Lead funnels sold to network marketers

The claim

Our collection holds 3 tweets on this scheme, from 2 accounts¹. They date from 2017, worked out from their ID numbers; we did not open them on X or check how common the pitch is in 2026¹. Both accounts have fewer than 10,000 followers, so we do not name or quote them; no view counts were recorded¹. In our words: one offered leads at no charge to anyone who duplicates its set-up; the other said doing so brings in hundreds of dollars every day, for little effort, from home¹. This page judges the scheme, not the people.

Network marketing pays you on your own sales and on your recruits’ sales. A “copy my system” funnel is a rented set of web pages and emails that collects leads (contact details of possible buyers or recruits). Many mainly sell membership of the funnel itself.

The sums

“Hundreds” means at least $200 a day. Take half: $100 a day is $36,500 a year (our sum). Staff of the FTC, the US consumer protection regulator, reviewed 70 company income statements and found “the vast majority received $1,000 or less per year”, before expenses⁵. That understates a working seller’s position: it leaves out resale profit and counts people who, the industry says, joined only for a discount⁵⁷⁶¹. FTC staff do not accept that split⁵. Even so, $100 a day is more than 36 times that line (our sum). No source compares sellers with and without a funnel; the funnel adds a cost.

One seller, the Home Business Academy, charges $25 a month and advertises 80% commissions¹⁵. Its pages do not say which fees the 80% covers, and we did not read its affiliate agreement. If it covers the $25 fee, a member is worth about $20 a month, so $3,000 a month ($100 a day) takes 150 paying members (our estimate, from¹⁵). If it also covers the $125-a-month extra and every member bought it, $3,000 would take 25 members (our estimate, from¹⁵). No source measures how many leads become paying members.

What happens to most people who try

In a limited search we found no ordinary funnel buyer who had published earnings with proof. Every success story came from someone selling the system or earning commission on it.

Empower Network, a recruiting system, published its own unaudited table for January 2013 to November 2014: 91% of affiliates (people paid commission for sending buyers) received under $100 a month, averaging $5, before costs²⁵. It wrote: “Less than 4% earns sufficient commissions to cover their costs of the Empower Network products.”²⁵

In a 2018 AARP Foundation survey of 601 network marketing participants, 47% said they lost money, 27% broke even and about a quarter made a profit⁴³.

The upside

Some people are paid at the level the tweets name. Company figures are unaudited and before expenses; none shows a copied funnel got anyone there.

• Herbalife, 2025 (own statement). Of about 107,769 US distributors who ordered products for resale, about 41,000 were past their first year and earned in a typical month⁶¹. The top 10% of those (3.8% of the 107,769, our sum) earned more than $5,442 in a month in which they earned; the top 1% (0.4%, our sum) more than $21,893, typically after five to 12 years⁶¹. About half the group earned in seven months or more of the year⁶¹.
• Amway, 2025 (own disclosure). The Founders Platinum rank averaged $48,879 a year, was held by 0.54% of US sellers and took 3 to 12 years to reach⁶².

Newcomers earn far less. Of about 6,000 first-year Herbalife distributors who earned in a typical month, half earned more than $166 in that month, before expenses, and about half earned in two months or more of the year⁶¹. The middle first-year earner’s year may total a few hundred dollars (our estimate, from⁶¹); a funnel’s costs can be larger.

What it takes to compete

Those who earn well have years in the business: 3 to 12 at both companies, and more than 5 for the three people (half of one percent) who reported profits of $100,000 or more in the AARP survey⁴³⁶¹⁶². Hours alone do not decide it: in that survey, losses rose with hours worked as much as profits did⁴³.

A rented funnel costs $25 a month at the Home Business Academy, before optional extras¹⁵. A bought lead costs about $1.30 to $27⁸¹⁰¹¹. Leads at no charge are real but cost hours of your own posting and contacting; no source measures the hours or the leads they bring.

How to tell early:

• Ask whoever offers the system for last year’s income after expenses.
• One system’s disclaimer says: “Typical affiliates earn no income.”¹⁵
• If the main product is funnel membership, your income depends on other newcomers paying.
• If a few hundred leads have produced no paying member, the sums will not close at any budget you would want to spend (our estimate).

Who else makes money from it

Sellers of leads, such as Apache Leads, and of paid clicks (visits bought from someone else’s mailing list), such as those on Udimi, are paid up front whether or not anyone joins⁸¹¹. Tool companies such as GoHighLevel and AWeber are paid monthly likewise¹³¹⁴. At MLM Recruit On Demand, your referrer is paid when you pay¹⁷. The owner keeps whatever is not paid out in commission; we found no figure for any owner’s revenue or profit.