Wholesale Customer vs Wellness Advocate: which dōTERRA account do you need?
The two dōTERRA account types compared side by side: price, fees, obligations, taxes and agreements, what actually changes if you want to share the oils, how to switch in both directions, and worked examples of who should pick which.
Open a wholesale account · Official dōTERRA form · takes about 5 minutes
Go to enrollment
The enrollment form asks one question that stops many people: Wholesale Customer or Wellness Advocate? The names suggest a big difference. In practice the difference is small, reversible, and comes down to one thing: do you want the option to earn commissions on orders placed by people you introduce? Everything else (the price you pay, the warehouse, the loyalty points) is identical. Unless you already know you want to run dōTERRA as a business, pick Wholesale Customer. Switching to Advocate later takes two minutes, and nothing is lost.
What both accounts give you
Both are memberships with the same wholesale price, 25% below retail, on every product in the catalog. Take Lavender 15 mL in the US: $38.67 retail, $29.00 wholesale, and it stays $29 whichever account type you hold. Both can use the optional Loyalty Rewards Program and get 10–30% of each order back in points. Orders go directly to dōTERRA on your market’s usual terms, with the same promotions and the same free product of the month when you qualify. Neither account has a monthly minimum, and neither requires you to buy anything ever again after the first order.
The membership lasts a year in both cases. Renewal is about €18 in Europe (€15 + VAT), £15 + VAT in the UK and $25 in the US, and comes with a free 15 mL Peppermint, worth more than the fee in Europe and about the same in the US. Let it lapse and the account simply returns to retail prices; there are no debts or penalties. More on this in how the wholesale account works.
Wholesale Customer
This is the plain customer account and the default in every enrollment form. You buy at wholesale and that is all. There is no way to earn money on it, and therefore nothing about sales or teams in your back office: no reports, no downline, no rank, no business e-mails, no training invitations. Your account page shows the catalog, your orders, the loyalty template if you turned it on, and your details.
Choose it if you are buying for yourself and your household. This is the majority of members, and it is what we recommend to almost everyone who writes to us. A customer is a customer; nobody expects anything of you, and we get in touch only when you ask a question.
Wellness Advocate
This is the business account. It keeps everything above and adds the ability to enroll other people under your number and receive commissions on their orders. It also unlocks the business side of the back office (team reports, rank, volume) and access to business promotions and events. The enrollment fee and renewal are the same as for a customer in most markets, and products cost the same.
What it adds in return is obligations. You sign the Wellness Advocate agreement and fall under the Policy Manual: rules on how you may describe the products (no medical claims; that was the reason behind the FDA’s 2014 warning letter to the company), where you may sell, what you may put online. When commissions are paid, that is income, and income must be declared; in some countries dōTERRA asks for a tax number or self-employed registration before it pays out anything at all.
Choose it if you already know you want to share the oils and earn from it. Do not choose it “just in case”: for a person who only wants the discount it is paperwork with no upside, and the business e-mails will follow you for as long as you hold the account.
The full comparison
| Wholesale Customer | Wellness Advocate | |
|---|---|---|
| Wholesale price (25% off retail) | Yes | Yes |
| Loyalty Rewards Program, 10–30% back | Optional | Optional |
| Free product of the month, promotions | Yes | Yes |
| Enrollment fee | Same (e.g. €24 in Germany, £24 in the UK; free in the US now) | Same |
| Annual renewal with free Peppermint | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly minimum | None | None |
| Enroll others under your number | No | Yes |
| Commissions and bonuses | No | Yes, on orders of people you introduce and their teams |
| Business reports, rank, downline in back office | No | Yes |
| Agreement to sign | Customer terms | Advocate agreement + Policy Manual |
| Tax obligations | None | Commissions are taxable income; tax form or registration in some markets |
| Business e-mails, training, events | No | Yes |
| Can switch to the other type | To Advocate at any time, in account settings | To Customer on request, through support |
| Who it is for | Buying for yourself and your family | Sharing the oils as a business |
Money: what advocates really earn
The advocate account is sometimes presented as “the discount that pays for itself”. It is fair to look at the numbers before believing that. dōTERRA publishes income disclosures for its markets, and they say what such documents usually say: most advocates earn a few dozen dollars a month or nothing at all, and the people with a meaningful income run it as a real business with years of work behind it. Commissions come from the orders of people you personally introduce and their teams; if you introduce nobody, the advocate account earns exactly what a customer account does: zero.
That does not make the business account bad. It makes it a tool for a specific job. If sharing the oils is something you want to do, the account is the right one, and the rules are there to keep the industry honest. If it is not, the customer account gives you the same bottles at the same price without the strings. We wrote a longer, franker piece on whether you can make money with dōTERRA.
Switching from Customer to Advocate
A wholesale customer can upgrade to Wellness Advocate at any moment:
- Sign in to your account (where to sign in) and open the account settings, or contact your market’s support.
- Choose the upgrade to Wellness Advocate and accept the advocate agreement.
- Where the market requires it, provide the tax details needed for paying commissions.
The discount, the order history, the loyalty points and the Member ID all stay. Your enroller stays too, so if you write to us later with a business question, we are still the ones who answer. There is no extra fee for the switch in most markets.
Switching from Advocate to Customer
Going the other way is also possible, but through customer support rather than a button. You ask to be converted to Wholesale Customer; the business side of your back office is closed, the agreement no longer applies, and you keep the discount and your history. People do this when they signed up as an advocate “just in case”, never used it, and are tired of the business e-mails. It is a routine request, and support handles it without argument.
That is why Wholesale Customer is the safe default. You lose nothing by starting there and can go either way afterwards.
Three typical situations
- Someone buys for the family: a Home Essentials kit, then a Lavender and a Wild Orange every couple of months, nothing else. That is a Wholesale Customer. No business e-mails, a renewal once a year for the free Peppermint, and that is the whole relationship.
- A massage therapist uses the oils at work, and clients keep asking where to buy them. Starting as a Wholesale Customer works fine here. Six months later, once three clients have asked to enroll under them, they upgrade to Wellness Advocate, declare the small commissions with their other income, and lose nothing by having waited.
- And the person who wants a business from day one? They have read the income disclosure, know it is work, and want the team tools immediately. Wellness Advocate from the start; the tax step is a formality they were going to do anyway.
If the first situation sounds like you, you are in the majority. If the second, start as a customer. Only the third needs the advocate account on day one.
What about Preferred Customer?
People often search for a dōTERRA “Preferred Customer” account. dōTERRA’s own membership comparison pages for the United States and Canada (checked 9 October 2026) list two account types only: Wholesale Customer and Wellness Advocate. There is no Preferred Customer on them. On the US page the Wholesale Customer gets 25% off retail prices, earns 10–30% of orders back in points through doTERRA Rewards (the US name for the Loyalty Rewards Program, LRP), can receive the free Product of the Month with a loyalty order over 125 PV, and pays an annual $25.00 renewal fee that comes with a free product.
Older blog posts and some forums also mention a Preferred Member. That was an earlier account type in dōTERRA’s European markets, not a third option you can choose today. dōTERRA’s own FAQ for Europe explained that once the Wholesale Customer program launched, Preferred Member would no longer be an enrollment option, and existing Preferred Members would be moved to Wholesale Customer or another account type. So if an old article promises a “preferred” price without a membership, the account that replaced it is the Wholesale Customer described above.
A note on markets outside the US
Fees and kits vary by market (the prices by country are in which enrollment kit to choose), but the two account types and the 25% are the same everywhere dōTERRA has an official market.
Ready to enroll
Pick your country on the home page and the official form opens with our enroller number already in place; the account-type question appears on the account step, and Wholesale Customer is preselected. The step-by-step guide shows exactly where it is. If you are still unsure which to pick, or want to switch an existing account, write to us. We answer within a day and will not try to talk you into the business account.
These statements have not been evaluated by regulatory authorities. dōTERRA products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Success as a Wellness Advocate requires work and sales skills; see dōTERRA's income disclosure for your market.
Questions and answers
How do I join dōTERRA as a customer only?
Choose your country on our home page and open the official enrollment form; pick Wholesale Customer, add a kit or any products, and pay. There is no selling, no recruiting and no monthly minimum; the account gives the 25 % wholesale price for a year.
Is the discount different for Wholesale Customer and Wellness Advocate?
No. Both pay the same wholesale price, 25% below retail, on every product, and both can use the optional Loyalty Rewards Program. The only difference is whether you can earn commissions on other people’s orders.
Does a Wellness Advocate have to sell or recruit?
No quota, but the account exists for that purpose: it comes with the advocate agreement, the policy manual, business e-mails and, when commissions are paid, tax obligations. If you never share the oils, the advocate account adds paperwork and nothing else.
Can I start as a Wholesale Customer and switch later?
Yes, at any time, from the account settings; the discount, order history and loyalty points stay. Going back from Advocate to Customer is also possible through customer support. The safe default is Wholesale Customer.
Does a Wellness Advocate pay more?
In most markets the enrollment fee and the annual renewal are the same as for a customer, and products cost the same. The extra cost is indirect: to be paid commissions you must declare the income and, in some countries, register as self-employed.
Is there a dōTERRA Preferred Customer account?
Not on dōTERRA's official membership comparison pages for the US and Canada: they list two account types, Wholesale Customer and Wellness Advocate. The Wholesale Customer is the account for buying at 25% off retail, with optional loyalty points; that is what most people looking for a “preferred customer” price actually need.
What is a Preferred Member?
An earlier account type in dōTERRA's European markets. dōTERRA's FAQ for Europe said it would stop being an enrollment option once the Wholesale Customer program launched, and that existing Preferred Members would be moved to Wholesale Customer or another account type. Today the enrollment form offers Wholesale Customer and Wellness Advocate.
How much do Wellness Advocates actually earn?
According to dōTERRA’s own income disclosures, most advocates earn a few dozen dollars a month or nothing. The people with meaningful income run it as a business with years of work behind it. Do not choose Advocate expecting the discount to pay for itself.
Which one should I pick if I am not sure?
Wholesale Customer. It is the default in the form, it obliges you to nothing, and you lose nothing by upgrading later if you change your mind.
Kit or single oils — which costs less for you? Compare in the calculator