🇿🇦 South Africa · Updated August 2026
How to work with Farmasi in South Africa
Where the money comes from, what you do each week, and which expectations are realistic.
Farmasi is a direct sales company: it manufactures its own cosmetics in Turkey and sells them through people rather than shops. You enroll as an entrepreneur, buy at a discount, and earn in two ways: from what you sell and from what the team you build sells. That much anyone will tell you. The detail is where it gets interesting.
Where commissions come from
Your purchase discount
You buy below retail. Resell it and the difference is yours; use it yourself and it is straight savings. This is the part that works from day one.
Sales from your online store
Every entrepreneur gets a store under their own name. Orders placed there earn you commission without you handling stock or shipping.
Personal volume bonus
A tiered percentage based on the volume you move in a month. It starts at zero and climbs by bracket: more volume, higher percentage.
Group and leadership bonuses
When you sponsor others and they sell, you earn the difference between your percentage and theirs. Past certain ranks you add multi-generation bonuses, cash rank bonuses and, at the top ranks, a car allowance.
The part that is not in the brochure
Worth saying plainly: most people who join any direct sales company earn little or nothing. Farmasi's own 2025 income disclosure states that 46.43% of participants earned no commission that year. That does not make it a scam; it means half the people enroll, do nothing and drop out. Join expecting automatic income and you will be disappointed. Join understanding it is a small business you have to work, and it looks different.
What it really costs to land product in South Africa
South Africa has no de minimis at all: duty and VAT are chargeable on every import, whatever the value. SARS scrapped the old under-R500 flat-rate concession, adding VAT to it in September 2024 and reclassifying consignments into four WCO categories that November. VAT is 15%, but the base is uplifted: customs value plus duty plus 10% of the customs value. And there is a third layer most people miss — cosmetics carry an ad valorem excise duty on top of everything else, 7% on beauty and make-up preparations and 9% on perfumes and toilet waters. The gift rebate (two unsolicited gifts a year, up to R1,400 each) will not help you either: perfume is expressly excluded from it.
Paying is the easy part. The Single Discretionary Allowance rose to R2 million per calendar year in June 2026, and card payments for internet imports of up to R50,000 per transaction do not count against it at all. You need a valid South African ID and to be 18 or over.
Going official as a seller in South Africa
If you sell regularly, register with SARS. The ad valorem excise on cosmetics is worth factoring into your pricing from the start.
What the week actually looks like
- ◆Use the products yourself. You cannot sell what you do not know.
- ◆Show what you use on social media, without the sales-rep script: results, routines, before and after.
- ◆Answer everyone who asks. Most sales come out of private conversations, not posts.
- ◆Batch your orders to make use of promotions and volume tiers.
- ◆Train the people who join your team. Your group commission depends on them selling, not on how many you sign.
How much time it takes
As a side income, five or six focused hours a week will hold it up. As a main activity it is a full-time business like any other, except there is no salary: you earn what you move. The first quarter is usually learning and small numbers, and that is exactly where almost everyone quits.
If you want to start in South Africa
Enrollment happens on the official Farmasi South Africa site and takes about ten minutes. The sign-up guide has the exact requirements, the paperwork and the direct link.
See how to join in South Africa →
If you want to start in South Africa
Enrollment happens on the official Farmasi South Africa site and takes about ten minutes. The sign-up guide has the exact requirements, the paperwork and the direct link.
Join Farmasi South AfricaTakes you to farmasius.com, the official Farmasi site for the United States.