews

And here are the common negative reviews...

• "Big hype around founders packs. Buy one of these and you’ll be paid as a higher rank for 6 months. Not true.
  Told it’s so easy to climb the ranks. Not true."
• "I offered to pay extra for expedited shipping. They said they would call me back. Once again, nothing and they sent my order snail mail. Wow! Not impressed."

Just to be fully transparent with you, I am not a distributor myself and I do not endorse Jeunesse 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. If you’d like to learn how to “Spot an Online Marketing Scam” then click the highlighted text.

What I like about Jeunesse

There are a couple of things that I like about Jeunesse compared to many other MLMs...

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? 

Jeunesse started in 2009 so it's safe to say that it probably won't just disappear tomorrow like many MLMs do. This is another great sign that Jeunesse isn't a scam as the FTC hasn't shut it down. 

#2 Positive product reviews

It's always good when you see real people writing positive reviews about the products...

You sometimes have to be aware that it may be distributors writing fake reviews to make the products seem great and easier to sell. But there are tons of great reviews on Facebook, Amazon and on forum sites.

However, are all the reviews good about Jeunesse?...

What I don't like about Jeunesse

These are the hidden truths that you won't find directly on Jeunesse's website or from the person who introduced you to the company...

#1 Expensive products

If a MLM has overpriced products it's a red flag that the company is a pyramid scheme in disguise. 

It's a clear signal that the company focused on recruiting rather than selling good affordable products...

• Jeunesse Daily Moisturiser-  $59.95/ Fl Oz
• Highly rated Amazon moisturisers- $0.66- $3.25/ Fl Oz

Seriously, why would anyone spend more than 10 times on a very similar product? And there are people who try to warn others about this too...

So who does buy this overpriced crap?...

#2 Hidden monthly expenses

Ah yeah that's right...

Do you remember seeing that distributors need to sell 60 PV a month to "remain active"?...

The thing is to most people that makes no sense!

What the frick is PV?

When you actually dig through a distributors website and then cross reference this with the Jeunesse sales page you can work out what this means (I mean who has time for that?!)...

60 CV (or PV or MV or whateever the frick they call it) means you need to sell $87.95 worth of products EVERY month. If the distributors can't do this, they need to buy it themselves.

Here's the truth...

Jeunesse's biggest customer base is their distributors, who keep buying this stuff in the hopes they can "be their own boss" next month.

#3 Jeunesse is a pyramid scheme in disguise

If you truly undrstand those first 2 hidden truths you can understand why Jeunesse is a pyramid scheme in disguise. The only way you can avoid losing money is by recruiting some more people and "passing the buck" onto them.

And any company that has a focus on recruiting ends up looking like this..

You still don't believe me do you?

You're probably still thinking... but surely you can just sell the products and make money. 

Well, here's the hard facts from Jeunesse themselves...

#4 Only 1 in 278 earn over $16k a year

The 2014 Jeunesse income disclosure (the only one I could find... you will understand why they don't publish these anymore in a sec) spills the beans...

Once you actually do the maths that they still try to hide behind in that table above you can see  that 0.36% of all distributors earn over $16k a year. 

In simple English that means that only 1 person out of 278 made more than $16k in 2014.

Is that even enough for you and your family to live on? 

#5 Downward trend

The final nail in the coffin for Jeunesse is found on Google Trends...

Fewer people are searching for Jeunesse every month since it began. When you compare this to other MLMs like Farmasi you can see the trend is going the wrong way. 

It's far easier to sell something that people are actually looking for and Jeunesse is on the decline.

My opinion - Jeunesse

Does Jeunnesse have some good quality products? 

Yep!

Are they overpriced?

Hell yes!

What do I think of the business opportunity here?...

The simple fact is that to make good money you need to recruit a lot of people. 

And they have a 98% chance of losing money.

That's not my idea of an ethical business model in helping people. You'll need to sell the dream and then leave them to figure out these truths by themselves. 

How I make passive income online

MLMs are not scams or illegal. However, I'm not a fan of them because of the restrictions to the expensive products you have to promote.

Once I learnt about affiliate marketing, I realised it's a far superior business model because:

• You can promote anything you want and truly own the business
• You never need to sell to friends and family
• It's completely free to start

In 2018 I had no idea what affiliate marketing was.