There is no information on The Sum Opportunity website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Sum Opportunity website domain (“thesumopp.com”) was registered on the 19th of November 2015, with “ML Andrews” listed as the owner. A PO Box address in the US state of Texas is also provided.

Further research reveals the entity “The On Your Side LLC” using the same address, with the domain registration for The On Your Side LLC website listing “Melody White” as the owner. The business On Your Side Technologies also uses the same address.

Whether ML Andrews and Melody White are the same person is unclear.

On Your Side LLC and On Your Side Technologies offer website and software development services, which aligns with The Sum Opportunity’s website footer message:

Designed by On Your Side Technologies | Powered by On Your Side Technologies

I wasn’t able to ascertain whether this is ML Andrews’ first MLM venture.

Read on for a full review of The Sum Opportunity MLM business.

The Sum Opportunity Product Line

The Sum Opportunity runs an online ecommerce site they call “Sum Shop”.

Sum Shop appears to be populated with third-party products of unknown origin, most of which are not branded.

A search of the SKU codes for various products in the Sum Store reveals the same products available cheaper from alternative sources.

Some randomly selected products are listed below:

  • 2pc Faux Book Safe Set for $46.95 (SKU GFBOOK2) – $16.36 from the Sears website, $32.99 from BizChair and $37.26 on eBay
  • 1.5qt 12-Element Saucepan with Cover for $149.95 (SKU KTSS22SAUCE) – $27 on Amazon and $35.99 on BizChair
  • Wyndham House Taupe Organic Bamboo King Size Sheet Set for $189.95 (SKU GFSHTBKT) – $79.65 from Dionom Gifts, $82.10 on eBay and $72.51 from Jillian Distributors

Sum Shop advertises a 25% discount off listed prices for retail customers, 30% for affiliates (no MLM commissions) and 40% for MLM affiliates.

The Sum Opportunity Compensation Plan

The Sum Opportunity pays affiliates when customers make orders through their replicated Sum Shop storefront.

Commissions are also paid on the recruitment of new affiliates through a unilevel compensation structure.

Sum Shop Commissions

The Sum Opportunity affiliates receive commissions on products retail customers and recruited affiliates purchase through their replicated Sum Shop storefront.

Sum Shop commissions are paid out 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):

unilevel-commission-structure

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.

The Sum Opportunity cap payable unilevel levels at seven, with how much of a commission paid out determined by what unilevel level a recruited affiliate is placed on:

  • level 1 (personally recruited affiliates – 5%
  • level 2 – 3%
  • level 3 – 2%
  • levels 4 to 7 – 1%

Recruitment Commissions

The Sum Opportunity affiliates are paid to recruit new affiliates, using the same unilevel team structure Sum Shop commissions are paid out through.

  • level 1 – $5 per recruited affiliate
  • level 2 – $2 per recruited affiliate
  • level 3 – $1 per recruited affiliate
  • levels 4 to 7 – 50 cents per recruited affiliate

Joining The Sum Opportunity

Affiliate membership with The Sum Opportunity is $200.

A $25 affiliate option exists, however $25 affiliates do not receive MLM commissions.

Conclusion

Here’s how The Sum Opportunity themselves describe their offered MLM opportunity:

How does it work?

Sign up to participate in the opportunity and pay the $200* membership fee. Enroll three members.

Help each of your 3 enrollees, enroll 3 more people.

Yes, The Sum Opportunity does have a retail storefront but, as evidenced by the universally higher prices, seems designed not to be taken seriously.

Other than a few affiliates, even with a 20% discount I’m not really sure why retail customers would shop there.

Powering The Sum Opportunity webstore is a WordPress-based ecommerce engine, with dropshipping agreements presumably powering the backend.

It’s not terribly difficult to put together – import some product lines en masse and off you go.

Getting back to The Sum Opportunity’s own description of their offering above, the core of the business appears to be affiliate recruitment.

You sign up for $200 and set about recruiting others who do the same. This alone drags The Sum Opportunity squarely into pyramid scheme territory.

And what’s with the $200 fee? The ecommerce storefront already exists, with a WordPress multi-user install cake to setup. Dropshipping agreements are already in place, so what exactly are affiliates being slugged so much for?

All in all with a prohibitive affiliate start-up cost and recruitment-orientated compensation plan, The Sum Opportunity leaves a lot to be desired.