If you’re looking for extra income and happened to come across Reliv, it might get you wondering whether it’s legit or not. After all, it’s another MLM and we’ve all heard the not-so-good stories that come with the business. However, Reliv has been around for quite some time now – you might think it should be good considering its 30-year existence, right?
Maybe. Reliv International offers nutritional shakes and dietary supplements which they claim to be ‘backed by science’. This is indeed a growing industry because people are becoming more conscious about their health throughout the years. What makes them even more strategic is they do direct sales approach; meaning to say, to get their products, you need to find a Reliv member to buy from.
Legendary Wallet aims to keep you informed, as much as possible, and assist you in making the right decision by uncovering every detail you must know before deciding to join Reliv as an Independent Distributor.
Let’s take a closer look:
The Business Opportunity
Reliv International was founded in 1988 and has been supplying dietary supplements made from all-natural ingredients which they claim to promote ‘optimal nutrition’. Whether you’re a believer of their products or not, you should be careful in thinking if you should run this as a business.
Now, as you begin to show interest, they emphasize on this: they have the best compensation plan in the industry. Plus, you’re selling a consumable product so you’re going to have repeat customers and reach financial freedom. It may lead you to think that making money, through their vision, is easy; but is it?
To be an Individual Distributor, you’ll need to pay the fee of $20 then you get a 20-40% discount on their products which will also be your profit for every sale you make on retail. The discount depends on the ‘level’ you’re at. Everyone starts at 20% but it increases by up to 40% in increments of 5% depending on the volume of sales you make. Also, it is important to note that you need to stay ‘active’ in order to earn commission. How do you stay active? You need to purchase at least 50 product volume each month. Now this is a big risk. Though you get a discount, this may lead to overpiling and you spending more than what you earn. Read on to find out more about their compensation plan so you can strategize.
The Products You’ll Deal With
This is the interesting part: they allow you to customize your shakes the way you want it. They offer a guide on their site so your drink is formulated to meet your health and fitness goals.
Let’s start with their main product which is the Core Nutrition. You have five options to choose from for the base of your shake. They say that Reliv Classic and Reliv Now® goes beyond the minimum daily requirements of essential vitamins, minerals, and herbs that your body needs.
Moving on, they offer Targeted Solutions which is the final step in personalizing your drink. There’s a lot to choose from but all of them are designed to go with the Core Nutrition you went for. You can create a shake that’s more focused on your digestive health, performance, blood sugar control, anti-aging, weight loss, joint health, women’s health, heart health, gene health, or even energy.
If we think about it, offering two products to make the shake is very strategic because your customers will always have something ‘new’ to buy and they always have something to refill. You can even help them mix and match their shakes once in a while!
Lastly, they also offer RLV hemp extracts which are designed for stress-relief and support for overall wellness. It comes with an RLV hemp balm variant that is blended with essential oils and is said to address discomfort.
Enough about the products, let’s get to why you’re here:
How You Make Money
In their promotional video, they say you have five ways to earn: Retail Profits, Wholesale Profits, Overrides, Cash Bonuses & Trips, and Ambassador Program. Let’s break them down:
Retail Profit is what you earn by selling the products at retail price. In their example, they say you earn $20-$40 for every $100 worth of retail you sell. Let’s get to a more realistic example: Reliv Classic® costs $59 in retail. If you’re just starting out, you get a 20% discount so it costs you $47.20 to get 1 Reliv Classic®. When you sell that one to a customer, you automatically get $11.80. Sounds easy and affordable, right?
Not really. Here’s the bigger picture: remember, you need to stay active so you need at least 50 product volumes a month. This is where it can get tricky. Product Volumes or PV can differ from one country to another. So you better check in with your sponsor and don’t be afraid to do the math. Even in front of them! That way, they will know you’re in for serious business.
The goal here is not to remain at Level 1. You need to increase your volume purchase to get to the 40% discount. You need to reach the Master Affiliate rank. This is where the Wholesale Profit comes in. You need to look for people to work for you as your downline and sell the products at retail prices. But of course, you will need to require them to stay active. It is also important to note that your profit from them is just the difference between your discount to theirs. Here’s how it works: You’ve reached the point where you’re already a Master Affiliate. Your discount is now at 40% and a Reliv Classic® now costs you just $35.40 each. Your downline, who is at 20% discount purchases it from you at $47.20 in which you get $11.80 still. Remember, your downline may climb up the ranks too, which means the difference between your discounts will lower.
The bigger picture: Remember your computation from when you were required 50 Product Volumes in a month? If you think you can handle that, it’s best to compute again for the Master Affiliate level. You will need to reach 5,000 Product Volume in your personal group. Meaning, the Product Volume of your downline adds up to yours. This time, it’s going to be a lot easier to accumulate 5,000 Product Volume. Especially if you have very active distributors in your downline. The key is to keep tabs on each of your recruits, inspire them to sell more.
Next is the Override Commission. This is only applicable to Master Affiliates who have a Master Affiliate in their downline. Since both of you are at 40% discount, you won’t earn anything from Wholesale Profit. Instead, Reliv gives you a commission of up to 8% of the volume the new group generates. This goes on for up to 5 generations of Master Affiliates in your downline only.
This is, indeed, generous and a source of passive income. However, you have to take into consideration the efforts and chances of becoming a Master Affiliate.
That’s not all that’s happening in Reliv. They offer Cash Bonuses & Trip – this is where the fun part comes in. Cash Bonuses consist of monthly Rookie Bonus and Star Director Bonus. However, they don’t openly disclose the criteria on how to qualify for those perks. They also host trips all year round. They’ve taken their teams to India, Ireland, Germany, and a lot of other international countries. It’s worth mentioning that it’s an all-expense-paid trip. From airfare and accommodation to meals and even activities!
And when you’re totally rocking it, you get to become a Relive Ambassador in which the company starts paying you to inspire and teach others to grow their business and be Master Affiliates themselves. The Ambassador Program is also the company’s way of giving you a support group so you know and feel you’re not alone.
Now that you know how to earn, it’s good to know that the company also equips you with business-building tools and training.
What You Can Do
Host a Shake Party! When you join Reliv as an Independent Distributor, they give you a Shake Party Box to start you off. You can invite your friends, families, and neighbors over and tell them about Reliv’s products. Be careful though because you have to keep in mind that not everyone is a fan of network marketing. After the party, the best case scenario is you either have a customer or a downline.
Also, they have the Fit3™ Program you can recommend your customers to follow. The program is basically a challenge, each daily move is designed to make you feel more energized and confident. They promote different goals for each month too, this gives you a reason to stay in touch with your customers and make them feel you’re with them along the way.
Now that you know what you’re getting into, it’s time for the most important question. You may be starting to like the idea now. But… Is it for you?
The Honest Truth
At this point, you may have looked up a lot of success stories and testimonials from Reliv Members across the internet. However, you have to consider the number of people who tried to join. For every 10 new distributors, how many of them were successful? How many of them became Master Affiliates or even Ambassadors? Most people who are active in this line of business won’t admit it but your chances of failing in this opportunity are high. You can even look up MLM failure rates to get a better idea of what we’re trying to stress out.
To get to the bottom of this: Reliv International IS NOT considered a pyramid scheme and they are not a scam, yes. They do pay their members and they really have a system in place to track everyone’s sales, progress, and downlines – they even have a mobile application setup for complete transparency. In fact, they highly recommend you to join through a sponsor. The good part is they don’t require monthly quota but, to earn, you need to remain active by pre-purchasing at least 50 product volumes a month.
So again, is it for you? You need to check in with yourself if you’re up for the grind. If you say you’re a people-person and you’re good at maintaining thousands of connections and counting, this can benefit you. But an undying passion is everything in order to stay in this business.
With all honesty, you can earn with Reliv. It’s just that, with this type of business, your chances of success are very low. You need to be one of the pioneers to have a slightly better chance and that’s still not a promise.
You also need to establish your reasons for being an Independent Distributor of Reliv. If you’re in it for the money, this is not the best option. You will need to give in a part of your fortune just to remain active. There are no promises of sales. You really need to get out there, sell and convince someone to be your downline. If you’re a believer of this product and you want to help people become financially free, don’t do this. Or you will risk your relationship with them. But, if you’re a believer of this product and you really want to help people maintain their health and wellness, then maybe you have a shot. Again, no promises.
If you believe in this product and want to get in for the discount, here is what you can do:
An Alternative
You can join Reliv as a Preferred Customer instead and enjoy a 10% discount on all products for a $10 annual fee. When you get to a point wherein you’re comfortable with your consumption and you can calculate the quantities you need, you can opt for the auto-ship option to enjoy a 20% discount. You can schedule shipping either monthly or quarterly depending on your intake.
This can be a good alternative for Reliv users. You get to enjoy the discounts without having to worry about staying active and reaching that 40% discount. We say that 20% is better than getting 40% because you don’t have to work too hard for it – it’s just not worth it.
That wraps our take on Reliv. We do not intend to put the company in a bad light. Rather, we’re here to give our readers as much information they need in order to make the best decision for themselves.
Bonus: Earning Potential – Exposed
Don’t take our word for it? As we’ve stressed in our articles, MLMs have higher failure rates. Reliv is no different. They’ve also disclosed their income and you will be shocked. Don’t get us wrong. Reliv is not a scam and they do pay up. However, behind your earnings, you have to weigh the efforts you’re going to put in and the time you’re going to spend. Do you still think it’s worth it?
If you’re on the fence, I suggest you read our #1 recommendation on how to generate online income.
We’d love to hear from you! What made you interested in becoming part of Reliv, what was your experience, and how are things going for you? Type it down below! 🙂