Trivesta Review: Third-party merchant services membership sales

According to the Trivesta website, the company

was founded to help millions of people win back hope for their future.

Trivesta is not only a business; it is a way of life. We are a movement dedicated to positively impacting people’s lives.

Trivesta is based out of Texas in the US and headed up by Founder and CEO, Joseph T. Cherry (right).

As per Cherry’s LinkedIn profile, he’s the CEO and President of Exectras (formerly TransACT).

Exectras is a membership-based discount services company offering fee-free merchant processing, business performance services and a unique menu of employee perks and programs.

Trivesta appears to be Cherry’s first MLM venture.

Read on for a full review of the Trivesta MLM opportunity.

The Trivesta Product Line

Trivesta market memberships with access to access to various third-party merchant services.

Silver Membership ($199.95 and then $99.95 a month) provides access to:

• a Prospio Wealth Account (debt coverage up to $80,000)
• MD Go (telephone doctor)
• MD Go RX (prescription card program)
• Trivesta Pets RX (pet prescription program)
• Keystroke Guard (identity theft protection) and
• 2000 points towards a Trivesta scholarship

Gold Membership ($299.95 and then $149.95 a month) adds:

• a Prospio Wealth Builder Account for one mortgage and
• IronClad ID Secure (fraud protection)
• 5000 points towards a college scholarship program

Platinum Membership ($299.95 and then $199.95 a month) adds:

• a Prospio Wealth Builder Account for two mortgages
• 10,000 points towards a college scholarship program

Trivesta state their college scholarship program

is based on a point system.

By simply being a Member of Trivesta, and saving for your future, you immediately start earning Tuition Rewards Points towards a College Scholarship for a child of your choice.

Each Tuition Rewards Point equals $1 in a Scholarship provided by participating colleges.

A list of participating colleges is provided on the Trivesta website.

All Trivesta memberships can be upgraded to a “family plan” for an additional $15 a month.

The Trivesta Compensation Plan

The Trivesta compensation plan pays affiliates to sell Trivesta memberships, either to retail customers or recruited affiliates.

Trivesta Affiliate Ranks

There are eight affiliate ranks within the Trivesta compensation plan.

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

• Health and Wealth Advocate – sign up as a Trivesta affiliate for $199 or $99 with a purchased membership subscription
• Senior Advocate – remain commission qualified and recruit and maintain at least three commission qualified affiliates
• Regional Advocate – remain commission qualified, recruit and maintain at least four commission qualified affiliates (one must be a Senior Advocate) and have a downline generating at least 100 member points a month
• Director – remain commission qualified, recruit and maintain at least five commission qualified affiliates (two must be a Regional Advocates) and have a downline generating at least 250 member points a month
• Executive Director – remain commission qualified, recruit and maintain at least six commission qualified affiliates (three must be Directors) and have a downline generating at least 600 member points a month
• Ambassador – remain commission qualified, maintain at least one personally recruited commission qualified Executive Director and have a downline generating at least 1500 member points a month
• Senior Ambassador – remain commission qualified, maintain at least one personally recruited commission qualified Executive Director and Ambassador and have a downline generating at least 3000 member points a month
• National Ambassador – remain commission qualified, maintain at least two personally recruited commission qualified Ambassadors and one Senior Ambassador and have a downline generating at least 7500 member points a month

Monthly maintenance requirements to retain a rank are as follows:

• Health and Wealth Advocate – maintain commission qualified status
• Senior Advocate – have a downline generating at least 16 member points a month
• Director – maintain commission qualified status and have a downline generating at least 150 member points a month (no more than 40% from any on recruitment leg)
• Executive Director – maintain commission qualified status and have a downline generating at least 450 member points a month (no more than 40% from any on recruitment leg)
• Ambassador – maintain commission qualified status and have a downline generating at least 1000 member points a month (no more than 40% from any on recruitment leg)
• Senior Ambassador – maintain commission qualified status and have a downline generating at least 2000 member points a month (no more than 40% from any on recruitment leg)
• National Ambassador – maintain commission qualified status and have a downline generating at least 5000 member points a month (no more than 40% from any on recruitment leg)

Membership points are points generated via the purchase of Trivesta memberships as follows:

• Silver membership – first month generates 6 member points and then 1 member point every month thereafter
• Gold membership – first month generates 4 member points and then 2 member points every month thereafter
• Platinum membership – first month generates 6 member points and then 3 member points every month thereafter

Commission Qualification

To qualify for  commissions, a Trivesta affiliate needs to meet monthly member point requirements.

Initially a Trivesta affiliate is required to generate at least two member points from retail membership sales.

After six months a Trivesta affiliate must be generating at least member points.

Two of these points must be retail membership sales, the other four can be retail membership sales, an affiliate’s own membership or that of recruited affiliates.

Direct Membership Commissions

Up to $100 is paid on the sale of each Trivesta Gold and Platinum memberships.

• Health and Wealth Advocates are paid a $40 commission
• Senior Advocates are paid a $55 commission
• Regional Advocates are paid a $70 commission
• Directors are paid an $85 commission
• Executive Directors and above are paid a $100 commission

If a Trivesta affiliate at Director or lower rank makes a sale, affiliates of higher rank above them are paid a differential bonus (up until the full $100 is paid out).

Eg. If a Senior Advocate makes a Gold or Platinum membership sale, they are paid $55.

This leaves $45 still to be paid out. Trivesta searches the affiliate’s upline for a Regional Advocate or higher to pay the remaining $45 out to.

If a Regional Advocate was found, Trivesta would pay $25 ($70 minus $45) and continue to look for higher ranked affiliates to pay the remaining $30 out to.

If a Director was found, Trivesta would pay $40 ($85 minus $45) and continue to look for an Executive Director or higher to pay the remaining $15 to.

If an Executive Director or higher is found, they receive the full $55 difference.

Note that if an Executive Director or higher ranked affiliate makes a Gold or Platinum membership sale, they receive the maximum $100 commission and no differential is paid out.

After the initial direct commission is paid out, Trivesta affiliates who personally generate up to 19 member points a month receive a 10% commission on monthly membership fees.

Trivesta affiliates who generate 20 or more member points a month or have a downline generating at least 50 member points a month receive 20%.

Residual Commissions

Residual commissions in Trivesta are paid out 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.

Trivesta cap payable unilevel levels at seven, with affiliates paid a percentage of sales volume generated by their unilevel team as follows:

• Health and Wealth Advocate – 4% on levels 1 and 2
• Senior Advocate – 4% on levels 1 to 3
• Regional Advocate – 4% on levels 1 to 4
• Director – 4% on levels 1 to 5
• Executive Director or higher – 4% on levels 1 to 7

Ambassador or higher ranked affiliates earn an additional 2% on unilevel team volume, up until another Ambassador ranked affiliate is found in a unilevel leg (each leg pays out a separate 2%).

Generation Bonus

Ambassador or higher ranked Trivesta affiliates can earn an additional percentage bonus on their entire unilevel downline.

A generation in Trivesta is defined when an Ambassador or higher ranked affiliate is found in a unilevel leg.

This caps off the first generation in that leg and begins the second. The second generation is capped off when another Ambassador or higher ranked affiliate is found deeper in the leg.

If no second Ambassador or higher ranked affiliate is found, the second generation extends down the entire unilevel leg.

The Generation Bonus is paid to Ambassador and higher ranked Trivesta affiliates as follows:

• Ambassadors receive 3% on the first generation
• Senior Ambassadors receive 3% on the first generation and 2% on the second
• National Ambassadors receive 3% on the first generation and 2% on the second and third

Check Match

Trivesta affiliates can earn a 20% match on commissions paid to personally recruited affiliates.

How much of a Check Match percentage a Trivesta affiliate earns is determined by their rank:

• Health and Wealth Advocate to Regional Advocate – 10%
• Director – 15%
• Executive Director and higher – 20%

Joining Trivesta

Trivesta affiliate membership is $199 or $99 if purchased with a a Silver, Gold or Platinum membership.

Conclusion

Historically the subscription membership model for MLM hasn’t ended well. Companies like Wake Up Now pretty much operated as pyramid schemes until they collapsed under their own weight.

The saving grace for Trivesta is the retail membership requirements from get go.

In order to qualify commissions, a Trivesta affiliate must generate 2 member points from retail customers. This is either a Platinum or Gold membership, three Silver memberships or a combination.

There is the possibility of a Trivesta affiliate making one retail sale and then focusing on building their downline, however company-wide this would still equate to a rough 50% split between affiliate and retail membership sales.

Bear in mind revenue could be skewed though, depending on the amount of affiliate/retail sales of Gold and Platinum memberships.

Unfortunately, with the exception of the college scholarship points, Trivesta’s membership partnerships are nothing the industry hasn’t seen before.

This doesn’t necessarily make Trivesta’s memberships non-viable, it’s just that I’ve yet to see a membership company pull of the model with long-term retail viability.

The college scholarship points program currently has 363 colleges nationwide in the US participating as of August 31st, 2016.

Naturally the program is limited by a Trivesta affiliate knowing a person at the right age to begin with, not withstanding that person wanting to go to one of the colleges on the list.

To me it feels like a service with limited appeal. The other bundled services might be economical if used, but otherwise might be purchasable separately for cheaper.

This is obviously to be taken into consideration on a case by case basis.

A good place to start would be your own needs, with respect to Trivesta’s membership offerings and what you’ll actually use throughout the year.

Weigh the cost up and work out if you’re actually getting value for money (obviously ignoring the business opportunity as that has no bearing on Trivesta’s membership value).

If you can’t sell Trivesta’s membership to yourself, you’re probably going to have a hard time marketing them to retail customers.

Good luck!