Amway Review 2021:
Is It A Pyramid Scheme? | Scam Risk
Scam Risk is here to help you protect yourself and fight back
By: Scam Risk - Expert Reviewer
What Is Amway?
Amway is a network marketing / multi level marketing company that is known for it’s home based product offerings and landmark case against pyramid schemes in 1979.
It’s another one of those making money online businesses that is centered around selling a saturated membership that supposedly makes you money by selling marked up products.
It is promoted by people who have every incentive for you to join the company or buy products from them.
It’s supposed to show you how to become a “6 figure network marketer” but most members don’t make money promoting other products.
That’s just the truth…you won’t get rich off a crappy $6 commission
And while we have to be honest for this review…
Amway does come with some very helpful information to make money online and land some massive commission checks…
However, network marketing as the business model is getting a little saturated for the average person.
At the end, you’ll find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions regarding Amway’s products and multi level marketing in general.
And most importantly, I’ll show you the exact system I used to build my own internet marketing business to over $40,000 a month in mostly passive income.
This system made me swear off network marketing for good, because it uses some of the same skills but in a much more powerful and profitable way!
But more on that later.
For now let’s hop into all things Amway!
Table of Contents
There’s no doubt about it, if there was a grandpa of the network marketing industry…
Amway would be it!
If you look at just the sheer numbers alone, no other multi level marketing company earns the amount of revenue per year that they do!
Amway Global rakes in an astounding $8.9 billion each year and has earned the title of the number one direct selling biz in the world.
Just how far ahead of the competition are they?
We’re talking $3 billion dollars ahead of Avon and Herbalife…
Wow.
Unless you’re new to being an entrepreneur…or just have happened to be living under a rock the last 60 years…Amway was/is the largest direct selling business to ever be operating.
There used to even be a point in time in which every street corner you turned was filled with Amway distributors, and it looked a little something like this:
So who exactly are these guys that have received countless billions from Americans over the years…?
Who Is Entrepreneur Richard Devos?
Richard Devos is the Co-Founder of Amway with Jay Van Andel and the company is headquartered out of Ada, Michigan.
Unfortunately, Richard Devos passed away September 6, 2018 in Ada, Michigan.
He lives on through his children Dick, Dough, Dan, and Cheri.
Richard Devos was a true visionary, being a true pioneer creating the space that many people have a love hate relationship with today.
That space we all know today as multi level marketing.
Richard and Jay Van Andel started out by selling cleaning products, following a similar model they had worked together on before.
They expanded over the decades, even going international, selling products in health, wellness, beauty, and nutrition.
After having a huge success in business practices, Devos decided to make an entry into the sports industry by purchasing the Orlando Magic for $85 million.
Today his son Dan has kept the interest in sports alive, owning the American Hockey League.
His other son Dick Devos is married to Betsy Devos who is now the current secretary of education.
Richard Devos amassed a net worth of $5.1 billion.
Amway Company
Amway now operates in over 100 countries and has over 17,000 employees. Although there have never been any official numbers released it is estimated that they have somewhere between 3 and 4 million distributors.
According to the most recent business rankings by Forbes, they have Amway listed as the 44th largest privately held company in the US as far as revenue goes.
Wow.
For a long time running now, Amway has found themselves listed in the direct selling news “Top 100 list”. Impressive to say the least!
So what does the headquarters look like?
Kidding, but the Avengers HQ could certainly pass for Amway Company!
Their headquarters is a mile long and compromised of 80 different buildings with an impressive 3.5 million square feet of commercial space.
Very impressive.
To top it all off, they even own a hotel in Grand Rapids called the Amway Grand Plaza…so how did they get started?
Full Amway Review
Amway was founded in 1959 by Richard Devos and Jan Van Andel who were friends way before they got started in business.
You’re probably thinking wow…1959 is a full decade before we landed on the moon! (or did we?)
Anyway here are a couple things that will put their age into perspective for ya:
- Amazon wasn’t even an idea yet
- Mattel had just made the first barbie doll
- Alaska became a part of the US!
But get this…Rich and Jay go back even further!
Nearly 10 years before that the two had started to sell nutritional products under the company called Nutrilite.
Their claim to fame was offering the very first multi-vitamin in the US.
Once the two guys saw just how great this direct selling game was working out for them, they quickly became some of the companies top distributors.
Richard and Jay were absolutely in love with the companies idea of giving out commissions to them when people they introduced made sales as well.
This was known as network marketing / multi level marketing.
After they had amassed a team of 5,000 distributors, they decided to break away from Nutrilite (along with their 5,000 distributors) and start their own company.
The company they started was called American Way, known today as Amway, and they had expanded their product line into household items.
That is how the legend began…
Devos and Van Andel had the first order business was buying the rights to a certain type of product…
But what would they choose?
They went with a household cleaner that would later become recognized world wide as “Frisk” however, for an unknown reason it changed over to the “Legacy of clean”.
For a long time these were the main products on Amway’s line alongside the Nutrilite multi vitamins the company later acquired.
They would become popular amongst people looking to make money for themselves because Amway offered distributors residual income through their customers recurring purchases.
This is where the idea of becoming a rep and selling to friends and family came into play…
Anyway, when you go ahead and catch back up to today’s world, you will notice that they have many different labeled Amway products across several different divisions of the company. These divisions are raking in billions just by themselves!
As recently as just 3 years ago they sold 11 Billion multi vitamin tablets! They were named the number one selling nutritional supplement brand!
Wanna know something funny?
Back in the 90’s – 00’s Amway was actually thought of as an internet business for a short while! Didn’t last too long though…
They launched the internet version of Amway, Quixtar, for north America…but nothing came much of it because as you’ll now notice….they are defunct.
So why did Amway decide to go the internet route when everything else seemed to be going perfectly well?
Were they just hopping on the digital bandwagon?
Actually the answer is much more simpler than that…
By going online through Quixtar, Amway distributors could be known as independent business owners (IBO’s as they’d later become known) because they could just order their items directly online!
Seemed like a pretty good idea at the time because theoretically it saved time for having to manually fill out order slips and submit them to their upline.
Ultimately Quixtar just never gained the foothold in the public that it needed to succeed. 7 years after starting, Quixtar was hit with a class action lawsuit which would appear to be the final nail in coffin.
Beginning in 2007 the Quixtar name slowly began to fade away and Amway business owners now found themselves under the parent company Alticor Inc. as one big happy Amway family.
Thanks to their MLM model though, it is safe to say that their reputation in the public is hit or miss. Some people love it and others absolutely despise it…
You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone playing middle ground.
One thing is for sure though, people aren’t actually upset about the product quality…
Are Their Products Good Quality?
Say what you want about how Amway runs their MLM…
But their products are top notch!
Several different people who have tried out their dietary supplements and have nothing but good things to say about it.
One of Nutrilite’s claim to fame is that they actually grow, harvest, and processes the plants for these supplements on their own organic farms!
Even further…Amway claims to use special Egyptian worms to help fertilize the soil…Interesting.
That’s more than a little unique to say the least!
But hey, that’s not the only area Amway succeeds in…
Remember their cleaner “L.O.C.”?
The “legacy of clean” is actually fully biodegradable and compromised of natural ingredients.
So what’s this all mean?
Simply put, Amway was organic before organic was mainstream!
Oh and don’t forget about Amway’s Artistry line with with cosmetic and personal care products. This is another line that brings in Billions of dollars per year!
One of their most notable products is called the eSpring. This is a tap water purifier. Among the general population it receives many good reviews and has even earned the “excellent” rating from consumer reports!
How does it work?
If you dig into this one of the Amway products a little more, you’ll see that the purifying is completed by combining a UV light along with a carbon block filter.
No one wants to be bored with the scientific details, so simply put: “It makes the water taste really good!”
One of the Amway products that has known to be the most addictive is their XS energy drink of which independent business owners sell over 100 million dollars worth each year!
Again without boring you too much by listing off every product in their 450+ product line…this section will be finished off by asking you to check out their Amway Home Satinique and Atmosphere Sky.
This multilevel marketing company has no shortage of products making money for them on a minute by minute basis.
There are some things people don’t like about Amway though…
For example the Amway business model has the stereotypical MLM inflated pricing. Sure, they may not have the worst pricing in the multilevel marketing space…but they’re not a price leader.
However, Amway does provide high quality products in almost every category…so their premium price is understandable.
In addition, you can’t expect Amway business owners to just cut their profit margins down to zero…that’s not fair either!
To an extent it’s a shame…they produce many high quality products but there is a lot of controversy surrounded by this business opportunity…
Why Is Amway Banned In The US?
Currently, Amway is not banned in the US.
However, it is banned in the UK after being determined that Amway makes more money by selling to their distributors than by direct selling of products.
It is also under heavy scrutiny by India, they’ve even arrested some higher up distributors for being involved in an illegal pyramid scheme.
Currently Amway is jumping through legal hurdles left and right to keep operations going in the US. It is likely though, similar to India and the UK, that Amway’s days of business are surely numbered.
How Amway Works
Look, everyone knows that you wanna get started making money with Amway, preferably the $500k a year that was all hyped up.
They hate to break it to ya though…
No one starts out making that much.
Before you can expect to make all that dough, you have to learn the ropes of Amway and start out as an independent business owner by paying $100.
$100 but for what…initiation into the group duh!
The next part of this Amway business model that they teach you is fun…are you ready?
You will be told to try and sell to your family get them to buy stuff from you…or worse yet, recruit them so you can start earning some of their Amway commissions.
Not very fun…
After that, they then try to convince you that you need to sell all your current home care items and switch them over to Amway.
“Ahhh but that’s all included in that $100 joining fee right?”
WRONG!
It’s more money out of your pocket.
What also sucks is how much you have to sell to make a decent commission.
You see the Amway point system isn’t always equated to a dollar per point like most MLM companies which means…
DING DING DING
You guessed it…
Extremely tough to make Amway profitable for you!
Just to put it in perspective, Amway actually has given you a little chart to look at to help understand how much you make when you sell Amway products.
As you can see, you need to sell at least 600 PV to earn 9% of the BV…
Basically, you’re looking at $225 a month.
But keep in mind, you and the group you sell to will have to spend $1,000’s to make it happen!
Now that’s not bad if you’re like a 10 year old kid looking to make some cash…but odds are you’re an adult looking for a reasonable way to make good money online…
And Amway ain’t it chief!
Even though you could make a 25% commission if you hit 7500 PV…it takes a lot of hard work and effort to make that kinda money!
Unfortunately, you can only make so much with Amway by working at it yourself. The real money, just like any MLM’s/Pyramid Schemes is that the money is made mainly when you recruit people and you get a part of their commissions.
It sucks…but that’s just how the dice roll with Amway.
Why Are Amway Products So Expensive?
Because of the quality of course!
No but seriously…
Whenever there is an MLM or other various pyramid schemes involved, the products are priced way above that of the competition.
This is just the way product sales goes unfortunately.
The company has to first and foremost make their profit off the distributor, and you have to make your profit off the end consumer…
Unfortunately that makes it tough for you to sell anyone on out side of family and friends who just buy to support you and be nice. They don’t really care about the products themselves.
Can You Make Money From Amway?
Alright…without keeping you waiting any longer…time to talk money.
It’s not a stretch to say that when a company is bringing in $8 Billion a year that it’s top distributors will be bringing in a crap load of money annually themselves.
If you ever meet anyone that is at the “Founders Emerald” or “Founders Diamond” levels…it’s safe to say these guys are making the lions share of the dough with Amway.
Furthermore…if you happen to come across anyone at any of the “Crown” levels…they make so much residual income each month it’ll make your head spin!
But as you can imagine…that’s not the norm.
It’s actually an extremely small percentage that make that amount.
So what’s the average you can expect as an Amway business owner?
According to Amway.com , you’ll find that only 48% of their independent distributors are actually active. Of those that are active…
They only make $200 a month?
Yes folks, that’s not a typo…
ONLY $200 A MONTH!
So why’s it so low for the average Amway business owner?
For anyone involved in direct selling, it’s a constant uphill battle in the beginning.
Like incredibly steep.
The kind of steep that not even semi trucks can climb.
One of the reasons people find it so hard to succeed in Amway is that they don’t have the time necessary to devote to it.
They treat the Amway Business like a part time job. Unfortunately, this part time job requires you to spend thousands of dollars (both time and money) on this company to turn a decent profit.
Yeah, that sounds like a dick thing to say, but if you’re gonna put in the amount of grueling work to become an MLM IBO (which, trust me, isn’t easy), you might as well bring in some REAL money.
The program that helped skyrocket my online business to $40,000+ per month teaches some of the MLM skills, but shows you how to monetize them in a much, MUCH more profitable way.
Pros Of Amway
You Don’t Have To Worry About Stability
They have been a member of the direct selling association for a long time and are the most successful MLM in the world.
This means that you’d be getting hooked up with a company that earns over $8 Billion a year…there are worse places to be…
Even though Amway products haven’t seen the best numbers in recent years…it’s safe to say they’re here to stay!
Product Quality
If you want to still become an Amway Independent Business Owner, you can rest assured that the last thing you’ll have to worry about is product quality.
You don’t even have to be interested in selling their products…as a consumer they are known for producing quality and useful products!
That alone speaks volumes when comparing them to all the other half bit MLM’s who’s products have the quality of off brand Jordan’s.
High BBB Rating
They are accredited with the BBB and have been for 30 years!
In the meantime, they have worked themselves up too a A+ rating…
However, take that with a grain of salt because their is no doubt that some “independent business owners” have gone in and left bias reviews.
This is pretty common in MLM’s as you’ll come to find.
Top Notch Training Materials
When you have been in the network marketing game as long as they have, you learn a thing or two because you’ve seen a thing or two (thanks farmers)…
Amway provides many different training materials that are absolutely free so that you can take your MLM to the next level.
Some of these trainings include: online courses, podcasts, webinars, and live presentations!
Yep, everything is updated to the 21st century! Black and white brochures that you’d have to pass on to friends and family as prospective distributors are a thing of the past!
Beyond that training, there are also live events that you can go to as well as many different forms of Business Support Materials (BSM’s) that you are encouraged to checkout and buy from your upline.
Cons Of Amway
Many People Don’t See It As A Legit Business Opportunity
Look…
A simple google search with “Amway” in the search bar will get you flooded with results. Many unbias reviews of Amway paint it in a negative light, meanwhile there are a handful of positive ones.
Most likely you’ll see questions regarding it being some sort of pyramid scheme or ponzi scheme.
If those aren’t the first types of questions to pop up…you might see a question similar to this…
“Aren’t the real money makers of Amway those at the top of the pyramid?”
Over the years, many distributors / independent business owners have come up with creative rebuttals, but they still can’t seem to properly defend it.
FTC Investigations
Throughout the many years that Amway has been in business, they have been the target of many different illegal pyramid scheme investigations…
Some of these allegations include pricing fixing, exaggerated income claims, and a misleading business practice.
On top of that, they have paid back millions of dollars to Amway business distributors because of that!
If you’ve been involved with MLM’s before then you know what we’re about to say almost better than anyone…MLM’s walk a fine line between selling the products and selling the dream.
In fact, one of the largest claims against Amway right now is that they are actually an illegal pyramid scheme…
Which is why some people who have been burned by it have coined the name “Scamway”.
However, the Federal Trade Commission ruled against this claim in 1979 saying that Amway doesn’t directly pay distributors for bringing on new distributors.
Even though they jumped through that legal hoop…everyone knows that recruiting new members is the bread and butter of any MLM whether they want to admit it or not.
Cuz at the end of the day…that’s just how MLM and Network Marketing Businesses make their profit the most.
Pressurized Personal Sales
Depending on how much sales they make, or how much they buy, they can be awarded a Point Value (individual) and Business Volume.
This point value determines how much compensation percentage that you receive.
Unfortunately like most MLM’s, the prices are pretty steep and this makes it hard for most distributors to make their money and hit their minimums.
Not to mention how difficult it is to sell more expensive Amway products that you have to wait for compared to just going to the store and buying a product of equal quality for much cheaper.
Cult Like Amway Meetings
One of the things people hate about the Amway MLM the most are these cult like hype meetings.
Some Amway business owners treat it like a religion…
Spooky right?
This is what has led to the most aggressive and annoying distributors in the MLM space today.
If that wasn’t bad enough, they’ve been borderline accused of brainwashing new recruits with pro Amway propaganda.
Kinda sickening tbh.
Is Amway A Legitimate Business?
Yes Amway Corporation is a legitimate business.
Unfortunately how it chooses to run with the MLM industry is a bit different.
Amway sells people on the idea of “financial freedom” and becoming business partners with each other within Amway.
Unfortunately, it is easier for other MLMs Amway competes with to beat them because of how much over they sell products for.
Yeah, you will need to work hard in any business regardless…
But to work hard for Amway has a totally different meaning to go along with it.
What They Don't Tell You
Well one of the first things they don’t tell you is that can’t get rich quick or get rich easy.
Let me break the two down for you.
Get rich quick is what happens when you have a system in place that can collect mass amounts of money…similar to the Devos family.
Getting rich easy is what most MLM guys get sucked into. They think that all the success that the top guys had in Amway can also be theirs!
Unfortunately that is just highly unlikely.
So here’s the truth:
It is going to be tough as hell for you at the beginning when you are prospecting and trying to find recruiters to add to your Amway monthly commission.
This is due to Amway’s not so blemish free reputation with people. Yep and the worst part is you almost have to go to your families and friends to practically beg them to join your Amway business opportunity.
Not fun.
It won’t be uncommon to start hearing things like:
“Amway? Isn’t that the pyramid scheme company banned in the UK?”
or
“Ah yeah, I’ve heard of that Amway scam before…thanks but no thanks.”
People have begun to pick up on what’s going on with Amway…they don’t like it so, they stay far away.
Now while that sounds bad enough…
It gets worse.
While you are struggling to get people to join your downline, your upline hits you up constantly and encourages you to buy more Business Support Material. This has been documented by several other personal reviews and complaints on line.
They tell you “oh if you buy more of this stuff, you’ll be more successful”.
You’ll likely lose more money…that’s the reality of the situation. Statistics backs this up too. 99% of people who join an MLM either break even or lose money, check out the case study on the FTC’s website.
Even though they tell you that these purchases are optional…
They low key guilt trip you and say that success is as well.
It’s pretty much the “if you want to make more money buy this:” pitch over and over.
Isn’t financial independence is defined as when you have more money coming in than you have going out?
So by this definition of constantly buying things Amway like your upline says too…doesn’t that make you financially dependent?
Is Amway A Direct Selling Business?
Yes, Amway is a direct selling business that is also an MLM with a team of over a million distributors around the world.
Is Amway A Pyramid Scheme?
Amway is not a Pyramid Scheme. It’s a legitimate direct selling company that uses the MLM (Network Marketing) business model to sell its product to a customer through its huge base of Amway Distributors and Independent Business Owners. For those with an entrepreneur spirit, it’s a solid choice.
The main reason that Amway is not classified as a pyramid scheme is is because some people in the republican party, democrat party, and Federal Trade Commission got together and said that it couldn’t be called one based on technicalities.
The technicality?
Amway does not directly pay those who get others to join. Although, anyone who’s been around MLM long enough, especially Amway, knows the only way you can ever make big bucks is by recruiting new distributors.
Is Amway Legit?
Yes, Amway is legit. The company was founded in Ada, Michigan by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos in 1959 and promotes its business opportunities and cleaning products to a hundreds of countries around the world. Under its parent company, Alticor, Amway has reported sales of over $8 Billion in 2020.
Is Amway Worth Joining?
So is Amway worth joining?
Ask yourself a couple of these questions…:
- Do you think a company that causes you to borderline beg friends and family to join is what you want to be a part of?
- Do you like the fact that the average Amway business owner only makes $200 a month?
- Do you have a lot of money to throw away?
- Do you want to sell Amway forever?
If you answered No to all 4 of these questions, then congratulations! Amway isn’t for you!
But, it is still entirely possible to build a profitable, successful online business.
FAQ's
Sometimes there are also some questions that you are curious about that might not totally relate back to Amway, but are along the same lines…hopefully these help!
Why Are Multi Level Marketing Companies Like Scams?
Multilevel Marketing companies are often called scams because although legally they aren’t…it is highly unlikely that you will make the amount of money they lead you to believe before joining.
Many multilevel marketing companies will actually end with you being net negative because of all the upsells they give you to “streamline your success”.
This is nothing but a marketing line people in your upline say to you so they can sell Amway business products.
How Do I Quit Amway?
One of the easiest ways to quit Amway is by calling the customer service number or providing an email letting them know that you’re out.
If you don’t want to deal with Amway support, or having to try and reach them on social media…your best bet will probably be by just waiting for your registration to terminate by the end of the year.
What Does The Federal Trade Commission Have To Say?
Clearly the FTC doesn’t have much to say…only that Amway isn’t technically a scam…
No ones for conspiracy theories here…but maybe his involvement in the United States government at different times had a little bit to do with that?
Wait hold on…the FBI’s at the door, be right back.
For real though…
Besides this, places like the UK and India have come to find out what Amway is really.
Luckily, you no longer have to rely on MLM’s to make money online…
Scam Risk's #1 Online Business Model In 2021!
Our review team has come across a program in the real estate industry that is next level!
Although it’s not real estate in the traditional sense, it’s all digital.
Where Multi Level Marketing falls short is in scalability.
There’s only so much time in a day and there’s only so many people you can reach to sell by yourself.
MLM companies know this! Which is why they push so hard for you to recruit for your downline…you can’t get rich with it as a one man/woman show.
But what if you could make even more money off of little local websites without having to spend hundreds of dollars on overpriced products and a bunch of time recruiting people to sell under you?
With this digital real estate program, you can make recurring monthly income without constant sales to your friends and constant recruitment!
Sound too good to be true? Of course it does! But it isn’t…in fact, business owners wish they had this skill!
All you have to do is build and rank a LOCAL website and forward the jobs off to a business owner in town, you could even email it to them!
This works for literally any service based business, tree service, plumbing, towing, etc.
How do you get paid and how much?
Simple, after you forward the jobs off to a business owner and he makes some money off of them, you simply ask to make the deal beneficial for each other.
A fair price to charge per lead, depending on the industry is 10-20%…let’s just use the tree service industry for example and go by worst case scenario.
Let’s say you build and rank the site and only 10 jobs a month come in. The average tree service job is anywhere from $500-$2000!
That means at bare minimum you have an asset worth $500 a month!
See why they call it digital real estate now? That’s a rent payment.
The great thing is how easy it is to scale. You don’t have to worry about:
- Your upline getting paid before you
- Begging your friends and family to buy from you
- Recruiting people all the time
But as it is with Amway… You only get what’s left of the pie if you meet a monthly quota…
The course we recommend actually allows you to collect HUGE FLAT RATE DEALS. Truly passive income!
The training program takes making money online to a whole other level. The owner of the program walks you through how to build and rank a site hand in hand, with the occasional voice over when he is sharing his screen.
You will learn the importance of keywords, website name, how to send call notifications via email, backlinking, etc.
Once the training program is completed you will also have access to a Facebook group much better than the Amway group in our opinion. This group is much more active.
Unlike MLMs, where you’re getting maybe $10 per sale, you could be getting 10-20X THAT.
A business will always want more leads and another job. In fact it doesn’t even matter that the job isn’t coming from their website name…they see it as it is…expanding digital real estate.
Unlike MLM’s, more people have been able to walk away from their 9-5 job as well.
Digital real estate allows you to have total passive income with most of your day being spent WITH your friends, NOT selling to them.
Now, I know you probably have tons of questions…
Things We Liked:
- High quality products
- Established Company
- High BBB rating
Things We Didn't Like:
- High Prices
- Bad reputation
- Cult like indoctrination
Take This Quiz To Learn Which Business Model Is Best For You!
You know deep down what you're meant for. Take the quiz to figure out what can get you there.
Continued use of ScamRisk.com is contingent on acceptance of Scam Risk's legal policy
All site content, links and resources are presented solely for informational purposes only and should not be considered as medical, legal, financial or tax advice. ScamRisk.com is free to use because we may earn a commission when you use a service listed on our site, however our editorial treatment of reviews, ratings and listings is equally impartial whether a link is paid or unpaid. Opinions expressed in reviews, commentary and articles are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by Scam Risk. Screenshots, logos, company names & styles are IP, copyright and trademarks of their respective owners, used on this site for their promotion or editorial illustration.
