Scent-Sations, Inc. - Policies & Procedures for U.S. Distributors

Scent-Sations Inc Policies and Procedures for U.S. Distributors
Click here for the Terms & Conditions for Canadian Distributors

1. The purpose of the independent distributor contract and agreement (hereinafter referred to as the "agreement") is to establish the Scent-Sations Independent Distributor (hereinafter referred to as the representative, distributor or distributorship) as an authorized representative for the sale of Scent-Sations products.

2. ACTIVE DISTRIBUTORSHIP Any distributor is considered an active distributor when he or she places an order under the following conditions:
1) Candle of the Month Member - $39.95 C.V. Autoship

2) Associate Member - $39.95 C.V.
3. SIMULTANEOUS INTERESTS: No Distributor will be permitted to be party to more than one distributorship, including but not limited to members of corporations, boards, trusts, partnerships, dba's, personal agreements etc.

4. JOINT APPLICATION: When a joint application is for other than a legally married couple, the application must be signed by one or more legal representatives who have the power to bind the applying entity. An individual or DBA may apply using his or her social security number or federal tax id number, while a partnership, corporation or statutory trust must use its federal tax id number. The application will be classified as pending unitl all the requested documentation has been received and approved by Scent-Sations, Inc. (the "Company").

5. DIVORCE/SEPARATION: If a couple sharing a distributorship becomes legally seperated or divorced, Scent-Sations will continue paying commission checks as before the divorce or separation until it receives written legal notice signed and notarized by the necessary parties, specifically how future commission checks should be paid.

6. CORPORATIONS, TRUSTS, PARTNERSHIPS, DBA'S may become a distributor, however no individual may participate in more than one distributorship. A distributorship may change status from individual to corp., trust, partnership or DBA or from one of these entities to any other entity, with proper and complete documentation. Such a change in organizational structure or status however, shall not affect the original marketing organization and the succeeding structure shall continue to be sponsored by the same sponsor as the original entity.

7. ASSUMED NAMES: A person or entity may apply under a legally registered assumed name, provided that the application includes the signatures of all persons acting under or holding an interest in the assumed name.

8. MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS: If an applicant submits multiple distributor contract and agreement forms listing multiple sponsors, only the first completed form to be received by Scent-Sations will be accepted. All others will be considered null and void.

9. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: No distributor shall sell or present for sale any non-company products or services, nor shall business or marketing opportunities of any other company be discussed, presented or promoted at any Scent-Sations business opportunity meeting or any other company-related activity. Nor shall such presentations or sales be conducted immediately preceeding or following any Scent-Sations activity in the same place of a Company (or distributor) meeting or activity.

10. SOLICITATION OF SCENT-SATIONS DISTRIBUTORS PROHIBITED: Distributors may be active in other businesses but are expressly prohibited from soliciting or sponsoring any Scent-Sations customers or distributors to those businesses. Distributors shall not offer the Scent-Sations business opportunity in conjunction with any non Scent-Sations business opportunity or incentive. Distributors shall not use names, addresses, e-mail addresses, or phone numbers of Scent-Sations customers or distributors as mailing or contact list to market any non Scent-Sations products, services or business opportunity. If a distributor is found to be soliciting any Scent-Sations distributor for another business opportunity, the distributor risks having all distributor rights and privledges immediately revoked and will forfeit their downline, any current or future commissions due, and possible legal action.

11. INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR STATUS: All Scent-Sations distributors are independent contractors, whose success or failure depends opon his or her personal efforts. The representative, his or her agents and / or employees shall, under no circumstances, be treated as or deemed to be agents, employees, or corporate representatives of Scent-Sations, Inc. Distributors are not franchises, joint ventures, partners, employees, or agents of Scent-Sations, Inc. Distributors are strictly prohibited from stating or implying either orally, electronically, in writing or in any other manner, that they are franchises, joint ventures, partners or employees of Scent-Sations Inc. All distributors shall at all times conform to all IRS regulations governing independent contractor status. Neither the representative nor Scent-Sations Inc shall have any right to enter into contracts or commitments in the name of, or on behalf of, the other to bind the other in any way.

12. NO FRANCHISES: There are no franchises or exclusive territories within the United States or Canada as a part of the company's compensation plan. This does not limit the company from establishing licensed distribution points or other types of centers to assist in the development and operation of company programs.

13. INTERNATIONAL SALES: Distributors are NOT currently authorized to make sales outside of the USA and/or territories of the USA. No distributor may, in any unauthorized country, (1) conduct sales, enrollment or training meetings (2) enroll or attempt to enroll customers or distributors (3) conduct any activity for the purpose of selling Scent-Sations products, establishing a marketing organization, or promoting the Scent-Sations Business Opportunity. Failure to comply could result in legal action against the distributor(s) and will result in termination of said distributor(s).

14. COMPENSATION PLAN: The distributor shall make clear (in any live, online or written presentation) that the compensation plan is based upon the sales of Scent-Sations products.

15. GUARANTEED PROFIT: The distributor shall never state that profits are guaranteed. Opportunity or income exagerrations shall never be given. Failure to comply with this will result in termination.

16. NO MEDICAL CLAIMS: The distributor shall not make claims about Scent-Sations products. No claims about products shall be made except what is made in corporate literature.

17. LABELING, PACKAGING AND DISPLAYING PRODUCTS: The distributor shall not re-label or re-package any Scent-Sations products.

18. ADVERTISING: All advertising must be factual. The stating of exaggerated claims or misleading information will jeopardize the distributors status. All income is a result of personal effort - any advertising, promoting or representing salaried positions, management positions, hourly wages or guaranteed incomes are considered misleading and prohibited.

19. NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING: Distributors may place classified ads in newspapers provided Scent-Sations names or trademarks are not used and that facts are presented. Any use of company names or trademarks must have the company's advance written consent.

20. The Scent-Sations name, product names and other names as may be adopted by Scent-Sations are proprietary trade names, trademarks and service marks of Scent-Sations, Inc. As such, these marks are of great value to Scent-Sations and are supplied to Marketing Executives for their use only in an expressly authorized manner. Use of the Scent-Sations name, or any product or service name on any advertising, promotion, or other material that is not produced by the company is prohibited, unless approved in writing by Scent-Sations. Distributors may use the Scent-Sations name in telephone book listings, on business cards and stationary as follows:
Distributor's Name
Independent Scent-Sations Distributor

21. LEAD ASSIGNMENT: Scent-Sations is available to speak with all prospects who contact the home office. We attempt to connect each prospect with a representative as soon as possible. If the lead does NOT know who prospected him or her, we will label him or her as an "orphan" and assign such leads to distributors based on leadership status.

22.TRANSFER OF DISTRIBUTORSHIP: Scent-Sations strongly discourages the transfer of distributors or customers from one organization to another. However, a distributor or customer may transfer to a different sponsor under the following conditions: if a sponsorship change is requested in the first 30 business days of your enrollment, you must obtain the signature of the original sponsor. After the first 30 business days of enrollment you must obtain the signature of your sponsor and the 5 upline (provided there are 5).

All original 5 levels and sponsor (this would comprise a total of 6 levels of upline) must concur with the change.

Due to the growth of Internet sponsoring, the company reserves the right to move a distributor who accidentally enrolls under the wrong sponsor through the act of going to a wrong website. The company reserves the right to move the new distributor under his or her intended sponsor within 7 business days of enrollment.

23. PERSONAL CONSUMPTION: Scent-Sations compensation is built upon retail sales to customers. The company recognizes that distributors may wish to purchase product for their own personal use. For this reason a sale for commissions purposes shall include sales to nonparticipants as well as sales to distributors for personal or family use.

24. INVENTORY LOADING: Distributors may not encourage others in the program to purchase unreasonable amounts of products (inventory loading).

25. C.O.D. : No C.O.D. orders will be accepted.

26. TRADE SHOWS, FAIRS AND BOOTHS: Distributors may promote their business and products at trade shows, fairs, and booths. Scent-Sations reserves the right to approve any use of its name or trademarks on signs and banners. Such approval must be secured before opening of the show.

27. PRODUCT/LITERATURE RETURN: Any Distributor who chooses to terminate his/her distributorship may return literature and/or products that are in resalable condition at any time within 30 days of purchase and receive an 85% refund. Shipping costs will be borne by distributor on sales and returns (Refused packages receive a 70% refund less shipping on sale and return of items). Defective product(s) may be returned for 100% refund. Shipping costs will be borne by Scent-Sations for defective products. All product returns must have a Return Authorization Number received by calling corporate prior to shipping defective product(s). Scent-Sations will NOT refund or replace any product that is returned for any other reason other than a defective product. Scent-Sations will honor refund policies provided by any state or federal law applicable to distributor.

28. INTERNET POLICIES: Distributors can use web sites that are designed and provided by the company to promote their businesses. Only official Scent-Sations produced web sites shall be permitted. If a Marketing Executive has a personal web page or a web page for another business, the Marketing Executive can place a Scent-Sations approved banner, information logo or approved verbiage on such web site that will link to the distributor's Scent-Sations web site. No Scent-Sations banners or any other materials relating to Scent-Sations may be placed on any web site that contains any pornographic or obscene material, or material that, at Scent-Sations sole discretion, would tarnish or damage its image or reputation. NO MARKETING OF ANY SCENT-SATIONS INCORPORATED PRODUCTS: (MIA BELLA CANDLES, SOY-SATIONAL BELLA BARS, ETC) ON EBAY OR ANY OTHER INTERNET or AUCTION SITE! THE ONLY PLACE WHERE ANY DISTRIBUTOR CAN SHOW SCENT-SATIONS PRODUCTS OR OPPORTUNITY IS ON A SCENT-TEAM WEBSITE! Violations can lead to termination of distributorship.

29. Any changes to corporate data on file must be requested in writing via written correspondence, fax or email. Examples of this are credit card on file changes, auto ship date, address changes, new expiration dates, state sales tax id number, etc. Any cancellations, downgrades, holds, address or credit card changes MUST be received by the last business day of the month BEFORE the next set of auto ships run and they must be received by 12:00 PM EASTERN time to be in effect before the candle of the month autoship runs the following business day. This applies to autoships that run on the first AS WELL AS the 10th of the month.

30. If a distributor voluntarily terminates his/her distributorship (Cotm or Associate) any downline organization will be "rolled up" to the next active upline. Scent-Sations Inc reserves the right to reinstate said distributor along with his or her downline organization should the company feel that special circumstances require it.

31. For an Associate member to qualify to receive a commission check, they must have a minimum C.V. of $39.95 in that commission period. If a Candle of the Month distributor changes his/her status to Associate, and wishes to continue using his/her Scent-Team.com website, he/she must enroll in the $9.95 website autoship program immediately upon downgrading to the Associate level.

32. Distributors may make a change to their status from Candle of the Month to Associate, or vice versa, twice in the lifetime of their distributorship. Failure to personally produce at least $39.95 C.V. for (2) two months within a calendar year of the anniversary of their initial signup date, will cause permanent roll-up of the Associate's downline.

33. POLICY ENFORCEMENT: A COTM distributor who fails to fulfill their monthly qualifying requirements two (2) times within a calendar year starting from the anniversary date of their initial signup will have their eligibility to place orders revoked. Any COTM distributor who remains on policy enforcement for this reason until the next commission run will be inactivated.

34. INACTIVE STATUS: Once a COTM distributor becomes inactive, they are no longer able to place orders and receive their commission checks. An inactive COTM distributor will have their downline permanently roll up to the next active distributor in their upline.

35.ONLINE STORE ON ASSOCIATE WEB SITES: Associate Distributors pay $9.95/mo for their scent-team.com web site and online storefront. However, due to the additional cost of product that Associates pay, when the company order surcharge is applied to certain products, it can generate a negative amount due. This would mean that the Associate Distributor could potentially owe the company money from sales made on their Online Store. Any Associate Distributor whose sales from their online store generate negative values will have those negative amounts removed during the commission run and will not owe Scent-Sations any money. Associate Distributors wishing to generate the highest possible profit from their online store should upgrade to a Candle of the Month Program Distributorship.

36.Please note that for all online orders placed on your Preferred Customer Web Site, you will be charged a handling fee by Scent-Sations for handling that order for you. The charge is to cover costs associated with filling your customers' web orders such as for labor, packaging and shipping materials, and credit card processing fees. There is a breakdown of all these Retail Rebates in your Back Office under [Document Downloads] in the "Cost/Profit Analysis Documents" section titled "Retail Rebates Analysis". We highly suggest you review this document at your earliest convenience to familiarize yourself with all associated fees.

37.Please review all information in this section carefully in order to understand and be clear on how sales taxes are managed, collected and remitted.

State-specific information:
Distributors residing in the following states do not have a state sales tax and therefore are not charged any sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. In addition, the states of Kansas and Nevada do not allow independent distributors to collect and remit sales tax, and therefore Scent-Sations is not able to recognize and/or accept sales tax licenses from distributors in those states.

All Scent-Sations Independent Distributors without a State Sales Tax License will be charged their state's (where applicable) appropriate sales taxes on the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of their resalable product purchases at point of purchase, either in their Back Office or via phone orders. For these distributors, Scent-Sations will collect and remit on their behalf all appropriate state sales taxes to the proper taxing authority. You are not responsible for collecting and remitting any sales taxes when Scent-Sations handles this for you.

This is a service that Scent-Sations provides on behalf of all our distributors who do not wish to deal with collecting and remitting sales taxes. Should you wish to handle sales tax collection and remittance yourself, you would need to provide Scent-Sations with a copy of your state's Reseller Sales Tax License/Permit/Certificate. Please note that this is not the same as your Employer Identification Number (EIN). Should you need clarification on any of this information, please contact the Scent-Sations Tax Department who will be happy to assist you.

Drop-Shipping:
Please note that when drop-shipping product to another state either using the Back Office Online Ordering Form or by placing a phone or fax order, you will be charged that state's appropriate sales tax even if you have a reseller tax ID on file. This is due to your reseller sales tax license only being valid within the state in which is was issued, typically your home state. Therefore, if delivery of that product is located in another state (except for those states listed above which do not have a state sales tax), you will still be charged that state's appropriate sales tax. You would need to apply for a sales tax license in each state you wish to have product delivered should you wish to handle sales taxes yourself in every taxing jurisdiction in which you do business.

Pickup Orders:
For orders that are picked up at Scent-Sations home office in Wilkes-Barre, PA sales tax will be charged on your order if your state sales tax license is from another state since the destination is Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Fundraising:
Scent-Sations is not able to accept third party sales tax exemption certificates such as those from fundraising organizations since we are not selling directly to those organizations, but to the independent distributor. Many times the fundraising organization is liable for the sales taxes collected on the sales of those products since they are selling them for profit, and not for use by the fundraising (tax-exempt) organization. Please keep all appropriate records and determine your actual costs for any fundraisers that you conduct prior to quoting a profit number to the organization. This will ensure that you do not undercharge the organization or reduce your profits on those sales.

Should you need clarification on any of this information, please contact the Scent-Sations Tax Department who will be happy to assist you.

38.Monthly Contest

Scent-Sations will do everything in its power to ensure that the monthly contest is not manipulated or can in any way be construed as in violation of state or provincial laws. Since most states and provincial laws use a $500 threshold, Scent-Sations will not recognize more than 5 points for Fast Start Pack enrollment points. If a new distributor opts to purchase more than one Fast Start Pack in his/her enrollment month, Scent-Sations will only award 5 points for the original Fast Start purchase but volume points for that and any additional Fast Start Packs purchased during enrollment month will be used for contest purposes.
In the event of a tie for any bonus pool or contest, Scent-Sations will use the following criteria to break the tie:

The personal volume of each "contestant" will be reviewed and the distributor with the highest PV for the contest month will be deemed the winner of the position in which the tie occurs.
In the event that personal volumes are equal, Scent-Sations will review past purchases. If only one of the "contestants" has purchased a Fast Start Pack within one year of the contest, that distributor will be deemed the winner of the position in which the tie occurs.
In the event that all "contestants" have purchased a Fast Start Pack within one year of the contest, the distributor with the most personally enrolled Fast Start packs for said month will be deemed the winner of the position in which the tie occurs.
In the event all contestants have enrolled the same number of Fast Start Packs for said month, the distributor with the most personally enrolled Sampler Packs will be deemed the winner of the position in which the tie occurs.
In the unlikely event that all contestants are still tied, a coin toss will determine the winning position.

Revised: 10/02/2008