Again in September Seacret Direct, previously a private care MLM firm, rebranded itself as Viago and Membership Viago.
Seacret Direct’s former web site now redirects to a Viago branded web site. Considerably confusingly, there’s additionally a separate Membership Viago web site set as much as market the identical firm.
To maintain issues easy I’m going to confer with Viago because the MLM firm and Membership Viago because the product service providing.
On both web site, Viago fails to supply customers with firm possession or government info.
All you are able to do on each of Viago’s web sites is enroll as an affiliate and/or Membership Viago member (the Membership Viago redirects to the Viago web site if enrollment is initiated).
Seacret Direct was based in 2011 by co-founders Izhak Ben Shabat (CEO, proper) and Mody Ben Shabat.
Previous to the Viago rebrand, Seacret Direct listed its co-founders as Izhak Ben Shabat and Dani Solomon.
Viago doesn’t present a company tackle on both of its web sites. Opening hours nonetheless look like primarily based on Arizona time.
Of be aware is shortly after the rebrand, Viago introduced a merger with Stemtech in November 2024.
Stemtech was an MLM firm that bought stem cell dietary dietary supplements. Following chapter in 2017, Stemtech went on to generate tens of millions in losses yearly.
Whereas they didn’t purchase a worthwhile enterprise, what Viago did get from Stemtech was a public itemizing. Stemtech is/was publicly listed by means of a 2021 merger with Globe Internet Wi-fi, a failed Chinese language telco and app growth firm.
At time of publication Stemtech maintains its personal unbiased web site and government administration group.
Learn on for a full assessment of Viago’s MLM alternative.
Viago’s Merchandise
Viago fails to listing any retailable services or products on its main web site.
On Membership Viago a journey reserving platform is marketed.
Adventures await… not simply in far-off locations. Whether or not you’re seeking to amplify your trip escape or your subsequent evening out, we’ve bought you coated. Are you prepared? Let’s go!
Membership Viago additionally moreover gives entry to an leisure reserving platform, “premier product market” and telemedicine and healthcare providers.
Membership Viago membership entry through month-to-month subscription:
- Membership Viago Month-to-month – $99 a month (25 Viago Factors a month)
- Membership Viago Plus – $149 a month (100 Viago Factors a month)
- Membership Viago 6 Month – $799 for six-months (a “GetAway Journey for Two”, a “Getaway activation” and 100 Viago Factors a month)
- Membership Viago Normal Pack – $199 after which $99 a month (300 Viago Factors first month after which 100 Viago Factors a month)
- Viago Launch Pack (aka Viago Plus Pack) – $450 after which $99 a month (“annual loyalty journey”, 600 Viago factors first month after which 100 Viago Factors a month)
As per Membership Viago’s web site;
Loyalty earns you annual trip vouchers, deep reductions on already lowered pricing to save lots of much more, with factors price $1 every in low cost worth throughout choose merchandise and choose journey experiences.
Notice that “Getaway Journeys” and “Getaway Activation” aren’t outlined on Viago’s web site or in its compensation documentation. Presumably nonetheless they’re some type of incentive journey, supplied by means of Viago’s undisclosed journey associate(s).
Viago’s Compensation Plan
Viago’s compensation plan pays on the sale of Viago Membership memberships to retail prospects and recruited associates.
Viago Affiliate Ranks
There are eleven affiliate ranks inside Viago’s compensation plan:
- Affiliate – enroll as a Viago affiliate
- Bronze – refer/recruit and preserve 5 Membership Viago subscribed members on each side of the binary group
- Silver – refer/recruit and preserve ten Membership Viago subscribed members on each side of the binary group
- Gold – refer/recruit and preserve twenty-five Membership Viago subscribed members on each side of the binary group
- Sapphire – refer/recruit and preserve fifty Membership Viago subscribed members on each side of the binary group
- Emerald – refer/recruit and preserve 100 Membership Viago subscribed members on each side of the binary group
- Diamond – refer/recruit and preserve 200 and fifty Membership Viago subscribed members on each side of the binary group
- Blue Diamond – refer/recruit and preserve 5 hundred Membership Viago subscribed members on each side of the binary group
- Crimson Diamond – refer/recruit and preserve one thousand Membership Viago subscribed members on each side of the binary group
- Purple Diamond – refer/recruit and preserve two thousand Membership Viago subscribed members on each side of the binary group
- Black Diamond – refer/recruit and preserve 5 thousand Membership Viago subscribed members on each side of the binary group
Notice that from Sapphire, not more than 50% of required memberships can come from anybody unilevel group (recruitment) leg.
MLM Fee Qualification
Viago associates should be “lively” and “certified” to earn MLM commissions.
Neither time period is outlined in Viago’s compensation documentation.
Membership Payment Waiver
Viago waives an affiliate’s $99 a month Membership Viago membership price if they’ve six referred/recruited Membership Viago retail prospects/recruited associates beneath them.
Referral/Recruitment Commissions
Viago associates earn a fee per Membership Viago membership bought to retail prospects:
- promote a Membership Viago Normal membership and obtain $20
- promote a Membership Viago Plus membership and obtain $30
- promote a Membership Viago Normal Pack and obtain $50
- promote a Viago Launch Pack and obtain $100
Sapphire Bonus
Sapphire and better ranked Viago associates earn a bonus on Membership Viago Normal Pack and Viago Launch Pack gross sales throughout their downline.
- Membership Viago Normal Pack sale = $25 Sapphire Bonus
- Viago Launch Pack sale = $50 Sapphire Bonus
Notice that the Sapphire Bonus is paid on exercise in every unilevel group leg till one other Sapphire or larger ranked affiliate is present in that leg.
Residual Commissions
Viago pays residual commissions through a binary compensation construction.
A binary compensation construction locations an affiliate on the prime of a binary group, break up into two sides (left and proper):
The primary stage of the binary group homes two positions. The second stage of the binary group is generated by splitting these first two positions into one other two positions every (4 positions).
Subsequent ranges of the binary group are generated as required, with every new stage housing twice as many positions because the earlier stage.
Positions within the binary group are crammed through direct and oblique recruitment of associates. Notice there is no such thing as a restrict to how deep a binary group can develop.
Viago tracks residual commissions by means of factors, generated on the acquisition of “new enrollments, à la carte orders, and particular kits”.
- 50 to 99 GV order = 0.5 factors
- 100 to 149 GV order = 1 level
- 150 to 199 GV order = 1.5 factors
- 200 to 249 GV order = 2 factors
- 250 to 299 GV order = 2.5 factors
- 300 to 349 GV order = 3 factors
- 350 to 399 GV order = 3.5 factors
- 400 to 449 GV order = 4 factors
- 450 to 499 GV order = 4.5 factors
It’s unclear whether or not this level allocation continues past 4.5 factors or is maxxed out, no matter gross sales quantity (GV) generated.
Additionally unclear is restricted level allocation tied to Membership Viago memberships. This info isn’t disclosed on Viago’s web sites or in its compensation documentation.
Viago pays residual commissions as $50 per 5 factors matched on each side of the binary group.
Notice that if 15 factors or extra are matched, the corresponding $50 residual commissions are doubled (efficient $300 payout).
Additionally be aware that Viago caps residual commissions weekly primarily based on rank:
- Bronze ranked associates can earn as much as $500 per week in residual commissions
- Silver ranked associates can earn as much as $600 per week in residual commissions
- Gold ranked associates can earn as much as $700 per week in residual commissions
- Sapphire ranked associates can earn as much as $1000 per week in residual commissions
- Emerald ranked associates can earn as much as $2000 per week in residual commissions
- Diamond ranked associates can earn as much as $3000 per week in residual commissions
- Blue Diamond ranked associates can earn as much as $5000 per week in residual commissions
- Crimson Diamond ranked associates can earn as much as $7500 per week in residual commissions
- Purple Diamond ranked associates can earn as much as $10,000 per week in residual commissions
- Black Diamond ranked associates can earn as much as $15,000 per week in residual commissions
As soon as paid out on factors are flushed. Unmatched factors carry over into the next week.
Squared Bonus
The Squared Bonus rewards Viago associates for producing “lively Members” throughout their binary group.
Notice once more that Viago doesn’t outline what “lively” means of their compensation materials.
- generate 5 lively Members on each sides of the binary group and obtain $50 a month
- generate 10 lively Members on each side of the binary group and obtain $200 a month
- generate 25 lively Members on each side of the binary group and obtain $500 a month
- generate 50 lively Members on each side of the binary group and obtain $1000 a month
- generate 100 lively Members on each side of the binary group and obtain $2000 a month
- generate 250 lively Members on each side of the binary group and obtain $5000 a month
- generate 500 lively Members on each side of the binary group and obtain $10,000 a month
- generate 1000 lively Members on each side of the binary group and obtain $20,000 a month
- generate 2000 lively Members on each side of the binary group and obtain $36,000 a month
- generate 5000 lively Members on each side of the binary group and obtain $85,000 a month
Test Match Bonus
Sapphire and better ranked Viago associates earn a Test Match Bonus.
The Test Match Bonus is paid out through a unilevel compensation construction.
A unilevel compensation construction locations an affiliate on the prime of a unilevel group, with each personally recruited affiliate positioned straight beneath them (stage 1):
If any stage 1 associates recruit new associates, they’re positioned on stage 2 of the unique affiliate’s unilevel group.
If any stage 2 associates recruit new associates, they’re positioned on stage 3 and so forth and so forth down a theoretical infinite variety of ranges.
The Test Match Bonus is paid on earnings of as much as six Gold or larger ranked associates per unilevel group leg:
- Sapphire ranked associates earn a 20% match on one Gold or larger ranked affiliate per unilevel group leg
- Emerald ranked associates earn a 20% match on the primary Gold or larger ranked affiliate per unilevel group leg and 10% on the second
- Diamond ranked associates earn a 20% match on the primary Gold or larger ranked affiliate per unilevel group leg and 10% on the second and third
- Blue Diamond ranked associates earn a 20% match on the primary Gold or larger ranked affiliate per unilevel group leg and 10% on the second to fourth
- Crimson Diamond ranked associates earn a 20% match on the primary Gold or larger ranked affiliate per unilevel group leg, 10% on the second to fourth and 5% on the fifth
- Purple Diamond and better ranked associates earn a 20% match on the primary Gold or larger ranked affiliate per unilevel group leg, 10% on the second to fourth and 5% on the fifth and sixth
Becoming a member of Viago
Viago affiliate membership is $49 for the primary yr after which $99 yearly.
Viago Conclusion
With Seacret Direct being launched 13 years in the past, there may be merely no excuse for the horrendously poor expertise Viago provides customers.
The cynic in me believes this displays Viago’s underlying give attention to recruitment.
Seacret Direct’s departure from its founding “lifeless sea salts private care” product vary started with its failed WorldVentures acquisition in 2020.
WorldVentures, a collapsed pyramid scheme that filed for chapter later that very same yr, mixed a reduction journey with pyramid recruitment.
WorldVentures retail membership gross sales had been attainable, however had been laughably negligible in comparison with recruited associates who held lively memberships.
After the WorldVentures acquisition fell by means of, Seacret Direct went on to launch its personal low cost journey reserving platform.
“Membership Seacret” was headed up by former WorldVentures President Eddie Head.
In the present day Head is the President of Viago, though you received’t discover any point out of that on Viago’s web sites. Viago failing to reveal possession and government info is a possible violation of the FTC Act.
In essence, Membership Viago is a direct continuation of Membership Seacret. Between the failed acquisition and pivot to journey anyway, it’s clear Seacret Direct is unable to maintain itself on private care product gross sales alone.
Membership Viago pushes the lifeless sea salts merchandise effectively into the shadows, erasing what’s left of Seacret Direct’s founding id. Evidently Izhak Shabat has determined low cost journey is extra profitable – however why?
I imagine the reply lies in what Membership Viago has been making an attempt to emulate since 2020 – the “success” of WorldVentures.
WorldVentures, no less than initially, undoubtedly made a ton of cash. The issue is it did so at the price of the vast majority of its affiliate members.
Viago isn’t overtly a pyramid scheme. Whereas it’s true Membership Viago isn’t a requirement to keep up affiliate standing, there’s a *winkwink, nudgenudge* query mark over the undefined “lively” standing.
Conspicuously being an lively Viago affiliate isn’t outlined in its compensation documentation or on Viago’s web sites.
Nonetheless I think it ties into having a number of lively Membership Viago memberships beneath you. This may be your personal Membership Viago membership as an affiliate or a referred retail buyer.
With out express retail membership necessities (which I can verify there are none), this ambiguity leaves Viago’s compensation plan open to abuse.
That’s, you enroll as a Viago affiliate, purchase and preserve a Membership Viago membership, and receives a commission to recruit others who do the identical.
Like I stated, it’s not overt however there are indicators if you happen to’re paying consideration.
Refer and preserve six Membership Viago members and also you’re “completely not required however simply in case you will have one anyway” Membership Viago membership charges are waived.
Are these six Membership Viago members going to be associates or retail buyer members?
Matt Morris, a former WorldVentures pyramid promoter, cites himself as a Viago Crimson Diamond ranked promoter.
In a Viago “compensation plan overview” video printed per week in the past to YouTube, Morris states;
[8:42] Please know that you do not want to know how all the pieces works to be able to receives a commission.
A very powerful query you have to be asking is, “What do I truly must do to be able to maximize the compensation plan and begin advancing by means of the ranks?”
Now the most important problem will not be over complicating it. Preserve issues easy.
Set a purpose of getting your six and getting your charges waived, after which assist others do the very same factor. Easy as that.
Retail Membership Viago members can’t take part within the compensation plan. So the inference right here is “the very first thing it’s worthwhile to do is exit and recruit six associates with a Membership Viago membership”.
Morris goes on to emphatically make clear that he’s speaking a few “enterprise constructing system” that depends on “enrollment”.
In different phrases, the muse of the identical pyramid fraud that was happening inside WorldVentures.
The unhappy factor right here is Izhak Shabat had a front-row seat to WorldVentures’ inevitable demise. Shabat is aware of precisely how recruitment-driven pyramid schemes finish and the harm to customers they trigger.
As a potential Viago affiliate, what you wish to ask your potential upline is firstly what number of lively Membership Viago memberships have they personally referred?
Then ask them, of these memberships, what number of are held by members who paid the affiliate price versus precise retail prospects.
Membership Viago and Membership Seacret are too intently aligned with WorldVentures for me to suspect in any other case, however we nonetheless want to provide particular person Viago associates the advantage of the doubt.
No less than till they personally verify they’ve little to no retail Membership Viago members beneath them. Which I think is almost all of the case company-wide.