Update 23rd August 2020 – BehindMLM published an updated (third) review of Seacret Direct on August 23rd, 2020.

The review below will be left up for reference but is outdated. /end update

 

Marketing skincare products containing minerals from the Dead Sea, Seacret Direct was launched in mid 2011 and operate out of Arizona in the US.

Heading up Seacret Direct is CEO Izhak Ben Shabat (right).

In a Seacret Direct marketing call on YouTube, Shabat claims to have been in the Israeli military for seven years before coming to the US.

Shabat claims he works with his older brother Moty Ben Shabat, credited as a “managing partner” of Seacret Direct.

After trying to build an ice-cream truck empire and selling helicopter toys, the Shabats started to sell skin care products via kiosks.

This kiosk business eventually spawned the launch of Seacret in 2005, with the company going MLM in mid 2011.

Read on for a full review of the Seacret Direct MLM business opportunity.

The Seacret Direct Product Line

The Dead Sea provides some of the most concentrated, natural mineral salts and mineral-rich mud in the world. These minerals are essential to the health of your skin, yet so many people go their entire lives without experiencing their benefits.

We have taken these minerals and infused them into every Seacret product.

As above, Seacret market skin care products based on salts and minerals obtained from the Dead Sea.

There are three main categories of products within the Seacret opportunity:

  • Skin Care – ranging in price from $14.95 for mineral soap to $49.95 for body butter, nail care and a salt & oil scrub
  • Facial Care – ranging in price from $49.95 for peeling milk and refining toner to $249.95 for a magnetic mud mask
  • “Age Defying” – ranging from $249.95 for moisturizer, “age defying serum”, eye serum, eye cream and a scrubbing mask, to $279.95 for a moisture mask

The Seacret Direct Compensation Plan

The Seacret Direct compensation plan is heavily grounded in autoship orders but also offers affiliates a mixture of retail commissions, residual binary team commissions and performance bonuses.

Seacret Direct Membership Ranks

There are several components of the Seacret Direct compensation plan that are determined by an affiliate’s membership rank.

There are ten membership levels within Seacret Direct and, along with their qualification requirements, they are as follows:

  • Star – recruit 2 new Seacret Direct affiliates
  • Star Builder – have two Star affiliates in your personally recruited downline
  • Bronze – either at least 25 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams or 4,375 BV and 8 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams
  • Silver – either at least 100 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams or 17,500 BV and 30 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams
  • Gold – either at least 250 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams or 43,750 BV and 75 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams
  • Ruby – either at least 1000 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams or 175,000 BV and 300 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams
  • Emerald – either at least 2500 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams or 525,000 BV and 750 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams
  • Diamond – either at least 5000 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams or 1,222,000 BV and 1500 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams
  • Double Diamond – either at least 10,000 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams or 2,800,000 BV and 3000 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams
  • Crown – either at least 25,000 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams or 8,75,000 BV and 7,500 autoship orders on both your left and right binary teams

Commissions Qualification

Upon joining Seacret Direct, an affiliate must generate 35 Personal Volume in product sales every four weeks, or 200 Group Volume (GV) every four weeks if they wish to qualify for commissions.

Retail Commissions

Retail commissions in Seacret Direct are defined as the difference between the wholesale cost of their products and the retail markup (30-60%).

Seacret Direct affiliates can earn retail commissions either by purchasing products from the company themselves and reselling them at retail, or via a company-supplied replicated online storefront (paid direct to the company).

Preferred Customer Commissions

Preferred customers in Seacret Direct are customers who have agreed to have at least $50 worth of product shipped to them each month.

Affiliates who sign up preferred customers are paid out 20% (Star and Star Builder membership levels) to 25% (Bronze membership or higher) of the total autoship BV generated.

Residual Commissions

Residual commissions in Seacret Direct are paid out using a binary compensation structure. A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of the structure, with two legs branching out underneath them.

These two legs form the start of a left and right team, with the sales volume of the weaker team (the team that generates less BV than the other) being what Seacret Direct affiliates are paid out on.

Volume between the weaker and stronger team is matched using a ratio of 1/3:2/3, with a minimum of 500 BV required. This means that for every 500 BV counted 1000 BV must also exist in the stronger leg.

Any leftover volume is carried over to the next pay period.

How much of a percentage of the weaker team’s BV paid out is dependent on a Seacret Direct affiliate’s membership rank:

  • Star and Star Builder members are paid 10%
  • Bronze members and higher are paid 15%

Residual earnings using the binary compensation structure are capped at $25,000 a week. In order to qualify for residual commissions, a Seacret Direct affiliate must recruit at least two new affiliates (to start their left and right binary teams).

Check Match Bonus

Seacret Direct affiliates ranked Bronze or above are able to receive a Check Match Bonus on the binary team earnings of Bronze members or above in their downline.

The Check Match Bonus is paid out down four levels of recruitment (referred to as a “generation”), with how many levels and how much of a percentage in earnings earnt being dependent on an affiliate’s own membership rank:

  • Bronze – 20% on one generation
  • Silver – 20% on generation 1 and 10% on generation 2
  • Gold – 20% on generation 1 and 10% on generations 2 and 3
  • Ruby and higher – 20% on generation 1 and 10% on generations 2 to 4

Rank Achievement Bonus

The Seacret Direct Rank Achievement Bonus is paid out to affiliates upon earning various membership levels:

  • Star – $15 ($10 paid to upline)
  • Star Builder – $50 ($25 paid to upline)
  • Bronze – $125
  • Silver – $1000
  • Gold – $3000
  • Ruby – $7000
  • Emerald – $40,000
  • Diamond – $200,000
  • Double Diamond – $250,000
  • Crown – $1,000,000

Car Bonus

The Seacret Direct Car Bonus is a monthly bonus that kicks in at the Silver membership level, with affiliates able to put the bonus towards a new car purchase or an existing car loan.

How much of a bonus is paid out to an affiliate each month is dependent on their Seacret Direct membership rank:

  • Silver and Gold – $600
  • Ruby – $800
  • Emerald – $1000
  • Diamond – $1500
  • Double Diamond – $2000
  • Crown – $3000

Lifestyle Bonus

Whereas the Car Bonus must be put towards a car purchase, the Seacret Direct Lifestyle Bonus is a straight monthly cash bonus paid out to affiliates, starting at the Gold membership level.

How much of a Lifestyle Bonus an affiliate earns depends on their Seacret Direct Membership rank:

  • Gold – $600
  • Ruby – $800
  • Emerald – $1000
  • Diamond – $1500
  • Double Diamond – $2000
  • Crown – $3000

Joining Seacret Direct

Membership to Seacret Direct is $49, payable annually.

Conclusion

With a strong and diverse product offering there’s no doubt that retail sales exist within Seacret Direct, however it’s somewhat disappointing to see such a heavy reliance on autoship seeded within the compensation plan.

It’s only possible to advance within the first two levels (which are essentially stepping-stones to kick off an affiliate’s binary teams), without autoship, after which the requirements become quite steep.

Traditionally a company will offer a sales volume route to negate an autoship advancement option. However in Seacret Direct there’s still a requirement to get customers or recruited affiliates on autoship (there’s no difference between the two membership qualification wise), with the BV option (albeit less than the solely autoship requirements).

Personally I’m not a fan of forced autoship programs and whilst of course nobody has to sign up for it in Seacret Direct, such a heavy reliance on it in the compensation plan I believe will translate into Seacret Direct affiliate’s marketing efforts focusing on this side of sales.

Again, nothing wrong with that as it’s still potential retail sales but there is an inherent possibility that some affiliates might find it easier to market the income opportunity and advance on the autoship orders of the affiliates they recruit, thus bypassing the retail side of things altogether.

Personally I feel Seacret Direct could benefit highly by introducing a strictly Business Volume qualification for their membership ranks, without the autoship numbers.

Normally autoship requirements in membership levels would be a minor issue, but with only partial retail sales commissions available to those who don’t fulfill autoship requirements, and full percentage retail commissions pegged to membership ranks that require autoship order numbers, the requirements are of far more relevance here.

Thus in evaluating Seacret Direct as a business opportunity I’d be paying strong attention to where the autoship orders are coming from within your potential upline’s sales volume.

If the majority of their required autoship orders are coming from affiliates, this is a strong indication that the income opportunity is what’s being marketed rather than the Seacret Direct products themselves.

Given the strong and somewhat diverse product line up, I’d of course be surprised if this was the case, however due to the structure of the compensation plan it’s something that definitely needs to be taken into consideration when evaluating the business opportunity.

Other than that, it also wouldn’t hurt signing up as a preferred customer first and evaluating the products for at least a month.

Personal testimony and demonstrable results are not only a great marketing tool but will only help to strengthen a Seacret Direct affiliate’s focus and passion in the business itself.

Good luck!

 

Update 6th June 2018 – As requested by a reader (comment #24 below), BehindMLM published an updated Seacret Direct review in June 2018.

 

Update 23rd August 2020 – BehindMLM published an updated (third) review of Seacret Direct in August 2020.