Is Zurvita a Scam? An Honest Review [Updated]

Zurvita is a multilevel marketing business in the health and wellness sector owned and run by Mark Jarvis & Tracy Jarvis. The company was formed in 2008, which in network marketing terms is an incredibly long time as most network marketing companies are gone inside 2 or 3 years. 

Originally the Zurvita started out selling completely different range of products, namely tech support and cell phones before rebranding and reinventing themselves and heading for rather popular and busy health and wellness industry. 

Currently They have 28,000+ Distributors and generate US$94 Million in revenue. 

What is interesting is Zurvita are a publicly listed company trading under the ZRVT ticker symbol on the NASDAQ exchange.

I can only describe their share price as "very dancey" and varying from under 10 cents to around the 20 cent per share price. 

I'm not a broker, so make of that what you will. 

Zurvita, despite being in a crowded market stand out with their slightly unique product line.  

It is important if you are getting involved in any business that you fully understand the products and what you are selling.

Make no mistakes about it - any business, MLM or not survives based on product sales and not recruitment!. 

Knowing your product line will naturally help you to sell them. 

The flagship product is the Zeal for life, which is a health drink claimed to increase energy, improve your overall health and well being. They also claim that Zeal For Life can make you happier. It retails at about US$2 per bottle. 

Zeal For Life

This is the companies highest selling product, the very one I was just talking about. Available in two forms, classic and Vegan. 

Zeal for life is a "just add water" kind of product. For more flavour you can mix in natural fruit juice but what is not recommended is to drink the product hot as with heat some of the nutrients are lost.  

Users have reported an increase in energy after consuming Zeal For Life. 

The Zurvita Transformation System

This the weight loss product and program that you have probably heard about. Included is a fat burner that functions by means of thermogenesis in Zurvita Burn and a cleanser in Zurvita Cleanse. 

There is also their training package which includes personal development and growth as well as the management of a healthy lifestyle. 

The cost of the transformation system varies on which package you buy

Zurvita Protein

This protein powder uses the same ingredients that are used in the companies own patented manufacturing process. It is available in just two flavours Chocolate and Vanilla Similar to Zeal for life "just add water" or better still milk or a mix of fruits to create a very healthy smoothie. 

The Zurvita Welcome Kit

This the kit that you need to buy if you make the decision to become a distributor for Zurvita. This is basically your starter kit and will cost you US$39.95.  

Note: Zurvita call their distributors  independent consultants. 

Zurvita's products do have a lot of science behind them and one key ingredient is Rice Bran. 

Rice bran is highly nutritious but is discarded during the milling process due to the bran being very unstable.

At Zurvita their research and product development team have found a way to make the rice bran more stable and thus help us to obtain the nutritional benefit from it.  

Rather impressive is this process is actually patented by the company. 

Other natural ingredients used in their products include turmeric, noni, acai berries and aloe vera.

With Zurvita, as it is with all network marketing companies you can earn money in two main ways:

1. Direct sales: As it sounds, you sell products and earn a profit or commission from the sales for your sales and marketing efforts. 
2. Recruitment: You recruit people into the Zurvita Business and earn pass up residual commissions.

Details of the Zurvita compensation plan can be found here. I also suggest you watch the company video below to get a clear understanding of their compensation plan. 

Let's go over what is in the video for a clear understanding of the compensation plan. 

Note: In the video above the narrator says the "system will duplicate itself". What is being spoken about by "duplicating" is your friend will refer a friend who will refer a friend who will....you get it!.

Sure on paper and in theory this is pretty simple and straight forward but in reality and in practice it is not as easy or as simple as it is made out to be. 

The Zurvita Compensation Plan Explained

Let's get down to explaining the compensation plan as best and as clearly as I can. 

Personal Sales

For every product that you sell you can earn a 20% commission.

When you get preferred customers that sign up for monthly auto-shipment of orders your commission is reduced but you will have regular passive income from those preferred customers for as long as they remain signed up for monthly sales.

Your 20% commission is calculated on the Business Volume Points value of what was ordered by your clients. 

You will also receive a customer acquisition bonus when you get customers to agree to monthly auto-shipping of products. Thus amount varies from US$30 to US$50 and is dependent on the products purchased by your client on their first order.

Monthly Sales

Broadly Similar to the above mentioned personal sales with the exception that you can earn 20% commission from your direct recruits, the one's that you bring into Zurvita. This is your frontline. 

You also have the possibility of earning what is called a "builders bonus" of US$50 to US$100 for every one of the independent Zurvita consultants that you bring into the company.

This amount is fully dependent on which starter pack they purchase. The compensation hierarchy is demonstrated in the image below.

Each individual you personally recruit  is as stated your frontline, and represent a leg each. Any independent consultant recruited by them will be in your down line. 

Team Bonus

You can earn US$400 every time that your down line accumulates 3,000 points in Team Business Volume. Qualifying for this you need to make sure no greater than 50% of your Team Bonus Volume Comes From any one single leg of your downline.

During a single month you are permitted to earn more than one team bonus. All that is required is that you generated the required Team Bonus Volume to do so. 

You team bonus can increase to US$600 when you lease or buy a car that they approve and let Zurvita brand it with their logo and company branding, basically Carvertising!. 

Overrides

Basically what network marketers refer to as a residual income. How much you earn depends on where you rank with the Zurvita compensation plan. 

You are permitted to earn 8 levels down on your downline. Everyone gets a 5% override 8 levels deep - that 40%, which tells me at least 40% of the products price is dished out in commissions.

You can earn US$800 as an all star bonus. To qualify you have to recruit a minimum of 2 new consultants and they order a minimum of 3,000 Team Bonus Volume. This is a way in which consultants could ask their new recruits to over spend. 

Infinity Overrides

The commissions don't end there at the 8 levels. When you reach Presedential Director Level you can qualify for an extra commission down your whole downline. This override gets cancelled when someone reaches the same rank as you. This bonus ranges from 2% to 4.75%.  

Which basically tells me 44.75% of a products cost is paid out in commissions. 

In addition to all of the commissions getting paid out you can earn rank achievement bonuses. It seems to me at least half of the products cost is dished out in commissions in one way or another. 

This explains why network marketing products are usually very expensive. Not because they are any any better than similar non MLM products but because so much is dished out in commissions.

Something that I always check out is how a company is rated and regarded by the Better Business Bureau. 

By doing this I get an indication as how they conduct business on a professional and legal aspect which does give an inking as to how trusting we can be of them. 

Zurvita is not accredited by the BBB but I can report that they hold a perfect A+ rating with the organisation. 

No company that does a lot of business or has been in business for a great length of time does not have it's complaints. 

I have reproduced some complaints made about the company below for your viewing and as evidence.

No, 

None of the Zurvita products are approved by the FDA. The FDA does not approve of natural health products as they see them as being food rather than medicine.

The FDA does inspect manufacturing facilities and gives out what is called the cGMP certificate - Cetification of Good Manufacturing Practices which lets the public know that a product is manufactured in a clean and safe environment. 

I do not see any cGMP certificate associated with Zurvita or any of their products.  

There are some good positive things about Zurvita that I did like. 

Zurvita Is A Member Of The DSA

The fact that Zurvita is a member of the direct selling association, a professional organisation shows a level of trust, professionalism and adhere to their strict rules of practice. 

No Obliged Recurring Fees

Although it is great when you land a customer that goes for recurring shipment it is not obliged that you, as an independent consultant have a recurring order. 

Many MLM companies oblige that you have a monthly minimum order with Zurvita it is entirely optional.

30 Day Money Back Guarantee

Always something that is great to see. Not happy with a product - you can return inside 30 days. 

Good Quality Products

Having good quality well presented products and a unique angle helps the products to sell much easier and better. 

Not everything is perfect and there are something that I don't like about Zurvita. 

Very Jumpy Stock Price

Zurvita are listed on the NASDAQ. Their stock price at best is absolutely jumpy varying from less than 10 cents to over 20 cents. Which is very erratic and, a sign of instability in my opinion.

I'm not a broker, so you have to make your own judgement on that. I would question a stock that regularly doubles its price and then half's it with regularity as lacking stability. 

Not Easy To Join Zurvita

It is not as simple as filling out a few forms, signing a contract and paying your fee. You must be sponsored by a current independent consultant. 

If there is no local Independent Consultant near you - hard lines you can't join!

Products Are Not Manufactured In A cGMP Approved Facility.

The lack of a cGMP certificate for me is a big thing. I buy supplements all the time but I wont buy anything that is not cGMP. 

I understand fully that the FDA don't approve of natural healthy supplements, knowing they are made in clean safe and approved manner is comforting. 

The missing cGMP might make products a little more difficult to sell. 

Sure, money can be made but it is very unlikely, in fact, 99% unlikely that you will earn on average a liveable income with Zurvita. 

Only 1% of their independent contractors earn more than US$2,000 per month on average. 

From the Zurvita income disclosure statement and the details shown it is fair to say that you will find it difficult to earn a full time income from the opportunity. 

Also, note that this is income only and does not include any business expenses in running your Zurvia businesses.  

By technical definition all Multilevel marketing opportunities are Pyramidal in their very nature, structure and way in which they operate. 

However, in the eyes of the law, Zurvita is not a pyramid scheme due to the fact that they have a retail side to their operation.

As long as a MLM has products or service being sold it cannot be defined as, at least legally, as a Pyramid Scheme.

Yes,

Considering the business model and that the company pay out over several levels - 9 in fact, I can absolutely tell you without a doubt that Zurvita is a multilevel marketing Business opportunity. 

Zurvita is not a scam. They are a legitimate business and listed publically on the NASDAQ. I doubt that a scam would pass such scrutiny and be able to list themselves on the stock exchange. 

I'm not a fan of network marketing opportunities at all. I make no secret of that. The main reason is the lack of training given. 

Network marketing and being successful at it is a lot more than just handing over your money, joining and then just asking a bunch of people you know to join and magically your downline and sales will "duplicate". 

MLM products do appear to be more difficult to sell due to their elevated price - I have shown a huge portion, in the case of Zurvita almost 45% is handed out in commissions alone which leads to an expensive product. 

This, and a more informed consumer who will easily search online for better priced alternatives make products like those sold by Zurvita very difficult to sell. 

Due to the difficulties with MLM's I recommend that you don't get involved with Zurvita. 

Instead of driving your friends and family crazy by trying to get them to join your team. Seek out much better opportunities and method that have a time tested and proven track record and are much safer. 

That is why I prefer affiliate marketing, less restrictive, very profitable and proven. 

Affiliate Marketing is my Number 1 recommended way for making money in the digital world both for those just starting out and those that are semi experienced. 

The reasons are pretty simple:

• No huge startup costs!
  
• No Selling face to face!
• No Stock to keep or manage!
• No huge investment involved - (Get started with a FREE TRIAL!)
• No networking or recruiting required. 
• You can operate in any market you wish! - even your hobbies & passion!
• Earn a full time income & more!. No limit to your earning potential!. 
  

In fact...

I have created and built a regular mid 4 figure passive monthly income and fully enjoy a life of travel to where I want and when I want. With no boss to answer to and zero annoying co-workers I completely enjoy life and work when I choose to.

This is all thanks to Affiliate Marketing!

To emulate what I have achieved, real freedom and a passive income stream, click that red button below..and watch the video that I have prepared for you. 

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