What are Direct Selling Companies?

Direct Selling Companies are a great flexible way to earn a little bit of extra income, but you will need to do the hours in to get a return. These are great for stay at home Mums and their target audience is generally ‘stay at home Mum’s’. The average commission seems to be around 20-30%. However lots of these companies then add postage, so if it’s a small order you won’t be getting that commission because the profit will be eaten up with postage costs.

Ethics of these companies seem to be better now, as they actively encourage you not to hold stock as they don’t want anyone to have any financial risk or at least very little risk. Most of the start-up costs are under £100. If any of these companies actively encourage you to hold stock I would avoid them. Normally you receive products at a discount when you start up with any of these companies. So for example, if the start up cost is £100 you get £200 RRP of products.

They all have their advantages and disadvantages. I personally would hate to have to hand deliver each order as I feel that once you’ve factored in the time for delivering products it would make your hourly rate is very low.

Before signing up for any of these companies… ask the following questions!

Is there a monthly fee?
Are there monthly targets?
How many sales do you need to do to stay registered?
Sign up fee?
Postage cost?
Are there extra fees for an online shop etc?
How much admin time/ delivery time of products is needed from you? (Might mean you end up working for £2 an hour!)
Does it fit in with what you already offer? So if you are always talking about an organic way of life, stay within the same lines.
Is your local area flooded with reps already?

List of some of the direct selling companies in the UK are:

Avon. No self-hosted online shop at the moment. So you need to directly deliver these to your client’s door.
Bodyshop.
Actiderm.
Forever living. Start up cost of around £200! £10 a month to have an online shop.
Ann Summers.
Stella and Dot. Startup cost £169.
Arbonne.
Partylite.
Usborne books.
The Pampered Chef.
Phoenix Trading.
Barefoot books.
Herbalife UK LTD.

To name a few…!

Neal’s Yard

I have recently signed up to sell Neal’s Yard products. If you have any questions please comment on this blog or email me. To join up yourself just click through on the logo above, then go to register to join. There are no monthly sales to reach all you have to do it have one large order of £85 a year to stay registered. You will receive 20% commission of everything you sell. The startup fee is £60, but that includes products and gear to get you started. You can host parties or just sell to friends and family.