Sipology Closed. What Can Its Consultants Do Next? (2026)

By Shannon Nicole, Founder, Switch to America · August 26, 2026
Published August 26, 2026 · Last updated August 26, 2026

What actually happened to Sipology?

Quick answer: the selling side stopped, and the money owed stopped with it.

It started in 2006 in Ontario as Steeped Tea. In 2012 the founders took it on Dragons' Den and it took off. In 2018 the name changed to Sipology. For you it was tea, a table, and money coming into the house.

In April 2026 that ended. Direct Selling News reported that the selling side had stopped. The United States website went dark. New orders stopped.

Then one line. In her message to consultants, the founder wrote this. "Given the company's financial position, we are unable to process commission payments."

Read that again slowly. Not the products stopped. Not the website stopped. The money already earned, for work already done, stopped.

She also called it "one of the hardest messages we've ever had to write." She said the company "was built in living rooms, around kitchen tables." Both things are true. She meant it. And you still did not get paid.

One caveat. There was no formal public statement, and the effect on the making and retail side was not clear. I am telling you what was reported. No more.

Why did the pay stop when your customers did not?

Quick answer: the customers were never filed under your name.

You found her. You answered her at ten at night. You remembered which one she liked and you dropped it round when she had flu. Every ounce of that relationship was yours and it was real.

The account was not. The billing was not. The list was not. All of it sat at head office, on a system you could not log into. So when head office stopped, everything stopped in the same second. Not slowly. Not with warning. Not in line with how hard you worked.

You could have four hundred customers. You could have four. Both went to zero the same afternoon. How hard you worked had nothing to do with it.

And look at what is left. Not a list. Stock. Boxes you paid for yourself. They were worth something on the Friday. On the Monday they are worth whatever somebody will hand you.

What is the difference between renting a customer and keeping her?

Quick answer: one of them is a job. The other is something you can hand to your daughter.

The stock

If you have to buy it before you can sell it, you carry the risk. The company has already been paid. It does not matter whether the thing ever leaves your spare room.

The list

Ask where the customer lives. Not her house. Her record. If it sits in a system you cannot export, you are renting her. You could be the best in the company and still not reach her next Tuesday.

The reorder

This is the one I care about most. A sale pays you once. A customer who reorders pays you month after month after month. Two different lives. In month one they look the same.

	Renting	Keeping
Who holds the customer record	Head office	You, and you can export it
Who carries the stock	You, up front	Nobody. She orders, it ships
What you get paid on	The sale	Her next order, every month
If the company stops	You stop the same day	You still know every one of them
What you are left holding	Boxes	Relationships

Nobody hands you that table at the start. I am handing it to you now. It costs you nothing. Take it to a company that is not mine.

Isn't this just another pitch?

Quick answer: partly, and I will tell you which parts are the same.

Yes, I want to talk to you. So let me be straight about what I cannot promise.

Switch to America could close too. Any company can. I would be lying if I said otherwise. Walk away from anybody who tells you different. What I can tell you is what you are holding if it ever does.

There is no monthly minimum. Nothing to hit. No month where you order things you do not need to stay active. No stock in your spare room. Nothing goes through you.

You pay what a brand new customer pays. Not a penny less. I do not have a special rate. I would not offer you one. Anybody who discounts you at the start is buying a customer, not building a partner.

And there is no list of ten people you know. I do not teach that and I do not have one myself.

If any of those three had been the other way round, I would not be doing this either.

What would I do first on Monday?

Quick answer: count what you are holding, then write down the people, not the products.

Count what you are still holding

Go into the spare room. Count the boxes. Write the number down. Not to punish yourself. So it stops living in your stomach and starts living on paper.

Write down the people, not the products

Do not skip this part. It is the only thing you still own. Every name you can remember. Her, her sister, the one from the school run.

Those relationships did not close in April. Nobody switches those off from an office. They are yours. They always were. They are worth more than the stock.

Ask the five questions of whatever comes next

Including of me. Especially of me.

What does it cost to start, all in. Is there a monthly requirement of any kind. What happens to my customers if I stop. Where is the income disclosure and can I read it. Who makes money when I join, and how.

Take that list to every single thing put in front of you. If somebody will not answer one, that is your answer. You just saved yourself a spare room full of boxes.

Questions women are asking me about this

Will I get the commissions I am owed?

I do not know. Anybody who says they do is guessing. What was reported is that the company said it could not pay them. Write down the figure and the dates. Keep every message. Then ask somebody qualified in your own state. Do not leave it unrecorded because it feels embarrassing. You earned it.

Can I sell the stock I still have?

Usually the goods in your house are yours. Check what you agreed to when you signed up. What I would not do is spend three months squeezing the last twenty percent out of a room of tins. That room is money already spent. Your list of people is not.

Should I go and join something else straight away?

No. Sit for a week. The worst decisions get made in the two weeks after a company folds. That is when everybody with something to sell comes knocking. I would rather you came to me in October having thought about it than in September because you were hurting.

How do I know the next one will not do the same thing?

You do not, and you never will for certain. What you can do is ask the five questions. Refuse to move until all five are answered plainly. Companies that fold get vague on questions two and three first.

What if I never want to sell anything again?

Then don't. That is a fair answer. Take your list of people. Keep being who they text about what is safe to use. Let that be enough. It was never really about the tea.

Here is what I want for you, whether or not you ever speak to me.

You spent years becoming the one other women ask. That is not a job title. Nobody can take it off you. It did not close in April. Whatever you do next, do it as her. And make whoever wants your time answer all five questions first.