SpinQast Review: First truly legal MLM streaming opp?
There is no information on the SpinQast website indicating who owns or runs the business.
The SpinQast website domain (“spinqast.com”) was registered on the 7th of March 2015, with Paul Nash cited as the owner. An address in the US state of Connecticut is also provided.
Nash is also identified as “the leader” of the company on conference calls currently linked to from the SpinQast website.
Paul Nash (right) first popped up BehindMLM’s radar as a part-owner in the failed GoFunRewards Ponzi scheme.
Launched in early 2013, GoFunRewards sought to capitalize on the regulatory shut down of Zeek Rewards before it.
The scheme saw affiliates invest in “Lifestyle Dollars” on the promise of a ROI, paid out of newly invested funds.
A few months after launch GoFunRewards pulled the plug on their scheme, with legal advice pertaining to regulatory concerns cited as the reason behind the decision.
Six months or so later Nash went on to launch SpinDing, which saw affiliates invest up to $1890 on the promise of advertised ROIs.
As with GoFunRewards, SpinDing ROIs were funded by subsequent affiliate investment. Despite this, Nash publicly stated he “hoped” SpinDing wasn’t a Ponzi scheme.
Built on a matrix cycler business model, SpinDing flopped shortly after launch in January 2014.
A relaunch was publicized in July of 2014, but doesn’t seem to have gone anywhere. The SpinDing website went offline in October of 2014, but has since been brought back online.
Last month SpingDing popped up as a partner of Tellus Mall, but whether or not Nash is directly involved is unclear.
In any event, Nash seems to have moved on and has just recently announced SpinQast.
Read on for a full review of the SpinQast MLM business opportunity.
The SpinQast Product Line
SpinQast turns any TV into a smart TV, bringing the power of the Internet to your big screen. It streams thousands of channels, has premium services like NetFlix and Hulu, and includes full web browsing capability and games all for a fraction of the cost of cable!
SpinQast market a “streaming TV box” they claim offers ‘tens of thousands of LEGAL shows and episodes over broadband‘.
Each link, episode, show or live stream are provided legally by the content owner so there are no worries!
For those of a technical mind, the specifications of the SpinQast TV box are as follows:
Quad Core PC, KitKat, 4XHD, 4xUSB, SDCard, 2GB Ram, 8GB Rom WiFi, Wired Ethernet, Supports external hard drives, Google Remote TV etc.
SpinQast claim the boxes are
Programmed to receive thousands of channels, shows, episodes, videos and live streams.
Premium channels (Netflix, Hulu etc) are available.
Retail pricing of the SpinQast TV box is $99, with an ongoing $10 a month subscription fee.
The SpinQast Compensation Plan
The SpinQast compensation plan sees affiliates sign up and sell SpinQast TV Boxes to retail customers. Affiliates can also qualify for commissions by purchasing the box themselves.
Retail Commissions
Each sale of a SpinQast TV Box to a retail customer generates a commission of $37.50.
Matrix Commissions
Monthly subscription fees charges SpinQast TV Box subscribers are commissionable, with commissions paid out via a 3×10 matrix.
An affiliate must first qualify for matrix commissions by personally recruiting and maintaining at least two new affiliates.
A 3×10 matrix places an affiliate at the top of the matrix, with three positions directly under them (level 1):
These first three positions each branch out into another three positions, making up the second level of the matrix. Second level positions branch out into another three positions each again, making up the third level.
This process continues down for a total of ten levels and 88,572 positions.
Filled positions in the matrix represent retail customers and recruited affiliates paying a monthly SpinQast TV box subscription, with commissions paid out as a percentage of monthly subscription fees paid.
How much of a commission is paid out is determined by what level of the matrix a position is filled, with commissions paid out as follows:
- level 1 – $3.13 per subscription fee paid
- level 2 – $3 per subscription fee paid
- level 3 – $1.60 per subscription fee paid
- levels 4 to 10 – 80 cents per subscription fee paid
Note that commissions paid through levels 9 and 10 of the matrix must be separately qualified for as per the following criteria:
- level 9 – personally recruit and maintain at least 3 affiliates
- level 10 – personally recruit and maintain at least 4 affiliates
A 50% matching bonus is also paid on the matrix earnings of every personally recruited affiliate.
Cycle Commissions
SpinQast operate a straight-line cycler, with the company claiming that ‘every sale of the company cycles 10 members!‘
The basic premise of SpinQast’s straight-line queue is that positions are generated whenever an affiliate signs up.
The SpinQast compensation plan advises that this queue will only have 2000 positions (filled by the first 2000 SpinQast affiliates to sign up).
Then, everytime a SpinQast TV Box is sold to a retail customer or affiliate, ten positions in the queue receive a commission.
Note that for each position in the queue to be paid a commission, two hundred SpinQast TV boxes must be sold.
Commissions paid out are $1 per “cycle”, with the queue able to cycle multiple times a day depending on how many SpinQast TV boxes are sold.
For hundred SpinQast TV box sales, for example, would result in each of the 2000 affiliates receiving two cycle commissions ($2).
Infinity Bonus
The Infinity Bonus is made up of “$1 from all recurring revenue in the company”. The only recurring revenue I was able to identify are monthly affiliate fees and SpinQast TV box subscriptions.
The bonus is paid to Manager or higher ranked affiliates, with the first Manager or higher ranked affiliate upline from the position who made a subscription payment receiving a commission.
How much of a commission is paid out depends on an SpinQast affiliate’s rank:
- Manager (make 8 SpinQast TV box retail sales) – 25% commission payout
- Director (make 12 SpinQast TV box retail sales) – 50% commission payout
- Vice-President (make 16 SpinQast TV box retail sales) – 75% commission payout
- President (make 20 SpinQast TV box retail sales) – 100% commission payout
The percentages pertain to each $1 generated. In the event a Manager is the first qualified affiliate found in the upline, they are paid 25 cents.
The system them continues to search the upline for another Director or higher ranked affiliate. Once found, they are paid either 25% as a Directo, 50% as a Vice-President or the remaining 75% as a President.
In this manner 100% of the $1 commission generated is paid out, with President ranked affiliates collecting the full $1 commission if no Director or higher ranked affiliates exist between them and the position the $1 commission was generated from.
Joining SpinQast
Affiliate membership with SpinQast is $59 a year.
An additional $39 a month fee is payable for a replicated sales website and “tools”.
Conclusion
When I saw the ongoing $10 a month subscription fee, my first though was that SpinQast had signed up with some sort of premium streaming service.
Upon going through the compensation plan though, it’s evident that there’s not nearly enough overhead to cover such a subscription, with most of the subscription paid out in commissions.
Between the matrix commissions, matching bonus, cycle commissions and Infinity Bonus, there isn’t much left of the $10 a month paid.
That begs the question, what differentiates SpinQast from other questionable MLM opportunities offering “OMG FREE CABLE TV AND ILLEGAL MOVIE DOWNLOADS!” type stream boxes?
To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure.
Here’s how SpinQast describe their TV box product on their website;
SpinQast offers a truly legal alternative to cable
SpinQast offers programs and streams that are currently being published to the internet at large by broadcast networks and program owners such as NBC, CBS, ABC, TBS, USA etc.
These streams are available RIGHT NOW on their websites for you to watch online.
You just need to watch ads (very much the same as your basic cable service.) But up till now, it’s been almost impossible to watch them on your big screen.
Our competition offers streaming TV boxes that hook-up to all kinds of content, like non-US based broadcasts, illegal copies of movies (torrents, DVD rips etc), illegal (non-licensed) music downloads and other copyright infringed content.
The SpinQast platform serves-up streams that are just like your basic cable, except that there are also many on-demand episodes, live streams and video clips of your favorite shows.
If it’s entertaining and legal, it’s easy to find on SpinQast.
Two stream examples are provided on the SpinQast website, an episode of a TV series called Chicago Fire and CBS News.
The tv show streams from The Platform (“theplatform.com”) and CBS News directly from their own website.
As I’m understanding it, all SpinQast TV boxes do is provide content one can readily access on a computer, and display it on TV.
No different to opening up a website stream on your desktop/laptop and then watching it on your TV through HDMI out.
NetFlix and Hulu premium subscriptions are mentioned, presumably with these costing extra (you’re paying these providers directly for access to their content).
On the surface this all appears to be above-board. If the content is available directly via officially licensed online distribution channels, then all SpinQast TV boxes are doing is accessing that content.
There are literally THOUSANDS of other streams available, all high quality and programs that you watch every day.
It’s LEGAL and FUN and MUCH CHEAPER THAN CABLE! And there are a myriad of premium channels for movies and first run content available too!
Advertising is mentioned, which is presumably what generates revenue for the content copyright holder.
What I want to know then is what is the SpinQast monthly $10 subscription for?
If it’s just to generate commission payments, with nothing being provided to those paying it, then potentially we’ve got a problem.
Fees charged for the sake of generating commissions is a no-no in MLM. You have to be selling something otherwise you’re just ripping people off.
Think about it, why would a retail customer pay $10 a month just to line the pocket of the affiliate who sold them their SpinQast TV box?
As to SpinQast’s compensation plan, if retail sales of the SpinQast TV boxes are being made then it actually looks pretty solid.
Potential red-flags exist if affiliates are the only ones purchasing the boxes, as this also qualifies them for commissions.
A SpinQast affiliate signing up, buying a box and then recruiting others who do the same can very quickly turn into ongoing chain-recruitment.
The 2000 position cycler is also a bit of a worry, effectively paying out early adopters at the expense of those who join later.
Would you want to sign up as a SpinQast affiliate knowing that those who joined before you have access to an additional commission stream you cannot qualify for?
Didn’t think so, and this is why I’m entirely not a fan of exclusive commissions. It creates an unfair playing field within the affiliate-base and should be frowned upon.
All in all, it’s great to finally see someone attempt a legitimate streaming box MLM opportunity. Paul Nash’s Ponzi past aside, SpinQast appears to be a pretty decent effort.
Whether it takes off though remains to be seen…
an hdmi wire or chromecast which do pretty much what spincast does, costs half of what spincast costs. so, is spincast adding some extra conveniences for which they are charging double?
the 10$ monthly payments are inexcusable. if nothing is being subscribed to, how can you mislead people by calling it a ‘subscription payment’?
the problem with MLM’s which sell non consumables is this – how can they keep the network live and tingling?
there is nothing to resell, month after month, one time sales can lead to dead ends, and loss of interest in affiliates.
so, add a 10$ monthly subscription fee and keep the zing alive in the affiliate body. let the system be continuously waxed with money, so no one loses interest.
it’s smart thinking, but illegal in this case, because the monthly subscription money is not being paid forward to anybody.
easy with the compliments boss, you don’t want paul nash getting a heart attack 🙂
They will still be sued by cable companies.
$10 is for accessing cable content legally available on Internet with ads intact. But remember what happened to that really popular app that provided legal Internet streams of top 5 Broadcast Channels to your MediaBox for $8?
Case went to Supreme Court (or lower ?) and app was agreed to be illegal.
Cable owners do not like their content to be bunched and resold no more than Broadcast channel owners. I this thing catches up, it will be litigated in court.
Although this looks to be legal, content owners will not be happy about this possibility and will sue.
IMHO, Spinqast is legal, because vaguely promises and under delivers.
ThePlatform is real… it’s a part of Comcast, and they do a lot of streaming work for the big companies, including CBS Interactive (i.e. CBS News, etc.) and NBC.
Chicago Fire episodes for season 3 are streamed from their own website, nbc.com/chicago-fire
So they may technically be correct, but you’re NOT going to see “premium” stuff without paying $$$. Thus the monthly fee is bull****.
There’s like nothing that separates this box from the $50 box you get from Amazon other than the larger hole in your wallet.
Oh, and you’ll still see ads. You just won’t see BANNERS like when you go to the website. You’ll see interstitials, i.e. ads embedded in the video stream itself.
And a big portion of their commission payout is coming from the $39 for the website and tools! You cannot pay commissions on tools, everyone knows that.
RED FLAG ALERT!
This is nothing but a ponzi trying to look legit!
I like the concept. I hate paying my cable bill. So someone has found a way to put all of the streaming content in one place.
Surely you can go buy a box on your own and do your own due diligence and program it yourself and get the list of illegally downloaded content, but it looks like this company has made it convenient by putting it all in one place.
People pay for convenience all day long. What is the difference between this service being offered through mlm and the utility companies popping up doing the same thing?
No one is breaking your arm to join spinqast, but when people see that they can soften their cable bill and earn some money by sharing the service, it seems that this will be a very nice opportunity.
For those not interested in the opportunity, the streaming subscription for 9.99 seems like a no brainer to me.
In my previous comment, it seems that I’m highlighting that all of the illegal content will be in one place. That came across unclear.
Many of the other streaming boxes or services don’t regulate that. The user can access those things.
Spinqast seems that it is steering clear from the illegal movies and torrents and offering a legit cable feel without the cost. Sorry for the confusion.
Looks like trere is some kind of groupthink marathon in MLM underbelly: “How do we find gray area with mediaboxes where we will not closed immediately by regulators but still be attractive to “passive investors” since we really never cared for retail?”.
I bet they are thinking about “how do being our favorite, bring three and yours is free pyramid slogan too?”.
@Marcus
Seeing as this fee doesn’t appear to have anything to do with streaming, how is it a “no-brainer”?
I mean is it really about the box or the income to be made that is the no brainer?
It only takes a few minutes of searching to find these “boxes” cheap online.
So how many people that can’t take the time to find them can you dupe into buying one from you?
A few observations:
The specs look “funny”. For example “Qual Core PC” is really not what one should call a Quad Core ARM CPU, and the “8 GB ROM” (Do they make ROM chips that big ?). It strikes me like the person did not really know what they where typing when they entered in the specs and/or mistranslated it.
For K. Chang: Is “ROM” a common mistranslation for “Flash” memory in Chinese that you know of ?
That aside, I could imagine legal streams like CBSN (CBS-News online) and other stuff being built in. Really, there is a lot of cool stuff that is legal to watch for free or with ads. The earlier comments citing potential exaggeration of the value or overall completeness of these descriptions may be valid.
My guess is that the $10 was for at least keeping the box updated with fresh links (new and updated) and keeping the OS up to date. That may be steep, but didn’t see what they said the $10 was really “subscribing” you to, so that is a guess.
If indeed, the streams it comes with support for are legally obtained / free / ad-supported or otherwise legal, could be a nice and easy way for someone to “cut the cord”.
Paul Nash’s questionable past might be what makes me hesitant. But I think there is a market for _legal_ Android / Linux Boxen or “Baby-Boxen” to offer an easy way to “cut the cord”.
Is it legit? Could be, Oz is better at spotting MLM Red Flags better than I am, but it is not obviously “too good to be true” or an alleged “free lunch” like the others. I would stay tuned.
Xorly
PS: China is a place where MIPS and ARM based CPUs get a lot more respect from, what I think, is a combination of cost and perhaps a certain “open mindedness”.
ARM had a long history in PC’s in the UK (Acorn) and MIPS was used in Unix systems in the US in the past. So, to some people from China, and ARM or MIPS based CPU could honestly be considered a CPU for a “Personal Computer”.
Are you sure you read the same info? They said NO ILLEGAL CONTENT.
Any “system” section is considered ROM, even when it’s flash ROM. Yeah, I know.
Me thinks Marcus is a Nash disciple and follows this conartist into all of his questionable ventures.
Take everything he says with a grain of salt since he will basically be a little parrot for Nash!
Nope. He can’t even that the part about “illegal content” correct.
For the same price (or lower) I can get a legitimate player like Roku 3 (or Roku Stick), Fire TV (or Fire Stick), Chromecast, etc. with NO monthly fees. And those are 100% legal.
Problem with those devices that they do not come with websites streams(to my knowledge). Free Hulu only gives you NBC and Fox network own shows.
If this box has an app that also provides legal website streams form Comcast, A&E networks, ABC networks and so on, cost of the app could be worth $10.
But as I said above networks will not be happy with essentially partial adblocking and bundling of their services without additional payments. There will be lawsuits if these type of apps will get popular.
People use devices to stream from their computers anyway.
I am sure before long we won’t need the boxes.
So that leaves us back at the point.
How long will such a business last these days.
It can last for a while. I live in building that has Russian TV service on 10-15 year old proprietary boxes. And people still using them instead of using Cable company service that provide essentially the same Russian package.
It takes a week to get repairman to come, boxes break regularly and still, all old Russian people who live by themselves have them.
I am not taking about switching to mediaboxes, they do not want to switch to Cable/Dish/Verizon. People who learned how to use computers in their 50th will probably never use anything than generic Microsoft operating system.
What I am saying is that some segment of population still want out of the box experience with minimal learning curve. People can be infinitely stubborn and unwilling to learn when it comes to technology.
Now this too funny. This is supposedly a product driven company, BUT the ponzi pimps and gifting scammers are using this “product-driven company” just like it was design – as a pure ponzi scam!
Here is the latest spam email from a gifting scammer – Paulette McClain-Whitney
^^ Herp derp, I wonder how many retail sales that lot are going to make…