Reception
Nu Skin Enterprises' is a multi-level marketing business.[37] Each distributor markets products directly to potential customers and may also recruit and train customers to become distributors. Distributors are paid on the retail markup on products they are able to sell, as well as a performance bonus based on the sales of recruited distributors.[38] In the early 1990s, Nu Skin was investigated by Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan over allegations of misleading marketing practices.[12] In 1992 the company settled with five of the states, admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to pay the states' investigative costs, refund distributors, and revamp its promotional practices.[39][40][41][42] The Connecticut Attorney General did not agree to those terms and sued Nu Skin, alleging the company misled its distributors and operated a pyramid scheme.[12][43][44] Nu Skin admitted to no wrongdoing or violation of law and settled with the state for $85k for consumer-protection programs.[45]
In 1997, the Attorney General of Pennsylvania alleged in a lawsuit that Nu Skin operated a pyramid scheme through a subsidiary, QIQ Connections and that distributors paid for the right to market technology services that did not, in fact, exist. Nu Skin discontinued the QIQ subsidiary, allowing those who had paid QIQ to move to Big Planet, a Nu Skin investment marketing Internet technology. The president of Big Planet described the allegations as a matter of "a few distributors who in their enthusiasm have been overzealous in some of their marketing activities."[13]
In 2010, Nu Skin was listed among Forbes "100 Most Trustworthy Companies".[46]
In 2011, two Utah-incorporated business entities linked to top executives of Nu Skin each made a $1 million contribution to Restore Our Future, a Super PAC established by former aides to U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney to support his bid for the White House.[47][48][49]
In 2012, Stanford University apologized for an misunderstanding following a cease and desist letter sent to halt the use of the name of one of its researchers, Dr. Stuart Kim, in Nu Skin's advertising.[50][51] Also in 2012, Citron Research issued a report "stating that Nu Skin's sales model on mainland China, the fastest growing market in direct-selling, amounted to an illegal multilevel marketing scheme."[50] Nu Skin dismissed the claims, calling its sales model in China "kosher" and stating that it had no plans to change its business model.[52] In 2014, The Chinese government investigated Nu Skin following a People's Daily newspaper report calling it a "suspected illegal pyramid scheme." Following the investigation, the Chinese government fined Nu Skin for $540k due to illegal sales and making false product claims.[53]
In February 2014, a press release shows a class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah against Nu Skin Enterpriseson behalf of investors who acquired stock of the company from July 2013, to January 2014.[54]
In a Last Week Tonight with John Oliver segment that covered multilevel marketing companies, Oliver criticized Nu Skin for the fact that in 2015, 93% of its distributors did not earn a commission check in a typical month.[55] Nu Skin says it pays approximately 43 percent of its product revenue in sales compensation.[56] In 2025, Nu Skin was named to USA Today's list of "best customer service."[57]
