Youlab Global Review: $399 or no affiliate discount

Youlab Global launched in mid 2015 and are based out of California in the US.

Heading up the company is Founder John de Vries, who also serves as Youlab Global’s CEO.

De Vries first popped up on BehindMLM’s radar as the CEO of Xseed Health back in mid 2014.

Xseed Health operated in the health and nutrition niche, with a heavy emphasis on affiliate recruitment. Upon recruitment of enough affiliates, Xseed Health offered a “commission guarantee”.

In addition to running Xseed Health, de Vries (right) has also been a master distributor for Nutrie and top-distributor with Monavie.

Today the Xseed Health website is offline, with the domain it was hosted on not in use. Whether Xseed Health collapsed or was shut down, its demise paved the way for de Vries to launch Youlab Global.

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

The Youlab Global Product Line

Youlab Global operate in the nutrition and skin care MLM niches. The company claims its

product formulations based on cutting-edge science and progressive ingredients turn ordinary products into the extraordinary.

• Infuse – “a comprehensive blend of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from fruits and vegetables”, retails @ $79.99 for a bottle of 112 capsules
• Slender – “combines a team of all star metabolic enhancers including Capsimax, Raspberry Ketones, Garcinia cambogia, Chromium, Green Coffee Bean, Resveratrol, Green Tea, African Mango, and of course B Vitamins”, retails @ $99.99 for a bottle of 168 capsules
• Xtreme – “healthier alternative to the plethora of sugar filled, high calorie weight management and energy products on the market”, retails @ $44.99 for a box of 24 single-serve packs
• Fresh – “a proprietary blend of vegetables, digestive enzymes, and superfoods” in drink format, retails @ $59.99 for a box of 28 single-serve packets
• Flawless – “experience the effects of a non-surgical face-lift that virtually eliminates expression lines for up to 8 hours”, retails @ $149.99 for a tube of cream
• Purify – “deeply cleanses to Purify skin and unclog pores with the healing properties of peptides, allantoin, essential oils and vitamins”, retails @ $45.99 for a 90ml tube
• Renew – “a gentle peeling gel that delivers to exfoliate dull, dead skin cleaning deep into pores”, retails @ $64.99 for a 30ml bottle
• Nourish – “a lightweight but potent collagen-fueled formula that delivers sensuous hydration”, retails @ $74.99 for a 30ml bottle
• Indulge – an “advanced anti-aging night cream”, retails @ $79.99 for a 30ml tub
• Silk – a “hydrating, fast acting body moisturizer”, retails @ $24.99 for a 200ml tube
• Clear – a “supercharged Nano Hydrosphere Complex based serum that helps to reduce acne, breakouts & blemishes”, retails @ $74.99 for 20ml tube

Various Youlab Global skin care products are available in a “core essential set” for $259.99. Sample sachets of their skin care products are also available ($49.99 to $69.99).

The Youlab Global Compensation Plan

The Youlab Global compensation plan pays affiliates for marketing products to retail customers.

Residual commissions are paid out via a binary compensation structure, with a matching generational bonus paid out through a unilevel team.

Youlab Global Affiliate Ranks

There are sixteen affiliate ranks within the Youlab Global compensation plan.

Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

• Member – sign up as a Youlab Global affiliate
• Active – generate and maintain at least 50 PV a month
• Pearl – maintain 50 PV a month, generate at least 300 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and recruit and maintain at least two active affiliates
• Ruby – maintain 50 PV a month, generate at least 1000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and recruit and maintain at least two active affiliates
• Sapphire – maintain 50 PV a month, generate at least 2000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and recruit and maintain at least two active affiliates for two out of four consecutive weeks
• Emerald – maintain 50 PV a month, generate at least 4000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and recruit and maintain at least four active affiliates (two on either side of the binary) for two out of four consecutive weeks
• Diamond – maintain 70 PV a month, generate at least 7500 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and maintain at least four active affiliates (one Sapphire on both sides of the binary) for three out of five consecutive weeks
• Black Diamond – maintain 70 PV a month, generate at least 12,000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and maintain at least four active affiliates (one Emerald on both sides of the binary) for three out of five consecutive weeks
• Yellow Diamond – maintain 70 PV a month, generate at least 20,000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and maintain at least four active affiliates (one Emerald on both sides of the binary) for five out of seven consecutive weeks
• Blue Diamond – maintain 70 PV a month, generate at least 40,000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and recruit and maintain at least six active affiliates (one Diamond on both sides of the binary) for five out of seven consecutive weeks
• Red Diamond – maintain 70 PV a month, generate at least 80,000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and maintain at least six active affiliates (one Black Diamond on both sides of the binary) for six out of eight consecutive weeks
• Royal – maintain 90 PV a month, generate at least 120,000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and recruit and maintain at least eight active affiliates (two Yellow Diamonds or higher on both sides of the binary) for six out of eight consecutive weeks
• Crown – maintain 90 PV a month, generate at least 250,000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and maintain at least eight active affiliates (two Yellow Diamonds or higher on both sides of the binary) for seven out of nine consecutive weeks
• Double Crown – maintain 90 PV a month, generate at least 500,000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and maintain at least eight active affiliates (two Yellow Diamonds or higher on both sides of the binary) for seven out of nine consecutive weeks
• Triple Crown – maintain 90 PV a month, generate at least 750,000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and maintain at least eight active affiliates (two Yellow Diamonds or higher on both sides of the binary) for seven out of nine consecutive weeks
• Global – maintain 90 PV a month, generate at least 1,000,000 GV in weekly lesser binary side volume and maintain at least eight active affiliates (two Yellow Diamonds or higher on both sides of the binary) for seven out of nine consecutive weeks

Note that recruitment maintenance requires an equal number of affiliates on either side of the binary.

Eg. If you have to recruit and maintain four affiliates, two must be on one side of the binary and two on the other.

PV stands for “Personal Volume” and is sales volume generated by retail orders and an affiliate’s own purchase of product.

GV stands for “Group Volume” and is PV sales volume generated by an affiliate’s entire downline.

Commission Qualification

In order to qualify for MLM commissions (residual), all Youlab Global affiliates must maintain at least 50 PV a month.

Retail Commissions

Youlab Global affiliates are paid retail commissions when they sell Youlab Global products to retail customers.

Retail commissions in Youlab Global are the difference between the affiliate price of the product(s) and the retail price paid by the customer.

If a business signs up to sell Youlab Global products, they receive a 50% discount. The affiliate who referred the business earns a 30% commission on their discounted product orders.

Customer Incentive Bonus

Youlab Global affiliates who generate retail sales are rewarded with a 1% to 2% bonus on their binary team volume.

Affiliates who generate between $250 and $499.99 in weekly retail sales receive a 1% binary bonus.

Affiliates who generate over $500 in weekly retail sales receive a 2% binary bonus.

Residual Commissions

Residual commissions in Youlab Global are paid out via a binary compensation structure.

A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):

Positions in the binary team are generated as new affiliates are recruited, with each new level of the binary holding twice as many positions as the previous level.

Theoretically a binary team can extend down an infinite depth. Width-wise a binary team is only limited by how many levels deep it is (2 positions on the first level, 4 on the second etc., etc.).

Binary commissions are paid out based on sales volume generated within a binary team. To qualify for binary commissions, both binary sides must have generated at least 300 GV in commissionable sales volume.

At the end of each week the Youlab Global system tallies up sales volume on both sides of the binary, with an affiliate receiving 10% to 20% of the commissionable volume of their weaker side.

• Pearl and Ruby – 10%
• Sapphire to Blue Diamond – 15%
• Red Diamond and higher – 20%

Volume paid out on is flushed from both binary sides, with a maximum 2 million GV carried over each week.

Matching Bonus

Youlab Global pay a matching bonus on binary commission earned by recruited affiliates. This bonus is paid out via 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):

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 2 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

The matching bonus is paid out according to generations, with a generation defined when a Sapphire or higher ranked affiliate is found in a unilevel leg.

The second generation is capped off when another Sapphire affiliate is found deeper in the leg, otherwise the generation extends down the full length of the leg.

Note that for the purpose of matching bonus calculations, generations in each unilevel leg are calculated independently of the others.

A Youlab Global affiliate is paid a match on up to six generations, determined by their rank:

• Sapphire – 5% on the first generation
• Emerald – 5% on the first and second generations
• Diamond – 5% on the first to third generations
• Black Diamond – 10% on the first generation and 5% on the second and third
• Blue Diamond – 10% on the first generation and 5% on the second to fourth generations
• Red Diamond – 10% on the first generation and 5% on the second to fifth generations
• Royal – 10% on the first generation, 5% on the second to fifth generations and 1% on the sixth generation
• Crown – 10% on the first generation, 5% on the second to fifth generations and 2% on the sixth generation
• Double Crown – 10% on the first generation, 5% on the second to fifth generations and 3% on the sixth generation
• Triple Crown – 10% on the first generation, 5% on the second to fifth generations and 4% on the sixth generation
• Global – 10% on the first generation and 5% on the second to sixth generations

Shopping Spree Purchase Bonus

The Shopping Spree Purchase bonus is made up of 35% of the net profit of a $399 product order, made by either a retail customer or recruited affiliate.

The 35% profit is paid out down three levels of recruitment as follows:

• you as the immediate affiliate receive 50% of the 35% profit
• your upline (the affiliate who recruited you) receives 30% of 35% (must e Pearl rank or higher) and
• their upline (the affiliate who recruited your upline) receives the remaining 20% (must be Sapphire or higher rank)

Rank Achievement Bonus

Upon qualifying at the following Youlab Global affiliate ranks, the corresponding Rank Achievement Bonuses are paid out:

• Sapphire – $100 cash
• Emerald – $200 cash
• Diamond – $1000 cash
• Black Diamond – $2500 cash
• Yellow Diamond – $2500 and a Mercedes-Benz CLA250 two-year lease or $10,000 cash
• Blue Diamond – $5000 and a Mercedes-Benz E350 two-year lease or $15,000 cash
• Red Diamond – $30,000 cash
• Royal – Mercedes-Benz SL400 two-year lease and $20,000 cash
• Crown – $50,000 cash
• Double Crown – Mercedes-Benz S550 two-year lease and $40,000 cash
• Triple Crown – $150,000 cash
• Global – $250,000 cash

Lifestyle Bonus

The Lifestyle Bonus is a weekly bonus (paid out monthly) that rewards Youlab Global affiliates for qualifying at and maintaining Sapphire or higher ranks:

• Sapphire – $70 a week
• Emerald – $100 a week
• Diamond – $140 a week
• Black Diamond – $280 a week
• Yellow Diamond – $420 a week
• Blue Diamond – $560 a week
• Red Diamond or higher – $700 a week

Joining Youlab Global

Affiliate membership with Youlab Global requires a $399 purchase of product (a 30% discount is applied to the order), or paying a $19.99 application fee.

In addition to initial outlay, signing up with a $399 product order also qualifies an affiliate for 20% off subsequent product orders.

Affiliates who sign up by paying $19.99 must pay full retail on their product orders.

Finally all Youlab Global affiliates must also pay a $16.99 monthly fee. Signing up with a $399 product order sees the first month fee waived.

Conclusion

Although not a complete reboot, much of Xseed Health has been recycled in Youlab Global.

Most of this is evident in Youlab Global’s products, of which Slender, Infuse, Fresh and Xtreme have been re-branded.

In spirit it’s fair to say Youlab Global is the successor of Xseed Health with a reworked compensation plan.

On the compensation side of things Youlab Global is an improvement over Xseed Health, however several red flags are evident.

The first is the weird affiliate signup options. Spend $399 and get a 20% wholesale discount for life, or spend $19.99 and pay full retail. Those are some of the worst affiliate signup options I’ve seen, with the push for getting affiliates to spend $399 embarrassingly obvious.

This plays into Shopping Spree Purchase Bonus, which if it’s mostly paid out on affiliate’s spending $399 or more, is a defacto recruitment commission.

With monthly PV requirements in place, it’s possible that a large number of Youlab Global affiliates bought in for $399, recruited others who did the same and then so long as everyone maintains a minimum monthly autoship, commissions are paid out.

This would make Youlab Global a chain-recruitment scheme.

The counter to this is a $100 affiliate autoship discount, upon signing up three retail customers to autoship ($100 min). The binary bonus of 1% to 2% was also a nice touch.

Ultimately however a question remains over whether Youlab Global affiliates are qualifying on affiliate volume or that of retail customers.

Retail volume qualifiers would eliminate this grey area, however as it stands Youlab Global affiliates can qualify either on retail volume or their own purchase of product. That, coupled with recruited affiliates doing the same, is a problem.

As a prospective Youlab Global affiliate, you can ascertain whether or not this is the case by asking your potential upline how they qualify for commissions each month. Is it retail volume or autoship?

Then ask them how many affiliate’s they’ve recruited on autoship and compare that to their monthly retail order volume.

If you find a healthy mix, then that’s a good indication that retail is alive and well in Youlab Global. Mostly affiliate volume however, and you’re probably looking at recruitment being the main driver behind the opportunity.

Trouble is, even with healthy retail, that brings us back to the affiliate signup options.

$399 for a wholesale discount that is otherwise a staple in MLM compensation plan?

Punishing affiliates who just want to sign up and work the business opportunity is reason enough itself to approach Youlab Global with caution.