The pain
“We sell a $120 device. Creators want $300 a video before anyone has bought one, and the videos that do sell we cannot keep running because the usage runs out.”
Why it happens in wellness
Wellness runs from a $20 tea to a $400 device, and the buyer is already trying to fix something, so testimonial-style video converts and regulators watch. Margins are there: about 54 % gross for the healthcare products sector in Damodaran’s January 2026 data (NYU Stern). Retail affiliate rates are not: Amazon pays 1 % on Health & Personal Care (Amazon Associates). The flat-fee problem is sharpest on devices: a $300 fee and a 60-day usage window on a product that takes a buyer two weeks to decide means the brand pays again just as the ad starts to work. Creators also see what the rest of the category offers: of 709 wellness, recovery and weight-management brands with a public program on Trybe, 451 pay a share of sales, median 15 %, most common 10 % (our count from TrybeDaily’s brand pages, checked 31 Oct 2026). Lukas Pakter of Trybe calls “paying $500+ for a single video that likely won’t produce results” the biggest waste in the category (X, 13 Aug 2026), and on a device the fee is usually that size.
The fix
Pay for the result, and let paid usage be paid by the use. Commission in wellness means a share of the Meta ad spend behind the video for as long as the brand runs it, and a share of each sale the creator’s code brings. For high-ticket devices, a fixed dollar amount per order reads better than a percentage. A small per-video base keeps creators filming.
Example. A device brand with a $120 AOV pays $50 per approved video, $15 per order through the creator’s code, and 10 % of ad spend. A creator’s setup-and-first-session video brings 25 orders in six weeks, $375. The brand runs it as a Meta ad for three months with $6,000 behind it, $600 in ad spend share, and never renews a usage fee. Example numbers, not a benchmark.
Which pay model fits
- Per video plus commission for consumables and mid-priced devices.
- Fixed amount per order plus ad spend share for high-ticket devices.
- Commission only once a creator’s video has proved itself.
- Samples for anything physical; a device the creator does not own cannot be filmed.
How HourlyUGC runs it
A wellness campaign on HourlyUGC ships samples, pays a per-video or hourly base, and adds commission: a share of sales at 1 to 50 % of each order or $1 to $500 per order, or a share of the Meta ad spend behind the video at 1 to 30 %. The brand launches Meta Partnership Ads with the creators’ videos from inside HourlyUGC; sales are counted by Meta or by HourlyUGC through a connected Shopify store or its pixel, last touch within 7 days, with creator links and codes. ALLSALE, Head of Growth: “The rights are ours the moment payment clears. Everything sits in one place, so the team stopped chasing invoices and files.”
What to watch for
The FTC’s health products guidance covers the whole category, not only pills: foods, supplements, devices, diagnostic tests and health apps, with an at-home brain-stimulation device and an electronic ab-sculpting belt among its examples. Health claims need competent and reliable scientific evidence, testimonials need evidence that the result is typical, and “results not typical” does not rescue a claim (FTC). Creators cannot claim health benefits without scientific evidence (FTC). TikTok prohibits branded content for pharmaceuticals and healthcare products such as online pharmacies and telehealth (TikTok). Creators describe what they did with the product; the brand’s approved copy describes what it is for; nobody describes a cure.
Next step: start a campaign on HourlyUGC.