fgxpress-logo

According to the company’s Twitter account, FGXpress are set to launch in March of 2014. That said the company already appears to have prelaunched, with a fully operational website online and several uploaded testimonials.

On the FGXpress website, the company advises that it is ‘powered by ForeverGreen‘. ForeverGreen is an MLM company that was launched in 2004 and is headed up by Founder and CEO Ron Williams.

FGXpress appears to be a child company of the parent ForeverGreen MLM business opportunity, with the FGXpress Terms and Conditions stating that FGXpress is ‘a division of ForeverGreen International, LLC‘.

Why ForeverGreen have chosen to launch a new division rather than integrate FGXpress’ product line into their existing opportunity however is not clarified.

All FGXpress company information presented on their website, including that of the executive management, has been copy and pasted directly from the ForeverGreen website.

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

The FGXpress Product Line

FGXpress’ flagship product is what they call “PowerStrips”.

PowerStrips are a patented fusion of modern energy and ancient herbs. Everyone and every part of the body needs energy. PowerStrips, worn daily, bring energy to those parts of the body that need it.

Unfortunately whether or not FGXpress’ PowerStrips are available at a retail level or what they cost is unclear. I clicked the “buy now” button on the FGXpress website and the company demanded to know my “Distributor ID” before I was allowed to purchase anything:

no-retail-fgxpress-website

Not having an FGXpress Distributor ID and just wishing to see the retail price for the PowerStrips, naturally I was unable to proceed any further.

The FGXpress Compensation Plan

The FGXpress compensation plan offers affiliates a series of bonuses backed by a residual binary compensation structure.

FGXpress Affiliate Membership Ranks

There are eight affiliate membership ranks within the FGXpress compensation plan and, along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

  • 1 Star – must generate at least 50 PV a week in sales and generate at least 500 weekly GV in your weaker binary team
  • 2 Star – must generate at least 50 PV a week in sales, have personally recruited at least two 1 Star or higher affiliates and generate at least 3000 weekly GV in your weaker binary team
  • 3 Star – must generate at least 50 PV a week in sales, have personally recruited at least three 1 Star or higher affiliates and generate at least 6000 weekly GV in your weaker binary team
  • 4 Star – must generate at least 50 PV a week in sales, have personally recruited at least four 1 Star or higher affiliates and generate at least 15,000 weekly GV in your weaker binary team
  • 5 Star – must generate at least 50 PV a week in sales, have personally recruited at least five 1 Star or higher affiliates and generate at least 30,000 weekly GV in your weaker binary team
  • 6 Star – must generate at least 50 PV a week in sales, have personally recruited at least six 1 Star or higher affiliates (of which at least two must be 2 Star or higher) and generate at least 50,000 weekly GV in your weaker binary team
  • 7 Star – must generate at least 50 PV a week in sales, have personally recruited at least seven 1 Star or higher affiliates (of which at least three must be 3 Star or higher) and generate at least 150,000 weekly GV in your weaker binary team
  • All Star – must generate at least 50 PV a week in sales, have personally recruited at least eight 1 Star or higher affiliates (of which at least four must be 4 Star or higher) and generate at least 250,000 weekly GV in your weaker binary team

Rank Advancement Bonus

Upon qualifying at the 3 Star or higher FGXpress affiliate ranks, affiliate receive a one-time Rank Advancement Bonus as follows:

  • 3 Star – $500
  • 4 Star – $1000
  • 5 Star – $2000 paid out over 2 months
  • 6 Star – $5000 paid out over 4 months
  • 7 Star – $10,000 paid out over 4 months
  • All Star – $25,000 paid out over 5 months

Xtribe XBonus

FGXpress’ XTribe XBonus pays out affiliates when they recruit new affiliates and generate a team volume of over 1000 points within 4 weeks.

Your goal is to invite at least 4 people in your first month of business to start forming your XTribe. An XTribe is formed with the people you invite and the people they invite.

There doesn’t appear to be any specific downline structure required to qualify for the XTribe XBonus, other than the recruited downline generating at least 1000 points of sales volume over a 4 week period.

Once this volume qualification criteria is met, an affiliate is paid the XTribe XBonus. How much an affiliate is paid depends on how many “packs” they have purchased:

  • 1 pack ($6o) – $100 commission
  • 2 packs ($120) – $200 commission

Note that packs referred to above appear to be packs of the FGXpress’ PowerStrip product, which affiliates buy for $60 (1 pack) or $120 (2 packs).

Fast Start Bonus

The Fast Start Bonus is a 25% commission paid out to FGXpress affiliates whenever a newly recruited affiliate makes their first order.

Binary Commissions

Residual commissions in FGXpress are paid out using a binary compensation structure. A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, with two positions directly under them.

binary-MLM-compensation-plan

These two positions form the start of two binary teams, left and right, which are filled via the recruitment of new affiliates. As newly recruited affiliates are added to both binary teams, their sales volume is counted towards the original affiliates binary volume.

The left and right team volume is counted individually, with commissions paid out on the weaker leg’s sales volume. Note that an affiliate must personally recruit two new affiliates (one on each side) and a minimum of 500 Group Volume (GV) must be generated by the weaker team before an affiliate can qualify binary commissions.

How much of a commission is paid out depends on how much an affiliate spends with FGXpress each month.

With a 50 point (1 Pack) purchase every 4 weeks you are eligible for 8% Team Bonus on your small leg’s volume weekly.

With a 100 point (2 Packs) purchase every 4 weeks you are eligible for a 12% Team Bonus on your small leg’s volume weekly.

Volume from the weaker team is matched against the stronger team, with excess volume from the stronger team is carried over to the next pay period (week).

Binary Matching Bonus

A Matching Bonus on binary commissions is available to 2 Star and higher ranked FGXpress affiliates, payable down four levels of recruitment.

  • 2 Star – 25% on level 1
  • 3 Star – 50% on level 1 and 10% on level 2
  • 4 Star – 50% on level 1 and 10% on levels 2 and 3
  • 5 Star – 50% on level 1 and 10% on levels 2 to 4
  • 6 Star – 50% on level 1, 15% on level 2 and 10% on levels 3 and 4
  • 7 Star – 50% on level 1, 25% on level 2 and 10% on levels 3 and 4
  • All Star – 50% on level 1, 25% on level 2, 15% on level 3 and 10% on level 4

Note that the above percentage are quoted in the FGXpress compensation plan, however the company advises

The FG Xpress comp plan guarantees a 62% payout of business volume. The Enroller Matching Bonus is paid weekly and is based on a floating percentage.

The percentage is determined after the rest of the commissions have been calculated.

The Binary Matching Bonus is a weekly commission, paid out in addition to an affiliate’s own residual binary commissions.

Joining FGXpress

As per the FGXpress website, affiliate membership is $12 however it appears it can only be purchased via one of five “packs”:

  • Single Pack – $86.90
  • Double Pack – $161.80
  • Lateral Transfer Pack – $531.55
  • Lateral Transfer Benefit Pack – $1007
  • Lateral Transfer Perfect Pack – $1462

Conclusion

Whereas ForeverGreen’s launch of FGXpress might be explained by the company wishing to try a binary-based compensation plan over a unilevel, as with ForeverGreen I’m still having trouble seeing the retail viability.

With ForeverGreen retail volume is paid out directly via the Professional Bonus, on condition an affiliate generates at least 300 BV in a month.

With FGXpress there appears to be no direct retail commission, with volume simply rolled into the binary.

This is problematic as FGXpress’ compensation plan is has some serious “pay to play” issues.

These issues start with the packs affiliates are required to purchase to join FGXpress, with the purchase of the Lateral Transfer Pack, Lateral Transfer Benefit Pack and Lateral Transfer Perfect Pack all promoting an affiliate to a ‘virtual 3 Star Leader for 6 months‘.

This promotion is awarded based on nothing more than affiliate paying more upon joining the company.

Then there’s the  XTribe XBonus where how much an affiliate spends is directly tied into how much they earn, be it $100 if they spend $60 or $200 if they spend $120.

Granted the spend is on the company’s PowerStrip product but the way the commission is paid out calls into question the motivation behind the product purchase. Are affiliate buying the products out of a genuine need or just to qualify for a higher rate of commission from their recruited downline?

This “pay to play” concern continues on into the binary commissions, with once again how much an affiliate spends dictates the percentage of a commission they earn off their downline’s sales volume. 8% if they spend $60 and 12% if they spend $120.

Typically even a single pay to play element is enough to raise a serious red flag yet here with FGXpress there are evidently three core components of the compensation plan where an affiliate’s own spend dictates how much they earn.

This culture, which crops up right at the beginning when a prospective affiliate considers which pack to buy when signing up is then magnified by the XTribe XBonus. The XTribe XBonus directly rewards an affiliate for building a downline, which in itself is fine but does so at the expense of a plan that already has no evident focus on retail sales.

Your goal is to invite at least 4 people in your first month of business to start forming your XTribe. An XTribe is formed with the people you invite and the people they invite.

As the above copy from the FGXpress compensation plan explains, the underlying focus of the opportunity is to sign up new affiliates in little XTribes and convincing them to recruit their own XTribes.

Put all of this together and like I said earlier, I’m having a hard time seeing how retail activity is going to be generated in a plan that so heavily favours the recruitment of new affiliates on a $60 to $120 a month product spend.

Try as they might (or evidently  not at all), ForeverGreen don’t quite seem to be able to grasp the importance of a solid retail foundation for a viable MLM income opportunity.