Party plan glossary

Party plan has its own vocabulary. Some terms overlap with broader direct selling; others are specific to shows, hostesses, and booking pipelines. These are working definitions, not legal ones. Companies define terms differently, so check your own plan documents.

A

Autoship: A scheduled recurring order placed by a consultant or preferred customer, usually on a monthly cadence. In party-plan companies, autoship is secondary to show volume for many brands, but it can stabilize PV and support rank maintenance. Poorly designed autoship (pressure, hard-to-cancel, or kit-stuffed) damages trust faster than it builds volume.

B

Booking: A commitment from a guest (or outside contact) to host a future show or event. Bookings are the pipeline of party plan; retail at one show funds the next show. Strong consultants treat booking as a skill separate from product knowledge.

Booking chain: The sequence of future shows generated from guests at the current show. A healthy chain means today's party produces one or more dated bookings before the consultant leaves. Home offices watch booking rate as leading indicator of field health - often more predictive than a single month's sales.

Booking bonus / booking reward: Extra hostess credit, free product, or consultant incentive tied to securing future hosts during a show. Used carefully, it reinforces pipeline; used bluntly, it trains hosts to chase bonuses instead of inviting the right guests.

C

Consultant / distributor / rep: The independent seller in the field. Titles vary by company culture ("consultant," "stylist," "chef," "advisor"). Legally and operationally they are typically independent contractors, not employees. In party plan, their core job is generating shows and coaching hosts - not only posting links.

Customer: A buyer who purchases product without joining the sales force. Distinguishing customers from consultants in reporting (and in culture) is a hallmark of healthier party-plan operations.

D

Direct selling: Face-to-face or person-to-person distribution of products and services, outside traditional retail storefronts. Party plan is one go-to-market pattern inside direct selling; not all direct selling is party plan.

Downline: The consultants in a person's organization who joined under their sponsorship lineage (directly or indirectly, depending on plan definition). Used for volume roll-ups and override calculation. Treat as an org chart of independent businesses, not employees.

DSA (Direct Selling Association): The primary U.S. trade association for direct selling companies. Publishes ethics guidance and industry statistics; membership and compliance posture matter to many home offices and partners.

E

Earnings claim: Any statement - verbal, written, or implied - about income a consultant can or did earn. Regulators (including the FTC in the U.S.) scrutinize these heavily. Home offices should supply compliant field language; consultants should avoid lifestyle flex that implies typical results.

Event: Broader than "party"; includes open houses, trunk shows, pop-ups, virtual launches, and branded experiences. Useful umbrella term when the company runs multiple formats under one reward policy.

F

Field: Collectively, the independent consultants and their activity. "Field health" usually means bookings, active sellers, show averages, and retention - not just top-line orders.

Future host: A guest who has agreed to host an upcoming show. Tracking future hosts (with dates) is how consultants and managers forecast the next 30-60 days of volume.

G

Genealogy: The sponsorship tree: who sponsored whom, and how organizations nest. Commission systems, rank logic, and compression rules all read genealogy. Accurate genealogy migration is a make-or-break item when changing platforms.

Group volume (GV): Volume attributed to a consultant's organization (definitions vary: may include or exclude personal volume, may use QV or retail). Used for rank advancement and some override tiers. Always read the plan's exact definition - GV is not universal.

Guest: An attendee at a show or event who is not the host. Guests are the retail buyers and the pool of future hosts and, occasionally, new consultants. Guest experience design (invite quality, demo pacing, soft close) drives both order size and bookings.

H

Host / hostess: The person who opens their home, workplace, or virtual space for a show and invites guests. The host is not merely a venue; they are a partner in guest list quality and energy. Gendered "hostess" remains common in industry speech; many brands now default to "host."

Host coaching: The consultant's structured support of the host before the show - invite reminders, guest list targets, product preferences, timing, and tech checks for virtual. Weak coaching is the most common reason "good product" shows underperform.

Hostess rewards: The free product, credit, discounts, or gifts a host earns based on show sales, bookings, and sometimes guest count or outside orders. Reward design is a core home-office lever: too thin and hosts won't book; too rich and margin disappears.

Hybrid party plan: A go-to-market approach that intentionally mixes in-home shows, virtual parties, and social selling / one-to-one outreach under one hostess and compensation framework. Many experiential brands now run hybrid by default.

I

Independent contractor (IC): The typical legal classification of consultants. Companies must avoid controlling ICs like employees (schedules, scripts-as-mandates, etc.) while still enforcing ethics and brand standards. Classification risk is an ongoing home-office topic - coordinate with counsel.

K

Kit policy: Rules governing starter kits, demo kits, and show inventory: what is required, what is optional, pricing, return windows, and whether kit purchases count toward volume or rank. Aggressive kit policy can inflate early PV and destroy retention.

L

Leg / qualified leg: In many unilevel or breakaway-style plans, a "leg" is a downline branch under a frontline recruit. Rank rules often require volume or titled leaders in multiple legs. Party-plan plans that lean on show activity still often use leg logic for leadership ranks.

O

Open house: A show format where guests come and go over a window of hours rather than sitting through a single timed presentation. Common for jewelry, accessories, and some fragrance lines. Reward rules may differ from classic seated parties.

Override: Commission paid to an upline on volume generated by downline consultants (and sometimes their customers), according to the compensation plan. Overrides reward building and coaching a team - not only personal selling. Structure and percentage vary widely.

P

Party / show: A timed selling event hosted by a host and run by a consultant, featuring demonstration, shopping, and usually a booking ask. "Show" and "party" are often interchangeable; some brands prefer "show," "tasting," or "spa night" for category fit.

Party plan: A direct selling go-to-market model centered on hosted events (in-home, virtual, or hybrid) where a host invites guests, a consultant presents product, and hostess rewards plus booking mechanics drive the next events. Recruitment may exist but is not the primary engine in well-run party-plan brands; retail through shows is.

Personal volume (PV): Volume credited to a consultant's own customer and personal orders, as defined by the company (often in wholesale or point values). PV typically gates rank, bonuses, and sometimes hostess-related incentives. Distinguish carefully from group volume.

Preferred customer: A customer enrolled in a loyalty or discount program without joining as a consultant - often with autoship options. Preferred-customer tracks help brands separate buyers from sellers in metrics and culture.

PV / QV: Shorthand for personal volume and qualifying volume (or quota volume, depending on company lexicon). QV is often the point or dollar measure used for rank qualification and promotion rules. Never assume two companies mean the same thing by "QV" - read the plan glossary.

Q

Qualifying volume (QV): The volume measure used to determine whether a consultant meets thresholds for rank, bonuses, or event qualification. May equal PV, a subset of PV, or a distinct point system. Clarity in consultant-facing materials prevents field disputes.

R

Rank advancement: Moving to a higher title in the compensation plan by meeting volume, leg, activity, or leadership criteria. Titles often unlock higher override percentages or pool shares. Sustainable advancement should track real organizational productivity, not one-time kit spikes.

Replicated website: A personalized web storefront or microsite for each consultant, usually with their ID in the URL or session, so customer orders attribute correctly. Still relevant in 2026 alongside social links and brand apps; attribution rules must be explicit.

Retail profit: The difference between the price the end customer pays and the wholesale (or discounted) price the consultant pays the company. In classic party plan, retail profit is a primary personal-earnings path - consultants buy wholesale, sell retail at the show. Protecting a real retail margin is part of what differentiates party plan from pure recruit-driven schemes.

S

Show rebate: A bonus or percentage paid to the consultant (or sometimes the host structure) based on show sales totals. Rebates can stack with retail profit and are a common party-plan-specific mechanic. Home offices must model rebate + hostess cost + COGS together.

Starter kit: The initial product and/or business materials a new consultant purchases or receives to begin. Kit contents, price, and return policy signal company intent: demo-ready tools versus inventory loading. Affordable, useful kits with a clear way to sell are the safer choice.

T

Trunk show: A format where product is displayed (often physically brought by the consultant) for browse-and-buy over a set period - common in fashion, jewelry, and accessories. May run at a host's home, workplace, or partner retail space. Reward math may mirror open houses more than seated demos.

U

Unilevel: A common compensation structure where overrides are paid on multiple levels of depth in the genealogy (e.g., levels 1-5 or 1-7), often with percentages that vary by level and rank. Many party-plan companies use unilevel or unilevel hybrids rather than classic breakaway-only designs.

Upline: The sponsor and higher genealogy above a consultant. Upline coaching quality strongly influences new-consultant retention - more than plan generosity alone.

V

Virtual party: A show conducted over video conference or live social video, with a host inviting guests remotely. Virtual lowers geography friction and can raise guest count; it often lowers average order and demo impact for highly tactile products. Hybrid follow-up (ship-to-host kits, local pickup) is common.

Volume: Aggregated sales activity measured in currency or points. Always ask: retail or wholesale? Personal or group? Inclusive of tax/shipping? Volume definitions drive every serious report on the business.

W

WFDSA (World Federation of Direct Selling Associations): The global federation of national direct selling associations. Publishes worldwide retail sales estimates and supports national DSAs on ethics and representation. Useful for industry sizing. WFDSA put 2024 global retail sales at about $163.9 billion.