Seabiotics

[mike57]

Anyone heard of http://www.seabiotics.com? The compensation schedule posted on their web site is hard to figure out and the products seem way overpriced. They do have some big name celebrities like William Shatner hyping their products but this does not really prove anything. Again they do seem like good products but would people really be willing to pay those prices?

[Stinky McGurk]

Dunno. $40 USD for 7 oz. of pharmaceutical grade fish oil (whatever that means) is kinda pricey.

I'm sure you could buy a couple of gallons of cod liver oil for that kind of money and have all of the benefits of their product.

BTW, where did you see Capt'n Kirk hyping their products?

[wserra]

Hi, Mike. Welcome to Quatloos.

Anyone heard of http://www.seabiotics.com?

No, but they're not hard to figure out. It's yet another "wellness" MLM. Like all the others, since they can't make any specific health claims, they do the following dance:

ARE YOU SICK? Do you have chronic symptoms related to abnormal cholesterol, insulin, respiratory, coronary, circulatory and/or immune function? Is stress, attention deficit, or depression symptoms affecting your family? Do fatigue, mood swings and lack of focus and concentration affect your life?

Note that they don't follow these questions with any claims that their particular oil of snake will do anything for these conditions, because there is no proof that it will. Actually making such a claim could get them shut down. They just want you to think so.

The compensation schedule posted on their web site is hard to figure out

Just like all of them. These guys want to make it really hard to figure out that only those at the top of the pyramid will make more than peanuts.

and the products seem way overpriced.

No kidding. $40 for 200 ml (6.5 oz) of fish oil? If you want omega-3 from "deep sea shark" oil, go to GNC and get 6 oz for $13 (or $10 if you have a "gold card", whatever that is). And, if you're willing to get the same thing from cod liver oil (as Stinky says), you can buy it by the gallon for this price.

They do have some big name celebrities like William Shatner hyping their products but this does not really prove anything.

Right. They paid bloated old Captain Kirk a few bucks to shill for them. There's proof for ya.

Again they do seem like good products

Omega-3 fatty acids do have health benefits. But a healthy diet supplies what you need, or the equivalent. And, if you want the stuff in a bottle, it's available at a small fraction of their prices.

but would people really be willing to pay those prices?

Only in one of two situations: (1) an IQ below room temperature, or (2) dollar signs in the eyes from the promises of untold riches from recruiting a downline. The two overlap.

[Stinky McGurk]

...go to GNC and get 6 oz for $13 (or $10 if you have a "gold card", whatever that is)

You buy a "gold card" at GNC for $15, Wes, and that saves you 20% off your purchases for a year (if bought during the first 7 days of the month).

Worth it if you're buying a lot of stuff on a regular basis.

[Stinky McGurk]

They do have some big name celebrities like William Shatner hyping their products.

Woah! Hold on there, Mikey.

Ol' Captn' Kirk isn't "hyping their products".

Miami, Fla. (PRWEB) September 10, 2007 -- Sea-Based Health, LLC, announced today that on September 11, 2007, William Shatner will honor Seabiotics with the "Heartbeat of America Award" on national TV. The show, which will air nationwide on cable channels in coming weeks, will reach a viewing audience of nearly ten million households.

The "Heartbeat of America Award" was created by Mr. Shatner after 9/11 to recognize and encourage businesses whose exceptional products and services keep America strong in light of the tragic events of 9/11. The Award recognizes businesses across a range of industries. These include technology companies and medical communities such as "Doctors Without Borders" alongside other esteemed past recipients.

If that's true, then it's a far cry from saying Kirk is hyping their products!

(Unless I'm missing something here, what's the relationship between exceptional products and services keeping America strong and the tragic events of 9/11 anyhow?)

(Put another way, how is Seabiotics suppose to prevent another terrorist attack on America?)

[wserra]

If that's true, then it's a far cry from saying Kirk is hyping their products!

Like Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf's "World Business Review", it's an infomercial pretending to be something real. You pay them, they hype your stuff. Every now and then, they try to disguise this by featuring somebody worth featuring (like Doctors Without Borders).

(Put another way, how is Seabiotics suppose to prevent another terrorist attack on America?)

Well, it's a well-known fact that terrorists suffer from "stress, attention deficit, or depression symptoms". So, if they take this very expensive cod liver oil, they'll rescue abandoned pets instead of flying hijacked planes into buildings.

Q.E.D.

[mike57]

Yea, the deeper you dig the more it looks like another USANA. There is a distributor trying to recruit on another board, here's the link to that, http://www.moneymakergroup.com/Seabioti ... 64165.html The funny thing is that the guy trying to recruit other people can't seem to answer questions about their comp schedule. All the hype and studies they cite are about fish oil in general and are being adapted to their product which is really just overpriced fish oil. I can see how easy it would be for people to get suckered into this type of program thinking they were selling a worthwhile product. I just can't fathom people lining up to pay 40.00 for 7 oz. of fish oil. I'm not sure if this would qualify as a true pyramid scheme but it does seem that the only way to make money would be to get a ton of people in your downline. There seems to be a thin line between what your really selling, the program or the product.

[wserra]

I'm not sure if this would qualify as a true pyramid scheme but it does seem that the only way to make money would be to get a ton of people in your downline.

If "the only way to make money" is to recruit a downline - well, that's the definition of a pyramid scheme. A pyramid is legally characterized by

the payment by participants of money to the company in return for which they receive (1) the right to sell a product and (2) the right to receive in return for recruiting other participants into the program rewards which are unrelated to sale of the product to ultimate users.

In Re Koscot Interplanetary, Inc., 86 F.T.C. 1106 (1975). Courts interpret the phrase "ultimate users" to mean people who are not distributors. See, for example, Webster v. Omnitrition International, Inc., 79 F.3d 776 (9th Cir. 1996)

And yes, IMHO lots of currently-operating MLMs are in fact pyramids.

[Stinky McGurk]

The funny thing is that the guy trying to recruit other people can't seem to answer questions about their comp schedule.

The current latest, greatest company making the rounds is Zrii. You might have noticed people pimping the juice and the plan on the various forums. They get all gushy about the comp plan and explain it something like this:

With FULL DYNAMIC COMPRESSION, people have the ability to get paid on their 30th, 50th, 80th levels without having to have a 1/3rd 2/3rd balance of legs like a binary. In fact you can get paid up to 6 levels without even sponsoring anyone.

Well, what people tend to forget, is that the money for the comp plan has to come from someplace. A company can't pay out more than 40% - 55% of sales on the dollar if they want to stay in business.

So if the guy at the top is making the big dollars, then that means the poor schmuck at the bottom is getting the crumbs. There's only so many ways you can divide up 55 cents.

Getting paid on their 30th, 50th, 80th levels? First what's the odds of someone building an organization 30, 50 or 80 levels deep? And if you managed to do that, how much would 55 cents spread over 80 levels be anyhow?

[wserra]

Oh, and one other thing I just noticed: On Seabiotics "Campaign 2007" home page, they have a link to an "ABC News Report". In fact, it isn't from ABC News, but rather from an ABC Phoenix affiliate. In that clip, one "Robert Albright" extols the virtues of Seabiotics for saving him from various health problems - and losing 65 pounds as a side benefit. One "Heather Johnson", a "nutritional consultant", then "explains" why the stuff is so good for you.

They don't tell you that both Albright and Johnson are Seabiotics distributors.

I realize that local TV news people are often empty heads with pretty faces, but you would think that they could at least Google.

[Stinky McGurk]

And I was just looking at the Heartbeat of America site to see what they were about.

"Heartbeat of America is a national television program created to help emerging companies grow despite current economic setbacks. Mega star William Shatner and famous network news anchors present a company's story on national television.

More importantly after the broadcast, shorter edited versions of the show are produced for the selected companies in formats including videos and CD Rom business cards. These marketing tools are then used to target prospects that buy the company's product or service."

No problem there. Sounds like a worthwhile project. But compare their mission statement to the press release put out by Seabiotics:

"The "Heartbeat of America Award" was created by Mr. Shatner after 9/11 to recognize and encourage businesses whose exceptional products and services keep America strong in light of the tragic events of 9/11."

Sorry, "Heartbeat of America Award" wasn't created by Mr. Shatner.

And how did 9/11 get mixed up in the story? There's nothing about that on the Heartbeat of America site.

[wserra]

They're not gonna say on their site that all they do is make infomercials. That would sort of spoil the cachet of their sales pitch - "We make it look like an award". But there are plenty of accounts floating around from folks who were solicited for it, and told that this "award" would cost $15,000. See here, here (I know the certificate is bad for this link, probably because google.answers no longer exists), here (I guess Canadians can help "Keeping America Strong", so long as they have $15K).

It's like all of those "Who's Who Among Dwarf Professional Bowlers" ripoffs. I've been solicited dozens of times - "pay us and we'll publish your name in some book you can keep on your coffee table".

[Stinky McGurk]

Sort of like being included in the Physicians Desk Reference that Eniva (Vibe) likes to proudly proclaim on their website.

Right.

They paid for the ad. Duh!