Sabika, Inc. promises to bring opportunities to women of all ages and backgrounds. But, is Sabika a good opportunity or just another MLM exploiting women?
Is Sabika a good opportunity? According to the Sabika Annual Income Disclosure Statement, at least 95% of its Consultants lose money with the opportunity. Only about 1% earn a full-time income.
If you are considering the Sabika business opportunity, take time to read this article to the end and watch the video, Why You Can’t Win with MLM.
A few minutes spent here can help you avoid wasting your time, money, energy and reputation on a game that is rigged against you.
Is Sabika a Good Opportunity?
Sabika is a direct selling company that claims to offer exclusive “affordable high-end jewelry” and a business opportunity.
Said to be “by women for women,” Sabika promotes its jewelry and opportunity through party plans, an antiquated strategy that pre-dates the internet.
Sabika uses a multi-level compensation plan. Because of this structure, critics of the industry would describe Sabika as a multi-level company or MLM.
Throughout this article, I will refer to Sabika as an MLM.
The MLM structure can be extremely lucrative for the owners of the company and the few professionals placed at the top of the salesforce.
However, according to research by Dr. Jon Taylor, the MLM business model exploits everyone in the salesforce below the top ranks.
Very few earn a profit, and only a tiny percentage earn a full-time income.
Most people who try MLM quickly realize the business costs more in time and money than expected, and that they are not earning a profit.
Typically, after charging hundreds or thousands of dollars to their credit card for a starter kit, monthly fees, and buying products to “qualify,” an MLM salesperson will quit.
Most will quit within a few months with nothing to show for their efforts but credit card debt and strained personal relationships.
Because so few who try the Sabika opportunity ever earn a profit, Sabika cannot be considered a good opportunity.
A minimum wage, part-time job would be more rewarding.
7 Sabika Secrets You Should Know.
- 1Most Sabika Consultants Lose money.
- 2Sabika is a privately own MLM.
- 3Sabika can terminate you without cause.
- 4Sabika jewelry is fashion jewelry made of base metals and manufactured stones.
- 5The Sabika opportunity costs $100 to $650.
- 6A Sabika Consultant must generate $500 in retail sales every 90 days to earn commissions.
- 7A Sabika Consultant must generate $500 in retail sales every 30 days to earn overrides.
Why You Can’t Win with MLM (Video)
If you don’t see the video, Click to Watch Why You Can’t Win with MLM.
You Are the Customer.
In a pure sales agreement, like affiliate marketing, the company pays the salesperson for making money for the company. It’s a simple process. When you make a sale, you make money.
The MLM sales model turns that around and forces the salesperson to pay the company for the privilege of making it money.
This trick is disguised as an opportunity.
To make matters worse, the company has incentives for the salesperson to continue paying the company each month.
Only in MLM is the salesperson, first and foremost, the customer.
Everything about the Sabika compensation plan makes money for the company at the expense of the salesforce.
This is why most Consultants lose money. And why many are left with substantial credit card debt.
MLM companies earn a large percentage of their revenue from new Consultants.
There is a significant and constant turnover in the MLM industry. New consultants are continually joining and dropping out.
Every new Consultant is turned into a source of revenue as quickly as possible because they usually soon be gone.
Sabika knows most people who try its opportunity will quit within months. For this reason, Sabika has several strategies in place to quickly get as much money from a new Consultant as possible.
It starts when a Sabika Consultant purchases a starter kit.
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Sabika Starter Kits.
Sabika starter kits cost $100 for the Sabika Essentials Starter Kit, $250 for the Sabika Boutique Kit, and $650 for the Sabika Entrepreneurial Kit.
Your sponsor will probably try to sell you the most expensive starter kit for $650. If that doesn’t work, she’ll drop back to the $250 kit.
If you can’t be persuaded to buy the Boutique Kit, she’ll push the $100 kit.
Sabika Cloned Websites.
A Sabika Consultant must also pay for a cloned website. This costs $12.99 after the first month. These websites are automatically created and probably cost the company very little.
Sabika Sales Requirements.
The first level of the Sabika Compensation Plan is the Consultant. Before a Consultant can earn commissions, she must generate $500 or more in retails sales every rolling 3-month period.
Before she can earn overrides on the people she sponsored, she must consistently generate $500 in retail sales every single month.
There are also bonuses for selling at least $3,000 or more per month.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
A Sabika Consultant can reach her sales requirements through personal purchases.
In other words, a new Sabika Consultant might be encouraged to buy $500 to $3000 worth of jewelry to earn bonuses and overrides.
Meanwhile, as the new Consultant charges hundreds or thousands of dollars to her credit card, Sabika makes a profit.
This is typical of MLMs and why critics of the industry describe it as predatory.
The Sabika Kill Switch.
Sabika can terminate your relationship with the company anytime it wants for any reason or no reason at all.
Imagine you spent thousands of dollars and years of your life building your Sabika business only to have it taken away.
Paragraph 10 of the Sabika Consultant Agreement
states the Agreement can be terminated without cause.
You don’t own your business, Sabika does.
Federal Trade Commission Warning.
United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) publishes an abundance of information about MLMs on its website.
The FTC has a difficult mission when it comes to regulating MLMs and weeding out the pyramid schemes that pose as MLMs.
According to the FTC, there are a couple of things you should know if you are considering an “opportunity” like Sabika.
First, you must find out how much most Sabika Consultants genuinely earn.
Second, find out if Sabika promotes recruiting as a way to make money.
How Much Do Sabika Consultants Earn?
It’s been said, it’s not how much you make, it’s how much you keep.
In other words, did you make a profit?
Before we can calculate the average profit earned by a Sabika Consultant, we need to know how much the average Sabika Consultant earned in commissions, bonuses, and overrides.
Plus, we need to know the average expenses a Consultant incurred in the operation of her business.
According to the Sabika 2016 Annual Income Disclosure Statement, 95% of Sabika Consultants earned an average of $1,352 or LESS for the year!
In fine print beneath the Disclosure, it states that 30% of ALL Sabika Consultants earned NO INCOME.
Also, in a paragraph beneath the Income Disclosure, Sabika explains that the figures in the Statement do NOT represent a Consultant’s profit.
The figures shown in the Disclosure include commissions, overrides, and bonuses BEFORE expenses are deducted.
To calculate expenses, we will rely on the work of Dr. Jon Taylor.
In 2011, Dr. Jon Taylor researched the top 300 MLMs in North America. He concluded that the average cost of running an MLM distributorship was $2,500 a year.
According to a BLS Inflation Calculator, that figure equals $2,740 in 2016 when adjusted for inflation.
In addition to the cost of doing business, a Sabika Consultant would also pay self-employment taxes, (if they earned more than $600 for the year).
The IRS website states; self-employment tax covers Social Security and Medicare for individuals who work for themselves and is 15.3% of earnings.
15.3% of $1,352 (Average Sabika Consultant Income) is $207.
Because we know Sabika Consultants are also required to pay $12.99 a month for a clone website, that is another expense, $156 a year.
If she also bought a starter kit that year, and jewelry, that cost would also impact her profit. However, because these expenses can vary greatly, we’ll leave them out of our calculations.
We have enough to prove our point.
When we subtract the estimated expenses from the average income of 95% Sabika Consultants, we see that 95% of Sabika Consultants LOSE approximately $1,751 a year.
The more a Sabika Consultant spends on meeting monthly sales requirements, the more she will lose.
As you can see, using reasonable estimates of what the Sabika opportunity will cost, on average, 95% of Sabika Consultants will LOSE about $1,751 a year.
A minimum wage job is a better use of your time.
Does Sabika Promote Recruiting?
The Sabika Compensation Plan has 9 levels.
- 1Consultant
- 2Director
- 3Star Director
- 4Crystal Director
- 5Star Crystal Director
- 6Star Silver Director
- 7Gold Director
- 8Star Gold Director
- 9Star Platinum Director
According to the Sibika Compensation Plan, every level except the entry-level Consultant requires recruitment to earn money.
This is a red flag as per the FTC’s warning.
Revisiting the FTC’s Warning.
The FTC recommends that before you get involved with an MLM that you first determine how much most of the salespeople earn and if recruiting was promoted as a way to make money.
We have determined that most Sabika Consultants lose money and that recruiting is indeed promoted as a way to make money.
Sabika’s Undisclosed Objective.
Sabika boldly states on its website that it is “by women for women.”
In its mission statement, Sabika claims to be founded with the intent of bringing “opportunity to women of all ages and backgrounds.”
On the Sabika About Page, it says; Generosity is at the core of who we are.
However, regardless of these admirable claims, the truth is Sabika is not a charity. It was not created to help you make money.
Sabika is a business. It was created to make money for its owners. And, like any business, its primary goal is to maximize profits.
In my opinion, if Sabika truly wanted to help women, it would not be an MLM.
Instead, it would offer a simple affiliate program where women are paid a straight commission on every sale they make, no starter kits, games, quotas, recruiting, or hoops to jump through.
Sabika doesn’t do that.
It’s challenging to believe Sabika’s claims of generosity and helping women because it uses an exploitive compensation plan that turns every Consultant into a source of revenue for the company.
Fundamentally, every business speaks only one language, the language of numbers. What’s the bottom line?
While 95% of all Sabika Consultants lose money, and many women go into debt chasing the Sabika dream, the company earns $600+ Million a year.
Sabika Jewelry.
To understand Sabika jewelry, it’s essential to know the difference between fine jewelry and fashion jewelry, sometimes called costume jewelry.
Fine jewelry is made of precious metals and gems. The metal in fine jewelry is typically platinum, gold, or silver.
These precious metals will always have value. A used gold ring will be worth the gold it contains as a minimum.
Also, the stones in fine jewelry are typically precious gems, such as Diamonds, Rubies, Sapphire, and Emeralds.
Like precious metals, precious gems will always have value.
Sabika does not sell fine jewelry.
Sabika sells fashion jewelry or custom jewelry.
Because fashion jewelry is made of base metals such as aluminum, brass, or brass alloy, its only value is its perceived value, what people believe it is worth.
In other words, its value is determined by nothing more than marketing. A used brass ring will be worth only pennies if that.
The stones used in fashion jewelry are manufactured and typically plastic, cubic zirconia, or Swarovski crystals (leaded glass).
The beautiful stone Sabika Cut® created by Swarovski, which Sabika is so proud of, is nothing more than leaded glass.
Its only value is its perceived value based totally on marketing.
A jeweler will buy your gold and diamonds, but she will not buy your Sabika jewelry.
If you like Sabika jewelry, buy it and enjoy it for what it is something to compliment your everyday fashion, and nothing more.
Massive Competition.
There is a long list of MLMs that sell jewelry, many of them use in-home parties like Sabika.
To make matters worse, fashion jewelry is available everywhere, both online and off. Macy, Kohl’s, Bloomingdales, Cato Fashions, JC Penny, and Belk all have extensive collections.
Amazon has a near-infinite selection of fashion jewelry priced under $20.
For something more unique and handmade, Etsy is the place.
The online selection is overwhelming.
The point is, it will be a challenge to launch a successful Sabika business and sustain it. Women can get fashion jewelry anywhere.
Even on the street.
List of MLMs Selling Jewelry.
- 1Avon
- 2Younique
- 3Vantel Pearls
- 4Park Lane Jewelry
- 5Stella and Dot
- 6Bead for Life
- 7Nikken
- 8Touchstone Crystal
- 9Compelling Creations
- 10Bella Shaye
- 11Premier Designs
- 12Sabika Jewelry
- 13Azuli Skye
- 14Chloe+Isabel
- 15Lilla Rose
- 16Endless Expressions
- 17Paparazzi Accessories
- 18Just Jewelry
- 19Fifth Avenue Collection
- 20Trades of Hope
The Last Word on Sabika.
Sabika is an MLM, an industry with a disturbing reputation for exploiting its salesforce.
Corporate fraud investigator Tracy L. Coenen reminds us, MLM is a rigged game.
In a nutshell, Sabika expects you to pay the company a bunch of money for an opportunity that isn’t real.
Then spend hours a week booking and presenting parties in people’s homes like a glorified door-to-door salesperson.
And selling jewelry to make the company more money.
And recruiting people into the opportunity so the company can make more money.
I’ve shown that your chance of success with Sabika is slight at best. If you try it, you’ll probably lose money and quit.
If you stick it out and build a Sabika business through sheer, white knuckle determination, the most you can hope for is business Sabika can take from you anytime it wants.
The Sabika kill switch is real.
You don’t own your Sabika business, Sabika does.
A Better Option.
This is the 21st Century. We have the internet.
You don’t have to keep trading your time for money.
Why in the world would you want to be a gloried door-to-door salesperson when you have the internet?
Instead, build a website that makes money for you 24/7.
I’ll show you how.
| Why Affiliate Marketing is Better than MLM |
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Once you have a money-making website, you’ll never have to leave home and schlep jewelry to someone’s house.
Or, bother your friends and family to make a buck.
Or, jump through Sabika hoops.
With your own money-generating website, you are the boss.
You own your business. Nobody can take it from you.
You can sell to the world. Your income potential is truly unlimited.
Work less but earn more!
Instead of maximizing profits for Sabika, maximize profits for yourself!
Start with Affiliate Marketing because it’s affordable and straightforward.
Earn every time you make a sale. Use technology to make sales 24/7.
I’ve been a marketer for more than a decade and repeatedly seen how quickly Affiliate Marketing can change someone’s life for the better.
I believe it’s the best chance most people will ever get to be truly financially independent and free to live on their terms.
Can you imagine the confidence you’ll feel when you know you can always make money?
Showing people how to become free through Affiliate Marketing is my passion.
It’s why I never charge a penny for my coaching.
But because my time is limited, this offer is also limited.
If you want in, get it now.
An amazing course. Go through all the training. If you get stuck, ask questions. Do each and every lesson. It’s very interesting and very rewarding.
Hani – Affiliate Marketer
You’ll only get my FREE coaching through links on this website. All you need is an email address.
To help you quickly get started, I also give you over the shoulder video training about the RIGHT WAY to generate income online.
You get 2 FREE websites, too and a trial membership in the biggest community of digital marketers in the world.
You’ll never worry about money when you have a few Affiliate Marketing skills.
That’s financial confidence.
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Suggested Reading:
- Why Affiliate Marketing is Better than MLM.
- Is WineShop At Home a Good Opportunity?
- The Heartbreak of MLM.
If you found this article about the Sabika opportunity helpful and would like to join the discussion, please leave a comment below. Thank you.