What is Traveling Vineyard? A review of this MLM/Direct Sales Company selling wine on a method differing from the traditional.
After reading my review, you will have a clearer picture of this company selling wines.
Traveling Vineyard Review
Summary
Name: Traveling Vineyard
Website: travelingvineyard.com
Price: $174
Business Type: MLM/Direct Sales
Rating Stars: 4/5
Final Verdict: Legitimate business. If you like to sell wine and direct selling, this is a good business opportunity for you but if you find direct selling a challenge I recommend you join Wealthy Affiliate to learn the skills in online business.
How Does it Work?
At first glance, Traveling Vineyard has all the makings of a legitimate and suitable platform to make a passive income.
However, even though this platform has many of the certifications that allow it to operate legally, that does not mean that it works for everybody.
To begin with, it takes some investment to begin working for this program.
This means that this line of work is not suited for people who are currently living from paycheck to paycheck or those who cannot afford some money for investment.
In simpler terms, beginning work here may prove to be difficult without first having a bunch of savings to use as a form of capital.
Once a person pays for this membership plan, he or she now has the liberty to sell the company’s product at a set price in an attempt to get a return on their investment.
Members could choose to sell them to individuals or small groups, or the member could be invited to showcase and sell the products at parties and other forms of gatherings.
In other words, the investment is used to buy the product, and the sellers receive a portion of the profit while the rest goes to the company.
Make no mistake, people have been able to make working for this program their primary source of income.
However, these are the individuals who have been working there for a long time and have been promoted into the much higher levels of this organization.
It costs $174 to become a “Wine Guide” on this program.
This includes a supposed success kit worth $99 as well as two tasting sets worth $75.
Apparently, the contents of these kits are subject to change without prior notice from the people behind this platform.
Commonly, a testing kit includes a five-bottle tasting set, though if these five bottles are included in a kit with a lot of other content for only $75.
Aside from the wine itself, the kit also has tasting glasses placed in a convenient carrying box, a six-bottle wine carrier, a semiology kit with tins and cards, wine accessories, as well as the supposedly necessary business paperwork.
This would prove to be quite unsettling for a lot of potential members, although if they still go through with making the investment to join, they would come to find that they will be paid 35% of their total sales.
If the returns are this low, it means a person has to sell at least $200 worth of product to break even with their initial investment.
Aside from selling to people personally, members of the site can also choose to run a personal Wine Guide website for $15.95 each month.
The the first 3 months the website hosting is free of charge.
Those who choose to avail of this option get 10% returns for their sales, meaning a person has to sell $100 worth of product to break even on their investment for their site.
The Levels
These are five levels in this Multilevel Marketing (MLM) company.
- Ruby Director – has twelve Team Leaders
- Team Leaders – has five Three-Star Leaders
- Three-Stars Leader- has five Wine Guides
- Wine Guide- has one Wine Guide
- Wine Guide
How Much do Members Make?
As mentioned before, members of this program make money through reselling the products they purchase from the site. In simpler terms, they act as a “middleman” between the company and the purchaser.
This site claims that their wine guides make an average of $100 for every event they handle. Of course, this varies a lot, as others may find themselves making a lot less than this average if anything at all.
However, they cannot blame the company as they will only claim that that is part of the risk of investing in a platform that does not have a guarantee of income for its members.
Payments vary depending on how many events a person works on and how many sales they make personally or through their website.
As was previously mentioned, working for this program does not automatically make a person an expert on wines, so they may experience some difficulty in setting up events although training is provided.
Those who are less experienced may find that a couple of hundred dollars is not what they make for every event, but rather per month.
The people behind this program do not make any promises regarding how much money a person can make off of it nor do they go into much detail regarding the range of possible earnings save for the previously mentioned $100 average.
It is safe to assume; however, that since this is a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme, a lot of a member’s income depends on how much time and effort they are willing to invest in recruiting members.
Since the compensation rate is set at a 35%, it would be quite difficult to generate a sustainable stream of income if a person only does this on a passive basis.
This program does provide support to its members, but for a lot of them, it is just not enough.
It has also been said that a certain level of sales activity and income must be maintained to remain as an active member of this platform and that this company is a bit selective regarding who they provide support.
This may be difficult for people without prior marketing experience, and they may soon find themselves losing their membership along with the money they have invested in joining in the first place.
Since people in this platform work in teams, it was also not uncommon that people who formerly worked for this company shared their complaints about the people they worked with, especially their respective team leaders, in their negative posts regarding this program.
They also claimed that they tried to be repositioned into another team, but were told that this would not be possible.
The teams themselves are hard to build, as a lot of members do not have much knowledge about the product and also because it costs so much to get started working.
Is It a Scam?
This review is no means of saying that this program is a scam, as it was mentioned earlier that it has a lot of the necessary certifications to keep it operating legally.
This program is an entirely legitimate way to make money, but some people may find it difficult.
The income rate and the learning curve make some people avoid it as working here is recommended if one already has experience in marketing and has a considerable know how about the products they will be selling.
Conclusion
This is a legitimate business and a good way to earn money although for some people it doesn’t work especially those who are not a typical sales person.
Direct Sales Business is a challenge to a lot of people especially those who do not have the sales type of person.
There are other options when it comes to doing business, and one is an online business.
Although they are offering that you could run a personal Wine Guide website for $15.95 a month, it is not the same as having your own authority website on your own domain.
These may require some time and effort, but it would be lesser than doing direct sales and has more potential to earn higher.
I recommend that you try Wealthy Affiliate for free and see for yourself if it is for you.
Learn the free affiliate marketing skills as it t is totally free to join, you can stay as a free member as long as you want and you are not obliged in any way to upgrade to premium.
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At a Glance
Traveling Vineyard Review
Summary
Name: Traveling Vineyard
Website: travelingvineyard.com
Price: $174
Business Type: MLM/Direct Sales
Rating Stars: 4/5
Final Verdict: Legitimate business. If you like to sell wine and direct selling, this is a good business opportunity for you but if you find direct selling a challenge I recommend you join Wealthy Affiliate to learn the skills in online business.
Grant says
Hello, Den,
Thank you for the review of Traveling Vineyard. It looks like the business targets a pretty small segment of consumers, don’t you think?
A small customer market and small sales force too since it is so specialized and requires unique knowledge.
I’ve tried MLM in the past, but I don’t have the temperament for it. And, I don’t drink anything alcoholic so I would not be a good fit with that company.
Thank you for the review though. Did you have any information on how many levels the company pays in a downline?
Den says
HI Grant,
Yes, I agree with you about the consumer base. Traveling Vineyard is a legit MLM company though and it should give a better opportunity to those who like direct sales. There are five levels in the MLM hierarchy