Legitimate Network Marketing: 7 Criteria and a Test
8 min read Becoming a consultant Updated 5 October 2026 By Anna Sophie Schulenburg
Legitimate network marketing pays its commission from products sold to customers who never join, and it puts costs, rules and realistic earnings in writing before you sign anything. So ask for three documents, the compensation plan, the official income disclosure and the policies covering returns and cancellation, and check them against the seven criteria below. The moment you ask for a week to think it over, you will see how serious the other side is.
Do this check before you ask whether the work fits into your week. The hours, the start-up costs and the registration involved if you start a beauty side business are a separate question. Both are general guidance and do not replace legal or tax advice.
Network marketing or pyramid scheme: where the money comes from
From the outside the two models look alike. People recommend a product, and some of them build a team. The difference lies in what the money pays for in the end.
Network marketing, also called multi-level marketing (MLM) or multi-level direct selling, pays commission on product sales. You earn when customers buy, and if you build a team, you also earn on that team's sales. If nobody wants the product, nothing comes in.
In a pyramid scheme, the joining fees of new recruits fund the payouts to the women already inside. The product is a prop or missing altogether. Such a system always needs more newcomers than there can ever be, so it collapses on whoever joined last. In the UK and the EU, pyramid promotion schemes are on the list of commercial practices banned in all circumstances, and in Germany promoting one is also a criminal offence.
Plenty of people assume that any model with a team is a pyramid scheme. That is true when the bonus depends on the person recruited rather than on what is sold. So the compensation plan tells you more than any conversation about success stories.
Is it a pyramid scheme? The seven-point self-check
Take this table into the conversation or lay it next to the paperwork. You can check every row against a document or one specific question.
| Criterion | Legitimate model | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Product value | People buy the product without the business, at a price you would happily tell a friend | The conversation is almost all about recruiting, the product barely comes up |
| 2. Customer access | Buying stays possible for good without a partner contract | Discounts only with a contract, every customer is pushed to join straight away |
| 3. Source of income | Commission on product sales, including across a team | A bonus per recruit, joining fees as the main revenue |
| 4. Purchasing | No stock, orders as needed | A large starter pack is compulsory, your rank only holds through your own purchases |
| 5. Returns and exit | Returns for customers, buyback of unsold stock, cancellation set out in writing | Notice periods of several months, the stock stays with you when you leave |
| 6. Income claims | Official income disclosure with median figures, before you sign | Screenshots, cars, holidays, the phrase “passive income” |
| 7. Conduct | Time to think, questions welcome, clear advertising rules | “Today only”, cure claims, pressure on your friends |
If you tick two warning signs for one company, sign nothing until those points are settled in writing. You can test criterion 1 without signing anything. The free hair analysis asks about your hair and suggests a routine that you try as a customer first.
Membership of the national direct selling association is another pointer, since these associations publish their own codes of conduct; in the UK that is the Direct Selling Association. Its website lists the member companies. That still does not replace your own check against the seven rows.
Applying the criteria to MONAT
MONAT sells hair, skin and wellness products, such as the care oil REJUVENIQE® for a pre-wash treatment and as a finish or its own skincare line. The simplest way to find out whether the product is worth it to you is to use one yourself for a few weeks. Then ask yourself whether you would still recommend it if you earned nothing from it.
Customers can buy at the regular price or through a VIP customer programme, and neither needs a partner contract. Criterion 2 is therefore met by the way the model is built. What stays open is how much of the team you would join is made up of pure end customers. Ask the consultant that directly.
MONAT's compensation plan ties commission to product sales. Read the current plan yourself all the same and mark two things: whether some ranks carry a monthly minimum volume, and how much of that may come from your own orders. Ask, too, whether you can take a break without losing your status entirely.
MONAT sets out returns, buyback and cancellation in its Policies & Procedures. Look there for the deadlines and for what happens to unsold stock when you leave. The advertising and conduct guidelines come in the same package. Check what partners may say about income and about what the products do.
MONAT publishes an Income Disclosure Statement. Ask for the version for your country and read the median first, the figure with half of all partners above it and half below. If there is no median, ask for one. A few high earners drag averages upwards, and individual stories say nothing about your own chances. Whoever shows you this document before you decide is playing fair.
How to read a consultant's page
The pages and social media channels of individual consultants, Glow Tribe's included, belong to independent distributors. MONAT does not run them. A trustworthy consultant says so plainly, does not pose as an official manufacturer channel and bases what she says about products and income only on current, approved MONAT documents. If a private page calls itself an “official MONAT page”, or gives no clue who is behind it, treat that as a warning sign.
The one-week test before you sign
Say one sentence during the conversation: “I'd like to sleep on it for a week.” If the other person stays relaxed and sends you the documents, that is a good sign. If the pressure starts, something like “this offer is only valid today”, you are looking at one of the clearest warning signs there is. Spend the seven days like this:
| Day | What you do | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ask in writing for the compensation plan, income disclosure and policies | Do they arrive by email without anyone asking for your signature? |
| 2 | Read the compensation plan | Is any payment tied to recruits rather than to sales? |
| 3 | Read the income disclosure | Is the median anywhere near what you picture earning per month? |
| 4 | Add up the costs | Starter pack, your own monthly products, samples, postage, registration: is everything on paper with a date? |
| 5 | Read the policies | Returns, buyback, cancellation: which deadlines apply in your country? |
| 6 | Write your list of questions | Which points from the self-check table are still open? |
| 7 | Ask your questions, note the answers | Do you get specific answers or enthusiasm? |
By the end of the week you know whether the numbers and the rules fit your life. If a document is still missing after seven days, that is your answer too.
Common mistakes when checking
Many bad decisions start with a shortcut while reading. The shortcut comes before the arrow, and what to do instead comes after it:
- Believing success stories told in social media Stories → read the median in the income disclosure
- Accepting verbal promises about costs → every figure in writing, with the date it applies from
- Taking your sponsor's presentation for the original → request the PDF from the company itself
- Reading the documents for another country → the current version valid where you live
- Buying a big pack to get going properly → order as a customer first, then decide
- Treating the contacts in your phone as a customer list → think about whom you would recommend the product to without any commission
What can count against it, even with a legitimate company
A model can meet all seven criteria and still be wrong for you. Income is not guaranteed and depends on your own effort. Expect little or nothing to be left over in the first months. Advising, following up and handling orders take time every week, especially alongside a job or a family.
Then come the costs and duties of self-employment: registration, tax and your own products are your responsibility. Selling to friends under pressure puts friendships at risk. And direct selling has a mixed reputation, so you need to handle sceptical questions calmly.
Questions to ask us before you join
- How much of the turnover in the team I would join comes from end customers, and how much from partners?
- Which start-up and ongoing costs are there, and which of them are fixed in writing?
- Are there monthly minimum sales to keep my status or commission, and how much of that may I order myself?
- How exactly do returns, buyback and cancellation work, and with what deadlines?
- Will you show me the current income disclosure before I decide?
- Can I stay just a customer for now?
What happens when you contact Glow Tribe
You send a no-obligation enquiry through the “Become a consultant” page. A consultant from the team gets back to you personally, answers your questions, shows you what the starter pack costs at the moment and puts the official income disclosure in front of you. You do not have to decide anything in that conversation, and the week to think it over is expressly part of the process.
If only the products interest you for now, stay a customer or a VIP customer. The overview of MONAT hair care sets out which care systems exist and who each one is for.
Quick questions
Is network marketing legal in the UK?
Yes. Multi-level direct selling is legal as long as commission comes from product sales. Pyramid schemes, which mainly pay for recruiting new participants, are banned. For a specific contract, Citizens Advice or a solicitor can help.
Is MONAT a pyramid scheme?
No, by the two core criteria on this page: commission in MONAT's compensation plan is tied to product sales, and customers buy without a partner contract. Check it against the current version for your country all the same.
Do I have to recruit friends and family to earn anything?
No. Commission comes from product sales to customers, and a team is an option rather than a requirement. Anyone telling you otherwise is describing a warning sign from the table above.
Do I need to register as self-employed as a consultant?
In the UK, usually yes once your trading income goes over the £1,000 trading allowance: you register for Self Assessment with HMRC and pay tax on your profit. That comes on top of the start-up costs of a beauty side business. If in doubt, ask HMRC or an accountant.
What does it cost to join MONAT?
That depends on the country and the current starter pack, so you will not find a figure here. Get the amount in writing and add your own monthly products, samples and postage.
If you want to go through the seven criteria with the original documents, ask Glow Tribe for the compensation plan and income disclosure, with no obligation.