BehindMLM first reviewed Mint Builder again in 2018.
A reader left a touch upon our assessment final month to advise there have since been a number of adjustments made to the MLM providing.
At this time we revisit Mint Builder for an up to date assessment.
The Firm
Mint Builder remains to be run by founder Matt Barkes (proper).
In 2018 Barkes had an energetic Fb account, revealing he ran Mint Builder from Indiana within the US.
Barkes’ two recognized Fb accounts had been deserted roughly a month after we revealed our preliminary assessment.
Location info has been scrubbed from each of Barkes’ Fb profiles. In line with Barkes’ LinkedIn profile, he’s now primarily based out of Michigan.
Mint Builder gives a digital UPS retailer deal with in Florida on its web site.
Mint Builder’s Merchandise
Mint Builder markets a variety of bullion, semi-numismatic belongings and numismatic belongings.
A lot of the merchandise featured in Mint Builder’s retailer are cash, though there are some extra unique purchasable objects:
Mint Builder’s Compensation Plan
Mint Builder pays retail commissions on any gross sales made by way of its on-line retailer.
The majority of Mint Builder’s compensation plan nonetheless is weighted in the direction of recruitment, each direct and residual.
Retail Commissions
Mint Builder associates earn 1% on the sale of bullion to retail clients.
Recruitment Commissions
Mint Builder associates are paid 10% of membership charges paid by personally recruited associates.
Residual Commissions
Mint Builder seems to pay residual commissions by way of a unilevel compensation construction.
A unilevel compensation construction locations an affiliate on the high of a unilevel staff, with each personally recruited affiliate positioned instantly beneath them (stage 1):
If any stage 1 associates recruit new associates, they’re positioned on stage 2 of the unique affiliate’s unilevel staff.
If any stage 2 associates recruit new associates, they’re positioned on stage 3 and so forth and so forth down a theoretical infinite variety of ranges.
Mint Builder caps residual commissions at 5 unilevel staff ranges.
Residual commissions are paid as 50% of retail and recruitment commissions earned by downline associates throughout these 5 ranges.
Becoming a member of Mint Builder
Affiliate membership choices offered in Mint Builder’s compensation plan don’t match up with what’s on their web site.
The bottom affiliate membership tier in Mint Builder’s compensation documentation is fundamental membership for $39 ($37 on Mint Builder’s web site).
The bottom affiliate membership subscription tier on Mint Builder’s web site is Micro Saver.
Micro Saver is $17 a month and consists of “$7 coin worth”.
The bottom affiliate membership subscription tier in Mint Builder’s compensation documentation is Silver Piece.
Silver Piece is $47 a month and consists of “$17 coin worth”.
Silver Piece and better subscription associates acquire entry to wholesale pricing in Mint Builder’s on-line retailer.
Listed here are the remainder of Mint Builder’s affiliate subscription membership tiers:
- Silver Saver (not in Mint Builder’s compensation documentation) – $65 a month, consists of “$33+/- bullion worth
- Platinum Gram (not in Mint Builder’s compensation documentation) – $85 a month, consists of “$63+/- bullion worth”
- Across the World – $97 a month, consists of “$80 coin worth”
- Gold Gram Bundle (not in Mint Builder’s compensation documentation) – $117 a month, consists of “$95 +/- bullion worth”
- Bullion & Numismatic Bundle (not in Mint Builder’s compensation documentation) – $127 a month, consists of “$30 +/- bullion worth and $80 +/- numismatic worth”
- The Choose Few Bundle – $177 a month, consists of “$180 coin worth”
- International Elite Bundle (not in Mint Builder’s compensation documentation) – $497 a month, consists of “asset valued nicely in extra of $595 +/-, entry to wholesale pricing and “secret reductions”
Conclusion
Govt and product particulars of Mint Builder stay principally unchanged since our January 2018 preliminary assessment.
There’s extra on provide in Mint Builder’s on-line retailer, versus the handful of bars and cash that they had two years in the past.
Out of curiosity I punched within the Palau Cranium into into Google. It appears to go for simply shy of $1500, which makes Mint Builder’s $1157 “member’s value” fairly aggressive.
In the event you’re out there for a silver cranium that’s.
On the compensation aspect of issues retail is usually a gimmick. 1% of retail bullion gross sales is dwarfed by the remainder of Mint Builder’s compensation plan, which is geared to signing associates up on a month-to-month subscription.
On this sense nothing a lot has modified since ISN Cash; Mint Builder remains to be working as an autoship recruitment scheme.
As per the FTC, MLM corporations who don’t derive nearly all of gross sales income from retail clients are pyramid schemes.
The best method to confirm this your self is ask your potential Mint Builder upline what their verifiable retail gross sales quantity has been over the previous three months.
If they will’t present this info to you or received’t, assume nearly all of their earned commissions are tied to recruitment.
In the event that they’ve made some retail gross sales, examine that with what they’re incomes on recruited associates every month.
If retail doesn’t a minimum of match their recruitment commissions, that affiliate is operating their Mint Builder enterprise as a pyramid scheme.
Given Mint Builder’s historical past courting again to ISN Cash, exterior of product growth and compensation simplification, the core recruitment-focused enterprise mannequin has remained intact.
One main change from ISN Cash was Mint Builder introducing bitcoin.
At this time there’s no point out of bitcoin in Mint Builder’s compensation plan or on their web site.
That aspect of the enterprise seems to have been quietly dropped.
In late 2019 BehindMLM reviewed QuickSilver, which we famous was the second ISN Cash spinoff.
Like ISN Cash and Mint Builder, QuickSilver was affiliate autoship recruitment targeted.
Alexa visitors evaluation reveals visitors to QuickSilver’s web site plummeted in September 2020.