SeneGence MLM review: Is SeneGence A Scam or Pyramid Scheme?

Welcome to my SeneGence MLM review.

You probably came to this page because you wonder if SeneGence is legit or a pyramid scheme?

No need to worry you’re in the right place for the answers to these questions.

Over the last few years, I’ve been busy creating reviews about all kinds of online products.

Some turned out to be fake others were legit ways to make money online but in the process, I learned how to spot scams.

In this post, I’ll show you absolutely everything you need to know about SeneGence and after reading it you’ll know exactly if you should give it a chance.

What is SeneGence?

SeneGence is an MLM company that distributes and manufactures make-up and skincare products. The founder of the company is named Joni Rogers-Kante. 

She founded SeneGence in 1999 starting with one lipstick product with a unique color called LipSense and is now active with more than 300 products in multiple parts of the world such as the US, Mexico, Hong Kong, Canada,  Australia, and New Zealand.

SeneGence is a family-owned company with everyone in the C-suite of the company either being kids, brothers, or sisters of Joni Rodgers-Kate.

How does SeneGence work? Is SeneGence an MLM?

Yes. SeneGence is without a doubt an MLM company.

SeneGence distributes make-up and skincare products. Instead of directly selling it to consumers they have chosen to use the MLM model which gives you the choice to earn money by:

• Selling the products for a commission
• Recruiting people to earn bonuses.

What is MLM?

MLM (a.k.a network marketing or direct selling) stands for multi-level marketing.

According to Wikipedia, multi-level marketing is a marketing strategy for the sale of products or services where the revenue is derived from a non-salaried workforce.

As a part of this workforce, you sell the products from the company, and/or you recruit people to do the same thing. This group of people you recruit will work under you and is referred to as your downline.

The bigger your downline is the more money you can earn passively (technically speaking) because you’re getting paid a percentage based on the performance of your downline.

This also means the person that recruited you which is called your upline is making money based on your performance.

The act of recruiting turns an MLM company into a pyramid-shaped organization where the first people to join make the most and are on the top of the pyramid and those last to join are at the bottom.

Source: Wikipedia

MLMs have been around for a long time. There are Multi-level marketing companies active today that were founded in the 1950s. MLM has a lot in common with pyramid schemes which is why scammers often use MLM to disguise their pyramid schemes.

Is it absolutely necessary to recruit people? No.

You can also stick to just selling products that you can order at wholesale price (25% discount) and re-sell to make a profit. This is easier said than done for multiple reasons which is why most members try to recruit others so they can earn more money.

How to join SeneGence

You can join SeneGence as an independent distributor.

Most people get introduced to SeneGence by a partner which will become their sponsor but you can also sign up for both by visiting the SeneGence Opportunity Page.

Those that sign-up to become a partner by signing up will have a sponsor appointed to them by “SeneGencer”.

You’ll also be asked to purchase one of their starter kits. 

You’ll receive training after which you can start selling products and recruiting people to earn commissions and bonuses.

Is SeneGence a pyramid scheme?

To answer this question we need to know what a pyramid scheme is.

What is a pyramid scheme?

A pyramid scheme is a type of scam where people are promised money for joining the scheme and recruiting other people. No selling of a product or service is involved whatsoever.

So you might be wondering where the money comes from to pay people?

The people that join are expected to pay a one-time fee and in exchange for that, they get a percentage of the fee of everyone they recruit after that.

The problem is from a mathematical standpoint it’s impossible for everyone to make money because you simply run out of people.

Take a look at this picture below showing how it’s impossible for everyone to earn money.

Source: Wikipedia

As you can see, in this pyramid model it’s required to recruit 6 people. You’ll notice from the 12th level and further, it’s not possible anymore for everyone to earn money.

The 2.2 Billion people on the 12th level need 13.1 billion recruits in total for them all to make money which is more people than there are currently on Earth.

Up until a few years ago, an MLM couldn’t be classified as a Pyramid Scheme legally as long as sell legitimate problems but the FTC has made subtle changes to its definition and has been cracking down on multiple MLM companies.

This makes it harder to categorize SeneGence as a pyramid scheme without having insight into how much pressure they put on the independent workforce to start recruiting. 

I will say even without that information I do think you should be cautious of this company for multiple reasons which I’ll explain later in this review.

Who can benefit from SeneGence?

Who would benefit from joining SeneGence:

• Expert salesmen
• Expert recruiters
• People that believe in the cause.

Who shouldn’t join The SeneGence MLM Program:

• People that hate sales jobs.
• People that hate recruiting
• People that want to earn a full-time income
• People that expect to earn passive income

SeneGence products

Since MLMs primarily distribute products it is important that those products are of good quality.  This is why I found it appropriate to cover the products that SeneGence offers. SeneGence mostly offers skincare and cosmetic-related products but they also offer products in the men’s and bath categories.

How much do SeneGence products cost?

The price of all products ranges between $30 USD and $100 USD. This can be considered a bit high but based on all the positive reviews it seems to be worth it.

The most popular product in SeneGence’s assortment is the first product they launched called LipSense. 

According to SeneGene, LipSense is unique because of multiple reasons such as:

• Being able to mix shades to create a number of effects
• LipSense is waterproof and does not kiss off, smear off, rub off, or budge off
• Does not dry out your lips 
• Lasts between the 4 and 18 hours 
• It restores the moisture in your lips.

Are SeneGence products FDA approved?

The ingredients used in SeneGene products are all considered not harmful. The products are safe to be used.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Products have tangible benefits
  Some of these MLM companies sell products of which you don’t know if they’ll benefit you until you use them. An example of this is essential oils. Its never been concluded from a scientific perspective that they work which limits you in promoting their benefits. The beauty Counter has the advantage with their products that what you see is what you get. People know exactly what they’re buying.
• 30-day money-back guarantee
  All products of SeneGence have a 30-day money-back guarantee which makes products a bit easier to sell because it removes the risks of not getting the value you pay for as a customer.
• You don’t have to keep an inventory of products
  As a SeneGence distributor, you can order products directly from the website and have them shipped to your clients. 

Cons

• Low earning potential
  The commission rate is high but when you look at the products you have to sell, you start to notice that you have to sell an unrealistic number of products to earn decent money or start recruiting.
• You have to pay to play
  You have to purchase a specific amount of products to stay eligible for getting commissions based on your downlines. The higher the rank, the more you have to purchase.
• No Income Disclosure Statement
  There’s no way of knowing how much distributors of SeneGence are getting paid without the income disclosure statement. In most cases, this isn’t a good sign.

SeneGence Compensation Plan

Senegene doesn’t work with a ranking structure.

They just provide people with 3 ways to get paid based on their performance. 

1. Retail Profits
2. Downline Commission Bonus
3. Group Sales Volume Bonus

1. Retail Profits

Retail profits make it possible to earn between n 25-100% profit on Retail Sales of SeneGence products by selling the products you have purchased at a lower wholesale price.

The price at what your purchase the products is determined by how much “volume” you buy. In the MLM scene, they call the products you buy with the intention of reselling personal volume or short PV. 

• 0 – 99.99 PV = 20% discount
• 100 – 299.99 PV = 30% discount
• 300 – 749.99 PV = 40% discount
• 750+ PV = 50% discount

2. Downline Commission

These are commissions based on the performance of your recruits. 

You’re eligible for these commissions you have to at least accumulate 100PV in the same month as orders placed in your downline.

The commission rate differs per level in the downline as you can see below. 

Downline
Commissions
1st Level = 10%
2nd Level = 20%
3rd Level = 30%
4th Level = 5%
5th Level = 5%

The qualifications for the 4th and 5th levels are slightly different.

Requirements for 4th level commissions:
1. A minimum of five 1st level distributors sponsored by you that have at least placed an order worth 100PV of products.
2. You need to have placed an order of 200PV in the qualifying month.
3. Levels 1-3 must have Group PV of at least 10,000 within the same qualifying month

Requirements for 5th level commissions:
1. A minimum of five 1st level distributors sponsored by you that have at least placed an order worth 200PV of products.
2. You need to have placed an order of 300PV in the qualifying month.
3. Levels 1-3 must have Group PV of at least 15,000 within the same qualifying month

3. Group Sales Volume Bonus

This bonus is based on the total CV of all product orders by your downline. Just like the normal downline commissions, the rate differs per level of the downline.

Group Sales
Volume Bonus
1st Level 10%
2nd Level 6%
3rd Level 4%
4th Level 3%
5th Level 2%

To be eligible for group sales commissions based on the 1st level you need:
1. You need to have placed an order of 100PV in the qualifying month.
2. A minimum of one 1st level distributor sponsored by you that have at least placed an order worth 100PV of products.

Requirements Levels 2-5 group sales commissions:
1. You need to have placed an order of 300PV in the qualifying month.
2. A minimum of five 1st level distributors sponsored by you that have at least placed an order worth 300PV of products.
3. Each level of Distributors (level 2-5) must have at least 5 distributors with 300PV
4. Each level (2-5) must fulfill qualifications for that level and the levels above it to receive the commission for that
level.

Besides these 3 bonuses, you can also win trips and even a car based on the performance of you and your downline.

How much does it cost to start a SeneGence “business”?

When you sign-up to become a SeneGence distributor you have to at least by their new distributor kit. This kit contains all the resources needed to start the learning process of becoming an independent distributor.

New distributor kit, $65 

• Checklist for getting started
• Beauty Books
• Testers of LipSense shades in your choice of Deep Neutrals
• A website
• Free sene site
• Business Apps

After this purchase, the remaining costs go to placing orders with the hope of reselling them to make a profit.

How much can you earn with SeneGence?

In theory, the sky is the limit when you look at their compensation plan but I suspect in reality the majority of people are making a lot less than is portrayed.

SeneGence doesn’t publicly share the numbers of its partners but since it’s a traditional MLM the chances are high that it shares the pitfalls of all other companies that use the MLM strategy. I’ll share a few of these MLM pitfalls right now.

Why aren’t people earning decent money with MLM companies like SeneGence?

I have summed up the reasons why it’s hard to make money with SeneGence and MLM companies in general in 3 points.

1. MLMs are often associated with pyramid schemes
MLMs have a pyramid recruiting structure that you often have to join to be able to make decent money or at the very least not lose money. The problem is a lot of pyramid schemes disguise themselves as MLM programs making it difficult to differentiate the two.

This is the biggest problem why most distributors have a difficult time recruiting people. The moment people hear about how you can make money by recruiting people red flags appear in most people’s minds.

2. You have to consistently invest your money to earn commissions
You’re only eligible for bonuses and commissions if you order their products. The bigger the bonuses the more product you have to buy. You do get discounts but if you can’t sell the products I can see you easily fall into a financial deficit (which happens to the majority of MLMs).

3. The price of the product often isn’t aligned with the market

It’s hard for a multi-level marketer to sell products because most MLM products tend to be a lot more expensive than similar products sold by non-MLM companies. This means even if you’re really good at recruiting your downline still needs to sell those same expensive products for you to make decent money.

You can see that translated in these statistics I found about Multi-level Marketing.

• Nearly half (47%) of MLM participants reported that they lost money.
• One in four (27%) MLM participants reported that they broke even (made no money).
• MLM participants are 7% more likely to declare bankruptcy during their lifetime.
• Direct sales have risen 79% in the last decade, but MLM participants continue to lose money.
• 90 – 99% of distributors in multilevel marketing only receive a couple of hundred dollars commission per year.
• Out of 33,000 interviewed, 90 people made enough money to cover the costs of building their business.
• 50% of the people who start a network marketing enterprise abandoned it in the first year.

Sources:
FTC
AARP
Jobsinmarketing.io

My Personal Take

I don’t think SeneGence is a pyramid scheme but I can’t say that with full certainty.

There are no signs of pushing people to recruit instead of selling products for profit but there’s a large discrepancy between how much you can make selling products and recruit.

That’s one of the only things that worries me about joining the SeneGence MLM program. The other would just be the numbers behind the MLM model in general. 

Studies have been done by hundreds of researchers and they all come to the same conclusion which is that most people either lose money or make a minimum amount trying to make MLM work. 

The only groups I could possibly see succeeding with SeneGence are expert recruiters, salesmen, and influencers.

Verdict

Is SeneGence A Pyramid scheme or another sort of scam? No, but I don’t believe it’s a great business opportunity either.

SeneGence Alternative

SeneGence might not be the ideal program to earn money with but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other money-making methods out there that historically give people a higher statistical chance of succeeding.

In 2018, I created a simple website and started earning commissions without needing to recruit people or pay upfront for products that you have to sell for a profit.

The only thing I needed to do was recommend products to people and if they bought I’d earn the commission. This method is called affiliate marketing. 

To make this work you need 3 things:

• A working computer
• An internet connection 
• Proper training

Since you’re reading this you probably have access to the internet and a working computer so you only need 1 more thing.

If you’re interested I’d like to recommend a step-by-step training program I used to build $100/day websites.

Let me know what you think about it. 

I hope this post cleared some things up regarding SeneGence and I look forward to seeing you in my next post.