Lyoness MLM Review: Is Lyoness a Pyramid Scheme Or #1 Opportunity?

Welcome To My Lyoness Review!

If you have been looking for an honest Lyoness MLM Review, you have come to the right place.

Congratulations for doing your own research and looking for legitimate ways to make money online.

We have published reviews of +100 companies like Lyoness and of +500 make money online opportunities in total so you can expect to get the all the information you need in this. page. 

I know many of you have seen Lyoness members praising the system with all their power and heart. The company clearly has many cult-like characteristics like many network marketing companies have in general.

I am not affiliated with Lyoness in any way so you don’t need to fear that I would be praising the system here.

The purpose of my review is to provide you information so you can make an informed decision whether their business opportunity is worth it or not. Some of you have probably asked, “Is Lyoness a Pyramid Scheme?” You’ll get also an answer to that question in my article below.

Lyoness Review – Quick Summary

Name: Lyoness

Founded: In 2003 by Hubert Freidl

Type: Multi-Level Marketing (MLM). Cashback Programs.

Median Income for All Members: $0,04

Lyoness Homepage

Lyoness Homepage

Summary: Lyoness offers two things: 1.Cashback program. 2.MLM business opportunity. With the cashback program you won’t earn very much and most likely it’s not worth your time if you are living in a western country (the earnings are so small). Their MLM business opportunity has a few suspicious things that I explain more in detail in my full review.

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NOTE: The steps that you learn in my Ultimate Make Money Online Guide work for making money with Lyoness and to any other company that you want to promote.

Lyoness Scam Review 2019: 4 Steps Make Money with Lyoness?

Before you dive into my Lyoness article, I want to give you an opportunity to take a look at my Lyoness MLM review in my video below.

In the video, I answer the question. “Is Lyoness a scam or legit?” and I show you the BEST way to succeed with Lyoness.

If you want to make BIG money with Lyoness, you must follow the 4-step formula that I teach you in my Ultimate Make Money Online Guide.

That 4-step formula has worked for me, my friends and 1,000’s of other people all around the world and that’s why I’m sure it will work for you as well.

So, watch the following video until the end and let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be more than happy to help you succeeding!

What Is Lyoness?

Lyoness was founded already around 1,5 decades ago by an Austrian man called Hubert Freidl.

It’s interesting fact for me because I was just living one year in Austria but never saw anyone selling or promoting any MLM-system. It may be because I was living in Tyrol which is still kinda “rural area” compared to big cities like Vienna and Linz. Anyway, let’s get back to our topic which is Lyoness.

They didn’t stay in Austria but the company spread fast all around the Europe. In 2012 they expanded to the U.S.A. which helped them to grow even faster. Nowadays they operate in more than 40 different countries all around the world.

They don’t sell any physical products but they concentrate on selling memberships that allow their members to get cash back for purchases.

Their system is pretty similar to another MLM cashback company called Dubli. There are also huge numbers of other cashback companies but most of them don’t use network marketing. Most famous ones are:

Now let’s take a closer look at Lyoness products and the business opportunity.

Lyoness Products

Lyoness membership allows you to get up to 5% cashback on your purchases in more than 80,000 different stores (and counting).

If I compare a number of Lyoness’ partners to other similar companies, I need to admit that Lyoness is huge. 80,000 partners is a big number and can’t be achieved overnight without consistent work and effort.

Their promise “up to 5% cashback” sounds good but most of the time you’ll earn only 1-3% cashback on your purchases. Let’s say that you buy something, for example, for $100.

Then you’ll get $2 back so the product actually cost “only” $98 for you. $2 discount doesn’t sound like a lot but that’s only a part of their bonuses.

lyoness MLM offers and discounts

“Up to $100 Cashback Rebate”

As you can see in the picture above they offer also special offers, discounts, and campaigns during a specific timeframe with some of their partners.

Okay, all of us realize that their cashback or bonus system won’t make you lots of money.

Most likely it won’t be worth your time if you are living in the Western countries in Europe or in the U.S. where you can earn much more even by doing an average job. Imagine spending an hour on Lyoness website to hunt for a $5 cashback when you could earn $15 in almost any average job.

So, there has to be a better way to make money with their business. Let’s take a look at their compensation plan.

Lyoness Compensation Plan

I could be explaining all the details of their compensation plan to you but I’d rather let one of their long-term members do it. Notice that the video is highly promotional by nature so you need to be careful.

If you have former experience of multi-level marketing, you probably know that top earners are always on top of the pyramid and they have recruited tons of people to the system. Those who fail in recruiting tens, hundreds or even thousands of people to their downline, won’t make much money with Lyoness.

The fact is that their cashback program doesn’t pay enough for making a living so the biggest focus must be on recruiting. You get into their system by paying money.  

The more you pay, the more you can potentially earn. Those are the principles of their system. But now I would like to show you their income disclosure statement from a few years ago. This is something highly interesting!

Lyoness Income Disclosure Statement

Income disclosure statement shows how their members have been earning (and working) with the company. The following graph is from the U.S. from 2013. I know it’s a few years old but it still gives a great picture of how earnings divide between their members.

lyoness Income disclosure statement

Lyoness Income Disclosure Statement for Their U.S. Members.

There are a few things that I want to point out.

  1. 90,88% of their business members who are actively working make on average less than $1,760 per year.
  2. The median income for all Members was $0,04.
  3. Most top-earners have been working full-time for Lyoness for years.

The picture clearly shows the rough reality of an MLM-business: Most members earn close to nothing. Only the people on top of the pyramid are making good money while others are struggling.

The more you pay for the company, the more you could potentially earn. Does this make Lyoness a pyramid scheme? Let’s talk about this in the next chapter.

But before that I want to offer you again an opportunity to get started for free with my #1 recommendation for making money online.

Is Lyoness a Pyramid Scheme?

Lyoness clearly has some characteristics of a pyramid scheme. Some people call it even a Ponzi scheme.

Even though Lyoness is using a pyramid form in their business it’s not an illegal pyramid scheme. It definitely isn’t a Ponzi scheme. Most Ponzi schemes vanish in a few years because they aren’t offering any value for their members.

That being said I am still a bit confused with Lyoness. It seems that cashback program is just a secondary thing while the MLM-system and pumping it up has a bigger focus. That’s why I find their company quite suspicious.

Does Lyoness Really Work?

Yes, you can make money with Lyoness like with any other network marketing company if you are a hard-working person. You just need to use the right strategies to make money with it.

Another thing you need to remember is that you won’t make lots of money with it overnight. Success always requires tons of hard work and effort.

I know that Lyoness members, like all the other similar MLM-presentatives, sometimes promise that making money with the system is easy but that’s not the reality. Then they back up their claims by telling impressive success stories.

However, after researching and reviewing around 100 MLM-companies, I have realized that usually 95-99% of the members fail to make any significant money. In the other words, if you want to make this system work, you must be exceptionally good.

Conclusion – Is Lyoness Legit Or a Scam? Is It Worth It?

Lyoness cashback program pays quite a little money in general. Usually, you can earn only a few percentages back from your purchase which equals to a few dollars (or euros). Some of their special offers or bonuses a are better and probably worth investing the time. Still, I don’t personally spend time usually on searching for cashbacks.

Financial guru Robert Kiyosaki once said, “Poor people look for discounts in the supermarket. Rich people look for discounts in the stock and real estate market.” With one good investment in the stock market (or in Bitcoin) you can earn 1,000 times more than a single cashback offer.

What about the business opportunity and the MLM-side of Lyoness? Meh… I am not very excited about paying money for the opportunity to recruit more people.

Of course, there’s more than that in the system but the biggest focus is and will most likely always be on recruiting.

More members bring more money into the system and if they would stop coming, the company would die.

I am not saying that Lyoness would be a scam. They offer cash back in tens of thousands of companies all around the world so it’s far from a scam. But I must admit that I’m not excited about their business opportunity. If you are a Lyoness member, I challenge you to argue in the comments why should I join your system. I would love to hear your thoughts. If you haven’t yet joined Lyoness, I’d rather save your time and money for better opportunities.

If you are interested in earning money online, I highly recommend taking a look at Wealthy Affiliate. It’s not a multi-level marketing company but a step-by-step training that teaches you how to make money online. It’s also a community of online entrepreneur like myself who are already making a living online.

I invite you to join because they offer a free starter membership for all new members.

4 step process for making money online

What kind of experiences do you have with Lyoness?

What do you think about MLM-business model, in general?

Let me know in the comments below!

If you have any questions, just leave a comment below and I will be more than happy to help you out.

By Roope Kiuttu

Hello! I am Roope "Robert" Kiuttu, the founder and owner of YourOnlineRevenue.com. I created this website back in 2015 to help you to make money online. You can ask me anything and I'll be happy to help you out. I help people daily to make more money online and I love seeing people succeeding. If you want to get my 1-on-1 support and help to make money online as well, get started HERE.

27 comments

  1. Furthermore
    As for busines if you want to make money you have to know exactly what you are doing and how you approach the people or you will end up with big network in which noone uses it even for themselves
    So having more friendly approach and presenting people that it is an actual thing can come in handy
    Like any things you do even push ups it is much easier and effective the more you know and more practice you have

  2. First of all membership is free
    The focus of company is to bring normal people (consumers) something with which they can save some cash
    Returns go from 1% up to 15% and rarely but happens 40%-50%
    It depends, gas station can give more than lets say 6% on purchases because they would loose money not gain, while clothes well they can boost it up
    So cashback is for consumer to have discounts when buyinz stuff, not to quit their jobs
    And cb% depends on how many people have membership thus the bigger number it is more atractive to shops thus they give more cashback
    And those who are expanding (MLM) they get commisions on it

  3. Lyoness victims in Italy demand return of their losses (53 million euro)
    Following a nation-wide ban and 3.2 million euro regulatory fine, Lyoness affiliate investors in Italy want their money back.
    To that end Lyoness’ Italian victims have lawyered up to demand the return of their losses.
    Lyoness operated in Italy through the shell company Lyoness Italia Srl.

  4. Hi Roope!

    I’m Lia, I’m italian and I’m a Lyoness member. I liked your review, cause it’s nice to see how it could be different depending on where you live. What I mean is we don’t work as you said, focusing on brining others in the network, but our goal is to develop the SME network.

    Of course you’re right if you look just at the online market (or MMR) the system doesn’t provide you that much money (both as a customer and as a marketer) but if you and your team are able to involve several little shops in your own town then you’ll be able to move the most of your expenses inside this network, saving an appreciable amount of money as a customer and earning a lot as a member. At least that’s what has worked here so far 🙂

  5. It seems like it is very hard to earn here in lyoness. This is not good for anyone who are looking for a stable income source. But for some people or some students who are looking for some extra income this is a good idea. But then again don’t expect to earn a large amount of money here in lyoness.

  6. I agree having a cashback system is not a bad idea especially because earning money in MLM is quite hard. I think this is sort of an incentive for their members to keep going. However you’re correct its a really small incentive considering all the money you are investing in the company. Joining an MLM does not come cheap. Most of them have a high monthly fee to remain a member of the MLM. I also think that MLM is not for everyone. MLM is best for people, who have a large social network of rich friends. This is my opinion from the MLM companies I have seen.

    1. You are right that it’s easier to make money with MLMs if you have a large social network.

      Another strategy is just to follow the 4 simple steps that Wealthy Affiliate teaches. Even though WA is not a MLM program and I am not a big fan of MLM, the same steps work for any kind of companies.

  7. The review made on Lyoness MLM program doesn’t seem encouraging in any way. First they don’t even have any physical products to sell just like other MLM programs, secondly it’s still a pyramid scheme to the extent of some people calling it a ponzi.

  8. For the median income that you mentioned near the top of the post, is it actually $0.04 or have I read it wrong? It’s not surprising at all to hear that the majority of the users don’t make that much money with it really, it’s probably a bit of a similar story for a lot of MLM programs. Only the hardworking and determined people will make money from these types of programs.

    1. I think you have heard right. There are so many members in their program and most of them earn nothing. That’s why the median income in Lyoness is extremely low.

    2. What keeps surprising me about most of these MLM programs is that as so many people don’t make any reasonable money from becoming a, new MLM company are still coming out still looking for people to get into a mess. Which begs the question from me, when would people learn?

    1. It’s such a shame that most people don’t have this information before joining Lyoness which happens to be a pyramid scheme, and like all other pyramid scheme projects, it all dies off the moment you stop getting downliners.

  9. This sounds like a genuine company. The number of years the company has been in existence itself is a proof that the company is a legit company. However, I may not benefit from this program because I don’t shop online too much. When I want to book a vacation, I will always trust the local travel company instead of an online company.

      1. Recently, someone of my acquaintance said if you want to cheat your own people (friends and families), start MLM business. He has a point. It is difficult to convince a stranger or someone you do not know much. Therefore, your easy target will be the people you know well. MLM operates in a Ponzi way.

        1. You have a point there. Many MLM-companies teach their members, “Write down all the potential prospects that you might now and call them one by one.” Then a person starts contacting his friends and family members and sometimes this doesn’t lead to so good results.

          I think if one wants to make money with network marketing, the best strategy is to do it online. Then potential prospects will come to you instead of you going after them. In addition, through the Internet it’s possible to reach thousands or even millions of people.

  10. I have gone through your reviews about Lyoness, its origin, products and modes of operations. That is, of course, 100% true as compared to other honest reviews already read elsewhere. I appreciate such honest reviews and was most excited at your number #1 recommendation which is Wealthy Affiliate.

    You mentioned that it took you from zero to a full-time entrepreneur. I really got excited at this because I was initially thinking it’s just an ordinary affiliate site like Commission Junction, Paydotcom, Clickbank, and so on, though I have read some reviews here at Your Online Revenue about it before. I think I have to take actions.

    1. Yes, Wealthy Affiliate has been a life-changing community for me. I think without their help I would be working in a regular 9-5 job. So, I can be very thankful for them.

      You can, of course, use sites like CJ, Paydotcom and Clickbank. Wealthy Affiliate teaches how you can drive more affiliate sales and grow your online income with this kind of sites that you mentioned. Personally, I don’t use very much affiliate networks because usually I prefer straight contact with the company that I’m promoting. Still, I am promoting some good products from ShareASale and Clickbank but my main focus isn’t on them.

  11. This multilevel marketing serves like giving rebates or discounts in various establishments if you are one of them. Getting $2 cash back I think is not bad because in some point you still get something out of what you’ve been spent. It is more suitable for those people who loves to go on shopping or travelling around the world. But the system they have, it is still pyramiding because you need to recruit individual to earn more money.

    1. Yes, cashback programs are good for those who spend lots of money online on specific websites. Still, I don’t use them almost at all myself even though I buy lots of trips and stuff online. I think often it’s not worth the invested time because I can earn more during the same time from other sources.

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