Usana MLM Review: Can You Get Healthy and Rich With This MLM? [2021 Review]

Usana Review

The overview and rankings

What to look for in a MLM:

What is Usana?

Usana is a direct selling  Multi-Level-Marketing company founded in 1992 by Myron Wentz, a microbiologist.

It produces science-based personal care and nutritional products around the globe. It’s also one of the most popular and longest-running MLM companies.

Aside from creating their own health and wellness products, they also have an affiliate program where anyone can become a member to sell their products.

Here's a 1-minute video of what the company is all about...

Who is Myron Wentz

Myron Wentz is the founder of Usana. He is a scientist with a PhD in immunology and microbiology.

Unlike other MLM founders, Wentz isn’t a full-blown salesman who just wants to make money. Instead, he created scientifically innovative products that are now sold by his company, Usana.

He works with a team of scientists who are continuously researching and developing new products to improve human health.

He even established medical centers in Uganda and Cambodia, which led him to being recognized as one of the most outstanding humanitarian philanthropists.

He was also awarded the Albert Einstein Award for his many achievements in life sciences.

Is Usana a pyramid scheme?

Nope, Usana is not a pyramid scheme.

Why? It’s because members can make money by selling their nutritional supplements and skincare products without having to recruit people.

But a better question to that is… Is Usana a pyramid scheme in disguise?

What is a pyramid scheme?

A company that pays members for recruiting people into the company instead of selling actual products and services.

Many countries have banned businesses having this structure because not everyone can make money inside a company that only pays people to recruit.

Check out this Wikipedia diagram to understand it more...

What’s more is that the very few ones that make money inside a company need to recruit lots and lots of people and sell them the idea of getting this once in a lifetime business opportunity.

Looking at the diagram above, it’s very clear that this system is unsustainable because you’d eventually run out of people you can recruit.

Here’s a 5-minute video below to help you spot these pyramid schemes in disguise...

Success is rare with Usana

Know that you’ll have a hard time achieving success in Usana, or any other MLM company in this matter.

Did you know that around 96.74% of Usana members lose money?

This is because MLMs have these so-called sales quotas that force members to sell a certain amount of products each month to stay active and be eligible to receive commissions.

If they can’t, then they have to buy their own products just to stay active. What’s worse is that many members lost hundreds and even thousands of dollars from their own pockets before they can recruit a single person.

We’re going to dig deeper into the Usana income disclosure later.

How does Usana Work?

Usana is a multinational MLM corporation selling various health and nutritional supplements.

They also offer regular people the opportunity to work from home by becoming affiliate members and selling their products to receive commissions.

It’s obviously a win-win in theory… Usana also saves tons of cash on marketing costs because they just let their members do all the hard work and promote the products of the company.

Before we see if this is really the case, let’s first learn more about...

Usana products

If you are really interested in trying your luck in this MLM, then it’s vital that you understand deeply their products before joining.

I checked Usana’s site and found out that they divide their products into 4 different categories:

• Nutritionals
• Food & Energy
• Skincare
• Logo Merchandise
• Healthy Living

Here are their most popular products:

• Booster C600 ($40.65) - Strengthens your immune system and keeps your body alert, energetic, and healthier overall thanks to its mixture of Vitamin C and Poly C complex.

• Proflavanol C200 ($63.75) - It improves your body’s immune system  while strengthening your antioxidant protection. It comes in the form of a tablet that’s rich in Vitamin C and has a grap flavor.

• Usana WholoBio Microbiome Nutrition Bar ($43.95) - Improves your digestive system and cleanses your body from toxins and unhealthy fat. This strengthens your muscles and bones and gives you a more fit body.

Be aware that there are many other brands out there that are offering a very similar range of products.

There’s even hundreds of MLM companies that offer the same benefits that Usana have such as:

• Total Life Changes
• Zurvita
• Vemma
  
• Anovite
• CorVive
• QuiAri
• Nature's Sunshine
• Juice Plus
• Immunotec
• Juuva
• 4Life
• Carelumina

All these companies say that they are special and that they have the best natural products or scientifically proven supplements. But in reality, all of them just offer the same thing.

If that’s the case, then what makes Usana special?

USANA CellSentials - flagship product

Provides your body with the needed vitamins and minerals essential for fighting off diseases. It's priced at $59.35.

It strengthens the immune system, improves digestion, and gives you an energy boost to keep up with your day to day chores.

You can also watch this 4-minute video about UsanaCellSentials:

Sounds interesting? If so, then you might probably be thinking...

Can you make money with Usana?

It is very difficult to make money from Usana.

There might be a few who make slightly higher than minimum wage and they’re very good at sales.

They even treat it like their full-time day job. The income reports even say that hardly anyone makes commissions from Usana.

How to make money with Usana

There are 2 ways you can make money from Usana:

• Sell Usana products
• Recruit people into Usana

Note that you can only earn from the sales of your downlines and not just by recruiting them.

That’s a smart way for Usana and any other MLM to save themselves from being called a pyramid scheme.

So before digging deeper into the compensation plan, let’s know...

How much does it cost to join Usana?

You have to pay a $29.95 startup fee to join Usana, as well as an annual fee of $20 to renew your subscription.

You then need to choose your business pack which includes the products you’re going to sell. These are:

• Basic Business Pack - $305.00
• Entrepreneur Pack - $625.00
• Professional Pack - $1,250.00

If you’re not willing to shell out $350 to $1,250 but still want to sell Usana products, then you need to buy at least 200 points of Usana products which costs $240.

You also need to pay $120 every month to stay active.

Usana monthly cost

According to Usana’s compensation plan, you need to sell at least 200 PV monthly, which is $200+ a month.

This means that for 1 year, you’re going to spend:

• $200 x 12
• $20
• $29.95
• $305 to $1,250 x 12

Minimum costs for 1 year = $6,110 to $17,240

And that’s before you include additional costs on training materials, resources, marketing, gas, and miscellaneous expenses.

Usana compensation plan

One of the things I find funny about MLMs is that they make their compensation plans confusing and hard to understand. Usana is no different… But no worries because I’ll keep this simple…

There are 4 ways Usana will pay you as a member:

Retail Sales

Earn 12% to $20 profit from your personal retail sales.

Lifetime Matching Bonus

Earn 2.5% to 15% in bonuses for every new recruit that qualifies for the Usana pacesetter program. You also need to be a platinum pacesetter for your downlines to qualify.

Leadership Bonus

All members who have a rank of Gold Director or higher can receive 3% of total commissionable sales volume for the month.

Elite Bonus

The top 40 income earners in Usana receive 1% of total commissionable sales volume.

Confused with all that? Don’t worry! That’s completely normal if you’re dealing with MLMs.

What these companies do is they use fancy terms and complicated names so that people will be mesmerized to see lots of ways to make money.

When in reality, there are just 2 things you can do:

• Sell Usana products
• Recruit members into Usana

Nonetheless, you can learn more about their compensation plan in this 11-minute video…

Or you can find the full compensation plan here. 

Is Usana a scam?

Usana is not a scam. The company sells legit and scientifically-proven products.

They also pay their members exactly as they say.

But the thing is, lots of members are disappointed to know that most of the things they expect are just false promises and they lose more money each month.

This is why many might call Usana a scam.

The rest of this Usana MLM review will help you see for yourself the factual truths of this company so you can make an informed decision whether this is 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 Usana

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

Do you know that just 1 out of 3 MLM companies survive their first 10 years?

Usana has been around since 1992, so that’s a great sign that it won’t disappear tomorrow compared to many MLMs. It’s also a great sign that Usana isn’t a scam because the FTC didn’t shut them down.

#2 Positive product reviews

Usana has a ton of positive product reviews.

This makes perfect sense knowing that their products are researched and developed by Dr. Myron Wentz, a microbiologist who has won numerous awards in the scientific community.

All their products are also backed by factual scientific experiments and accurate statistics.

Here are some of the reviews I found...

What I find even better is that Usana is...

#3 Trusted by World-class Athletes

World-class athletes around the globe trust Usana. In fact, there are over 2,000 professional athletes out there relying on Usana for their health and wellness supplements.

#4 Training Support

Joining Usana means that you get a full and comprehensive training support.

First off is their welcome kit which costs $29.95. It might be expensive but it’s worth it if you want to know the right way of selling Usana products.

Aside from that, there are also online and offline learning materials accompanied by live training seminars to guide you.

What I don't like about Usana

#1 Expensive products

MLMs that have expensive products is a big red flag that the company can be a “pyramid scheme in disguise.”

The focus is on recruitment instead of selling effective and affordable products...

I have compared Usana’s health supplement products to the ones I found in Amazon. And I was surprised by the huge price difference.

Here they are:

As you can see, the ones in Amazon are also from reputable brands and they’re more than 50% cheaper.

So, would you buy those overpriced stuff instead of these products which basically do the same?

#2 Hidden monthly expenses

You need to sell 200 PV a month to stay active and be eligible to receive commissions.

That to me… makes no sense!

Why do you have to maintain a sales quota in the first place? Sounds fishy, eh? Well, that’s why I call this a pyramid scheme in disguise.

200 PV means that you need to sell more than $200 worth of products every month. If not, then your subscription will be revoked and you can’t receive commissions.

Usana’s biggest customer base is their affiliate members who just keep buying their stuff hoping that they are going to get the “be your own boss” achievement.

#3 Is Usana a pyramid scheme in disguise?

If you need to spend $100 to $200 monthly to keep up with the 200 PV monthly sales quota, then there’s only one way you can avoid spending $100 to $200, and that is by recruiting people to become your downlines.

It’s just like passing the buck to them...

But at least it’s not you who have to worry, right? Well, that’s surely not a good joke, but I’m just stating facts here.

#4 Saturated market

Health companies are just everywhere. In fact, one of the most common types of MLMs are health and wellness companies.

It’s hard to sell Usana’s products if there are already a lot of competitors out there...

#5 1 in 300 members earn over $16k a year

What’s more is that only 0.2% earn an average of $100,000 per year…

Also, 97% of all members only earn a maximum of $2,000 monthly.

My opinion - Usana

Usana is surely one of the most popular and successful MLM companies because they sell scientifically-proven health and wellness products.

But how do I see the business opportunity here?...

The only way you can make money is by getting lots of people into the company and becoming your downline and motivating them to sell and sell and sell for them to stay active.

What then happens is that they lose money instead of make money from Usana.

For sure, that doesn’t sound like an ethical business 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.