Stampin’ Up Review: DIY gift cards & scrapbooking
Stampin’ Up was founded in 1988 by sisters Shelli Gardner and LaVonne Crosby.
The company is based out of Utah in the US and operates in the arts and crafts MLM niche.
When sisters Shelli Gardner and LaVonne Crosby were young, their family moved from California to Kanab, UT, on the Arizona border.
Both sisters eventually married, and their husbands, who knew each other, decided they should all move to Las Vegas
and operate a custom home building business in the booming real estate market.Both sisters had children and led busy lives as homemakers, while earning a little extra cash as independent contractors for Tupperware and other multi-level marketing companies.
When they were introduced to rubber stamping, they immediately became intrigued with the craft, since neither
of them felt artistic enough to draw freehand, and using stamps with ink was creative and fun.They discovered stamping was popular with women, mainly housewives, who like to design their own greeting cards, tags and gift wrap, decorate walls and lampshades, and keep family scrapbooks.
In 1988, with no experience in operating a company, the sisters invested their family’s nest egg to launch Stampin’ Up!
Their business plan was fairly simple:
They studied the business models of Tupperware, Discovery Toys, and Mary Kay, and developed their own approach for a direct sales company that reflected their own methods and techniques.
Today Stampin’ Up claims to have “tens of thousands” of affiliates across the US, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Japan.
LaVonne Crosby stepped down as CEO and left Stampin’ Up in 1998. Shelli Gardner was appointed CEO and held the position until 2016.
In early 2015 Shelli Gardner announced she would be stepping down to pursue ‘a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints‘.
In March, 2016 Sara Douglass, Shelli Gardner’s daughter, was appointed Stampin’ Up’s new CEO.
According to the Stampin’ Up website, Gardner ‘continues her involvement with the company, playing a vital role as Board Chair‘.
Read on for a full review of the Stampin’ Up MLM opportunity.
Stampin’ Up Products
Stampin’ Up initially sourced third-party stamps but began manufacturing their own products in 1992.
Today Stampin’ Up offers a range of rubber and photopolymer stamps and related accessories:
- accents and embellishments
- adhesives
- Big Shot (die-cutting machine)
- coloring tools
- ink
- “memories and more” (albums and card presentation accessories)
- paper
- hole punches and
- stamping related tools
Stampin’ Up has far too many products to list here individually, however a full catalog is available on their website (a printed copy costs $5 for some reason with no PDF alternative).
Selected Stampin’ Up products are available in bundles and kits.
The company also offers a monthly “Paper Pumpkin” stamping kit subscription for $19.95 a month (6 and 12 month discounted subscriptions also available).
The Stampin’ Up Compensation Plan
Stampin’ Up pay retail commissions based on sales volume production. Residual commissions are paid down three levels of recruitment with additional performance bonuses on offer.
Stampin’ Up Affiliate Ranks
There are eight affiliate ranks within the Stampin’ Up compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Bronze – sign up as a Stampin’ Up affiliate
- Bronze Elite – generate at least 1800 GV over a rolling 12 month period
- Silver – generate at least 3600 GV over a rolling 12 month period and recruit at least one affiliate
- Silver Elite – generate at least 7200 GV over a rolling 12 month period and recruit at least five affiliates (one must be Silver or higher)
- Gold – generate at least 10,800 GV over a rolling 12 month period and recruit at least ten affiliates (one must be Silver Elite or higher)
- Gold Elite – generate at least 14,400 GV over a rolling 12 month period and recruit at least fifteen affiliates (two must be Silver Elite or higher)
- Platinum – generate at least 18,000 GV over a rolling 12 month period and recruit at least twenty affiliates (four must be Silver Elite or higher)
- Platinum Elite – maintain at least 10,800 GV over a rolling 12 month period and recruit at least thirty affiliates (six must be Silver Elite or higher)
GV stands for “Group Volume” and is sales volume generated by an affiliate’s orders, those of their retail customers and personal and retail orders by their downline.
Retail Commissions
Stampin’ Up split retail commission rates between Bronze and Bronze Elite and higher ranked affiliates.
Bronze affiliates receive:
- a 20% retail commission rate if they generate up to 599.99 GV a month
- a 24% retail commission rate if they generate 600 to 899.99 GV a month
- a 25% retail commission rate if they generate 900 to 1199.99 GV a month
- a 27% retail commission rate if they generate up to 1200 to 1499.99 GV a month
- a 29% retail commission rate if they generate up to 1500 to 2499.99 GV a month
- a 31% retail commission rate if they generate up to 2500 to 3499.99 GV a month
- a 33% retail commission rate if they generate up to 3500 or more GV a month
Bronze Elite and higher affiliates receive:
- a 25% retail commission rate if they generate up to 599.99 GV a month
- a 29% retail commission rate if they generate 600 to 899.99 GV a month
- a 30% retail commission rate if they generate 900 to 1199.99 GV a month
- a 32% retail commission rate if they generate up to 1200 to 1499.99 GV a month
- a 34% retail commission rate if they generate up to 1500 to 2499.99 GV a month
- a 36% retail commission rate if they generate up to 2500 to 3499.99 GV a month
- a 38% retail commission rate if they generate up to 3500 or more GV a month
Residual Commissions
Stampin’ Up pay residual commissions down three levels of recruitment (unilevel).
Residual commission rates are based on monthly and downline sales volume generation from month to month as follows:
- generate 300 GV and 300 CSV a month and recruit at least one affiliate = 3% on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates)
- generate 600 GV and 1500 CSV a month and recruit at least three affiliates = 5% on level 1, 2.5% on level 2 and 1% on level 3
- generate 900 GV and 2500 CSV a month and recruit at least six affiliates = 5.5% on level 1, 3% on level 2 and 1.5% on level 3
- generate 1200 GV and 5000 CSV a month and recruit at least twelve affiliates = 6% on level 1, 3.5% on level 2 and 2% on level 3
- maintain 1200 GV and generate 10,000 CSV a month and recruit at least eighteen affiliates = 6.5% on level 1, 4% on level 2 and 2.5% on level 3
- generate 1500 GV and 15,000 CSV a month and recruit at least eighteen affiliates = 6.5% on level 1, 5% on level 2 and 3% on level 3
- maintain 1500 GV and generate 20,000 CSV a month and recruit at least thirty-two affiliates = 6.5% on level 1, 5.5% on level 2 and 3.5% on level 3
For the purpose of residual commission rate calculation, CSV is sales volume generated by an affiliate and their personally recruited affiliates.
Bonus Sales Volume
Upon hitting certain qualification criteria, Stampin’ Up rewards affiliates with bonus commissionable sales volume:
- generate 100,000 GV (recurring) – 1000 GV bonus
- generate 1,000,000 GV (recurring) – 10,000 GV bonus
- generate 10,000 GV in a quarter – 500 GV bonus
- each 5000 GV generated over 10,000 GV in a quarter – 250 GV bonus
- recruit five affiliates within a year – 700 GV bonus
- each additional recruited affiliate over five within the same year – 300 GV bonus
- have eight personally recruited affiliates advance in rank within a year (Bronze Elite and higher) – 1600 GV bonus
- each additional rank advancement beyond the initial eight within the same year – 200 GV bonus
- “Silver Elite boost” – 300 GV bonus
A “qualified recruit” is a Stampin’ Up affiliate who has generated at least 900 GV since signing up.
There’s also no explanation for what the “Silver Elite boost” , however I believe it’s an additional bonus when personally recruited affiliates qualify at the Silver Elite rank.
Party Rewards
One of the ways a Stampin’ Up affiliate can market products is through home parties.
Sales generated at home party events qualify affiliates for discounts on Stampin’ Up product purchases:
- $150 in home party sales = 10% reward
- $300 in home party sales = 12% reward
- $450 in home party sales = 14% reward
- $600 or more in home party sales = 16% reward
Hosting a home party even that generates at least $150 in sales also qualifies an affiliate to receive 50% of one purchased item.
Rank Achievement Bonus
Stampin’ Up reward affiliates who qualify at the Bronze Elite and higher ranks with a one-time Rank Achievement Bonus:
- Bronze Elite – “Bronze Elite Bonus”
- Silver – silver necklace or money clip
- Silver Elite – “CenterStage”
- Gold – gold necklace or pen
- Gold Elite – “Gold elite bonus”
- Platinum – platinum necklace or watch
- Platinum Elite – “Wall of Fame”
I’ve quoted the more vague bonuses verbatim from the Stampin’ Up compensation plan. No further details are provided.
Flex Points
There’s no explanation of what Flex Points are in the Stampin’ Up compensation plan.
A separate document titled “compensation plan overview” however states:
Flex points can be redeemed for a variety of items such as Stampin’ Up! product credits, catalogs, and the incentive trip.
Based on the following qualification criteria, Stampin’ Up reward affiliates with Flex Points as follows:
- generate up to 9,999 GV in a year = 1 point per 1 GV generated
- generate 10,000 or more GV in a year = 5 points per 1 GV generated
- receive 5000 points per qualified personally recruited affiliate
- 5000 points for advancing in rank
- an additional 1500 points for qualifying as a Bronze Elite
- an additional 4000 points for qualifying as a Silver or Silver Elite
- an additional 7500 points for qualifying as a Gold or Gold Elite
- an additional 10,000 points for qualifying as a Platinum or Platinum Elite
- 7500 points when a personally recruited affiliate qualifies as a Bronze Elite or Silver
- 10,000 points when a personally recruited affiliate qualifies as a Silver Elite or higher
- generate 900 GV within three months of signing up as a Stampin’ Up affiliate and receive 5000 points
- generate 1800 GV within six months of signing up as a Stampin’ Up affiliate and receive 10,000 points
- 1 year Stampin’ Up affiliate anniversary = 2000 points
- 5 year Stampin’ Up affiliate anniversary = 5000 points
- 10 year Stampin’ Up affiliate anniversary = 7500 points
- 15 year Stampin’ Up affiliate anniversary = 10,000 points
- 20 year Stampin’ Up affiliate anniversary = 12,500 points
- 25 year Stampin’ Up affiliate anniversary = 15,000 points
- 30 year Stampin’ Up affiliate anniversary = 17,500 points
Flex Points are valid for a a year plus month during the period they are earned.
A Stampin’ Up compensation plan overview document provides an example of a Flex Point year running from October to September the following year.
In this example Flex Points would expire in October following September.
Joining Stampin’ Up
Stampin’ Up affiliate membership is $99, which includes $125 worth of Stampin’ Up products (retail value).
New affiliates also require “a copy of Stampin’ Up!’s current catalog(s)”, which the company sells for $5.
Conclusion
Stampin’ Up identify their “core market” as ‘99 percent female, largely Caucasian, mid-30s and older, mainly married, mostly with children‘.
I’m about as far from that as you can get, so it’s not surprising I don’t see myself sitting around making cards and arts and craft memories.
That said, I can appreciate walking into a newsagent and dropping $8-$15 on a paper gift card and feeling ripped off.
The question I guess is how often you buy cards and whether making your own is something you’re interested in.
You’d have to be putting together quite a few projects to justify spending money on a permanent kit to create your own designs.
I guess this is where the “mom factor” kicks in, as women with children are far more likely to be preparing cards and scrapbooks. Men too if that’s your thing (the percentage quoted above is from 2006, I couldn’t find anything more recent).
With who your target market is likely to be in mind, Stampin’ Up appears to be a genuine attempt to offer scrapbooking related products at competitive prices.
And that’s important, because scrapbooking products are readily shippable and available all over the internet.
Stampin’ Up’s edge is a continuously updated catalog and community of like-minded scrapbookers. Very much a hobby and consumable, I can see scrapbooking groups being a great way to keep in touch with people.
Not something I’d be into but again you have to keep in mind the target demographic.
On the compensation plan side of things Stampin’ Up keeps it tight with just three levels.
This is very manageable and ties in perfectly with creating a scrapbooking community. Even with a large downline personal responsibility across three levels shouldn’t be too hard to manage.
One quirk in the Stampin’ Up compensation plan was the separation of rank from residual commission rates.
Affiliate ranks is exclusively tied to bonuses, whereas residual (and retail) commission rates are based on GV production.
Not sure if that’s any better, but things could be simplified by adjusting ranks to their respective commission rate equivalents (add a few more corresponding ranks if required).
Marketing wise Stampin’ Up appear to be primarily party driven. A downside of this approach is inventory required to host parties.
As a Stampin’ Up affiliate you can hardly organize a party event and then rock up with not enough samples to demo.
Stampin’ Up do a good job of rewarding affiliates who are already generating sales, however new affiliates might find the initial cost of building up party event inventory a bit daunting.
Worse still if they’re not finding the business a good fit, costs could quickly escalate. Although not unique to Stampin’ Up, this is definitely something to watch out for.
Other than that you’re looking at a $99 entry point, which is pretty much a $125 retail order at wholesale.
If scrapbooking is your thing and you know others who are like-minded, take a look at what Stampin’ Up have to offer and go from there. Good luck!
Is smiling compulsory in this company?
Not a bad idea, as the supplies are definitely consumables. But there are already too many stores catering to scrapbooking.
Every arts and supplies store, scrapbook only stores, and so on. Those BigShot machines are $80 on Amazon, Walmart, and so on.
Heck, if you were watching infomercials you’ve probably seen “Cricut” machines. Those will cut most sheet materials, including fabric.
But basically, this relies on a subscription model: the subscribers get whatever stuff got sent, while they *could* hypothetically get stuff elsewhere cheaper.
They are trying to build up a stock of materials with minimum inconvenience, i.e. paying for convenience.
They’ve been around a long time. Still alive and kicking.
Former SU demonstrator here– the products are too expensive, the discounts too little, the work to prepare for workshops is way too much.
They have been around for 30 years but if they don’t shape up they will not last much longer.
Stampin up is still around and I’m loving it. They now have card kits that are an affordable way to create cards for yourself as a hobby demonstrator or as a class for a business demo.
It’s also great because you can use this as a hobby or as a business…it does take work but what business doesn’t.
I love the ability to coordinate products and having little expendable time this is one huge advantage.
I just ran across this article. I realize it is somewhat old, but I wanted to correct a few things you said that are incorrect. The abbreviation “GV,” that you said means Group Value, does not exist in Stampin’ Up’s compensation plan.
The abbreviation “CVS,” does not stand for “is sales volume generated by an affiliate and their personally recruited affiliates.” CVS is commissionable sales volume, which is basically how many dollars you sold. It is called that because not every market uses dollars as their currency. It is also based on the exchange rate. Since the company is in the United States, it is based on US dollars. It changes in every market except the United States each year, to update the exchange rate.
As far as the Flex plan, it no longer exists, but it was a program to reward good sales with business type items. The Flex plan has been replaced by a plan that gives a 2% bonus to Silver level demonstrators or higher on sales of $1000 and above per quarter. The reward can be used to place upcoming orders.
The rewards for hosting a party are available to anyone not only demonstrators (affiliates as you refer to them). As a matter of fact, if a demonstrator does a home party, those rewards go to the hostess and none of those rewards go to the demonstrator.
If the demonstrator hosts the party, then the rewards belong to the demonstrator. As for earning an item for 50% off, the party has to have $600 worth of sales (not the $150 you stated.
I don’t know if you want to retract your article, as it seems you didn’t understand a lot of the information you were given. I’m not sure I have even addressed everything that wasn’t right. But, I caught the high spots. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
It might not be called “GV” but it very much existed.
Which is “sales volume generated by an affiliate and their personally recruited affiliates.” QED.
The review is date-stamped and was accurate at time of publication.
Here at BehindMLM I break down compensation plans so that they’re easy (easier) to understand. This often sees me dismiss unique terminology for MLM industry standards, as is the case with Stampin Up’s GV and CVS.
Given it’s been 6 years I’m happy to queue Stampin’ Up for a review update. No idea why a retraction would be necessary though. I fully understood Stampin’ Up’s MLM opportunity as it existed in 2017 and reviewed it.
Let me know if you’d like any current info, if you choose to do an update. I’ve been a demonstrator (our term for affiliate) for almost 30 years. I think it’s important that people who look to join, have accurate information.
Two things that sort of stand out in the current review as not completely clear to me are: 1) the supposed requirement for a new affiliate to buy a catalog for $5 with no PDF version available, and 2) the supposed need to carry inventory to do a party.
Regarding the first point, I can’t remember a time when a prospective recruit was required to buy a catalog for $5 before they could sign up. I have PDF copies of catalogs, provided by the company, going back years and years.
Before the storefront was available, a prospective recruit would definitely have needed to look in a paper catalog to find the item numbers of product they wanted in their Starter Kit. But, the storefront was available in 2017, so I’m not sure I understand why a paper catalog would have been thought necessary.
It definitely was not required. The Starter Kit does come with 8 Annual Catalogs, and at least 1 each of any other current catalog.
There is no charge for those, or any of the other business forms, in a Starter Kit.
2) As to the “inventory” required to hold a “party”, I think I understand what you are saying, but demonstrators are actually not allowed to carry inventory in general.
I think that’s even a rule Stampin’ Up! may have to follow as a member of the Direct Sales Association. There are a few items annotated as “Cash & Carry” that we are allowed to stock up on if we wish, such as adhesives and our Kits Collection kits.
But that’s mostly for convenience at events we choose to hold, or to have on hand for local in-person customers.
And that brings me to the “party” part of it…you don’t have to have “parties”, though that is actually the easiest way to introduce people to Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators hold a variety of events, and the demonstrator may be the Host, or it may be a customer who is Hosting.
If a demo chooses to do a party, they may offer “Make & Takes” at it. So, if I understand correctly, this is what you have mentioned as “required inventory”.
However, that’s the point of choosing the products you want in your Starter Kit. You can easily order what you need in your Starter Kit to do several “parties”.
As to “samples”, there are plenty in the catalog and storefront, but I find it’s always nice to have lots of those at in-person events. In our demonstrator community, we do a lot of “swaps”.
It may take a while to get all the samples you’d like, but a new demonstrator could use the some of the supplies in their Starter Kit to make cards or 3D items that they would then swap with other people to get samples made with other supplies.
I definitely admit that there is not a good Starter Kit template offered by the company for ordering the mix of products needed to have supplies for Make & Takes, and Swaps.
And I think part of the reason is that, statistically, the overwhelming majority of people who join Stampin’ Up! already own product. (I didn’t – I had never stamped before I got my Starter Kit. I also didn’t get to choose my products, the kit back in the day was a standard package.)
Anyway, this would be where the recruiting demonstrator could provide support by giving examples of what to order in the Starter Kit.
Unfortunately, in this day and age of 24/7 online ordering, I think most new recruits click to join and place their order without asking for any business planning.
They are excited to get the Starter Kit bargain on products they want, and to get 20% off their Stampin’ Up! product purchases for as long as they can comfortably afford to remain active as a demonstrator.
One last little correction – the sales amount is recorded in CSV, not CVS.
As I said, please feel free to email me if you are looking for current info to update your article. And I hope the ordeal with those awful people targeting you and your site gets thrown out soon. That is just outrageous.
Thanks for the support!
The catalog requirement was quoted from Stampin’ Up’s marketing material circa 2017. I quoted directly from the source material and there wasn’t any mention of a free PDF alternative at the time.
Re. party inventory, if you’re going to utilize that marketing method then you’re going to need inventory. Not “garage hoarding” levels of inventory, but at least enough so that potential customers can get a feel for Stampin’ Up’s items.
Holding a party even where everyone comes along to look at a PDF catalog they can view at home isn’t likely to be successful.
Long-term though anyone using the party marketing method is going to need to replenish.
Yes, I agree about replenishing supplies to do more parties/classes/events. I was only saying that the Starter Kit can be a strategic way to get the ball rolling, especially because of the value.
I’m still not sure where the $5 catalog thing was posted. Not at all arguing it wasn’t there, I just honestly don’t remember anything like that for a Starter Kit.
There have definitely been experiments with offering Starter Kits in different ways over the years, so I’m sure I must be forgetting about some version of that.
I do know that if someone wants a hard copy catalog to look at before they sign up, they need to ask a demonstrator for one, or order a single catalog themselves from the online store… which would be $5 but also a minimum of $6.95 (I think it was at that time) shipping.
Usually prospective demonstrators are working with an active demonstrator, who would share a catalog PDF for free at the very least, if not an actual hard copy catalog.
And though it’s a party plan at heart, a lot has changed with high speed internet, and then with the coof. Some of the top performing demonstrators have never done an in-person customer party/class/event, EVER. Their businesses are purely online, and modeled on the numbers game, and not duplicatible for a new demonstrator.
A good number of top demonstrators sell classes/retreats/tutorials which aren’t directly marketed at other demonstrators, but a large part of the sales of those items comes from other demonstrators.
The reason for that, is that the company provides little to no training to learn to stamp, much less for any specific type of event, and hardly any support or resources to use to throw those events, so you have to come up with your own ideas all the time. Or copy the creativity of someone else, from Pinterest or Instagram pictures of their work.
Another practice by several notable top Performers, is to offer training classes to fellow demonstrators. Sometimes these are start-up classes, or classes specifically on one focused topic, and often they are just ongoing monthly memberships for access to the top demos’ business teachings which are ongoing but also include archives.
Teachings shared by the company are almost always just interviews with individual demonstrators, who share what they are doing that has worked for them.
It can be helpful, but it’s also very vague because it’s just an event format, and there’s almost never a PDF template of the outline, or even a text transcript of the interview. It’s a video you can watch – if you can get in on the Livestream, or if you can find it once it’s archived on the site.
Demonstrators are also plagued by the number of catalogs/product releases, and the GIANT amount of product turnover with “retiring” product. Some of that product, demonstrators are not allowed to sell for an entire YEAR after the end of the sale period!
I personally question the legality of terminating a demonstrator for selling their one off used items once the company has sold out, or the retirement date has passed. I can certainly agree that selling large quantities of retired and sold out items would point to a resale business, which would be a conflict of interest. But, barring that, I feel the policy is super over restrictive.
Anyway, there are a lot of things that can make this incredibly challenging as a business, and I don’t mind being candid about it. Although I’d like to remain anonymous.
I do still love the product and coordination, and being able to have a small business doing what I love, without having to deal with all the stuff the company does (manufacturing, stocking a warehouse, shipping, publishing catalogs, etc).
Thanks for sharing. Some honest feedback for anyone looking into Stampin’ Up.
I don’t think the “you can’t sell a retired product for a year after we retire it” would hold up in court. Especially if Stampin’ Up is doing it all the time to product lines.
Technically this shouldn’t be much of a problem if inventory loading isn’t a thing though.
I suppose it depends on what you consider to be “a problem”. I feel it’s problematic for any demonstrator trying to make money, when they can’t recover what was basically an investment in a limited time offering.
You don’t have to have any substantial amount of supplies to feel the pain of not being able to to sell retired or sold out product so you can have some cash to put towards the next product release.
A lot of the product follows trends, so waiting ridiculous amounts of time to be able to sell it, may mean that the trend is no longer popular.
Also, if it’s seasonal, and you have to wait until a year after the end of the sales period, you might be looking at another 9 months before you have enough lead time on selling for that season again.
And here is part of what can make this challenging as a business: very little of what we sell is an actual end product. It’s mostly stuff that you use to make other stuff.
Some things like adhesives or tools are in an end-user state. Everything else is kind of like construction supplies. So, if you use just ONE piece on a project that retires or sells out, that project or sample is no longer directly useful to help you sell Stampin’ Up! product you purchased to make it.
Our patterned paper comes in packages of at least a dozen 12″x12″ sheets, with only 2 sheets each of the same design.
So, even if you were frugal about purchases, it’s tough not to have stuff left over unless you are super meticulous about planning out the pieces and the sizes and quantity you are going to use from every package for every project.
I have tried to plan well, before I order, but honestly – paper crafting is a tactile pursuit, and I create once I get the product in my hands.
I can envision what I might like to create in advance, but I rarely know for sure how it will end up, so I constantly over buy, just to make sure I have enough.
Which brings me back to that ability to quickly sell product that gets retired or sold out. Every little bit I can recoup from old stuff, helps me spend less on the new and upcoming stuff.
And I think that’s really important for new demonstrators in particular. They haven’t yet built up a customer base, so the more they can recoup the little investments as they go, the better.