As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Kimberly Orlando of ADO Investors Relations.
Thank you. You may begin.
Thank you, and welcome to Natural Health Trends' 3rd quarter 2018 earnings conference call. During today's call, there may be statements made relating to the future results of the company that are forward looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward looking statements through the result of certain factors, including those set forth in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It should also be noted that today's call will be webcast live and can be found on the Investors section of the company's corporate website at www.naturalhealthtrendscorp.com. Instructions can be found for accessing the archived version of the conference call in today's financial results press release, which is issued at approximately 9 o'clock am Eastern Time.
At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Chris Scharm, President of Natural Health Trends.
Thank you, Kim, and thanks to everyone for joining us. With me today is Scott Davidson, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Total revenue for the Q3 was $47,000,000 a 17% increase year over year. The increase was driven by momentum we created since the beginning of this year. Many of our Chinese groups have managed strong volume growth over last year.
This momentum has carried forward despite a generally difficult trading environment. In the Q3 of 2017, market conditions were impacted by Hong Kong's Hanover anniversary and the Communist Party's National Congress. This year, we are facing new challenges arising from the ongoing trade disputes between the U. S. And China.
So far in 2018, both a rapidly depreciating Chinese yuan, down 10% since February, and the seasonality associated with the summer months contributed to an 8% decline in our revenue from the Q2 to the Q3 this year. Without the adverse effect of the yuan devaluation, our Q3 revenue would have been flat with the Q2. In regard to our growth initiatives, I'll first focus on our geographical expansion plans, followed by leader training and engagement and product expansion. During the quarter, we made progress in Latin America with a successful standing room only event, building our future in Mexico City. The Mexican market is energized and members are looking forward to their next event to be held in early December, where we plan to introduce our omega-three and botanical hand protector products.
Additionally, we are taking preliminary steps to expand our reach into Bolivia and Colombia, given the strong reception and traction we experienced in the Peruvian market and the context that our existing members have in these countries. Another expansion target we are excited to announce is India. So far, we have engaged a service provider to assist with product registration and are making progress with setting up the regulatory infrastructure and identifying local partners. We look forward to discussing our progress in India in the coming quarters. In regard to leader training and engagement, we held the Hong Kong Ambassador Academy in August, our largest event of the year with over 4,200 attendees.
Product sales exceeded $5,300,000 fueled by several successful on-site promotions. As previously discussed, we launched our new active line to complement our existing product categories. The active line products are geared to work with those that lead an active and healthy lifestyle to help support pre and post workout endurance and recovery. We also released Adaptogen, a red ginseng tea and have begun to roll out Airelle, our North American skincare line internationally. The response to our new product has been very encouraging.
We look forward to introducing them into new markets and further educating our members through various product road shows set to take place before the end of the year. In July, we hosted another successful FlyHai training event in Kuala Lumpur with 300 members participating in personal development activities, leadership seminars and product training. Attendees, mostly Chinese, also tour our Malaysian office to learn more about the market and join in team building activities. In the current quarter, we have qualification period underway for an incentive trip to Switzerland in 2019. And this week, 2.30 of our Chinese members will travel to South Africa.
In summary, our performance in the Q3 reflected a continuation of the effectiveness of our marketing programs and solid demand for our products since the beginning of the year. Overall, the macroeconomic environment remains challenging due to the potential impact, global trade conflicts, as well as additional exchange rate fluctuations that could effectively make our products more expensive. We had no control over these conditions, but I think we've been doing a good job navigating in an increasingly difficult and unpredictable setting. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Scott Davidson, our CFO, to discuss our Q3 financials in detail. Scott?
Thank you, Chris. Dollars 47,000,000 in total revenue for the Q3 was 88% comprised of sales from Hong Kong, which increased 18% year over year to $41,400,000 Outside of Hong Kong, revenue increased 10% year over year to $5,600,000 Our active member base increased 4% to 97,000 at September 30, up from 93,000 at June 30 and down 3% from 99,700 at September 30 last year. Turning to our cost and operating expenses. Our gross profit margin for the 3rd quarter remained solid at 78.9% compared to 79.6% in both the prior year quarter and the Q2 of 2018. The slight decline was primarily due to product promotions in Hong Kong and higher freight costs partially related to the shipment of free promotional items.
Commissions expense as a percent of total revenue increased to 46.8% from 39.4% in the Q3 last year and is higher than the Q2 year to date rate of 43.8 percent mainly due to higher estimated costs for ongoing cash and other incentive programs. Selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter were $7,300,000 versus $7,600,000 a year ago, primarily due to decreases in employee related costs, which were partially offset by an increase in credit card fees. As a result, operating income for the quarter totaled 7,800,000 dollars compared to $8,500,000 in the Q3 last year and $10,100,000 in the Q2 of this year. Our operating income margin was 16.7% compared to 21.2% in the Q3 last year and 19.9% in the Q2 of this year. Our effective tax rate was 5.8 percent incorporating a benefit of $496,000 recognized during the Q3 as a result of the finalization of the deemed repatriation transition tax.
Without the onetime benefit, our 3rd quarter effective tax rate would have been 11.9%. Net income for the Q3 totaled $7,600,000 or $0.67 per diluted share compared to net income of $7,300,000 or 0 point 6 $5 per diluted share the Q3 of 2017 $9,000,000 or $0.80 per diluted share in the Q2 of 2018. We generated $8,800,000 in cash provided by operations during the quarter compared to using $5,300,000 of cash from operations in the prior year quarter. Total cash and cash equivalents were $132,200,000 at September 30, up from $128,300,000 at June 30. As returning capital to our stockholders is a top priority, we used our available cash to pay out $4,600,000 in dividends during the quarter.
On October 21, 2018, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.16 per share, representing a 7% increase over the prior quarter dividend and a special cash dividend of $0.18 per share, both of which will be payable on November 23 to stockholders of record as of November 13. That completes our prepared remarks. I will now turn the call back over to the operator to begin the question and answer session. Operator?
Great. Thank you.