Quixtar is a multi-level marketing company, founded in 1999 by the families of Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel. Quixtar is now owned by Alticor, which also owns Amway. While Access Business Group (also owned by Alticor, Inc.) took over the Amway infrastructure in North America, Quixtar still services "Independent Business Owners" (or IBOs) operating in the Amway business model in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It completely replaced Amway in 2001 as the marketing venture for products such as Nutrilite dietary supplements, XS Energy Drinks and Artistry cosmetics in those North American regions.

Formerly, people could join Quixtar as "Clients", "Members" or IBOs. "Clients" would pay retail price for products and services from Quixtar.com, "Members" would pay a reduced price but would not have the ability to receive bonuses from Quixtar. As of July 2006, Quixtar eliminated the "Members" option, and "Clients" are now referred to as "Customers". IBOs pay a registration fee and build their businesses through retail sales to customers, referring business to Quixtar.com, and by helping other IBOs build similar businesses. Their earnings are based on their business' sales and the volume of sales and purchases of IBOs registered by them.

The structure of a Quixtar organization is hierarchical. Pin levels are the same as in Amway. There are several major pin levels in the model - Silver, Gold, Platinum, Ruby, Emerald, Diamond, Executive Diamond, Double Diamond, Triple Diamond, Crown, Crown Ambassador. Each level denotes a particular level of success in building their IBO business.

The way to join and buy products at Quixtar's web site is with a referral number from an IBO. The buyer is able to purchase Quixtar's exclusive products as well as products from partner stores such as Dell, Circuit City, Barnes and Noble, Bass Pro Shops, Disney Store, Office Depot, Avis, PacSun or Floragift on the Quixtar web site. (One can also purchase from these vendors at their own web sites, typically at the same retail price. Quixtar IBOs often receive discounts.) The referring IBO then receives a small percentage ("bonus") of the cost of the purchased goods, with Quixtar-exclusive products yielding a higher bonus per dollar in PV/BV Point Value and Business Value. Quixtar offers a wide range of products for its IBOs to purchase for personal use or to sell to customers through Quixtar.com.

In 2006 Internet Retailer ranked Quixtar as the number one site in the health and beauty category. It was ranked 20th largest e-commerce site (for revenue) in the same survey. Quixtar sales for fiscal year 2003-2004 were over $1.1 billion with over $373 million paid out in bonuses and incentives. With the promise of potential IBO's maximum possible incomes leading into the millions, $373 million in bonuses paid out makes you wonder where these potential income estimate come from. Hypothetically in order for everyone in the business to net incomes of a million dollars a year, that would then lead us to believe that there are only $345 members, contradicting the claims made by the material distributed by the business, i.e. "The Next Millionares".

In 2004, Dateline NBC aired a report alleging that some high-level Quixtar IBOs make most of their money from selling motivational materials rather than Quixtar products. ^[1] Quixtar declined to respond on camera, instead publishing an official "Quixtar Response" website. Quixtar alleges on its response site that Dateline declined their request to link to the site.

Much of the controversy highlighted by Dateline is in regard to some of the affiliated companies that support Quixtar IBOs rather than the Quixtar company or business opportunity itself. These companies, dubbed Amway/Quixtar Motivational Organizations (AMOs or AQMOs) by critics, supply Professional Development Programs (PDPs) and Business Support Materials (BSM or "tools") to IBOs. The companies are generally owned and operated by successful, high level IBOs, separate from their Quixtar Independent Businesses and the Quixtar Corporation. Bill Britt, the owner of the support company highlighted in the report, and other high level IBOs in his organization declined to be interviewed on-camera. Their lawyer stated in a letter to Dateline that the amount of income made from "tools" was "not available".

Successful IBOs claim that, like professional education and training programmes in other fields, the PDPs and BSM help IBOs develop the skills and knowledge necessary to build and run a large networking business. During the registration process for a new IBO, Quixtar contracts clearly inform prospective IBOs that BSM are optional and that the producers and sellers of the BSM may be profiting from their sale. This is also publicized on Quixtar websites.^[2] Quixtar also requires the buy-back of any defective or unwanted BSM for a reasonable price and within a reasonable time frame. In a video posted on the Quixtar Facts website, Quixtar acknowledges that some IBOs earn more from the training companies they have founded than from Quixtar (see video 3)

Quixtar reports that the average income for a Quixtar IBO in 2005 was $115 a month. The FTC has required this information to be provided to all prospective Quixtar business owners since the 1979 FTC ruling clearing the Amway business model as legal (see litigation below). It is published in a document known as the SA4400 and on a number of Quixtar websites ^[3][4]. The "average income" is calculated using all "active" IBOs, which in a 2001 survey represented 66% of all recorded IBOs. An active IBO is defined as any IBO who attempted to make even one retail sale, or presented the Independent Business Ownership Plan at least once, received any bonus money (even just as rebates from their own shopping) or attended a company or IBO meeting at least once in the previous year. The average Quixtar income for an IBO that qualified at the Platinum level IBO in 2005 was $47,472 and for a Diamond $146,995. The largest single bonus (in addition to monthly incomes) for a Diamond was $1,083,421. ^[5][6]

In 2006, Quixtar, in partnership with the IBOAI (IBO Association International) launched the "Quixtar Accreditation" program in order to address concerns about the companies that provide BSM to Quixtar IBOs. North American Diamonds (high-level IBOs) and their associated training companies may apply to Quixtar to be accredited by the corporation. Among other things, accreditation specifically states that promotion of particular religious or political viewpoints is unacceptable. Additionally, accredited programs must agree to a range of other guidelines, including full transparency in any compensation paid for "tools". Accreditation lasts two years and is enforced through reviews of materials and surveys of IBOs. The full guidelines are listed in the IBO Communications Platform.In April of 2006 eFinity became the first Quixtar affiliated support organization to receive accredited status.

In the 1979 ruling In re. Amway Corp., the Federal Trade Commission determined that Quixtar predecessor Amway was not an illegal pyramid scheme because no payments were made for recruitment. In addition, Quixtar.com enacted and enforces a rule requiring distributors to sell to at least 10 retail customers per month, or have $100 in product sales, or a total of 50PV from customer purchases. To qualifying for bonuses on downline volume, an IBO must personally sell or use at least 70% of the products personally purchased each month, thus preventing inventory loading and other potential abuses of the marketing model.

In April 2006, Asafa Powell was announced as global brand spokesperson for Nutrilite. According to a press release from Quixtar, Powell began taking Nutrilite supplements three months before he broke the 100 m world record, and credits it with helping him overcome low energy levels during 2005. ^[7] Other sports stars to promote Quixtar include heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield and the NFL player Emmitt Smith. Tim Foley, a member of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins, is a Quixtar Founders Crown Ambassador.

Author and leadership expert John C. Maxwell, who writes leadership books including The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, is known to support Quixtar support organisations such as Worldwide DreamBuilders ^[8] and co-authored a book, Becoming a Person of Influence, with Jim Dornan, Quixtar Crown Ambassador and founder of Quixtar support organisation Network TwentyOne. Paul Harvey, a radio broadcaster, known for his 'The rest of the story' tagline, has long been associated with the Quixtar program that is advertised on his show.

As a guest speaker at the Quixtar LIVE! conference in 2003, Dr Phillip McGraw reportedly described Quixtar as "one of the greatest success stories in American business history."[1]. Dr Phil later contracted Quixtar's sister company Access Business Group to produce the Shape-Up products for his company CSA Nutraceuticals, which was later connected with the Alan James Group. After the takeover of Alan James Group by Interleukin Genetics[2], another Quixtar sister company, the Quixtar parent company, Alticor became a party to the settlement of a class action lawsuit regarding Dr.Phil's Shape-Up products. "Under the terms of the settlement agreement, a settlement fluid recovery fund will be established consisting of $6.0 million of Nutrilite® Daily Multivitamin/Multimineral, 6-month supply, and $4.5 million in cash." ^[9]

Quixtar is also a member of the Better Business Bureau. The BBB Reliability Report for Quixtar can be found here.

• Quixtar's Official site

• CNET article about Quixtar launch
• NY Times article about Quixtar launch
• eWeek - Quixtar: Cleaning Up
• NY Times article about Quixtar "Ditto" Program
• Online Journalism Review article about an alleged plan by some Quixtar IBOs to revamp search engine results for "Quixtar"
• Dateline NBC report on one Quixtar group
  • Quixtar's Response to Dateline Story
• The False Profit: There’s No “i” In Team. But There Is One In “pyramid.”

• FTC's Ruling on Amway
• QuixtarWiki - Information for all things relating to Amway/Quixtar
• QuixtarFacts.com