A few weeks back a reader tried to argue pyramid schemes were legal in Singapore.

After getting rekt they scurried off and were never heard from again.

During our conversation though I acknowledged that Atomy USA had updated their compensation plan.

We last visited Atomy as “Atomy America” back in 2016. Today we revisit the company as Atomy USA for an updated review.

The Company

Atomy USA acknowledges Han-Gill Park is CEO of the company on their website by name only.

The lack of executive information provided hasn’t changed since 2016. This is a poor effort on Atomy USA’s part and inexcusable.

Atomy USA’s Products

Atomy USA maintains a shopping mall full of products.

As with executive information, nothing has changed since 2016;

Atomy do a terrible job of presenting their product range to the general public, with no product information or pricing provided on the Atomy America website.

Visitors to Atomy USA’s shopping mall are unable to see product descriptions or pricing unless they login.

This is anti-consumer and discourages retail sales.

Atomy USA’s Compensation Plan

Atomy USA’s commissions and bonuses are tied to rank.

Atomy USA Affiliate Ranks

There are five ranks within Atomy USA’s compensation plan.

Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

  • Sales Rep – accumulate 10,000 to 299,999 PV
  • Agent – accumulate 300,000 PV or 600,000 GV a month on your weaker binary team side
  • Special Agent – accumulate 700,000 PV or 1,400,000 GV a month on your weaker binary team side
  • Dealer – accumulate 1,500,000 PV or 3,000,000 GV a month on your weaker binary team side
  • Executive Distributor – accumulate 2,400,000 PV or 4,800,000 GV a month on your weaker binary team side (PV is counted if the weaker binary team side has more than 300,000 GV)
  • Sales Master – generate 2,500,000 GV on both sides of the binary team
  • Diamond Master – maintain Dealer rank and have two Sales Masters on both sides of the binary team
  • Sharon-Rose Master – maintain Executive Distributor rank qualification and have two Diamond Masters on both sides of the binary team
  • Star Master – maintain Executive Distributor rank qualification and have two Sharon-Rose Masters on both sides of the binary team
  • Royal Master – maintain Executive Distributor rank qualification and have two Star Masters on both sides of the binary team
  • Crown Master – maintain Executive Distributor rank qualification and have two Royal Masters on both sides of the binary team
  • Imperial Master – maintain Executive Distributor rank qualification and have two Crown Masters on both sides of the binary team

Note that from Star Master, previous rank qualification must be met and maintained for three consecutive months.

PV stands for Personal Volume and is sales volume generated by retail orders and an affiliate’s own purchases.

GV is PV generated by an affiliate and their downline.

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.

Residual Commissions

Atomy USA takes 44% of company-wide monthly sales volume and uses it calculate residual commissions for Sales Rep to Executive Distributor ranked affiliates.

Residual commissions are paid based on “score”:

  • Sales Reps with 300,000 PV receive 5 score
  • Agents with 300,000 PV or more receive 15 score
  • Special Agents receive 30 score
  • Dealers generating 1,500,000 PV a day in weaker binary team volume receive 60 score
  • Executive Distributors generating 2,400,000 to 5,999,999 PV a day in weaker binary team volume receive 90 score
  • Executive Distributors generating 6,000,000 to 19,999,999 PV a day in weaker binary team volume receive 150 score
  • Executive Distributors generating 20,000,000 to 49,999,999 PV a day in weaker binary team volume receive 250 score
  • Executive Distributors generating 50,000,000+ PV a day in weaker binary team volume receive 300 score

What “score” is or how it’s used to calculate residual commissions in not clarified.

Also note that as per Atomy USA’s rank qualification, Sales Reps with 300,000 PV are rank promoted to Agent.

Thus a Sales Rep having 300,000 PV and remaining a Sales Rep seems impossible.

Master’s Bonus

Atomy USA takes 20% of company-wide monthly sales volume and uses it to pay a Master’s Bonus to Sales Master and higher ranked affiliates.

  • Sales Masters receive an equal share in 10% of the Master’s Bonus pool
  • Diamond Masters receive an equal share in 5% of the Master’s Bonus pool
  • Sharon-Rose Masters receive an equal share in 2% of the Master’s Bonus pool
  • Star Masters receive an equal share in 1.2% of the Master’s Bonus pool
  • Royal Masters receive an equal share in 1% of the Master’s Bonus pool
  • Crown Masters receive an equal share in 0.5% of the Master’s Bonus pool
  • Imperial Masters receive an equal share in 0.3% of the Master’s Bonus pool

Rank Achievement Bonus

Atomy rewards affiliates for qualifying at Sales Master and higher with the following Rank Achievement Bonuses:

  • qualify at Sales Master and receive a set of Atomy products
  • qualify at Diamond Master and receive a “laptop computer” and set of Atomy products
  • qualify at Sharon-Rose Master and receive $2000 plus “2 travel tickets”
  • qualify at Star Master and receive $10,000 plus “4 travel tickets”
  • qualify at Royal Master and receive $50,000, $2000 a month “for sponsorship activities”, “car rental fee” and “4 travel tickets”
  • qualify at Crown Master and receive $300,000, $5000 a month “for sponsorship activities”, a “luxury car” and “4 travel tickets”
  • qualify at Imperial Master and receive $1,000,000, $10,000 a month “for sponsorship activities”, a “luxury car”, an “office with a personal assistant”, a driver and “4 travel tickets”

Note that “sponsorship activities” is not defined in Atomy USA’s compensation plan.

Joining Atomy USA

Atomy USA affiliate membership is free.

To qualify for commissions however an affiliate must accumulate 10,000 PV.

Conclusion

Atomy USA claims to have a “well-balanced, righteous compensation plan”.

The most significant change from 2016 is Atomy USA has gotten rid of the Matching Bonus. Apart from that, commissions and bonuses remain pretty much the same.

Also unchanged is Atomy USA’s terrible retail focus, which lends itself to being a pyramid scheme.

We covered this in our Atomy America review but in a nutshell, Atomy USA affiliates generate sales volume via self-purchasing.

They recruit others who do the same to meet sales volume targets. What little retail activity might be going in insignificant when compared to affiliate purchase spend.

The simple fix is to require 50% of qualification PV/GV to be retail volume (actual retail customer purchases). Nine years on though and Atomy hasn’t.

Perhaps the most conclusive evidence Atomy’s business model isn’t sustainable is the fact the company isn’t thriving in Korea, its home country.

As I write this Alexa ranks India, Malaysia and Taiwan as the top three sources of traffic to Atomy’s global website. Back in 2016 Atomy wasn’t operating in India or Malaysia.

They were in Singapore, Japan and Canada though, none of which seem to have taken off. Ditto the US.

Atomy’s global website is doing far better traffic-wise than its Korean website. Granted Atomy’s global website includes all non-Korean traffic but still, I’d expect Atomy to be far more established in Korea if the business model was sustainable. Instead it appears to be on the decline.

A banner on Atomy USA’s website broadcasts that as of October 16th, Atomy is now active in Colombia too.

Unable to survive once recruitment tanks, it appears Atomy is migrating from market to market to stay afloat.

Remember, Atomy first launched in Korea back in 2009. That Atomy has made no effort to encourage retail sales or provide an adequate retail customer experience since is telling.

Taiwan is the notable exception here but unless Atomy is running a completely different compensation plan there, it’s unlikely retail is the reason. I imagine recruitment churn just hasn’t caught up yet.

As a prospective Atomy USA affiliate, what you can do is ask your potential upline how much they’re purchasing a month. Then ask for evidence of sales to retail customers and compare the volume.

Take any hesitation or refusal to provide this information as confirmation that affiliate is running their Atomy USA business as a pyramid scheme.

I have no reason to believe Atomy is operating any differently in any of the other countries it’s active in either.

If you’re reading this in the future, check out how Colombia is doing on Alexa. Atomy has added quite a few countries since 2016, none of which have taken off (or if they did, they’ve since died down).