When you visit the Amway website, you could not really tell what is it that they do – if you have never heard of them. But you could tell that it is a company that claims to be able to improve your life.
However, if you Google the name of the company – the first thing you will get is that it is an MLM company.
What surprised me, even more, is that I was able to find a link leading to Amway’s “Start Your Own Business” rather than to some of their product pages.
Amway has been around for quite a long time now and yet not everyone knows about it. But what is Amway, what do they do, and how can they help you start your own business?
These are just some of the questions that I will be answering in this review post – so keep on reading. I are starting off with more information on the company!
About Amway
Amway is a multi-level marketing company that sells beauty, home care, and health products. They really did their best to pack the three most common MLM industries into only one MLM company.
They specialize in three earlier mentioned industries, and yet they expand in each one of these in-depth.
Therefore, you can find vitamins & supplements, beauty products, personal care products, and even find energy drinks.
They feature a lot of other brands such as Nutrilite, Bodykey, Truvity, Xs, and others. I have noticed that they have many brands available by Nutrilite company.
Amway was founded in 1959 and it has even crossed $8 billion in sales just a couple of years back. With only about 16,000 employees – right next to the “Shop” in the main navigation – the next tab is “Start a Business”.
Needless to say, it is a company that is striving for the MLM business model. Down below, you can find more information about the company, but also how the company advertises to help you start your own business.
Review Details
Name: Amway
Website: Amway.com
Owners: Richard DeVos & Jay Van Andel
Price: It costs about $100 to become Amway’s Independent Business Owner
Overall Rank: 3.4 out of 5.0
Amway is a company that promotes other brands and companies (both small and large) in a couple of different industries that are well-tied together.
You can find anything for your home, for your health, personal hygiene, or even nutrition. It is the world’s largest direct selling company and it makes billions of dollars annually.
They invest in product innovation, but they also ensure that they only promote high-quality products from all of the companies they work with.
Main four product categories are:
- Nutrition
- Beauty
- Personal Care
- Home
But every one of these categories goes way more in-depth so you can find specific items that you would usually go to your local store for.
For example, nutrition product category includes sub-categories such as:
- Energy drinks
- Sports nutrition
- Vitamins and supplements
- Weight management
It is pretty easy to find your way around their website as each category is well organized, and you are only a couple of clicks away from finding what you are truly looking for.
But if you are there just to browse – you could spend hours browsing 100’s of products they have available on their store.
With a high number of brands and companies, I believe that there is something for everyone. And I also believe that this is great for Amway’s independent business owners (everyone who joins their MLM program).
Down below, you can find more information on Amway’s MLM program, how it works, what you can expect, and whether it is worth your time and paying the joining fee, so keep on reading!
Amway Tools & Training
When you click on the “Start Your Business” tab which is the second tab in Amway’s menu – you get to the landing page that teaches you how you can start your own business with the help of Amway.
If only starting a business was this easy and you could get the guidance from companies that made billions in sales, right?
They explain how you can be in the business, but never be on your own – as you will always be tied to Amway and have their tools & support.
The whole thing behind starting your own business is to make money with Amway by selling their products and earning a commission on every sale you make.
The opportunity is basically the ability to promote & sell all of the products available on Amway by earning a retail margin and then you can receive bonuses from Amway as your business grows.
I like how their landing page clearly shows what the program is about, how you can make money, what type of training and support you get, but they also touch on the products and their quality.
The first thing you see on the landing page is it has a button “Watch Video” which walks you through the education, courses and support you will be getting if you join.
Amway has its own education center which you can overview before joining. Along with education, they also have tools that will help you manage your business.
It is all well connected, and lastly – they also have the appropriate support for everyone who joins their program.
So, for a one-time joining fee of about $100, you get the education, training, tools, and all of their products available for you to order and sell.
In theory, it looks great – but is it a solid system, and can you actually make money?
Amway is not promising to turn your life around, help you work from exotic locations or anything like that. In fact, they only tell you that you can earn extra income by starting your own business with their help.
Back in 1979, FTC (Federal Trade Commission) reviewed Amway and found that Amway is not illegal and it is not a pyramid scheme as there is both recruiting and sale of the products as a way of making income by joining their MLM program.
However, not many people like to purchase from people that joined Amway MLM because almost all Amway independent business owners try to recruit others.
Therefore, I believe that the focus from the core product is shifted way more towards recruiting which makes this MLM program a bit inefficient.
Not only people understand how Amway and their MLM program work – but not everyone is a big fan of the products they promote either. Why?
Their products tend to be a bit overpriced. Even though the quality is there – products of similar quality can easily be purchased with other companies that do not inflate the prices only to keep their MLM program running.
Amway Support
If you eventually decide to join Amway’s program to become an independent business owner with the help of their training and tools – you will be able to get their support.
But everyone is wondering how efficient their support is, right?
Amway’s support is relatively decent and judging the quality of their landing page – you will have 
plenty of support. Whether it is pre-written answers to commonly asked questions, or it is a customer service agent – you will never feel like you are stuck with their MLM program.
Amway has commercial-like videos that tend to let you know more about the support, training, and system on the inside. This is not that bad – but I believe that they could have personalized these videos a bit more instead of trying to make a bright commercial of their services.
Considering that you have to pay the fee upon joining, you would want to know as much information as possible before making the step.
But as I have mentioned earlier, even if you are not a member of their MLM program – you could probably ask a couple of questions. I am not sure if you would get in-depth answers – but the help is definitely there.
And in comparison, to some other MLM programs – their system and support seem to be well in place so that is at least something positive about it.
But even if you made up your mind – do not join yet. Keep on reading as I will discuss price overview and my opinion on this MLM program (or start your own business opportunity).
Product Price
You could notice how I mentioned that Amway’s products are made of high-quality, but they are a bit overpriced. And you must be wondering whether this is the case with all of the brands and products they promote, right?
Unfortunately, the prices on Amway are not cheap – but they are not the highest prices out there either. So, if you joined their MLM program, I believe that you would have to spend your time and carefully target your specific audience for selling the products versus recruiting potential members.
But even if you did that – some people still might go on and compare their available choices. This would lead to them finding out a lot of quality products at relatively cheaper prices resulting in no sale for you.
The price to join the Amway MLM program is definitely higher than most other MLM programs out there. It is the payment of about $100 which covers the training materials, marketing materials, customer service, mobile business management tools, and a “virtual office”.
So basically, you are paying for everything they offer to new business owners. Even though they package it as a helpful service to everyone who wants to start their own business – I should not forget that this is an MLM program and it is the price to join an MLM program after all.
On the bright side, this payment is refundable within the 60-80 days of joining, if you believe that Amway is not right for you. However, I feel like that time frame is quite generous and there must be something hidden in the fine print, so I highly recommend you reading the term of service!
Lastly, I stumbled upon research that shows how only about 0.3% of Amway members make any profit – while others are most likely losing money, especially considering the up-front payment fee.
But there are more fees to cover than just the up-front payment fee. You will have to purchase the products and then sell them for profit which can also be tricky – and I have even noticed that Amway advises their members to replace as many products they own with Amway products too.
This is a typical way of an MLM company making money for themselves and Amway is slowly showing all the negative sides.
After all, there are many better ways to start your own online business, there are many free tools to get started with, and the unlimited free training is all around you, especially on the internet.
So, do I think that it is worth joining the Amway program? I think that you already know the answer but keep on reading to find out!
Summary and Final Opinion
I believe that Amway is a very strategical company and they are really smart for putting all of the brands together and positioning themselves as the direct seller.
MLM program that is disguised as an opportunity to start your own business with a higher cost that is explained as the payment for the tools, training, and benefits you will be getting in return.
However, you should not forget that this is an MLM program after all. And like all other programs, Amway’s program includes parts of MLM that worry me a bit.
The main issue is recruiting. If you were taught by a company to start your own business by working with them, and then they told you to recruit other people for their company – what would you say?
If there was no recruiting part – this might be one of the greatest MLM programs out there. Unfortunately, I believe that there is a lot of hard work for the payment that is not promised and the business that might not work out as described in the training.
What do you think about Amway products? Do you know anyone who joined their MLM program? I would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your comments and questions in the section below and I will be happy to respond.
All the best,
Barbara
Founder/Creator: Living On Lean Means💰
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