Yers Review: Cashback app opp that’s too confusing to bother with
Yers doesn’t provide any information about who owns or runs the company on its website.
The Yers website domain (“yers.app”) was registered on May 23rd, 2018. “Y4YERS” is the registered owner through an address in France.
This corresponds with Alexa traffic rankings, which estimates 64% of traffic to the Yers website originates out of France. Switzerland is the only other notable source of traffic (23%).
Despite seeming to be owned and operated from France, Y4YERS appears to be a shell company incorporated in Luxembourg.
Yers’ general terms and conditions establishes
contractual relations between the simplified joint stock company Y4YERS SAS, having its registered office at 5, Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg, registered with the RCS Luxembourg under the number B213932.
As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money.
Yers Products
Yers markets a free app which provides access to a discount and cashback platform, as well as a concierge booking service.
Further specifics are not provided on Yers’ website.
The Yers Compensation Plan
Yers affiliates pay either a €25 or €60 EUR a month fee.
In order to qualify for MLM commissions, each Yers affiliate must spend at least €50 EUR a month through the Yers app.
Cashback Commissions
Yers pays a commission on cashback generated by personally referred free app users.
The formula used to calculate cashback commissions however makes little sense.
The commission calculation formula of Yers Sponsor on Perimeter A is as follows:
Commission on sale of Bundle or Cashback (€ HT) * of Perimeter A = Basic Matrix Income (€ HT) x TCN (%)
An example provided on the Yers website equates a €1666 EUR spend by referred free app users to a commission of €41.66.
From this we can extrapolate a rough cashback commission rate of 2.5%.
Recruitment Commissions
Yers pays recruitment commissions via a 4×5 matrix.
A 4×5 matrix places an affiliate at the top of a matrix, with four positions directly under them:
These four positions form the first level of the matrix. The second level of the matrix is generated by splitting these first four positions into another four positions each (16 positions).
Levels three to five of the matrix are generated in the same manner, with each new level housing four times as many positions as the previous level.
Positions in the 4×5 matrix are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of new Yers affiliates.
Commissions are based on how many positions in the matrix are filled as follows:
- level 1 (4 positions to fill) – €1.5 EUR per position filled
- level 2 (16 positions to fill) – €2.875 EUR per position filled
- level 3 (64 positions to fill) – €3.48 EUR per position filled
- level 4 (256 positions to fill) – €4.75 EUR per position filled
- level 5 (1024 positions to fill) – €5.39 EUR per position filled
Note that commissions are paid out for as long as affiliates recruited into the matrix continue to pay their monthly fees.
Other Bonuses (???)
The Yers website details a number of other bonuses and commissions paid out via the 4×5 matrix.
For the most part these revolve around signing up affiliates and having them continue to pay monthly fees.
I haven’t detailed the bonuses here because to be frank, they make little to no sense.
Here’s an example of the “Organizational Power” bonus;
The Organization Power is unique to each Yers Sponsor. It serves to enhance the level of development of the downline organization affiliated with it.
It is calculated from the filling rate of the total volume of 1364 places forming the Organization down line of Yers Sponsor.
It is likely to evolve permanently, upwards or downwards.
Yers Sponsors affiliated down line switching to a Freemium Bundle offer are not counted in the Organization Power.
Only Preferred Yers are counted individually for a unit value of 1 each regardless of the selected paid Bundle offer.
Non contractual example for illustrative purposes only
A Yers subscribing to a pay-as-you-go formula has developed a downline Business Organization with 522 affiliated Yers.
That is a total of 522 affiliated Yers out of a total number of possible places likely to form its optimal Downline Business Organization of 1364 Yers.
Clear as mud? Yeah, me too.
It’s some sort of auto-filled matrix but what it paid out and on what is unclear.
Anyway, in the interests of transparency you can go over Yers’ confusing bonuses yourself on their website (the bonuses begin about halfway down the page).
Joining Yers
Yers affiliate membership is either €25 or €60 EUR a month.
As far as I can tell the only difference between the two memberships is access to a “Y conference” with the €60 EUR a month option.
There might be some compensation restrictions with the €25 a month membership, but I can’t say for sure owing to Yers’ hopeless compensation documentation.
Conclusion
I suspect Yers confusing compensation plan is due to the razor-thin cashback margins they’re working with.
Obviously the Yers app is attached to a cashback network, with Yers sharing a percentage of cashback commission received with affiliates.
That’s on top of the monthly affiliate fee, which seems excessive considering they’re basically getting the same access as free app users.
With respect to the cashback side of the business, it appears legit (cashback commissions are shared out) but restricted due to low margins.
Traditionally cashback MLMs haven’t fared well because expectations from affiliates don’t meet reality. You need a ton of app users to make even a little money and for most affiliates that’s not possible.
This is reflected in the calculated effective 2.5% cashback commission rate.
The recruitment side of the business (including any bonuses tied to monthly affiliate fees) is pyramid scheme territory.
I sign up as a Yers affiliate, pay a monthly fee plus mandatory €50 app spend, and get paid on recruitment of others who do the same.
It’s highly likely that this is how the majority of Yers’ company-wide revenue is generated, irrespective of how many free app users they have versus paid affiliates.
After all, when something is free it’s easy to get installs. App installs however do not equate to generated revenue, with only Yers affiliates incentivized to actually use the app.
Taking a step back and even giving Yers some benefit of the doubt over potential language-barrier issues, here’s what I’d recommend;
Print out this page from the Yers website and ask the Yers affiliate you’ve been approached by to explain the compensation plan in detail.
If they can’t explain everything on that page to your satisfaction, such that you have no followup questions and completely understand how every bonus is generated and what it’s paid out on, there’s a good chance something wonky is going on.
If on the other hand they can, please provide us the same explanation in the comments below!
At a bare minimum, Yers needs to scrap their current compensation plan material and start again.
Fair enough if it’s complicated, but if the presentation is such that someone whose been breaking down MLM comp plans for nearly ten years can’t make heads or tails of it, something’s up.
Providing Yers corporate management and/or ownership information on the website is also a must.
Pending these changes to the Yers MLM opportunity, honestly I wouldn’t bother.
Seems it’ll be too much of a headache trying to explain the business to people beyond the initial cashback layer, which long-term is not enough to build a sustainable MLM business around.
Update 24th December 2022 – Yers appears to have collapsed.
As at the time of this update, Yers’ website has been pulled. The company’s official social media profiles have also been deleted.
This review originally contained two links to Yers’ website, which in light of their collapse I’ve now disabled.
100% ok Ponzi !!!!!
Yers struck me as more of a pyramid scheme than Ponzi.
Unless there’s some investment component I’m missing that was lost in translation…
Yes Pyramidal
😉
It should also be noted that members with a paid bundle must have a SIRET tax number to be able to withdraw their balances.
They are strictly forbidden to quote brand advertising signs under pain of being fined or banned from the site.
And also, to start other members via social networks, phone, mail, MP etc … Only through word of mouth ..
Many members have already left the bundles paid for these incoherences and lack of serious sponsors …
My other question is: how are the co-founders paid? graphic designers, etc. since the French company is of the SASU type (only one member).
so they are prepositioned leaders ??? in compensation?
annexe read….
So, a member in FREE will only have “50% of his cashback generated and the other 50% will go to the sponsors with a higher% at the higher levels ???
And if he goes into paying mode at € 25 or € 60, he will join the PMR VDI sponsor and he will have much less cashback and will have to recruit constantly to be able to at least recover the amount of his monthly subscription …
This is surely not what will make an important overflow !!!!
We remain at 100% or the bonuses will come mainly from the acahts of the bundles (subscription in fact).
Best regards
Third-party merchant cashback is never enough to sustain an MLM opportunity.
You’re basically splitting peanuts among too many people. And if there’s fees involved, nobody sticks around (other than those earning a commission on fees).
Dear all,
I am following the article and comments on Yers published on this page and I regret that they contain a lot of inaccurate information.
If we were to summarize the project Y that we have at heart, we would say that our primary goal is to enable members of our community to regain purchasing power in their daily lives.
Based on the principle of a private club, our platform allows people who register to benefit, according to the chosen formula, of discounts and cash-back services (that is to say, reimbursement of a part of a purchase) from our partner brands, as well as digital or human concierge services or admission tickets to the conferences we organize.
We offer three subscription plans offering various levels of services. The first of our formulas, namely the “Gaia” formula, is available free of charge and offers access to discount and cash-back offers on some of our partner brands.
No need to subscribe to a subscription to access these benefits. Just create an account on our platform. Our one-month subscriptions can also be stopped at any time, which gives our members a lot of freedom.
Our platform also offers Yers (regardless of their subscription – free or paid) having the status of merchants or VDI to become true ambassadors of our project by registering as Yers Sponsor.
The Yers Sponsor can thus receive commissions on its own purchases eligible for cash-back from our partner brands but also on paid subscriptions and purchases eligible for cash-back made by members of its organization up to 5 levels downline.
The calculation of these commissions is defined in our network marketing plan (plan has been modified since March 6th) and available online to any Yers previously registered.
There is also no purchase obligation to be eligible for these commissions. The Yers Sponsor must receive training on the operation of our platform and the regulations on business practices.
It is forbidden for our Yers Sponsor to simply send a simple referral link without presenting our platform.
The network created by our Yers Sponsor is certainly pyramidal in form but does not fall under any legal prohibitions and can not be likened to a Ponzi scheme.
The commissions collected by the Yers Sponsor are not financed by the subscriptions paid by the new entrants but depend on the internal life of the network, that is to say by the subscriptions subscribed and the purchases eligible for our cash service back made by the members of the Yers Sponsor organization.
The Yers project is therefore totally legal and has no purpose or effect to violate the rights of our members, and indeed quite the opposite.
Yours truly,
Laëtitia | Yers
Customer Operations & Back Office Manager
The primary goal of any legitimate MLM company should be to sell products and services to retail customers.
If the majority of company-wide revenue is sourced from affiliates, it’s tied to recruitment. More importantly, that MLM company is operating as a pyramid scheme.
In the interests of transparency you have a duty to provide potential Yers affiliates and the general public with full details of your MLM business opportunity.
Full participation in Yers’ MLM opportunity costs €25 or €60 EUR a month does it not? That’s a membership purchase obligation.
The term “Ponzi scheme” does not appear in our review. But thank you for confirming Yers is a pyramid scheme, which are indeed illegal the world over – including France.
If the majority of company-revenue is sourced from affiliates (purchases of any kind), commissions are tied to recruitment and you’re still running a pyramid scheme.
I suggest you go read up on the FTC vs. Vemma/Herbalife lawsuits and stop incorrectly representing pyramid schemes are legal.
Oz,
We are completely transparent about our opportunity and our offers, otherwise I will not come here to talk about it. Our legal information is explicit, everything is clearly detailed.
In addition, the definition of our main or secondary objectives comes back to us, we are entitled to establish our own operating rules (from the moment they comply with the legal conditions assimilated).
Recruitment (or sponsorship) of new members is not a source of income for Yers or its members.
In addition, I confirm again that there is no obligation to buy (or join our service offerings) to be eligible for commissions or to join the Community as a user of the first range of services offered.
Privilege offers (paid) are actually offered to our members but under no circumstances, new members are obliged to subscribe to access the platform and to register as an ambassador of the Community.
The term “Ponzi scheme” does not appear in your review, but it appears in the comments that are affiliated with it, which I allow myself to mention.
Finally to finish and for your information, here is the address of our Headquarters (information also available on our website):
Immeuble Carré Haussmann 2
10 allée de la Connaissance
77127 Lieusaint – France ;
I wish you a nice day.
All the best.
Laëtitia | Yers
Customer Operations & Back Office Manager
LOL. Every time I read something like this = run from this program & never look back.
If there’s no retail activity, then yes it is.
If you pay commissions on recruitment that’s direct. If 100% of commissions paid are from recruited downline purchases, that’s indirect.
The indirect model is more commonly associated with product-based pyramid schemes.
Whether purchases are mandatory or not is neither here nor there. If the majority of commissions Yers pays out are based on recruited affiliate purchases, that’s still a pyramid scheme.
You are not entitled to run a pyramid scheme, in France or anywhere else in the world.
Hello Oz,
On which legislation do you support your remarks please? I have the impression that we are not in possession of the same texts; therefore I have some difficulties to follow you.
Am I here dealing with an analysis of our biseness model? Or do you simply seek to discover / find the illegality to ensure the well-being of the population (which would have a rather noble character I must say …).
Does your expertise come from quantifiable and detailed analyzes of MLM companies? I imagine that yes …
For my part, I think that each company is unique and can not be the subject of a complete expertise by the unique reading of these Terms. If you equate the MLM with this or that very particular and well framed thing that does not correspond to us, well it does not matter; we can also call it another way.
New concepts do not fit into the usual norms; that’s not what makes it a failure.
What makes a company moreover, is not only its legal notice or its biseness model, it is its managers, it is its employees, its partners, its customers, it is its capacity to develop , to innovate, to bounce back in case of failures, its ability to celebrate its victories and to support its teams, more broadly its ability to survive and adapt.
All these data are not mathematics, statistics or probabilities (although it is as important to take them into account I agree) but of the human nature. I find it unfortunate that we do not take it into account at all.
What do you really want to talk about here? What really motivates you? Biseness or legality? Can we be clear? Question biseness, everyone’s point of view, I would discuss no more with you; your expertise is interesting, just like mine and just like any other expert.
Question legality, Yers has been validated by the French authorities.
I invite you to send us an e-mail (you now have the address of our headquarters) if you still wish to discuss certain points, I would gladly pass it on to the law firm with which we work.
I am only partially adept for my part of the discussions interposed between networks of distance communication; but if you pass in the corner one of these days, do not hesitate to visit us 🙂
I wish you a nice Oz day and a great weekend. Thank you again for your help,
Yours truly,
Laëtitia | Yers
Customer Operations & Back Office Manager
Pretty much every country on the planet has anti pyramid scheme legislation on the books.
I’m not arguing that all MLM companies are identical. But from a regulatory perspective you’re either marketing and selling products to retail customers, or you’re operating a pyramid scheme.
No MLM company is exempt from this.
No they haven’t, because regulatory validation is not a thing.
Feel free to prove me wrong by providing a document from the French government explicitly approving Yers as an MLM business opportunity.
Thanks and enjoy your weekend too.