Case #243-2026: Monitoring Inquiry – Scentsy, Inc.

BBB NATIONAL PROGRAMS

Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council
Case #243-2026: Monitoring Inquiry – Scentsy, Inc.



Company Description 

Scentsy, Inc. (“Scentsy” or the “Company”) is a direct selling company headquartered in Meridan, Idaho, that was founded in 2003. The Company offers scented products including wax warmers and wax melts, diffusers, portable scent systems, home fragrance systems, cleaning and laundry products, personal-care items, and other home and fragrance related accessories.



Basis of Inquiry 

The Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (“DSSRC”) is a national advertising self-regulation program administered by BBB National Programs.  

This inquiry was commenced by DSSRC pursuant to its ongoing independent monitoring of advertising in the direct selling marketplace and pertains to income claims disseminated by Company salesforce members.  

The representative claims set forth below that formed the basis of this inquiry were disseminated on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

Earnings Claims 

  1. “Looking for a Side Hustle or Full-Time Income? Work from Anywhere with Scentsy…Whether you're a single mom, dad, college student, or someone looking for a full-time business, Scentsy gives you the freedom to earn from home, the beach, or wherever life takes you!...Have questions? Let’s chat! Your journey to financial freedom starts now.”(March 2025)
  2. “Food for thought... 🍔🍴 A 3% raise on a salary of $50,000 only puts an extra $1500 in your pocket every year. A side job that only makes an extra $50/week puts an extra $2600 in your pocket a year… Maybe it's gas. ⛽️ Maybe it's groceries.🍎 Maybe it's kids sports.⚽️ Maybe it’s a manicure or date night. 💅🏻 Maybe it's rent or your mortgage.🏡 Maybe it turns into your full-time income. 💻”
  3. I am a full time mom, making a full time income, working part time with Scentsy!”
  4. “👀 Does a FREE seven day cruise to Greece and Turkey peak your interest? 👀 Scentsy consultants have until January 31 to earn this trip! THIS COULD BE YOUR TRIP!” (September 2024)
  5. Flyer stating: “Unlimited Income Potential” (June 2025)
  6. “I joined Scentsy back in January 2009 to make an extra $300 a month for my Baskets of Love ministry for single moms.  It quickly exceeded my expectations financially and it also became my happy place.  It gave me something to focus on that I was good at when my kids grew up.  I stay with Scentsy because this company has changed my life. It gave me the financial means and confidence to move myself and my business to another state after my divorce.  I support myself solely with my Scentsy income (no spousal support) and I am proud of that and grateful for the endless potential.” (March 2025)
  7. “💰✨ It's Scentsy Payday! 👏👏✨💰My January paycheck was $2,785.61 and although February was the lowest check I've gotten since August 2021, but guess what? My Scentsy paycheck still showed up and made a difference! 🥰…
    As a one-income household, my Scentsy earnings help make ends meet AND give me the freedom to do extras for myself, my kids, my grands, and of course, my spoiled dogs! 🐾😂
    Image attached to post: Screenshot of a payment from Scentsy
    (March 2025)
  8. “I am a Scentsy Superstar Director and Scentsy addict and I am currently a 9-5 DROP OUT! Scentsy is my full time gig and our families main income.” (June 2024)
  9. “There is ENDLESS possibilities to grow within this business. Hell, you could earn a 5-6 figure a year income! How bad do you want it???” (March 2023)
  10. “I was a nursing student living in an apartment and I took a leap of faith to join Scentsy as a hobby to earn a little extra money, but guess what, I earned way more than that. -AND ‘Financial freedom’” (July 2023)
  11. “Spare time, Part time, Full time, make more YOU/FAMILY time, design the life you want to live.” (April 2023)
  12. “Nothing like a $1000 bonus just in time for summer! 😭😭😭
    Thankful for a company who offers bonus programs to consultants!”
    Image attached to post: Screenshot of a payment from Scentsy
    (June 2025)




Company’s Position  

After receiving the Notice of Inquiry, Scentsy promptly conducted a thorough assessment of the 12 claims identified by DSSRC. In alignment with its internal compliance procedures, the Company immediately reached out to the individuals who had shared the social media content in question to clarify the compliance concerns and request that the posts be removed or revised as appropriate. Scentsy subsequently provided DSSRC with a comprehensive summary detailing its communications and corrective actions with the salesforce members responsible for the claims under review.

Through these remediation efforts, Scentsy successfully ensured that 11 of the 12 identified social media posts were either taken down completely or appropriately revised. With respect to the single remaining post that remained publicly accessible, Scentsy informed DSSRC that multiple attempts were made to reach the individual responsible, but those efforts were unsuccessful. Due to the salesforce member’s failure to respond, the Company subsequently terminated the individual’s Scentsy account.

Scentsy confirmed that it has established comprehensive policies and procedures that expressly prohibit unauthorized income representations. The Company also provides training to ensure that salesforce members communicate earnings information in a compliant manner and conducts ongoing monitoring to oversee the content and messaging shared by its salesforce.



Analysis

In response to this inquiry, Scentsy implemented corrective actions by contacting the salesforce members responsible for the identified claims and reinforcing internal compliance measures related to FTC-compliant earnings communications. As a result, the Company removed six of the 12 social media posts identified by DSSRC and modified five other posts. One post remains publicly available despite Scentsy’s good faith attempts to contact the individual responsible for disseminating the posts. Scentsy terminated the account of the salesforce member because of her failure to respond to the Company’s requests to reconcile the post.

DSSRC determined that the Company’s voluntary, good faith efforts to have the posts at issue disabled or modified were necessary and appropriate. In its review, DSSRC determined that the earnings claims identified in this inquiry conveyed the impression that a typical Scentsy salesforce member could earn significant income through participation in the Company’s business opportunity.

The Federal Trade Commission’s Business Guidance for Multi-Level Marketing (“FTC Business Guidance”) clearly states that any earnings representation must accurately reflect what a typical participant can reasonably expect to achieve. The Guidance explains that claims suggesting unlimited income potential or career-level earnings are generally not representative of the experience of most participants and may therefore mislead consumers. It further underscores that all income or lifestyle claims must be substantiated by reliable, empirical evidence demonstrating that the typical participant is likely to earn the amount being represented.1 Consequently, presenting atypical earnings statements can create a false impression about the business opportunity. In this context, any individual involved in a multi-level marketing or direct selling business opportunity who makes an income or earnings claim must possess a reasonable basis for doing so—specifically, credible and verifiable data showing that the average salesforce member is likely to achieve earnings equal to or greater than those conveyed in the claim.2

Modified Social Media Posts

While DSSRC acknowledged the remedial actions undertaken by Scentsy to engage with its salesforce members and secure modifications to five of the posts identified in the inquiry, DSSRC remained concerned that the revisions made to four of those posts did not clearly and conspicuously qualify the atypical earnings representations conveyed by the salesforce members.

For instance, one of the revised posts continues to reference “an extra $50 per week,” suggesting an annual income of approximately $2,600. This figure appears to be substantially higher than the average or median annual earnings of a typical Scentsy salesforce member. Although the salesforce member added a qualifying statement indicating that the income referenced “may not” be typical, the accompanying link to the Company’s Income Disclosure Statement (IDS) is positioned further down in the Pinterest post, requiring viewers to scroll to locate it.

Pursuant to the principles set forth in the FTC’s Business Guidance, “Disclosures that are an integral part of a claim or inseparable from it should not be communicated through a hyperlink or mouse-over. Many consumers may not click on hyperlinks or read information in mouse-overs or that is available after clicking a hyperlink. They might immediately close the mouse-over, move to the next page in pursuit of completing their intended tasks, or not associate information available in a hyperlink window with a claim or product they haven’t encountered yet. Instead, disclosures should be unavoidable. They should be placed immediately next to the claim and be sufficiently prominent so that the claim and the disclosure are read at the same time, without referring the consumer somewhere else to obtain this important information.”3

DSSRC expressed concern regarding the modified Pinterest post, noting that viewers must click a “more” button to view the full content. Moreover, the reference to the Scentsy IDS appears as inactive, static text rather than a functional hyperlink, thereby impeding direct access to the disclosure information.

DSSRC identified similar concerns with three additional modified posts that relied solely on hyperlinks to convey material earnings information. In one instance, a revised post containing a link to the Scentsy IDS continued to reference substantial or career-level income (e.g., “I support myself solely with my Scentsy income”). In another example, a salesforce member made a good faith effort to revise a post by removing a screenshot of payment from the Scentsy Pay Portal; however, rather than including a clear and prominent disclosure of the typical earnings expected under comparable circumstances, the post merely stated that “results may not be typical” and included a hyperlink to the Scentsy IDS. A third modified post similarly referenced an atypical income outcome, stating that the individual joined Scentsy expecting to earn only a small amount but “earned way more than that,” followed by a link to the Company IDS.

DSSRC concluded that, without a clear and conspicuous disclosure of the average or median income that a typical participant in the Company’s business opportunity could reasonably expect to earn, reliance solely on a hyperlink to the IDS does not constitute an adequate qualification for an atypical direct selling earnings claim. Accordingly, DSSRC recommended that Scentsy implement additional revisions to the four modified posts to ensure that the earnings representations are properly qualified and compliant with applicable FTC guidance.

Former Salesforce Member Post

DSSRC commended Scentsy for its good-faith efforts to engage with the salesforce member responsible for an earnings claim on social media and for taking appropriate action to terminate the individual’s account after repeated attempts to secure the removal or modification of the post proved unsuccessful. Consistent with prior DSSRC determinations, DSSRC recognizes that a direct selling company may not have the ability to compel former or inactive salesforce members to remove noncompliant content. In such circumstances, when the applicable social media platform offers a reporting mechanism for trademark or copyright violations, DSSRC recommends that the company promptly utilize that process to request removal. If the content is hosted on a platform without such a mechanism, DSSRC further advises that the company contact the platform or website administrator in writing to formally request the removal of the post or claim.4

Accordingly, DSSRC recommended that Scentsy reach out to Facebook to notify the platform of the unauthorized earnings claim and formally request that the post be removed.



Conclusion  

DSSRC acknowledged the good-faith efforts undertaken by Scentsy to address the issues identified in this inquiry, including facilitating the removal or modification of 11 of the 12 social media posts at issue and terminating the account of a salesforce member who failed to respond to the Company’s compliance requests. Despite these corrective measures, DSSRC determined that reliance solely on a hyperlink to the IDS does not constitute an adequate qualification for an atypical direct selling earnings claim. Accordingly, DSSRC recommended that Scentsy implement additional revisions to four of the modified posts to ensure that the average or median income generally expected by a typical participant in the Company’s business opportunity is clearly and conspicuously disclosed.

Finally, regarding the single post that remains publicly accessible in its original form, DSSRC acknowledged that the Company had terminated the account of the former salesforce member responsible for the content. DSSRC further recommended that Scentsy reach out to Facebook to notify the platform of the unauthorized earnings claim and formally request the removal of the post.



Company Statement

“Scentsy is a fervent supporter of industry self-regulation. IT appreciates the opportunity to respond to DSSRC’s inquiry and agrees to adhere to the recommendations in the report. Scentsy is grateful that DSSRC has recognized our good faith efforts to address its concerns.  Scentsy is actively working to address the concerns that were not ameliorated by our first attempt to education consultants.  Since we are working to ensure independent contractors implement the guidance provided by the DSSRC, it often takes a couple corrections to get things 100% right.  Scentsy will continue its compliance efforts to assure that our salesforce members truthfully and accurately convey our income opportunity and the benefits conferred from using our products.”



(Case #243, closed on 12/04/25)
© 2025 BBB National Programs 





[1] See Fed. Trade Comm’n, Business Guidance Concerning Multi-Level Marketing, Section 13 (April 2024) https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/business-guidance-concerning-multi-level-marketing#deceptive.

[2] Id.

[3] Supra at3, section 13.

[4] See Monitoring Inquiry – Chalk Couture (Case No. 50-2021) Oct 29, 2021; Compliance Report – Mary Kay, Inc.. (Case No. 61-2022) Feb 9, 2022; Monitoring Inquiry – MWR Life, LLC. (Case No. 87-2022) Oct 11, 2022.