USANA Health Sciences
A 34-year-old audited NYSE company with real, certified products and a plan paid from margin - whose own disclosure puts 72.6% of counted US participants at $0 to $250 a year, under a plan rewritten in 2025 that it has not published.
The company, the audit and the products are real and the plan is paid from margin; what holds the grade at C is what participants keep: 72.6% netted $0 to $250 in 2023, staying commission-eligible costs about $1,800 a year in product, and the current plan and any newer disclosure are not public.
Disclosure
The editor of this site, Rob Fore, formerly promoted USANA. That relationship has ended. He does not set scores: this report’s grade is the weighted composite of its nine published dimension scores, and the build rejects any page where those two disagree. Our full conflict-of-interest statement, including every position held, is on the About page.
Can you actually make money with USANA?
No, not for most people who try, and the company’s own numbers are what settle it. USANA’s 2023 US Income Disclosure Statement, the newest one on its site, counts everyone who bought anything during the year, 23,336 Associates and Affiliates, and puts 72.6% of them at a “net profit” of $0 to $250. 3.7% made more than $5,000 and 1.2% more than $20,000. The denominator is honest: people who earned nothing are inside the table, not left out of it. But “net profit” subtracts only kits, sales aids, event fees, shipping and taxes. It does not subtract the product a participant bought to stay qualified, which is the largest cost of all.
Here is that cost. Under the 2021 compensation plan, the newest plan document USANA still serves, a Business Center earns commissions only with at least 100 points of Personal Sales Volume in every four-week rolling period, and the 2024 US Terms & Policies add that an Associate must sell to at least five customers every four weeks “to be qualified for commissions.” Points cost about $1.40 each at the cheapest (a HealthPak, $139.95 for 100 points) and about $1.70 at the catalog median. Thirteen periods a year comes to roughly $1,800 to $2,200 at Preferred prices, plus the $20 renewal, shipping and tax. Much of that is product a participant would use, but USANA itself deems only $163 a year of an Associate’s buying to be personal consumption.
And the plan you would join today is not the one in that document. USANA rewrote it in 2025, adding a 10% Sales Bonus on new Brand Partners’ and customers’ first six months of purchases and three Milestone Bonuses for new Brand Partners, and has not published the terms. No US disclosure covers any year after 2023. Nobody outside the company can check whether the 2025 plan pays the typical participant more, less or the same.
The 2023 US Income Disclosure Statement gives the Welcome Kit as a “one-time payment of $9.95” and a “$20 renewal fee annually”; the current US price list (prices effective August 2025) shows Welcome Kit item #454 at $10.00. The 10-K says kits average about $16 across markets, “are fully refundable”, and that “No other direct investment is required to become a Brand Partner.” Auto Order is optional and a Preferred Customer account is free. The recurring cost is the activity rule in the 2021 plan: 200 points of Personal Sales Volume to open a Business Center (about $300 to $340), then 100 points every four-week rolling period to keep one active (200 for more), plus five customers every four weeks under the 2024 Terms & Policies. At $1.40 to $1.70 a point, 100 points is about $140 to $170 a period. Optional extras on the price list: one-time Experience Packs for new Brand Partners at $399, $699 and $999 (200, 400 and 600 points), and a Business Accelerator Suite at $19.95 every four weeks. Whether the 2025 plan kept the 100-point rule is not public.
- You would buy the products at Preferred prices anyway. A free Preferred Customer account gets the same prices and the same 10% Auto Order discount with no kit, no renewal and no quota; the Brand Partner position adds the qualification rules on top.
- You have, or can realistically build, five customers who reorder every four weeks. That is a condition of commissions under the 2024 US Terms & Policies, and it is the part of this plan built around genuine customers.
- You get the current 2025 compensation plan in writing before you join, including the activity requirement and how customer orders count toward it. The only public plan document dates from November 2021.
- You read the income disclosure with the qualifying product counted as a cost. At roughly $1,800 a year it is several times what 72.6% of counted participants reported as net profit, and the disclosure does not subtract it.
- You can accept leaving with nothing. Exit forfeits the team and every future commission, a 12-month non-solicitation treats public social-media promotion of another direct seller as soliciting, and USANA owns the customer list.
That call is computed, not chosen - the rule reads three of the nine published dimension scores and is printed on the methodology page. It describes this company's plan and the figures it publishes about the people already in it. It is not a prediction about you, and nothing on this site is advice.
Legal status
LEGAL - no government enforcement action naming USANA was found: nothing from the FTC, no FDA warning letter or recall, no Health Canada recall and no state attorney-general action; the FY2025 Form 10-K states that “to our knowledge, we have not been the subject of any action by the FTC.” USANA is on the October 2021 FTC Notice of Penalty Offenses list for money-making opportunities (a mailing that also carried the endorsements notice) and on the April 2023 list for substantiation of product claims; both are mass mailings to hundreds of companies, each headed “NOT an indication that it has done anything wrong”, and neither is an allegation, charge or finding against any recipient. Every lawsuit and government inquiry on record since 2007 ended in the company’s favor: suits dismissed, inquiries closed with no action (including the SEC and DOJ FCPA investigations in 2020), and two California Proposition 65 lead cases settled with no admission. One 2008 arbitration award went against it and was later settled. In mainland China, 41.3% of 2025 sales, the company states that BabyCare “has not received approval from the Chinese government that its business model, compensation plan or operations comply with applicable laws”, and that past inquiries produced warnings and fines paid by BabyCare or its distributors (no dates or amounts disclosed). A C grade is not a finding of illegality.
Confidence: Medium-High
Primary sources fetched directly where possible. Everything we could not verify is listed at the bottom of this page by name.
Follow the money
A Salt Lake City company, founded in 1992 by Myron W. Wentz, Ph.D. and listed on the NYSE as USNA, that makes and sells nutritional supplements (CellSentials, HealthPak, Proflavanol), Celavive skincare and foods through Brand Partners and Preferred Customers in 25 markets: about 165,000 and 219,000 respectively on the company’s 43%/57% split of 384,000 active customers at 4 July 2026. Since December 2024 it also owns most of Hiya, a children’s vitamin subscription brand that pays no distributor commissions. 2025 net sales were $925 million, of which $775.5 million came from the core direct-selling business.
What is real, and goes first: audited accounts with clean current opinions, profit every year from 2009 to 2025, no debt, a plan paid from product margin at a steady 42.6% to 45.0% of sales, real products with ten NSF Certified for Sport listings, an entry cost of about $10 plus $20 a year, a one-year 100% return policy on resaleable product, an income disclosure with an honest denominator, and a legal record in which every lawsuit and government inquiry except one 2008 arbitration ended in the company’s favor.
What drags the grade down is what a participant keeps. 72.6% of counted US participants netted $0 to $250 in 2023, on a measure that does not subtract the roughly $1,800 to $2,200 a year of product the 2021 plan’s activity rule requires; that disclosure covers 2023, and the 2025 plan anyone joins today has not been published.
Brand Partners are 43% of active customers but buy about half the volume (51% of core sales in H1 2026), and the plan counts a recruit’s own purchase toward the upline exactly like a customer’s order. The five-customer quota is a genuine control; the 2025 bonuses on new Brand Partners’ purchases pull the other way.
The business is shrinking and concentrated: active customers fell from about 616,000 (2018) to 384,000, mainland China supplies 41.3% of sales under a model the company says China has not approved, the founder controls 40.1% through a Bahamas trust structure, and 2026 guidance is now a net loss.
Where each dollar of USANA’s 2024 net sales went
From the audited FY2024 income statement ($854.5 million of net sales), the last full year before Hiya, which pays no distributor incentives, was consolidated. Associate incentives (commissions, bonuses, contests and promotions) were 42.6%, inside a 42.6% to 45.0% band every year from 2016 to 2024. Cost of sales is 100% minus the 81.1% gross margin, operating earnings were $66.3 million, and the remaining slice is derived as the remainder. Commissions on a distributor’s own purchases are booked as a sales discount and so are not inside the incentives line.
| Product | Price | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| CellSentials (Vita-Antioxidant + Core Minerals) The flagship multivitamin and mineral pair; both tablets are NSF Certified for Sport. A high-potency formula with a curcumin complex, resveratrol, olive extract and PQQ. About $2.43 a day at the Preferred price, against $1.33 to $1.47 for the closest certified open-market comparator. |
$67.95 Preferred; $74.75 retail; about $61.16 on Auto Order 28-day supply (two tablets twice daily) |
40 points; a Brand Partner’s own purchase counts toward the sponsor’s Group Sales Volume, not the buyer’s |
| HealthPak CellSentials, MagneCal D and CellSentials Booster in packets. At $1.40 a point, the cheapest way to meet the 100-point rule. Not itself on the NSF Certified for Sport list. |
$139.95 Preferred; $153.95 retail; about $125.96 on Auto Order AM/PM packets; packet count and supply length not shown publicly |
100 points, exactly the 2021 activity floor for one Business Center |
| Proflavanol C100 Two tablets give 600 mg of vitamin C and 200 mg of grape seed extract; NSF Certified for Sport. About $1.78 a day, roughly 8x to 9x a store grape seed extract plus a USP Verified vitamin C. |
$49.95 Preferred; $54.95 retail 56 tablets: 28 days at two a day, 14 days at four |
35 points |
| Whey Protein Isolate About $4.45 a serving against $1.77 for a named open-market isolate, about 2.5x. Not on the NSF list. |
$89.00 Preferred; $97.90 retail 20 servings of 25 g protein |
40 points |
| Celavive Vitalizing Serum The public site shows no Auto Order discount on the Celavive line. About $39.77 an ounce against $12.64 a fluid ounce for a named drugstore serum, about 3x. |
$70.00 Preferred; $77.00 retail 1.76 oz |
46 points |
| Experience Packs and 200-point packs From the August 2025 US price list and the 5 October 2026 catalog. The opportunity page mentions “ENROLLMENT PACKS ... with extra discounts and perks”; the catalog does not label which items those are. |
$399, $699 and $999 (200, 400 and 600 points); five catalog packs at $300 to $315 Preferred for 200 points Experience Packs one time, “available one time on initial orders for new Brand Partner only” |
Full point value; 200 points is the 2021 threshold to open a Business Center |
| Welcome Kit and renewal The only required purchase to become an Associate, sold at cost and refundable within 30 days. Affiliates pay no renewal; Preferred Customer accounts are free. |
$9.95 (2023 disclosure) or $10.00 (current price list); $20 a year renewal kit once; renewal charged automatically each anniversary |
None: kits and sales tools carry no volume and pay no commission |
| Affiliate (link-commission path, no team) Affiliate Commission Plan effective 22 June 2024; weekly payout at a $5 minimum; commissions are deducted when a customer returns an order. Affiliates are counted with Brand Partners in the company’s figures and in the 2023 disclosure. |
$0 stays active with one sale or personal purchase in 12 months |
15% on link orders (the 10-K says 15% to 20% by category); a one-level 10% bonus on a referred Affiliate’s earnings and another 10% on that Affiliate’s purchases |
Who runs it, and what they ran before
Founded the company in 1992. The FY2025 10-K says he “is no longer active in the management of USANA and is an emeritus member of our Board of Directors.” He controls Gull Global Limited of Nassau, Bahamas, which is owned through two companies by the Gull Trust, a revocable Bahamian trust “administered for the benefit of Dr. Wentz and other beneficiaries” whose assets “are controlled by Dr. Wentz” (Schedule 13D/A, 30 March 2026). Gull Global holds 7,408,345 shares, 40.1% (proxy, March 2026), down from 51.3% held through an Isle of Man company at end-2007; the 10-K says the stake lets him “exert significant influence over the election of the members of our Board.” A May 2008 tender offer by his group to buy the rest of the company at $26 a share was terminated in July 2008 with no shares accepted. Gull entities sold about $53.5 million of shares in 2008-2013 and about $367.2 million in 2014-2024, and state they “will continue to sell, some of their Shares... for liquidity purposes.” His career before USANA was not checked for this report.
Joined USANA part-time in April 2003 after it acquired his production company, FMG Productions (proxy biography); co-CEO from August 2015, CEO from November 2016 and Chairman from May 2020; Executive Chairman while Jim H. Brown was CEO; back as CEO on 8 January 2026. The return announcement credits him with “more than three decades at the Company”; his own proxy biography supports about 23 years, a small inconsistency in the company’s documents. No reason for the change was given beyond positioning the company “to accelerate strategic priorities.” 2026 base salary $850,000; 47,067 shares.
Promoted to CEO on 1 July 2023; the lead independent director thanked him for “his leadership over the past 19 years” when he stepped down, with no reason given. His 2025 total compensation was $4,339,625, a CEO pay ratio of 85 to 1, and his 2025 cash bonus was 41.3% of base salary against 14.6% for other executives. His tenure covers the all-cash $206.1 million Hiya acquisition (December 2024), the July 2025 compensation-plan rewrite and a fall in active customers from 483,000 to 387,000. A report that he joined a direct-selling trade association board in 2025 was not checked.
A board of eight, seven of them independent (proxy); the lead independent director, Gilbert A. Fuller, 85, was USANA’s CFO in 2006-2008 and has been a director since 2008. The auditor record is not spotless and is set out at its exact stage. Grant Thornton resigned on 10 July 2007 after a disclosed disagreement over the scope of audit procedures connected to a critic’s 2007 allegations, which the company says “was resolved to the satisfaction of GT, the Company, and the Audit Committee”; the Q2 2007 10-Q went out unreviewed and Nasdaq issued a deficiency notice; PwC was appointed in September 2007 and a reviewed 10-Q/A followed in October. The 2006 and 2007 statements were restated in February 2009 for two income-tax errors (diluted EPS lower by $0.04 and $0.01). KPMG replaced PwC in 2013 after a competitive process with no disagreements, and gave an adverse internal-control opinion for FY2023 on an IT general-controls material weakness that “did not result in any errors to the financial statements”, remediated in 2024. No related-party transactions required disclosure for 2025.
Registered address
Salt Lake City, Utah (3838 West Parkway Blvd., a 354,000 sq ft company-owned headquarters)
The FY2025 10-K lists owned facilities in Salt Lake City (including a 54,000 sq ft foods plant), Beijing (350,000 sq ft) and Tianjin (31,000 sq ft), and an office and warehouse in Sydney. USANA operates in 25 markets; 75.7% of 2025 consolidated net sales came from outside the US, and 90.3% of core nutritional sales. KPMG has audited the company since September 2013 and gave unqualified opinions on the FY2025 statements and on internal control; no going-concern language appears in the FY2025 10-K or either 2026 10-Q. About 226 holders of record and 18,456,935 shares outstanding (March 2026). Since 23 December 2024 the group has owned 78.85% of Hiya, a children’s vitamin subscription business, and since 2022 Rise Bar and Oola; none of those pays Brand Partner commissions, so about $150 million of the $925 million 2025 sales figure sits outside the network.
The veteran's checklist
Eight questions that decide whether this is a business or a transfer mechanism. Same eight, every review.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who legally owns it? |
OK
USANA Health Sciences, Inc., a Utah corporation listed on the NYSE (USNA), audited by KPMG; the founder controls 40.1% through a Bahamas company owned by a revocable trust, and Renaissance, Pzena and Vanguard each hold 5% to 6%.
|
| What does it really cost? |
CONCERN
A $9.95 to $10 kit and $20 a year to join; to earn commissions under the 2021 plan, about $140 to $170 of product every four weeks (roughly $1,800 to $2,200 a year) plus five customers per four weeks. The 2025 requirement is not public.
|
| Published income disclosure? |
CONCERN
Yes, bracketed with an honest all-purchasers denominator, but the newest covers 2023, it does not subtract qualifying product, and 72.6% of counted US participants netted $0 to $250.
|
| Regulatory or legal action against the company, ever? |
WATCH
No government enforcement found. Suits and inquiries since 2007 ended in the company’s favor; one 2008 arbitration award went against it. China warnings and fines are disclosed without dates or amounts.
|
| Does the plan pay for recruiting? |
WATCH
Not directly: commissions are paid on product volume and kits pay nothing. But a recruit’s own purchases count toward the upline like a customer’s, and the 2025 Sales and Milestone Bonuses reward new Brand Partners’ early buying.
|
| Can you get your money back? |
OK
Yes. 100% less shipping on resaleable product and sales tools for a year, and a 30-day unconditional guarantee including the kit. Returns over $100 of undamaged product can cost a distributor the business.
|
| What happens if you leave? |
CONCERN
You lose the team and all future commissions, are paid for the last full week only, face a 12-month non-solicitation that covers public social-media promotion of another direct seller, and the customer list stays with USANA.
|
| Merchant play or miner play? |
WATCH
A real merchant of certified supplements at premium prices, best used as a free Preferred Customer; the miner risk is the Brand Partner quota, where most counted participants net $0 to $250 before the product they buy to qualify.
|
What has to be true for you to get paid
| To cover | You need |
|---|---|
| Cover a year of staying commission-eligible from commissions (100 points every four weeks on HealthPak at $1.40 a point, plus the $20 renewal) | about $1,840 a year of commissions and bonuses, roughly $35 a week, before shipping and tax 13 periods × 100 points × $1.40 = $1,820, plus $20 = $1,840; ÷ 52 = $35.38 a week. At the $1.70 catalog median the product alone is $2,210. In 2023, 81.1% of counted US participants reported net profit of $500 or less, on a measure that does not subtract this product at all. |
| Cover the same $1,840 from retail markup alone | about $18,400 of retail sales a year, roughly $1,530 a month $1,840 ÷ 10% = $18,400. The 2021 plan says published retail prices “suggest a 10% markup over the ‘Preferred Price’”. Any customer can open a free Preferred Customer account and buy at the same Preferred price, so retail margin depends on customers who choose not to; USANA itself publishes no estimate of retail profit. |
| Cover your own CellSentials habit ($883 a year at Preferred price) as an Affiliate, who pays no kit or renewal | about $5,890 of customer orders through the link a year, for example 7 customers each buying CellSentials every four weeks $883 ÷ 15% = $5,887. One CellSentials order at $67.95 pays about $10.19; $883 ÷ $10.19 = about 87 orders a year, or 6.7 customers ordering every four weeks. Assumes the 15% rate applies; the 10-K gives 15% to 20% by category, and returns are deducted. |
| Reach a true $5,000 a year after the qualifying product, the bracket 3.7% of 2023 participants reached on the company’s narrower measure | about $6,840 of commissions and bonuses in the year, roughly $132 a week $5,000 + $1,840 = $6,840. The company’s disclosure would record this person at about $6,800 of “net profit”, because it subtracts only non-commissionable purchases, shipping and taxes, not the product bought to qualify. |
Read this twice
All four scenarios use the 2021 plan’s 100-point activity rule (the newest public plan; whether the 2025 plan kept it is not public), the August 2025 US price list and 5 October 2026 catalog for point costs, the 2021 plan’s stated 10% retail markup, the June 2024 Affiliate Commission Plan’s 15% rate, and the 2023 US income disclosure for the comparison brackets. They are arithmetic floors, not forecasts: they show what has to happen to cover a cost, not how likely it is. Shipping and sales tax are not quantified anywhere public and are left out, which flatters every scenario slightly. Whether a customer’s order can supply part of the 100 points under the current plan is not public; if it can, a Brand Partner with real customers need not self-buy the full amount.
Run your own numbers
Drag the sliders. Nothing here is stored or sent.
Modeled on the Affiliate path, the cheapest honest route: 15% on link orders under the Affiliate Commission Plan effective 22 June 2024, against a customer buying CellSentials at the $67.95 Preferred price every four weeks, which is about $883 a year and about $11 a month to you. The cost line is zero because an Affiliate pays no kit and no renewal and stays active with one sale or purchase in 12 months. The Brand Partner path is the one the income disclosure describes, and it costs more to stay paid: the newest public plan (2021) requires 100 points of personal volume every four weeks, about $140 to $170 at Preferred prices, plus five customers every four weeks under the 2024 Terms & Policies. Calibrate against the company’s own 2023 disclosure rather than these sliders: 72.6% of the 23,336 counted US participants netted $0 to $250 for the year. Your own subscription cost of $0/mo is included.
What it costs to replace this yourself
The same capability bought on the open market, read on 5 October 2026, against USANA’s discounted Preferred prices (a retail buyer pays 10% more). Formulas differ in every pairing, so each comparison is close rather than exact; Target prices come from its own pricing service for one store and can vary. None of these brands is graded on this site.
| What they sell you | What you'd use instead | Your cost |
|---|---|---|
| CellSentials, $67.95 for 28 days (NSF Certified for Sport) | Thorne Basic Nutrients 2/Day, 60 capsules, 30 days (NSF Certified for Sport) | $40 on the rendered page ($44 in the page data): $1.33 to $1.47 a day against $2.43, about 1.7x to 1.8x |
| CellSentials, as a daily multivitamin | Nature Made Multivitamin Tablets with Iron, USP Verified, 130 count (Target) | $12.19: about $0.09 a day if one tablet daily (dose not confirmed); a basic formula, not like-for-like |
| Proflavanol C100, $49.95 for 28 days | Best Naturals Grape Seed Extract 400 mg, 120 capsules, plus Nature Made Vitamin C 500 mg, USP Verified, 100 count (Target) | $13.99 plus $7.49 = $21.48: about $0.21 a day against $1.78 (extract standardization not confirmed) |
| Whey Protein Isolate, $89.00 for 20 servings | Dymatize ISO100 Gourmet Vanilla, 1.4 lb, 20 servings of 25 g protein (Target) | $35.49: $1.77 a serving against $4.45 |
| Celavive Vitalizing Serum, $70.00 for 1.76 oz | Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Serum, 1.7 fl oz (Target) | $21.49: $12.64 a fluid ounce against $39.77 an ounce |
| Brand Partner pricing on every order | A free USANA Preferred Customer account | $0: the same Preferred prices and 10% Auto Order discount with no kit, renewal, point requirement or customer quota |
| Total as sold CellSentials alone: $67.95 every 28 days at the Preferred price, about $883 a year over 13 periods ($972 at retail) |
Total, built yourself Thorne Basic Nutrients 2/Day: about $487 to $535 a year at $40 to $44 per 30 days |
Price-to-value
On the flagship, the certified open-market alternative costs about 55% to 60% of USANA’s Preferred price per day. On the whey isolate, the serum and the grape seed product, the gap is 2.5x to 9x against close substitutes. The fair reading is that CellSentials is a premium, third-party-certified formula sold at a premium that a buyer can defend, while much of the rest of the line sells at a large markup over what the open market charges. For anyone who simply wants USANA products, the free Preferred Customer account delivers the same prices without the Brand Partner obligations; joining as a Brand Partner adds a quota, not a discount.
Three operators, five horizons
Probability of cumulative net profit
Hover any point for median, top decile and bottom quartile.
The product buyer who signs up as a Brand Partner
buys CellSentials or a HealthPak each period anyway, sells to a few friends, never builds a team. Product is treated as consumption, so only the kit, renewal and commissions are counted. Modeled from the 2023 disclosure and the 2021 plan, not a company case study
| Horizon | P(profit) | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 3 mo | 10% | -$10 |
| 6 mo | 15% | -$10 |
| 1 yr | 20% | -$30 |
| 3 yr | 25% | -$70 |
| 5 yr | 25% | -$110 |
The part-timer who buys 100 points every period to stay eligible
would not otherwise buy the product, so the roughly $1,840 a year of HealthPak and renewal is counted as a business cost; works a few hours a week toward five customers and two legs. Modeled from the 2023 disclosure brackets, the 2021 plan and the August 2025 price list, not a company case study
| Horizon | P(profit) | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 3 mo | 3% | -$420 |
| 6 mo | 5% | -$900 |
| 1 yr | 8% | -$1,700 |
| 3 yr | 12% | -$4,900 |
| 5 yr | 12% | -$8,000 |
The builder running several Business Centers
opens with a $399 Experience Pack, keeps 200 points every period on Auto Order (about $306 a period) and the $19.95 Business Accelerator Suite, and recruits actively for the 2025 Sales and Milestone Bonuses. Modeled from the price list, the 2021 plan and the disclosure’s top brackets, not a company case study
| Horizon | P(profit) | Median |
|---|---|---|
| 3 mo | 5% | -$1,250 |
| 6 mo | 10% | -$2,300 |
| 1 yr | 15% | -$4,200 |
| 3 yr | 20% | -$10,500 |
| 5 yr | 20% | -$16,000 |
Methodology note. These are modeled illustrative outcome ranges, not claims, not forecasts for any reader and not a company case study. USANA publishes bracketed US and Canadian disclosures for 2023 but no average, median, retention figure or earnings-by-tenure table, and nothing for the 2025 plan, so every number above is built from the 2023 US brackets (72.6% at $0 to $250; 3.7% above $5,000; 1.2% above $20,000), the 2021 plan’s point rules, the August 2025 price list and the 5 October 2026 catalog. The profiles differ mainly in whether the qualifying product is counted as a cost, which the company’s own “net profit” never does. The “p” value is a modeled chance of being net positive on cash at that point; it is not a published figure, and it does not count the hours put in.
Where you are actually allowed to promote this
Platform policy reads, not verifications. Check every one before you spend a dollar - enforcement changes faster than the written policy does.
Red flags and green flags
Red flags
15172.6% of counted US participants netted $0 to $250
2“Net profit” leaves out the product bought to qualify
3The loss row vanished between 2022 and 2023
4The newest disclosure covers 2023
5The 2025 compensation plan is not public
6Distributors buy about half the volume
7A recruit’s own purchase pays the upline like a customer’s order
8Bonuses aimed at new Brand Partners’ ramp
9Mainland China is 41.3% of sales under a model China has not approved
10A shrinking core business and a 2026 net loss
11The company’s own page says what its rules forbid distributors to say
12Leaving forfeits everything
13Non-disparagement that covers true statements and competitors
14A social-media non-solicitation for 12 months after exit
15Founder control and a mixed controls history
Green flags
101A 34-year-old audited, listed company
2A legal record that ran its way
3A plan paid from margin at a stable rate
4A real customer requirement
5Low entry cost and a free customer route
6A one-year, 100% return policy
7An income disclosure with an honest denominator
8Third-party-certified products and an FDA-registered plant
9Fairer arbitration than its reputation
10No government enforcement found
We would like to be wrong about this
Upward
- A current US income disclosure for the 2025 plan (2024 and 2025 data years) with the loss row restored and a median published, together with a public 2025 compensation plan document showing the activity requirement and how customer orders count toward it.
- Counting only customer volume, or customer volume above a stated personal-consumption cap, toward upline commissions and the 2025 Sales Bonus, so a recruit’s own buying does not pay the enroller the way a customer’s order does.
- Bringing the company’s own opportunity page under the income and lifestyle rules it imposes on distributors, with a typicality statement beside the testimonials and a direct link to the disclosure in the “How much can I earn” answer.
Downward
- A government finding on income or health claims from the FTC or a state attorney general, or a Chinese enforcement action against the BabyCare model, which the company says has not been approved and which supplies 41.3% of sales.
- A published 2025 plan or a newer disclosure showing a higher personal purchase requirement, bonuses weighted more toward new Brand Partners’ own buying, or a larger share of participants below zero.
- Shrinkage that pushes the plan or the balance sheet out of its decade-long range: a breach of the revolver’s EBITDA covenant, renewed borrowing, or commissions cut to protect margin.
Grade is C. A real, audited, debt-free company with certified products and a plan paid from margin, whose own disclosure shows most participants keep almost nothing, under a 2025 plan nobody outside can read.
What is good here is real and should be said without hedging. USANA has been audited and publicly listed for decades, has been profitable every year since 2009 and carries no debt. Every lawsuit and government inquiry in its record except one 2008 arbitration ended in its favor, most of them dismissed with prejudice, and no government enforcement action was found. Its products are publicly priced, ten carry NSF Certified for Sport listings, the plant is FDA-registered, most active customers are not distributors, and returns are honored at 100% for a year. Entry costs about $10 plus $20 a year, and the plan has paid a steady 42.6% to 45.0% of sales to distributors for a decade.
The trouble is what a participant keeps. The company’s own 2023 disclosure, counting everyone who bought anything, puts 72.6% at $0 to $250 of “net profit”, and that measure does not subtract the roughly $1,800 a year of product the 2021 plan requires to stay commission-eligible. The 2022 loss row disappeared in 2023 without explanation, the newest disclosure is for 2023, and the 2025 plan that pays new Brand Partners’ enrollers a bonus on their first six months of purchases has not been published. Distributors buy half the volume, the prices run from about 1.8x to 9x the open market, and leaving costs the whole team.
The company-level risks are financial position and concentration, not misconduct: a core business shrinking for five years, a 2026 net loss, 41.3% of sales in a China market that has not approved the model, and a founder who controls 40.1%. Taken together, the nine numbers land at C without any cap: a genuinely well-run company whose opportunity, on its own figures, mostly works as a discount club with a quota attached.
Buy as a Preferred Customer, not a Brand Partner
A free account gets the same Preferred prices and the 10% Auto Order discount with no kit, renewal, point rule or customer quota. If you only want the products, that is the whole answer.
Price CellSentials against a certified alternative
Thorne Basic Nutrients 2/Day carries the same NSF Certified for Sport mark at about $1.33 to $1.47 a day against $2.43. Decide whether the extra ingredients are worth the difference before any plan enters the picture.
Ask for the 2025 plan and a current disclosure in writing
Before joining, get the current compensation plan, the activity requirement, how customer orders count toward it, and any disclosure newer than 2023. If they cannot be produced, you are being asked to join a plan you cannot read.
Count the qualifying product as a cost
Add roughly $1,800 a year of 100-point orders to the $20 renewal, then compare it with the $0 to $250 that 72.6% of counted participants reported. If your customers are not supplying most of those points, the arithmetic does not close.
Nine dimensions, weighted
Dimension profile
Further from center is better. Hover any point.
Hard caps that bind here
The lowest binding cap wins, regardless of the weighted arithmetic.
What we read
Every source below links to the document itself. Tier 1 is a primary record - the company’s own plan, policy or disclosure, a court filing, a regulator’s decision or an SEC filing. Tier 2 is a self-regulatory or secondary regulator record, tier 3 reporting or academic work, tier 4 an open-market price comparison. Where a document can be moved or withdrawn, an archived copy is linked beside it. If a link is dead when you try it, that is a correction we want.
- Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 (ended 3 January 2026)
Utah incorporation and HQ; founded 1992; 25 markets; 41.3% of sales from mainland China; BabyCare “has not received approval from the Chinese government”, warnings and fines, four licensed jurisdictions, license review frozen since 2019; Brand Partner incentives 43.3% of core sales and the 50-basis-point 2025 plan effect; starter kits carry no volume and are refundable; returns 0.6% to 0.8% of sales; 387,000 active customers; Brand Partners bought about 53% of segment sales; Gull Global about 40.0%; KPMG unqualified opinions; “to our knowledge, we have not been the subject of any action by the FTC”; the 2023 FTC substantiation letter “did not accuse any recipient company”.
Not established by this document: Does not split Brand Partners from Preferred Customers by count; the credit agreement’s EBITDA definition is not reproduced.
- Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 4 April 2026
First disclosure of the active-customer split: about 41% Brand Partners and 59% Preferred Customers of 404,000 active customers.
Not established by this document: Quarterly and unaudited.
- Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 4 July 2026
384,000 active customers, about 43% Brand Partners and 57% Preferred Customers; Brand Partners bought about 51% of core sales in H1 2026; H1 incentives 43.5% of core sales; $29.1 million Hiya goodwill impairment; H1 net loss $13.9 million; cash $168.6 million and revolver $0; Hiya and Rise “do not pay Brand Partner incentives”.
Not established by this document: Unaudited; covenant compliance for the quarter ending 3 October 2026 not yet reported.
- Definitive proxy statement (DEF 14A) for the 2026 annual meeting
Gull Global 7,408,345 shares (40.1%); Renaissance 6.2%, Pzena 6.1%, Vanguard 5.1%; seven of eight directors independent; Guest biography (joined part-time April 2003); Brown promoted to CEO 1 July 2023 and stepped down 7 January 2026; Brown 2025 compensation $4,339,625, pay ratio 85 to 1; no 2025 related-party transactions.
Not established by this document: Gives no reason for the CEO change.
- Schedule 13D/A Amendment No. 11, Gull Global Limited and Myron W. Wentz
Bahamas structure: Gull Global owned through two companies by the revocable Gull Trust, whose assets “are controlled by Dr. Wentz”; the terminated 2008 $26 tender offer; share sales of about $53.5 million (2008-2013) and about $367.2 million (2014-2024); stated intent to keep selling for liquidity.
Not established by this document: Filed by the holder, not the company; other trust beneficiaries are not named.
- 8-K Ex. 99.1: Kevin Guest Returns to USANA Health Sciences as CEO
Guest returns as CEO effective immediately, succeeding Jim Brown; “more than three decades at the Company”.
Not established by this document: The “three decades” claim conflicts with the proxy biography; no reason for the change beyond strategy.
- 8-K Ex. 99.1: Q4 and FY2025 results and 2026 outlook
Q4 2025 net loss $1.8 million; FY2025 adjusted EBITDA $101.3 million; adjusted diluted EPS $1.93.
Not established by this document: Non-GAAP measures are company-defined.
- 8-K Ex. 99.1: Q2 2026 results and updated outlook
2026 guidance cut to net sales of about $910 million, a net loss of about $11 million and adjusted EBITDA of $87 million; core nutritional guidance held at about $750 million.
Not established by this document: Guidance, not results.
- Form 10-K for fiscal year 2023
2021-2023 income statements (incentives 43.8%, 43.5%, 42.8% of net sales); 483,000 active customers; China 46.4% of sales; the IT general-controls material weakness and KPMG’s adverse internal-control opinion, with no errors in the statements.
Not established by this document: Superseded on remediation by the FY2025 10-K.
- Form 10-K for fiscal year 2019
The 2019 Chinese government review of health-product and direct-selling companies; license applications suspended; 2019 net sales down 10.8%; China active customers down 14.5%; eight preliminary license approvals lost.
Not established by this document: The company’s own account of the review.
- Form 10-K for fiscal year 2018
2016-2018 income statements; net sales peak of $1.189 billion; “more than 616,000” active customers; Rumbaugh v. USANA dismissed with prejudice on 16 October 2018.
- 8-K: SEC and DOJ close BabyCare FCPA investigations
The SEC “closed its investigation and declined any enforcement action” on 24 June 2020, citing self-disclosure, investigation, cooperation and remediation; the DOJ closed its investigation on 26 June 2020.
Not established by this document: The company’s account; the agency letters were not published.
- Form 10-K for fiscal year 2008
The Praise Enterprises arbitration: an award of about $7 million against USANA for a 2003 termination, “the first ruling against us in an Associate compliance action”, then a confidential settlement.
Not established by this document: Settlement terms are confidential.
- 8-K Item 4.02: non-reliance and restatement of 2006-2007 statements
Restatement to correct “two errors related to income taxes payable”, reducing diluted EPS by $0.04 (2006) and $0.01 (2007).
- Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 27 September 2008
Johnson v. USANA dismissed with prejudice on 1 October 2008 at the plaintiffs’ request; the consolidated shareholder action dismissed with prejudice on 23 July 2008 with no notice of appeal.
Not established by this document: The court record itself was not retrieved; this is the company’s disclosure.
- Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 2 October 2010
Chirco v. USANA, a Nevada distributor class action described as “essentially a copy” of Johnson, dismissed with prejudice on 29 September 2010.
- Form 10-K for fiscal year 2007
The 2007 consolidated shareholder class action naming the company, Myron Wentz, David Wentz and Gilbert Fuller; the Larson derivative suit dismissed with prejudice on 28 December 2007; the SEC letter closing its informal inquiry; the founder’s 51.3% stake at end-2007.
- 8-K: SEC informal inquiry completed, no enforcement recommended
The SEC informed the company that it had completed its informal inquiry “and is not recommending any enforcement action be taken”.
Not established by this document: Known only through the company’s filing; no SEC public statement was located.
- 8-K/A: Grant Thornton resignation
The disclosed disagreement over audit scope connected to a critic’s 2007 allegations (pyramid, earnings disclosure, insider trading and buyback), which the company called “unfounded and unwarranted” and said independent legal reports found “without merit”; resolved to the satisfaction of the auditor and the company.
Not established by this document: The “without merit” conclusion is the company’s characterization of reports it commissioned.
- 8-K: Nasdaq staff determination on the incomplete Q2 2007 10-Q
The Q2 2007 10-Q was “considered to be incomplete” because it had not been reviewed by an independent auditor.
Not established by this document: Nasdaq’s formal close of the matter was not found; the stock stayed listed and a reviewed 10-Q/A followed in October 2007.
- 8-K: PwC dismissed, KPMG engaged
KPMG engaged after a competitive process, with no disagreements or reportable events.
- SEC XBRL company facts, CIK 0000896264
Net earnings for 2016-2020 and cash spent on share repurchases (about $678.8 million over 2016-2025).
Not established by this document: Machine-readable extracts of filed statements.
- SEC EDGAR submissions index, CIK 0000896264
Former name “USANA INC” from 23 July 1996 to 27 April 2000; no auditor-change 8-K after 2013 and no non-reliance 8-K after 2009.
Not established by this document: An index, not a filing.
- Binary Compensation Plan (US-CA, English), Rev. 11/21 CCR-018050 (PDF)
The newest plan document the company serves: 200 points to open a Business Center; 100 points every four-week rolling period to keep one active (200 for more); 20% of small-side Group Sales Volume once each side reaches 125 points; 5,000-point rollover cap; Lifetime Matching Bonus up to 15% tied to PaceSetter status within eight weeks; Leadership Bonus for leaders who “continue to sponsor new Associates”; Preferred Customer orders added to Group Sales Volume; retail prices “suggest a 10% markup”; the 70% rule as an Auto Order condition.
Not established by this document: Predates the 2025 plan changes; uses “Associate” throughout.
- USANA Announces the Elevation of Its Opportunity (press release)
The 2025 plan changes in the company’s words: a Sales Bonus of “10% of their Brand Partners’ and customers’ first six months of purchases”, three Milestone Bonuses for new Brand Partners, and “More targeted leadership bonuses”.
Not established by this document: Gives no thresholds, amounts or eligibility rules.
- United States Associate Terms & Policies, effective 4 June 2024 (PDF)
Five-customer retail quota per four weeks (Sec. 38); income and lifestyle claim rules (Sec. 11); non-disparagement covering true statements and competitors (Sec. 23); 12-month non-solicitation including public social-media promotion (Sec. 20, 22); forfeiture on exit (Sec. 49); customer lists as USANA Confidential Information (Sec. 50); JAMS arbitration in Salt Lake City with a 30-day opt-out, company-paid arbitral fees, a $10,000 small-claims carve-out, class waiver and bellwether cap (Sec. 65); one-year 100% return of resaleable product (Sec. 42-44); amendment on 30 days’ notice (Sec. 52).
Not established by this document: Still titled “Associate”, not “Brand Partner”; states that a renewal fee is charged but not its amount.
- Policies & Procedures (US, 2008 legacy version, PDF)
Source of the one-year arbitration commencement bar and the 90% repurchase still quoted in secondary accounts.
Not established by this document: Superseded; not the current agreement.
- Policies and Procedures (US, 2017, PDF)
The 2017 rule that “A minimum of seventy percent (70%) of an Associate’s orders must be for personal consumption and/or sold to other customers”.
Not established by this document: Superseded by the 2024 Terms & Policies, which contain no 70% clause.
- Your Need-to-Know USANA Policies (US, PDF)
“USANA requires you to develop or service at least five (5) customers every four weeks”; “The purchase of product to rank advance or qualify for a contest or bonus is prohibited”.
- 2023 United States Income Disclosure Statement (PDF)
23,336 active Associates and Affiliates (anyone with at least one purchase in 2023); 72.6% at $0 to $250 net profit, 8.5% $251 to $500, 3.7% above $5,000, 1.2% above $20,000; the written “net profit” definition excluding personal consumption; $163 deemed personal consumption; $26 average non-commissionable spend; Welcome Kit $9.95 and $20 renewal.
Not established by this document: No average or median; no loss row; the population now includes Affiliates; the file was last modified 24 May 2024 and no newer US statement was found.
- 2022 United States Income Disclosure Statement (PDF)
23,157 active US Associates; 31.3% below $0 and 38.1% at $0 to $250; the same net-profit definition; $165 deemed personal consumption.
Not established by this document: Associates only, so not strictly comparable with 2023; still served but no longer linked.
- 2023 Canada Typical Participants Compensation Disclosure (PDF)
16,659 active Canadian Associates; 74.2% at $0 to $250; Welcome Kit CA$11.95 and $20 renewal.
Not established by this document: Counts only Associates enrolled at least 12 months, a different denominator from the US statement.
- USANA Income page (the target of USANAincome.com)
Links only the 2023 US statement (English, Spanish, Chinese); describes it as illustrating “what someone can reasonably expect to earn”.
Not established by this document: A rendered JavaScript page.
- Affiliate Commission Plan (US), effective 22 June 2024 (PDF)
15% commission on link orders; a one-level 10% bonus on a referred Affiliate’s earnings and purchases; active with one sale or purchase in 12 months; $5 weekly payout minimum; commissions deducted on returns.
- Share & Earn, the US opportunity page (rendered)
“Turn your wellness journey into flexible, gig-style income”; testimonials of “reliable income”, travel and being “still paid on customers from year one”; an FAQ on “luxury travel”; a “How much can I earn” answer with no figure; “over $2.2 billion” paid out in five years; “day-one earnings”; the disclosure reached only by a footer link.
Not established by this document: A JavaScript page read as rendered on one date.
- United States Brand Partner Pricelist, prices effective August 2025 (PDF)
HealthPak $139.95 for 100 points; lowest about $1.38 a point; Welcome Kit item #454 $10.00; Experience Packs $399, $699 and $999; Business Accelerator Suite $19.95 every four weeks; 10% off monthly “Subscribe and Save” shipments.
Not established by this document: Does not say whether the subscription price carries the same points.
- USANA US product catalog (public catalog API)
Retail, Preferred and Auto Order prices and point values for 151 catalog rows on 5 October 2026; median $1.70 of Preferred price per point; five packs at exactly 200 points.
Not established by this document: The per-point median is arithmetic from the catalog, not a company figure.
- CellSentials product page (rendered)
$74.75 retail; the timeline claims, including “Your cells feel it before you do” without an asterisk.
- CellSentials Supplement Facts labels
56 servings of two tablets per bottle, “two (2) tablets twice daily”, so a 28-day supply; ingredients including a curcumin complex, resveratrol, olive extract and PQQ.
- Our Quality page (rendered)
Quality and manufacturing claims for the Salt Lake City plant.
Not established by this document: The company’s own page.
- Preferred Customer signup page (rendered)
“Create your free Preferred Customer account”; 10% off retail, plus 10% more on Auto Order.
- Website Terms and Conditions (rendered)
A 100%, 30-day satisfaction guarantee “on any product order” for Preferred and retail customers; one-year resaleable return; no guarantee for products bought on Amazon or eBay.
- Product Refund and Return Policy (rendered)
Older wording: the Preferred Customer guarantee applies to the “initial product order”, and returns of $100 or more are deemed a Voluntary Cancellation.
Not established by this document: Conflicts with the website Terms page; which governs a given customer is unclear.
- NSF Certified for Sport: certified products, brand USANA
Ten USANA products listed, including CellSentials Core Minerals, CellSentials Vita-Antioxidant, Proflavanol C 100, BiOmega, MagneCal D and SportsPak.
Not established by this document: HealthPak, Celavive and the whey isolate are not listed.
- List of October 2021 recipients of the FTC Notices of Penalty Offenses concerning money-making opportunities and endorsements (PDF)
Lists “USANA Health Sciences, Inc.” among about 1,180 recipients, under the header “The fact that a company is on this list is NOT an indication that it has done anything wrong”.
Not established by this document: A mass mailing; not an allegation, charge or finding against any recipient.
- FTC cover letter: Notices of Penalty Offenses concerning money-making opportunities and endorsements (PDF)
“Staff is not singling out your company or suggesting that you have engaged in deceptive or unfair conduct.”
Not established by this document: Template letter sent to every recipient.
- List of April 2023 recipients of the FTC Notice of Penalty Offenses concerning substantiation of product claims (PDF)
Lists “Usana Health Sciences, Inc.” under the same “NOT an indication” header.
Not established by this document: A mass mailing to nearly 700 companies; not an allegation against any recipient.
- FDA warning letters database (searched for usana, usana health, babycare, sanoviv)
Zero records for each term on 5 October 2026; a control query returned 70.
Not established by this document: A negative search result, not a document about USANA.
- FDA response to a structure/function notification: USANA Electrolyte Replacement Drink (PDF)
FDA’s routine response that the drink is a conventional food, not a dietary supplement.
Not established by this document: A courtesy response to a company notification, not a warning letter or enforcement action.
- Health Canada Recalls and Safety Alerts search: usana
“No results found” for USANA on 5 October 2026.
Not established by this document: A negative search result.
- Philippine FDA Advisory No. 2020-165: unregistered food supplements
Warns against two USANA-branded products sold there without Certificates of Product Registration.
Not established by this document: A product-registration advisory; it names products, not USANA as a violator, and does not say who imported them.
- Stipulated Consent Judgment, ERC v. USANA Health Sciences, Alameda Sup. Ct. RG16840320 (PDF)
Proposition 65 lead-warning case by a private enforcer, settled for $275,000 in total; “USANA denies all material allegations”; nothing in the judgment is an admission.
Not established by this document: A consent judgment, not a finding.
- Stipulated Consent Judgment, ERC v. USANA dba Rise Bar and Rise Wellness, Inc., 24CV070762 (PDF)
Proposition 65 lead and cadmium case over Rise protein bars, settled for $140,000; “Rise denies all material allegations”.
Not established by this document: A consent judgment, not a finding.
- Ariix LLC v. USANA Health Sciences, D. Utah 2:22-cv-00313: Memorandum Decision and Order Denying Motion to Dismiss (PDF)
A competitor’s Lanham Act claims, including the allegation that USANA paid NutriSearch and its author for the top rating, were held sufficiently pleaded, with the allegations taken as true for the motion only.
Not established by this document: A pleading-stage ruling; the allegations were never tested.
- Ariix LLC v. USANA Health Sciences: Order Granting Stipulated Motion to Dismiss With Prejudice (PDF)
Dismissed with prejudice by stipulation, “each party to bear their own costs and fees”.
Not established by this document: No merits finding either way; any settlement terms are not on the docket.
- Strand v. USANA Health Sciences, D. Utah 2:17-cv-00925 (docket)
A former distributor’s breach-of-contract suit: motion to dismiss the amended complaint denied in August 2018; docket terminated in October 2022.
Not established by this document: Final disposition not retrieved.
- BBB National Programs Online Archive (DSSRC and NAD case search)
Searches returned a subscription wall; a control query also failed.
Not established by this document: Could not retrieve: a self-regulatory record is not established either way.
- TINA.org brand page: USANA
A watchdog timeline from 2016 to 2024 and findings on health claims, income claims and athlete posts lacking clear disclosure.
Not established by this document: A watchdog nonprofit’s analysis, not a regulator or court finding.
- TINA.org 2023 USANA Income Claims Database
18 items (3 company website pages and 15 distributor or social posts), none shown as removed at the December 2024 audit.
Not established by this document: Conflicts with the company’s February 2024 removal statement; the items were not re-tested for this report.
- TINA.org USANA Income Claims Database (2017 and 2021)
2017: 22 items, 17 down by the November 2021 audit; 2021: 28 items, 20 down.
Not established by this document: Watchdog analysis.
- TINA.org USANA Influencer Marketing Database (2021)
“128 examples” across more than 25 USANA-sponsored athletes of posts lacking clear disclosure.
Not established by this document: Watchdog analysis.
- USANA letter to TINA.org on the 2023 income-claim findings (PDF)
The company says it “acted quickly to eliminate claims”, that distributors “promptly complied”, that its compliance team “is comprised of over fifty individuals”, and that it disagrees with two samples.
Not established by this document: A scanned letter; page 3 was not transcribed.
- USANA Guarantees Label Matches Product (press release)
The athlete guarantee and the company’s promotion of “NutriSearch Editor’s Choice” among its accolades.
Not established by this document: No guarantee payout or dispute was found.
- USANA Updates Brand Story and Enhances Compensation Plan
Trade coverage of the 2025 plan changes, including updates to PaceSetter and matching bonuses.
Not established by this document: Trade press; the plan terms themselves are not reproduced.
- Thorne Basic Nutrients 2/Day (NSF Certified for Sport)
60 capsules for 30 days; $40 on the rendered page and $44 in the page data. Used in the price-to-value comparison.
- Dymatize ISO100 Gourmet Vanilla, 1.4 lb (Target product page)
$35.49 for 20 servings of 25 g protein. Used in the price-to-value comparison.
Not established by this document: Store-specific price.
- Target pricing service captures (grape seed extract, vitamin C, multivitamins, serums)
Best Naturals Grape Seed Extract $13.99; Nature Made Vitamin C $7.49; Nature Made Multivitamin with Iron $12.19; Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Serum $21.49.
Not established by this document: Store context 2472; prices can vary by store.
- USANA Compensation Plan 2025 Updates (distributor blog)
States that the payout rate “keeps unchanged at 42%” and the binary model is unchanged in 2025.
Not established by this document: A distributor’s blog, not a company document.
What we could not get
- The mechanics of the 2025 compensation plan: the Sales Bonus cadence and eligibility, the amounts and targets of the three Milestone Bonuses, current rank names and thresholds, and the revised PaceSetter and matching terms. The company confirms the bonuses exist; no current US plan document was found (eleven guessed paths returned HTTP 403, and it most likely sits behind the Brand Partner login). Not retrieved is not the same as not existing.
- Whether the 100-point Personal Sales Volume rule (200 for several Business Centers) still applies after the 2025 rewrite, and whether customer orders can supply part of it. It is confirmed only for the 2021 plan; secondary sources still state it.
- Where 2023’s losses went. The 2022 table had a “Less than $0” row at 31.3%; the 2023 table starts at “$0 to $250” and does not say whether negative results were folded into it. The 2023 population also added Affiliates, and the direction of that mix effect is not known.
- Whether a 2024 or 2025 US income disclosure exists. None is linked from the company’s income page, guessed filenames returned 403, and the Wayback index was offline on the research date; one may sit behind the login.
- The DSSRC and NAD record. The BBB National Programs archive is behind a subscription wall and a control query failed, so the self-regulatory file is “not found in public pages”, not a clean record.
- The premise’s “10% workforce cut”, which was not located in the filings read; the closest disclosed item is a Q4 2025 cost-realignment charge of about $6.5 million, “primarily related to employee severance”. Other premise items were confirmed: $925 million of 2025 sales (about $150 million of it Hiya and other non-network units), a $206.1 million all-cash acquisition, a CEO change and a plan overhaul whose terms are unpublished.
- The status of TINA.org’s 18 cataloged 2023 income-claim items, which the watchdog showed as live at its December 2024 audit while the company’s February 2024 letter says they were removed; none was re-tested. Also unverified: the final disposition of a 2017 distributor suit (docket terminated October 2022), the content of a March 2022 FDA Form 483 listed by a document vendor, and the reported July 2018 short-seller claims about China, which no filing addresses.
- Whether the revolver’s EBITDA covenant, which steps up to $100 million for quarters after 4 July 2026, will be met: the agreement’s own EBITDA definition was not read and may differ from the company’s $87 million adjusted EBITDA guidance, and the Q3 2026 10-Q is not yet filed.
Not advice
This is independent analysis for decision-making, not legal, financial or investment advice. Allegations reported by third parties should be verified against primary court and regulatory records before any decision.
Researched by Claude. Reviewed by an editor.
Every report is researched and written by Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, from the company’s own plan documents, policies, terms and regulatory file - then reviewed before publication by Rob Fore, who checks the sources and the stage-label on every allegation.
- Nine weighted dimensions, published with their weights
- The editor checks the evidence and cannot change the number - the build rejects any page whose grade does not reconcile to its own arithmetic
- Every affiliate position we hold is disclosed on the report it touches
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USANA - frequently asked
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Author, editor and publisher
This report was researched and written by Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, working from primary documents - USANA’s own compensation plan, its policies and procedures, its terms of service, its income disclosure statement where one exists, and its regulatory and self-regulatory file. It was scored against nine weighted dimensions that are published in full, with their weights, on the methodology page.
Before publication it was reviewed by Rob Fore, who checks every source link, every figure against the document it came from, and every allegation against its stage-label - an investigation is not a finding, a warning letter is not an enforcement action, and a filed claim is not a verdict.
The editor does not set the grade. The published score is the weighted composite of the nine dimension scores, and the build refuses to emit a page where the two disagree by more than 0.06. A grade moves when the evidence moves it and not otherwise.
Rob Fore has marketed online since 1996, wrote Online MLM Marketing (2014), and is CEO of Listech Inc, the Nevada corporation that publishes this site. He holds affiliate positions in companies graded here - including LiveGood, which this site grades D, SendOutCards, which it grades C−, and the Home Business Academy, which it grades B−. Those positions are disclosed on the reports they touch, and changed nothing on this page.
About the author and our conflicts · Contact the editor · Corrections: corrections@opportunitygrade.com
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