SeneGence International is an MLM company that specializes in long-lasting cosmetic and skincare products. SeneGence distributors are the folks who sell this stuff.
Is the biz opp worth joining?
On one hand, I don’t believe it’s a scam or pyramid scheme. And there are distributors making money, so there’s obviously profit potential for the right person.
On the other hand, you’ll probably end up buying lots of products you really don’t need. And you’ll be hosting lots of “home parties” to sell products and recruit people.
So it’s not for everyone.
But in order to make a more informed decision, either way, it’s important to take a closer look at the company, its products and business opportunity. Which is exactly what I am going to be doing in this review, starting with an overview of the company.
Company Overview
SeneGence was founded by Joni Rogers-Kante in 1999.
She says her mission is to bring cosmetic products “that really work” to women across the globe. And at the same time, empower women to create a secure career working from home.
The company headquarters is in the United States, but they also have offices in Canada and Australia. So this is a company with global reach.
Turns out Joni is also the founder of the Make Sense Foundation.
This is a non-profit organisation that helps women and children in crisis. A portion of every distributor sign up fee ($5) goes to this foundation which is nice.
Anyways, as I mentioned earlier, SeneGence is a multilevel marketing company that leverages the home party business model. Which means you’ll be selling and recruiting people at home demonstrations in order to earn money.
Which is similar to how distributors for companies like Paparazzi Accessories, Avon and Tupperware earn money.
And just like these companies, how much you can earn largely comes down to the products you are selling and details of the compensation plan.
Which we will be discussing in detail in the following sections.
SeneGence Products
SeneGence sells cosmetic and skincare products. Everything from skin cream and lipstick, to anti-aging creams and body lotions.
However, most people know them for their flagship long-lasting lipstick, LipSense:
According to the company website, LipSense is “long-lasting lip color, it is waterproof, does not kiss-off, smear-off, rub-off or budge-off”.
I’ll admit, I don’t use lipstick so I have no idea what makes one “good or bad”. But I did find a comprehensive review of LipSense which you may want to check out. This is the most detailed and unbiased review of LipSense I could find online.
Anyways, the company also has a proprietary formulation known as SenePlex. Which supposedly “accelerates cellular renewal growth”:
This is one of the company’s core formulas. And in plain english, it basically helps to speed up cell regrowth and reverse the appearance of ageing skin.
Other than long-lasting lipstick and anti-aging skin creams, here’s what makes SeneGence products stand out above the competition:
- No animal testing
- No animal by-products
- Use of natural ingredients
- Made in cGMP manufacturing facilities
- Made in the United States
- Most products are gluten and GMO free
- No wax or lead in LipSense products
This video goes into more detail about the products, if you want to learn more:
How much do the products cost?
SeneGence products are on the more expensive side, but only if you pay full retail.
See, as a customer, you can host “home parties” and earn a discount on your personal orders. Without ever becoming an independent distributor.
The level of discount you receive is based on how much you sell, and how many new orders you secure. The following discount table breaks this down for you:
For example: If you sell over $600 worth of products at a home party and make 4 or more new bookings, you would get 50% off your own personal order.
I think this is pretty cool and a great way to save on product, without joining the bizopp.
Becoming a Distributor
To become a distributor for SeneGence, you need to purchase a “New Distributor Kit” for $55. Which consists of an opportunity DVD, some order forms and a distributor handbook.
In addition, you can optionally purchase one of the following “distributor packs”:
- Fast Start Pack: $1,195
- Significant SeneSeller Pack: $795
- Qualified Distributor Pack: $345
- Glamour Demo Pack: $295
- Lips Pack: $75
One good reason to purchase a distributor pack, is because you like the products and want a steep discount. Another is that you want enough inventory to demonstrate at home parties.
However, one not so good reason to buy, is so that you can qualify to earn more money.
Let me explain…
As a new SeneGence distributor, you are eligible for product discounts and you can earn money selling the products directly.
However, you cannot earn Downline Commissions or Group Sales Volume bonuses, until you reach a certain level of PV (personal volume). So you need to place enough orders to meet this requirement, or you miss out on the bulk of the compensation plan.
For example: To earn Downline Commissions, you need to place a 100 PV order each month. And to earn the full extent of Group Sales Volume bonuses, that rises to 300 PV.
From what I understand, 1 PV equals $0.50. Which means you need to place $50 to $150 worth of product orders each month to qualify for the MLM aspect of the compensation plan.
In the next section, I will walk you through this in more detail.
Compensation Plan
The SeneGence compensation plan outlines the ways you can earn money selling products and building your team. And in this section, I am going to break this down for you.
The first thing to understand is that there are are three main ways you can earn:
- Retail Sales Commissions
- Downline commissions
- Group Sales Volume bonuses
Each of these are unique income streams which I am going to explain in detail going forward, so you know exactly what to expect.
Retail Sales Commissions (direct sales)
Retail Sales Commissions are what you earn by selling products directly to the customer. Either at a home party or online using the companies CDO (customer direct order) program.
How much you can earn, depends on how much you sell and what your discount percentage is for that month.
Here is the “discount schedule” for distributors:
As you can see, the more PV you rack up each month, the bigger your discount becomes. And obviously the bigger your discount, the more profit you make on whatever you sell.
If you’re selling offline at a home party, you simply earn the difference between your discounted price and the retail price.
And if you’re selling online via the CDO program, your commission IS your discount rate. So if you’ve earned the 30% discount rate that month, and someone buys through your replicated store, you earn a 30% commission on whatever they buy.
The maximum discount you can receive is 50%. Which means you can potentially earn 50% commissions on direct sales. This is very cool.
The main drawback here is that you must purchase products yourself in order to increase your discount percentage. Which means buying products for personal consumption, or buying inventory to sell in person, is unavoidable. That sucks.
Downline Commissions (earning from your recruits)
This is where the multilevel marketing (MLM) aspect of the SeneGence compensation plan comes into play. And it’s based on a unilevel downline system. Which places a distributor at the top of the structure, and their direct referrals below them, and so on.
In this case, the downline continues five levels deep and infinitely wide.
Commissions are based on the PV accumulated on personal orders within your team. Depending on where they are placed in your downline. This is capped at the first 100 PV per distributor in your downline.
- First level recruits (directly under you) earn you 10% commissions
- Second level recruits earn you 20% commissions
- Second level recruits earn you 30% commissions
For example: If all of your direct referrals (level 1) accumulate 500 PV in personal orders for the month between them. Then you would earn 10% of 500 PV which equates to 10% of $250, or a $25 commission. If that same PV was generated on your third level you would make a $75 commission for that month.
There are an additional two levels of downline commissions you can earn. But earning from these levels requires meeting certain milestones as follows.
Level 4 pays out 5% commissions and to unlock this level in your downline you must:
- Place an order of 200 PV or more in a given month
- Have 5 qualified distributors in the first level of your downline
- Have a total of 10,000 PV within the first 3 levels of your downline
Level 5 pays out 5% commissions and to unlock this level you must:
- Reach same requirements as above except;
- Accumulate 15,000 PV within the first three levels of your downline
Group Sales Volume Bonus
The Group Sales Volume bonus (GSV) is essentially a continuation of the previous income stream. But it takes effect from 101 PV onwards.
Level 1 GSV commissions: Purchase 100 PV in products each month to qualify to earn 10% commissions from recruits in the first level of your downline.
Level 2 GSV commissions: Purchase 300PV in products each month to qualify. As well as five level 1 and five level 2 distributors in your downline who do the same. In doing so you can earn 6% commissions from recruits in the second level of your downline.
Level 3 GSV commissions: Same as above, except also have five distributors in the 3rd level of your downline who purchase 300PV in products each month. In doing so you can earn 4% commissions from recruits in the third level of your downline.
Level 4 GSV commissions: Same as above, except also have five distributors in the 4th level of your downline who purchase 300PV in products each month. In doing so you can earn 3% commissions from recruits in the fourth level of your downline.
Level 5 GSV commissions: Same as above, except have five distributors in the 5th level of your downline who purchase 300PV in products each month. In doing so you can earn 3% commissions from recruits in the fourth level of your downline.
As you cans see, things get pretty technical when it comes to the business opportunity. The name of the game with these types of programs is recruiting.
The more people you recruit, the more money you can make.
SeneGence Distributor Ranks
There are seven ranks within SeneGence, which can be broken down into “Crown Princesses and Queens” ranks.
Here are the benefits of advancing in rank according to the company:
Crown Princesses and Queens enjoy traveling the world as International SeneGence®Trainers, driving brand new company cars, receiving company-wide recognition, and of course generous commission earnings and high-end jewelry gifts.
Sounds pretty cool.
But reaching these ranks is no easy task. And exactly what you get is vague at best. Not sure why but they do not give out any more details on what you get for each rank.
But they do explain what you need to do to achieve the rank.
Crown Princess: Have five distributors on levels 1-5 with 300 or more PV over 2 consecutive months. Also, make $1,000,000 or more in Group Sales Volume within a year.
Ruby Crown Princess: Same as Crown Princess, plus $2 million plus in Group Sales Volume within a year.
Sapphire Crown Princess: Same as Crown Princess, plus $3 million plus in Group Sales Volume within a year.
Emerald Crown Princess: Same as Crown Princess, plus $4 million plus in Group Sales Volume within a year.
Ruby Queen: Same as Crown Princess, plus $6 million plus in Group Sales Volume within a year.
Sapphire Queen: Same as Crown Princess, plus $7 million plus in Group Sales Volume within a year.
Emerald Queen: Same as Crown Princess, plus $8 million plus in Group Sales Volume within a year.
I’m assuming that the rewards are going to be pretty epic given those milestones. You will certainly need to be recruiting a lot of people, who recruit a lot of people to reach this though.
Conclusion
SeneGence International is a legitimate network marketing company that sells real products. And the business opportunity could be worthwhile for the right person.
However, there are some things I didn’t like.
For example, how much you purchase yourself directly determines how much money you can earn. So while the commission percentages are generous, this is a big drawback.
Because unfortunately what ends up happening, is you buy more and more products just to qualify to earn higher commissions. Which often means spending more money than you make. And that is never a smart business decision.
The other thing I’m not a fan of, is the home party business model. The whole idea of constantly hosting or attending home sales events, is just not my thing. And unless you have a huge network of friends and family, this probably won’t get you very far.
In order to make consistent sales and really build your business, you need to be constantly generating new leads, sales and referrals. That’s the name of the game here.
In conclusion, I think if you love the products and you love the idea of meeting new people that you can share this with, this could be a good opportunity for you.
Otherwise, I really do think there are better options to consider.
Regarding the ACTUAL startup cost, SeneGence now offers all NEW distributors 50% off all 300 PV orders for 90 days from the date that they register. This policy began in May of 2018. However I was mistaken about the 100 PV as I misread. Yes, you must place a 100 PV order to receive your group sales volume commission, but not to remain an active distributor. To remain “active” you must place a cumulative 100 PV over 6 months.
seneweb.senegence.com/us/career/jump-start-program
Take care!
Ok great thanks for clarifying that Lynn, appreciate it.
This article has many inaccuracies. A 300 pv order will give you a 50% discount, not 40%. You must purchase 100 pv in a 6 MONTH PERIOD, not monthly.
Hi Lynn,
I checked and I believe you are mistaken on both counts. According to the official SenGence compensation plan what I have stated in the review is accurate.
Here’s proof:
1) The distributor discount is 40% on a 300 PV order:
2) You must purchase 100 PV worth of product in a calendar month to qualify for downline commissions:
As you can see, what I’ve stated in the review is accurate according to the compensation plan. Let me know if there’s anything else you want me to clarify. I’ll be more than happy to check these out and make changes if necessary.
Thank you for commenting and all the best.
Update: the link I originally shared to the compensation plan was taken down after sharing this comment.