Seacret Direct Review 3.0: Retail finally a focus over autoship
Earlier this week a reader wrote in requesting an update on our Seacret Direct review.
Having last reviewed the opportunity in 2018, I was disappointed to see Seacret Direct do not provide their compensation plan on their website.
This made ascertaining whether an updated review was warranted difficult.
Luckily the reader was able to come through with a copy of Seacret Direct’s current compensation plan, with which I was able to confirm significant changes.
Today we revisit Seacret Direct for a third time with an updated review.
The Company
Back in 2012 Seacret credited Izhak Ben Shabat (right) as the company’s CEO. Shabat’s older brother, Moty Ben, was cited as a Managing Partner.
Today there’s no mention of Moty Ben on Seacret’s website.
Izhak Shabat is credited as Seacret’s founder, CEO and President. Dani Solomon is also featured as a co-founder.
We briefly covered Shabat’s history in our original Seacret Direct review.
Seacret Direct’s Products
Seacret Direct’s products are still rooted in Dead Sea salts and minerals.
With the acquisition of SevenPoint2 in 2017, nutritional products were added to Seacret’s range..
Seacret Direct separates its range into skincare, bath & body and nutrition.
Unfortunately there are too many products to go over here individually. By my count Seacret Direct has just over seventy individual products.
For readers wanting more information though, Seacret Direct provides a full product catalog with retail pricing on their website.
Seacret Direct’s Compensation Plan
Seacret Direct’s compensation plan has a moderately strong focus on retail sales. Residual commissions are paid out through a binary team.
There are also several rank-based bonuses also available.
Seacret Direct Affiliate Ranks
There are fourteen affiliate ranks within Seacret Direct’s compensation plan.
Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:
- Agent – sign up as a Seacret Direct affiliate
- Active Agent – qualify for MLM commissions (see below)
- Executive – generate and maintain 1000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month, or generate 2000 PV over the same period (max 1000 PV can be an affiliate’s own purchases)
- Bronze – generate and maintain 2000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month, or generate 4000 PV over the same period (max 2000 PV can be an affiliate’s own purchases)
- Royale – generate and maintain 5000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month
- Silver – generate and maintain 8000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month
- Gold – generate and maintain 14,000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month and have a Bronze or higher ranked affiliate on both sides of the binary team
- Platinum – generate and maintain 20,000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month and maintain a Bronze or higher ranked affiliate on both sides of the binary team
- Ruby – generate and maintain 40,000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month and have a Silver or higher ranked affiliate on both sides of the binary team
- Diamond – generate and maintain 80,000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month and have a Gold or higher ranked affiliate on both sides of the binary team
- Blue Diamond – generate and maintain 200,000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month and have a Platinum or higher ranked affiliate on both sides of the binary team
- Red Diamond – generate and maintain 400,000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month and have a Ruby or higher ranked affiliate on both sides of the binary team
- Crown – generate and maintain 800,000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month and have a Diamond or higher ranked affiliate on both sides of the binary team
- Crown Royale – generate and maintain 2,000,000 GV on both the left and right sides of the binary team each month and have a Blue Diamond or higher ranked affiliate on both sides of the binary team
PV stands for “Personal Volume and is sales volume generated by retail orders an an affiliate’s own purchases.
GV stands for “Group Volume” and is PV generated by an affiliate and their downline.
MLM Commission Qualification
To qualify for MLM commissions, a Seacret Direct affiliate must generate and maintain 100 PV over a rolling four-week period.
Retail Commissions
Seacret Direct pays commissions on the sale of products to retail customers.
Retail commissions are paid as the difference between the wholesale and retail price of products ordered.
Seacret Direct’s compensation material states this is 20% (36% if resold at a higher price).
A Seacret Direct affiliate is able to build on this 20% base retail commission by meeting monthly PV criteria:
- generate 800 to 1199 PV in a month and receive a 3% retail commission bonus
- generate 1200 to 1599 PV in a month and receive a 5% retail commission bonus
- generate 1600 to 1999 PV in a month and receive a 7% retail commission bonus
- generate 2000 PV or more in a month and receive a 10% retail commission bonus
Product credit is also available.
Customer Group Commissions
Customer Group Commissions is a generational bonus paid on generated retail sales volume.
Customer Group Commissions are paid through 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.
Within this unilevel compensation structure generations are defined in each unilevel leg.
A generation is defined when a Royale Agent or higher ranked affiliate is found in a unilevel team leg.
Customer Group Commissions are paid on retail volume generated by personally recruited affiliates, as well as the first generation of each unilevel team leg.
- Royales earn a 7% personal group commission
- Silvers earn an 8% personal group commission and 3% on the first generation
- Golds earn a 9% personal group commission and 4% on the first generation
- Platinums and higher earn a 10% personal group commission and 5% on the first generation
Residual Commissions
Seacret 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 calculated based on “cycles”.
A cycle occurs when 300 GV on one side of the binary team is matched with 600 GV on the other side.
Which side has 300 GV and which side has 600 GV doesn’t matter.
For each cycle generated during a weekly residual commission run, a $30 commission is paid out.
Bronze and higher ranked affiliates earn an increased $45 residual commission rate per cycle generated.
All Seacret Direct affiliates are capped at earning residual commissions on up to 555 cycles a week.
Once paid out on, volume is flushed. Any leftover unmatched volume carries over (provided MLM commission qualification is maintained).
Check Match Bonus
Bronze and higher Seacret Direct affiliates qualify for a Check Match Bonus on downline Bronze and higher ranked affiliates.
The Check Match Bonus is paid out using the same unilevel team structure as Customer Group Commissions (see above).
- Bronzes and Royales earn a 20% match on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates)
- Silvers and Gold earn a 20% match on level 1 and 10% on level 2
- Platinums earn a 20% match on level 1 and 10% on levels 2 and 3
- Rubys earn a 20% match on level 1 and 10% on levels 2 and 3
- Diamonds and higher earn a 20% match on level 1 and 10% on levels 2 to 4
Rank Achievement Bonus
Seacret Direct rewards affiliates for qualifying at Executive and higher with the following Rank Achievement Bonuses:
- qualify at Executive and receive $100 in product credit
- qualify at Bronze and receive a “tablet” or $250
- qualify at Royale and receive $500
- qualify at Silver and receive $1000
- qualify at Gold and receive $1500
- qualify at Platinum and receive $5000
- qualify at Ruby and receive $7000
- qualify at Diamond and receive $10,000
- qualify at Blue Diamond and receive $40,000
- qualify at Red Diamond and receive $100,000
- qualify at Crown and receive $250,000
- qualify at Crown Royale and receive $1,000,000
Note that from Platinum Rank Achievement bonuses are paid out in four monthly installments.
Drive Your Dream Bonus
The Drive Your Dream Bonus is a four-week cash bonus paid to Royale and higher ranked affiliates.
- Royales receive $500
- Silvers receive $600
- Golds receive $800
- Platinums receive $1200
- Rubys receive $1400
- Diamonds receive $1600
- Blue Diamonds receive $2000
- Red Diamond receive $3000
- Crowns receive $4000
- Crown Royales receive $6000
Note that rank must be maintained for the full 4-week qualification period prior to each payment.
Kickstart Bonuses
New Seacret Direct affiliates are able to earn Kickstart Bonuses if they meet the following criteria within their first seven weeks:
- Mission 1 – generate 500 PV (max 250 PV in affiliate purchases) and receive an “Agent laptop case”
- Mission 2 – generate an additional 300 PV (max total 400 PV in affiliate purchases) and receive either a first year Seacret Direct conference registration or “rose gold back trio”
- Mission 3 – generate an additional 400 PV (max total 600 PV in affiliate purchases) and receive $250 in product credit
There is also a direct upline component to Kickstart Bonuses:
- receive $50 for every personally recruited affiliate who completes Mission 1
- receive $30 for every personally recruited affiliate who completes Mission 2
- receive $40 for every personally recruited affiliate who completes Mission 3
Royale and higher ranked affiliates can also receive “Senior Mentor” bonuses:
- be the first qualified upline Royale or higher to an affiliate who completes Mission 1 and receive $25
- be the first qualified upline Royale or higher to an affiliate who completes Mission 2 and receive $15
- be the first qualified upline Royale or higher to an affiliate who completes Mission 3 and receive $40
Annual Trips
Seacret Direct’s compensation material mentions “annual trips, conferences (and) leadership events”.
Specifics, including qualification criteria, are not provided.
Joining Seacret Direct
Basic Seacret Direct affiliate membership is $49 annually.
New Seacret Direct affiliates can also sign up with an Agent Product Pack:
- WOW Pack – $200
- Wellness Pack – $300
- Foundational Skincare Pack – $375
- Spa Pack – $450
- Age Defying Skincare Pack – $550
- Have It All Pack – $1850
Each pack comes with an assortment of Seacret Direct products and a limited number of retail customer discount incentives.
Conclusion
Eight years on from our original Seacret Direct review, and I’m satisfied the autoship recruitment focus of the compensation plan has been addressed.
In our second Seacret Direct review, published mid 2018, I felt that autoship recruitment was merely buried.
In 2020 we don’t have retail qualifiers but there are plenty of incentives to drive retail sales.
The question is whether that has had any impact on the sales culture within Seacret Direct.
To be clear, it’s still possible for a Seacret Direct affiliate to sign up, get on autoship, focus on recruiting others who do the same and max out the compensation plan.
This is an ongoing problem the company needs to address.
Seacret Direct sort of addressed it in 2018 by implementing a 51% PV retail volume requirement shortly after I published my second review.
That requirement appears to have been since abolished, which isn’t a good sign.
Seacret Direct retail customers are given plenty of loyalty incentives, including tiered credit, a retail referral commission, discounts and free shipping.
One thing I wasn’t keen on however was the “Influencer” customer tier.
Influencers are customers who host Seacret events for Agents with the incentive of free product credit with no purchase necessary.
Influencers are eligible for rewards when an event has a minimum of three buying guests and are rewarded four different ways.
None of those rewards are commission based.
My problem with Seacret Direct’s Influencer customer tier is that if you’re going to the effort of setting up parties and finding potential customers, you’re pretty much running the business.
What saddo is putting in that much work just so someone else can rock up with a few samples and collect all the money?
Like anyone there’s brands out there that I adore, but you’d never catch me putting in the time to set up promotional events just for some discounted and/or free product credits.
I’m also wary of Seacret Direct’s opening MLM opportunity pitch:
Seacret provides Agents with the right tools, training, and support to earn an additional income.
All you have to do is simply share our innovative products with your friends, family, and colleagues.
It’s a bit simplistic and dilutes what’s involved in running an MLM business. That’s an incredibly warm market and if you’re not careful you’ll soon find yourself placed in the “avoid” basket by family and friends. Not somewhere you want to be.
There’s also only so much you can milk out of family and friends if you go the party event route.
As for colleagues, yeah don’t even bother unless you want a quick trip to HR.
By all means start with a small group of family and friends (more to test your marketing skills than anything), but the sooner you move to generating retail customers outside your warm market the better.
One retail incentive that Seacret Direct keep behind a paywall is the Gratitude Offers.
First time customer Gratitude Offers in Agent Product Packs are special offers exclusively for Agents to offer to their first-time customers.
In turn, customers receive 20% off VIP price of Life by Seacret Collections and 50% off VIP price of one Collection Bonus item, plus have the one-time option to lock in this great value b selecting (autoship).
I have no problem with this incentive but surely there’s a better way to implement it rather than behind a $200 (four offers) to $1850 (30 offers) paywall?
Why not require 60% of required MLM commission qualification be required retail volume, and add Gratitude Offers to the retail commission bonus rate criteria?
Like I said, I applaud Seacret Direct for dropping mandatory autoship and implementing retail incentives.
The opportunity is in a much better state then when I visited twice previously, but there’s still room for improvement.
An area I noted in our 2018 review that seems to have been improved is the undercutting of Seacret products (affiliates offloading product far cheaper than the set retail price).
Whether this is an in-house effort or a result of shifting away from forced autoship (inventory loading) I can’t say.
With the 51% retail PV requirement gone, the onus falls on prospective Seacret Direct affiliates to establish how their potential upline is running their business.
The easiest way to do this is by taking the 100 PV a month requirement, going back three months and asking to see retail volume results.
If there isn’t at least a 50/50 split (50 PV retail minimum), or worse your potential upline refuses to show you their retail volume (assume there is none in this instance), then that’s a step back from Seacret Direct as it was in 2018.
Given the offered retail incentives I’m willing to give Seacret Direct the benefit of the doubt that the majority of affiliates aren’t just 100 PV autoship qualifying and recruiting others who do the same – but I can’t ignore the possibility.
Hit up your upline for those retail volume figures and proceed accordingly. My previous sentiments regarding evaluating Seacret Direct’s products as a retail customer first for a few months also still apply.
Thankfully with all the added retail incentives this is now even easier to do before you make the decision to sign up as an affiliate.
Good luck!
I am a bit perplexed as to why you are giving these MLM companies “the benefit of the doubt”? Especially when stated:
I’ll note that they don’t even need to be on “auto-ship”. They just need to order 100 PV a month to qualify.
Did I miss something? Is there a requirement as to how much of that 100 PV needs to be from retail vs. personal orders? Because I’m not seeing it.
Back in 2018 after four weeks I think it was (it’s in the review) affiliates had to maintain 51% retail volume. That isn’t in the June 2020 comp plan documentation I cited for this review.
In an effort to be as objective as I can, I start researching each review with a neutral slate. With respect to PV requirements, if I see retail incentives but no retail volume requirement I’ll point that out.
The incentives demonstrates an effort to encourage retail and, in the absence of any other glaring red flags, will give an MLM company the benefit of the doubt.
Here Seacret did introduce retail volume requirements (I don’t know when they got rid of them), so at this point in time I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that retail is happening.
Going into a review assuming every MLM company is generating 0% retail off the bat isn’t objective.
As a fall back I’ll always recommend a prospective affiliate query their potential upline about their own retail spread. If it’s not there run. That affiliate is running their business as a pyramid scheme.
Beyond that it’s up to the FTC to investigate the less obvious examples of pyramid schemes. If I don’t see recruitment prioritized over retail and there’s no explicit retail volume qualifiers, I’ll continue to give MLM companies the benefit of the doubt.
This is on a case by case basis, as again I approach every review on here from an individual perspective (with perhaps the exception of the MLM crypto niche, fuck those guys).
For you the blog owner, I can appreciate your need to remain objective. This is one reason I post in the comments section. It’s not to question your review, but rather highlight the flaws inherent to MLM that you avoid….. for you to remain objective. With that in mind,
If I own Seacret, which do I prefer?
An affiliate who has limited access to retail customers? (no storefronts etc.) And, if product is actually resold, the affiliate will personally pocket the markup. This doesn’t benefit my company profits. All this while also realizing that affiliate retail customers stops my chain of growth;
Or, do I prefer the affiliate recruit a direct order from my company while committing to 100PV a month because of a dangled opportunity, and with the potential of exponential growth of them recruiting other 100PV orders who also recruit others?
When it behooves the company to encourage endless-chain recruiting attached to product orders from affiliates, is it really fair to put the blame on the affiliate? Plus, this is the “training” the company usually focuses on. And, team “leaders” are always the ones paraded across the stage.
Probably not being shut down by the FTC :D.