Avisae Review: Retirement planning and investment?

There is no information on the Avisae website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The only mention of executive management on the Avisae website is the following vague marketing spiel, taken from the “People” page:

The founders of Avisae began with a belief and confidence in the human spirit and the fulfillment found in trusting and enduring relationships.

Further research into the company however reveals a “Brooks Yates” naming himself as “CEO and Founder” of Avisae on his LinkedIn profile:

In his profile, Yates also credits himself as being the former Vice President of International Operations, Managing Director of Distribution Systems, Director of International IT Systems and Senior International Technical Product Manager over at Monavie (a juice orientated MLM company).

Yates left Monavie in April of 2012 before launching Avisae a year later in April of 2013.

For reasons not immediately clear, at the time of publication Yates’ name does not appear anywhere on the Avisae website:

Furthermore the Avisae website domain, registered on the 28th of April 2012 (shortly after Yates left Monavie?), has its domain registration information set to private.

Read on for a full review of the Avisae MLM business opportunity.

The Avisae Product Line

At Avisae we feel our goal is to bring to you the best of science and nature and to help you increase and maintain a high quality of life through world class body-beneficial products.

Avisae operate in the health and nutrition MLM niche and market a range of products targeting anti-aging, weight loss, inflammation and health.

• Sustain ($59.95, 50 PV) – an “anti-aging and health formula” that ‘is a fusion of over 21 body-beneficial fruits and vegetables as well as scientifically validated anti-oxidants‘
• Daily Indulge ($59.95, 40 PV) – a “Weight Solution and Nutritional Shake Mix” containing protein
• Activate ($44.95, 30 PV) – “raspberry lemonade” containing ‘raspberry ketones and green tea antioxidants for health, energy, and weight loss‘
• Reduce ($59.95, 50 PV) – a “weight loss and toning formula” that ‘helps your body’s metabolism work more efficiently‘
• Relieve ($59.95, 50 PV) – an “optimal inflammatory response and joint relief formula” that ‘contains a proprietary blend of ingredients provided by nature and supported by science that focuses on promoting a proper inflammatory response in the body‘

Avisae claim that their product formulations are “proprietary” and that ‘innovation and collaboration amongst the scientific community will keep Avisae ahead of the product development curve‘.

The Avisae Compensation Plan

The Avisae compensation plan is not provided to prospective affiliates and vistiors to the company’s site. Instead, I had to rely on a compensation plan uploaded to YouTube by a Brad Reese, credited as Avisae’s Executive VP and COO.

Through their compensation plan Avisae offer affiliates retail commissions, residual unilevel commissions including a matching bonus and several bonuses orientated towards the recruitment of new affiliates (preferably at the Star Plus level).

Avisae Affiliate Membership Ranks

There are thirteen affiliate membership ranks within the Avisae compensation plan and, along with their repsective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

• Team 250 – 100 PV and 250 GV, with no more than 200 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg
• Team 750 – 100 PV and 750 GV, with no more than 600 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg
• Team 1000 – 100 PV and 1500 GV, with no more than 1125 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg
• Pro 3K – 100 PV and 3000 GV, with no more than 2250 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg for two conesecutive months
• Pro 6K – 100 PV and 6000 GV, with no more than 4200 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg for two conesecutive months
• Pro 12K – 100 PV and 12,000 GV, with no more than 8,400 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg for two conesecutive months
• Silver – 100 PV and 25,500 GV, with no more than 16,250 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg for three consecutive months
• Gold – 100 PV and 50,000 GV, with no more than 32,500 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg for three consecutive months
• Platinum – 100 PV and 100,000 GV, with no more than 60,000 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg for three consecutive months
• Ruby – 100 PV and 200,000 GV, with no more than 120,000 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg for four consecutive months
• Sapphire – 100 PV and 400,000 GV, with no more than 220,000 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg for four consecutive months
• Emerald – 100 PV and 800,000 GV, with no more than 400,000 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg for four consecutive months
• Diamond – 100 PV and 1,500,000 GV, with no more than 675,000 GV being counted from any one unilevel leg for five consecutive months

Retail Commissions

Avisae offer retail commissions on the sale of products to non-affiliates, with Avisae defining the commission paid out as being “the difference between the reatil and wholesale price” of the product.

Personal Sales Volume Bonus

Personal Sales Volume (PV) is generated via retail customer purchases, preferred customer purchases (non-affiliates on monthly autoship) and personal product purchases by an affiliate.

When an affiliate generates over 125 PV, Avisae pay out a percentage bonus on this volume, with the percentage determined by how much total PV an affiliate generated that month:

• 126-300 PV – 10%
• 301-600 PV – 15%
• 601-1200 PV – 20%
• 1201+ PV – 25%

An upline referral commission is also payable on the Personal Sales Volume Bonus, paying up three levels of recruitment:

• 10% on level 1 (the qualifying affiliate’s upline)
• 7% on level 2 (level 1 affiliate’s upline)
• 5% on level 3 (level 2 affiliate’s upline)

First Order Sales Bonus

The First Order Sales Bonus is a percentage commission paid out on the volume generated by a newly recruited Avisae’s first order (including signing up as either a “Star” or “Star Plus” affiliate (see “Joining Avisae” below).

The First Order Sales Bonus is paid to qualifying affiliates (who have generated 100 PV for the month), up two levels of recruitment:

• recruiting affiliate – 12%
• 1st qualified upline – 8% ($18)
• 2nd qualified upline – 4% ($9)

A Builder’s Bonus can be added to the above commissions, provided an affiliate reaches specific recruitment targets:

• recruit 2 affiliates – recruiting affiliate, 1st qualified upline and 2nd qualified upline all earn an additional 6%
• recruit 3 affiliates – recruiting affiliate, 1st qualified upline and 2nd qualified upline all earn an additional 12%
• recruit 4 or more affiliates – recruiting affiliate, 1st qualified upline and 2nd qualified upline all earn an additional 15%

I believe that for the purposes of determining what rate of commission uplines are paid out at, only the amount of affiliates recruited by the affiliate generating the Bonus (the affiliate doing the recruiting) is considered.

Team Training Bonus

The Team Training Bonus is paid out on the first five month’s autoship orders made by recruited affiliates (1oo PV).

• Month 1 – the first Team 250 affiliate earns 20% , the second Team 250 affiliate earns 10% and the first Team 750 affiliate earns 5%
• Month 2 – the first Team 250 affiliate earns 15% , the second Team 250 affiliate earns 10% and the first Team 750 and Team 1500 affiliates each earn 5%
• Month 3 – the first Team 250 affiliate earns 12% , the second Team 250 affiliate earns 8% and the first Team 750, Team 1500 and Pro 3K affiliates each earn 5%
• Month 4 – the first Team 250 affiliate earns 10%, the second Team 250 affiliate and the first Team 750, Team 1500, Pro 3K and Pro 6K affiliates each earn 5%
• Month 5 – the first 250 affiliate, second Team 250 affiliate and the first Team 750, Team 1500, Pro 3K, Pro 6K and Pro 12K affiliates all earn 5%

Note that if a specific ranked affiliate cannot be found in the upline tree, the commission rolls up to the next ranked affiliate (Team 250 becomes Team 750, Team 750 becomes Team 1500 and so on and so forth).

Unilevel Commissions

After 5 months all volume generated by an affiliates downline (referred to as Group Volume or GV), is commissionable via 10 level unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of the structure, with every recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1).

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates of their own they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliates structure. If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates of their own they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down 10 levels of recruitment.

Using the above structure, Avisae pay out a percentage of the GV generated by an affiliate’s downline, with how many levels an affiliate is paid out on and how much of a percentage earnt dependant on an affiliate’s membership rank:

• Team 250 – 1% on level 1 and 3% on level 2
• Team 750 – 1% on level 1, 3% on level 2 and 4% on level 3
• Team 1500 – 1% on level 1, 3% on level 2 and 4% on levels 3 and 4
• Pro 3K – 1% on level 1, 3% on level 2, 4% on level 3, 5% on level 4 and 4% on level 5
• Pro 6K – 1% on level 1, 3% on level 2, 4% on level 3, 5% on levels 4 and 5 and 4% on level 6
• Pro 12K – 1% on level 1, 3% on level 2, 4% on level 3, 5% on levels 4 to 6 and 4% on level 7
• Silver – 1% on level 1, 3% on level 2, 4% on level 3, 5% on levels 4 to 7 and 3% on level 8
• Gold – 1% on level 1, 3% on level 2, 4% on level 3, 5% on levels 4 to 7, 4% on level 8 and 2% on level 9
• Platinum – 1% on level 1, 3% on level 2, 4% on level 3, 5% on levels 4 to 7, 4% on level 8 and 3% on level 9
• Ruby and above – 1% on level 1, 3% on level 2, 4% on level 3, 5% on levels 4 to 7, 4% on level 8, 3% on level 9 and 1% on level 10

Executive Check Match Bonus

The Executive Check Match Bonus is paid out on all unilevel commissions of recruited Silver or higher affiliates.

It is paid out in generations, with all affiliates found in an individual unilevel leg between the qualifying affiliate and the first Silver or higher ranked affiliate counting as one generation (the 1st).

The second and subsequent generations are defined in the same manner, with the second generation in the above example defined as all the affiliates between the first found Silver or higher ranked affiliate and the next found Silver or higher ranked affiliate.

Note that if no ranked affiliate is found, then all affiliates under the previously found generation defining affiliate (ranked Silver or higher) are counted for that particular generation.

Also note that for the purposes of defining generations for the Executive Check Match Bonus, each unilevel leg is analysed independent of the others.

In this manner, Avisae pay out the Executive Check Match Bonus as follows:

• Silver – 5% on the first generation
• Gold – 5% on the first and second generations
• Platinum – 5% on the first, second and third generations
• Ruby – 5% on the first, second and third generations and 4% on the fourth generation
• Sapphire – 5% on the first, second and third generations, 4% on the fourth generation and 3% on the fifth generation
• Emerald – 5% on the first, second and third generations, 4% on the fourth generation, 3% on the fifth generation and 2% on the sixth generation
• Diamond – 5% on the first, second and third generations, 4% on the fourth generation, 3% on the fifth generation, 2% on the sixth generation and 1% on the seventh generation

Global Pools

There are two Global Pools offered by Avisae. The “Executive Pool” is made up of 2% of the company’s commissionable volume and the “Boardroom and Lifestyle Pool” is made up of 3%.

The Avisae Global Pools are split via shares, with an affiliate’s membership rank determining how many shares they receive of the monthly Global Pools.

• Silver (Executive Pool) – 1 share
• Gold (Executive Pool) – 2 shares
• Platinum (Executive Pool) -4 shares
• Ruby (Boardroom and Lifestyle Pool) – 1 share
• Sapphire (Boardroom and Lifestyle Pool) – 2 shares
• Emerald (Boardroom and Lifestyle Pool) – 4 shares
• Diamond (Boardroom and Lifestyle Pool) – 6 shares

Legacy 300 Shares Program

The Legacy 300 Shares Program is a revenue-pool paid out annually that consists of 1% of Avisae’s global commissionable volume.

The Program is available only to affiliates who sign up at the Star Plus level ($299.95), and is split annually between Star Plus affiliates via shares.

Shares can be generated by Star Plus affiliates as follows:

• sign up as a Star Plus affiliate – 1 share
• recruit an initial 3 Star Plus affiliates – 1 share
• every recruited Star Plus affiliate over the initial first three – 1 share
• 300 PV month – 1 share
• every additional 100 PV generated over 300 in any given month – 0.5 shares

PV shares expire annually, with recruitment shares carrying over indefinitely as long as an affiliate remains active (100 PV a month).

Note that in order to maintain earnt shares, Star Plus Avisae affiliates must remain on a monthly autoship order.

Also note that shares are not paid out on recruited affiliates unless they remain on monthly autoship for a minimum of 5 months.

Retirement Planning (investment vehicles)

I wasn’t able to find any specifics on this component of the Avisae compensation plan, other than a brief description of it in the “Financial Rewards 101 Training” video Avisae uploaded to YouTube:

The interesting thing about this is that 99% that will get involved with the Blue Ocean Business Group and with Avisae have no method or any way to product long-term wealth through investment strategies, and we are able to produce that for people.

If people come in just for that reason that would be a great reason to be involved in business with us for forty years from now for them or maybe twenty for some of you, or ten for some of you to be involved with these connections.

Joining Avisae

Basic affiliate membership to Avisae is $79.95.

The company also offers two additional affiliate membership packages, each containing various Avisae products:

• Star  – $199.95 (includes OptimAll Health Kit)
• Star Plus – $299.95 (includes OptimAll Health and Fitness Kit)

In an official Avisae compensation plan explanation video, Executive VP and COO Brad Reese strongly recommends affiliates join and recruit new affiliates at the more expensive Star Plus option, stating

if you’re a business person, any business person who looks at this gets that for $100 more I get twice the volume. I get almost twice the volume than I do for the $199 kit.

So why not get that? It makes more business sense, I’ll make more money uh, I can make more money with half the people in my organisation if they get in that way.

Plus there’s the legacy shares, you’ll get a share if you come in that way for being a Star Plus IBO.

The ($79.95) IBO is just getting yourself signed up basically. So uh, I’d steer away from that, I wouldn’t recommend that to people. Everybody who sees you come in at that level is always upgrading anyways.

Conclusion

Avisae has a ready retailable product line and mostly solid compensation plan that revolves around generating sales volume via the sale of said products.

In theory, you sign up as an affiliate and sell Avisae’s products to retail or preferred customers. Along the way you build your downline and they generate sales volume you then earn a commission on.

At least that’s the theory, in reality red flags start to pop up when one observes how Avisae themselves market the opportunity.

As quoted above, the designer of the compensation plan, Avisae Executive VP and COO Brad Reese believes that anything but the $299.95 + $100 autoship affiliate joining option is not worth wasting time with.

Putting aside the question of why have these other options if they aren’t recommended, what we scratch here is the ongoing tilt towards signing up affiliates and putting them on a monthly autoship order.

Apart from Reese’s heavy promotion of the $299.95 affiliate joining option (one he states he “expects everyone to join at”), when discussing business building strategies, Avisae are quite blunt in how they expect people to build their business:

Both the above examples (taken straight from Avisae’s compensation plan material) rely on an affiliate recruiting new affiliates and signing them up on 100 PV autoship. This is how Avisae chooses to demonstrate the income potential possible with their compensation plan, totally ignoring retail and preferred customer sales in the process.

The First Order Sales Bonus is also problematic in that, despite being a bonus on the sale of products, it is paid out on the affiliate sign-up packs, which drags the opportunity into the grey murk of “doesn’t that make it a recruitment commission?”

Typically an MLM company will charge affiliates a fee to sign up as an affiliate, with any first order bonus paid on an additional product order, optional and separate from the affiliate fee.

In Avisae this first order is inseparable to the affiliate sign up process, with both affiliate fee and product order bundled together as a pack. As such technically speaking a commission is paid on the recruitment of new affiliates who sign up with these packs.

Things get even murkier when one considers the Builder Bonus, which gets tacked on top of the First Order Sales Bonus, but is incentivized via recruitment. The more affiliates recruit, the higher the Builder Bonus they are paid – and it’s a significant bonus too, paying more than the First Order Bonus itself if 4 or more affiliates are recruited.

The Legacy 300 Shares Program doesn’t help either, serving as yet another incentive for affiliates to sign up as a Star Plus affiliate and recruit new affiliates at the same level.

The end result is that despite the products and retail commissions offered, I very much felt after sitting through two hours of Avisae compensation plan explanation videos and taking notes, that these were merely included as a a side-show to the main event – that is signing up as a Star Plus affiliate and 100 PV autoship, and then recruiting affiliates who do the same.

In the long-term given the percentages offered at level 1 (1%) this wouldn’t be the smartest idea as a bunch of 100 PV affiliates are residually only going to pay you $1, at least after five months (once the Team Training Bonus wears off).

Long-term Avisae affiliates are going to have to generate those preferred and retail customer sales as trying to hit those upper Group Volume targets on 100 PV autoship alone is not really feasible. In that sense it’s a shame that so much emphasis is placed on the Star Plus affiliate option and monthly affiliate autoship.

One other thing to note is the slightly eyebrow raising mention of two other tiers that supposedly make up the rest of the Avisae income opportunity. One tier is something about management training and education but the other is referred to as a “retirement plan” consisting of “investment vehicles”.

Generally speaking anything to do with investment and MLM will have the SEC breaking down your door but for now Avisae haven’t released anything public on what exactly this tier 3 is, other than what I’ve quoted in the compensation plan section of this review.

It’s definitely something to keep an eye on though, as the impression I got from watching Avisae’s compensation plan videos is that the company plans to offer their affiliates investment advice. Coupled with an MLM compensation plan that could potentially pose problems for the company later down the line.

Having already filed papers with and advising the SEC that they have five investors who have made investments into Avisae totalling $315,000 as of last December, one would imagine whatever “retirement plan investment vehicles” Avisae plan to offer affiliates in phase 3 would receive heavily internal scrutinisation and be above board.