Modere Review: Neways autoship focus retained
Although you won’t find any mention of Neways on Modere’s website, Neways was sold off in 2013 and Modere is its latest incarnation.
As revealed on an offsite prelaunch page,
Modere is the total transformation of a 26-year-old, $300 million a year network marketing (NM) company named Neways.
Neways was acquired in 2013 by Z Capital (ZCap.net). This transformation includes completely new ownership, management, branding, styling, pricing and growth strategies as well as a new name, business model and compensation plan.
Neways U.S.A. totally transformed to Modere at its launch in February 2014, and Neways will similarly transform to Modere in all 28 international markets by 2015.
Incorrectly identified as part of Modere’s “new management team” is CEO Robert Conlee (right). Conlee retains this position from Neways and has held the position since 2012.
Prior to his appointment as Neways CEO, Conlee held executive roles in Xango (CEO) and Nu Skin (President, North Asia and Japan).
Despite launching in February, at the time of publication no information about Modere’s management appears on the company’s website. A listed address in Utah suggests Modere has retained what was once Neways head office.
Read on for a full review of the Modere MLM business opportunity.
The Modere Product Line
Whereas Neways might have had a clinical feel to it, in part due to two run-ins with the FDA (using human growth hormone (2004) and “dangerous amounts of furosemide” (1993)), Modere seek to rebrand the products as “sexy”:
Modere is safe made sexy. We offer a category-leading portfolio of lifestyle essentials—personal care, health & wellness, and household products that are equal parts safe, high performing, and beautifully designed.
As far as I can tell though, it’s pretty much the same diverse product offering Neways were pushing under the brand “Modere”.
As with Neways there are too many products to list individually here, however a brief summary is as follows:
- personal care – hair, body and mouth
- health and wellness – anti-aging, general nutrition, active health, targeted health and weight management
- household care – kitchen, cleaning and laundry
As with Neways, I’d recommend visiting the Modere website for a full catalogue of their product line. All product listings are readily available on the Modere website through an online storefront, complete with retail pricing.
The Modere Compensation Plan
The Modere compensation plan offers a unique splitting of retail and downline affiliate volume, split between two individual unilevel structures.
Various performance-based bonuses are also on offer, along with two revenue-sharing pool that shares in can be qualified for.
Modere Affiliate Membership Ranks
There are ten affiliate membership ranks within the Modere compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Social Marketing Consultant 1 – maintain 100 PV a month, 500 GV a month (down three levels of recruitment) and recruit at least one affiliate
- Social Marketing Consultant 2 – maintain 100 PV a month, 1000 GV a month (down three levels of recruitment) and recruit at least one affiliate
- Social Marketing Consultant 3 – maintain 100 PV a month, 2000 GV a month (down three levels of recruitment) and recruit at least one affiliate
- Social Marketing Team Leader – maintain 150 PV a month and 3000 GV a month (down three levels of recruitment), recruit at least one affiliate and maintain a total monthly GV of 3,000 (max 1500 from any one unilevel leg)
- Social Marketing Director 1 – maintain 150 PV a month and 3000 GV a month (down three levels of recruitment), recruit and maintain at least one Social Marketing Team Leader ranked affiliate and maintain a total monthly GV of 12,000 (max 7000 from any one unilevel leg)
- Social Marketing Director 2 – maintain 150 PV a month and 3000 GV a month (down three levels of recruitment), recruit and maintain at least two Social Marketing Team Leader ranked affiliates and maintain a total monthly GV of 25,000 (max 15,000 from any one unilevel leg)
- Social Marketing Director 3 – maintain 150 PV a month and 3000 GV a month (down three levels of recruitment), recruit and maintain at least three Social Marketing Team Leader ranked affiliates and maintain a total monthly GV of 50,000 (max 35,000 from any one unilevel leg)
- Elite Social Marketer 1 – maintain 150 PV a month and 3000 GV a month (down three levels of recruitment), recruit and maintain at least three Social Marketing Team Leader ranked affiliates and maintain a total monthly GV of 100,000 (max 70,000 from any one unilevel leg)
- Elite Social Marketer 2 – maintain 150 PV a month and 3000 GV a month (down three levels of recruitment), recruit and maintain at least three Social Marketing Team Leader ranked affiliates and maintain a total monthly GV of 200,000 (max 140,000 from any one unilevel leg)
- Elite Social Marketer 3 – maintain 150 PV a month and 3000 GV a month (down three levels of recruitment), recruit and maintain at least three Social Marketing Team Leader ranked affiliates and maintain a total monthly GV of 400,000 (max 280,000 from any one unilevel leg)
Note that PV stands for “Personal Volume”, and includes an affiliate’s own purchases and that of their retail customers.
GV stands for “Group Volume” and included sales volume generated by an affiliate’s downline.
Rank Advancement Bonus
Modere pay out a Rank Advancement Bonus at the Social Marketing Team Leader and Elite Social Marketer 1 affiliate ranks.
The Social Marketing Team Leader bonus is paid out over three months ($250 each month), assuming an affiliate maintains the rank during this time.
In a similar fashion, when an affiliate first qualifies as an Elite Social Marketer 1, they are paid $4000. If they maintain this rank over the next two months, they are paid an additional $4000 each month for a total of $12,000.
If an affiliate does not qualify in the second month, they can still receive a third month bonus by re-qualifying before the start of the third month.
A matching bonus is also available to Social Marketing Team Leader ranked affiliates. This bonus pays out a 100% match ($250) on the three Rank Advancement Bonus payments made to newly qualified Social Marketing Team Leader affiliates.
No matching bonus is paid out on the Elite Social Marketer 1 Rank Advancement Bonus.
Retail Commissions
Retail commissions paid out by Modere range from 10% to 20%.
Each retail customer order generates points in the customer unilevel, with affiliates able to earn a bonus percentage on these points.
How much of a bonus percentage is paid out depends on how many total points have been generated by retail customer orders that month:
- less than 300 points = 10%
- between 300 and 499 points = 15%
- 500 points and over 20%
Additionally, at least 100 PV is required to qualify for the 15% and 20% commission rates.
Monthly Selling Reward
For affiliates who maintain at least 100 PV in sales volume a month, a Monthly Selling Reward cash bonus is available.
The bonus is paid out based out an affiliate’s retail sales volume and acquired customers:
- 1000 PV in retail sales and 5 customers = $100
- 2000 PV in retail sales volume and 10 customers = $250
- 3000 PV in retail sales volume and 15 customers = $500
- 5000 PV in retail sales volume and 25 customers = $750
- 7000 PV in retail sales volume and 35 customers = $1000
If an affiliate receives a Monthly Selling Reward bonus for three consecutive months, they are also paid an additional bonus equal to the lowest bonus paid during those three months.
Eg. If an affiliate qualifies at 2000 PV ($250) in one month, 5000 PV ($750) in the next and then $3000 PV ($500) in the third, they are paid a $250 bonus in that third month.
Breakout Bonus
Modere’s Breakout Bonus acts as a defacto recruitment commission. When an affiliate recruits a new affiliate, they receive a 25% bonus on any product orders made within the newly recruited affiliate’s first 30 days with the company.
A 10% commission is also paid out to the recruiting affiliate’s upline.
Any customers acquired by a Modere affiliate also generate the above commission percentages, tracked via Customer Points.
Residual Unilevel Commissions (affiliate volume)
Residual commissions in Modere are paid using 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):
In turn, if any level 1 affiliates go on to recruit new affiliates of their own, 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.
Modere cap payable unilevel levels at eight, with how many levels an affiliate is paid out on determined by their affiliate membership rank:
- Social Marketing Consultant 1 – 3% on level 1
- Social Marketing Consultant 2 – 3% on levels 1 and 2
- Social Marketing Consultant 3 – 4% on levels 1 and 2
- Social Marketing Team Leader – 5% on levels 1 to 3
- Social Marketing Director 1 – 5% on levels 1 to 3 and 3% on level 4
- Social Marketing Director 2 – 5% on levels 1 to 3 and 3% on levels 4 and 5
- Social Marketing Director 3 – 5% on levels 1 to 3, 4% on level 4 and 3% on levels 5 and 6
- Elite Social Marketer 1 – 5% on levels 1 to 3, 4% on levels 4 and 5 and 3% on levels 6 and 7
- Elite Social Marketer 2 – 5% on levels 1 to 4, 4% on levels 5 to 7 and 3% on level 8
- Elite Social Marketer 3 – 5% on levels 1 to 5 and 4% on levels 6 to 8
Residual Unilevel Commissions (retail volume)
Modere split sales volume generated by affiliates. Affiliate volume is paid out via the unilevel described above, and retail customer volume is paid out via a separate unilevel.
This unilevel functions in the same manner as the affiliate volume unilevel, however Modere cap commissions at five levels rather than eight.
Again, how many levels an affiliate can earn down depends on their Modere affiliate membership rank:
- Social Marketing Consultant 1 – 3% on level 1
- Social Marketing Consultant 2 – 3% on levels 1 and 2
- Social Marketing Consultant 3 – 4% on levels 1 and 2
- Social Marketing Team Leader – 5% on levels 1 to 3
- Social Marketing Director 1 and 2 – 5% on levels 1 to 3 and 3% on level 4
- Social Marketing Director 3 and Elite Social Marketer 1 – 5% on levels 1 to 3 and 4% on level 4
- Elite Social Marketer 2 and 3 – 5% on levels 1 to 3, 4% on level 4 and 3% on level 5
Unilevel Bonuses
Referred to as a “Dynamic Bonus”, Modere pay Social Marketing Team Leader and Director ranked affiliates a 5% bonus on their unilevel level with the most volume.
Note that only this bonus only applies to the first three unilevel levels of an affiliate’s unilevel team (paid out on both the customer and affiliate unilevels).
A second unilevel bonus, referred to as the “4 & More Builder Bonus” pays affiliates a percentage bonus on unilevel volume generated by their fourth and onwards strongest unilevel legs.
The three most strongest legs (volume wise) are discounted, with the bonus paid out on the fourth and onwards legs as follows:
- Social Marketing Team Leader – 2%
- Social Marketing Team Directors (1 – 3) – 3%
- Elite Social Marketers (1 – 3) – 4%
Note that this percentage bonus is paid down the full length of the unilevel leg, irrespective of how many levels deep it runs.
Leadership Development Bonus
The Leadership Development Bonus is a generational bonus available to Social Marketing Director and Elite Social Marketer ranked affiliates.
The bonus pays out on the unilevel and Breakout bonuses paid to affiliates within a generation.
A generation is defined as all affiliates in any given unilevel leg, up until another affiliate of the same or higher rank as the affiliate qualfying.
Eg. If you are an Elite Social Marketer 1 ranked affiliate, your unilevel generations in each leg continue until another Elite Social Marketer 1 or higher ranked affiliate is found.
Using this model Social Marketing Director ranked affiliate qualify for a bonus on one generation, and Elite Social Marketer affiliates on two.
Percentages paid out are fixed, dependent on an affiliate’s membership rank:
- Social Marketing Team Leader – 10%
- Social Marketing Director 1 – 12%
- Social Marketing Director 2 – 14%
- Social Marketing Director 3 – 16%
- Elite Social Marketer 1 – 18%
- Elite Social Marketer 2 – 20%
- Elite Social Marketer 3 – 22%
Note that these percentages apply to the volume being paid out on, not to the affiliate qualifying for the commission.
Eg. Even if an affiliate is at the Elite Social Marketer 3 rank, they will still only ever be paid 10% on the volume generated by Social Marketing Team Leaders.
As such, the maximum percentage pay out is that of the rank of the affiliate qualifying for the commission (payable only on the volume of the affiliate who ends the generation (they are at the same or a higher rank as the qualifying affiliate)).
Revenue-Sharing Pools
There are two revenue-sharing pools in Modere, with affiliates able to qualify for shares in them as follows:
Weekly Activity Pool
In order to qualify for sharesi n the Weekly Activity Pool, a Modere affiliate must purchase 300 PV worth of product when they sign up, be a customer who purchased a Beauty Box ($79) and then purchase 250 PV worth of product as an affiliate, or generate at least 2000 monthly retail PV and have 10 retail customers.
Shares in the Weekly Activity Pools are earnt either by signing up 8 customers who each spend $500 or more, or by recruiting three new affiliates.
Both these qualification criteria can be met over a rolling four week period.
Finally, a monthly minimum of 100 PV (either via autoship or retail sales) is also required.
Note that Modere do not specify how much money is put into the Weekly Activity Pool, other than to “guarantee” a $5000 minimum.
Leadership Activity Pool
Open to Social Marketing Team Leader or higher ranked affiliates, one share in the Leadership Activity Pool are earnt when a recruited affiliate anywhere in their downline qualifies for shares in the Weekly Activity Pool.
Modere don’t explicitly clarify this, but I believe shares are awarded per affiliate who qualifies for shares in the Weekly Activity Pool, not per share earnt in the pool itself.
Finally, an affiliate must themselves have qualified for at least one share in the Weekly Activity Pool to qualify for a payment int he Leadership Activity Pool.
Modere do not specify how much money they put into the Leadership Activity Pool.
Joining Modere
Basic affiliate membership to Modere is $29.95.
Official marketing material however recommends affiliates “purchase a Builder Collection” for $399.
No further information is provided on the Modere website, other than that the purchase of a Builder Collection qualifies an affiliate to ‘earn from the entire Modere compensation plan‘.
Conclusion
In reviewing Modere, my primary interest was seeing what the company had done to distance itself from the heavily autoship focused compensation plan Neways used.
Despite the offering of retail commissions, most of the Neways compensation plan tilted towards recruiting affiliates, slapping them on monthly autoship and then encouraging them to recruit affiliates who do the same.
To that end, I was pleased to see the changes that have been made to the way retail commissions are paid out in Modere.
I thought the separation of retail volume was a nice touch, although why it’s only restricted to five levels versus the eight offered on affiliate volume was a little strange.
The Monthly Selling Bonus was particularly well done, with “retail only” bonuses in MLM compensation plans being extremely rare (and welcomed!).
Regarding the rest of the compensation plan, volume is paid out as you’d expect with a unilevel plan and there’s no real surprises.
Two points caused me to question just how serious Modere are about retail however.
The first was the observation of retail customer requirements built into the affiliate ranks. Brilliant. This is something we don’t see enough of and ensures affiliates are focused on retail.
Then I read the asterisked small print:
*The lifetime customer count will go into effect at a future date. For a limited time this requirement is being waived.
Modere launched in late 2013… and almost a year later retail customer requirements are still being waived?
At best something like this, if it has to be waived at all, should only be for a month tops. Anything more than that and you venture into “we’ll get around to it one day…” territory.
The fact that Modere still waive these requirements indicates retail viability problems with their products (I haven’t been able to ascertain why Neways was sold off…).
My second point of contention is Modere’s own affiliate marketing material.
Described as the way to “start right” with the company (subtly implying that any other way is “wrong”), here’s how Modere recommend affiliates join:
Start Right: When joining you’ll want to (a) purchase the Builder Collection (or $300 point order) for $399, and (b) set up your monthly SmartShip of at least $100 points.
This will allow you earn from the entire Modere Compensation Plan, including Promoter, Builder and Leader Shares from the Revenue Sharing Pool.
Smartship = autoship.
Despite the name-change and rebranding, it seemed Neways was still about recruiting autoship affiliates.
The paragraph below the one quoted above only served to cement this notion:
Even more importantly, the way you “start” sets the precedent that your entire team will tend to duplicate forever.
Every person you ever sponsor will usually ask “how did YOU start?” and 70-80% of the time they will start the same way.
Because you only “start” one time, you have to answer that question the same way even if it’s 10 or 20 years from now! Also, the people you sponsor will get asked the same question, with the same result, etc., etc.
Consequently, it is critically important that you start the way you want your entire team to start forever.
So sign up by paying $399 and pay your $100 a month autoship order… just so you can recruit others and recommend they do the same when they ask you how you became an Modere affiliate.
And according to Modere, this is all “critically important”.
*Groan*
With Neways autoship focused culture clearly surviving the branding transition, unfortunately it seems the attempts at bolstering retail volume within the compensation plan appear to be merely superficial.
And things only got worse when I stumbled across Modere’s revenue-sharing pools.
I stay stumbled across because I’d just finished going over and breaking down the official Modere compensation plan document. I thought I was done, and so began to look for information on joining costs.
It was there that I ran into mention about “revenue sharing pools”.
Huh? I’ve just gone over the official compensation document and there was no mention of revenue sharing anywhere. What are they talking about?
A quick google search revealed a separate document, detailing Modere’s revenue sharing pools.
The fact that this is kept separate from the main compensation plan information was revealing in itself.
For starters, 100 PV a month is required just to participate (conveniently the minimum recommend autoship amount). Then you can either waste your time acquiring 8 retail customers or just recruit three affiliates.
Why on Earth the share allocation is so heavily stacked towards affiliate recruitment I have no idea. But it’s yet another poor reflection of a company that insists on keeping affiliate recruitment and autoship front and center.
Where the money used to fund the pools comes from wasn’t disclosed either. If it’s from affiliate-funds, then coupled with straight recruitment to gain shares – there’s a serious compliance problem with this part of the compensation plan.
That the possibility of retail activity within Modere exists isn’t being questioned, any more than it was in Neways, the problem as I see it though is that incentive wise things are too heavily stacked on recruitment + autoship.
Again, as Modere themselves state, sign up for $399 and $100 monthly autoship and ‘this will allow you earn from the entire Modere compensation plan‘.
By recruiting others who do the same, they in turn gain full access to the compensation plan – and all the while nothing is being sold to retail customers.
To give Modere affiliates the benefit of the doubt. An initial quick check as to whether they meet their monthly PV requirement via retail sales or autoship will reveal where their focus lies.
If you want to dig deeper, ask them for their retail unilevel volume for the month prior and compare it to their affiliate unilevel volume.
Personally all I’m seeing is Neways with a definite attempt at retail improvement, gutted by customer requirement waivers and a compensation plan that still rewards affiliates too heavily for autoship recruitment and nothing else.
Approach with caution.
Update 2nd May 2022 – BehindMLM revisited Modere in May 2022.
An updated Modere review was published earlier today.
The team itself can be new, e.g. SOME new people in new positions. It doesn’t need to be COMPLETELY new. 🙂
True, but this is how Conlee was introduced:
I did think that was a bit deceptive.
Neways basically is a blatant attempt to clone Amway… and it failed.
It would be interesting to see who really is Z Capital to invest in a previously failed attempt to relaunch it, without swapping out the CEO too.
capitalZ is a private equity firm which invests in struggling businesses by infusing capital and restructuring. it works with small to medium sized business entities.
the turnaround from neways to modere began in 2012 , and robert conlee may have been hired to walk the company thru the transformation. in that sense he can be considered to be ‘part of the new team’.
capital z ‘appears’ to be a gentleman company , founded in 2006 with a reasonable body of work . doesn’t look fishy.
Uh, Z Capital bought Neways in 2013, after which the transition into Modere began.
Conless was hired by Neways in 2012.
uh :
prnewswire.com/news-releases/neways-enterprises-awarded-2012-consumer-products-turnaround-of-the-year-161810585.html
Cheers. Wish they’d disclosed that on their website instead of making it look like they were a third-party who acquired Neways in 2013.
Too much lack of disclosure going on here.
I still maintain that hiring someone in 2012 and then changing your company name in 2013 falls far beyond the timeframe of what “new management” implies.
see, financing and restructuring can be a long drawn out process.
the process may have started in 2012 and culminated in actual signings on the dotted lines in 2013 . or maybe the sale to zcapital was Registered formally in 2013. who knows.
there is a margin, for benefit of doubt, to z capital and neways here , i would think. because, there’s nothing to hide here.
So these Z guys actually see a future in a failed Amway clone? I can see Conlee hoping for a big paycheck when Xango pretty much saturated the market and the Mangosteen fad ended. Guess those guys take a long shot every once in a while.
this is a piss poor offer by modere.
this means members who join at 29.95$ ,without subscribing to the smartship or generating 100PV , stand to earn only 10% for their retail efforts. hardly encouraging!
amway pays 20-35%
Arbonne pays 35%
Mary kay pays 50% —- without any PV compulsions .
forcing retail down distributors throats wont work , healthy retail margins will encourage distributors to retail, rather than let products rot in their garage.
this poor retail offering along with the strong suggestion for distributors to purchase the ‘builder collection’ at 399$ ,makes moderes ‘actual working’ suspect.
there will be very few purely 29.95$ members and barely any sales to or thru them , and this makes modere appear to an inventory loading scheme.
@anjali
I don’t think it’s so terrible. What would be terrible is if they required an autoship to attain the 100PV requirement.
As long as the 100PV is attainable through retail sales, I don’t see the issue.
I got lost in the highly complex compensation plan listed above – nothing of which is hinted at on the Modere website which gave me the impression that it was viral marketing and very little compensation for promoters at all.
As a devoted health fan of the old old Neways (and saving some lives as a result) I got stung too often by the stair step break away model.
My view now is – if it is a complex compenation plan – that somewhere in there they are pulling the wool so that they don’t have to pay out as much as they suggest they will.
Sorry to sound jaded. So when Neways convert my account to Modere, it will just be another sad day.
Your data is outdated. As of last month Modere has introduced a program that does NOT require any personal dollar spend as long as you are minimally active in acquiring customers during the month (acquire 3 new customers that purchase a cumulative amount of 150 points).
If you accomplish that, you not only don’t have to purchase 100 marketer points (that’s your own personal points), but they ship you 99.99 of products for free. And then I’m 100% eligible for every part of the comp plan including the revenue sharing pool.
This article and the comments are clearly written by people without first-hand knowledge. The comments above about poor compensation around the retail side do not understand the referral program.
Pheona — the fact that the customer side of modere does not talk about the compensation for the social marketing side is on purpose. But it doesn’t imply that there is little compensation. It doesn’t make any statement about compensation. at all. on purpose.
The review is clearly datestamped. It is based on the Modere compensation plan at the time.
And having options doesn’t matter if the majority of affiliates are self-qualifying via autoship (as was the case in Neways).
Having come from Neways, it’s highly likely the acquire three new customers who sign up for autoship isn’t going to happen.
I went to the Modere website and noticed the compensation plan is still not publicly available.
I’m treating any mentioned changes with a grain of salt until Modere offers up some transparency.
When you mention weekly shares and the ease to get social marketers instead you are incorrect. If you’ll notice to earn a share you can get 8 customers totaling $500 or retail sales or 3 social marketers with sales of 1,200!
That is clearly a healthy emphasis on customers….
It’s much easier to get affiliate recruits to purchase on the promise of commissions then actual retail customers. And there was nothing about an affiliate minimum spend in the compensation plan when I reviewed it.
In any event 1200 / 3 = $400 each recruit.
Not all customers are created equal.
I had a friend trying to convince me to join. Telling me all these great things. Then i saw the videos they had.
It sounded great. Too good to be true. Then i tried to google Modere and search for the company’s history. Since they claim to be a 27 year old company with 300 million in revenue before it became Modere, I expected to find some providance.
What did i find? Google cant differentiate between the brand Modere and the word Modern. Then i found that there WAS NO providance.
Then after proding my friend for the name of the previous company, I searched for Neways and slowly it all began yo make sense.
It sounds great but when you start to dig deeper, its shady as fuck.
Then i found your breakdown here. Thanks for sharing. I was heavily considering it but now im not even going to take a chance on it.
Good choice Ron, I recently had someone who calls herself my friend, that person who only calls when they wants something.
It’s usually whatever new scam she’s trying out last year it was Wake Up Now a few months before their bankruptcy, despite saying she was the Master Distributor for another company.
Shady? I thought so.
She recently tried her best to get me involved in Modere and promised me the world, delivery of anything she says except lies and excuses is usually a problem though.
I looked into it all just to see what shady involvement she’s into now. Modere is right up her style it all seems great till you look a little closer.
You said it perfectly just like Modere’s new marketing goon, Glenna de Lisle, Modere is shady as xxxx.
Thanks for posting this before more people fall prey to her or Modere.
These comments and the article are very misleading. Modere is an ethical company. The people at the top are second to none.
Can you make money – absolutely. Yes, building a network requires work. But is it worth it? Of course.
The products are the best on the market and have been for a very long time. It’s easy to criticise when you know very little about the work that has been put in behind the scenes.
I choose to stay with the company and continue building and helping people. I have a reasonably large team of great people who are very excited about the opportunity Modere is giving us moving forward.
Only good people with a good work ethic and passion to help people are required.
And by “help” you mean sign up for autoship and then recruit other affiliates who do the same?
what is terrible is that by putting restrictive conditions for ‘earning’ on retail sales, modere is discouraging retail sales.
10% on pure retail is ridiculous.
if you want a higher retail percentage of 15-20%, you have to sell 100 PV at retail, or to recruited affiliates, or self consume.
why will anyone bust their ass finding retail customers, and not just recruit an affiliate under them and bring in recruitment commissions every month?
what is modere encouraging? product sales or recruitment?
anyways, kill the autoship based opportunity. see what’s happening to vemma.
Bernie Madoff worked extremely hard by all accounts.
Next strawman argument, please
From my long experience with the company there is no autoship. And who is Bernie Madoff?
Yes, you buy your products from Modere but why wouldn’t you? I was buying the products anyway.
I am earning a good residual income and have been since 2008. I also have an idea of the hard work that has been put in to make a good company an even better one.
The hard work is done by the company, all I have to do is talk to people. No stock to hold, no extortionate franchise fees, no staff, no rental of shop space.
This opportunity is amazing. If buying a little product once a month, which I would be buying anyway, is all it takes, plus sharing – what’s the problem?
Fortunately the only negative experience I had with networking was family friends in Amway – and no they did not make any money.
After 2 years of buying just for myself and family, it took just 3 years to develop a residual income but that has continued to grow.
Then you obviously haven’t taken the time to go through the Modere compensation plan.
On autoship. Autoship was the focus in Neways and was carried over into Modere.
There is no autoship here unless you opt in. In 12 years I have never bought my products on autoship. It is my choice to buy what I want to buy, when I want to buy it. And I have been very involved with the compensation plan which has been evolving.
So uh, there is autoship.
Cool, but you still have a standing order each month. Is it enough to qualify you for commissions each month?
Your personal lack of signing up with autoship doesn’t negate a compensation plan titled towards recruited affiliates on autoship.
No, I do not have a standing order. I order personal products from my own free will. And my commissions far, far outweigh the cost of a few products. Things I would be buying anyway on a regular basis.
I do not have the cost of manufacture or the cost of distribution. Any other business would attract far higher business costs.
This beats traditional business hands down. I have not only built a great business but a saleable asset with very little upfront cost.
Which you order every month without fail? Nobody said anything about free will…
Seeing as you mentioned your commissions, answer me this then (monthly):
Commissions generated by recruited affiliates (directly and indirectly recruited): $???
Commissions generated by retail (non-affiliate) customer orders (not resale of products you purchased, genuine retail orders): $???
Yes I order monthly. I was doing that before I began the business. And yes my commissions are generated directly and indirectly by others in my team.
I also do retail – genuine retail orders, but that will now be taken care of in the customer component of the Modere plan. For that I thank them.
I help all who require it in my business regardless of who they are or where they sit. This business is not for everyone, many people simply wish to buy product and that is fine.
Others want to make a few extra $ – that is fine too. A few want to make it a career. Those that do well tend to be highly educated and have been successful in other areas.
Certainly that is the case in my business. I have not looked on my personal orders as a business expense but you could look at it that way.
I pay subscriptions to all sorts of things to which I get no financial benefit.
$100 is a small price to pay for a business that earns me plenty. And I get value – products that keep me healthy. This business has given me lots of freedom and buying product I would be buying anyway is a ‘no-brainer’.
Sorry but you seem to have failed to answer my rather simple question:
Commissions generated by recruited affiliates (directly and indirectly recruited): $???
Commissions generated by retail (non-affiliate) customer orders (not resale of products you purchased, genuine retail orders): $???
I made it easy for you, all you have to do is fill in the blanks (designated by ‘???’).
I apologise – your language and terminology is not what I use. I have team members – in your language ‘recruited affiliates’, – who have been directly sponsored by me and others who have been indirectly sponsored (recruited) by others.
To me they are ‘team members’. And commissions are generated by the volume in the business from those directly and indirectly ‘recruited’.
The second question, I believe was answered clearly. Commissions are also generated by retail customers. In the past I had their orders sent directly to them.
I have been polite and honest during this discussion and find your last comment rather rude.
Cool. So because of your continued dancing around the question we can surmize the following:
You pay about a $100 a month to qualify for commissions, paid out of recruited affiliates in your downline also paying about a hundred dollars a month (which qualifies them for commissions when on their recruited affiliates).
This income dwarfs whatever retail commissions you may be earning each month (if at all).
That sound about right?
you can call them ‘team members’ or any other term of your choosing. Legally Speaking they are ‘recruited affiliates’.
and if your recruited affiliates are Mostly ordering specific quantities of products every month to earn commissions [call it PV or autoship or autodelivery], then modere is a product masked pyramid scheme.
a handful of retail wont save you. the order in the FTC vs burnlounge appeal case, clearly said that MLM cannot claim legitimacy over a few retail sales.
the court looks at the Whole Picture and the Functioning of an MLM in Reality, which in the case of modere, will be a heavy emphasis on recruiting and autoship.
Oz – no. I have more than enough customers. And anjali – the legal speak is probably from your part of the world and not mine. And all is done is compliance with the law.
huh?
the legal speak is about US law. is modere an american company or not?
Yes but do you have retail customers, and are you paid more in retail commissions then affiliate purchases (autoship or otherwise) from your downline each month.
Again with “I” focused anecdotal evidence
What “YOU” do is incidental to what the majority of Modere members do or can do.
I was looking into another Network Marketing Co. and came across a gentleman by the name of Robert Hollis.
I looked into his products and three companies later I came across Modere. I got the impression it was “new” but around for 27 yrs.. just made me confused.
I’v never been in MLM but have considered it given the right opportunity.
The problem is I never seem to come across a company that isn’t ‘shady’ in one form or another so I stay away. Modere seemed legit but now reading this I wonder.
To be fair, there are people who just hate MLM and will smear a Co. out of spite.
Weighing the true/false allegations verse the opportunity can be tough. A lot of times my head just spins and I don’t know what to think.
On a personal note, some MLM’ers are cult like figures and are revered as gods by the company. It can be very bizarre watching hypnotic power MLM has over a lot of people.
Heck, according to them all other business models are evil.
Modere was convincing in a presentation about the comp plan I watched from Mr. Hollis. But now I’m uncertain.
On a very basic level – trying to come off as a new company when in fact it’s just been bought out and re-branded makes me wonder why the deceit..
Why not just say who they were originally? It’s the same products right..? Am I off somewhere here?
Most modern MLM “programs” are focused on recruitment. Your “legit enough” idea is probably correct enough.
Almost every MLM we review here will get some red flags for “recruitment focus”, “lack of retail focus”, etc., i.e. most of them have some factors people should be aware of before joining. It would be incorrect if we hadn’t identified factors like that.
Many of them are not really about sale, but more about purchases among people in a downline.
Your chances to make an income of significance from MLM is relatively low. The chances will be lower if you strongly believe in “The Dream” yourself, or if you easily can be affected by “social pressure” (e.g. “if you’re serious about your business, you simply must …” arguments).
I’m not in MLM, but I have looked at many different factors in many different companies. Some factors can be very harmful to inexperienced people. I mentioned two of them, strong beliefs and social pressure.
That kind of black-and-white thinking should tell you they are the evil ones, trying to cult brainwash all its members: our way is righteous, everybody else is evil, you are the chosen ones.
You just have to focus on the right questions.
* What’s in it FOR ME? (i.e. how do I get paid?)
* What’s in it for the company? (how do they make money?)
In a ideal model MLM, the company move a lot of products to retail customers, and you find the retail customers for the company, and you have a sales team of downlines that do the same.
In a self-consumption MLM, the company move a lot of products, but you and your downlines are buying and consuming most of them. You actually don’t sell much except to yourselves. That… is bogus and illegal.
Then we get into pseudo-MLMs (a pyramid scheme that disguised itself by adopting MLM terminology and may even have some products) and outright pyramid and ponzi schemes…
But we’re not even halfway done. You still have to evaluate are the products real, do you know people who would buy them, and are you constantly exposed to such people, not just a few among your friends and family.
If the products are bogus (does not contain what it says, or the science is unproven / bogus) or overpriced, (a $42 USD can of powder in a country where average annual income is 500) and/or the products are of no use in your area (like weight loss products in a country with no obesity)…
None of this has to do with people getting pissed off and out to diss companies, right? These are facts, not opinions.
And NEVER rely on PR material. Those are designed to sell, and may not tell the whole story.
and then there are those that know how business works and see it for the fraud that it is where 97% of people lose money.
You seem to have covered most factors yourself.
“Potential pyramid scheme issues”
Almost any MLM will have some potential pyramid scheme issues = distribution of money upwards in the system, based on money coming in from lower levels (not from the outside). Some will be of huge financial risk, some may be “acceptable”.
The more money they distribute upwards in the system, the more difficult it will be for others to make money. So a very “promising” compensation plan may be a negative sign.
It will be in favor of people high up in your upline but not in favor of yourself as a relatively new distributor.
But for some people, that’s “acceptable” as long as they feel they have a fair chance to make money in the long term.
It’s very acceptable if you can start near the top, with a complete downline already in place. 🙂
“Social factors”
Most people have relatively normal lives with family and friends. And they should try to keep it that way, not suddenly decide to replace it with “surrounding themselves with like minded people”, “visualization of success”, “dream BIG Dreams” or certain leadership ideas.
To be fair, many lose money going into traditional businesses as well. The risk may be higher within the Network Marketing model but that’s inherent with any business venture.
My main question is what’s the difference between Neways products and the Modera.. The products are the same right..? So it’s the residual model that’s changed because it’s focused more on retail(arguable)..?
What’s crazy is I was looking at Robert Hollis and he was promoting one company, then another training and now Modera–all within a year. There’s no way someone can make decent money in each venture-not enough time in the day. The problem as an outsider? The recruiter is saying each opportunity is the end all be all. It really is crazy.
I didn’t know Neways was originally formed by Tom mower who was convicted of fraud/tax evasion — Now he’s running Sisel International – a similar company to Neways/Modera.
Who knows what to believe. All I know is the moment someone says make a list of family and friends I turn the other way. Someone told me, “this may not be the business for you then..” I asked him why is that? “because you should believe enough if the product and business to share it with those ‘you love’..” I literally laughed at him while on the phone.
The mind control is really crazy. Another company ItWorks Global claim to be christian and listening to some “leaders” they actually equate your relationship with “G-d” determining your success. The mind control is unbelievable.
One of the things I always look for in a network marketing opportunity is what kind of money can be made solely by selling the products or services, with no recruiting involved.
Inherent in that is the actual viability of the product and ease of finding qualified prospects who would be interested in purchasing.
My theory is that most people are not at a point in their lives where they would have the credibility in business to attract and recruit a lot of others into a new business venture.
So unless their upline is a super recruiter capable of dazzling their own prospects, they aren’t going to be one of those people who get 3 that get 3 thay get 3 … etc within a short time frame.
Now if they can make $500-$1000 a month just on product salea on 10-15 hours a week effort with little capital outlay, then that’s not a problem.
Over time their success will make them better recruiters if they work on self development and sharpen their skills and get good at telling their own story of giving them selves a $6,000-$12,000 raise.
But if they MUST recruit to make any money then they’ll likely never stick around long enough to get good at recruiting and flunk out. And if there’s a lot of flunking out at the bottom levels, only the highest in the genealogy, with enough people under them to overcome the turnover will make significant income over the long term.
I’ve seen it over and over again across many companies.
Look for a great retail opportunity FIRST, then you will have something to actually leverage by offering to others and actually have a way to build a team because you can offer them something worthwhile.
Well, I’m still researching trying to make everything make sense with Modere and Neways. Are Modere products Neways just with a different label?
I’m not familiar with any of them.
The article described it as a “transformation”, based on information found on Modere’s own website:
It can be a “facelift”, e.g. to look more attractive from a distance. 🙂
Or it can be a complete makeover, with a new, more healthy lifestyle (to look more attractive from close range).
Oz covered most of it in the “Conclusion” part of this review, e.g. the “Start the right way” factor. Pay $399 one time, then $100 per month.
Pretty much, it’s a reboot of sorts.
I was a former member of Neways and this month here in Australia Neways closed its website and turned Modere.
I have to say I have friends that built their Businesses with neways when Neways was MLM company, I know a lot about the products and they are exceptional.
The promise is that the products will be the same just different brand.
My Friend says Modere does not want to be known as a MLM company anymore because of Bad stigma towards MLM caused by many people and Amway. So with the New Modere aproach they say* they are are trying to enphisize social Marketing with shares on social sites/ email links ect.
This is quite convenient for the Modere method as now you can just rock up to the Modere website and just Add to cart join and purchase without a referal / Leader.
This social Method / retail store Method I imagine is a first step toward minimizing costs for possible referral payouts and Building their own MLM Levels with no Payout or commissions to pay for the Refered sales.
You can can tell customers to enter the PROMO code for “Rewards/income” given to “Social Marketers” for some type of payout that is hard to understand and quite frankly looks shady as hell when i reviewed the Compensation Plan, but for me as I wanted to get back into Network Marketing this is dodgy as hell as anyone can say ok thanks for your information I’ll check the website and thats the last you’ll here from it.
They may go ahead and purchase and you’ll get nothing if they sign up without your $10 pissy bonus PROMO CODE discount.
Dont get me wrong I used to love neways, I tried building and I made many friends and sales but unfortunately was not my time.
Is Modere going to help a person seeking to do MLM and build a Business, I’m not sure but the lack of clarity and information feels like it is now going to be a Retail Health Shop/Social Share rewards Program for discounts only..
My friend however is confident in that the opportunity is still there however Modere only opened its doors this month in Australia, so only soon will we find out if Opportunity has been taken away by harsh Compensation Plans and Opening The Retail Store for anyone without a referral.
In general, an MLM company competing directly against its affiliate-base doesn’t usually go down well with affiliates…
Oz, what does that mean.. how is modere competing against it’s own affiliates?
That’s Modere keeping retail sales commissions for themselves, competing directly against their affiliate-base.
So, ‘Oz’…
I have been looking at your website and see mostly red flags pointed out by you with companies in the MLM/direct sales industry (but honestly, I didn’t go through the entire site so could be COMPLETELY wrong).
You seem credible in the amount of time you take to research companies, and I would like to believe that you are not just an MLM-hater (so to speak). Although the MLM term does kind of turn my stomach because of all the tactics that are generally used in the industry… think ‘used car salesperson’.
So my question is, what MLM company(ies) DO you recommend (Ozedit: I don’t. I’m not here to personally find you an MLM opportunity.)
Thanks 🙂
P.S. I too am looking at Modere…
@Cindy I don’t give out recommendations. BehindMLM is for informational purposes only.
We have been members of Neways for over 20 years and earnt a reasonable income over that time.
When it changed to Modere, we got no monthly bonus apparently because we had too much volume in one leg. In Neways we always qualified for a bonus if we purchased the qualifying amount of product points.
I know of Senior Distributors whose Bonuses have dropped significantly after the transition to Modere and are furious over the attitude of the Management Team when they were questioned about this, “You will have to just rebuild your business”.
Bruce is right. I have been in Neways for 14 years, established distributors have reported a 40% reduction in payout since the transition.
Modere now control the process of all new customers, once they go to your personal web page and buy a product they are now Modere property, if you leave Modere and are found to be communicating with that Modere customer they have in the small print that they can charge you for each infringement (customer/social marketer) $2500.
This is a bit suspicious, I would not be surprised if after a period of time they announce they no longer need us and bring all sales in-house via the web portal given that people are using the Shopping malls less and online sales are the new norm.
This information is very helpful. I am trying to decide whether or not to join this company.
Thank- You
Well, interesting. I am ex real Amway n also swapped over to Neways later on. Left because for me at the time ages ago products werent for me.
I came here after following a search after i noticed a product n wanted more info. I have not been pitched too but am interested. The products look great n comp pkan alright, the retail side – well who cares.
In truth not one MLM i see floating around would i ever join retail only, what a waste. Even Costco worldwide have a members club. It is what it is but comments like many above is what leads to people feeling conned, not anything else.
Thats my opinion, i hated Amway n Neways in the end but i know how to form my own opinion with out all the dribble from comments here n am still interested.
Please remove yourself from the MLM industry. You represent everything that is currently wrong with it.
What exactly did you mean by that? Reading it literally seem to say that there are no MLM companies with products you want to buy ever… So why were you in Amway and Neways?
No one ever joined Costco to MAKE money.
So why are you dismissing the comments? Give a reason, at least. “it is what it is” is a slogan, not a reason.
looking to buy a vowel are ya?
I can see since the transition of Neways to Modere there is no cosmetic component, but has Maximol gone too?
Does anyone know if this is the same in all countries? Thanks.
Maximol is not known as Mineral Solutions
That Kay was clearly a rep far prior to Neways becoming Mōdere.
I tried like heck to make that company work for me but between the minimums required to stay eligible to be paid combined with the legitimate absence of training, it was never realistic.
Their products are great. Their health/ edibles don’t contain the best of the best but I digress.
I’m not sure if it’s the same as it was, but I joined prior to the big relaunch and stuck through for about 2 years. They sold you on hyped up marketing videos and a conference call web some amazing leaders who were all black diamonds or elite whatevers in another company prior.
That should have been my first clue. They recommended we play completely stupid when we got our friends on the phone and to just edify a leader, connect them via conference call and let them talk.
Most of the time, you couldn’t even reach said folk when you had scheduled a call.
That was the initial training… Call someone excited, set up a call. You know nothing. Even if you do know, say you can’t possibly get it right and play dumb.
Needless to say I have learned a lot. The only super legitimate way to profit in that company is to get people to join the way you did.
The word recruiting is strategically not used, but that’s exactly what it is.
I’ve seen multiple leaders since I have left leave other companies for Mōdere and seemingly do okay. I hope this is true. It would be a shame to lose 6 figure incomes they’ve earned on the hype to watch it all go down the tubes.
As long as your President’s, Ruby, Elite, Black Diamond whatever with tons of team members who are willing to follow you anywhere … You’ll be fine.
But if Mōdere is your first rodeo, hang on tight because you certainly will be confused about everything from your pay plan to why your friends and family aren’t jumping on this once in a lifetime social sharing/shopping experience…
Modere looked good to me on the surface but when I found out it was just a Neways re-brand that pretty much said STAY FAR FAR AWAY!
What happened to the crooks otherwise known as Thomas and Leslie DeeAnn Mowers? Do they have anything to do with the new company? Are they still in prison?