OneLine Online Review: “Green share investment”
There is no information on the OneLine Online website indicating who owns or runs the business.
The OneLine Online website domain (“one-line-online.com”) was registered on the 14th of November 2013, listing a “Milton Banks” from Nassau in the Bahamas as the owner.
Banks’ name does not appear anywhere on the OneLine Online website and due to the generic nature of the name, I was unable to find any further information pertaining to Banks’ involvement in the MLM industry.
I note that OneLine Online affiliates are naming “David Parker, a Canadian Businessman who lives in Dubai” as OneLine Online’s CEO, but I haven’t been able to independently verify this information.
Once again, due to the suspiciously generic nature of the name David Parker, I was unable to find any further information.
Given the lack of information provided on OneLine Online’s website relating to who owns the business, I’m raising this as a major red flag (despite the CEO apparently being named by affiliates).
As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money.
The OneLine Online Product Line
There is no mention of retail products or services on the OneLine Online website.
The only hint of a product is the mention that participants of OneLine Online will be able to “own shares” in their “personal solar or wind power plant”.
The OneLine Online Compensation Plan
The OneLine Online compensation plan revolves around the “investment” in “green shares” by affiliates, and recruitment of new affiliate-investors.
Taken from the OneLine Online compensation plan:
In the One-Line-Online Marketing Network you are eligible for commissions either due to your purchase or your active qualification for various pools – this generates passive income from the weekly Pool Bonus commission payments.
Your Green Shares offer even more brilliant benefits. Depending on the chosen investment option, you generate passive income for more than 20 years whenever the wind blows and the sun shines.
Of course, this passive income is completely independent of your network marketing activities and successes.
Recruitment Commissions
OneLine Online offer affiliates recruitment commissions using a unilevel style 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 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.
Recruitment commissions in OneLine Online are paid out according to the size of an affiliate’s total unilevel team:
- 100 affiliates (max 50 in any one unilevel leg) – 500 EUR
- 250 affiliates (max 80 in any one unilevel leg) – 1500 EUR
- 500 affiliates (max 150 in any one unilevel leg) – 4000 EUR
- 750 affiliates (max 250 in any one unilevel leg) – 7000 EUR
- 1000 affiliates (max 250 in any one unilevel leg) – 10,000 EUR
- 2000 affiliates (max 500 in any one unilevel leg) – 20,000 EUR
- 5000 affiliates (max 1250 in any one unilevel leg) – 50,000 EUR
Note that “one unilevel leg” refers to one first level affiliate’s recruitment line (affiliates they recruit, then they recruit and so on).
OneLine Online do state the above commissions are “promotional” (paying out until April 2014), however due to the length of the “promotion” I’m including them in the regular compensation plan.
Straightline Investment
As the company’s name suggests, there is a single-line compensation component to the OneLine Online business opportunity.
To join this line, affiliates must buy a position at one of five different price-points:
- Member – 100 EUR
- Bronze – 200 EUR
- Silver – 500 EUR
- Gold – 1000 EUR
- Specialist – 2500 EUR
- Master – 5000 EUR
The way the straight-line works is that after an affiliate has bought their position, everyone who joins after them (regardless of whether or not they were directly recruited), is placed under them in a single line.
Affiliates are placed according to the order in which they pay their membership fee (one of the five options above).
OneLine Online take 40% of these affiliate membership fees and split them equally into 10 “pools” (4% of the 40% in each individual pool).
According to their affiliate membership level and how many affiliates they have personally recruited, OneLine Online affiliates are then able to earn a portion of each of these pools each week.
The first five pools can be qualified for either via recruitment or an affiliate buying their way in (a minimum 50 EUR spend within the company also applies after an affiliate’s first month):
- Pool 1 – purchase a Bronze or higher affiliate membership or recruit at least 2 affiliates
- Pool 2 – purchase a Silver or higher affiliate membership or recruit at least 4 affiliates
- Pool 3 – purchase a Gold or higher affiliate membership, or recruit at least 5 affiliates and have a total downline of 10
- Pool 4 – purchase a Specialist or higher affiliate membership, or recruit at least 7 affiliates and have a total downline of 50
- Pool 5 – purchase a Master affiliate membership, or recruit at least 10 affiliates and have a total downline of 200
- Pool 6 – recruit at least 15 affiliates and have a total downline of 1000
- Pool 7 – recruit at least 20 affiliates and have a total downline of 3000
- Pool 8 – recruit at least 20 affiliates and have a total downline of 5000
- Pool 9 – recruit at least 20 affiliates and have a total downline of 10,000
- Pool 10 – recruit at least 20 affiliates and have a total downline of 20,000
Note that a total downline refers to personally recruited affiliates and their personally recruited affiliates etc. This is independent of the company-wide straight-line, which is only used to determine funds to be paid out.
Also note that although there are ten global pools, affiliates only qualify for a share in the revenue generated below them in the straight-line.
Practically speaking, this equates to those at the top of the queue qualifying for a larger share in the funds being paid out. That said, OneLine Online does cap affiliate payouts in the upper pools (weekly) as follows:
- Pool 5 – 1500 EUR
- Pool 6 – 5000 EUR
- Pool 7 – 10,000 EUR
- Pool 8 – 20,000 EUR
- Pool 9 – 40,000 EUR
- Pool 10 – 75,000 EUR
Note that affiliates are able to purchase multiple straight-line positions, with the above caps applying to each individual position and not individual affiliates.
Matching Bonus
OneLine Online’s Matching Bonus pays out a 2% percentage on the pool earnings of an affiliate’s upline. Note however it uses the straight-line genealogy and not an affiliate’s personal unilevel team (ie. you are paid match on the earnings of the seven people who bought membership before you, irrespective of who recruited them).
How many levels of upline an affiliate qualifies for depends on how much they pay in membership fees:
- Bronze – 2% on level 1
- Silver – 2% on levels 1 and 2
- Gold – 2% on levels 1 to 3
- Specialist – 2% on levels 1 to 4
- Master – 2% on levels 1 to 7
Remember that the levels above refer to straight-line positions above an affiliate (those who joined/purchased positions before them), not below.
Rank Advancement Bonus
Upon hitting certain affiliate membership ranks, OneLine Online pays affiliates out a Rank Advancement Bonus:
- Specialist (same as pool 4 qualification) – 200 EUR
- Master (same as pool 5 qualification) – 1000 EUR
- Diamond (same as pool 6 qualification) – 3000 EUR
- 1* Diamond (same as pool 7 qualification) – 6000 EUR
- 2** Diamond (same as pool 8 qualification) – 10,000 EUR
- 3*** Diamond (same as pool 9 qualification) – 30,000 EUR
- Crown Diamond (same as pool 10 qualification) – 100,000 EUR
Note that for Specialist and Master, if an affiliate buys into these affiliate ranks (via membership) they don’t immediately qualify for the Rank Advancement Bonus at those levels.
An affiliate who buys into the Specialist of Master rank must meet the qualification requirements twice over before they can qualify for a Rank Achievement Bonus at those levels.
“In-Kind” Bonuses
Starting at the Diamond affiliate rank, the OneLine Online compensation plan mentions affiliate rewards by way of “invitation to global live-events”, including “VIP tickets”, hotel accommodation, airfare refunds and limousine rental.
Joining OneLine Online
Basic affiliate membership to OneLine Online is 30 EUR. If an affiliate wishes to participate in the pool areas of the compensation plan however, an additional position or positions must be bought:
- Member – 100 EUR
- Bronze – 200 EUR
- Silver – 500 EUR
- Gold – 1000 EUR
- Specialist – 2500 EUR
- Master – 5000 EUR
A 50 EUR minimum monthly spend is also required to participate in OneLine Online’s pool components of the compensation plan.
Conclusion
As part of OneLine Online affiliate marketing campaigns on social media, I came across the following information on OneLine Online’s purported management:
The CEO David Parker has not the big experiences in Network Marketing but he and his Team are Profis in the Green Energy/ Renewable Energy sector!! He has a few Companys in this sector and a very good and healthy financial background.
In combination with the Master Distributor and Global Marketing Consultant Stefan Morgenstern, who brings in his 21 years experience in Network Marketing, the Company is in good hands.
I haven’t done any research into Stefan Morgenstern (might explain the use of EUR instead of USD), but I did find the first paragraph of interest.
If David Parker is an actual person, the claim that he has no experience in network marketing but is a green energy bigshot is revealing. Revealing in that, as it stands, OneLine Online has nothing to do with green energy.
The “green shares” the company mentions on their website don’t currently exist:
At the moment we are in the pre-launch phase of our business.
Currently, a draft of international B2C standards is prepared by our legal advisors.
Under the excuse of a prelaunch, what does exist is an affiliate funded run-of-the-mill Ponzi investment scheme.
Affiliates join up for 30 EUR and then purchase 100 – 500 EUR investment positions, getting paid out on revenue generated by subsequently purchased positions. At the upper levels, how many affiliate investors have been recruited also comes into play.
Spend more (or recruit more), earn more. With those who get in early likely to earn the lion’s share of payouts. This is typical of all Ponzi schemes but emphasised in OneLine Online due to the straight-line system they use, which doesn’t divide global revenue coming in from positions above.
I’m not sure if the 50 EUR a month min spend is position based or affiliate account based, but either way it could over time add up to a decent amount of money.
“Over time” of course being subjective, as the scheme is far more likely to collapse under its own weight before 50 EUR per position amounts to anything significant.
With 100% of the pool revenue coming in from affiliates, OneLine Online are selling unregistered securities by way of straight-line positions. The promise of “green shares” (that will pay out an advertised “passive” ROI) is an even more obvious unregistered security sale.
Nobody is investing in either green shares or straight-line positions without the expectation of a >100% ROI, meaning that pretty much all of the revenue flowing into the company is motivated by affiliate investment.
With nothing being sold to non-participants (retail customers), OneLine Online boils down to yet another Ponzi investment scheme trying to hide behind “green technology” (a few of these popped up in 2013).
7 out of the 8 provided “information” slides on OneLine Online’s website pertain to the business opportunity, and this is what OneLine Online affiliates are going to market.
That business opportunity?
Invest in straight-line positions and get paid a share of the revenue of generated by the sale of subsequent positions.
Once affiliates stop buying said positions? Kaboom.
I can tell you this is ALREADY unregistered securities, as this is the EXACT sort of stuff that prompted the creation of the Howey Test.
SEC sued W.J. Howey company in 1946 when Howey advertised “own a piece of an orange plantation and get the profits”, except it’s all managed by Howey. The only thing owner does is pay Howey and expect to be paid back with interest. It’s an investment.
OneLine here basically substituted orange plantation with “solar panels and windmills”.
have you done any update investigations into one-line-green line. they day they are launching in April and I have several friends who are caught up in this. I am afraid it is a Ponzi scheme and not an investment.
If the business model hasn’t changed, the information in the review is as current as it was when I wrote it.
From my point of view, it’s more like a pyramid scheme than a Ponzi scheme. People can BUY themselves into higher positions up to a certain level, but the ROI will be negative for anyone using that method if they don’t recruit.
The plan will basically redistribute money from passive investors to recruiters. Passive investors will only earn peanuts.
A Ponzi scheme should normally promise a positive ROI, but I didn’t find any promises like that. But I haven’t identified the “green shares” either, only the parts mentioned in the review.
One of the characteristics for Ponzi schemes is that they pay out ROI based on the AMOUNT personally invested / reinvested (passive investment style). Pyramid schemes pay out ROI based on the POSITIONS bought after your own, e.g. how many new investors you’re able to recruit into your own downline.
One-line Online only had vague promises of a passive investment. Nearly all identifiable payouts are more closely related to recruitment than to personal investments / reinvestments.
I was able to find SOME information about the investment component, in the MMG forum / team building section.
Selling “shares” or “units” to people in a downline is typical for some European style pyramid schemes. As long as the investment component only is vaguely mentioned, then it has probably been designed to MISLEAD passive investors (make them BELIEVE it’s a passive investment).