Okay, I looked at the compensation plan. Now, for those playing at home who don't feel like reading the PDF provided by the company
here, I'll spell it out as I understood it. I'm going to refer to NaturaBurst as "the product" only because it's a little awkward to type. I'm also going to talk about funds received through these plans as commission. I'm using the term recruit to represent a fully functioning recruit, not someone who's waitlisted.
To sign up, I first have to get on someone's (my referrer's) Waiting List. Eventually, that someone will give me a green ticket which allows me to make my first purchase. The
User Guide outlines the process a bit. I got distracted by the screen captures. You know how I get with shiny objects, bright colors, and prices. The product costs $60 for a 30 day supply and is on an auto-ship. The S&H is $9.75. I have now become my referrer's "Green."
So, now that I'm all signed up, I can start recruiting right? Well, kind of. I can get lots of people to my waiting list, but I can't do anything with them until I get my first green ticket. You see, green tickets are how you actually get your recruits signed up. I won't see any until 15 days after I sign up, at which point I'll get 24. So I can start adding a flurry of recruits to my downline then, right? Not really. I can only use one green ticket a month. You'll need to know this later.
Ah, but there's another kind of ticket - the GOLD ticket. Unused green tickets become up for grabs on the 24th of the month (new recruits get extra time to use their first ticket) and when you grab one, it becomes a Gold ticket. It looks like a gold ticket isn't subject to the one a month rule.
Okay, so there are four levels of compensation. Let's hit them one at a time.
Green Income
Under this plan, my downline consists of everyone I signed up, everyone they signed up, everyone
they signed up and so on up to 12 tiers - one that looks like a pyramid. For every product unit my downline sells, I earn $1.50. Assuming maximum allowable pyramid, for each product unit sold, $18 is distributed to the upline as commission. Of course, that'll take forever to get up to that point unless I grab those golden tickets as quick as a bunny and my downline follows suit.
Silver Income
This one looks like the linear plan. If someone in my upline recruits someone, they are automatically added beneath me as my "Silver." Anyone my "Silver" recruits automatically becomes my "Silver" with no limitation. The money earned here is dual. I'm a little confused about this because first the company says it takes 8% of the sales and evenly distributes it according to the little chart which says it gives 2% to people who have been there one month, 4% to the two-monthers, 6% to the three-monthers, and 8% to the four-monthers. That's 20%, not 8%. So, I'm thinking they take 8% of the sales, break it up into ten parts, give one part to the one-monthers, two parts to the two-monthers, three parts to the three-monthers, and four parts to the four-monthers. At least I hope that's the case, if not then I...I'm buying them a calculator.
For those with the home game, the first part of the Silver income evenly distributes $4.80 of each product sold to people who have been there four months and less.
The second part of the Silver income goes as such. You take all the recruits you personally signed up for and multiply that by the amount of silvers under you. That's how many shares you qualified for. Okay, now the company takes 8% of their sales and divides that by all the qualified shares in the company. That's the share value. Now, the amount of money you get in the second part of the Silver income is your qualified shares X the share value. Okay, so that's another 8% ($4.80) of each product sold that goes to compensation.
Gold Income
Where I expected the Gold Income section, I instead found the "Gold Rush" info there instead. I guess it's kind of the same thing. Commission is split evenly with the original ticket holder (OTH) up to $200, beyond that you get the rest. So if the bonus is $50, you get $25 and the OTH gets $25. If the bonus is $200, you get $100 and the OTH gets $100. If it's $500, then you get $400 and the OTH gets $100.
Platinum Income
Still with me? Sick puppy. They take 4% of the monthly sales, add in unpaid commissions from the month and run it like the second part of the Silver income plan. The only difference is how they calculate the qualified shares. They don't explain the exact formula for figuring out the shares, but there's a chart. To qualify for one share, you have to recruit six people and they have to recruit two each. To qualify for seven shares, you have to recruit 12 people and they have to recruit two each. So, that's another 4% or $2.40 of the each product sold that goes to commission.
That's the end of the income plans. Now I was looking to see what someone might make if they sold product themselves. I see a something in the glossary section of their compensation PDF that says that an Ordering Preferred Customer buys product at a discounted price and an Active Preferred Customer purchases and recruits, but mentions no discount. I mean, aside from needing the $60 minimum monthly order (one product unit at no discount?) to stay in the program, where is the income making opportunity with actually selling the product to someone you aren't recruiting?
I find the slow recruitment process to be unique. I mean, first of all you can only recruit one person a month for two years (gold tickets are the exception) and stop earning commission after the twelfth tier on any product sold. If you fail to recruit one person a month, then you It looks like you stand to lose all but $100 of your commission for that month to another recruiter - which only leaves a profit of close to $30 after my auto-ship happens. Clearly the focus here is recruiting, not selling. After all, why else would you be penalized so severely for failing to recruiting? Aren't we supposed to be pushing product here? Sure, a couple of the plans are based on overall sales for the company, but how much of those sales are coming from recruits and how much is being sold to people outside the company?
Also, the product is overpriced. I mean, as I outlined above it looks like $30 of the $60 you pay for the product goes to paying just commissions. That's not including the company's overhead, so you know they're making the product for dirt cheap.
I'm not going to look too much into the ingredients at this time because I didn't really see anything that really jumps out at me. But, what concerns me is the nutritional statistics. This company is claiming that the product can be used as a meal supplement and also claims that it is equivalent to six servings of fruits and vegetables. In the company's product there is 16% protein, 50% of vitamin A, 25% calcium, and 6% iron. That's not six servings of fruits and vegetables and besides, we're only supposed to have two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables a day, so even if it really does give you six servings that's one serving too much even if I just replace one meal a day and refrain from eating fruits and veg for the rest of the day. If I replace two meals a day or even use it as a snack between meals, I'll also risk OD'ing on vitamin A or - more likely - C, which in high doses and combined with iron (one of the few nutritional elements that registers in this product) can be fatal or at the very least make you very digestively uncomfortable. And for someone like me with chronic kidney stones which requires that I monitor my intake of several things, including vitamin c, the product would likely put me in the hospital with a very serious bout of stones.
Now, compare this to a product like Ensure which has a minimum of 25% of 22 vitamins and minerals, contains 18% protein, and 12% potassium. Now that's a product that can replace a meal in a pinch without worrying about OD'ing on anything. Now, my grandfather drank one a day when he had cancer to help maintain his health and IIRC, I was getting it at Sam's for less than $1.50 or $45 per month. The product that 124 is selling costs $69.95 or $2.33 per day. Now, can someone please tell me why would I spend $0.80 more per day for a product that has roughly 20% less in it? Anyone? I'm at a loss here.