1044Pro Review: Forced purchase Karbolyn energy bars
1044Pro doesn’t disclose who owns or runs the company on its website.
1044Pro’s website domain (“1044pro.com”) was privately registered on July 29th, 2020.
Further research reveals Peter Jensen citing himself as 1044Pro’s founder on Instagram:
Why this information is not provided on 1044Pro’s website is unclear.
Peter Jensen first appeared on BehindMLM’s radar as founder of RE247365, a short-lived pyramid scheme launched in 2014.
On his LinkedIn profile, Jensen (right) cites himself as Master Distributor for Direct Cellars.
Direct Cellars was a wine themed MLM that collapsed in October 2019.
From October 2018 (not a typo), Jensen cites himself as a “spokesperson/consultant” for isXperia.
In April 2020 Jensen joined IdentityUSA. That doesn’t seem to have worked out, bringing us to 1044Pro’s launch on or around August 2020.
Read on for a full review of 1044Pro’s MLM business opportunity.
1044Pro’s Products
1044Pro markets a “performance enhancement lifestyle bar”.
The 1044PRO Bar is a one of a kind, first to market “all inclusive”, performance enhancing lifestyle bar with anti-aging, detox, immune booster and electrolytes with proven Karbolyn technology, invented for 1044PRO by Dr. Jeff Golini, Founder of All American Pharmaceuticals.
The key ingredient, Karbolyn, is a
fast-acting, long-lasting, high-performance compound (that) offers immediate results, giving simple carbohydrates the ability to enter the bloodstream quickly giving you instant energy!
1044Pro’s Karbolyn bar retails at $60 for a box of 15 bars.
1044Pro’s Compensation Plan
1044Pro affiliates are paid to sell the company’s Karbolyn energy bars to retail customers.
Each 1044Pro affiliate must also purchase a box of 15 bars a month, which generates commissions on recruited affiliates.
1044Pro Affiliate Ranks
There are three ranks within 1044Pro’s compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Pro1 – recruit and maintain three affiliates (at least one placed on either side of the binary team)
- Pro2 – maintain two recruited affiliates and two retail customers
- Pro3 – recruit and maintain four affiliates and four retail customers
Note that to count towards rank qualification, recruited affiliates and referred retail customers must be ordering at least one box of 1044Pro bars each month.
Retail Commissions
1044Pro affiliates earn $20 on orders of energy bars.
Repeat autoship orders are paid out at $15 for the life of the order (monthly).
Recruitment Commissions
1044Pro affiliates earn $50 plus a box of 15 energy bars per affiliate recruited.
Residual Commissions
1044Pro pays residual commissions via a binary compensation structure.
A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):
The first level of the binary team houses two positions. The second level of the binary team is generated by splitting these first two positions into another two positions each (4 positions).
Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.
Positions in the binary team are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of affiliates. Note there is no limit to how deep a binary team can grow.
Through retail sales and recruitment, sales volume (BV) is generated across the binary team as follows:
- 20 BV is generated on retail customer orders
- 150 BV is generated on recruitment of a new 1044Pro affiliate
Although not explicitly clarified, I believe 20 BV is also generated on mandatory monthly affiliate autoship orders.
After a residual commission pay-period has ended, 1044Pro tallies up new sales volume on both sides of the binary team.
Affiliates receive 10% to 20% of sales volume generated on their weaker binary team side.
- Pro1 ranked affiliates are paid 10%
- Pro2 ranked affiliates are paid 15%
- Pro3 ranked affiliates are paid 20%
1044Pro don’t disclose how long a pay-period is in their compensation documentation. Typically however a binary pay-period is either daily or weekly.
Joining 1044Pro
1044Pro affiliate membership is $349 and then $60 a month.
Conclusion
1044Pro is essentially a an autoship recruitment scheme with retail pseudo-compliance.
The first red flag is the mandatory monthly purchase requirement:
This is defacto mandatory autoship. And because the Pro1 rank has no retail customer requirements, means a 1044Pro affiliate can sign up, pay for autoship and simply get paid to recruit others who do the same.
Pro2 introduces a two retail customer requirement. This however is matched against an affiliate’s own autoship, and having to maintain two recruited autoship affiliates.
That’s three affiliate orders against two retail customers. Based on 1044Pro’s provided Income Disclosure Statement, we can assume most affiliates haven’t ranked Pro2.
This is based on the disclosure that 82% of affiliates from August 3rd 2020 to December 31 2020 earned an average of $7 a month.
Remember, retail commissions are paid out at $20 on an initial order and $15 each month residually. That’s on top of residual binary commissions.
Moving on to 1044Pro’s energy bar product, there’s a lot marketing tie-in with Pickleball on the company’s website.
If you’re not familiar with the sport, Pickleball is ‘a paddleball sport (similar to a racquet sport) that combines elements of badminton, table tennis, and tennis.’
I have nothing against Pickleball, it’s just odd for 1044Pro to focus on in its marketing without an explanation.
I thought maybe the company’s name had something to do with it, but
The Angel Number 1044 means that there is going to be a new beginning, a change in your life and you will have to work hard with determination to cope with it.
With the spiritual elements and your hard work combined with patience you can manifest what your heart desires!
That’s from 1044Pro’s website. The question “What does “PRO” mean?” is also asked, however the answer is copy and pasted from “What does “1044” mean?” (as quoted above).
So uh yeah, Pickleball hey.
Seeing as 1044Pro claims its Karbolyn bar was “invested for 1044Pro by Dr. Jeff Golini”, I went looking to see if anything similar was available.
Turns out Dr. Golini is also working with EFX Sports, who have their very own “Karbolyn Energy Bar”.
Same price, same nutritional information and there’s even a video featuring Dr. Golini further down the page.
The only obvious difference between EFX Sports’ bar and 1044Pro’s bar is 1044Pro’s wrapper has additional benefits, and is flavored peanut butter chocolate chip to EFX Sports’ peanut butter.
EFX Sports don’t market their bar as helping with energy, anti-aging, detox, immune boosting and electrolytes – but given the two bars have the same nutritional numbers, how different can they be?
EFX Sports’ owners claim they’ve been working with Dr. Golini since 2004.
Mind you there’s absolutely nothing wrong with two companies selling near-identical products, it’s just that EFX Sports’ bars cost $29.99 for a box of 12. 1044Pro are charging $60 for 15.
I’ll give Dr. Golini the benefit of the doubt and assume he’s not selling the same formula to multiple companies. But is whatever extra is in 1044Pro’s bars worth the extra $1.50 per bar (remembering there’s no difference in primary nutritional values)?
I’ll leave that to you to decide.
At the end of the day an MLM company primarily built around affiliate autoship will inevitably collapse. Not to mention functioning as a pyramid scheme is illegal in the US as per the FTC Act.
Approach with caution.
“Karbolyn” is a somewhat unfortunate choice of name for a supposedly healthy food product, considering “carbolin” is a wood preservative, a replacement for carbolineum and similar creosote-based wood preservatives, which have been banned or severely restricted in most of the civilized world.
Carbolin as a less toxic alternative is still allowed to be sold. Still, it’s not something you’d want to ingest.
My vote for the dumbest marketing drivel goes to:
Really? Because simple carbohydrates already enter the bloodstream quickly, and that’s the whole problem. The sudden change in blood sugar has harmful side-effects. Foods that do this are called called high-glycemic-index foods, and here’s what Harvard has to say about them:
[source: nolink//www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/choosing-good-carbs-with-the-glycemic-index ]
not a fan of mlm but on price points. you say one company sells for 25 and this one for 60. ok I think you have a problem with Levi jeans to they sell for 70 but others might be 10 or 200 or 500… FACT NOBODY MAKES PEOPLE BUY ANYTHING ITS UP TO YOU BUY IT OR NOT PERIOD.
BUT DONT PUT ONE COMPANY DOWN AND NOT OTHERS OOOOOO WAIT SORRY YOU ONLY PUT DOWN MLM COMPANIES FOR YOUR RATINGS ON INTERNET TO SELL OR PROMOTE RIGHT BUT IM ALSO OK WITH THAT…
REMEMBER CLEAN YOUR HOUSE BEFORE ASKING OTHERS TO CLEAN THIER HOUSE OK.
For someone who’s “not a fan of mlm”, you went from zero to butthurt real fast.
Your silly Levis analogy doesn’t hold up because manufacturing isn’t the same as a product with a key ingredient.
Karbolyn is Karbolyn. Consumers, your retail customers, aren’t going to pay $500 for a Karbolyn bar if the same or similar is available for $10.