Farmasi launched in the US in 2019, however the company’s roots date back to the 1950s.
Farmasi’s founder, Dr. C. Tuna, launched a pharmaceutical company on or around 1950.
At some point Tuna switched to cosmetics, with Farmasi launched as an MLM company in Turkey in 2010.
Dr. C. Tuna passed away in 2017. As of September 2020, Sinan Tuna (right) was appointed CEO of Farmasi in North America.
As per a September 22nd press-release;
Tuna has gained expertise working in various departments at Farmasi where he has been a Board member since 2019.
Sinan Tuna’s grandfather, the late Dr. Cevdet Tuna, was the founder of one of the Republic of Turkey’s first pharmacies.
Sinan continues his grandfather’s legacy as the third generation to lead the Farmasi business.
No executive details for Farmasi Turkey are provided on the company’s English-language website.
In addition to the US, Farmasi claims to operate its MLM opportunity in twenty-four countries.
Read on for a full review of Farmasi’s MLM opportunity.
Farmasi’s Products
Farmasi markets a wide range of personal care products, manufactured in-house in Turkey.
We have one of the largest integrated cosmetics manufacturing plants in the world which is located in Istanbul, Turkey in an ecological environment.
Integrated manufacturing means that we not only produce the bulk product, but also product most of our own packaging in-house, and we obtain our waters from the wells located within our facilities.
Up to date, we have formulated thousands of products, launched more than 2.000 products, and shipped our products to over 125 countries all around the world.
Farmasi’s website doesn’t quite detail two thousands products but there’s a lot on offer.
Farmasi’s marketed product categories include;
- hair care
- foot care
- oral care
- baby care
- sun care
- lip care
- skin care
- intimate care (women’s hygiene)
- make up (body, lips, face, eyes and nails)
- Mr Wipes household cleaning products (this was a 2014 brand addition)
- fragrances
Farmasi products can either be purchased individually or in bundled sets.
A full product catalog with retail pricing is provided on Farmasi’s website.
Farmasi’s Compensation Plan
Farmasi’s compensation plan is complicated by the fact the company fails to provide properly rank qualification and Leadership Bonus details.
I’ve done my best to break down Farmasi’s compensation plan below, based on their official compensation documentation.
Farmasi Affiliate Ranks
Bear with me because trying to decipher Farmasi’s affiliate qualification ranks is a nightmare.
There are eighteen affiliate ranks within Farmasi’s compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Manager – qualification criteria not provided
- Director – generate $1500 in monthly side points
- Silver Manager and Director – maintain 1 ARM and maintain $1500 in monthly side points
- Gold Manager and Director generate 2 ARMs and generate $2500 in monthly side points
- Platinum Manager and Director – generate 4 ARMs and maintain $2500 in monthly side points
- Emerald Manager and Director – generate 8 ARMs and $5000 in side points
- Diamond Manager and Director – generate 12 ARMs, maintain $5000 in monthly side points and generate 20 title points a month
- Vice President Manager and Director – generate 16 ARMs and $10,000 in monthly side points, and generate 40 title points a month
- President Manager and Director – generate 20 ARMs, maintain $10,000 in monthly side points and generate 80 title points a month
- Boss Manager and Director – generate 30 ARMs, maintain $10,000 in monthly side points and generate 160 title points a month
You’ve probably noticed the double-up on rank qualification. Based on the information provided, there’s no difference between the Manager/Director variants of each rank qualification wise.
There is a distinction made in title points generated (see below), but whatever the difference between the ranks is qualification wise I have no idea.
What are side points? Glad you asked.
Side Points Requirement: You have to keep working on your 1st generation, regardless of your title.
Side points are calculated by subtracting the group volume of your 25%’s in your 1st generation from your own group volume, and then subtracting the largest group volume of 25%, 22%, and 18% entrepreneurs, if any, in your 1st generation from the resulting value.
Your Group Volume – (Sum of 1st Generation 25%’s Group Volume) – (Largest Group Volume of 1st Generation 25%, 22%, and 18% Group Volume, if any!) > 1500.
That’s direct from Farmasi’s compensation plan and it’s clear as mud.
From what I gather it’s basically ensuring Farmasi affiliate’s down slack off from personally recruiting new affiliates.
You take GV generated by affiliates you’ve personally recruited who are at the 25% Personal Bonus rate, and subtract that from your own GV.
Remember GV is the sum-total PV generated by affiliates you’ve personally recruited, so you’re taking GV generated by your personally recruited affiliates (effectively sales volume generated on level 2 of your unilevel team), and subtracting that from your own GV (sales volume generated on level 1 of your unilevel team).
Then you take that amount and subtract again “the largest group volume of 25%, 22%, and 18% entrepreneurs”. Whether that’s one affiliate or a few of them, who knows.
Anyway, whatever you’re left with is your “side points”, which you must have enough of to qualify for the Leadership Bonus at your applicable rank.
Confused? Great! Let’s move on to ARMs.
ARMs are not defined anywhere in Farmasi’s compensation documentation, so I can’t give you a definitive answer.
If I had to guess, ARM stands for “active recruited members”, meaning personally recruited active affiliates (see MLM commission qualification below).
Finally we have “title points”. Title points are generated based on the rank of personally recruited affiliates.
- receive 0.5 title point for every personally recruited Manager and Director
- receive 1 title point for every personally recruited Silver Manager and Director
- receive 1.5 title points for every personally recruited Gold Manager
- receive 2 title points for every personally recruited Gold Director
- receive 3 title points for every personally recruited Platinum Manager
- receive 4 title points for every personally recruited Platinum Director
- receive 6 title points for every personally recruited Emerald Manager
- receive 8 title points for every personally recruited Emerald Director and higher
For the purpose of rank qualification, title points are calculated monthly.
MLM Commission Qualification
In order to qualify for MLM commissions a Farmasi affiliate must be active.
To qualify as active, each Farmasi affiliate must purchase $250 worth of product each month.
Retail Commissions
Farmasi affiliates earn commissions on the sale of products to retail customers.
Retail commissions are paid out as the percentage between the retail and wholesale price of products ordered.
Recruitment Commissions
Farmasi affiliates earn $30 per MLM commission qualified affiliate they recruit.
This effectively equates to a commission paid per affiliate recruited who spends $250+ on Farmasi products when they sign up.
Personal Bonus
The Personal Bonus is a bonus paid on sales to retail customers and a Farmasi affiliate’s own purchases.
The Personal Bonus rate is calculated based on monthly GV production:
- generate 200 to 399 monthly GV and receive a 3% Personal Bonus rate
- generate 400 to 599 monthly GV and receive a 6% Personal Bonus rate
- generate 600 to 899 monthly GV and receive a 9% Personal Bonus rate
- generate 900 to 1399 monthly GV and receive a 12% Personal Bonus rate
- generate 1400 to 2199 monthly GV and receive a 15% Personal Bonus rate
- generate 2200 to 3599 monthly GV and receive an 18% Personal Bonus rate
- generate 3600 to 4999 monthly GV and receive a 22% Personal Bonus rate
- generate 5000 or more monthly GV and receive a 25% Personal Bonus rate
GV stands for “Group Volume”. Farmasi counts GV as an affiliate’s own PV and that of their personally recruited affiliates.
PV stands for “Personal Volume” and is sales volume generated by retail orders and a Farmasi affiliate’s own purchases.
Group Bonus
The Group Bonus allows Farmasi affiliates to earn the difference between their Personal Bonus rate and that of their personally recruited affiliates.
E.g. If a Farmasi affiliate qualifies for a 15% Personal Bonus rate and they have a personally recruited affiliate who qualifies for 6%, the Group Bonus will pay them the 7% difference on that affiliate’s PV for the month.
Leadership Bonus
Farmasi’s Leadership Bonus is a bit complicated, so bear with me.
The Leadership Bonus kicks in when a Farmasi affiliate hits the 25% Personal Bonus rate.
The Leadership Bonus is paid on sales volume generated across a unilevel team.
A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):
If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.
If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.
Farmasi caps the Leadership Bonus at six unilevel team levels.
Leadership Bonus volume is calculated as PV generated by affiliates on each unilevel team level, who qualify for either a 25%, 22% or 18% Personal Bonus rate.
That is to say any sales volume generated by affiliates who qualify for a 15% Personal Bonus rate and lower is excluded from the Leadership Bonus.
The way the Leadership Bonus is paid out on each begins with level 2 GV being subtracted from level 1 GV. The remaining GV is paid out as a percentage based on rank.
Level 2 GV is then calculated by subtracting Level 3 GV from Level 2 GV and paying out what’s left, again based on rank.
Just to clarify, here is the formula for each of the six unilevel team levels Farmasi affiliates can qualify for:
- Unilevel level 1 Leadership Bonus = a rank-based percentage of Level 2 GV subtracted from Level 1 GV
- Unilevel level 2 Leadership Bonus = a rank-based percentage of Level 3 GV subtracted from Level 2 GV
- Unilevel level 3 Leadership Bonus = a rank-based percentage of Level 4 GV subtracted from Level 3 GV
- Unilevel level 4 Leadership Bonus = a rank-based percentage of Level 5 GV subtracted from Level 4 GV
- Unilevel level 5 Leadership Bonus = a rank-based percentage of Level 6 GV subtracted from Level 5 GV
- Unilevel level 6 Leadership Bonus = a rank-based percentage of Level 7 GV subtracted from Level 6 GV
Corresponding Leadership Bonus percentages based on rank are as follows:
- Director – 4% on level 1, 3% on level 2, 2% on level 3 and 1.5% on level 4
- Silver Manger and Director – 4.5% on level 1, 3.25% on level 2, 2.25% on level 3 and 1.75% on level 4
- Golden Manger and Director – 5% on level 1, 3.5% on level 2, 2.5% on level 3 and 2% on level 4
- Platinum Manger and Director – 5.5% on level 1, 4% on level 2, 2.75% on level 3 and 2.2% on level 4
- Emerald Manger and Director – 6% on level 1, 4.5% on level 2, 3% on level 3 and 2.5% on level 4
- Diamond Manger and Director – 6.5% on level 1, 5% on level 2, 3.25% on level 3, 2.75% on level 4 and 1.5% on level 5
- Vice President Manger and Director – 7% on level 1, 5.5% on level 2, 3.5% on level 3, 3% on level 4 and 1.75% on level 5
- President Manager and Director – 7.5% on level 1, 6% on level 2, 3.75% on level 3, 3.25% on level 4, 2% on level 5 and 0.75% on level 6
- Boss Manager and Director – 8% on level 1, 6.5% on level 2, 4% on level 3, 3.5% on level 4, 2.25% on level 5 and 1% on level 6
Car/Travel Travel Bonus
Farmasi pays Silver Director and higher ranked affiliates a monthly Car/Travel Bonus:
- Silver Directors receive $300 a month
- Golden Directors receive $350 a month
- Platinum Directors receive $400 a month
- Emerald Directors receive $450 a month
- Diamond Directors receive $500 a month
- Vice Presidents receive $550 a month
- Presidents receive $600 a month
- Bosses receive $650 a month
Although not explicitly clarified, I believe the Manager variants of each rank receive the same Car/Travel Bonus as the Director rank variant.
Rank Achievement Bonus
Farmasi pays affiliates who qualify at Golden Directors and higher a one-time Rank Achievement Bonus:
- qualify a Golden Director and receive $2000 a month
- qualify at Platinum Director and receive $4000 a month
- qualify at Emerald Director and receive $8000 a month
- qualify at Diamond Director and receive $16,000 a month
- qualify at Vice President and receive $32,000 a month
- qualify at President and receive $64,000 a month
- qualify at Boss and receive $128,000 a month
Note that rank qualification must be met for five-consecutive months before the Rank Achievement Bonus is released.
Also note that although not explicitly clarified, I believe the Vice President to Boss rank criteria applies to the Director variant of each rank.
Joining Farmasi
Farmasi affiliate membership is $19.99.
Optional product packs can be purchased for $49.99 to $200. These packs include Farmasi products at a discount.
Note that Farmasi affiliates must maintain a $250 standing monthly order in order to qualify for MLM commissions.
Conclusion
Farmasi’s $250 a month minimum spend requirement is an insurmountable regulatory roadblock.
Just so there’s no confusion, here’s what Farmasi state in their compensation plan verbatim (emphasis mine);
When you sponsor an active recruit within a calendar month, you will be eligible to join the team building program.
For each active entrepreneur that you personally sponsor, you will earn $30.
In order to become active, an entrepreneur has to purchase products worth $250 (catalog price) during the calendar month. In other words, have personal volume 125 or greater.
Spend $250 a month, or you don’t qualify for commissions. This is pay to play and lends itself to Farmasi operating as a pyramid scheme.
To not operate as a pyramid scheme, each and every Farmasi affiliate spending $250 a month would need to also be selling at least $250 a month to retail customers.
That’s not realistic by any stretch of the imagination.
What you have with Farmasi is an MLM company in which affiliates are paying $250 a month to qualify for commissions, paid on their downline who are also paying $250 a month to qualify for commissions.
That’s the classic product-based pyramid scheme model.
To be clear I’m not stating retail sales aren’t happening in Farmasi, just that there’s likely not enough to balance the $250 monthly minimum spend forced on affiliates.
There’s no way around this, short of not forcing affiliates to purchase products. Introducing retail volume quotas as part of rank qualification wouldn’t hurt either.
I don’t know whether Farmasi hasn’t bothered to update their compensation information in English or whether something was lost in translation, but it’s horrendous.
You can get away with half-assing compensation if it’s a standard plan I can still make sense of. Given Farmasi’s compensation model isn’t standard (I’ve never seen subtracting volume on one unilevel from another to calculate commissionable sales volume), this only compounds the problem.
That problem being the average consumer making heads or tails of Farmasi’s compensation plan.
For an MLM company launched in 2010, there is no excuse or justification for this.
Next up Farmasi’s company name. Initially it didn’t trigger but, at least in English, “Farmasi” is a play on “pharmacy”.
Note the following disclaimer on Farmasi’s website;
The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA-approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Representing yourself as a pharmacy, even if tongue-in-cheek, is a regulatory no-no. I get this might be a throwback to Dr. Tuna’s pharmaceutical roots but here and now, in 2020 – Farmasi has nothing to do with the pharmaceutical industry.
In Indonesian Farmasi is a direct translation of “pharmacy”. In Farmasi’s native Turkey, the company name translates to “pharmaceutical”.
The literal definition of pharmaceutical is “a medicinal drug”.
If that’s not what Farmasi is selling (they aren’t) then, in my opinion, you’re just begging for trouble from the FDA down the track.
Not a deal-breaker such to the extent pay to play is but a concern nonetheless.
Unfortunately these two issues let down Dr. Tuna’s legacy on the products front. Farmasi’s products actually seem competitively priced and are easily the best component of the MLM opportunity.
They’re manufactured in-house meaning Farmasi knows and controls exactly what goes into the product range.
Product development is also cheaper than getting someone else to do it. And they have a history in manufacturing to lean on.
Again, Farmasi’s product line is substantial and in theory should be readily retailable. Why the company has opted for a wonky compensation plan on the back-end I have no idea.
I’ll wrap up by going over Farmasi’s marketing philosophy;
There is not a specific place to introduce the benefits of FARMASİ: in the park, in the grocery store, in the restaurant, in the coffee house, in the movie theatre, during the match, in the school, in the bus, in the metro…
Your potential entrepreneurs are waiting for you everywhere in order to beautify themselves and from you any earning opportunity.
You best believe if I’m watching a movie or eating at a restaurant, the last thing I want is to be interrupted by your MLM pitch.
And I’m pretty confident that I’m also not alone in this sentiment.
You should absolutely share and explain what, when and how you achieved it with FARMASİ.
Each social environment face-to-face, on phone, on social media, in the park, in the garden, in the shopping malls, in the restaurant, in the theatre, in the bus, during the match, in the school – is an opportunity to start communication with other people.
Take Farmasi’s marketing philosophy with a grain of salt. You really don’t want to be that person who goes around harassing people.