Collect Direct Review: Collectibles & autoship recruitment
Collect Direct’s website is currently locked behind a password:
Seeing as Collect Direct is signing up distributors…
…I’m not sure why this is the case.
Collect Direct’s official FaceBook page suggests the company is in prelaunch:
Note this profile isn’t linked from Collect Direct’s website. Either way, if Collect Direct is in prelaunch then this isn’t at all communicated from their website.
Through a bit of research we come across Don and Nancy Carson, Collect Direct’s Master Distributors:
As per the March 22nd YouTube video above, the Carsons name Dave Jordan as Collect Direct’s owner and CEO.
Dave Jordan (right) is best known in the MLM industry as the founder and CEO of Valentus. The Carsons are former Valentus top earners.
Valentus launched in 2014 sold a range of “functional beverages”. On the MLM side of things Valentus ran an autoship recruitment focused compensation plan.
Over the course of business, Valentus was constantly dogged by controversy;
- in 2017 Valentus was at the center of a counterclaim alleging raiding, extortion and RICO violations;
- in 2017 Valentus’ then coffee supplier filed suit alleging they were owed $3.18 million;
- in 2017 the UK cracked down on the sale of Valentus products nationally;
- in 2019 Valentus’ coffee tested positive for amphetamines;
- in 2019 New Zealand authorities warned the public not to consume Valentus coffee;
- in 2019 the FDA issued Alternative Laboratories, a supplier of Valentus’ supplements, a warning notice; and
- in 2019 Singapore issued a health warning for Valentus’ coffee after it detected phenethylamine (PEA)
- in 2020 the FDA informed Dave Jordan that it classified certain Valentus’ products as “drugs under section 201(g)(1)(B) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act”
In March 2023 Dave Jordan announced he had sold Valentus off to Paul Pearson.
Under Pearson’s ownership, Valentus continues to operate as Valentus Global.
Collect Direct’s website domain registration was last updated on February 24th, 2023 – before Validus’ sale was made public.
Read on for a full review of Collect Direct’s MLM opportunity.
Collect Direct’s Products
Collect Direct markets a range of collectibles owned by Dave Jordan.
Collectible categories featured in Collect Direct’s marketing include basketball, baseball, hockey, Nascar racing, football, comic books and toys.
If you want physical examples of the collectibles Collect Direct will offer, Don Carson’s uploaded a “warehouse tour” to YouTube on July 1st.
Pricing isn’t available due to the nature of collectibles, but as I understand it retail customers will be able to browse collectibles for sale son Collect Direct’s website.
Collect Direct’s Compensation Plan
While retail commissions are available, Collect Direct’s compensation plan focuses on recruiting affiliates on a monthly autoship order.
Collect Direct Affiliate Ranks
There are fourteen affiliate ranks within Collect Direct’s compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Starter – sign up as a Collect Direct affiliate with a Starter Product Pack, maintain a 10 PV a month or higher autoship and generate and maintain 80 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 10 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Collector – sign up as a Collect Direct affiliate with a Collector Product Pack, maintain a 40 PV a month or higher autoship and generate and maintain 500 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 20 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Influencer – sign up as a Collect Direct affiliate with an Influencer Product Pack, maintain a 40 PV a month or higher autoship and generate and maintain 1000 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 40 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Team Builder – sign up as a Collect Direct affiliate with a Team Builder Product Pack, maintain an 80 PV a month or higher autoship and generate and maintain 2000 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 150 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Home Run Hitter – sign up as a Collect Direct affiliate with a Home Run Hitter Product Pack, maintain an 80 PV a month or higher autoship and generate and maintain 5000 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 300 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Super Star Success – sign up as a Collect Direct affiliate with a Super Star Success Product Pack, maintain an 80 PV a month or higher autoship and generate and maintain 7500 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 750 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Diamond – maintain an 80 PV a month or higher autoship, recruit two affiliates who each have a standing $119.98 or higher autoship order, and generate and maintain 15,000 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 1500 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Double Diamond – maintain an 80 PV a month or higher autoship order, maintain two recruited affiliates on autoship and generate and maintain 30,000 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 3000 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Triple Diamond – maintain an 80 PV a month or higher autoship order, maintain two recruited affiliates on autoship and generate and maintain 100,000 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 10,000 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Blue Diamond – maintain an 80 PV a month or higher autoship order, maintain two recruited affiliates on autoship and generate and maintain 250,000 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 25,000 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Royal Diamond – maintain an 80 PV a month or higher autoship order, maintain two recruited affiliates on autoship and generate and maintain 500,000 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 50,000 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Black Diamond – maintain an 80 PV a month or higher autoship order, maintain two recruited affiliates on autoship and generate and maintain 750,000 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 75,000 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Crown Diamond – maintain an 80 PV a month or higher autoship order, maintain two recruited affiliates on autoship and generate and maintain 1,000,000 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 100,000 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
- Crown Ambassador – maintain an 80 PV a month or higher autoship order, maintain two recruited affiliates on autoship and generate and maintain 1,500,000 GV a month in weaker binary team side volume and 150,000 GV a month in each unilevel team leg
PV stands for “Personal Volume”. PV is sales volume generated by retail customer orders and an affiliate’s own orders.
GV stands for “Group Volume”. GV is PV generated by an affiliate and their downline.
MLM Commission Qualification
New Collect Direct affiliates (Starter to Super Star Success) qualify for MLM commissions by referring a retail customer or recruiting an affiliate on both sides of their binary team.
From Diamond rank, this becomes two recruited affiliates on a minimum $119.98 monthly autoship order (one on both sides of the binary team).
Retail Commissions
Collect Direct affiliates earn retail commissions on the sale of collectibles to retail customers.
Retail commissions are paid as the difference between the wholesale and retail cost of collectibles ordered.
Recruitment Commissions
Collect Direct affiliates are paid to recruit new affiliates.
Recruitment commission amounts are determined by how much a newly recruited Collect Direct affiliate spends when they sign up:
- recruit a Starter tier affiliate and receive $5
- recruit a Collector tier affiliate and receive $10
- recruit an Influencer tier affiliate and receive $20
- recruit a Home Run Hitter tier affiliate and receive $50
- recruit a Super Star Collector tier affiliate and receive $100
Residual Recruitment Commissions
Collect Direct pays residual recruitment commissions via a unilevel 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, 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 down a theoretical infinite number of levels.
Collect Direct caps payable unilevel team levels at seven.
Residual recruitment commissions are paid as a percentage of recruited affiliate order volume:
- level 1 (personally recruited affiliates) – 5%
- level 2 – 4%
- levels 3 to 5 – 3%
- level 6 – 2%
- level 7 – 1%
Residual Commissions
Collect Direct 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.
Residual commissions are tracked based on a 200 BV to 100 BV ratio. That is 200 BV on one side of the binary team matched with 100 BV on the other side. This matching is referred to as a “cycle”.
At the end of each week Collect Direct tallies up how many cycles an affiliate generated across their binary team.
Up to $20 is paid out per cycle generated, capped at $100,000:
- Starter tier affiliates earn $5 per cycle capped at 5 cycles a week ($25)
- Collector tier affiliates earn $10 per cycle capped at 10 cycles a week ($100)
- Influencer tier affiliates earn $10 per cycle capped at 20 cycles a week ($200)
- Team Builder tier affiliates earn $20 per cycle capped at 20 cycles a week ($400)
- Home Run Hitter tier affiliates earn $20 per cycle capped at 30 cycles a week ($600)
- Super Star Success tier affiliates earn $20 per cycle capped at 50 cycles a week ($1000)
- Diamond ranked affiliates earn $20 per cycle capped at 100 cycles a week ($2000)
- Double Diamond ranked affiliates earn $20 per cycle capped at 200 cycles a week ($4000)
- Triple Diamond ranked affiliates earn $20 per cycle capped at 400 cycles a week ($8000)
- Blue Diamond ranked affiliates earn $20 per cycle capped at 800 cycles a week ($16,000)
- Royal Diamond ranked affiliates earn $20 per cycle capped at 1600 cycles a week ($32,000)
- Black Diamond ranked affiliates earn $20 per cycle capped at 2400 cycles a week ($48,000)
- Crown Diamond ranked affiliates earn $20 per cycle capped at 3500 cycles a week ($70,000)
- Crown Ambassador ranked affiliates earn $20 per cycle capped at 5000 cycles a week ($100,000)
Matching Bonus
Collect Direct pays a Matching Bonus on residual commissions earned by downline affiliates.
The Matching Bonus is paid via the same unilevel team used to pay residual recruitment commissions (see “Residual Recruitment Commissions” above), this time capped at seven levels.
- Starter tier affiliates earn a 10% match on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates)
- Collector tier affiliates earn a 15% match on level 1
- Influencer tier affiliates earn a 15% match on level 1 and 10% on level 2
- Team Builder tier affiliates earn a 15% match on level 1, 10% on level 2 and 5% on level 3
- Home Run Hitter tier affiliates earn a 20% match on level 1 and 10% on levels 2 and 3
- Super Star Success tier affiliates earn a 20% match on level 1, 15% on level 2, 10% on level 3 and 3% on level 4
- Diamond to Triple Diamond ranked affiliates earn a 20% match on level 1, 15% on level 2, 10% on level 3, 5% on level 4 and 3% on level 5
- Blue Diamond to Black Diamond ranked affiliates earn a 20% match on level 1, 15% on level 2, 10% on level 3, 5% on level 4 and 3% on levels 5 and 6
- Crown Diamond and Crown Ambassador ranked affiliates earn a 20% match on level 1, 15% on level 2, 10% on level 3, 5% on level 4, 3% on levels 5 and 6 and 2% on level 7
Global Team Building Bonus
Collect Direct sets aside 1% of company-wide affiliate membership fees, which it used to fund the Global Team Building Bonus.
Collect Direct affiliates qualify for a share in the Global Team Building Bonus by generating 4 points in a month.
Points are generated by recruiting Collect Direct affiliates who spend $549.98 or $995.98 when they sign up:
- recruit a Home Run Hitter affiliate = 1 point
- recruit a Super Star Success affiliate = 2 points
There is no limit to how many shares a Collect Direct affiliate can generate in a month. Note however that shares reset each month.
Joining Collect Direct
Collect Direct affiliate membership is $9.98 annually, plus the purchase of a Product Pack:
- Starter – $29.98
- Collector – $59.98
- Influencer – $119.98
- Team Builder – $279.98
- Home Run Hitter – $549.98
- Super Star Success – $995.98
Based on selected category options…
…random collectibles are bundled with each of Collect Direct’s Product Packs.
Collect Direct Conclusion
Back when I had a bit more free time to explore the theory behind MLM (no pun intended), I wrote an article titled “Why combining MLM and collectibles will never work“.
The article digs into why collectibles are collectibles and how, because these reasons are subjective, combining collectibles and MLM is problematic.
With Collect Direct we have Dave Jordan sitting on a warehouse (warehouses?) of collectible goods he’s evidently sourced from suppliers.
Apparently there’s pallets of each collectible, which will be sold through Collect Direct affiliates and retail customers.
As to the collectibles themselves, nostalgia plays heavy into Collect Direct’s marketing. Nothing the company sells appears to be a recent collectible, it’s all stuff from decades ago.
That’s fine but we again run into people collecting specific things, not collecting for the sake of collecting – at least not in a business sense, and we can’t forget Collect Direct is first and foremost an MLM opportunity.
BehindMLM first came across Dave Jordan combing collectibles and MLM back in 2011.
At the time Jordan, a LiveSmart 360 distributor, announced he was going to “give away hundreds of thousands of dollars in incentives”.
To receive a collectible, all one had to do was watch a LiveSmart 360 business presentation or listening to a call. In other words, Jordan gave away collectibles as a marketing incentive.
This tied into Jordan running Hawks Hobby Heaven, a defunct collectible retailer.
For the past two decades, Dave has been collecting millions of dollars worth of sports collectibles and hobby accessories.
His store Hawks Hobby Heaven sells to hobby and sports enthusiasts alike.
I can’t say for sure but I suspect Collect Direct inventory is perhaps old Hawks Hobby Heaven stock, combined with newer stock sourced elsewhere.
As per Don Carson;
Our concept is for you all to take advantage of what we’re doing, by using Dave’s inventory.
He owns all of it, but you get to share it around the globe.
This raises the question of, if the collectibles were in fact worth selling, why doesn’t Jordan just sell them? Having gotten rid of Valentus he’s certainly got the free time to do so.
And I think this ties back into collectibles and MLM just not being a good fit.
Take your average retail customer for example. From what I’ve seen Jordan’s collectibles are the sort of thing you’d find on eBay and FaceBook Marketplace.
Collect Direct isn’t going to compete head on but, if the inventory is well-categorized, could carve out a sustainable market.
That of course comes down to what they have in stock though. There’s a difference between selling desirable collectibles and collectibles that have been sitting around in boxes for decades because nobody wants them.
In Collect Direct marketing videos, Carson represented that retail customers would be able to search Collect Direct’s website for specific collectibles.
That’d certainly be a way to drive business but realistically, whim-purchases aren’t going to generate repeat business.
This brings me to Collect Direct’s Product Packs. I get the sense these are available to retail customers, even though that doesn’t make any sense.
Why would a retail customer buy a collectible bundle of random products? Even if they choose a theme, there’s still far too broad a scope across any of the categories.
Let’s say, for example, I like comic books. That doesn’t mean I’m going to find any comic book from decades ago of interest, let alone desirable.
Unless I specifically wanted a random assortment of themed collectibles, It just doesn’t make sense for me to purchase a Collect Direct Product Pack as a retail customer.
For affiliates it also doesn’t make any sense, absent the attached MLM opportunity. And here’s where we run into the same compliance issues Valentus had.
Collect Direct’s MLM opportunity is built around autoship recruitment. That is you sign up as an affiliate, commit to autoship and primarily get paid recruiting others who do the same.
Affiliates buying random collectibles each month makes as little sense as retail customers doing it, so why?
Because it generates sales volume, which your upline gets paid on. Your recruits in turn generate sales volume which you get paid on.
And that’s pretty much it. Dave Jordan gets to clear out old collectible stock he can’t otherwise move, and it’s win-win for everyone.
…well, except the people on the bottom of what is now a pyramid scheme.
I’ve stated it but I’ll state it again for clarity: retail is possible in Collect Direct. The problem is it’s pseudo-compliance.
Collect Direct’s Product Packs drive recruitment sales volume, which the company pays out on both directly and residually.
Autoship requirements are danced around, which them first being presented as “optional” (click to enlarge):
Here’s the fineprint though from the very same Collect Direct compensation documentation:
Diamond qualification = 80 Personal Business Volume, with your two personal IRs one on each leg qualifying each month with a $119.98 order, 15,000+ BV in both legs of which 10% of the BV in each leg needs to be connected Enrollment Tree Business Volume.
Autoship requirements, whether enforced or defacto, as well as Collect Direct Product Packs being tied to affiliate rank, is pay to play.
And pay to play is one of the foundations of an MLM pyramid scheme.
If you want to further evaluate Collect Direct on a case-by-case basis, ask your potential upline whether they’re on autoship.
If they are, ask them how many retail autoship customers they’ve got. You want this to at least equal the autoship volume of themselves and any affiliates they’ve recruited.
Take anyone being cagey about disclosing this information as running a pyramid scheme.
If your potential upline isn’t on autoship (this is not possible from Diamond as per Collect Direct’s own marketing material), ask them how they’re making up their monthly sales volume.
If it’s through retail sales volume, probe them on what type of retail customer is spending money each month on random collectibles. I’m genuinely curious.
Lest you transfer a bunch of unsellable collectibles from Dave Jordan’s (warehouse-sized) garage to your own garage, really think about what you’re signing up for with Collect Direct.
I would like more info as it becomes available..
Lot of the information presented is OLD info. There are no longer PRODUCT PACKS to purchase, just “suggested prices” for samples.
Get in where you fit in, you can advance in Ranks through Group Volume. This gives everyone a level playing field.
The Unilevel is comprised of member AND retail sales. They are also tracked in 2 different categories and paid on.
There are NO wholesale prices. When you sell to a Retail Customer, you get credited a Retail Reward in BV (Business Volume) based upon your rank.
The danced around is the option to earn the required qualifying BV by Retails sales BV volume from your Retail website.
Collect Direct is going LIVE August 1st for present enrollers to make their purchases.
The Retail website to retail to customers will be available after initial tests have been run and everything (commissions tracked and paid along with smooth product delivery and tracking), maybe by Sept. 1st or sooner.
A video at youtu.be/vO_iLJJMfaI goes over latest changes and announcement of going LIVE.
Pseudo-compliance isn’t danced around, it’s ignored. If the overall thrust of a compensation plan is autoship recruitment, adding options to that doesn’t change what it is.
Recruitment now, retail “maybe by Spt. 1st”? Yeah I think it’s obvious where the focus remains.
Otherwise good to see Collect Direct have responded to this review and made changes (this review only went live a week ago). I’ll probably revisit in a bit to compare.
When you REALLY look and listen carefully, the thrust of Collect Direct comp plan is NOT autoship. There are 2 options. One is for a member who wants to make an order each month, to fulfill their qualifying requirements, by purchasing and holding items in a “time capsule”.
The other option is a member can qualify their BV (Business Volume) by retailing products ordered off your website from multiple sales. *** Notice RETAIL SALES ***
I have a screenshot of the 2 options uploaded to my domain at quitbeingbroke.com/images/option_to_autoship.jpg
NO, it’s where YOUR focus remains. I did say “after initial tests have been run and everything (commissions tracked and paid along with smooth product delivery and tracking).
Us “early bird” members are the “testers” of the system. I said the above before tonights webinar (spam removed) was done and is also mentioned why starting from timemark 17:00. You should watch to understand how fair and compliant the comp plan is.
Quit the yOu JuSt DoN’t UnDeRsTaNd! bullshit already.
Except that it is, and I provided concrete evidence of this in the review.
E.g.
Providing pseudo-compliance alternatives that aren’t even in the compensation plan doesn’t change this.
I can appreciate Collect Direct has rushed to add retail qualification alternatives to its compensation plan after this review was published, but there was nothing when I began researching them last month.
And even if we factor in the retail options, for Collector/Influencer it’s clear that retail selling is penalized ($59.98 a month autoship vs. a higher retail BV equivalent).
An MLM company penalizing retail order qualification is proof autoship recruitment is the focus.
Calling affiliates recruited into Collect Direct “early bird testers” doesn’t change what they are.
The fact remains Collect Direct has recruitment open now, with retail an afterthought coming in a few months. Again, this further emphasizes the recruitment autoship focus of Collect Direct’s compensation plan.
If there’s no retail, what are you getting paid on till “maybe Spt. 1st”?
Finally, if you want to point out specific compensation examples, that’s fine. Do not post marketing spam here.
OMG!!! Unless you can watch the video’s and be on the ZOOM calls every WED nights to learn and understand the concept as the company is beginning this FANTASTIC Venture how can you slander or make false accusations about a man who is GIVING otha’s the opportunity to become financially and emotionally successful.
Shame on you for posting FALSE and NOT up to date data on a Company like Collect Direct before the retail site has even launched!!!
And past business’ that Dave Jordan may have been involved w/have nothing to do w/what is happening in Collect Direct. And if he sold some companies it’s obvious that there were ethical & moral reasons he didn’t want to be involved w/a company that was not compliant!
This article needs to be revised and you need to apologize to Dave Jordan!!
Settle down love. Let’s put the hysterics back in the bottle and have a rational discussion hey.
This review is based on Collect Direct’s business model and compensation plan. Feel free to point out what’s false.
Note that if anything has changed (in response to this review), that doesn’t make this date-stamped review false. See comment #3.
Well… I’ve been tryin’ to post my rational rebuttal… but I guess the site doesn’t like what I have to say as it won’t post. What’s up w/that?
I skimmed a few sentences, saw something about oompa loompas and hit spam. Spam filter picked up any further unhinged derail nonsense.
This isn’t Facebook. Bottle your hysteria or spam-bin.
Boy, am I kind of confused here, but I think I can clear up the issues…first off… There is no such thing as an auto ship with collect direct. They are not forcing anyone to purchase anything.
How do I know this? I am a superstar collector, and I have not bought a thing from collect direct. I paid my $9.98 yearly internet access fee and that was it.
The key to success in the company is not being a collector yourself, it is finding collectors out there and simply showing them a website that they can log on to and find it’s what they’re looking for, Rather than what you’re trying to sell them.
We don’t do lotions and potions or make everybody try our shampoo. Because your hair will smell like guacamole. We don’t carry twenty producomma which are actually five different products in four different sizes.
We have thousands and thousands of collectible items. Sitting on a website for anyone to choose from.
The compensation seems relatively fair, the only thing I’m not happy with is the fact that when you get up to the two million dollar items the compensation percentage you earn actually goes down.
I will never buy any merchandise from collect direct. I have owned four different antique shops in my life. What type of collectible could I possibly need that I don’t already have… But I will offer both the inventory and the opportunity to others who might be interested.