YOR Health Review: Weight loss with erroneous retail

Despite listing members of their scientific advisory board (five scientists), athletic advisory board (seven advisers), global board (two Mexican singers and a “Mexico adviser”), there is no information in the “company” section of the YOR Health website indicating who owns or runs the business.

It isn’t until a visitor clicks “opportunity” and then scrolls down to “a letter from the founder” that Dennis Wong is credited as YOR Health’s “Founding Chairman”.

Further research reveals Wong (right) is the CEO of YOR Health, yet his name does not appear in the capacity anywhere on the Yor Health website.

YOR Health are based out of the US state of California and launched in mid-2008.

Prior to YOR Health Wong ran YorVoice, which marketed VOIP.

According to several Dennis Wong bios (most of which seem to be written by himself),

By 2007, voice-over Internet was no longer a sustainable product to market, so that new reality and coming to terms with his failing health motivated him to look for a new business opportunity.

Since he had been investigating nutritional health, that became the obvious choice.

Going back further, Wong, along with Jeffrey Morgan, ran the pyramid scheme “Mall Ventures” (“2by2.net”).

According to the FTC’s complaint, in which Wong, Morgan and Mall Ventures are named defendants, the scheme saw affiliates purchase matrix positions for “approximately $420”. This resulted in a commission paid out to the affiliate who recruited them, and also qualified the affiliate themselves to receive commissions from those they recruited.

Mall Ventures has derived an overwhelming portion of its revenues from the recruitment of new eCommerce Consultants (affiliates), rather than from the sale of 2by2.net products or services.

Many consumers were persuaded to pay up to $2,940 for multiple spots and to spend thousands of dollars more in their attempts to make money through 2by2.net.

The FTC’s complaint was filed in January 2004, with a judgement handed down a few days later. This judgement saw Wong and Morgan fined $400,000, with an additional suspended monetary judgment of $10.4 million.

The original complaint and injunction request, the judgment and accompanying press-release can be read over at the FTC.

Whether or not Jeffrey Morgan is involved in YOR Health is unclear (due to the complete lack of information regarding executive structure and management provided on the YOR Health website).

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

The YOR Health Product Line

YOR Health operate in the health and nutrition MLM niche, offering several products across a range of categories:

• YOR MRP – meal replacement shake available in chocolate and vanilla ($46.38)
• YOR Supergreens – “contains highly bioavailable vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and active cultures from: green super-foods, fruit and vegetable extracts, grass juices, herbal adaptogens and botanical extracts” ($52.38)
• YOR Probiotics Ultra – “a probiotic that can guarantee digestive health results through clinical proof and scientific backing” ($51.38)
• YOR Repair Ultra – “a unique formulation of highly active enzymes works with the body’s own natural processes to help ease muscle soreness” ($44.38)
• YOR Digest Ultra – “a high potency digestive combination product featuring the Patent-Protected YOR Nutrition Delivery System” ($47.38)
• YOR Berry Blast – a “revolutionary blend of 19 all natural fruits and berries, a patented enzyme activation system, and sustained energy” ($42.38)
• YOR Muscle Energy – “delivers the fuel your muscles crave and a proteolytic enzyme system that speeds up the natural muscle tissue repair process” ($48.38)
• YOR Fiber Plus – “an advanced dietary fiber supplement” ($33.38)
• YOR Essential Vitamin – “combines potent vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and botanicals in optimal ratios for maximum effectiveness” ($57.78)
• YOR CompleteBurn – “designed to support different individual’s needs by addressing the different aspects influencing weight-loss” ($60.38)
• YOR SuperSlim – “formulated with ingredients that safely and effectively support the state of feeling full and help control appetite” ($60.38)

YOR Health products are also available in “Challenge Sets”, ranging in price from $149 (Core Set) to $349 (Sculpt Set).

The YOR Health Compensation Plan

The YOR Health combines commissions paid out on the sale of YOR Health products and the recruitment of new affiliates who purchase Business Sets when the sign up.

Commissions are paid out via a unilevel compensation structure, with several performance based bonuses also available.

Commission Qualification

In order to qualify for commissions, a YOR Health affiliate must generate at between 100 to 200 personal purchase, retail or select customer (autoship) product points every 28 days.

How many points are required is determined by an affiliate’s membership rank. Emerald and higher ranked affiliates must generate 200 points to qualify for commissions (see rank qualifications below).

YOR Affiliate Ranks

There are fourteen affiliate membership ranks within the YOR Health compensation plan. Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

• Promoter – sign up as an affiliate and maintain commission qualification
• 2K Promoter – recruit and maintain three commission qualified affiliates and have a total downline volume of 2000 GV
• Emerald – maintain three three commission qualified affiliates and have a total downline volume of 12,500 GV (max 7500 GV from any one recruitment leg)
• Diamond – maintain three commission qualified affiliates and have a total downline volume of 40,000 GV (max 24,000 GV from any one recruitment leg)
• Blue Diamond – maintain three commission qualified affiliates and have a total downline volume of 80,000 GV (max 48,000 GV from any one recruitment leg)
• White Diamond – maintain three commission qualified affiliates and have a total downline volume of 150,000 GV (max 90,000 GV from any one recruitment leg)
• 1-Star White Diamond – maintain three commission qualified affiliates, one of which must be at the White Diamond rank
• 2-Star White Diamond – maintain three commission qualified affiliates, two of which must be at the White Diamond rank (in separate placement tree legs)
• 3-Star White Diamond – maintain three commission qualified affiliates, three of which must be at the White Diamond rank (in separate placement tree legs)
• 4-Star White Diamond – maintain three commission qualified affiliates, four of which must be at the White Diamond rank (in separate placement tree legs)
• 5-Star White Diamond – maintain three commission qualified affiliates, five of which must be at the White Diamond rank (in separate placement tree legs)
• Crown White Diamond – maintain three commission qualified affiliates, one of which must be a 3-Star White Diamond, one a 2-Star White Diamond and one a 1-Star White Diamond (all in seperate recruitment legs)
• Double Crown White Diamond – maintain three commission qualified affiliates, three of which must be at the 3-Star White Diamond rank (in separate placement tree legs)
• Triple Crown White Diamond – maintain three commission qualified affiliates, three of which must be at the 5-Star White Diamond rank (in separate placement tree legs)

Note that GV stands for “Group Volume” and is the sales volume generated by an affiliate’s recruited downline.

YOR Health count two genealogy trees for tracking an affiliate’s downline. The “sponsor tree” is your standard unilevel placement, whereas the “placement tree” (referenced above) allows an affiliate to manually place recruited affiliates within a separate unilevel genealogy.

Unilevel genealogy sees an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with all personally recruited affiliates placed directly under them (level 1):

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, 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.

This is true of the “sponsor tree”, whereas in the “placement tree” an affiliate can place recruited affiliates themselves, subject to the same level structure.

Recruitment Commissions

The Fast Start Bonus pays YOR affiliates who recruit new affiliates who purchase “Business Sets” when they sign up.

There are two Business Sets available:

1. Promoter Set (506 PV) – $545.08
2. Entrepreneur Set (1012 PV) – $1090.16

Recruitment commissions are paid out based on how much a newly recruited affiliate spends when they sign up, in addition to the qualifying affiliate’s YOR Health affiliate rank:

• Promoter – 500 to 999 BV = $50, 1000 or more BV = $100
• 2K Promoter – 500 to 999 BV = $100, 1000 or more BV = $200
• Emerald – 500 to 999 BV = $130, 1000 or more BV = $260
• Diamond – 500 to 999 BV = $155, 1000 or more BV = $310
• Blue Diamond – 500 to 999 BV = $170, 1000 or more BV = $340
• White Diamond or higher – 500 to 999 BV = $180, 1000 or more BV = $360

Note that the Fast Start Bonus is paid pro-rata, with higher ranked affiliates collecting all payments below their rank that have not been paid out.

If an affiliate is not at the White Diamond or higher rank level, they are paid as per their rank and the system then looks through the upline until the remaining commission amount(s) have been paid out (stopping once a White Diamond or higher ranked affiliate is found).

A second generation commission is available to Emerald or higher ranked affiliates, paying out in the same manner as the first generation commissions:

• Emerald – 500 to 999 BV = $15, 1000 or more BV = $30
• Diamond – 500 to 999 BV = $25, 1000 or more BV = $50
• Blue Diamond – 500 to 999 BV = $35, 1000 or more BV = $70
• White Diamond or higher – 500 to 999 BV = $45, 1000 or more BV = $90

Personal Customer Bonus

The Personal Customer Bonus tracks sales volume generated by an affiliate’s own purchases (excluding the first month) and that of their customers.

Volume is tracked for four consecutive weeks, with how much volume in total generated determining the bonus paid out:

• 0-200 points – no bonus
• 201 – 400 points – 10%
• 401 to 800 points – 15%
• 801 to 2000 points – 20%
• 2000 or more points – 25%

Note that the bonus is calculated as volume is generated, with the current bracket (determined by sales volume generated) used to calculate the bonus at any given time.

Unilevel Commissions

Residual commissions in YOR Health are paid out using a unilevel compensation structure (see affiliate ranks for explanation).

Commissions are paid out based on sales volume generated by recruited affiliates, with how many levels of recruitment an affiliate is paid on determined by their affiliate rank:

• Promoter – 5% on levels 1 and 2
• 2K Promoter – 5% on levels 1 to 4
• Emerald – 5% on levels 1 to 6
• Diamond – 5% on levels 1 to 7
• Blue Diamond or higher – 5% on levels 1 to 8

Power Level Bonus

The Power Level Bonus permits a White Diamond or higher ranked affiliate to earn an additional 2% on their unilevel sales volume. A further 2% is paid out on the first 8 unilevel levels of recruited White Diamond ranked affiliates.

The Power Level Bonus pays out the bonus percentage either down a total of twenty-three unilevel levels, or at the level a third White Diamond or higher ranked affiliate is found in any given recruitment leg.

Rising Star Bonus

YOR Health set aside 2% of their company-wide commissionable volume and pay it out to Rising Star qualified affiliates.

An affiliate can qualify as a Rising Star by qualifying at the 2K Promoter rank within 28 days of joining the company.

The Rising Star Bonus pool is paid out via shares, with an affiliate earning 5 shares for qualifying as a Rising Star affiliate and an additional 5 shares per affiliate they personally recruit who also qualifies as a Rising Star affiliate.

Leadership Bonus

The Leadership Bonus rewards YOR Health affiliates for encouraging their downlines to qualify at higher affiliate ranks.

The Leadership Bonus is made up of 2% of the company-wide sales volume (not including Business Sets), split evenly between a Blue Diamond and White Diamond pool.

Shares in the respective pool a YOR Health affiliate qualifies for (based on their rank), are allocated as follows:

• unilevel leg with a 2K Promoter – 1 point
• unilevel leg with a Rising Star – 2 points
• unilevel leg with an Emerald – 5 points
• unilevel leg with a Diamond – 7 points
• unilevel leg with a Blue Diamond – 10 points
• unilevel leg with a White Diamond – 15 points

Note that each unilevel leg (corresponding to the personal recruitment of an affiliate) is only counted once.

Luxury Car Bonus

A Yor Health affiliate must qualify as a Rising Star to receive the Luxury Car Bonus. In addition to this, the affiliate must also have a downline generating at least 12,500 GV a month (max 7500 GV counted from any individual unilevel leg).

The Yor Health compensation plan material states that “up to $600” is put towards a car, however they don’t clarify the explicit payment structure of the bonus.

For affiliates not looking to lease a car, a $300 cash bonus (subject to the same qualification criteria above) is available.

Million Dollar Bonus

The Million Dollar Bonus serves as a rank advancement bonus that kicks in at the White Diamond affiliate rank.

• White Diamond – $25,000 paid out over twelve payments (must achieve within 18 cycles)
• 3-Star White Diamond – $75,000 paid out over twelve payments (must achieve within 18 cycles)
• 5-Star White Diamond – $150,000 paid out over eighteen payments (must achieve within 24 cycles)
• Crown White Diamond – $100,000 paid out over eighteen payments (must achieve within 24 cycles)
• Double Crown White Diamond – $150,000 paid out over eighteen payments (must achieve within 24 cycles)
• Triple Crown White Diamond – $500,000 paid out over twenty-four payments (must achieve within 36 cycles)

Cumulatively, the payments above add up to a million dollars.

Note that “a cycle” refers to a four-week period, with the timer starting once an affiliate qualifies for the first White Diamond payment (I believe each rank achieved resets the timer for that specific level).

Joining YOR Health

Basic affiliate membership with YOR Health is $50 and then $100 annually.

Two Business Sets are also available when affiliates sign up, costing $545.08 for the Promoter Set (plus $50 affiliate fee) and $1090.16 for the Entrepreneur Set (affiliate fee waived for first year).

Various products are bundled with both sets.

Conclusion

With a readily retailable product line and mostly retail orientated business focus, YOR Health seems to overall be a well-balanced MLM opportunity.

On the topic of retail I will state however that YOR Health are using a flawed retail definition.

As an Independent Representative (IR), you are eligible to purchase YOR Health products at the discounted Wholesale Price and resell the products to customers at Retail Price.

Whenever an affiliate purchases product this is not a retail sale, regardless of what they do with the product after purchase.

Retail sales are products purchased by retail customers, shipped out to them and paid with non-affiliate money. Affiliate purchases will appear as such on YOR Health’s revenue generation analysis and are simply not retail sales.

YOR Health’s flawed retail definition then leads to problematic statements like this:

Retail Product Volume (RPV) – The Product Volume from an IR’s product orders that are used for retail sale.

Naturally YOR Health consider the entirety of an affiliate’s product orders are retail, irrespective of whether or not the products are later resold (which is irrelevant in any event).

The YOR Health website appears to have online purchase capabilities so one would assume retail customers are able to purchase from there, in addition to placing orders with YOR Health affiliates themselves.

With that in mind, why YOR Health use a misleading definition of retail sales volume is a mystery.

With that out of the way, nothing really stood out in the product range (the MLM weight loss niche is pretty heavily saturated). The range offered was vast though and if you’re looking at changing up your diet or shedding pounds, YOR Health seem to have you covered.

On the business side of things the compensation plan seems well thought, with the only red flag I picked up on being the Business Sets and associated Fast Start Bonus.

Basically affiliates are paid to recruit new affiliates who purchase one of the two sets, with how many total sets they sell increasing the bonus paid out.

Albeit hardly sustainable, it’s still entirely possible for a YOR Health affiliate to sign up with an autoship order to meet monthly maintenance requirements, and then focus solely on the recruitment of new affiliates who also purchase Business Sets.

The Business Sets also introduce a “pay to play” element into the opportunity, by way of permitting an affiliate to effectively “purchase” the 2K Promoter rank:

Achieve the 2K Promoter rank by accumulat(ing) 2,000 GPV in your Placement Tree by purchasing a Business Set of 500 PV+ in a single transaction to retail and host parties AND accumulating the remainder 1,500 GPV from your downline organization.

The full 2000 GPV can be generated from the downline but the Business Sets are clearly marketed as a quick 500 PV knocked off the total required. And left unsaid is the fact that if an affiliate recruits three other affiliates who also purchase a Business Set (min 500 PV), they hit the 2K Promoter rank.

Why is this significant?

The above quoted text is taken from the Rising Star qualification section of the YOR Health compensation plan. Rising Star qualification is time sensitive, so the likelihood of an affiliate partially self-qualifying and then recruiting affiliates over making 1500+ GV with actual retail sales is a given.

The purchasing of Business Sets and focus on recruitment of affiliates who do the same all sort of play into eachother through the Fast Start and Rising Star Bonus. Some retail criteria (true retail volume, not this “we’ll count your affiliate purchases as retail whether you resell or not” garbage), would go a long way to lessening the Business Set red flags.

Other than that, I’ll touch on the YOR Health Income Disclosure, which, due to the FTC’s bust up of Mall Ventures is included at the beginning and end of the YOR Health compensation plan document.

As of the first quarter of 2014, 94% of YOR Health affiliates are spread out between the Promoter and 2K Promoter ranks. These affiliates receive average annual checks of $2129.40 (Promoter) and $8447.40 (2K Promoter).

That alone shouldn’t discourage you but I think as a prospective affiliate it’d be definitely worth asking your potential upline what their average income is each month. Especially (true) retail sales volume.

Be fair and factor in how long they’ve been with the company against the figure they provide you, but if the numbers don’t add up then take that for what it is.

Otherwise set your income expectations accordingly. Things don’t get interesting until the Emerald rank, which is still only an average annual income of $28,117.

And to get there you’re either going to have to recruit a hell of people and get them to purchase Business Sets, or build a solid retail foundation.

If you think you can market YOR Health’s product range and find an upline who has already demonstrated the products are marketable at a true retail level, then have at it.

Good luck!