Genesis Global Network v2.0 Review: From Ponzi to pyramid?

Genesis Global Network was initially announced for launch in the first quarter of 2014. The scheme was modeled on the AdWallet Ponzi scheme, which itself was modelled on the $850 million dollar Zeek Rewards Ponzi scheme.

Genesis Global Network’s original business model saw affiliates invest in points, with ROIs paid out of subsequently invested affiliate funds.

Not surprisingly, towards the end of 2014 Genesis Global Network began to collapse.

After a period of multiple changes to the compensation plan, which aimed to make it more difficult for affiliates to withdraw funds, around November 2014 the original Ponzi points model was scrapped.

What followed over the next few months were numerous compensation plan modifications and rewrites, as Donald Bernardin attempted to figure out what he wanted to do with the company.

Those plans appear to have been recently finalized, and so BehindMLM brings you a v2.0 review of the Global Genesis Network MLM business opportunity.

The Global Genesis Network Product Line

As with the original Global Genesis Network business model, the company still doesn’t have any retailable products and services.

Instead, they’ve gone the affiliate route, by signing Genesis Global Network as affiliates with multiple third-party merchants.

The products and services of these merchants are then pushed onto the Genesis Global Network affiliate-base.

Areas Genesis Global Network have targeted include:

• travel (access to discounts, merchant GGN have signed up with is not disclosed)
• e-commerce (GGN signed up with Dubli Network, see screenshot below)

• online groceries (signed up with My Freedom Grocer)
• health and wellness (signed up with My Nutrition Source)

Current Global Genesis Network presentations tout future affiliations with a penny auctions, wireless (cell phone service), VOIP and media streaming.

As with the current crop of affiliations, presumably these will again all be provided through third-party merchants.

The Genesis Global Network Compensation Plan

The Genesis Global Network compensation plan revolves around affiliates signing up and then recruiting others who do the same.

Retail Commissions

Retail commissions in Genesis Global Network are 20% of the commissionable volume of whatever is being sold.

Given Genesis Global Network don’t market any products or services themselves, what this commission is paid out on is unclear.

If I had to guess, affiliates are probably paid 20% of the commission GGN themselves receive when someone signs up to an offered product or service by a third-party merchant.

Receiving only 20% of the commission paid out, this is probably going to wind up being peanuts on most of the products and services offered.

Recruitment Commissions

Genesis Global Network affiliates are paid both directly and residually to recruit new Genesis Global Network affiliates.

This revolves around the sale of three Genesis Global Network affiliate packages, Pearl ($25), Ruby ($50) and Emerald ($100).

Upon recruitment of a new Genesis Global Network affiliate, the following commissions are paid out:

• Pearl – $2.50
• Ruby – $5
• Emerald – $10

Note that these are ongoing monthly commissions (GGN affiliate fees are monthly).

Residual recruitment commissions are paid out using a 2×20 matrix compensation structure.

A 2×20 matrix sees an affiliate placed at the top of a matrix, with two positions directly under them:

In turn, these two positions branch out into another two positions to make up the second level of the matrix. These positions branch out into another two positions to make up the third level, and so on and so forth down a total of twenty levels.

Position in the matrix are filled via affiliate recruitment (direct and indirect), with commissions paid out according to how much recruited affiliates spend on their GGN membership:

• Pearl – 25 cents a month
• Ruby – $1 a month
• Emerald – $2 a month

Finally, a matching bonus is also payable on matrix commissions paid to recruited affiliates.

The matrix matching bonus is paid out on a maximum three levels of recruitment, determined by a GGN affiliate’s own monthly membership fee:

• Pearl – 10% on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates)
• Ruby – 10% on level 1 and 5% on level 2
• Emerald – 10% on levels 1 to 3

Rebates

In addition to recruitment commissions, Genesis Global Network also pay affiliates rebates.

In order to qualify for rebates, a GGN affiliate must personally recruit at least two affiliates.

Rebates paid out on are food (up to $200), cell service (up to $100) and gas (up to $200).

How much of a rebate a GGN affiliate can claim is determined by how much they spend on their affiliate membership each month:

• Pearl – 5% on food ($14)
• Ruby – 7% on food ($14) and cell ($7)
• Emerald – 10%on food ($20), cell ($10) and gas ($20)

The rebates offered don’t appear to be tied into a third-party merchant, with Global Genesis Network themselves paying it out.

Presumably they request affiliates keep receipts or some such.

Joining Genesis Global Network

Affiliate membership with Genesis Global Network is available at three price-points:

• Pearl – $25 a month
• Ruby – $50 a month
• Emerald – $99 a month

The primary difference between these three affiliate options is income potential via the Genesis Global Network compensation plan.

Bundled with each of the affiliate memberships is access to an ebook library and various marketing tools. Access to various travel discounts are also restricted based on how much a GGN affiliate pays for their membership each month.

Conclusion

Whereas Genesis Global Network’s new compensation plan is a welcome departure from the Ponzi points model, unfortunately all they’ve done is replace it with that of a pyramid scheme.

Affiliates buy in for between $25 to $99 and are paid to recruit new affiliates into the scheme.

The third-party merchant products and services offered can be ignored altogether, with affiliates able to earn based on recruitment alone (a token self-purchase of a product or service may be required to qualify to withdraw commissions).

With the price of everything marketed through GGN (as opposed to being sold by them) controlled by third-parties, retail is unlikely.

Why waste your time ordering through GGN when you can just go to the source?

As for the rebates offered, that’s simply a recruitment incentive. The recruitment requirement to qualify ensures GGN don’t lose money in offering the rebate, as the rebate amounts ($10 at Pearl, $21 at Ruby and $50 at Emerald) are paid out of the fees paid by the recruited affiliates.

Mathematically all that’s happening is some of the fees paid by the two recruited affiliates are being redirected to the affiliate who recruited them.

In any event, with chain-recruitment likely to be at the forefront of the Global Genesis Network opportunity, ultimately what they attach to the scheme is irrelevant.

Sign up, pay your monthly fee and get paid to recruit others who do the same.

Then, as long as everyone keeps paying their monthly affiliate fees, everyone continues to get paid.

As with all recruitment-driven schemes, once the recruitment of new affiliates slows down, those at the bottom of the scheme will stop paying their monthly fees.

When that happens, those above them stop getting paid each month and do the same.

Eventually this trickles far up along the GGN affiliate genealogy and triggers a company-wide collapse. Kaboom.