Thursday, December 3, 2015

USANA Distributors Overcharged For Product In Order To Fund Pyramid Scheme

UNITED STATES 

USANA ASSOCIATE PRICE LIST
VS
NBTY EQUIVALENT PRICE LIST



See what USANA products could cost if manufactured by a non-MultiLevel Marketing company.

http://www.mlmpyramid.com/USANA%20Distributors%20Overcharged%20To%20Fund%20Pyramid%20Scheme.pdf
View the PDF version of this article: 



By using USANA’s cost to manufacture each product and applying that same figure to NBTY’s costs, you can see how much more USANA charges it’s distributors for their products, which is primarily due to USANA’s very high distributor incentive expense (distributor commissions and bonuses). This also eliminates quality, potency, and pharmaceutical GMP differences the two companies might have by using the same manufacturing cost. See full detailed explanation at the bottom of this article.


USANA DISTRIBUTOR PRICE represents the discounted price USANA gives their distributors. (10% below preferred pricing)

NBTY DISTRIBUTOR PRICE represents the equivalent price if NBTY manufactured the same product instead.

USANA 2014 10K SEC Filing – Average Cost of Sales: 17.81%
NBTY 2014 10K SEC Filing – Average Cost of Sales: 54.29%
 
Approximated NBTY DISTRIBUTOR PRICE = (USANA DISTRIBUTOR PRICE * 17.81%) / 54.29%



ITEM # PRODUCT USANA DISTRIBUTOR PRICE NBTY DISTRIBUTOR PRICE
Approximated
ESSENTIALS 107 MyHealthPak Custom Custom * 0.328%
100 HealthPak $108.00 $35.43
101 Essentials $44.06 $14.45
101 Essentials Kosher $44.06 $14.45
101 Essentials Green $44.06 $14.45
102 Chelated Mineral $14.81 $4.86
103 Mega Antioxidant $34.16 $11.21
106 Mega Antioxidant without Vitamin K $34.16 $11.21
OPTIMIZERS 109 Vitamin D $17.96 $5.89
110 Proflavanol C100 $35.96 $11.80
120 Active Calcium $17.06 $5.60
121 Active Calcium Chewable $22.46 $7.37
122 BiOmega $20.21 $6.63
123 CoQuinone 30 $35.06 $11.50
126 Ginkgo-PS $29.65 $9.73
128 Palmetto Plus $22.01 $7.22
129 PhytoEstrin $18.86 $6.19
131 Procosa $27.90 $9.15
134 Visionex $28.31 $9.29
141 Pure Rest $14.36 $4.71
143 Booster C 600 $28.31 $9.29
DIGESTION/DETOX 108 Probiotic $23.36 $7.66
111 Digestive Enzyme $26.96 $8.84
135 Hepasil DTX $30.56 $10.02
226 Fibergy Plus $26.96 $8.84
MOTHER/CHILD 104 Body Rox $20.25 $6.64
105 Usanimals $12.56 $4.12
144 BiOmega Jr. $15.26 $5.00
151 BabyCare Prenatal Essentials $44.06 $14.45
165 Children’s Complete Duo $22.46 $7.37
NUTRIMEAL 209 Nutrimeal Free, Protein Drink Mix $26.96 $8.84
202 Nutrimeal Chocolate Whey, Protein Drink Mix $26.96 $8.84
210 Nutrimeal Dutch Chocolate, Protein Drink Mix $26.96 $8.84
211 Nutrimeal French Vanilla, Protein Drink Mix $26.96 $8.84
212 Nutrimeal Wild Strawberry, Protein Drink Mix $26.96 $8.84
SNACKS & BARS 236 Peanutty Bliss, Protein Snack $27.86 $9.14
235 Choco Chip, Protein Snack $27.86 $9.14
237 Fudge Delite, Protein Snack $27.86 $9.14
238 Berry Nutty™ Nutrition Bar $35.96 $11.80
RESET 251 5-Day RESET Kit $99.86 $32.76
251 RESET Kit 4-Pack $346.50 $113.68
ACCESSORIES 752 BlenderBottle $5.36 $1.76
754 Pedometer $13.46 $4.41
291 Pedometer / BlenderBottle Duo $16.16 $5.30
REV3 138 Rev3 Energy $28.76 $9.43
139 Rev3 Energy Surge Pack $28.76 $9.43
139 Rev3 Energy Surge Pack $47.70 $15.65
SKIN CARE 300 Gentle Daily Cleanser $15.26 $5.00
301 Hydrating Toner $12.56 $4.12
302 Daytime Protective Emulsion w/ SPF 15 $31.73 $10.41
303 Night Renewal CrĆØme $30.15 $9.89
304 Serum Intensive $35.33 $11.59
305 Perfecting Essence $41.63 $13.66
306 Eye Nourisher $20.66 $6.78
307 Rice Bran Polisher $13.46 $4.41
308 Nutritious CrĆØme Masque $15.26 $5.00
BODY & HAIR CARE 311 Energizing Shower Gel $14.36 $4.71
753 Shower Gel Pump $0.23 $0.07
312 Revitalizing Shampoo $14.36 $4.71
313 Nourishing Conditioner $15.08 $4.95
314 Firming Body Nourisher $19.94 $6.54
315 Intensive Hand Therapy $12.15 $3.99
391 Natural Loofah Glove $4.05 $1.33
391 Body Polishing Glove $3.56 $1.17
399 Natural Whitening Toothpaste $7.47 $2.45
760 Mirror $4.95 $1.62
COMBINATION PACKS 350 Deluxe Pack w/ Perfecting Essence $145.67 $47.79
350 Deluxe Pack w/ Serum Intensive $145.67 $47.79
350 Deluxe Pack 4-Pack w/ Perfecting Essence $382.50 $125.49
350 Deluxe Pack 4-Pack w/ Serum Intensive $382.50 $125.49
351 SensƩ Basic Pack $72.90 $23.92
351 SensƩ Basic 4-Pack $190.80 $62.60
354 SensƩ Hair & Body Pack $67.95 $22.29
360 SensƩ Shower Pack $37.80 $12.40

 
By calculating USANA's estimated cost to manufacture each of their products, we can have NBTY manufacture the same exact product at USANA's estimated cost and determine what a distributor could pay if purchased from NBTY rather than USANA. This reveals how USANA distributors are paying way too much for USANA product so USANA can fund their pyramid scheme (see associate incentive expense below).


Example:
USANA HealthPak sold to their distributors for $108
It costs USANA approximately $19.24 to manufacture the HealthPak ($108 * 17.81%)
Now have NBTY manufacture the same exact product and have it cost them $19.24 to manufacture
NBTY could sell the HealthPak to their distributors for only an estimated $35.43 ($19.24 / 54.29%)



Why should USANA distributors be overcharged and left holding the bag?


USANA
10-K 2014 SEC Filings
Dollar value in thousands
Value
% of Net Sales
Net Sales
$790,471
100.00%
Cost of Sales
$140,794
17.81%
Associate Incentives (Commissions & Bonuses)
$349,044
44.16%
Selling, General and Administrative (SG&A)
$184,531
23.34%
Advertising (part of SG&A)
$4,942
0.63%
Research and Development (part of SG&A)
$5,128
0.65%
Earnings from Operation
$116,102
14.69%



NBTY
10-K 2014 SEC Filings
Dollar value in thousands
Value
% of Net Sales
Net Sales
$3,205,778
100.00%
Cost of Sales
$1,740,417
54.29%
Advertising, Promotion and Catalog
$202,754
6.32%
Selling, General and Administrative (SG&A)
$952,533
29.71%
Goodwill & Intangible Asset Impairment Charges
$207,334
6.47%
Earnings from Operation
$102,740
3.20%

Detailed Explanation:
As a distributor, your job is to retail product to customers and the reward is a decent profit margin on the sale. However, USANA has chosen to make commissions and bonuses (distributor incentives) the primary reward. USANA pays commission to distributors who have generated "Group Sales Volume" points from product purchases made by either preferred customers or downline distributors. As a result of USANA's compensation plan, USANA pays out 43.5% of their sales as distributor incentives, which is reported in USANA 2014 10-K SEC filings. To put in perspective, the HealthPak sells to USANA distributors for $108. From that, $46.98 is used to pay commissions, which does not go toward the distributor who retails product, but rather primarily to those with the largest downlines.



This enormous expense forces USANA to drastically raise the price their products are sold to their distributors to the point distributors cannot realistically retail the product, not to mention preferred customers get the product at the same price distributors get it. This causes distributors to focus on selling a business opportunity and recruit new distributors rather than selling product. In order for distributors to participate in USANA’s compensation plan or contests, you must personally purchase over $100 worth of product every four weeks. Unfortunately, even though USANA pays out almost half of their net sales as distributor incentives, the vast majority of distributors never earn a profit and only a few at the top of the distributor network hierarchy make enough to recognize a profit. The result is a pyramid scheme. The more distributors in one's downline, the more commission one is likely to receive. Because distributors are required to personally purchase product, commissions are almost guaranteed to those who joined earlier and are higher up the chain.

Now that you have a basic understanding of the distributor incentives as a percentage of USANA's net sales, we must now look at USANA's average cost to manufacture the product. This is known as the "cost of sales" and is reported in USANA's 2014 10-K SEC filings as 17.81%, which consists of expenses related to raw materials, labor, quality assurance, and overhead costs directly associated with the production and distribution of the product. So a $108 HealthPak is estimated to cost USANA $19.24 to produce. In other words, USANA sells the HealthPak to their distributors at 5.6 times their cost to manufacture and produce that HealthPak.

In contrast, dietary supplement manufacturer NBTY is not a multilevel marketing company. According to their 2014 10-K SEC filings, NBTY’s cost of sales represents 54.29% of the net sales. As a result, NBTY sells product to their distributors at only 1.8 times their cost to manufacture. One glaring difference is that they do not have a very large distributor incentive like USANA does. If the same HealthPak product was manufactured at NBTY at the same cost of $19.24 as it did with USANA, then NBTY would be able to sell it to their distributors for an estimated $35.43 instead of USANA's $108 price tag.

By removing the focus of recruiting an endless chain of distributors (in what I believe is a massive pyramid scheme) by greatly reducing or eliminating altogether the distributor incentives, product sold to USANA distributors could be much more affordable and allow distributors to retail the product for a substantial profit margin. In fact, if USANA distributors purchased the HealthPak for $35.43, they could resell it for a 100% profit margin and it would still be much cheaper than the $108 USANA distributors currently pay.

This document shows all USANA products sold in the United States, the price USANA distributors pay for each product from USANA (MultiLevel Marketing company), and the estimated price distributors could pay if the same product was instead manufactured and distributed by NBTY (non-MultiLevel Marketing company).

74 comments:

  1. You are being totally ridiculous now! You talk like someone who has no idea how distribution channels work.
    I own an online retail store, I buy one particular item from a wholesaler for $40, and sell it online for $129.99, I made about $10-$15 for each sold after all the fees, shipping and overhead. I bet it costs the wholesaler about $20 to buy from the manufacturer who probably have the item made in China for less than $10. However, remember both the manufacturer and wholesaler also have expenses and overhead.
    Direct selling is simply a different business model, different ways to distribute cost and profit. No matter what, an end user is one who is paying full retail price in either model. At least in the direct selling model, there is a possibility that one could pay less if one started referring others to buy the products. I am not into direct selling, but I see no difference in terms of how much it will cost to the end users.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. USANA is the manufacturer. USANA makes the HealthPak for $19. USANA sells it to their distributors for $108. Now USANA distributors have to somehow retail the overpriced product. USANA suggested retail for the HealthPak is $132.

      If I use YOUR example and apply it to USANA, then USANA should sell the HealthPak to their distributors for $35.43. Now the USANA distributor would be able to sell it to retail customers for $100 and make $64.57 in gross revenue. However, this is NOT what is happening.

      Come on now, you have to see the problem here. Do you think USANA distributors should be paying $108 or do you think they should be paying $35.43 and be able to make a substantial profit margin?

      Delete
    2. LOL. I suggest you just be quiet because you are making a fool out of yourself and losing credibility to anyone who do know business and have done business (not mlm) themselves.

      What you just say to the above poster is comparing apple to oranges. I can say the same thing. Do you know the clothes that you wear can only cost $2 dollars to make. But the sell them for $50 (25x)? Same thing with cell phone cases. They can sell them at wholesale for $0.10. But reselling it to you, the retail consumer for $15 (150x).

      So I can apply the same concept that you use. $19 healthpak to make, selling them for $475 which is 25x. How about using the cell phone cases example $19 to make, selling them for $2850 ($19 x 150). Wow, usana retail right now using the SAME principle you apply to the above poster is a bargain. Thank you.

      Also, it doesn't matter the cost. In business, it is WHAT THE CONSUMER WILL PAY. That means even if it is 100x or 1000x more than it cost, it will not matter if they are willing to pay because they found the benefits FIRSTHAND themselves as oppose to second hand like some people.

      Btw, posting here again doesn't help you. You can post it like this for the next 15 years until you grow old while usana spreads. You want to do something about it? well why don't you post flyers and sent this time consuming report that you made out to social media. Otherwise, your time consuming research will go to waste. You can stop 1, but cannot stop 100. Oh, give it to the government so they can stop usana by reading this and using this as a prove. smh. Business people will laugh you out of court.

      Delete
    3. In response to "What you just say to the above poster is comparing apple to oranges. I can say the same thing. Do you know the clothes that you wear can only cost $2 dollars to make. But the sell them for $50 (25x)? Same thing with cell phone cases. They can sell them at wholesale for $0.10. But reselling it to you, the retail consumer for $15 (150x)."

      USANA distributors are the wholesalers, not the retail customer. When you figure that out, you'll understand.

      This has obviously got you fired up because I have clearly demonstrated how USANA is ripping their distributors off by charging them 3 times more than they should. NBTY is clearly the better manufacturer for distributors because they allow their distributors to make a substantial profit margin. USANA on the other hand runs a pyramid scheme where only the top 1% of distributors make a profit, and the only way they can fund it is by overcharging the distributors (wholesalers) so 43.5% of the net sales can enrich the top 1%.

      Delete
    4. LOL. I'm laughing at your stubbornness where even if the government say Usana is not a scam, you will say it is. In fact, even if usana is the last thing on earth that can save you, you will not try it because you are so opininated. But that's ok, it can stir up arguments here and I like to see how much of a fool you are wasting your time with this and getting nowhere after 10 years still and you are still doing this? come, on.

      I don't even care if I'm in mlm or not. You think you are the king of the world and think you know what you are talking about because of your 'analysis', which you wasted time on because it will get you nowhere, and which is bias to start with because you never liked usana. You are proud of your 'analysis' because you think you can point out the flaws of a company that it's a pyramid scheme when it doesn't prove ANYTHING. Sorry to say, you are wasting your time, like all these years. What got me 'fired up' is because a person who doesn't know a thing about business is trying to tell others a company is a scam because it's overcharging a product? Come,on!? ROFLMAO.

      All business people will scoff at you base on that premise. Like I said before, many people and I can just kill off your time consuming analysis just based on a simple logic which even you still cannnot answered because it's so true. "It doesn't matter the cost. In business, it is WHAT THE CONSUMER WILL PAY. That means even if it is 100x or 1000x more than it cost, it will not matter if they are willing to pay because they found the benefits FIRSTHAND themselves as oppose to second hand like some people."

      The opposite is also true. what is the opposite? Here, let me spell it out for you since doesn't seem like you understand business and too opininated to even try to open your mind to understand. If your product (ANY PRODUCT not just usana) have no demand, no one will pay for it even if it is only double the cost like NBTY retail to cost ratio. In fact, even if healthpak (or ANY PRODUCT) cost $19 and sell it for $20, but no one wants to buy it, then the company will go down and out of business.

      Get that into your stubborn skull. Now YOU are all fired up because that is the truth and you cannot handle the truth!

      Delete
    5. In response to "What got me 'fired up' is because a person who doesn't know a thing about business is trying to tell others a company is a scam because it's overcharging a product?"

      Not just because USANA's overcharging their DISTRIBUTORS for the product. USANA overcharges their distributors so USANA can fund their pyramid scheme. There is essentially NO DEMAND for the product. There is only demand to participate in a money making scheme. And in order to participate in this scheme, distributors are forced to personally purchase 100 or 200 volume points (depending on how many "business centers" they have) worth of product every 4 weeks (13 times a year). If USANA did not force its distributors to personally purchase product in order to be paid commission on downline sales or preferred customers, then USANA would go out of business because none of the USANA distributors would bother purchasing any product because they have no customers to resell it to.

      91% of USANA's net sales are from their distributor's personal purchases. The product is too expensive to resell for a profit margin, so there is no retailing going on. Also, preferred customers get the product at the same price distributors get it. So there is no chance for a markup.

      Why do you think USANA distributors should pay 3 times more than they should for the product? You see, I am on the side of the distributor while you are on the side of the pyramid scheme. If USANA ended their pyramid scheme, all 100% of USANA distributors would be able to make a profit by purchasing product at a MUCH CHEAPER price and reselling the product for a very high profit margin. However, USANA runs a pyramid scheme and only 1% of distributors make a profit. USANA wins and millions of distributors lose. You like that???

      Delete
    6. Totally Ridiculous Leah

      It would appear form you example that the Watchdog is right. You consider the Usana associates to be the retail customer.

      I would never pay what Usana is charging for the pills. All the materials come from China. In fact, if you look at the sales data, Usana has become a China company. If Usana is doing it with out an MLM in China, then why can't it do the same in the US?

      I hope you show your posts to your down-line so they can see how they are being ripped off.

      Do you know who was put in your up-line today?

      Delete
    7. There is essentially NO DEMAND for the product

      The moment you said this, I stopped reading whatever the rest you have to say because your credibility is 100% lost because statement is false and bias. Therefore whatever credibility you have on your time consuming analysis is also lost.

      1) Autoshipment is common for any online company. Take a look at Xtended life and Proactiv and other cosmetic companies. They all have autoshipments. Prefer clients in USANA have the some thing and they are not even distributors.

      2) you ASSume there is no demand for the product when there IS a demand for the product. I for one uses the product and I know some are also buying it from the same distributor WITHOUT BECOMING A DISTRIBUTOR. A few are prefer clients but some others are not distributors nor signed up as in you cannot even track them as they simply BUY it from a distributor. Plus they don't even pay full retail price. I pay the price that the distributors pay because the distributor gets points which in turn earns money from the company. She can make additional bucks off of me by making me pay the full retail, but if that is the case, I can go to another distributor and they are very willing to charge me the lowest possible price - the distributor's price.

      Do you really think if there is no legitimate demand, the company can exist PUBLICLY for 20+ years and still not get caught? If there is no demand, no matter what scheme you are running, no one will buy and it will trickle up to the 'pyramid' and collapse. Why do you think even people who does prefer clients only can make a decent living... because there is a demand for the product. They don't have to be force to purchase every month because they can skip 1 or 2 months and still be fine.

      Like I said whatever pro-usana anyone mentions, you will shut your ears even if usana claims 1+1=2, which by then you will say it's false too. I was neutral until you start making claims which doesn't have any credibility and based on ASSumption. I am suspecting that you are so anti-usana because you probably lost a lot of money from usana in th pass because of you lack the basic business skill of all which is call selling and you like many others blame the company instead of yourself for your gullibility and simply join and think it was a get rich quick scheme. ouch the truth hurts.

      Delete
    8. AnonymousDecember 14, 2015 at 10:42 AM

      Reading your responses made me felt like you were butt hurt. LOL! I agree with USANA Watchdog all the way! :)

      Delete
    9. 1) Preferred Customers account for only 9% of all of USANA's sales. The remaining was purchased by the distributors.

      2) You wrote "Plus they don't even pay full retail price. I pay the price that the distributors pay because the distributor gets points which in turn earns money from the company. She can make additional bucks off of me by making me pay the full retail, but if that is the case, I can go to another distributor and they are very willing to charge me the lowest possible price - the distributor's price."

      You just proved my entire point! USANA distributors have ZERO gross profit margin on retail sales because nobody will pay more for the product than the distributor's cost. Also, the distributor you buy the product from (at their own cost) does not generate any points for them in which they can earn commission from. They can only earn commission from their downline distributor's own personal purchases or from their own preferred customers. 99% of USANA distributors do not make a profit because of USANA's compensation plan which primarily rewards distributors who recruit more distributors.

      I should have been more clear as I have stated in the past, There is NO DEMAND for the product "At its current price". The only reason USANA distributors purchase the product is because it is a requirement in order to participate in the compensation plan. About 90% of USANA's distributors and preferred customers since 1992 have stopped purchasing the product. You should ask those millions of people why they stopped purchasing the product. It is overpriced. The "DEMAND" is to participate in a pyramid scheme and the product is simply the TOKEN to play the game. If USANA did not make this a requirement for its distributors to personally purchase product in order to collect commission, then USANA would go bankrupt, the top distributors would not make any more commission off their downline, and the pyramid would collapse.

      Again, thank you for proving my point - retail customers will not pay more than what the distributor's pay. Distributors pay too much for the product so the top 1% of distributors can earn most of the commissions.

      Delete
    10. Again, thank you for proving my point - retail customers will not pay more than what the distributor's pay. Distributors pay too much for the product so the top 1% of distributors can earn most of the commissions.

      You are welcome. But then again, it doesn't prove ANYTHING. If you are able to get something cheaper than the actual retail price, won't you do it? ANYONE WOULD UNLESS THEY ARE STUPID. Look at amazon website, many products are sold for less than the MSRP. How about iphone or other electronics. If they can get it for cheaper than the original price even it's 10 dollars, they would do they same..but yet, some will still pay for the full price. The saying goes, if you can find a way to pay for a cheaper price, why pay for the full price. duh.

      Let me teach you something about business again. Businesses try to gain an edge in various ways and price deduction is one of them. Why else is there are thing call 'black friday'. Your validation why no one will pay for the full price is weak. Try another argument.

      Again you must feel very happy because you thought you were right, which is an illusion. But doesn't matter. I rather make something like $3000 per week than rather than being right and earning nothing.

      Delete
    11. Reading your responses made me felt like you were butt hurt. LOL! I agree with USANA Watchdog all the way! :)

      LOL. You are right, I am butthurt..from sitting on my butt all day because I don't have to work like most people since my passive income is around $2500 per week from usana. Yes, you read that's right.. per week without doing much.

      Distributors pay too much for the product so the top 1% of distributors can earn most of the commissions

      Yeah, that 1% got to the top because it's only 1% (1 out of 100) who is willing to put the work in constantly. They got there not from 1990s when the company started. They got there 6 years ago... some failed and some made. That 1% who made it had made it stick. That 1% never quit. That 1% despite of despite watchdoggie's pointless anti-usana blog still continue on because they thought about it and realize doggie doesn't know what s/he is talking about and probably lost a lot of money doing it in the first place so s/he feels bitter. That 1% persevered. That 1% also got lucky. It's also that 1% who is able to get some doctor (MDs) to sign on (no kidding).

      Like I say doggie is looking from the outside-in still.

      Also the fact that usana is so big, I highly doubt you can shut it down. In fact , all the distributors will cry foul. In fact, the top ones will get compensated nicely if it does ever shut down, so either way doggie loses and the distributors win.

      Oh, yeah don't use Vemma as that is a small rookie company so it's weak. Don't use herballife as an example because herbal life is STILL EXISTING. How about AMWAY, WFG, they are still here!!!! Until herballife or others big ones gets shut down, it's still game on. Plus, like I said, if it does get shut down, the top and other distributors will get paid nicely for any lawsuit or anything so you are actually helping them.







      Delete
  2. Let's do some simple math, if I buy an item for $40, sell it for $129.99. but after all the costs and overhead, I make $10, profit margin is 25%?(And, this is very good profit margin, for most items, if I could get 5% profit margin, I am pretty happy)

    In a direct selling model, for example for USANA, retail difference is 10%, but you also make 20% of the smaller side of the accumulated sales volume in all your business centers, so the potential accumulated profit is well above 25%! And, you do not need to have a warehouse, very little overhead or other expenses that a traditional business model ie. I spent a lot of money advertise to drive traffics to my web stores, I paid third party payment processor in order to take credit cards, I paid affiliate agencies who recruit affiliates to promote my products, the lists can go on. I moved slightly more than 1 million of products through my web store annually, but the overall profit margin is hardly 5%. My friend who moves 1/4 million worth of USANA products through her business centers and teams is making more than I do. Maybe the math is not obvious to you? But if you ever own a business or have some basic business experience, you will know what I am talking about.:-)

    Go read the financial reports of all the major retailers, 5% profit margin is actually pretty good to have, Walmart CEO will pee in his pant if the profit margin jumps to 5% next quarter! https://ycharts.com/companies/WMT/profit_margin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment was sitting in the SPAM folder for many days. When a link is put at the end of a comment, blogspot's automated spam filter puts it into their spam box. If your comment does not appear after a day, then email me so I can retrieve it from the spam box.

      I answer all of this in a later reposted comment further down the page, dated on December 17.

      Delete
  3. The assumption you made that business should be altruistic, selling their products at a price you deem reasonable is totally ridiculous if not foolish.

    As an end user, the price you pay include what were paid through the different distribution channels, either you pay the manufacturer, distributors, authorised dealers and retailers in a traditional business models, or you pay the manufacturer and distributors in the direct selling model, or you pay the cost that the franchisees paid in a franchise business model. An LV bag doesn't cost less because it's through the traditional business model, a McD burger doesn't cost less because it's through a franchise business model, why would you expect any difference for any products through any distributing channels in any business models? (BTW, I think LV bags are over priced, should I start a blog screaming LV is a scam? :-))


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    Replies
    1. Leah,

      Every since ex-associate and ex-preferred customer I have contacted have ALL said they stopped buying USANA because it is too expensive.

      USANA is ripping off their distributors by selling it to them at an already high price. They do this in order to fund the commissions and bonuses paid primarily to the top 1% of USANA distributors. As stated in their SEC filings, about 43.5% of their net sales represents the amount USANA spends on "distributor incentives", which are the commissions and bonuses. THAT extremely high distributor incentive IS the money used for the pyramid scheme. The MAJORITY of USANA associates who are participating in USANA's compensation plan are LOSING MONEY. Only a very small amount of distributors make any profit. Those that are making a profit do so because USANA charges its distributors a very high price for the product and uses almost half of the money USANA distributors spends on the product and gives it to the top 1% of distributors who have ENORMOUS downlines filled with tens of thousands of distributors. Do you know what a pyramid scheme is? In order to fund a pyramid scheme with product, you have to make the product overly expensive and use a large percentage of the money earned to fund the scam.

      Because the price of the product is so high, USANA distributors are unable to retail the product for any profit margin.

      Bottom line: USANA rewards those who recruit more distributors and punishes those who are actually attempting to "resell" or "retail" the product.

      Delete
    2. Just out of curiosity, what kind of profit margin do you think is reasonable for USANA distributors?

      Like I said, I own an online retail store, I push slightly more than 1 million dollars worth of merchadise through it. My overall profit margin is hardly 5%. I have to pay to advertise, affiliate networks, shipping, employees and warehouse, all these are not required for USANA distributors! Supposedly if a USANA distributor is able to push 1/4 millions worth of products, he/she will be making a lot more money than what I did in my online store. You aren't talking to people who have the business acumen and know what it takes to move product. The same, I would not talk to people who failed in USANA business for business advice.

      Delete
    3. Leah,

      Okay, let's say you purchase 1/4 million dollars worth of USANA product. What are you going to try and resell the product for? You can't sell it for anything more than what the USANA Preferred Customers pay. So your Gross Profit Margin is ZERO percent. How much money would you make?

      BTW, USANA distributors also have expenses such as advertising, shipping, travel, time, etc...



      You claim you sold slightly more than $1 million and your net profit margin is hardly 5%. If you don't mind me asking, what is your average cost for the product versus your average retail selling price? I'd be interested to know what your gross profit margin is.

      Delete
    4. You are wrong there. You don't purchase and resell USANA products, it's direct selling for god sake. If you move 1/4 millions of USANA products through your preferred customers, team members and team members's preferred customers, you can get paid at least 10% or 20% or more in commissions, if you don't know how, you should really study it. (key word is multiple business centers and re-entry) I am considering joining USANA after studying about it. :-)

      My research tells me that USANA is elected as the Best Company in Network Marketing by MLM insider for consecutive 17 years. I supposed the network marketers know something we don't know?

      I am just a small fly online retailer because I am doing it from home while raising a family. I already mentioned above and in the post that you didn't publish, I bought one of the items for $40 and sold it for $129.99. I sold 120+ different widgets. The average cost of my products are about $15, average sales price is $60. The gross profit is between 15-30%. My nett profit is hardly 5%.

      And that's pretty good, so I heard.

      The CEO of any major retailers will pee in his/her pants if nett profit margin hits 5%. Here is Walmart for your reference: https://ycharts.com/companies/WMT/profit_margin

      Delete
    5. zamm... you just punch watchiedoggie in the tummy. Like I said and can read from the respond and post, doggie doesn't know a REAL THING about business. Even if usana have provent that 1+1=2, doggie still will find an insane way to say 1+1=3. Plus, I can crunch any number into a maze and it will still look good too for usana. She probably quit after joining usana after lots of money spent because of it and now have this bitterness.

      If doggie really want to do something about it, s/he can sent whatever his or her analysis to the government and see if the government will take action so the government will shut down usana. In fact, the quickest way for usana to get shut down by the government if something negative make public news about the company like there carcinogens or poisons found in usana product etc. But there is none and all news about the company is good news including the stock.

      Until then it's all noise with no cigar and doggie losing the war big...as usual. Will be like another 10 years and still blogging about it.. sooner or later even this site will get take off the net instead of the facebook page couple years ago.

      Delete
    6. Leah,

      In response to "You don't purchase and resell USANA products, it's direct selling for god sake."

      Oh really?? Don't let the FTC hear you tell people that if you decide to join and sign people up with that type of nonsense. MLM company VEMMA was recently shut down by the FTC. Here is what the FTC stated in their complaint regarding Vemma that relates to the sale of the product: https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/150826vemmacmptf.pdf

      61. Affiliates do not primarily earn bonuses for actual sales of Vemma Products. Instead, Vemma rewards Affiliates for personally purchasing Vemma Products to maintain bonus eligibility, and for recruiting others who likewise purchase Vemma Products to maintain bonus eligibility. Overall, the key determinate of an Affiliate's income, and thus the activity incentivized by the compensation plan, is the recruitment of Affiliates into the Affiliate's downline teams, who then recruit other Affiliates, and so on.

      62. In fact, the likelihood of Affiliates earning profits on retail sales is minimal. While Vemma states that Affiliates may keep profits they earn by selling Vemma Products, Vemma offers no meaningful discounts or incentives to encourage such behavior. The company also severely restricts Affiliates from selling Vemma Products, expressly prohibiting sales at business or retail outlets or offices, flea markets, swap meets, garage sales, home shopping networks, and online stores or auction sites, including eBay and Craigslist.

      63. In sum, unlike legitimate multilevel marketing businesses, Defendants reward Affiliates for recruiting and for purchasing products to maintain bonus eligibility rather than for selling products to ultimate-user consumers.


      So I have demonstrated that USANA's products are overpriced and distributors are unable to resell the product for any gross profit margin. Another individual who buys USANA product even admitted on this blog recently that they buy it from a distributor at their cost, claming the distributor just wants to points instead (even though those points do not pay commission to that distributor, but instead to all their upline distributors). You now claim that USANA distributors are not suppose to be "reselling" the product. Yet, according to the FTC, that is a huge no no and lends credence to the notion that the MLM is operating a pyramid scheme.

      Delete
    7. In response to "If you move 1/4 millions of USANA products through your preferred customers, team members and team members's preferred customers, you can get paid at least 10% or 20% or more in commissions, if you don't know how, you should really study it. (key word is multiple business centers and re-entry) I am considering joining USANA after studying about it. :-)"

      For starters, you do not get paid any commission from your downline distributor's Preferred Customers. The only preferred customers you get paid commission from are your own. Second, you do not get paid any commission unless you personally purchase at least 100 volume points worth of product every 4 weeks (13 times a year) for a single business center. Your first year will require that you personally purchase $1680 worth of product to maintain commission eligibility for a single business center. This means you will need preferred customers or downline distributors to purchase about $20,000 worth of product to get 16,800 points that pays you $1680 in commission. However, you must perform a balancing act on your LEFT and RIGHT legs for your downline. Only the minimum amount of points on either side is used to calculate commission. The dropout rate is about 80% within distributor's first year. You'll find that preferred customers don't buy as much (since they are not required to purchase 100 points worth of product).

      If you think 10% or 20% from commission from USANA products is great, consider this:

      USANA's Current Compensation Plan:
      You sign up 10 preferred customers who each purchase one USANA Essentials every 4 weeks for one year. The Essentials costs them $44.06 each which gives you 35 points each for a total of 350 points. You split them up evenly in your downline legs so you have 175 points on the left and 175 points on the right. You sell $440.60 and receive a $35 commission check in the mail. After one year you would have received only $455 in commission for moving $5727.80 worth of product to your preferred customers. However, in order to have collected that commission, you would have to have personally purchased $1680 worth of product. Ouch - Your in negative territory by $1225!!!

      USANAWatchDog's NBTY Equivalent Solution:
      You go around and collect orders from 10 customers who want to purchase one USANA Essentials for $44.06 every 4 weeks for one year. You purchase the ten Essentials for $14.45 (The NBTY equivalent price) each and also pay $10 in shipping. Your total expense is $154.45. Now you deliver the product to your customers, which they collectively pay a total of $440.60. You just made $286.10 from that order! After one year, you would have made $3719.3!


      Now are you going to tell me that a $1225 LOSS (USANA's plan) is a better solution for USANA distributors than a $3719.30 GAIN (USANAWatchDog's NBTY Price Equivalent)?? Let that all sink in for a little bit...

      Heck, I'll go even one step further. I'll even let USANA keep it's percentages as stated in the SEC filings (SG&A at 23.34% and Earnings from Operations at 14.69%). However, One expense I will remove is the distributor incentives (44.16%), which is the funding used to run their elaborate pyramid scheme:
      In this scenario, the USANA Essentials would cost distributors $24.60. Again, you sell this to 10 customers for $44.06 every 4 weeks. It costs you $246.0 plus $10 in shipping. At the end of the year you would have still made $2399.76!

      So what to you seems fair for the USANA distributor? A) $1225 LOSS, B) $3719.30 GAIN, or C) $2399.76 GAIN

      Delete
    8. Leah,

      In response to “The average cost of my products are about $15, average sales price is $60. The gross profit is between 15-30%. My nett profit is hardly 5%.

      Ummm, If your average cost is $15 and your average sales price is $60, then your gross profit margin is 75%.

      Compare that to USANA

      You purchase a $108 Healthpak (not including shipping), and resell it for USANA's suggested retail price of $132. The gross profit margin is only 18.18%


      In other words, if you applied USANA's figures to your own, you'd end up with this:
      Your average cost would be $49.09 and your average sales price would be $60, so your gross profit margin would be 18.18%. so now go ahead and apply your expenses and see how much of a net loss you would incur. You wouldn't be making $50,000 for the year, but rather show a LOSS!

      Do you still like USANA now? USANA does not favor the distributor who is trying to market the product. It only favors the distributor who is going to mass recruit other distributors by selling the business opportunity, and the only way to do that is to mislead and deceive others into joining USANA.

      Delete
  4. I see lots of USANA Distributors now. USANA is going to crash. It's a bubble. Most of their sales comes from INFANT MARKET. Mature Market such as United States are not even their best performing market.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If it going to crash, there will be a riot.
      There are so many people making money with usana that to shut it down is same as cutting off the income of many people. It's been here for 20+ years not like it's 5 years only. Any crash would've happened already, so dream on.

      Delete
  5. <<<<<<>>>>>

    Since you quoted my name, I am going to reply.

    My example showed you that one product that go through traditional distributional channel are approx 10x of the manufacturing cost when it reaches the end user (consumer).

    According to Watchdog 's "analysis", it costs USANA about $19 to make the healthpak, thus, the healthpak should be selling at $190 retails if it's through the traditional distribution channels.

    In the Traditional distribution channel:

    Manufactuer --->Distributor ---->wholesaler--->retailer -->consumers

    Who got paid in the process? Forwarder, Insurer, wholesaler, truckers, etc, other cost include warehouse, store front, advertising, marketing, wages.

    Do you disagree that any of these people should be paid, whom are part of the distribution process?

    In the Direct Selling Model

    Manufacturer--> consumers

    Who got paid in the process? The associates/distributors who introduce the products to the consumers and provide personal customer service.

    You know what's great about direct selling model to the manufacturers? No credit term, you collect payment when sales happen. So many manufacturers, wholesalers go bankrupt when their clients couldn't pay. That's why a lot of direct selling companies like USANA are debt free!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh zamm.. you gave another punch to doggie's tummy.
      Good thing someone here can see that Doggie is illogically bias with number manipulation and think s/he knows what they are talking about when it's all nonsense. Also like I confirmed doggie doesn't know much about business as you illustrated with a simple arrow description which explains 1000 words over s/he time consuming number analysis.

      But again, I don't bother with him or her like you just illustrated because no matter what you say, doggie will never understand because s/he has not business experience....else she can see what you are talking about right on. There is also a problem with her analysis if you look at the numbers in regards to advestising etc with other companies.. take a look. But I rather not say anything because to her 1+1=3 when usana people tell her that 1+1=2.

      Delete
    2. Since the stock of USANA is bullish, you guys are blind and not yet dead. Once the tide has settled. You'll be sitting ducks and drinking your usanimals out of your misery.

      You're warned already.

      Delete
    3. You're warned already.

      ROFLMAOLOL. Don't feel bitter because you didn't get on the joy ride! btw, we've been warned already like for the past 20 years.. yet still here! What are you going to do about it!? Go complain to the government and see if they do anything about it? I doubt you can do jack. Only way usana will die is if the vitamins are provened to be toxic and then get media attn. Otherwise, you will still be saying the same 'warned already' next 20 years when you're hair is gray and I will still be making money.

      Delete
    4. Leah,

      In response to “According to Watchdog 's "analysis", it costs USANA about $19 to make the healthpak, thus, the healthpak should be selling at $190 retails if it's through the traditional distribution channels. …
      In the Direct Selling Model
      Manufacturer--> consumers


      You most certainly did NOT model USANA's current MultiLevel Marketing Model accurately.
      USANA is currently doing something as the following:
      Manufacturer --> USANA Distributor lvl 1 --> USANA Distributor lvl 2 --> ,etc..., --> USANA Distributor lvl 60 --> USANA Distributor lvl 61 (YOU) --> Retail Customer
      While simultaneously doing
      Manufacturer --> USANA Distributor lvl 61 (YOU) --> Preferred Customer (zero gross profit margin from distributor to preferred customer – undercuts distributor).

      That is essentially what USANA is doing. The product YOU purchase gives points to every upline member until it maxes out (5000 point limit). This means that commission is paid to many of those upline distributors, which is paid for by the overpriced product YOU paid for. Now you are suppose to retail the product to a retail customer whom is NOT going to pay more for the product than YOU did because they could just become a preferred customer and get it at YOUR cost.

      The following would be the USANAWatchDog NBTY Equivalent Price Model (NON MLM)
      Manufacturer --> USANA Distributor --> Retail Customer
      $19 --> $35.43 --> $60-$108
      This looks a lot like the original traditional model you showed except it goes straight from the distributor to the retail customer!


      SO, why don't you take your traditional model you presented with the 10x cost and put in the price each of those levels pay, starting with $19 cost to manufacturer from USANA, and ending with $190 at the “consumers”.

      Manufacturer --> Distributor --> Wholesaler --> Retailer --> Consumer
      $19 (Manufacturer) --> _____ --> _____ --> _____ --> $190 (Consumer)

      Delete
  6. I believe a lot of naysayers also said the same thing about FB stocks after the IPO. FB doesn't sell anything and don't charge a fee, how can FB be a sustainable business right? LOL

    The keyword is: the world is changing, you either go along with the tide or be swept under.

    You are warned!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Show me one of this letters from the FDA to USANA and then we talk about numbers. One thing is the manufacturing cost, and another thing is the quality costs. And yes good quality is expensive but worth it. http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm258408.htm

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The warning letter is irrelevant to the discussion because any manufacturing incapabilities that either company may have was nullified by the fact that I based all my calculations on USANA's cost to manufacture and produce the product. Perhaps you missed that point.

      Delete
  8. Ouch to watchdog. Got punch hard again with another round. I'm sure IF this was usana, s/he will publish it here as a new blog. But nope.. she might know this but hiding the REAL fact. Told yall, you can manipulate the number. But this link about from the fda is the real thing. Too lazy or bias to click on the link.. here, I will point out the main topic why FDA sent this letter to NBTY (violation of quality manufacturing practices!!) That is why their cost is cheap!! so simple. case solve and close.


    Mr. Hans Lindgren
    Senior Vice President of Operations
    Nutro Laboratories, a div of NBTY, Inc.
    650 Hadley Road
    South Plainfield, New Jersey 07080-2404
    File # 11-NWJ-16

    Dear Mr. Lindgren:

    On October 13, 2010 through October 29, 2010 investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted an inspection of your dietary supplement manufacturing facility located at 650 Hadley Road, South Plainfield, New Jersey. During the inspection we found violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act) and FDA regulations pertaining to dietary supplements. You may find copies of the Act and these regulations through links on FDA's Internet home page at http://www.fda.gov.

    Our investigators documented serious violations of the current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulations for Dietary Supplements, Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 111 (21 CFR Part 111). These violations cause your dietary supplement products to be adulterated within the meaning of section 402(g)(1) of the Act [21 U.S.C. 342(g)(1)] in that the products have been prepared, packed, or held under conditions that do not meet CGMP regulations for dietary supplements. These observations were presented to you in an FDA 483 form at the conclusion of our inspection on October 29, 2010. We received your November 22, 2010 response to the FDA 483 and we have addressed your response below.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Already answered in the original comment regarding this letter. Any problems NBTY might have had was nullified by the fact all my calculations were based on USANA's cost to manufacture and produce the product.

      Delete
    2. But you will post it if that was USANA that got the letter.
      Plus again I answered already that it doesn't matter the cost. As long as there is a demand that people are willing to pay for it at even 10x the cost, it is still legit business.

      Delete
  9. You are going in a circle because you don't know your numbers nor basic business sense. I gave up going down to your level! Seriously, i just signed up as USANA distributor after crunching the numbers, it will be a plan B part time endeavor for now. Will let you know how it goes in a year or two. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Watchdog, your math is flawed AND You don't understand how USANA compensation plan work at all...you are embarrassing yourself by parading it on the internet. Sorry, you need to do some study as I don't have time to point out the mistakes to you.
    I have a degree in math and accounting and have been an entrepreneur for the last 15 years. I do know my numbers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tell me what I was wrong regarding USANA's compensation plan, and then show me the USANA documentation that states otherwise. I'm giving you very specific explanations on USANA's compensation plan and you throw generalities back as your argument. As far as your math goes, please demonstrate how my calculations are incorrect. You are the one who said your average cost is $15 and your average selling price is $60, and then claimed your gross margin is about 25%. Sorry, but you're wrong - It's 75%. You claim to have a degree in math and accounting but failed to demonstrate the most basic concepts of both fields.

      Good luck on your USANA endeavor.

      Delete
    2. Gross margin = Gross profit/Cost x 100%. I don't think I give you my average cost. I said my cost of items average $15, that means I have items that I bought at $15, $20, $40, $200, etc. I know my profit margin is slightly lesss than 5%. :-)

      The clue for your mistake "For starters, you do not get paid any commission from your downline distributor's Preferred Customers. The only preferred customers you get paid commission from are your own."

      Yes, you need to study the compensatio plan because you just parade your ignorance on the internet.

      Delete
  11. Ooops, sorry I made some mistakes in my last post as I was in a hurry to leave the house.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I was telling you the average cost I bought the item, that's not the same as the nett cost of the product, because I didn't add in all the other cost yet.

    For the example several post above, I bought the item for $40, sell at $130 (just round up for simplicity).

    The gross profit is the difference between the cost of a product and the selling price or revenue.

    Gross profit margin = Gross Profit/Revenue = $30/$130 = 23%

    I am giving you an example of an item with a better profit margin. I also sell a lot of item at around $20, cost about $3 to ship, and gross about $1-$2 each. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. You really think if I buy an item at $15 and sell it at $60 and make $45? There is no other cost? LOL I didn't spell out everything because I assume anyone will understand the gross profit is not $45.


    The math teacher in me is going to play this with you:

    1) Buy an item at $15, add $30 cost and sell at $60, what's the gross profit margin?

    2) If I move $1 millions worth of products at 5% profit margin, what's my net profit?

    3) Sign up 10 customers who generate 100 points each and paid shipping and have USANA ship the products to the customers, (For simplicity, I am going to just have 5 on the right, 5 on the left), how much do you get paid? (For simplicity, though one gets paid weekly in USANA, I am going to just do it as a monthly paid out because the points do carry forward week to week).

    4) Now, talk to 100 people, and sponsor 4 people who are interested to sign up as associates and each of them signs up 10 preferred customers with average 100 points, now, how much do you get paid?


    (It's just for illustration purpose, my friend who has been in USANA business for about 2-3 years actually has well more than 50 preferred customers and sponsored well more than 10 associates)

    5) If I move about 800,000 in points, which is about $1 millions of products in USANA through my organization, how much do I get paid?
    Clue: more than $50,000.

    6) Does revenue come in when I am forced to close my online store due to family issues?

    7)Do I get paid when I seize actively adding more associate to my organization due to family issues?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let's play your game:

      You wrote “1) Buy an item at $15, add $30 cost and sell at $60, what's the gross profit margin?

      1a. ($60 - ($15 + $30)) / $60 = 25.0% Gross Margin.
      1b. What if a USANA distributor did this with a USANA HealthPak? ($108 - ($108 + $10)) / $108 = -9.2% Gross Margin (USANA Distributor)

      You wrote “2) If I move $1 millions worth of products at 5% profit margin, what's my net profit?

      2a. $1,000,000 net sales * 5% profit margin = $50,000 net profit
      2b. What if a USANA distributor resold a million dollars worth of product at USANA's current product prices? ($1,000,000 * -9.2% gross margin) = -$92,000 gross profit.

      You wrote “3) Sign up 10 customers who generate 100 points each and paid shipping and have USANA ship the products to the customers, (For simplicity, I am going to just have 5 on the right, 5 on the left), how much do you get paid? (For simplicity, though one gets paid weekly in USANA, I am going to just do it as a monthly paid out because the points do carry forward week to week).

      3a. (10 PC * 100 points) = 1000 points (500 on right, 500 on left)
      You collect no commission unless you (the distributor) first personally purchase 100 points worth of product to get your commission. Average cost per point (based on latest price sheet) is $1.33.
      Commission eligibility: ((100 points * $1.33) + $10 shipping) = $143
      (1000 points * 10%) - $143 = -$43 per 4-week cycle.
      (-$18 * 13) = -$559 per year (A LOSS)

      3b. REALITY using SEC filing statistics – Third Quarter of 2015
      405,000 USANA Distributors purchased $212.3 million of product during the quarter.
      89,000 Preferred Customers purchased $21.0 million of product during the quarter.
      (It's extremely unlikely you will recruit 10 preferred customers and very unlikely they will purchase 100 points worth of product because they are not forced to)
      You sign up 1 Preferred Customer who purchases $73 worth of product (55 points worth)
      (1 PC * 55 points) = 55 points (55 on right, 0 on left)
      You collect no commission because you don't have any points on your left side!
      You sign up 1 more Preferred Customer who also purchases $73 worth of product.
      (2 PC * 55 points) = 110 points (55 on right, 55 on left)
      You collect no commission unless you (the distributor) first personally purchase 100 points worth of product to get your commission. You buy $143 worth of product.
      (110 points * 10%) - $143 = -$132 per 4-week cycle.
      (-$132 * 13) = -$1716 per year.

      Delete
    2. You wrote “Now, talk to 100 people, and sponsor 4 people who are interested to sign up as associates and each of them signs up 10 preferred customers with average 100 points, now, how much do you get paid?

      (It's just for illustration purpose, my friend who has been in USANA business for about 2-3 years actually has well more than 50 preferred customers and sponsored well more than 10 associates)


      4a. Each of the four downline distributors lose -$559 per year. However, they each make you $1430 from their own efforts.
      You get a total of 70,200 points that convert to $7,020 in commission ($1300 from your preferred customers, $5,200 from your four downline distributor's preferred customers and $520 from the four downline distributor's required personal purchases). You personally purchase $1859 in order to collect your commission. Your gross profit is $5161 for the year.

      4b. REALITY based on SEC filings.
      The average preferred customer purchases 55 points worth of product every 4-week cycle.
      In order to make $5161 in gross profit, you'll need to make $7020 in commission.
      ($7020 commission / 10%) = 70,200 points.
      70,200 points / (55 points * 13 cycles) = 98 preferred customers
      You'll need on average 98 preferred customers in your downline for you to make $5161 gross profit.
      or....
      You recruit 54 distributors who each purchase 100 points worth of product every 4 weeks. You balance your downline as evenly as possible to maximize everyone's chance of profit.
      Each distributor including yourself purchases 1300 points worth of product throughout the year which costs $1859.
      Out of the 55 total distributors presented, 3 of them make a positive gross profit while 52 of them lose money.
      Of those that made money: YOU make $5291 gross profit while two other distributors each make $1651 gross profit.
      The total combined gross profit from the 3 top distributors is $8593.
      The total combined amount lost from the 52 bottom distributors is -$77,428.


      So for YOU to make $5291 you can do it several ways.
      1) Personally sign up 98 preferred customers who each purchase 55 points worth of product every four weeks.
      2) Recruit 4 associates and all 5 of you personally recruit about 25 preferred customers who each purchase 55 points worth of product every four weeks. The 4 associates you recruit each lose $559 at the end of the year.
      3) Recruit and/or accumulate 54 associates in your downline who each purchase 100 points worth of product in order to participate in the compensation plan. 52 of those associates must lose a combined amount of -$77,428 just so you can make a gross profit of $5291. PYRAMID SCHEME

      Delete
    3. You wrote “5) If I move about 800,000 in points, which is about $1 millions of products in USANA through my organization, how much do I get paid?
      Clue: more than $50,000.


      You would make about $80,000 in commission plus other leadership bonuses because you would likely have made it to at least the rank of Gold Director. However, the majority of your downline distributors would have lost money, just as I have demonstrated in the above calculations. The majority of your downline would consist of distributors rather than preferred customers as is evidenced by USANA's SEC filings. The majority of your commissions would come as a result of your downline distributor's required personal purchases rather than direct sales to preferred customers. The vast majority of USANA distributors lose money participating in USANA's pyraimd scheme. If your downline consisted of nothing but preferred customers, you would need about 1119 of them.


      What if USANA didn't run a pyramid scheme and instead sold the product to their distributors at a very reasonable price, for example the NBTY equivalent distributor price I have already laid out. The average preferred customer purchased $73 worth of product as derived from the latest SEC filings. You (the distributor) would purchase the products from USANA for an average price of $23.95 and resell to 120 customers for an average price of $73. These customers make the same purchase every 4 weeks for one year. At the end of the year, you have a gross profit of $76,518 minus a few hundred dollars in shipping.

      So in order to make $76,518 what seems better? Recruit 1119 preferred customers into a vast downline relying on nothing but commission from USANA's compensation plan, or purchase and resell product to only 120 customers as laid out above?

      You wrote “6) Does revenue come in when I am forced to close my online store due to family issues?

      How about this: Does revenue come in if you are forced to close your online store, period. NO.

      You wrote “7)Do I get paid when I seize actively adding more associate to my organization due to family issues?

      Less and less every 4-week cycle until nothing comes in. Your downline distributors ultimately drop out. About 80% of distributors and preferred customers drop out within their first year. Without constant recruitment, your pyramid collapses because most people figure out within their first year that they are being scammed.

      Let me add one:
      8) If you have sponsored less than 5 preferred customers and don't resell the product to anyone, do you receive any commission?

      Delete
  14. If B works as a mortgage/loan offier and being paid a straight 1 % commission on the loan amount, selling $20 mil in loans would have generated $200k in commission. B became the top sales person and the company promoted him to be the sales manager. Now he recruits, trains and motivates 10 mortgage officers who generate average of $15 mil in sales each. B is promised a 0.25 % in commission on the total sales his team generated. So, each mortgage officer receives $150,000 and B receives $375,000 in commssion. Is B operating a pyramid scheme?


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is not a pyramid scheme.

      - None of the officers are required to personally purchase any loans in order to receive the commission. In USANA, distributors are required to personally purchase 100 points worth of product, which comes out to an average of $133 + shipping. This purchase must be made every 4 weeks (13 times a year). This is INVENTORY LOADING, something the loan officers do not have.

      - The actual officer who is selling the loan makes the largest % commission from that loan (1%) whereas the sales manager makes only 0.25%. In USANA, every single upline distributor receives the same amount of points as you do for your own sales. You sell something that is 100 points worth to a preferred customer, and every upline distributor also receives 100 points, up until it maxes out at 5000 points. So the 100 points can travel up as high as 50 levels of distributors. (THIS IS WHY THE PRODUCT IS OVERPRICED!)

      - The loan officers make money (commission) from customers who actually need the loan. In USANA, the majority of money received by distributors comes directly from the downline distributor's required purchases used to be commission eligible and participate in USANA's compensation plan. Remember, only 9% of USANA's net sales are to preferred customers. The rest is purchased by USANA distributors, which cannot resell the product because they have no gross margin since preferred customers get the product at the same price distributors can get it. The FTC has already spelled this out very clearly and I have mentioned it many times on my blog.

      Delete
  15. I think I understand why watchdog keep harping on the fact that associates can't make money retailing the products because there is no profit margin.

    Looking at Amazon.com, people are selling the Essentials at $47-$48, which is the preferred price of Essentials, these sellers do not make money but lose about $10 for each box (Amazon charges 15% commisions and shipping is going to cost $3-$4!!)

    What's the purpose of selling something at a lost? If these people are USANA associates, they are doing it all wrong!!

    Direct selliing is not buying and selling at higher price for the difference. The closest example I could think of, if you are a realtor, do you have to buy the house and resell to make a profit? No, you show the houses, when a client eventually buy or sell the house, you are paid certain percentage of the sales price aka commission. You don't buy USANA products to resell, you introduce to people, if they are interested, you hook them up to order from USANA directly, provide after sales customer service and you get paid commission for the purchase and the recurring purchases.

    The power of binary compensation plan works on duplication, 4 power of 1 is 4, 4 power of 2 is 16, but 4 power of 3 is 64, ...4 power of 5 is ??? If you have 16 associates who have average of 10 preferred customers, you most likely will max out the business center and when that happens, you will be rewarded with another business center (it's called re-enrty in USANA binary compensation plan, and not all binary plans are the same, you can research, I did). You can place the reentry business center stragetically under the most productive associate in your organization and build it up again. The most wonderful thing is, you have 64 associates who generate sales in your organization, but you are not responsible for paying them wages, USANA pays their commission. You don't have to worry about cash flow!

    ReplyDelete
  16. People, don't waste time trying to debate/argue your points with watchdog. Watchdog is close minded, bashes anyone who even remotely says anything positive about Usana, and has access to highly classified information. In past 6 years, Usana stock has gone from $25 to well over $100 so they are doing something right. Until watchdog reveals themselves, this blog is a fraud conducted by an employee of Usana and used to promote Usana. No such thing as good or bad publicity.

    ReplyDelete
  17. @ Anonymous December 16, 2015 at 12:40 PM

    I make more than 10k usd per day from trading forex and it's not from USANA scammers. I tried your products, your products are sub-standard. There is little to no science behind it.

    2. Of course you'll be making money selling usana products in the next 20 years. Otherwise, how will you live? eating your supplements?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really? you make more than 10k usd per day from trading forex!? Be careful who you are talking to because I can spot bullshit if you answer my question below wrong.

      I trade forex for a living too beside usana.

      So how much is your initial capital. Don't tell me it's 50k.
      You also DON'T make it consistently 10k usd per day. Do you even know what the profit factor is required? To achieve a certain profit factor you must have n number of trades with certain probability of winning trades. Let's see your number and I can see if you are bullshting. Getting to win PER DAY is SUPER HARD to do as you might have to trade like a mad man (many number of trades)..but all depends on your profit factor. (and let's see if you know what I mean by profit factor). Don't tell me you use MACD, stochastics and those indicators to trade. If you do you are bullshting. I use price signals and statistical analysis.

      If you aren't able to tell me this, you either got lucky for a little bit but you will be out of the game long term as in 5 years...yes..that's how long I have be doing it..if you don't count the numerous lessons I learn before that.

      So since you are bullshting trading.. you are also bullshting about product being substandard because you never tried it long enough.

      Of course I will be making money PASSIVELY leveraging other people to make money. Even forex is not real passive earning as I have to do research and monitor trades. But I love trading...usana is just another money making revenue and yes I am making 4 digits PER WEEK from usana beside forex trading. So eat that.

      Delete
    2. Gotcha!

      You see the flaw of your statement is long enough, which means that you are letting your friends / customers try your product "long enough" for their bodies to be accustomed to the supplements and once they stop, you create a withdrawal symptom for the users, thus creating a passive income. 4 digits in what? Vietnamese Dong?
      You can eat my Dong with that!

      Regarding trading, I own a trading company that does that for me, so I don't have to monitor that.

      So eat my Dong!

      Delete
    3. Hahaha, Gotcha AGAIN!

      You are bullshting when you say you own a trading company so you DON'T have to monitor. Many investors will NOT be your investor if you say that. Even the pros to monitor it. Plus, unless you have MILLIONS of dollars, you will need investor in order to make 10k PER DAY. Why won't you monitor if it's millions of dollars. duh. Nice try. I can smell bullsht from the way you talk about trading, because, my friend.. I ALSO own a trading company. Unless you start talking technical with me, you are full of it. Oh, btw stop being bitter, pissed off and calling people names because I call your bullsht.

      Yes, 4 digit dong will be quite good if I'm in vietnam. But I'm in the US so of course we are talking about USD. So either way you lose even IF I'm in vietnam. So eat your own bull.



      Delete
    4. Oh btw, I forgot to add that it's obvious you are bullshting and didn't try the product or know a thing about it. I have many people who had taken it AND also stopped after they got feel better, yet they refer their friends to me because they are just preferred customers. So my client bases grows and shrinks but grows slowly over time due to many referrals. So there is no withdrawal effect like caffeine. But I don't see people say caffeine is a scam. Obviously you don't know much so talking to you is like talking to a kid because all you know are dongs.

      Delete
  18. Oh, really? You think I'll fall for that you have your own company trick? Why not post your trading company here? Unless you have nothing to show Donghead.

    Again, what is your proof that your product works? Based on your statement, Mr. Dong, it's a fallacy. You said that they need to take it "long enough" to feel the effect. Obviously, your clients spends more than let's say $1500 per year on USANA supplements, don't you think it's an easy pitch to say, do you want to make money? (who doesn't) then tell them to refer your friends. You see? Watchdog caught your pyramiding program red handed and you tell me that your product works?

    Mr. Donghead, let me tell you this. If you REALLY OWN your own trading company, you wouldn't even push a $100 product down on people's throat. It doesn't make sense.

    And by the way, your top earner makes only $60,000 a month (estimate). So it's you who is bullshitting me. Or your company is losing money and you want to scam your way to fund it Donghead.

    Gotcha idiot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, really? You think I'll fall for that you have your own company trick? Why not post your trading company here? Unless you have nothing to show Donghead.

      1st, I'm surprise that doggie let someone attacking other people with names DIRECTLY, something that I don't even do. I don't see mod telling others to control their naming calling on people. But I remembered I did something similar in the past but it got removed. So, I'm going to do the same to this doodieHead (yes, I'm calling him a doodiehead since he is directly attacking me with names. Now, the mod is not putting a stop to him because he is anti-usana, so I can understand that bias to let him attack people with names).

      2nd, initially I was thinking of ASKING YOU to post YOUR trading company before you even ask me because I can smell sht a mile away since you can't even go toe-to-toe with me. But I thought it's pointless because you can give me some random company name. I'm not going to post mine to avoid troll creeps like you who still lives in your mommy's basement to start bad mouthing my company..so nice try. If you really know trading, you can go head to head with me talking about it in detail..no need to resort to any other psychological tactics. You didn't even answer what a profit factor or a z-score is and that is sad. Don't say 'oh I don't want to tell you blah'. or don't go google the answer. I love talking about trading more than health (maybe that's why I make more with trading than usana). You can't even go toe to toe with me as a simple first step, loser.

      Again, what is your proof that your product works?
      Again, what is YOUR PROOF THAT THE PRODUCT DOESN'T WORK. Your argument is weak and it's like I'm arguing with a 10 years old. btw, it's USANA product, not 'my or your' product.

      Mr. Donghead, let me tell you this. If you REALLY OWN your own trading company, you wouldn't even push a $100 product down on people's throat. It doesn't make sense.

      Mr. DoodieHead, let me tell you this, because you are making an azz out of yourself because you are making an ASSumption. I DON'T HAVE to push the product down people's throats. THEY SIMPLY COME to me to buy. I don't go door to door to sell this stuff. I just talk about it and the momentum slowly grows over couple of years.. plus I have a helper also. Obviously you don't know sht about it because you think people have to push a product down people throats for them to buy.

      And by the way, your top earner makes only $60,000 a month (estimate). So it's you who is bullshitting me. Or your company is losing money and you want to scam your way to fund it Donghead.

      Your argument is weak like a paper trying to hold onto water and it's so contradictory which is making your look like a schizophrenic. Is there anything else that you are good at arguing beside cursing and calling people names, which I can do too.

      1st, you don't believe that I have a trading company, but then say I do from that statement above because you are thinking that it's losing money.
      2nd, you might need to go back to elementary school to learn composition, math or logistics. Why? See, I don't know how much top earner exactly makes, but it varies from like YOU SAID 60k A MONTH to some say 100k/month. I know Jeremy Stansfield is one of the tops and he makes around that amount. But doodieHead, if top earner makes ONLY 60,000 A MONTH, that is $720,000 PER YEAR or about $15,000 A WEEK. Sorry, but I don't make that much PER WEEK. As I said in previous posts, 4 digits per week, NOT 5 digits. Now 4 digits, in case your little brain is not working, is anywhere from $1000 PER WEEK to $9999 PER WEEK. Perfectly doable on the low range. (even if you try to say 60k per year, your math still failed. That is 5k per month which still is over 1000 bucks PER WEEK).

      Therefore, YOU made yourself look like the idiot. Gotcha IDIOT or schizophrenic! SMHROFLMAO.

      Delete
  19. Hey Donghead, why not show us your USANA account in the last 12 months and see if you're CONSISTENTLY making 4 figures a week. If not, quit blabbing because you're really a fraud and trying to scam your way to 4 figures a month.

    Be HONEST!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, DoodieHead. It doesn't matter. Like doggie, whatever I post, you will say it's cr-p and will not believe it, plus I'm not going to show my account and ssn number on there. nice try. You can also stop blabbing because your posts here are all air and noise. There is NOT ONE technical correct details that I see from your post that shows you know the intrisic workings of usana or trading. So if can't walk the walk, you should stop talk the talk.

      Delete
    2. See how good you are with keyboard. When I ask for facts / proofs, you evade it and call me a 10 yro hiding in basement or what not. So who's really the 10 yro? You just can't prove anything at all. So suck it up and go push placebo pills!

      Delete
    3. LMAO. Looks who's talking. When I ask you for the facts, you are also avoiding it. Also why do I have to proof anything when I'm making the dough, but you all here are TRYING to DISPROVE or PROOF usana is a pyramid scheme for the last 10 years UNSUCCESSFULLY.

      Also doodiehead, you are weak with your comeback materials, boy. If I'm a 10 years old like you said who can disprove and win YOUR argument easily, that shows how low of an IQ you have. But at the same time, can't blame you if that is the case because this 10 years old is genius because very rare for a 10 years old to have a trading company, have another business, investment property and have a usana business also and making multiple stream of income...and also have a great command of written composition than you do. So you can suck your empty air up.

      It's obvious who is winning this argument. word of advise..if you can't express yourself at least somewhat competently on paper, don't attack and try to argue because you are making a fool out of yourself and you will lose, doodiehead.

      Delete
  20. Fact #1: Most people who quit Usana stop buying the products. Most only buy the product because it's a requirement to qualify for a paycheck.

    Fact #2: If Usana removed this monthly purchasing requirement, incomes of associates will drop across the board. Usana would never remove this monthly requirement because most product sales come from their distributors.

    Distributors are also true customers you say? See fact #1. True customers will continue buying regardless of a requirement. If most distributors are true customers, Usana wouldn't need to require them to buy over $100 of products a month, they'd gladly buy it anyway.

    If you truly understand this, then you'll realize Usana is a pyramid scheme. Currently, Usana is seen as a legal business so keep running the business if you want but stop being in denial about what kind of business Usana really is.

    Without the monthly purchasing requirement, Usana would collapse. Almost all arguments of Usana being a scam would be invalid if Usana removed this requirement.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I read some of the comments here and have to say all of you don't know the inside story.

    First, Watchdog and many others are wrong when they think that there are no demand for the products other than forced autoshipments. I can personally tell you that there ARE demands for the products. In fact, the top USA distributors are not only doing recruitment in the USA where there are some demand, but they are also exporting those products to countries that does NOT have usana or where it had banned MLM like China. Places like China has a big supplement industry due to the smogs there and there are way more demand there than in the USA. This is a big chunk of their income.

    USA distributors will buy in bulk anywhere from $1000 to as much as $300,000 worth of products. Then they will export it to China via some connection there (store or people re-selling it) where the consumers will pay MORE than USA's retail price. So that connection is like the middleman. This means that the connection will dictate the asking price which means the US distributors will want to find a way to buy the products as low as possible to optimize profit. They buy at lowest prices from conventions, promotions or new recruit medium (even ficticious recruits with fake names or stolen or past client/associate's ids) where the price is lower than their own autoshipments since they are new enrollments. They will even load up if they know price will increase in the future as they know someone will buy them.

    Also these distributors don't make money the way that Watchdog, Leah or someone here mentioned. They don't just buy and then sell higher, because as Watchdog pointed out, the profit margin is just too low to retail. They actually buy at lowest possible price as mentioned previously and re-sell it with a price LOWER then what they bought and still able to make money. That is why Leah found cheap prices on ebay and thought they are doing it wrong or that they are trying to get rid of inventory to cut losses when in fact they are doing it on purpose to make easy money. So even if that China connection is buying it from the distributors at those autoshipment prices, the distributor can still make overall big profit by selling it lower than that, which they will do if they want to beat competition.

    Surprising isn't it. See, the key to the system to do this is not looking at money and points. It's looking at points, downline utilization and lowest possible purchase prices to get from usana. Since Watchdog seems so confident in his ability to analyze and say he knows how the system works, I am surprise he didn't figure this out. I will not reveal details because I will let him figure it out to see how good he really is. If you know the system VERY well, you can exploit it via points and downlines and still big make money by selling it lower than what you bought eventually. It's a bit counter-intuitive, but you will be able find out how if you have done or seen it. But another big element is the connection and demand from China. Without these demands, they can't do this.

    I know this because I have seen some doing it over a period of time. I might a current top distributor, an-ex or just a user. That's for anyone to guess. I finally commented because I smirked when I saw how all commenters and watchdogs are arguing cluelessly with these overcharged or no demand arguments. Even usana's investigation team can't detect it because these top distributors who uses their downlines will spread it over several downlines occasionally so it's not concentrated at one address, name/info (real or fake reusage) or area to avoid being obvious. They also don't have proof. Plus these likely are the top US distributors or Rising Stars, that is on the face of their magazines/videos and weekly emails too, most of which 'happens' to be Chinese. Some are also friendly with usana executives and they might not even know. So, what makes watchdog thinks he can figure it out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I already know how a distributor can cheat the system. It's about creating downline distributors (fake or not), have them purchase the five HealthPaks for $500, and keep repeating the process. The distributor can even use their own money for all their fake distributors. The key is to get you and your fake downline distributors to platinum pacesetter and achieve the matching bonus. Ensure you stagger the downline autoships to maximize on the leadership rankings past GOLD director (since commissions are paid weekly and you need 10,000 points 4 weeks in a row). If you own all your downline accounts yourself (hundreds if not thousands of accounts), and you then dump your inventory where ever someone is willing to take it (at any price), you make out a millionaire because of all the other bonuses (Elite Bonus, Leadership Bonus, matching Bonus, etc...).

      Of course all of this is against USANA's policies, but why would they stop it since it makes USANA money. As long as the distributor makes it look legit (different addresses from around the world), USANA can have plausible deniability, and everyone can go on with their merry lives.


      So I don't know if you have read my other postings and comments there within, but I focus more on the pyramid scheme rather than retail selling. This posting here was just to point out that USANA's distributor prices are too high for any distributor to resell for a higher price, leaving their gross margin at zero. I'm aware of several tactics to cheat the system, but that individual will be terminated by USANA if they are ever pointed out... Just look at what happened to Ada Chai, a 2 star diamond director that was terminated by USANA when Citron Research pointed out all the shared Hong Kong addresses used to recruit Chinese Nationals illegally into a pyramid scheme. USANA used her as a scapegoat and terminated her account, even though USANA knew it was going on and knows that hundreds of thousands of Chinese nationals were all recruited with Hong Kong addresses in order to circumvent China's anti-MLM laws.

      Of course I may be wrong in my theory explained above, and don't claim to know all of the underground workings. If you care to share it with me, I would be more than interested to learn all about it. All of my sources have been kept anonymous if you haven't figured out already.

      Delete
    2. So Citron research at the end didn't do a thing because Ada Chai is still there like what that below poster was saying and is now 3 diamond. usana won't dare to kill the goose that lay the golden egg for them... even if finds out, usana can't get into the chinese market unless you do something like what ada dida. So do you really think they will terminate ada?! No! Guess another reason for y'all to hate da company.

      You really want usana to go down.. then go inject toxicity into their vitamins and make news out of it... else you don't have a chance! LOL

      Delete
    3. Even usana's investigation team can't detect it because these top distributors who uses their downlines will spread it over several downlines occasionally so it's not concentrated at one address, name/info (real or fake reusage) or area to avoid being obvious. They also don't have proof. Plus these likely are the top US distributors or Rising Stars, that is on the face of their magazines/videos and weekly emails too, most of which 'happens' to be Chinese. Some are also friendly with usana executives and they might not even know

      So I guess you are saying USANA is getting shafted by their own kind!? But hey, they are making money from a loophole, so they shouldn't care like all other businesses. Why else you think ada and many chinese people are still there!

      Delete
    4. Even usana's investigation team can't detect it because these top distributors who uses their downlines will spread it over several downlines occasionally so it's not concentrated at one address, name/info (real or fake reusage) or area to avoid being obvious. They also don't have proof. Plus these likely are the top US distributors or Rising Stars, that is on the face of their magazines/videos and weekly emails too, most of which 'happens' to be Chinese. Some are also friendly with usana executives and they might not even know

      Actually, many Chinese are doing it and reusing old closed accounts. They are also using other people and downlines' credit cards to avoid suspicion. Some who are doing it *are* the rising stars like Ada Chai or Sufi Chang, someone whom I received wind of lately and been doing it for a while on and off to avoid detection. How do you think these Chinese are able to earn commission that fast! Recruiting will take years and won't even earn that much.

      But again, USANA doesn't care. They care about money, however illegal way your sales associate are able to sell without getting caught. If they do care, then they are getting shafted by their own as the above poster said, which is a shame. sigh.

      Delete
  22. >>>>Just look at what happened to Ada Chai, a 2 star diamond director that was terminated by USANA when Citron Research pointed out all the shared Hong Kong addresses<<<<<

    But they didn't terminate her... she is a 3 star diamond now instead of 2...and still active in 2015 when those findings was in 2012. Check out this site:

    www @ facebook @ com/OfficialUSANAHongKong/posts/1435127496782851

    ReplyDelete
  23. USANA = Scammers!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I worked in the IT Dept at Usana in 1993.You guys have no idea ,how this company is a a SCAM.I had access to confidential documents, this is scary.I just wondered why the Fed never shut the company down.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would be very interested in learning about your experience at USANA and what exactly you mean by "access to confidential documents, this is scary." You can email me at USANAWatchdog at Gmail

      Delete
    2. I double dare you to leak it.. if you can or that there is any. I don't even know if you do worked in the IT dept.

      Delete
    3. HAHAHA I just forced your hand which means you got nuttin. No leak publicly, no leak period.

      Delete

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