Is Reliv International a Scam? Another Health MLM Pyramid Scheme?

Reliv International Review

The overview and rankings

Products (Including Pricing): 20/100 ($59 to $120)

Success Stories: 30/100

Price To Join MLM: $100 to $1,000

What to look for in a MLM:

What is Reliv International?

Reliv International is  Multi-Level-Marketing company that sells health and wellness products in the form of weight loss, dietary, and nutritional supplements.

Their aim is to help people become healthier by getting the right nutrition from vitamins and minerals. They also sell hemp-based products.

The company was founded by Robert Montgomery in St. Louis, Chesterfield, in 1988. Reliv currently has more than 40,000 distributors around the globe.

Who Is Robert Montgomery?

Robert Montgomery is an entrepreneur who started Reliv International at just 23-years-old.

I did some thorough research about his educational background and work experiences, but there’s hardly enough info I can find apart from the fact that Reliv is his first business venture.

Here's a 4-minute video talking about what Reliv really is...

But you sure are smart enough to know that it's another sales video, right? So...

Is Reliv International a pyramid scheme?

No, Reliv International is not a pyramid scheme.

Members can make money from the MLM company without recruiting anyone.

They just have to sell their products and promote to as many people as possible. If Reliv isn’t a pyramid scheme, then what is it?

Well, a more fitting question to that is… Is Reliv International a pyramid scheme in disguise?

What is a pyramid scheme?

A company which promises members payment for recruiting people to join the company instead of selling actual products or services.

Pyramid schemes are illegal in many countries because not everyone can make money inside this company that’s only paying its members to recruit.

Here’s a clear Wikipedia diagram that explains why...

The very few that make money are extroverted people who keep promoting the company’s offerings to every person they meet day and night while selling the idea of “becoming your own boss.”

But based on the diagram, it’s very clear that it’s just impossible for you to make money inside a company with a structure like this because you’ll eventually run out of people to recruit.

Here is a 5-minute video explaining how you can spot companies which are “pyramid schemes in disguise.”

You surely don't want to be a part of that. So...

Success is rare with Reliv International

It is hard to achieve success in Reliv International or any other MLM in general.

Note that between 72.5% and 99.9% of MLM members lose money.

This happens because of this so-called “sales quota!” This means that members will only stay active and be eligible to receive commissions if they sell a certain amount of company products each month.

If they don’t, then they have to buy the products themselves just to stay active.

This leads to many members losing hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each month even before they recruit a single person.

We’ll dig into the Reliv International income disclosure later in this review...

How does Reliv International Work?

Reliv International sells health and wellness products like anti-aging, weight loss, and CBD-based products.

Aside from that, the company also offers everyday people an opportunity to work from their home by selling their products and receiving commission from the sales and downlines later on as long as they meet the minimum sales quota of 50 PV per month.

It’s like win-win in theory, right?

But the catch is… Reliv International saves tons of cash because they have to ditch their entire marketing campaign entirely as they just let their members do it for them!

Before digging more into that, let’s find out more about...

Reliv International products

If you’re really motivated to try out your luck in these MLMs, it’s important that you first understand what the company is selling.

It’s even better if you try the products yourself first! But if not, then you can just learn more about their benefits and price.

Don’t worry because I’ve prepared them below...

Reliv International is a health company that sells a range of wellness products aimed at helping people live a healthier lifestyle.

Most of their products are in the anti-aging and weight loss markets. However, they also expanded their offerings to CBD-based products and nutritional supplements for kids.

Here are some of their most popular products:

• Fit3 Active ($75) - A protein shake that helps you lose weight and gain an energy boost to keep you active. It’s free from whey and soy.

• ReversAge ($55) - It’s an anti-aging supplement that gets rid of wrinkles and dark spots while strengthening your muscles and bones. In short, it combats the signs of aging.

• RLV Hemp Balm ($130) - Relieves muscle and joint pains. It also helps get rid of skin irritations.

• Reliv Defense ($68) - It strengthens your immune system thanks to its beta glucan and tinofend and reishi mushroom extracts.

Take note that there are thousands of other brands that are offering a very similar range of products out there.

What’s more is that there are also hundreds of MLMs offering a similar thing. Some of these companies are:

• Max International
• Arbonne
  
• Beachbody
• Univera
  
• Genesis Pure
• American Dream Nutrition 
  
• Trivita 
• Yoli
• Vivo

All of them claim to be special and that they stand out with purely natural and scientifically-proven products. When in fact, they’re just offering the same thing over and over again…

So, if that’s the case, then what makes Reliv International stand out?

Reliv Classic - flagship product

($59)

Reliv Classic is the company’s flagship product. It’s made up of a mix of minerals, vitamins, herbs, and amino acids, that give you the needed energy boost to keep up with your day-to-day activities.

It also strengthens your immune system while giving you a healthier heart.

Here’s a 1-minute video just to get yourself familiar with their offerings…

If that's the case then...

Can you make money with Reliv International?

I’ll tell you frankly… it is very hard to make money from Reliv International.

There might be a few people that do, but they’re just making slightly above minimum wage, mostly even lower!

To make things worse, they’re working like a full-time sales manager ‘round the clock…

Who wants to be in that position anyway?

How to make money with Reliv International

There are 2 ways that you can earn from Reliv International:

• Sell their products to earn commissions
• Recruit people into the MLM

Note that you don’t earn bonuses by merely recruiting them. That’s Reliv’s “trick” that keeps them from being labeled as a pyramid scheme… Ingenious, I should say.

So, before diving into their compensation plan, let’s learn...

How much does it cost to join Reliv International?

You’ll spend $100 to join Reliv International. But that doesn’t include anything apart from just being a member of the company. After paying the joining fee, you then have to buy a starter pack.

These packs vary in price from $100 to $1,500, depending on the inclusions.

Here’s a closer look at their subscription page…

Here's also a table showing how much their members are really earning (or spending):

You'll see that around 85% of members make only an average of $100 yearly. The highest earnings is also just a minuscule $2,267 annually.

The other 10% then makes only $1,500 to $6,000 annually, while the remaining 5% makes $52,000 annually.

This means that joining Reliv International is most likely going to lead you to lose money...

Reliv International compensation plan

I find it funny to think that most, if not all MLM companies make their compensation plans confusing and hard to understand.

Reliv International is no different! So, I’ll do my best to keep things simple and easy to understand…

There are 4 ways you’ll get paid by Reliv International:

Retail Commision

Get a 20% to 40% discount every time you purchase a product from Reliv.

That’s if you're an affiliate member. You can then sell these products at retail price, thus earning you a commission.

Override Commission

Earn 2% to 8% commissions from overrides.

But take note that this is just eligible for those in the Master Affiliate ranks and higher. You’ll also get paid up to 5 levels deep on your downlines.

Wholesale Profit

Get a 5% to 20% wholesale profit on any volume purchased by the retail distributor.

You can avail this incentive by sponsoring a newly recruited retail distributor.

Ambassador Program

Receive 4.5% of the total sales volume of the top Reliv distributors.

This figure might change based on the sales volume that your downline generates and how many members you have sponsored.

Yes, I know, you’re confused with all that! That’s not surprising, though, because that’s completely normal with MLMs.

They just love to use weird acronyms and fancy terms to make it seem like there are lots of ways you can make money from them.

When in fact, there are just 2 things to do:

• Sell products
• Recruit people

You also have noticed that all of those ways require you to recruit people in one way or another. Maybe not directly, but they still motivate you to recruit as much as possible.

Anyways, you can learn more about their compensation plan in the 4-minute video below...

Or you can find the full compensation plan here. 

Is Reliv International a scam?

No, Reliv International is not a scam. The company is selling legit products and pays their members exactly as they say.

But the thing is… many members are disappointed to know that the “be your own boss” experience, which their recruiters are trying to promote, is just a false promise.

They’ll also realize that the claims are just misleading and that they’re losing money in the long run…

This is why some might call Reliv International a scam.

The remainder of this review will help you  open your eyes to see the hidden truths of this MLM so that you can make an informed decision if it’s worth your try or not…

Just to be fully transparent with you, I am not a distributor myself and I do not endorse it 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 Reliv International

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 30% of MLMs survive the first 10 years?

If that’s the case then Reliv sure did a good job in maintaining their company as they’ve been operational since 1988.

That’s more than 32 years!

The FTC also hasn’t shut it down, so that’s a good sign that this company is legit and abides by the rules.

#2 Positive product reviews

I did some thorough research on the products Reliv International is selling and I’m glad to see that they’ve got a lot of positive reviews.

Here are some of them…

As you can see, their products have real health benefits and they do make a difference...

What I don't like about Reliv International

#1 Expensive products

If an MLM has overpriced products, then that’s a clear red flag that the company is a “pyramid scheme in disguise.”

Instead of selling nice and affordable products, they’re focusing more on recruitment!

I wanted to see if this is really the case, and I’m surprised to see the price difference between Reliv’s $50 to $150 health products compared to other brands that have a price of around $18 to $27 that offer similar benefits.

Check these out:

This is completely normal for MLMs because they offer the same thing but for an insanely expensive price!

So, who the heck wants to buy these overpriced stuff?

#2 Hidden monthly expenses

Here’s another con you should take note of…

Do you remember seeing that members must sell 50 PV monthly to “stay active?” That to me (and surely to many of you) just makes no sense.

50 PV per month means that you must sell more than $90 worth of products every single month. If you can’t, then you need to buy them yourself.

Here's what I found on their official income disclosure...

Here’s the ugly truth… Reliv’s biggest clientele is their members who keep buying their products hoping that they can “be their own boss” as soon as possible.

#3 Is Reliv International a pyramid scheme in disguise?

If you must continuously spend more than $80 monthly to stay active, then there’s just one way to avoid losing that money…

And that’s by recruiting people under you.

Here’s what it really looks like:

You can then guarantee that they must keep on selling over $80 worth of products monthly to earn… That doesn’t sound right to me, or you, eh?

#4 Saturated market

There are loads of health and wellness companies out there selling nutritional supplements that “slows down” the aging process, helps lose weight, and improves health.

It’s just hard to sell products that if there are lots of competitors out there, which unfortunately, are more popular and established than Reliv International...

#5 Downward trend

The final deal breaker for me is what I found in Google Trends…

The number of people who are searching for Reliv International is becoming smaller.

What’s worse is that the figures are very volatile as they keep going up and down. It’s easier if you’re going to sell something that many people want.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t sound like Reliv International...

My opinion - Reliv International

No doubt that Reliv International offers an array of interesting products compared to other MLMs.

But what do I think about the business opportunity here?...

The only way to make good money is by recruiting as much people as you can and saying that they need to sell and recruit to stay active and earn money.

The truth is… majority of these people are just going to lose money from Reliv International.

That doesn’t sound like an ethical business model to me...

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.