Yipiz

Yipiz no longer appears to be active as a direct sales company.

Original Npros business profile for Yipiz, preserved below for archival purposes:

Yipiz was a Salt Lake City, Utah-based network marketing company founded by Brett Bastian, who served as president and CEO. The company was established in 2007, although its public-facing Yipiz.com business became more visible in 2009. Yipiz initially focused on Internet advertising rather than nutritional products. In October 2009, the company promoted a $299 annual advertising package that placed businesses across social networking, mobile web, e-commerce, blogging, online video and coupon platforms. Yipiz subsequently shifted its emphasis to health and weight-management products and developed a multilevel marketing opportunity around the product line.

Yipiz's principal nutritional products were HCG Slim, Yipiz Fit Juice and Yipiz Maqui Cleanser. HCG Slim was marketed as an oral weight-loss product, with Yipiz claiming users could lose approximately one to two pounds per day. Yipiz Fit Juice contained maqui berry and was marketed for its antioxidant content, while Maqui Cleanser was promoted as a detoxification product. Historical company information priced individual bottles at $59.99, with bulk packages ranging as high as 48 bottles for $1,920. The company's broader mission combined health and income opportunities with charitable efforts directed toward malnutrition in developing countries.

Yipiz operated as a multilevel marketing company using independent business owners, or IBOs. One version of the program charged approximately $300 annually for an IBO business package and provided distributors with online sales tools, a back office and real-time sales tracking. The compensation plan paid substantial commissions on personally generated product sales along with residual commissions from recurring autoship orders. Historical versions of the plan reported personal-sales commissions of approximately 50% to 60%, with additional team commissions extending through as many as seven levels. One 2011 description listed a $300 personal sales-volume requirement for full commission qualification.

The company's HCG weight-loss product became particularly problematic as federal regulators increased scrutiny of the entire HCG diet-product category. In November and December 2011, the FDA and FTC jointly took action against seven marketers selling over-the-counter HCG weight-loss products, stating that such products were unapproved and that weight-loss claims lacked adequate scientific support. FDA states that HCG is not approved for weight loss and that scientific evidence does not support claims that HCG itself causes weight reduction. Yipiz was not among the seven companies named in those warning letters, and there is no significant FTC or FDA enforcement action specifically against Yipiz in the federal records reviewed. However, Yipiz's marketing claim of losing one to two pounds per day placed HCG Slim squarely within the type of rapid-weight-loss claims regulators were challenging at the time.

Yipiz eventually ceased operating as its original network marketing business. At a later stage, Brett Bastian offered the Yipiz business and related assets for sale through Flippa. The listing described an established health-products business with customized MLM software, recurring autoship revenue, trademarks, customer lists and a proprietary product formula. Seller-provided figures listed approximately $37,440 in gross profit during the preceding 12 months, and the auction attracted 27 bids and met its reserve price. The listing also stated that the MLM/affiliate side of the business had not been fully developed, suggesting that by that point the company was functioning increasingly as an e-commerce health-products operation rather than a growing distributor network. The original Yipiz network marketing company subsequently disappeared, and the Yipiz.com domain is no longer associated with the former MLM operation.

Brett Bastion, Founder and President