How To Make Sure You’re Selling A High-Quality Product

Direct sales is a great opportunity to blend socializing with business, and often, you can contribute to campaigns that encourage people to do good in their communities and beyond. And let’s be honest—some of the perks direct sales companies offer are pretty incredible!

But no matter how good the perks of a company may sound for the seller, you have a responsibility to ensure that the product you’re selling is high quality and something you can really stand behind. Some companies, like USANA Health Sciences, guarantee quality with scientific data. Others, like Avon or Tupperware, have been around for so long that they’re basically institutions unto themselves.

But even with these brands, it’s up to you to decide if their products are good enough for you to sell to others. So how can you do a quality check for the products you’re looking to sell? Follow these guidelines and you’ll be able to find a quality product you can stand behind.

• Read the Reviews

The reviews of products and businesses are always a great place to start when investigating quality. People online tend to be brutally honest when it comes to reviewing products, and that’s true for products from direct sales as well as big retailers like Walmart and Amazon.

A simple Google search can show you some reviews, but you can delve deeper with review sites like Trustpilot, along with others that aggregate reviews from a variety of sources. And don’t miss out on hearing product reviews straight from a consumer themselves with YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. While some videos are just people giving their honest review, there are also entire accounts dedicated to reviewing products. 

• Do Your Research

Unfortunately, though, reviews alone aren’t enough to tell you about a product’s quality. So the next step is to get researching. 

A company’s website is where you need to start. Read their product descriptions and see what they’re selling, then be sure to see that they’re listing everything in their products – whether it’s supplements, skin care, or clothing they’re selling. If they’re upfront about what’s in their products, it’s a good sign they care about quality.

You can also see if they’re a member of the Direct Selling Association (DSA). The DSA is the national association developed for companies whose salesforce sells directly to consumers. Their mission is “to protect, serve, and promote the effectiveness of member companies and the independent business people they represent [and] to ensure member companies’ products and the direct selling opportunity is conducted with the highest level of business ethics.” 

The DSA requires member companies to post their Code of Ethics on their site, along with a button for consumers to submit any issues or complaints they have. If a company is a member of the DSA, then they care about quality and ethics—which is a good sign for you to sign on.

• Get In Touch

Direct sales businesses have boomed since 2020, and that’s thanks to social media. As opposed to the traditional Tupperware parties or door-to-door “Avon calling!” from the past, many direct sellers now use social media like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to sell their products.

That makes it easier than ever for you to get in contact with several sellers to ask about their products. While different people will likely have varying knowledge about their products, it gives you insight to the company’s culture, which in turn contributes to the quality of their products.

Also, don’t be afraid to ask a company about their products directly. If a company you’re researching has a method of contacting them, get in touch! Being able to discuss their products with them directly is a good sign that they stand behind their quality, which means you can, too.

• Use Your Common Sense (And Your Gut)

You know the old saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is”? That is exceedingly true for direct sales products.

If a company is making guarantees without backing it up with evidence—or promising things that are impossible to verify—it’s a good sign they are not actually selling a quality product. There is no magic supplement that will make people lose weight without changing anything else in their life, and there’s no miracle skin care product that will guarantee clear skin. If a company is making these claims, don’t proceed with them.

Similarly, if a product doesn’t have much information on the ingredients or materials used to make it, that’s not a risk you want to take. There may be low-quality materials used so the business can cut corners to turn a profit, or it could be as serious as having unlisted allergens in their products. 

And, of course, there’s no better guide than your own intuition. If you get a gut feeling that something is wrong with a company’s product, skip it! You should only sell products you 100% believe in and would use yourself.

There are a lot of things to consider before you jump into the world of direct sales, and one of the biggest ones is ensuring that the products you’re selling are of the highest quality, with no false promises attached.

With USANA, we have a strict set of rules and regulations that ensure our product quality is the highest it can possibly be. If you’re looking to dip your toes into direct sales, take a look at our Associate Program—and follow these instructions so you know our products are the highest quality we can ensure.