Origin Unite Review: Micronutrient donations?

Origin Unite launched around late 2011 early 2012 and on their website name a “Fred P. Stege” as the company’s CEO.

The Origin Unite website domain (“originunite.com”) lists a Mark Moller-Bengtsson as the domain owner, with a supplied address in Tripiotus, Cyprus. No corporate address is provided on the Origin Unite website, so presumably Cyprus is where the business is located out of.

Bengtsson’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on the Origin Unite website, however his LinkedIn profile lists employment with “Origin Pure Corporation Limited” from June 2011 to December 2013.

Origin Pure appears to be a sister company to Origin Unite, offering different products. I’m not entirely sure whether it’s a completely separate opportunity, as the compensation plan link on the Origin Pure website was not working at the time of publication.

That said, further research reveals both companies come under the parent company “Origin”, which is claimed to be based out of Switzerland:

The Origin online store, functioning at the internet address originunite.com (hereinafter referred to as the “online store”), is operated by and belongs to the company Origin (hereinafter referred to as “Origin”), with its registered office in Switzerland, Grabenstrasse.

Origin is the sole distributor of Origin’s products and marketing ideas bearing the “Origin” trademark. Origin is the sole authorised online store which offers marketing materials with “Origin’s” trademarks. The trademarks of “Origin’s” include: Origin’s, Origin.

Clear as mud. Why the need for two separate companies I can’t say, but it might possibly be due to the donation-based nature of Origin Pure’s business model.

On the executive side of things, Fred P. Stege appears to have been primarily involved in MLM lead generation and marketing. One of the earliest examples I was able to find was a paper Stege wrote in 2002 called “How to write so people buy like crazy”. The paper was published by “Madison Touche Publishing”, which I believe is a company Stege owns.

Another publication Stege published under the Madison Touche Publishing banner is “How to recruit your way to millions”.

In the publication Stege, who claims he is a “top 1% money earner and master trainer”,  promises to reveal ‘doable down to Earth, no holds barred, raw, and real network marketing recruiting methods‘.

When you learn and apply the strategies revealed in these pages, recruiting will become easy, fun and enjoyable.

You will never again have to beg anyone to take a look at your MLM opportunity – instead, they will move heaven and Earth to meet with you.

As the title suggests, the paper focuses on the recruitment of new affiliates, and promises success if enough new people are recruited into a downline, irrespective of the MLM opportunity being pushed.

There is no mention of focusing on retail product sales anywhere in the book’s 133 pages.

Later opportunity launches of Stege’s include “MLM dynamite” (1998) and “Traffic Oasis” (2002). Both of these opportunities revolved around lead generation and are now defunct.

Read on for a full review of the Origin Unite MLM business opportunity.

The Origin Unite Product Line

Origin Unite’s flagship product are micronutrients branded under the name “6*59”:

Our 6*59™ micronutrients are developed and formulated in accordance with WHO, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Food Programme (WFP).

Just one unit of our 6*59™ provides a child with life changing and balanced micronutrients for one year.

Note that 6*59 is “not for sale”, with the product’s label reading:

For free distribution only. Not for resale, unless specifically authorized by Origin Unite.

I’m not sure what specific conditions Origin Unite set for the actual sale of 6*59, but there’s no mention of a retail price anywhere on the company website.

The Origin Unite Compensation Plan

The Origin Unite compensation plan revolves around affiliates paying money for 6*59 donations of micronutrients, and then recruiting affiliates who do the same.

Commissions are paid out on the recruitment of new Origin Unite affiliates, with residual commissions available via both binary and unilevel compensation structures.

Origin Unite Affiliate Membership Ranks

There are fourteen affiliate membership ranks within the Origin Unite compensation plan and, along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

• Affiliate – pay $99.93 in affiliate membership fees
• Ambassador Basic – pay $346.95 in affiliate membership fees
• Ambassador Advanced – pay $546.95 in affiliate membership fees
• Ambassador Pro12 – pay $1246.95 in affiliate membership fees
• Senior Ambassador – personally recruit at least two Ambassador or higher affiliates and maintain a monthly downline volume of 400 GV in your weaker binary team
• Marketing Associate – personally recruit at least two Ambassador or higher affiliates and maintain a monthly downline volume of 800 GV in your weaker binary team
• Senior Marketing Associate – personally recruit at least two Ambassador or higher affiliates and maintain a monthly downline volume of 1800 GV in your weaker binary team
• Supervisor – personally recruit at least four Ambassador or higher affiliates and maintain a monthly downline volume of 3500 GV in your weaker binary team
• Senior Supervisor – personally recruit at least four Ambassador or higher affiliates and maintain a monthly downline volume of 5000 GV in your weaker binary team
• Executive – personally recruit at least one Supervisor or higher ranked affiliate and at least six Ambassador or higher ranked affiliates (three on each side of the binary), and maintain a monthly downline volume of 7500 GV in your weaker binary team
• Senior Executive – personally recruit at least two Supervisor or higher ranked affiliates and at least six Ambassador or higher ranked affiliates (three on each side of the binary), and maintain a monthly downline volume of 12,500 GV in your weaker binary team
• Marketing Director – personally recruit at least three Supervisor or higher ranked affiliates and at least six Ambassador or higher ranked affiliates (three on each side of the binary), and maintain a monthly downline volume of 20,000 GV in your weaker binary team
• Senior Marketing Director – personally recruit at least four Supervisor or higher ranked affiliates and at least six Ambassador or higher ranked affiliates (three on each side of the binary), and maintain a monthly downline volume of 30,000 GV in your weaker binary team
• President’s Team – personally recruit at least five Supervisor or higher ranked affiliates and at least six Ambassador or higher ranked affiliates (three on each side of the binary), and maintain a monthly downline volume of 45,000 GV in your weaker binary team
• Senior President’s Team – personally recruit at least eight Supervisor or higher ranked affiliates and at least six Ambassador or higher ranked affiliates (three on each side of the binary), and maintain a monthly downline volume of 75,000 GV in your weaker binary team
• Chairman’s Team – personally recruit at least ten Supervisor or higher ranked affiliates and at least six Ambassador or higher ranked affiliates (three on each side of the binary), and maintain a monthly downline volume of 150,000 GV in your weaker binary team
• Executive Chairman’s Team – personally recruit at least fifteen Supervisor or higher ranked affiliates and at least six Ambassador or higher ranked affiliates (three on each side of the binary), and maintain a monthly downline volume of 250,000 GV in your weaker binary team

Recruitment Commissions

When an Origin Unite affiliate recruits a new affiliate into the company, they are paid a 25% commission on the money spent by the newly recruited affiliate.

Ambassador Recruitment Bonus

If a newly recruited affiliate is convinced to spend between $297 to $1197 on an “Ambassador Pack” and then convinces affiliates they recruit to do the same, the initial recruiting affiliate earns a “unilevel fast track bonus”.

This bonus is paid down up to ten levels of recruitment, with how many levels of recruitment an affiliate is paid on being determined by how much they paid in fees when they signed up:

• Ambassador Basic ($297) – $50 on level 1, $10 on levels 2 to 5 and $5 on level 6
• Ambassador Advanced ($497) – $100 on level 1, $15 on levels 2 to 5 and $10 on levels 6 to 8
• Ambassador Pro12 ($1197) – $100 on level 1, $15 on levels 2 to 5 and $10 on levels 6 to 10

Core Cost Commission

The Core Cost Commission description makes little sense in Origin Unite’s compensation plan:

A Product Core Cost is usually 10% of the retail price. This is the hard cost and has a part assigned for marketing. [In our case 25% divided in 12,5% CORE COST COMMISSIONS [CCC] and 12,5% CV].

Given that there’s no retail, I’m not sure if what the company is referring to. In any case, it appears the Core Cost Commission is simply another 12.5% bonus commission, payable on a newly recruited affiliate’s first payment to the company.

Unilevel Commissions

Residual monthly commissions in Origin Unite are paid out 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 directly under them (level 1):

If any of these personally recruited 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.

Unilevel commissions are paid out monthly as a percentage of the earnings of affiliates in a unilevel team, payable on up to ten levels of recruitment:

• Ambassador Pro12 – 5% on level 1 and 2.5% on levels 2 and 3
• Marketing Associate – 5% on level 1 and 2.5% on levels 2 to 6
• Supervisor – 5% on level 1, 2.5% on levels 2 to 6 and 1.5% on levels 7 to 10

Binary Commissions

Origin Unite also use a binary compensation structure as a second form of monthly residual commissions.

A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of two binary teams, left and right:

Positions in both binary teams are filled via direct or indirect recruitment, with each filled position representing a recruited downline affiliate.

Commissionable volume generated by affiliate deposits within the downline is tracked every month, with an affiliate earning 25% of the sales volume tracked on both binary teams.

Note that sales volume is counted at a rate of 2:1 on either side, meaning one side of the binary has to have double what is paid out on the other side.

Eg. If a left binary team generated 1000 CV and the right 400 CV, an affiliate would be paid on 400 CV with all volume flushed on the right and 800 CV flushed on the left, leaving 200 CV to carry over the next month.

Note that Origin Unite cap monthly binary earnings according to how much an affiliate pays in fees and/or their affiliate membership rank:

• Ambassador Basic – $175
• Ambassador Advanced – $200
• Ambassador Pro – $250
• Ambassador Pro12 – $275
• Senior Ambassador – $300
• Marketing Associate – $500
• Senior Marketing Associate – $1000
• Supervisor – $2000
• Senior Supervisor – $3000
• Executive – $5000
• Senior Executive – $10,000
• Marketing Director – $12,500
• Senior Marketing Director – $17,500
• President’s Team – $25,000
• Senior President’s Team – $50,000
• Chairman’s Team – $75,000
• Executive Chairman’s Team – $100,000

An additional volume commission can also be earnt on an affiliate’s stronger binary team, payable on up to 50% of the volume of the weaker team:

• Senior Ambassador – 1%
• Marketing Associate – 1.5%
• Supervisors – 2%
• Executives – 2.5%
• Marketing Directors – 3%

Binary Matching Bonus

A matching bonus is paid out on the binary earnings of recruited affiliates, payable down a maximum five levels of recruitment:

• Senior Ambassador – 10% on level 1 and 5% on level 2
• Supervisor – 10% on levels 1 and 2
• Executive – 10% on levels 1 and 2 and 5% on level 3
• President’s Team – 10% on levels 1 and 2 and 5% on levels 3 and 4
• Chairman’s Team – 10% on levels 1 and 2 and 5% on levels 3 to 5

Monthly Expense Allowance

The Monthly Expense Allowance is a monthly cash bonus paid out to Origin Unite affiliates, who have qualified at certain affiliate membership ranks:

• Supervisor – $150
• Senior Supervisor – $250
• Executive – $500
• Senior Executive – $750
• Marketing Director – $1000
• Senior Marketing Director – $1250
• President’s Team – $1500
• Senior President’s Team – $2000
• Chairman’s Team – $3000
• Executive Chairman’s Team – $5000

Rolex Watch Bonus

All Origin Unite affiliate’s who reach the rank of President’s Team receive a steel bracelet Rolex watch. Those who reach Chairman’s team receive a white or yellow gold bracelet Rolex watch.

Additional “annual trips” are also mentioned in the Origin Unite compensation plan material.

Joining Origin Unite

Affiliate membership to Origin Unite is available in four options:

• Affiliate – $49.98
• Ambassador Basic – $297
• Ambassador Advanced – $497
• Ambassador Pro12 – $1197

Note that the above are annual fees, with an additional $49.95 “software and administration fee” payable on all four membership options.

Conclusion

If I had to pick two rules that I’d hold at the forefront of importance when analyzing an MLM business model, they’d be

1. Don’t pay out on the recruitment of new affiliates and
2. You have to be selling a product or service to retail customers.

Origin Unite fail on both fronts.

With CEO Fred P. Stege writing publications titled “How to recruit your way to millions” though, I suppose it’s hardly surprising.

There’s an obvious “pay to play” element in the Origin Unite compensation plan, which best illustrated in the company’s compensation plan material.

I’ve included the affiliate costs at the bottom, with the chart in blue demonstrating that the more an affiliate pays, the more commissions (and greater commission percentages) they qualify for.

As for the whole charity thing, as I understand it affiliates don’t even receive the product they pay for. Origin Unite use the third-party organisation Americares to distribute the product as they see fit.

It’s so simple. You can order and donate units of ORIGIN’s 6*59 micronutrients (tablets), which will be shipped to children in need and you can create a network of ambassadors who do the same.

All an Origin Unite affiliates does is pony up their membership fees each year – and that’s a major red flag.

Statements from the Origin Unite compensation plan like this:

On every 6*59 product that gets donated by your personal donors you’ll earn a 25% fundraising commission of the total product value donated.

Can be reduced to “you get 25% of the money people you recruit dump into the company”. Despite the intent behind it, a donation is simply not a sale of a product or service, retail or otherwise. And with affiliates not even receiving anything in return for their money (other than commission qualification), you can’t even claim self-consumption.

Once Origin Unite affiliate membership fees are paid, all that’s left to do as an affiliate is to recruit new affiliates who also buy into the scheme.

And quite obviously the emphasis is to buy in at the higher levels, with Origin Unite themselves laying the pressure on thick:

You’re a go-getter, a maverick, a leader; you’re shrewd, engaging, and bright. We know that’s true because you’re already an Ambassador.

All that’s happening here is new Origin Unite affiliates are paying money, which is then paid out to those who did the recruiting. A fraction of all monies collected by the company is also then used to ship some micronutrient tablets to a third-party charity, who then distribute them (at their own cost).

Once new affiliates stop buying in, those already in Origin Unite will stop paying their annual fees (no fees getting paid means no commissions). As this trickles up the company eventually you’re looking at a company-wide collapse.

Still not convinced?

I’ll leave you then with a quote from the opening statement in Origin Unite’s compensation plan material:

ORIGIN|Unite has 4 levels of participation, and only you can decide which level suits you best. There’s hardly any risk involved.

The investments are low, and risk has been eliminated to a minimum.

The most important variable is you…

By “you” of course they mean how much money you choose to “invest” with the company.

Approach with extreme caution.