Is Touchstone Essentials a Scam? Analyzing This CBD MLM’s Business Opportunity

Touchstone Essentials Review

The overview and rankings

What to look for in a MLM:

What is Touchstone Essentials?

Touchstone Essentials is a Multi-Level-Marketing company that manufactures CBD products that target the health of consumers.

It was founded back in 2012 by Norwood Eddie Stone, a successful entrepreneur who believes that the key to healthy living is by tapping into the natural resources such as CBD.

Not much is known about the background and history of the company. But it’s known that their main goal is to use natural resources in the best way possible especially if it’s about improving one’s health.

They do this by producing CBD-infused products that target various common health conditions.

As of now, Touchstone Essentials is one of the most established CBD MLM companies in the market. And they plan to further expand their operations in the years to come.

Check out this 2-minute video that will help you learn more about the company...

Let us then know...

Is Touchstone Essentials a pyramid scheme?

Nope, Touchstone Essentials is not a pyramid scheme.

I can say this with utmost confidence because they are selling effective and healthy CBD products that they manufacture.

Their affiliate program also pays members accordingly. But even if it is not an obvious and clear pyramid scheme, it’s still worth asking… Is Touchstone Essentials a pyramid scheme in disguise?

What is a pyramid scheme?

A pyramid scheme commonly comes in the form of a company or organization that functions by paying members for recruiting people.

This becomes the sole focus instead of selling actual products and services just like what a normal business would do.

Because of this, many governments from across the globe have already banned these companies and organizations because it’s just impossible for their members to earn money just by means of recruitment.

See this Wikipedia diagram for further reference...

Members who make the most money are extroverted guys who do nothing but just aggressively recruit as many people they can just to join the business opportunity.

But if you were to look closely in the diagram, you can easily and clearly see that they have no way of making long-term income from a system such as this as they are going to run out of potential recruits any time soon.

Here is a 5-minute video that talks about how you can spot a pyramid scheme in disguise...

But why do many members say...

Success is rare with Touchstone Essentials

It is hard to be successful when you are with an MLM company just like Touchstone Essentials.

Little do people know that between 72.5% and 99.9% of MLM members lose money.

The sales quota is to blame for this because members can only stay active and receive the commissions if they manage to reach the quota and sell the minimum amount of products.

If they fail to do this, then they have no other choice but to just buy the products that they are supposed to sell for themselves.

This then leads to members spending huge money from their own savings before they can recruit their very first member...

How does Touchstone Essentials Work?

Touchstone Essentials sells CBD products in the form of vitamins, nutritional capsules, and dietary supplements.

The company offers an opportunity of working at home by selling the products they produce. These members can then earn commissions and bonuses...

It’s a win-win in theory. But in practice? Not really. This is because Touchstone Essentials does this just to save huge money from their supposed marketing campaigns.

It’s just their members who do all of the hard work because they market and advertise the company’s products by themselves.

Touchstone Essentials products

First of all, it’s vital that you know the products Touchstone Essentials is selling. This way, you can prepare yourself if ever you do manage and insist in becoming one of their members.

Here are a few of Touchstone Essentials’ best-selling products:

• Green Energy ($47) - A nutritional supplement that is in the form of a capsule. This boosts your energy levels with the help of proteolytic enzymes and organic green tea. It also helps relieve body and joint aches. A container contains 60 capsules that is good for 30 days.
• Organic Super Protein ($59) - A protein shake that helps you build muscle mass. It consists of complete superfoods, essential vitamins and nutrients, and organic plant proteins that are rich in BCAA.
• Detox Super Pack ($166) - A detox supplement packed with Vitamin D that helps flush out toxins and chemicals from your body. This also boosts your immune system.

It is important to realise that the CBD MLM market is already very saturated. There are tons of companies that offer a very similar product line such as:

• HealX Nutrition
• My Daily Choice
• Emris International
  
• Bocannaco
• Hempworx
• Kannaway
• CTFO
• Zilis
• hempSMART

This will make it harder to sell these products as there are a lot of companies trying to sell the same thing. 

So what makes Touchstone Essentials different?

Touchstone Essentials flagship product

Transform Pack ($179) - A product bundle that includes their Organic Super Protein, Super Green Juice, and Boost Focus products.

This bundle is meant to provide an all-around nutritional supplement to improve your immune system, energy levels, and muscle and bone buildup.

You might want to know more about their products by watching this 30-second video:

So, does this mean...

Can you make money with Touchstone Essentials?

Yes, you can make money from Touchstone Essentials. But it’s difficult.

First off, is that the few people who manage to make a few bucks are extroverts who exhaust their energies in recruiting as many people as they can even if they already sound funny.

Second is that the amount of money they make can be compared to minimum wage.

What’s worse is that most of the time, it’s even lower than minimum wage!

Touchstone Essentials doesn’t even have an income disclosure for other people to see if their members really do make money.

How to make money with Touchstone Essentials

To make money from this MLM, you need to do these 2 things:

• Sell their CBD products
• Recruit members into this CBD company

But you can only get bonuses from the sales of your recruited downline members and not from just recruiting them.

How much does it cost to join Touchstone Essentials?

You must pay $20 for the annual subscription fee.

And aside from that, you also have to buy a starter pack that comes in 3 different options:

• Detox Super Pack ($130)
• Transform Pack ($150)
• Advantage Pack ($660)

The best choice here is the most expensive one because you get bigger discounts on this and get more products.

Plus, the bonuses that come with it are also higher.

Touchstone Essentials monthly cost

Members must maintain 100 PV monthly to stay active. And staying active means receiving bonuses and commissions.

Here are the costs you are going to get in your first year…

• $20
• $130 to $660
• $100 x 12

Minimum costs for year 1 = $1,350 to $1,880

Note, though, that the costs for training, marketing, gasoline, and many more, are not yet included there.

So that means you are going to spend way more than what is stated here...

Touchstone Essentials compensation plan

MLM companies always have complicated compensation plans that just confuse members and wannabe members.

That’s no different with Touchstone Essentials because they also have one confusing compensation plan. But I’ll simplify them for you...

Touchstone Essentials offers 5 main different ways for members to make money:

• Residual Commissions - Earn 5% to 7% commission from your downline sales. This is going to depend on their rank and level.
• Retail Sales - Earn 10% to 20% commission every time you sell a product.
• Referral Bonus - Earn 5% to 25% commission once your recruited member buys their first product pack. This depends on your rank and level.
• Team Builder Bonus - Get $150, $300, or $600 if you get promoted to regional manager, national manager, or director, respectively.
• Star Bonus Program - Earn a $500 to $75,000, or even a Tesla Model S if you reach massive quotas. This only applies to executive levels.

For sure you are still confused. But that is very much normal for MLMs.

MLM companies use weird acronyms and fancy terms so members will think that they are legit and offer a load of ways for them to make money.

Even if there are just 2 things members really need to do, and these are:

• Sell CBD products
• Recruit members to sell CBD products

Here is an 11-minute video in case you want to dig deeper into their compensation plan...

Or you can find the full compensation plan here. 

Is Touchstone Essentials a scam?

Touchstone Essentials isn’t a scam. The company sells healthy and proven CBD products. And they pay members as what is stated in their deal.

However, most members are annoyed with the fact that they don’t earn enough money and they even lose money because of sales quotas. Hence, they resort to calling the company a scam.

But the next section of this unbiased and accurate review will reveal more facts so you can see for yourself the surprising stuff about this company and if it’s for you 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 Touchstone Essentials

Key Terms:

• Pyramid Scheme – recruits members via a promise for payment from recruiting others into the company 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 Positive product reviews

The nice thing I like about Touchstone Essentials is that they have a lot of satisfied customers:

The screenshots above show a few customers that are happy with their products because they are effective and healthy.

This shows that you can actually sell them because they are proven effective.

#2 Established reputation

The average lifespan of MLMs is 5 years.

But Touchstone Essentials went past that because they started operating in 2012. That’s a full 8 years of continuous operations.

This means that the chances that the company will shut down anytime soon is very low...

What I don't like about Touchstone Essentials

#1 Expensive products

Touchstone Essentials sells expensive and overpriced CBD products.

Just take a look at some of the other brands in the market:

As you can see, they are way cheaper and also have high ratings.

This shows that there is a huge likelihood that customers are going to choose other brands over the products being sold by Touchstone Essentials because they are expensive.

#2 Saturated market

The CBD market is already very saturated because there are a lot of other MLM companies out there that sell CBD products.

In fact, this, along with health and wellness products are among the most common MLM companies.

This means that you have to compete with all of the other brands, which is basically just difficult for you.

#3 No income disclosure

MLMs must have an income disclosure to prove that their members make money.

But there’s none in Touchstone Essential’s case.

Maybe their members don’t make enough money and the company doesn't want others to know about it, or they just don’t care if they don’t have one.

#4 Hidden monthly expenses

Members should sell 100 PV monthly for them to retain their active status.

Doing so, then lets them avail the commissions and bonuses. Selling 100 PV also means selling at least $100 worth of products monthly.

If you cannot do this, then you buy them yourself. That’s if you still want to become an active member and get the commissions.

A fact that MLMs don’t want their members to know is that their members are considered as their biggest market because they always buy their stuff in the hope of making lots of money.

#5 Is Touchstone Essentials a pyramid scheme in disguise?

Members are most likely going to spend $100 a month just to stay active. However, they can avoid that by recruiting members.

Here is how their system works…

This saves them the hassle and burden because they will then just wait for their downline members to sell the products and get passive commission from them.

With this, it’s not hard to see that the only and legit way to stay active is by means of recruitment.

Hence, Touchstone Essentials is surely a pyramid scheme in disguise...

#6 Downward trend

I always refer to Google Trends whenever I do MLM reviews. This way, I’ll see if the company is actually popular and interests a lot of people.

Here is what Google Trends say about them…

As you can see, the trend is going down fast.

This shows that Touchstone Essentials is not anymore popular because fewer people are searching for them.

This also means that it is going to be hard to sell them...

My opinion - Touchstone Essentials

Touchstone Essentials is a legit and legal company that sells healthy and effective CBD products.

Many attest to the effectiveness of their products as well.

But they are overpriced and their business opportunity is...

The only way to make money is by recruitment. And you do this even if you know that the recruited members are just going to lose money.

This just is not right because you sell the dream of financial prosperity and freedom even if you know this is not the case.

There are a number of other better business opportunities out there that can help you make good money...

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.