Is Farmasi a scam?
I’m going to answer that question plus many more in this review.
Now, I got wind of Farmasi when someone in my Facebook feed was promoting it. Farmasi is a multilevel marketing company that was started in Turkey that markets makeup, beauty products, personal care, and wellness products.
The company has a 70 year history in the cosmetics & health industry. But the direct marketing company was not started until 2010. To date Farmasi has more than 2,000 products being shipped to over 125 countries.
There are definitely some great things about this company. In fact, it’s one of the better MLM companies I’ve come across.
But unfortunately, there are some not so good things about Farmasi as well.
Alright, let’s take a look at Farmasi.
Disclaimer: I am not a member or an affiliate of Farmasi . All the information researched for this review is available online within the public domain. This review is my personal opinion and any recommendations/conclusions are my own which you may or may not agree with. What you decide to do after reading my review is up to you. You can see the full disclaimer here for more info.
Who Is The Founder Of Farmasi?
Dr. C. Tuna founded Farmasi in 1950. Even though Dr. Tuna passed away in 2017 his company is still going strong.
Here’s some milestones of Farmasi:
- 1950 – Dr. C. Tuna started creating his own his own formulations
- 2004 – the Farmasi brand was born
- 2009 – the Dr. C. Tuna brand was born
- 2010 – started direct selling in Turkey
- 2014 – Mr. Whips brand was introduced
- 2016 – have achieved 16 direct selling markets
- 2018 – products are being sold in 125 countries
- 2019 – started selling in the United States
Products Farmasi Markets
As I mentioned Farmasi has over 2000 products so I’m certainly not going to cover all the prodcuts in this review. If you want to take a look at their complete product line you can do that at their website.
Here is the product categories you’ll find.
- Dr. C. Tuna – oral care, foot care, hair care, skin care, etc
- Makeup – body, lips, eyes, nails, etc
- Mr. Wipes – fabric softener, detergent, multipurpose cleaner, dishwashing soap, etc
- Fragrance – cologne men and perfume for women
- Personal Care – hair care, soap, cleansers, etc
- Men – cologne, body wash, shampoo, shaving foam, etc
And then there is a section for new arrivals.
The price range for most of their products are between $5.00 to $50.00. And many of them are under $20.00. And if you become a beauty consultant, you’ll get 50% of the retail price.
So, How Much Is It To Get Started With Farmasi?
To get started with Farmasi as a beauty consultant it’s going to cost you $19.99 for a Basic Kit.
Basic Kit
- A verity of samples
- A Farmasi opportunity manual
- Product catalogs
- 2 gift bags, color guide
- A replicated website
- 50% off all products.
You then you have the option of adding on 1 of 3 product packs when you’re signing up. These are totally optional.
$49 Product Pack Value ($130)
$125 Activation Product Pack (Value $340)
This includes what comes in the $49 product pack plus 10 additional products.
$200 Welcome Product Pack (Value $500)
This includes what comes in the activation product pack plus 13 additional products.
How Do You Make Money With Farmasi?
By simply retailing the products you get a generous commission of 50%. Which is amazing when you compare that to a lot of other MLM companies.
The other way of making money is by recruiting people into your downline and work your way up the ranks of their compensation plan. And earn the bonuses at each of each of these ranks.
Of course, you must meet the requirements of each rank to be eligible for those bonuses.
Also, to be considered an active beauty consultant so your eligible for commissions you must have a minimum of 125 PV (personal volume) over a rolling 6 months through you and/or your retail customers. According to their compensation plan $1 wholesale equals 1 PV.
Here’s a quick overview of their compensation plan. If you’re seriously considering joining Farmasi you definitely want to go through this plan so you understand everything. You’ll find a link to their compensation plan on their site. And here’s a direct link for you.
Welcome Program
You can earn free product and money during the first 4 month by achieving the required PV for each month.
- Month 1 – 125 PV – receive 3D Mascara
- Month 2 – 150 PV – receive Calendula Cream Balsam
- Month 3 – 175 PV – receive Age Reversist Serum
- Month 4 – 200 PV – receive $100
Retail Profit
- Earn 50% commission on products you sell
Online Customer Bonus
- You’ll earn 50% of the sales transaction through your Farmasi replicated website
Team Building Bonus
- For each beauty influencer you personally enroll you’ll earn $20.00 plus a Double Lash Extend Mascara
Personal Bonus
You can earn up to 25% commission on your personal volume.
Group Bonus
You can earn a group bonus for every beauty influencer you enroll. This is calculated based on the difference of your bonus level and the bonus level of the person you enrolled.
Leadership Bonus
When you get to the rank of Director with 5,000 GV (group volume) or more and 1,500 side points you are eligible for the leadership bonus. Depending on your rank you can earn this bonus up to 6 generations.
Car Allowance
Once you achieve Director or above you are eligible for car allowance. And as your rank increases so does your car allowance.
Cash Bonus
When you get to director or above and keep that rank for 5 consecutive months, you’ll receive a cash bonus.
So, Can You Expect To Make Money With Farmasi?
I found a link to their income disclosure statement from 2020. And this is the earnings from all active beauty consultants in the United States.
And it shows that 88.32% of beauty consultants earned between $200 and $2000 for the year. So that’s between $16.00 and $166.00 per month.
And that does not include any money that these consultants spent on building their business. And as you look through this disclaimer the percentages don’t get any better when it comes to earning money.
- 3.83% earned $3,031 for the year
- 2.67% earned $4,473
- 0.95% earned $6,913
And the percentages just keep going down.
With numbers like these and the time, effort and money you have to spend to build this business. To me, it’s just not worth it.
What Are People Saying About Farmasi?
I did some poking around and my goal was to try and find reviews of people using these products. Not from people who are involved with the business who’s real goal is to get people into their business.
So, I found 46 reviews on Sitejabber. Of course, some rave while other rant. But at least it gives an indication of what people think.
And then on the Better Business Bureau website I found over 30 complaints regarding refunds, product complaints and people not getting commissions. But I will say each complaint was responded to.
Now with that said when it comes to the products the only way you’re going to know if these products are any good is by trying them yourself. And be sure to pay the $19.99 to become a beauty influence this way you can get the products at a 50% discount.
If the products meet your standards, and if you go into business with Farmasi these are products you can stand behind and be proud to sell because you took the time to test the products out.
Now of course you’re not going to try all the products. But you’ll able to stand behind the ones you have tried. And as time goes on and as your business grows you may want to sample more products. But that’s up to you.
Who Is Farmasi For?
This business is for someone who loves to sell and thrives on team building. You must be an extrovert and have the strength to constantly interact with people.
You can’t be afraid of face to face sales, like home parties. Talking to strangers, social marketing as well as other online marketing efforts using both paid and free methods.
If that’s not you, then this or any other MLM business is not for you.
What I Like About Farmasi
#1) Very Low Startup
It only cost $19.99 to start as a beauty influencer for Farmasi. And if you have no intention of promoting prodcuts to anyone.
Spending the $19.99 to become an beauty influencer is a smart investment because it allows you get a 50% discount on all products.
#2) Huge Variety Of Affordable Products
With over 2000 products to market this give you access to a lot of potential customers.
#3) Great Commission Structure
50% commission on retail sales is huge. Especially for an MLM company. Most MLM companies come nowhere near that.
#4) Farmasi Has History
The Farmasi brand was started in 2004. And the company itself has 70 years of experience in cosmetics & health industry.
So, if you do decide to join Farmasi you will be working with a company that has a solid history and will probably be around for a long time to come.
#5) Income Disclosure Statement
Farmasi does provide you an income disclosure statement allowing you to see the actual earning potential of this business. Now you can make a decisions based on hard data. Not promises and wishes.
What I Didn’t Like About Farmasi
#1) MLM Business Model
The MLM business model does not have the best track record when it comes to people finding the financial success they are looking for. There have been many studies proving that for the majority of people MLM is not going to be the road to financial freedom as they thought it would be.
Here’s some statistics you need to look at. And I know statistics can be dry but there is a lot of solid information that you need to consider before you take the leap with Farmasi.
- At a minimum 50% of people that get involved with an MLM will quit within the first year
- Within 5 years 90% of people involved with an MLM will quit
Source: AARP
And here’s the statistic you should really take note of.
- 1 out of 100 people that get involved with an MLM make a profit. And 99 out of 100 participants lose money!
Source: Consumer Awareness Institute
And if you’re losing money that means for many people they are actually going deeper into debt.
#2) Competitive market
With hundreds of other MLM companies in the cosmetic and beauty industry there’s no lack of competition. Now you do have a competitive edge when it comes to pricing. But when you’re competing with well-established MLM companies such as Avon and Mary Kay.
Many people are happy to pay more simply because of the brand recognition of such heavy weight MLM’s.
#3) No Internet Marketing Training
Yes, you get a replicated website which you can drive traffic to. But how? One thing you need to know about a replicated website is that it will never rank on the first page of the search engines. So organic traffic is not going to happen for your site.
So that means if you want to generate free traffic though SEO (content marketing) you’ll need to have your own website, create content people are searching for and then link from your own site to your replicated website where people can buy the products.
Content marketing is a long game and it can take months before you see any traction. But it can also provide you free traffic for years to come when done right.
Now you can speed things up and use paid advertising. But this is a whole new ball of wax. Plus, the learning curve is going to cost money. And its money you must be prepared to lose.
How about social media? Well, you are known as a beauty influencer. So social media is a natural option for marketing. But what platform? Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube.
If I had to choose, I would choose Pinterest. Why? People on Pinterest are buyers. Plus it’s a visual search engine – perfect for cosmetics.
But if you’re like most people that join an MLM you’re new to all this stuff.
So, this means and hopefully your upline sponsor will help you understand how to use social media for business building. But if not, that means you’re going to need to go to outside sources to learn things.
#4) Must Love Being A Salesperson
This is direct selling and not everyone is cut out for sales. Not everyone has the skills for this type of business model. Remember you’re not only selling the products.
But in order to build your business where you have the opportunity to climb the ranks of their compensation plan. You’re going to have to recruit people. And this is an ongoing thing. Because as I mentioned a moment ago.
At least 50% of the people you do recruit are going to quit within the first year. And because so many people quit it definitely can have an effect on your own business and even have you consider quitting.
#5) Low Income Potential
Yes, you do have the opportunity to make money. But Farmasi’s income disclosure statement shows you that the income potential to make any significant money is very low.
Over 88% of all beauty influencers earn between $200 and $2000 per year. Not what you can call quit your day job money.
My Final Opinion Of Farmasi
After looking at Farmasi I see two different parts to this company. The sales side and the recruiting side. Now if I were into makeup and such my only reason for joining this company would be because of the 50% commission you get when you sell products.
I would not go near the MLM side of things. That’s just a recipe for failure. But with the with the right training, hard work and dedication, you could definitely create a thriving online business just selling the prodcuts.
So basically, you would be an affiliate marketer for Farmasi. But keep in mind with Farmasi being an MLM you still need to meet their minimum monthly quotas so you’re eligible for your commissions.
That’s the downside. You’re still trapped within an MLM business model even though you’re not doing the recruiting part.
But you can avoid all the requirements, quotas and restrictions that comes with an MLM and still make money marketing beauty products.
You can simply become an independent affiliate marketer for none MLM beauty company. And you have hundreds to choose from.
And the advantage of going this route is that you own your business. With an MLM you don’t.
Plus, you can promote any product from any company or companies. You don’t have to meet any minimum monthly quotas or qualifications in order to eligible for your commissions.
Bottom line you’re not under the thumb of the MLM. As an independent affiliate marketer, you’re the owner and boss 100%.
Now if you would like to learn more about building a business as an independent affiliate marketer. And all the advantages it has over joining an MLM.
My best recommendation is to take a look at Wealthy Affiliate. They offer all the training, tools, resources, and personal support needed while building your business.
And the great thing is it won’t cost you a single penny to see what they have to offer.
I hope you found this review helpful and I hope I answered any questions you may have had about Farmasi and its business opportunity.
Of course, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below and I’ll get back to you right away.
And if you did find this review helpful and enjoyed it please feel free to share it with your audience. And as always anytime you need a hand don’t hesitate Emailing Me anytime.
I believe in you!!
Leo
Hey it’s Leo. I’m the founder of Netwise Profits, and I’ve been making a full-time online income as an affiliate marketer since 2005. And as of 2012, I’ve been personally helping people turn their hobbies, passions, and interests into online incomes through affiliate marketing. And I can help you too.
One thing I noticed that needs to be updated in your review is the monthly requirement to stay active and maintain an account as a beauty Influencer.
It is actually $125 over a rolling 6 months – so technically an average of $21/month would do it.
This was recently changed from $125 over a rolling 3 months. But they have never required $125 every month.
Hi Beverly,
Thank you for pointing that out. I have updated that information within my review.
Leo