Should You Become a Scent-Sations Distributor?

If you have shopped for home decor products, then you may have come across a company called Scent-Sations. This company was founded in September 2002 by Carmen and Lynn Milazzo, Bob Scocozzo, and Charles Umphred. The company is headquartered in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

The company is best known for marketing Mia Bella Gourmet Candles, which are candles that come in different jar sizes and are offered in over 90 different scents. Scent-Sations also offers Mia Bella Beauty, a line of cosmetics that are advertised as being high in soy protein. There are also bath and body products to choose from, and even Mia Bella Bakery products.

The Scent-Sations business opportunity

You can buy Scent-Sations products online via the company’s website. However, you can also become a distributor for the company because Scent-Sations operates as a direct sales, multilevel marketing company. This means that it doesn’t sell its products to retailers. Instead, the company deals directly with private individuals, who sign up to become independent contractors (aka, distributors). These distributors purchase company products at wholesale prices and then sell them to others at a profit. They can also recruit other individuals to become Scent-Sations distributors and earn commissions on their sales.

Your first step in becoming a Scent-Sations distributor involves signing up to the company’s auto-ship program. There are three auto-ship programs to choose from, as outlined below:

In essence, you need to pay at least $39.95 per month to join and remain in the Scent-Sations distributor program. Depending on your personal needs and sales, you can upgrade to the larger $100/month plan or the $87/month skin care plan.

The main perk of having an auto-ship plan is that you get to buy Scent-Sations products at discount (i.e., wholesale). While the Scent-Sations website doesn’t specifically state how high of a discount you get, one page does reference products costing 15%-30% less than those featured online.

While you can just stop here and sell Scent-Sations products on your own, the company offers additional commissions if you recruit others into becoming distributors themselves. You commissions can add up quickly, especially if you are on the $100/month auto-ship plan:

If you focus on recruitment and press your downline to also recruit, you could theoretically make as much as 25% on commissions from sales. And even better, these are sales that you yourself don’t have to arrange.

As you continue to recruit distributors and they themselves recruit other distributors, your downline commissions could become as high as 39% and as many as 8 levels down. Keep in mind, though, that the sales volume on such high commissions is stupendous, totaling a minimum of $500,000 per month.

How do you and your downline generate such high sale volumes? There are several different methods that the company emphasizes:

Person-to-person sales– You are encouraged to host home parties and sell products to your warm market (i.e., family members and friends). You are also provided with a company website where you can advertise products, announce events like parties, and post testimonials.

Fundraising– Scent-Sations offers products customized specifically towards schools, churches, and other organizations who wish to sell them as part of a fundraising effort. Much of this customization involves creating unique candle labels and matching them with colors. So, if you work at a school, church, non-profit or other organization, you could take advantage of this opportunity to earn money from fundraising sales.

Is Scent-Sations a worthwhile business opportunity?

When analyzing any direct sales MLM, it’s imperative that you consider several factors about the business including its commission structure, monthly cost, marketing plan, etc. In the case of Scent-Sations, the company can be summarized via its pros and cons as follows:

Pros:

Higher-end products– Scent-Sations offers higher end triple-scented wax candles, which cost more than candles you might find at discount retailers like Walmart or Target; however, the scents are also more concentrated and of better quality overall. In many cases, the company’s products are priced below comparable items you would find at Yankee Candle Co. or Bath & Body Works, for example.

Higher commissions– If you are able to recruit other distributors and enable them to recruit distributors of their own, you’ll quickly nudge up to earning an additional 25% in commissions just on the sales of your downline. If you keep building on your downline, you might even go beyond earning 25%.

Cons:

Low wholesale discount– Although it’s difficult to discern how much of a wholesale discount you receive on products, it appears that the highest discount is 30%. That means that many products won’t be 30% off. Also, many of Scent-Sations’ products are already offered at a significant discount via its main website. So, you may have some difficulty convincing customers to purchase your items at full retail price.

Recruitment emphasis– Although you can make money at Scent-Sations without recruiting anyone, you won’t make a significant income until you leverage your efforts through distributor recruitment. That may work in your favor if you know people who really want to get involved in the business- or it may be a detriment.

Monthly purchase requirement– Many MLMs require that their members purchase a starter kit to join…but few MLMs ask that their members continually purchase starter kits month-after-month. This can pose a problem if, for example, your customers want a bulk shipment of only one candle scent; meanwhile, you’re stuck with odds and ends of scents that you can’t move. It’s one thing to have a monthly volume requirement, where you can purchase anything as long as you spend a given dollar amount. It’s quite another to have to purchase items that you may not even need or use.

The Scent-Sations business opportunity is a pass

While Scent-Sations offers value-priced candles and other goods, its compensation plan seems lackluster for distributors who just wish to sell product and not focus on recruitment. Also, distributors are stuck buying kits on a monthly basis, which often results in excess inventory that cannot be sold and ends up being unloaded on discount sites like eBay.

Have you bought or sold Scent-Sations products in the past? We’d love to hear your experiences in the comments below.