We all know there are a ton of ways to make money online. But running an online business can be a lonely affair at times. If you like to socialize a lot, there are many business opportunities out there that will give you the chance to do just that. Some mlm companies like LuLaRoe are set up to help you make money through hosting parties in your home or in the homes of your family and friends. But are these home parties really worth your time and investment? Let's take a closer look.
What is LuLaRoe?
LuLaRoe.com is a multilevel marketing company that sells fashion clothing for women, men, and children. The company was founded in 2012 by DeAnne Stidham. Its corporate headquarters are located in Corona, California.
What Products Does LuLaRoe Offer?
The company is best known for its comfortable fashion leggings. But LuLaRoe has expanded and also offers dresses, skirts, and t-shirts in a wide variety of colors and patterns. Available sizes range from XXS to 3XL. Suggested retail prices generally range from $18-$65.
LuLaRoe Compensation Plan
Independent consultants also known as LuLaRoe Fashion Retailers typically sell LulaRoe clothing through Pop-Up Boutiques. These are essentially home parties that take place in a customer's home. According to the company's compensation plan, consultants are able to earn between 35%-50% of gross sales in commissions. To stay active as a consultant, you must sell 33 clothing pieces each month to receive your commission.
You can also earn money by recruiting others into the business opportunity. As a sponsor, you can earn a 5% override bonus from the personal volume of recruited consultants. However, you must purchase at least 175 clothing pieces each month to get this bonus. You can earn a 3% bonus on following generations of consultants recruited into your downline. Also available is a Leadership Bonus Pool. However, fashion home parties don't appeal to everyone. If this opportunity is less than thrilling for you, I'd invite you to check out my Top Work At Home Recommendation instead.
How to Become a LuLaRoe Consultant
To become a fashion retailer consultant, you must find a local fashion retailer sponsor and fill out an Independent Consultant Program Application and Agreement. You can find other retailers by visiting the company's website. You will also have to place an initial order consisting of 275-350 clothing pieces. 80 of the pieces will be leggings and the rest will be a combination of skirts, dresses, and tops. The cost for this initial order highly depends on what items you have selected.
What We Like
6-Month Warranty: This limited warranty covers any defects in workmanship for six months from the date the item is purchased. You will need to return the item along with the original receipt to the consultant you purchased from. The consultant will then handle the rest to exchange the item for you. There is no cost for shipping and handling on the part of the customer for returning the item.
Happiness Policy: If you are unhappy with your purchase for any reason, you can receive a full refund, credit, or exchange within the first 30 days of purchase.The Happiness Policy also extends to a full credit or exchange within 90 days if you are not satisfied.
LuLaRoe Complaints
So before you get to excited about this opportunity, we have to keep it real with you. There are definitely some complaints down below that may give you pause. It's not to say this company is a scam. But you need to know the good and bad. So here it is.
Don't Quit Your Day Job: According to the company's 2016 Income Disclosure Statement, 72.63% of all LuLaRoe Retailers didn't make anything in an entire year. Those who were eligible to receive commissions in the United States only earned an annual average of $2118.54. You must sell at least 33 clothing pieces a month to be considered active enough to receive commissions. The numbers suggest that this business opportunity isn't a great one and you may be better off with my Top Work At Home Recommendation instead.
Hole-y Clothing: There are numerous complaints from customers recently regarding the material in the leggings ripping, tearing, and falling apart within hours of wear.
Poor Business Rating: At the time of this review, the company has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau. Much of this rating has to do with the large volume of complaints with its defective clothing. Another big issue has to do with complaints with the company charging customers the wrong state sales tax.
Expensive Business Costs: The company does not list prices for the initial order when you become a consultant on its website. However, others online say that this order costs around $5,000-$7,000. You also need to purchase 175 clothing pieces a month to qualify for commissions. Wholesale prices range from $8.50-$31. Doing the math, it's difficult to see how you can make any real money with this business opportunity.
Inventory Overload: You don't get to select the specific styles or sizes of clothing items you get to sell each month. This means that you can wind up over time with tons of clothes customers don't want and you may not be able to return them to get your money back.
So is LuLaRoe Legit or A Big Scam?
LuLaRoe is a legitimate fashion multilevel marketing company. However it's not necessarily one I would recommend or join. The company sells a wide range of affordably priced clothing for men, women, and kids. If you don't like what you bought you can return or exchange your purchases through the company's Happiness Policy and limited warranty. Consultants are able to earn up to 50% in commissions through home parties known as Pop-Up Boutiques. However, the cost to join is incredibly high compared to other similar companies. You must also reinvest a good chunk of your earnings back into the business each month to purchase a large number of clothing items.
The company's business opportunity appears to be one to avoid at the moment because of the large number of complaints with its leggings falling apart easily. Plus, the expensive startup costs and heavy reinvestment with clothing purchases each month suggests you'll have a hard time making any serious cash. If you are looking for multiple streams of income, there are a ton of better choices than LuLaRoe. I highly recommend you check out my Top Work At Home Recommendation and my Work At Home Courses for other possible options. But that's up to you.
If you have any experiences with this company, I'd love to hear what you have to say. Please leave your comments down below. And if you enjoyed this review, please free to check out my other work at home reviews as well.
Until next time,
Eddy with a y
Biggest mistake I have ever made. They over on boarded and made it impossible to sell because there are too many reps!!! They sent me horrible unsaleable patterns and I am stuck with loss of at least $4000.00. Horrible company that lies and then charges you to send their ugly stuff back. Don’t do it!!!!
I would definitely tell anyone to avoid this company. First off, I went to high shool with the daughter of the woman who started Lularoe and in being on both of their personal Facebook page friends lists, I see the behind the scenes of the factories etc where Lula is manufactured. All the clothing is made in 3rd world countries for pennies a garment by poverty-stricken workers in terrible conditions. The owner, her daughter whom I know and other employees take lavish vacations to these factories to check out their progress etc, while these poor women and men slave to make the clothes that are sent here and sold for ridiculous prices. Don’t believe me? Check out the back of the tag sewn inside your Lula clothing, chances are it will say India, Vietnam, Guam… etc. It’s not right and it’s appalling that their clothing is made in such conditions with such a low wage paid to those workers while the rich white women who started the company stay at the nicest hotels using the money made off these people’s backs. Oddly enough this company was started by a Mormon woman who preaches values blah blah at the inspire events (conferences used to lure more unsupecting stay at home mothers into their web) yet they basically got to where they are by way of slavery. Why would they give those jobs to Americans and make the clothing in America when they can make millions by taking advantage of 3rd world citizens desperate to make a living?!
I also have a roommate who sells Lula and to her it’s the best thing in the world. She truly believes everything they fed her at Inspire and believes she’s a “business owner.” No she’s not. She’s another worker bee in a huge hive where the owner and her family sit on the throne, just posting informative YouTube videos while everyone who makes and sells Lula does all the work. My roommate went from a caring, involved friend and mother to her children to a closed off cell phone and computer addict who never leaves her Lula inventory room except to eat. She spends all day and night in constant contact with potential buyers, prepping for live video sales, packaging, packing up almost 1000 garments for pop ups every weekend where she usually only sells 2 or 3 items and although she may get a check for $2000 for one week, she puts $1600 back into the company for more inventory. More inventory that just sits on the racks in the Lula room week after week without ever being sold. Yet she continues the cycle month in and month out. Last I checked, there are plenty of jobs where you can make $400 a week but get the added bonus of not paying the company to work for them and getting health benefits. She’s invested in racks, T bars, specialty tissue paper, sealing stickers, cards and the list goes on just for her packaging so that it stands out and makes her look professional. Because of course Lula doesn’t provide even shipping boxes to it’s employees. Every single week, she gets between 5-10 buyers who return leggings because after one hour or day in them, they end up with 4 or 5 huge holes. The company tries to blame it on their magical brushing techniques which result in the softness of the leggings, but that’s a crock. It’s cheap fabric to save a buck and instead of taking blame for overcharging for shitty product, they blame the workers or the machinery. Not to mention the fact that there is this laundry list of directions on how to wash each garment. I’d understand if it were silk or chiffon but it’s not. It’s literally cotten and spandex. I have pairs of leggings that costed me $5-$20 a pair from everywhere stores like Target and Walmart that have never ripped after years of wear. The Lula leggings my roommate has given me as gifts have all torn within the first few hours of wear. At a cost of $25 a pair, those things should be indestructible or at least be able to be worn for a year without holes. But alas!
Through her Lula selling, I’ve met many other consultants and they all have the same issues going on. They all put their “business” before everyone and everything because it literally takes that amount of time to even get close to making some sort of financial gain. It’s a company promoted on the earnings and ability to stay at home with your kid’s, etc. And sure, you get to stay home with them but your relationship with your kids will suffer because of it. I’ve seen 3 different consultants become complete zombies to the Lula game while their kids get ignored and told to go away constantly because they’re so busy doing live sales and being on their phones 24/7 trying to sell.
If this company was run properly and fairly and had good quality material for their clothing, I’d recommend it… because let’s face it ladies, some of the clothes are just too cute. But that’s about all they are!
****avoid at all costs****
Well, thanks for sharing your personal observation regarding this company.
My wife is a consultant and I can tell you it is a LOT of work. You can make money doing this but people do not understand how hard you have to work to make money. If anyone is thinking about doing this just realize you need to be financially savvy and have a used car salesman demeanor. I’ve seen many people fail because of those 2 reasons. You have to hustle and know your bottom line.
Definitely not a program I would join so thank you for your review!
The minimum sell limit in order to receive a commission looks like the most scummy way of not telling people that they are a scam. If you are doing your job and selling 15/20 pieces per month, you should totally get the commission. I didn’t like the fact that you should buy a minimum amount per month either. I know this might be necessary in order for the business to run, but resellers should be able to buy whatever they wanna sell & work with.
Once again, thank you for your review! I’m definitely gonna try your recommendation for working at home!
You’re welcome. I agree, I’m not a big fan of the requirements necessary to receive your commission. So I totally hear ya.
It seems like everyone my wife and I know are on Facebook trying to sel l Lula Roe…. it gets annoying.
My wife finally caved and went to one of the parties, and she wasn’t happy about it. She ended up buying some leggings to help support her friend, but their her least favorite pair she’s got.
Thanks for the information. I’ll be sure to keep away from this opportunity.
Yeah it seems like Facebook is used for things like this. I’m not a big fan of promotions done like this either. But clearly its working for some folks. Thanks for sharing your wife’s experience.
Hey Eddy,
Thanks for sharing this review of Lularoe. Lularoe is heavily advertised in Facebook work at home groups. They make it seem so glamorous to be a part of the company. The stats are shocking though. I would not join a company with such a low chance of earning money in the first years.
33 pieces of clothing per month is also a bit much. Especially if you are a beginner at MLM companies. I had a look at your other job suggestions. Most are not available in my country though.
I am already with your number 1 recommendation Wealthy Affiliate. It is going great so far but I am always on the hunt for new opportunities.
Thanks again for this honest review.
-Crystal
You’re welcome Crystal. I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying Wealthy Affiliate as well.
Thanks Eddy for sharing this review about LuLaRoe. I agree with you that not everyone likes to attend or host home parties. So that wouldn’t work well for me. I don’t like that if you don’t hit the quota of selling 33 pieces of clothing per month, basically you’re not going to receive your commission. For me, this is not a consistent income and you need to be spending a lot of time to build it up. In the long term, it doesn’t seem like this business can be a source of passive income. You probably still need another job to serve as fall back plan.
You’re welcome. I agree with a lot of your points.
This doesn’t look like the kind of thing I can see myself doing, as I am definitely not the salesman type and hate begging friends and family to buy from me and come to my parties.
On the other hand, if you could sign up as an affiliate and sell these clothes via your website and not have to handle shipping or stock, then that would be a better fit for me. In fact selling anything that deals with handling stock and dealing with complaints is not the sort of thing I want to be involved in.
Thank you for a most informative review.
Unfortunately they don’t work under the affiliate business model so that wouldn’t be an option. But thanks for sharing your views about this.
I have been hearing a lot about LulaRoe online. Apparently, it has been getting big enough that a lot of people are talking about it.
My biggest issues are the 33 articles of clothing per month in order to get any commission. Why not pay commission for each article of clothing sold?
Also, an “F” rating with the BBB? That’s horrible. I have heard their clothing was low quality, and I guess this proves it.
It sounds like most people would be better off getting clothes to sell from elsewhere if fashion is their thing.
Yeah I’m not a big fan of the monthly requirements either. The BBB rating I take with a grain of salt but I agree it doesn’t sound good. Thanks for chiming in.
Hi Eddy with a ‘y’! I wish you would have written this article (and I would have seen it) before I became a LuLaRoe consultant! I did make money but not at all what I had expected and now due to market saturation, it’s gotten worse. We will see what the new collaboration with Disney will bring. Thanks for writing this article! Hopefully it helps other “quebies” rethink their decision.
Hey Laura,
Sorry you read this article after the fact. But I appreciate that you shared your real experience with us!
Hi Eddy
Well, this LuLaroe review really kinda puts me off. I already know that most people in MLM never make any money. And the start up cost to get started is huge compared to the alternatives. So I don’t think this would be right for me. Although initially I did.
Thanks for keeping me out of trouble with this LuLaroe Review!
You’re welcome Mike.