uThriv Review v2.0: Aloe vera water supplement & nutrition
BehindMLM initially reviewed uThriv back in 2014. Major issues identified at the time were failure to provide information about uThriv’s products, a lack of retail focus and chain-recruitment.
On October 26th Joe Tessin, co-founder and President of uThriv, responded to our review.
Thanks for the things you shared. We have grown and made many improvements and continue to do so…. I would be grateful if you gave us another look and review!
Today we take another look at uThriv and go over what’s changed.
The uThriv Product Line
uThriv’s initial product page was pretty lackluster, so much so that I made it the focus of our review title.
As far as I can tell, the confusing energy-saving product appears to be gone.
Today uThriv website features information about water and nutrition supplements.
Plus 5 (stylized as “+5”) is ‘made of 100% active ingredients with no extra water, fillers or additives‘.
+5 condenses powerful nutrition into a tasty and refreshing daily-use product that is added to water or most any beverage of choice.
It can also be added to yogurt or smoothies for a convenient way to get your five-a-day plus a whole lot more.
We obviously can’t make medical claims, but we have seen improvements in diabetic conditions, chronic inflammation, blood pressure, mental clarity, energy and much more.
uThriv Nutritionals are ‘high-end, top-quality nutritional supplements at affordable prices‘.
Our formulations strategically combine specific elements of nature that contain therapeutic levels of powerful, active ingredients rather than just a dash or a splash of popular ingredients that really don’t amount to much.
Using only the best, unadulterated forms of vitamins, minerals, herbs and much more, uTHRiV Nutritionals’ line of life-enhancing products are in a class of their own.
Unfortunately retail pricing is not provided on uThriv website.
If a visitor clicks the “buy now” button on the uThriv product page, the website demands an affiliate referral code be entered.
The uThriv Compensation Plan
The compensation plan documentation uThriv provide on their website is in summary format and doesn’t really explain much.
I’ve put together the following analysis from the current documentation, using older compensation plans as a guide to understanding the various commissions and bonuses.
Retail Commissions
uThriv affiliates earn a 10% retail commission on products sold to retail customers.
Recruitment Commissions
uThriv affiliates are paid a “Team Builder Bonus” as they grow their recruited downline.
Recruited affiliates that count towards the Team Builder Bonus must sign up with a Team Builder Pack and be placed on both sides of the binary.
Newly recruited affiliates who fit the above criteria are counted as follows:
- one newly recruited affiliate on both sides of the binary team = $50
- another two newly recruited affiliates on both sides of the binary team = $250
- another two (five in total) on both sides of the binary team = $700
The total Team Builder Bonus payout for a group of five new affiliates on both sides of the binary is $1000 per week.
uThriv affiliates also earn a 25% match on Team Builder Business earnings paid to personally recruited affiliates.
Note that to qualify for the Team Builder Bonus, a uThriv affiliate must sign up with a Team Builder Pack themselves.
Residual Commissions
uThriv pay residual commissions through a binary compensation structure.
A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides:
The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting the two level 1 positions into another two positions each.
Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of new uThriv affiliates.
Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.
uThriv cap payable binary levels at seven, with commissions paid out as a percnetage of sales volume generated across these seven levels:
- level 1 (2 positions) – 10%
- level 2 (4 positions) – 5%
- level 3 (8 positions) – 5%
- level 4 (16 positions) – 5%
- level 5 (32 positions) – 5%
- level 6 (64 positions) – 5%
- level 7 (128 positions) – 10%
Customer Acquisition Bonus
uThriv dont explain what the Customer Acquisition Bonus is, beyond stating an affiliate can earn “$200 first 30 days”.
I believe this is a bonus percentage payout on orders by either new retail customers or recruited affiliates (or both), capped at $200 within 30 days of their first order.
2500 Club
The first 2500 uThriv affiliates to sign up receive a share in 5% of company-wide sales volume.
Affiliates in the 2500 Club also receive double Team Builder Bonus commissions.
Note that to remain 2500 Club qualified a uThriv affiliate must generate a minimum 75 PV a month.
PV stands for “Personal Volume” and is generated via retail sales and a uThriv affiliate’s own purchase of products.
Joining uThriv
Basic uThriv affiliate membership is $79.95.
A uThriv affiliate can also sign up with one of the following Team Builder Packs:
- Starter Team Builder Pack – $74.95
- Basic Team Builder Pack – $149.95
- Preferred Team Builder Pack – $249.95
- Advanced Team Builder Pack – $299.95
- Pro Team Builder Pack – $374.95
The primary difference between the above packs are bundled products and income potential through the uThriv compensation plan.
Conclusion
Whilst uThriv have got their act together regarding product disclosure (although why retail pricing is not disclosed I have no idea), compensation plan information is now lacking.
uThriv doesn’t have a particularly complicated compensation plan, so why the company provides a general presentation instead of a specific compensation document… again, I have no idea.
It makes for an overall lacking experience, leaving visitors doing their due-diligence feeling like they’re not getting the full picture.
Whether that’s by design or unintentional I can’t say.
With respect to uThriv’s products, you’re basically looking at nutritional supplements (+5 in liquid form, everything else in capsule/powder form).
Stated nutritional specifics of the +5 product include (per 2 oz. serving):
- 5 servings of fruits and vegetables
- 5 grams of dietary fiber
- over 50,000 ORAC units
- based on patented 100% whole leaf Aloe vera juice
Unfortunately pricing is not provided, so stacking up +5 with what’s locally available is problematic.
The rest of uThriv’s range appears to be general supplements, which should have comparables in local health and nutrition stores (again, no specific pricing makes comparison difficult).
With respect to the MLM opportunity, uThriv’s compensation plan invariable pays affiliates to recruit new affiliates.
Direct recruitment commissions are paid via the Team Builder Bonus and residuals are paid out via the binary.
This is counter-weighed by retail sales, however an overall lack of information provided suggests retail is not a focus.
To be fair, uThriv do state in their Policies and Procedures that
It is company policy, however, to strictly prohibit the purchase of product or service solely for the purpose of qualifying for bonuses or advancement in the marketing program.
BPs must fulfill published personal and downline retail sales requirements, including requisite retail sales to nonparticipants, as well as supervisory responsibilities, to qualify for bonuses, overrides or advancements.
To what extent this is policed by uThriv however is unclear. I couldn’t see anything about retail sales requirements in any uThriv compensation plan documentation.
As far as I can tell a uThriv affiliate can sign up with a pack, maintain 75 PV a month via autoship and get paid to recruit other affiliates who do the same.
One thing that stuck out to me was the pay to play aspect of uThriv’s affiliate membership options. The Team Builder Bonus is available only to Team Builder Pack affiliates.
uThriv themselves claim the Team Builder Packs ‘maximize the uTHRiV income opportunity‘.
This encourages affiliates to sign up with a pack to earn more, potentially without and regard (or need) for bundled products.
The good news is ascertaining whether your potential uThriv upline is focused on retail sales is easy. Just ask them how much of their monthly 75 PV is generated via retail sales.
If they have no retail sales and qualify via autoship, it’s a good bet they’re focused on chain-recruitment. This could be simple laziness (do the thing that’s easiest to get paid), but might also reflect a lack of retail viability with uThriv’s products.
If possible get pricing on uThriv’s products and do a comparison with what’s available locally.
Competition in the health and nutrition niche (both within MLM and outside) is stiff, so you want to make sure you’re marketing a product that truly stands out.
Good luck!
