Pay to play ecommerce cashback platform

/ Frauds, MLM Reviews / By


Trunited operates in the ecommerce, personal care and nutritional supplement MLM niches.

On its website Trunited provides a virtual office address in the US state of Arizona.

Heading up Trunited is founder Nicolas Porter (right).

In addition to Trunited, Porter also owns the dental practice Risas Dental.

Risas Dental was founded in 2011. Trunited was founded in 2016.

As far as I can tell Trunited is Porter’s first venture as an MLM executive.

Read on for a full review of Trunited’s MLM opportunity.

Trunited’s Products

Trunited initially started off with just an ecommerce cashback shopping portal.

Use Trunited to earn money back on every purchase you make online.

Teach your friends to do it and make money back on what they purchase.

Retail customers can sign up for Trunited’s ecommerce platform, however they only receive truWallet cashback.

TruWallet cashback can only be put towards future purchases in Trunited’s ecommerce platform.

Since launching their ecommerce platform, Trunited has since branched out into personal care products and nutritional supplements.

Ciela Personal Care

  • Ciela Daily Moisturizer – “formulated with an anti-aging peptide that helps reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and Paracress extract”, retails at $49.99 for a 1.7 fl. oz. tub (50 ml)
  • Ciela Eye Cream – “formulated with a Ceramide rich anti-aging complex that improves moisture while targeting the visible signs of aging by reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles”, retails at $49.99 for a 0.5 fl. oz. bottle (15 ml)
  • Ciela Facial Cleanser – “combines an anti aging extract with new Apple Stem Cell technology that fights acne and signs of aging”, retails at $29.99 for a 3.4 oz tube (100 ml)
  • Ciela Youth Serum – “this powerful serum contains a blend of peptides that work in synergy with each other to improve the appearance of skin tone and firmness while also reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles”, retails at $69.99 for a 1 fl. oz. bottle (30 ml)
  • Sixtyfour Age Defense Serum – “specially formulated anti-aging serum”, retails at $32.99 for a 1.7 fl. oz bottle (50 ml)
  • Sixtyfour Eye Cream – “specially formulated to make sure your eyes don’t show your age”, retails at $24.99 for a 0.5 fl. oz. bottle (15 ml)
  • Sixtyfour Facial Cleanser – “the cleanser fights visible signs of aging through its garden cress sprout extract and brightens and evens skin tone with its sulfate-free solution”, retails at $14.99 for a 3.4 fl. oz. tube (100 ml)
  • Sixtyfour Moisturizer – “keep your skin bright, rich and vibrant all day long with this high-quality moisturizer”, retails at $24.99 for a 1.7 fl. oz. bottle (50 ml)

Nutritional Supplements

  • Healty Vida Power Pack – “enjoy a daily multivitamin, multimineral, and brain booster all in one convenient pack”, retails at $49.99 for a box of thirty servings
  • Organifi Choco/Vanilla Protein – “a fully-balanced organic meal, your daily multivitamin, and 20 grams of protein”, retails at $79.95 for a 2.71 lbs tub (1.228 g)
  • Organifi Daily Turmeric – “take Daily Turmeric to promote a healthy response to inflammation in your body”, retails at $49.95 for a bottle of 120 capsules
  • Organifi Gold – a “superfood tea” sleep aid, retails at $69.95 for a 6.98 oz tub (198 g)
  • Organifi Green Juice – “daily detoxing, producing natural energy, and managing stress”, retails at $69.95 for a 9.5 oz tub (270 g)
  • Organifi Probiotic – “fix your digestion for faster weight loss and more energy”, retails at $39.99 for a bottle of 30 capsules
  • Organifi Pure – superfood supplement, retail sat $69.95 for a box of thirty single-serve sachets
  • Organifi Red Juice – “super nutrition” supplement, retails at $69.95 for a 9.5 oz tub (270 g)
  • Vengo Energy (Orange/Strawberry) – “energy drinks that pack a punch without sacrificing flavor”, retails at $44.99 for a slab of 24 8.4 fl. oz. cans

Note that various Trunited’s products are also bundled together in savings packs. Gift cards from various retailers and Priceline hotel booking services are also available.

A full product catalog is available on Trunited’s “trunited.co” website. The company’s official website doesn’t provide a full catalog.

Trunited’s Compensation Plan

Trunited fail to provide a copy of their compensation plan on their website.

Here’s what I’ve been able to piece together from various sources.

Trunited Affiliate Ranks

There are seven affiliate ranks within Trunited’s compensation plan.

Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

  • Affiliate – sign up as a Trunited affiliate, pay the $99 annual fee, purchase at least one product each month and recruit and maintain at least one affiliate
  • Promoter – sign up and maintain at least three customers and recruit and maintain at least three affiliates
  • Pacesetter – recruit and maintain at least three affiliates who have recruited two affiliates each,  who have also recruited one affiliate each (recruit three, who have each recruited two, who have each recruited one)
  • Influencer – recruit and maintain at least three Pacesetter or higher ranked affiliates
  • Partner – recruit and maintain at least six Pacesetter or higher ranked affiliates
  • Icon – recruit and maintain at least nine Pacesetter or higher ranked affiliates
  • Legend – recruit and maintain at least twelve or higher ranked affiliates

Note that recruited affiliates must purchase at least one product a month to count towards rank qualification.

Also note that in order to remain active, all Trunited affiliates must purchase at least one product each month.

Profit Points

Trunited’s e-commerce platform offers a select variety of products, each with an assigned point value.

These points are used to calculate personal (direct) and residual (indirect) commissions.

TruWallet Commissions

TruWallet commissions must be put towards future purchases via Trunited’s ecommerce platform.

TruWallet commissions are calculated by dividing an affiliate’s personal purchase Profit Points for the month by the monthly company-wide Profit Point amount.

Residual Commissions

Trunited pays residual commissions via a unilevel compensation structure.

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.

Residual commissions are calculated based on indirect Profit Points, i.e. those generated by a Trunited affiliate’s downline.

  • Affiliates have Profit Points calculated down one level of the unilevel team (personally recruited affiliates)
  • Pacesetters have Profit Points calculated down three levels of the unilevel team
  • Influencers with three Pacesetter legs have Profit Points calculated down six levels of the unilevel team
  • Influencers with four Pacesetter legs have Profit Points calculated down seven levels of the unilevel team
  • Influencers with five Pacesetter legs have Profit Points calculated down eight levels of the unilevel team
  • Partners with six Pacesetter legs have Profit Points calculated down nine levels of the unilevel team
  • Partners with seven Pacesetter legs have Profit Points calculated down ten levels of the unilevel team
  • Partners with eight Pacesetter legs have Profit Points calculated down eleven levels of the unilevel team
  • Icons with nine Pacesetter legs have Profit Points calculated down twelve levels of the unilevel team
  • Icons with ten Pacesetter legs have Profit Points calculated down thirteen levels of the unilevel team
  • Icons with eleven Pacesetter legs have Profit Points calculated down fourteen levels of the unilevel team
  • Legends with twelve Pacesetter legs have Profit Points calculated down fifteen levels of the unilevel team

Note that a “Pacesetter leg” is a unilevel team leg with a Pacesetter or higher ranked affiliate in it (directly or indirectly recruited).

Residual commissions are calculated by dividing a Trunited affiliate’s Profit Point balance (as calculated based on rank), by the company-wide Profit Point amount for the month.

Personal Care & Nutritional Supplement Commissions

Trunited provide no compensation plan information for their personal care and nutritional supplement products.

Profit Point amounts however are provided on Trunited’s online product catalog, leading me to believe these direct purchases are paid out in the same manner as ecommerce platform purchases.

This is inline with Priceline hotel bookings and the gift cards, which also have Profit Point amounts provided (travel = 10% of the commission paid to Trunited).

Joining Trunited

Trunited affiliate membership is $99 annually.

Conclusion

Trunited go to great lengths to complicate what is essentially a standard unilevel PV/GV compensation plan.

They go on about “algorithms” and have a twenty-five page long compensation document, when information about the business could just as easily be broken down into four or five pages.

On that note transparency is something Trunited is sorely lacking. It took me some time to track down compensation documentation that made any sense, and for prospective Trunited affiliates that’s a nightmare.

I don’t know why Trunited don’t provide simple compensation documentation on their website, but that’s something management should look into pronto.

As to the plan itself, the concept of Trunited’s ecommerce platform is simple enough. Retail customers sign up, buy stuff and get rewarded with future purchase “truWallet” credits.

Affiliates do the same, and get paid a cut of Trunited’s cashback revenue paid by merchants.

Solid.

Where Trunited falls apart is the requirement that all affiliates purchase something each month.

Here is all you have to do to become an Affiliate:

1. Join Trunited and purchase at least one product in the Trunited Marketplace in a given month.

2. Connect at least one person to the Network who also purchases at least one product in the Trunited Marketplace in a given month.

3. Agree to the Affiliate Contract and pay a yearly Affiliate fee.

Forcing your affiliates to purchase product to qualify for commissions creates an affiliate autoship recruitment incentive.

That is you sign up as a Trunited affiliate, take out a monthly autoship order and then focus on recruiting other affiliates who do the same.

The Promoter ranks does require three customers to qualify, however this doesn’t appear to be an ongoing requirement.

And these three customers can just as easily be three intended affiliate recruits who haven’t yet recruited themselves.

With that in mind, the question now is whether affiliate autoship recruitment culture is prevalent in Trunited.

To answer that we’ll turn to Trunited’s “Healthy Vida Challenge”:

This is official Trunited corporate marketing, and clearly affiliate autoship recruitment is the focus.

Affiliate autoship recruitment is also a focus within the broader ecommerce platform, although it’s a little harder to spot.

Trunited initially pitches its ecommerce platform as just replacing buying products from outside merchants to their own:

Create commerce. Purchase products you are already buying at prices you are already spending and connect others to the Network to do the same.

That concept however then turns into “increasing profit”:

Ultimately, there are two ways to increase profit.

1. Buy more.

2. Spend less.

So the best thing you can do is buy more of the items and brands that pay out more for each dollar spent.

Yeah, not so much “purchase products you are already buying” as “buy products we receive more money for”.

This is because more points in the Profit Pool = higher commissions. Probably about as far as “purchase products you’re already buying” as you get intention wise.

And that’s key. Because if the majority of Trunited affiliates are purchasing products with profit in mind, and recruiting others who do the same, then the company is operating as a pyramid scheme.

Not withstanding the aforementioned “pay to play” by forcing affiliates to make a monthly purchase.

Another regulatory issue is whether the majority of company-wide purchases are being made by affiliates or retail customers.

Seeing as it appears retail customers can refer new customers/affiliates, I’m making a differentiation based on the $99 annual fee.

If the majority of money spent in Trunited is from fee-paying affiliates over non-fee paying affiliates, again it’s operating as a pyramid scheme.

Personally given the “profit minded purchase” marketing and affiliate autoship focus, I’m not seeing retail as focus within the company.

Trunited appears to be your typical “affiliates are the only buyers” MLM ecommerce platform, with little to no retail taking place.

Approach with caution.

 

Update 3rd November 2021 – As of September 1st, 2021, Trunited has shut down.