censoredThere is no information on the Le-Vel website indicating who owns or runs the business.

Le-Vel affiliates name “Paul Gravette” as the owner of Le-Vel, however his name does not appear anywhere on the Le-Vel website.

Further research reveals Gravette listing himself as “the owner” of Le-Vel on his LinkedIn profile:

paul-gravette-owner-le-vel-linkedin

In addition to Le-Vel, Gravette also claims ownership of Xyngular. Xyngular launched in 2009 and market a range of health, nutrition and weight loss products.

Linked off of Gravette’s LinkedIn profile is “Jason (Simon) Camper”, who also credits himself as an “owner / founder” of Le-Vel:

jason-simon-carpenter-owner-founder-le-vel-linkedin

Ty Tribble (MLMBlog.net) named a “Jason Camper” as President of isXperia back in April 2011:

Another member of the executive team of isXperia is Jason Camper, president of the company. He is a 12 year professional when it comes to Direct Sales and Network Marketing Industry.

isXperia launched in 2007 and operate in the “health, wellness and skincare” MLM niche. At the time of publication, Camper’s name does not feature on the isXperia website’s “Executive Team” page.

A third name in relation to Le-Vel pops up in the company’ website domain registration listing, which names a “Justin Rouleau” of “Le-Vel Brands LLC” as the owner.

On his LinkedIn profile, Rouleau credits himself as “Director of Technology” at Le-Vel and a “web developer” at isXperia (2010 and 2011):

justin-rouleau-director-technology-le-vel-linkedin

Of note is that the address provided for Le-Vel Brands LLC in the company’s domain registration (Texas), differs from an address provided on the Le-Vel website for “returns” (Utah).

I believe this is due to Le-Vel’s shippable products being manufactured in Utah, whilst the company is based out Texas. I tried to verify this on the Le-Vel website, but when I clicked “contact” the browser screen went dark and nothing happened.

Read on for a full review of the Le-Vel MLM business opportunity.

The Le-Vel Product Line

Le-Vel’s products are marketed under the “Thrive” brand, with the company offering four varieties of thrive for men, women, “lifestyle” and “weight management”.

“Thrive M” (men) and “Thrive W” (women) come in capsule format and offer ‘weight management, cognitive performance, joint support, pain management, anti-aging (sic) & antioxidant blend, lean muscle support, digestive & immune support‘.

“Thrive Mix” (lifestyle) is a ‘blend of Vitamins, Minerals, Plant Extracts, Anti-Oxidants, Enzymes, Pro-Biotics, and Amino Acids‘ delivered in shake format.

Lastly “Thrive DFT” (weight management) is a skin patch that offers ‘weight management, mental clarity, appetite control, derma fusion technology, metabolic support and an all natural time release‘.

I tried to enter the online shop Le-Vel have on their website to check the prices for Thrive but the company demanded customer login information.

Whilst it appears Le-Vel do not provide retail pricing to the general public, further research revealed Le-Vel affiliates marketing Thrive products from between $100 to $300 a month:

thrive-pricing-youtube-le-vel

The Le-Vel Compensation Plan

The Le-Vel compensation plan pays upfront retail commissions and residual commissions via a unilevel style compensation structure. Additional bonuses and incentives are also offered.

Retail Commissions

Retail commissions are paid to Le-Vel affiliates on the sale of Le-Vel products to non-affiliates.

Retail commissions in Le-Vel are paid out at a rate of 20% of the Business Volume (BV) generated by retail customers.

Retail commissions are also paid out on retail orders placed with an affiliate’s downline, payable down three levels of recruitment:

  • Level 1 (retail orders placed with personally recruited affiliates) – 12%
  • Levels 2 and 3 – 4%

Qualified and Active Status

With the exception of retail commissions, Le-Vel affiliates must first qualify themselves for commissions and then remain active.

To initially qualify for commissions, a Le-Vel affiliate must generate at least 200 Personal Volume (PV) worth of product sales. This can be either their own personal purchase of products or purchases made by their customers.

To maintain active status, a Le-Vel affiliate must maintain at least 100 PV a month in product orders. Again, this can either be an affiliate’s own purchase of product or that of their customer(s).

Le-Vel Affiliate Membership Ranks

There are six affiliate membership ranks within the Le-Vel compensation plan and, along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

  • Promoter – be qualified and maintain 100 PV a month (active)
  • 4K VIP – maintain 100 PV a month (active), personally recruit at least 2 affiliates and have a downline generating at least 4000 GV a month (no more than 2400 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • 12K VIP – maintain 100 PV a month (active), personally recruit at least 2 affiliates and have a downline generating at least 12,000 GV a month (no more than 7200 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • 40K VIP – maintain 100 PV a month (active), personally recruit at least 4 affiliates and have a downline generating at least 40,000 GV a month (no more than 24,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • 80K VIP – maintain 100 PV a month (active), personally recruit at least 4 affiliates and have a downline generating at least 80,000 GV a month (no more than 48,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • 200K VIP – maintain 100 PV a month (active), personally recruit at least 4 affiliates and have a downline generating at least 400,000 GV a month (no more than 120,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)

Fast Start Bonus

The Fast Start Bonus is paid out on purchase of an “enrollment” or “upgrade” package purchased by recruited Le-Vel affiliates.

When a Le-Vel affiliate joins the company, they can purchase one of four “starter packs”: Thrive, Starter, Promoter or VIP.

Each pack has a corresponding Fast Start Bonus attached to it, paid out down four levels of recruitment:

  • Thrive – $15 on level 1, $10 on level 2 and $5 on levels 3 and 4
  • Starter – $30 on level 1, $20 on level 2, $10 on level 3 and $5 on level 4
  • Promoter – $80 on level 1, $40 on level 2, $20 on level 3 and $10 on level 4
  • VIP – $140 on level 1, $80 on level 2, $40 on level 3 and $20 on level 4

Fast Start Bonus Match

Le-Vel offer a 10% Fast Start Bonus Match on the Fast Start Bonus earnings of all personally recruited affiliates.

If a Le-Vel affiliate personally recruits at least eight qualified and active affiliates and is ranked 4k VIP or higher, the Fast Start Bonus Match percentage increases to 20%.

Note that in order to qualify for the Fast Start Bonus Match, Le-Vel affiliates must have personally recruited at least two qualified and active Le-Vel affiliates.

Unilevel Commissions

Residual commissions in Le-Vel are paid out using a unilevel compensation structure.

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

unilevel-commission-structure

If any of these level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates of their own, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team. If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

Le-Vel cap unilevel commissions down eight levels of recruitment, with how many levels an affiliate is paid out on determined by their Le-Vel affiliate membership rank:

  • Promoter – 4% on levels 1 to 3
  • 4K VIP – 4% on levels 1 to 5
  • 12K VIP – 4% on levels 1 to 6
  • 40K VIP – 4% on levels 1 to 7
  • 80K VIP – 4% on levels 1 to 8
  • 200K VIP – 8% on levels 1 to 8

Unilevel Matching Bonus

A Unilevel Matching Bonus is paid out on the unilevel commissions earnt by an affiliate’s personally recruited downline (level 1).

How much of a Unilevel Matching Bonus a Le-Vel affiliate qualifies for is determined by how many new affiliates they’ve recruited:

  • recruit 4 affiliates = 20%
  • recruit 8 affiliates = 40%

Note that these recruited affiliates must be both qualified and active.

Car Bonus

The Le-Vel compensation plan mentions a “VIP Auto Bonus”, paying out an ‘$800 monthly bonus toward a white or black BMW, Mercedes, Lexus or Caddilac‘ – however no qualification criteria for the bonus is provided.

Lifestyle Getaways

At the 40K VIP, 80K VIP and 200K VIP affiliate membership ranks, Le-Vel reward affiliates with ‘trips to places like Las Vegas, Napa Valley, New York, Italy, Alaska & the Caribbean‘.

Joining Le-Vel

Affiliate membership to Le-Vel is free according to the company website. It should be noted however that the Le-Vel compensation plan mentions “starter packs”, the details of which are not provided anywhere on the Le-Vel website.

I tried to source this information elsewhere (from a third-party or otherwise) but was unable to ascertain what Le-Vel’s starter packs cost.

Going by the Fast Start Bonus paid out on the four packs, one would assume the costs range from anywhere between $16 to $141.

Conclusion

The biggest issue that concerns me regarding that Le-Vel MLM business opportunity is that of transparency.

Corporate management details, retail pricing for their products and affiliate starter pack costs are all what I’d deem crucial information, yet are absent.

Car Bonus qualification isn’t quite so vital, however it’s also missing from the Le-Vel compensation plan material.

An instance of this hurting the business on the MLM side would be me strongly recommending prospective affiliates to test out Le-Vel’s products first. How they can be expected to do this with no indication as to what Le-Vel’s products cost escapes me.

On the business model side of things Le-Vel performs better, as I especially liked the way retail commissions paid out over multiple levels. The highlight though was paying out retail commissions to non-qualified and active affiliates.

This “retail policy” from Le-Vel’s affiliate terms and conditions was also great:

Retail Policy

In order to qualify for any compensation payable under the Le-Vel Compensation Plan, a promoter must certify by completion of the Retail Sales Rule Compliance Form that he/she has made at least one (1) retail sale to five (5) different retail customers in the calendar month in which commissions or bonuses are earned.

The compliance form must be received by Le-Vel no later than the fifth (5th) day following each calendar period in the event that Le-Vel takes measures to confirm that the requisite retail sales have occurred.

I’m not entirely clear on why Le-Vel themselves can’t enforce this on the back-end, but having affiliates sign such a form every month is a great incentive for them to actually drive retail.

Note that I’d strongly encourage prospective affiliates to check with their potential uplines about the sending in of this form each month, and checking to see that the upline’s retail history actually matches what they claim.

I thought this was great as typically affiliates who aren’t qualified for commissions simply miss out on getting paid anything altogether. Paying out retail commissions without qualification seems like a good way to drive retail sales and deter affiliates from focusing solely on affiliate recruitment.

That said improvements could be made with qualification criteria for the Unilevel Matching Bonus. This should be volume based as opposed to solely tied into recruitment. You still need recruited affiliates to generate unilevel volume, so any potential issue of not having a downline is negated.

The affiliate membership ranks only ever require a minimum of four recruited affiliates, which I thought was more than fair.

Assuming the prices quoted by Le-Vel affiliates in their marketing are accurate ($100 to $300 a month), the price-point of Le-Vel’s products might be an issue.

The company does market itself heavily as a “premium lifestyle” orientated opportunity, however at the end of the day if people aren’t prepared to pay what they’re charging, then what they refer to themselves doesn’t matter.

This could be why no retail product pricing exists on the Le-Vel website, or it could simply just be poor planning.

Whatever the case I’d strongly advise the company add retail product pricing, affiliate startup costs and executive management information to their website.

A compensation plan rewrite to include things like Car Bonus qualification and affiliate starter pack costs wouldn’t hurt either.

All in all there’s nothing too major to fault with Le-Vel’s MLM offering, but it definitely needs some polish if they’re looking to fully capitalise on the opportunity they’re putting out there.

 

Update 17th February 2016 – This morning I woke up to a bogus DMCA complaint filed by Le-Vel, objecting to BehindMLM’s use of the Le-Vel logo in this review.

I’ve subsequently replaced Le-Vel’s logo with a censorship placeholder, as that’s exactly what Le-Vel’s unsubstantiated complaint amounts to.