If you are one of my loyal subscribers who is currently getting paid to click on ads at Clixsense.com, you will know why I am writing about this company. It's because we've all seen the ads for this Skinny fiber stuff. As a marketer I know if someone keeps advertising the same thing over and over again for a long period of time, chances are they're making money. So I wanted to see how and why we're reviewing this company. Because for all we know, it may be a great opportunity for you. Let's dig deeper and see if this is the case.
So what is Skinny Body Care about?
Basically It's an MLM that is promoting a ‘diet miracle pill' called Skinny Fiber. I probably lost some of you when heard that dirty word MLM. It gives me the heebie jeebies too. Unfortunately Multi Level Marketing opportunities don't have the best reputation out there for good reasons. But just because there are a few rotten apples in a given industry doesn't mean all the apples are bad. It's a just a matter of keeping this in mind and doing your research accordingly so you can avoid those bad apples. The same applies for the work at home industry, affiliate marketing, car shopping, lawyers, etc. Even if this wasn't an MLM you should always do your research which is easy to do when you follow the steps in my scam video.
The fact of the matter is there are many companies who sell a real life useful physical product who use the MLM model legitimately to help build their business. Amway, Avon, Melaleuca and others have been doing it successfully for years. So an MLM can work and be very profitable for the right people. An MLM goes bad when you don't have a solid product or service to sell people and the only way that seems to bring any income in is by referrals only.
That's what we call a Pyramid Scam and there are a lot of MLMs out there that are cleverly disguised pyramid scams. Hopefully this isn't case here.
What is Skinny Fiber and how does it work?
Here's the information straight from the horse's mouth:
"Skinny Fiber ingredients include ‘three cutting-edge', fat burning, all-natural ingredients called Glucomannan, Caralluma Fimbriata, and Chá de Bugre. Skinny Fiber also includes a blend of seven digestive enzymes that are considered to be a hidden factor in fat loss."
They go on to provide details about each of these ingredients and their effect on weight loss. They even try to validate these ingredients with references of Dr. Oz and clinical studies.
You can read more about the ingredients and claims here.
How do you make money with Skinny Body Care?
To start off, you must sign up through a referral, that you get through an ad, or someone sends to your email or on a review page for the program online. At the time of this review, you must buy a Skinny Fiber bottle each month with an automatic order, which is around $60 a pop ($720 a year). Occasionally there will be a ‘free trial' offer, but eventually you will have to buy a bottle each month in order to earn commissions or bonuses.
The payment plan is a 3×8 matrix which means 3 people are under you and eight additional people can be added under each of them. The people above you can add people to your matrix, so one of your first three might come from them. The largest % of commissions come from these three, and from anyone who buys the product from you via an online order. Each level the % will go down.
Then there is some other stuff about how you make money that you're free to make sense of if you want. My simple simon mind didn't even want to attempt to rephrase it so I've linked to it here. I never understand why these MLMs have all these extra payment scenarios. I personally think it just makes things more confusing than need be. But at the same time it does give you more ways to earn higher amounts with the company.
How and when do you get paid?
Damned, if I know. I used all of my investigative powers, as did my research team, and we could only find that some members on forums saying they got paid. They never really got into details about how or when. Not surprisingly no one has provided any proof of payment either. So take the claims of being paid with a grain of salt. In any event you would think they have an easily accessible FAQ page that tells you all these details!
What about start up costs and those websites we see?
As far as I can tell the main start up cost is the $60/month you have to cough up for a bottle of miracle fiber pills. Obviously, they must have resources for you to use, as all those ads on Hits4Pay etc have the exact same format, only the referral name differs. The websites I read seemed to use different formats, but the material, graphics were just about the same, so they do have resources for new members to use.
Cons
Where's the FDA approval? Even on their main company website they have the following disclosure in nice bold print which I appreciate:
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
So um without the FDA giving this an approval, do you feel comfortable taking this pill or worst still promoting it to others? I don't know about you but that doesn't sit right with me.
Why does this company remind me of Egypt? With a Pyramid scam, the people at the bottom pay to get in, which pays the money to the people on the top. The people on the bottom have to bust ass and recruit people below them to get paid and the cycle continues until the pyramid collapses. There is no real product with a pyramid schemes. Or if there is one there isn't an emphasis on selling it.
Well if you take the time to watch the whole video on one of their sites, about half way through you see a matrix that looks and smells a lot like a pyramid scam. You'll notice the real push is in getting people to sign up and not the product! Seems weird considering how they claim this product is a miracle diet pill. Shouldn't the focus be pushing the pill?
Some folks over at Scam.com uncovered the owner of the company is a man name Ben Glinksy who apparently is a successful marketer who's loyal followers say is great. While others don't feel this way and have listed the failed programs he has sponsored before. Apparently this Skinny Body Care is set up very much like the others which have failed. I think that is a red flag to anyone. I don't know enough to say one way or the other, all I can do is follow my own advice and try to find a balance between what complaints and praises. Then I take this information and look for a pattern. Judging on what I've learned there is enough information to make me pause.
So Is Skinny Body Care legitimate?
This whole thing reeks to me and I would advise staying away from it. I can't say outright it is a scam, but I could probably pay for a gym membership for the same $720 you would spend on a years worth of those pills and probably have a better chance of losing weight without the worry that a product may hurt me because it's not approved by the FDA. The fact that promoting the product isn't the big push is highly reminiscent of a pyramid scam. So with that said, I just wouldn't want to risk my time or money with this.
As always I would love to hear your input about this company. Feel free to correct anything I got wrong or add to anything I may have missed. If you've actually been paid by this company for promoting the product I would love to hear from you as well.
In any event you can find our personally recommended opportunities here. We also list jobs daily here. So feel free to use those resources if what you read above didn't appeal to you.
Thanks for your continued support, hope to see you back here soon or on my facebook fanpage.
It was good to read this-more for the comments over the years… LOL. Anyway, this could work, although I do worry we may see them on the television show, American Greed, someday. The thing is, that I don’t get, no matter how great the MLM/pyramid/scam/sales/etc are, why are we not discussing the product more? You’d think that would be the main thing-this product is so great, you’ll not only want to use it monthly, but you will want to share the opportunity so they can use it AND MAKE TONS OF MONEY because it works so well. On their website, for a five year old company (I’m going off the video they emailed me) I clicked on “products” to read the ingredients and to see what they had to say and guess what? Not only did they only have ONE product listed, but it wasn’t even the one I clicked on. So I am saying that yes, this is a scam, not in that it doesn’t work, but in that it’s not at all about the product-the product serves only to get you to the site and to have you purchase something monthly in order to keep it going. It MAY work. Fiber IS good. But regardless, you still need to eat well and exercise. Sigh. I’d kind of like to try it just so I can write an accurate review from a fitness nut who also likes to have an income. ~Teraisa
Teresa,
I totally feel you. That seems to be the problem with many of these MLMs. It’s all about recruiting other reps and not about the products. And to me that is always a bad sign. Too often I feel like MLMs just slap on a product just so legally they’re not considered a pyramid or Ponzi scheme. But they come pretty damn close to one.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
The good news: My wife has tried to lose weight in a lot of different ways, none have worked. She tried Skinny Fiber, and lost 27 pounds in three months. Now, she also started walking more and is drinking a weight loss shake that she got at Walmart. How much of these 27 pounds is due to Skinny Fiber and how much to the other things, I don’t know. I still maintain that lifestyle – eat what you need, be active – does more to get the body at a good weight and fitness than any supplement like Skinny Fiber. But if it helps, praise the Lord and go for it. And my wife looks and feels better than she has since we got married.
Here’s where the problems began. She became an affiliate with Skinny Fiber. The thing sure looks like a pyramid scheme. Their conference calls sound more like a Primerica rah-rah session. I asked many times, “What is the payment structure???” She had to ask and ask and ask until she finally found out: They appear to pay pretty well commission when someone purchases their first bottle of Skinny Fiber. When that someone is a repeat customer, the commission drops to something like 2%. I may have the number wrong. But to make money like this, you need to continually sign up new customers *all the time*. Meanwhile, even if you sign up no one, you still need to buy that $65 bottle for yourself, even if you don’t use it anymore.
So this can make a lot of money for . . . the Skinny Fiber company. Not for the affiliates. Naturally, me being her husband, I can’t tell her this, otherwise I’ll be sleeping on the couch for a long time. But I think she’s finding out on her own. Cool.
To close: Dilbert once had an entry where the pointy-haired boss suggested that each of the engineers become marketers, selling their gadgets to their friends. “Just think: if we sell this to all of our friends, and they sell to all of their friends…” Then Wally replied: “We’ll have no more friends.” Welcome to MLM, and welcome to Skinny Fiber.
Hey Ron,
Thanks for sharing your wife’s experience with us. I just want to clarify that Skinny Body Care doesn’t use affiliates they’re called distributors I believe. When you’re an affiliate marketer for a company they don’t charge you to be an affiliate nor do they force you to have a monthly order. And it’s not all about recruiting other members to make money. So I just wanted to clarify the terminology and the business model. Because it’s very different from an MLM and why I’m an affiliate marketer. I couldn’t deal with those damn meetings and being forced to buy the product every month to qualify to make money aka meaning the way to pay my upline. lol
Why isn’t there a money back garranty
Damned if I know.
Most over the counter supplements are not FDA approved. Drugs are advertised on tv with more messed up side affects than the what it supposed to be cured is not FDA approved. So that means nothing.
Great point Sylvester! Thanks for chiming in!
There is a money back guarantee!!!!!! There is one month empty bottle money back guarantee with the purchase of either one bottle or 2 buy 1 free and there is a 3 months empty bottle money back guarantee with the purchase of buy 3 get 3 free! I am sorry but you need to do better researches before you try to review a product 😉
You do realize this review is several years old and I’m sure many things have changed since then. But we appreciate the update. Do you still have to buy a Skinny Fiber bottle each month with an automatic order in order to earn commissions or bonuses? Have the simplified that confusing matrix commission plan? 😉
A Facebook friend of mine keeps posting about Skinny Fiber (she is a ‘distributor’). From everything I’ve seen and read, this had “Pyramid Scheme” written all over it.
Even IF the product is legit (which I sincerely have HUGE doubts about), the entire system seems to be based on ordinary people becoming “distributors,” and in order to make money they have to sell the product AND recruit more people to become “distributors,” who in turn have to recruit more people, and so on, and so on. That is the VERY DEFINITION OF A PYRAMID SCHEME.
Plus if this product is the real deal, and is legit, safe to use, and so forth, why would it even be sold and distributed in this questionable, inefficient manner? Why can’t I just walk into a Walgreens, CVS, the pharmacy department at my local grocery store, or a place like GNC and buy this right off the shelf?
The website for this product doesn’t even make it easy to buy. If you go to their website and click on “Order Now,” you can’t just simply place an order. It won’t let you proceed without entering the name of “the distributor that referred you.” And you can’t just enter anything (I tried… not that I intended to actually buy the product, I just wanted to see if the website would let me), it has to be a recognized name already signed up with them. Even if you go to the option to become a distributor yourself, you STILL have to enter a referring distributor.
If this company is really in the business of making money by legitimately selling a legitimate product without this thing being some kind of scam or pyramid scheme, why in the hell would they make it THAT difficult to simply go to the website and place an order? Not everyone will necessarily know or be referred to by a “distributor.” Some people may have just heard about the product in passing.
Why would this company be trying to recruit so many Joe-schmoe work from home distributors (all for the purpose for those people to make money) rather than sell this at legitimate retail outlets? It would get the product out to more people, and if it really is a great product and works well, then word of mouth and testimonials from those having positive results, and that word spreading through social media would be enough to get more people to buy it and try it. You don’t need “distributors” promoting it.
And the funny thing is that the people who are the quickest and most adamant to defend Skinny Fiber are the people from the actual company and those who are distributors…. in other words those who have a very biased, vested interest in convincing people this is not a scam… regardless of whether they, themselves know it to be or believe it to be a scam.
If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. And skinny fiber has “too good to be true” written ALL over it!
Thanks for chiming in. You do make some valid observations and points. However I think you throw the lavel of a pyramid scheme too loosely. Some people would argue a lot of traditional jobs are pyramid schemes where the CEO makes the bulk of the money even though there are many employees below them doing more work. So that label is open to interpretation. In it’s purest form a pyramid scheme usually doesn’t have any real product. The money is generated by recruiting people and nothing else. This company does have a product and folks are encouraged to sell it in addition to recruiting people.
Recruiting other people doesn’t make a company a scam. But if the sole purpose of the business is to recruit people to make money and there is no other way to earn income with that opportunity then it’s shady.
Some companies will focus more on the recruiting aspect for better or worst. The distributer model is in effiecnt. Otherwise you wouldn’t have companies like New York Life Insurance Company who’s been around for over 100 years using agents to sell their products. They do supplement with other ways. But the majority of their sales are made by an agency sales force. Statefarm does this as well. So it’s a solid business model.
If you take issue with their product or how their distributor model is set up, I can appreciate that.
I’m not a member of their product so personally i don’t really care. But I want people to be able to make an informed decision based on facts and not opinions or quick observations. Maybe you’re speaking as a former distributor. If so, that definitely holds a lot of weight. But it’s very easy for someone with an agenda to bad mouth a company because of their own vendettas.
So I keep that in mind. And that also goes for the distributors that come here and post nothing but rosy colored feedback on this company.
Folks just need to balance the information and make the right decision based on the various data points.
Thanks again for sharing your opinion. I don’t necessarily agree with all your points but you definitely give folks something to ponder as they gather more information to make an informed decision.
I can see that you did NOT do your research at all on this company or the product they promote. For one the FDA does NOT look Health supplements. Skinny Fiber is NOT a magic diet pill, nor do we say it is. It does promote weight loss and it also helps many people get off their Toxic prescription medications. You get paid weekly on sales and yes there are other bonuses and ways to get paid and we DO get paid. You are correct when it comes to having to buy one bottle a month to stay active but as with ANY other business you put money into your own business for it to succeed, Skinny Body Care is NOT a pyramid! You can move up in the company and pass up those above you, just like in any other JOB or business.I was in Amway for years and I know that in order for a business to be legal and not a Pyramid it has to follow the same business plan as Amway. Skinny Body Care is the fastest growing company of its kind and is is over 150 countries. Ben Glinsky might have had failures in business in the past but show me one successful person that has not failed at one time or another. This just ticks to me to see someone who clearly does not do thorough research on something but decides to post something like this. There are hundreds of REAL people losing weight and getting healthy with Skinny Fiber. And YES there are hundreds of people making REAL money. I know this because I am one of them and I work with hundreds of others on a daily basis that are doing the same. Check your facts before you decide to bad mouth a company you clearly know NOTHING about
Eddie, I was in skinny body for 6 months. This product doens’t work. Its all a bunch of hype. There are only two people making any money in this company. I waisted 6 months of time and money. The peopole are promoting it like crazy its all about $$$ but they have no product testimony to back it up. I never made anything and I recruited people like crazy not even enough to cover the high monthly autoship. STAY AWAY PEOPLE BIGGEST SCAM outhere and I was dumb enough to fall for it!
check out this link of theirs https://www.insanelanes.org/dreamteam/downloads.htm
On a better note, how about them Giants last night! 🙂
Hi Chrissy, (It’s Eddy by the way. lol)
Thanks for sharing your experience. In terms of the making money part, not earning it can happen with any business. And it’s not necessarily the business fault. Unfortunately not everyone that gets involved in a business will be successful and earn a dime. If that were the case everyone would be business owners because success is guaranteed. So I don’t hold your experience in terms of making money against the company.
Maybe their training sucks so that might be at fault. I don’t know. But that aspect can be a result of a number of reasons that aren’t solely on the shoulders of the company. Now it terms of the product claims and it failing to meet it. That’s a whole other story. So I’m happy you shared your experience with it.
Either way thanks for chiming in.
Let’s go Giants!!! lol
WOW really? Did you join back when they first started? Cuz there are a heck of a lot more then 2 of us making money and losing weight. I can introduce you to at least 500 off the bat that are losing weight AND making money. Plus there is NO way you can say that you recruited people and did not make enough to cover your monthly bottle of skinny unless you only had one person a month buy a bottle. I made almost 400.00 in my first month and I didn’t need hundreds of people to do it, I have my bank statements if you want to see proof. It is sad when someone clearly does not take the time to build a business turn around and call them a scam.
the autoship is actually one of the lowest you can find in mlm, and if you refer 3 people, you already made enough money to cover your monthly autoship, how i that expensive? but of course you need to refer 3 per month, if you really recruited like “crazy” you would have been at least making a nice part-time income
Sharon,
Thank you! I really appreciate you saying that! I can talk until I’m blue in the face (which is impossible because I’m black. lol) but it means a lot more when my visitors and supporters step up and chime in. Because ultimately you guys have personally experienced and benefitted from what I’m doing here. So thank you for yo