A few days ago, you got approached by a Surge365 Business Associate, either face to face or online…
He told you that if you like earning money while traveling for cheap then you will love Surge365 and the “amazing business opportunity” it offers.
Now, we all know how ecstatic the majority of people nowadays, especially Millenials, become when they are presented with an opportunity that will allow them to trot the globe while earning thousands of dollars per month.
Unfortunately, most of such opportunities are not as awesome as presented especially when the companies offering them employ the MLM business model just like Surge365 does!
Thankfully, you’ve heard your fair share of MLM horror stories and you can’t stop wondering if Surge365 is a legit MLM company or just a scammy pyramid scheme like those who just suck people’s money along with their time without actually delivering any of the results they promise.
Well, this is your lucky day!
In this review, I am going to cover every single aspect of Surge365, such as
- What is Surge365 about?
- Is Surge365 a scam? A pyramid scheme maybe? Or a legit MLM company?
- How to join Surge365 as a Business Associate?
- How much does it cost to join Surge365?
- Pros and cons of joining Surge365
- Surge365’s compensation plan
- Can you really make money with Surge365, and if yes, how much?
- and much more
In addition, I am going to let you know about a couple of alternative money-making opportunities.
This way, you’ll have every piece of information you might possibly need to make an informed decision about whether Surge365 is worth your time and attention or if you’d better invest in a more legit and promising program.
Let’s get cracking!
Surge365 MLM Overview
Company Name: Surge365
Owners:
- Coach Tomer (Co-founder)
- Scott Tomer (Co-founder & CEO)
- Chris Cokley (Co-founder & President)
- Duane Vancil (Co-CEO)
Price to join:
- $19.95 per month (Business Associate fee
Official Website: surge365.com
Suggested? Not Realy…
Increase your chances of reaching success in multi-level marketing by following a dedicated MLM course.
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- Free Replicated Website
- Affordable to Join
- MLM Business Model
- Complicated Compensation Plan
- Very Low Income Potential
- Pricey Products
Before I move on to the actual Surge365 MLM review, I want to reveal to you some statistics about the MLM business model that will probably SHOCK you to your very core.
10 Shocking MLM Statistics
- According to FTC, 99% of all MLM participants lose money
- The chances of profiting by running your own small business are 38% more than by joining an MLM
- The profitability rate of running an online business is 10% - 20% higher than the profitability rate of joining an MLM
- The odds of winning from a single spin of the wheel in a game of roulette in Las Vegas could be as much as 300 times higher than actually profiting in an MLM
- According to AARP Foundation, 47% of MLM participants lose money and 27% make no money whatsoever
- Among the 26% who actually earn a profit, 53% of them earn less than $5000 a year
- 39% of MLM participants quit because pitching crappy products and services to friends and family jeopardized their relationships
- At least 50% of MLM reps quit within 1 year after joining an MLM and 95% quit within 10 years
- 75% of those who have joined and left an MLM state that they would never join another MLM in their life
- A 2018 poll of 1049 MLM reps across various companies found that most of them make less than 70 cents an hour, 20% of them never made a sale, 60% of them had earned less than $500 in sales over the past five years, and 32% of them acquired credit card debt to finance their MLM involvement
…until you’ve taken a good look at these shocking MLM statistics.
What is Surge365 About?
Surge365 is an MLM company that operates in the travel industry.
The company basically provides access to a platform called “Vortex” that allows people to get discounts on hotels, rentals, cruises, flights, and other travel services.
Surge365 was launched in 2015 by Coach Tomer, Scott Tomer, and Chris Cokley.
Coach and Scott Tomer (father & son) used to own another travel MLM company called YTB International which was launched in 2001.
In August 2008 California Attorney General Jerry Brown sued YTB for $25 million for operating as a pyramid scheme as well as for using deceptive marketing practices.
According to Jerry Brown, during 2007, out of the company’s 200.000 total Travel Agents, 45.000 earned an average of about $90, 37.000 earned less than $39, and 125.000 earned nothing at all.
Around the same time, several former YTB Travel Agents filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company claimed to sell travel services, but its main business was really recruiting other travel agents.
The BBB (Better Business Bureau) indicated that 80% of YTB revenue came from the recruitment of new Travel Agents who were earning an average of $111 per year, almost $400 less than the initial $499 sign-up price.
In 2013, YTB filed for bankruptcy, got sold to Jamraval, Inc. and was reorganized under the name YTB Global Travel.
You can find out more about YTB, its history, and lawsuits right here.
While the fact that YTB International was a pyramid scheme doesn’t prove that Surge365 is a pyramid scheme as well, the sketchy past of Surge365’s founders is a pretty huge red alert.
The fact that Surge365 is still in cooperation with YTB, calling it “The most successful host agency in the travel industry” makes the entire situation even more suspicious so make sure to take all the claims the company makes about being able to make you financially free with a grain of salt.
According to Surge365, its mission is to place 10.000 families on the path to financial freedom by the year 2020 by helping them
- Earn more
- Travel more
- and Save more
I am not really sure how the company is going to achieve such feat especially when you take into consideration that according to its Income Disclosure Statement, 66% of all its Business Associates earned no income during 2017 while 97% of those who actually made an income (2800 people) made no more than $650 during that same year.
Anyway, you can find a lot more about Surge365, its founders, products, policies, opportunity, etc on the company’s official website.
Surge365's Products & Prices
Surge365’s product is called Vortex.
Vortex is a travel portal which locates discounts for travel-related services such as
- Hotels
- Flights
- Rentals
- Weekly Stays
- Activities
- etc
People can join and locate discounts on Vortex for free through the replicated signup page of an already existing Vortex Travel Agent.
When people book travel through a Travel Agent’s Vortex website, a percentage of the amount of money those people save will land into the pocket of that referring Travel Agent.
For instance, if you are a Travel Agent and your sister gets a $200 discount on a $1000 hotel booking through your Vortex website, you’ll earn 50% of the total discount your sister got which equals $100.
Vortex might be free to use but free Vortex members can only use the portal to locate discounts.
If someone wants to earn money as a Vortex Travel Agent by offering travel discounts to other people for free, they will have to purchase the Vortex Platinum that costs a one-time, initial fee of $499 plus $63.54 per month.
Vortex Platinum also provides access to YTB Travel Network (The previous company Surge365’s founders used to own). YTB Travel Network is also a portal through which people can locate travel discounts, travel packages, book group vacations, etc.
Surge365 offers two more products with lower initial fees,
the Vortex:
- $199 initial fee
- $63.54 per month
and the Vortex Membership:
- $299 initial fee
- 63.54 per month
Neither Vortex nor Vortex Membership offers the ability to earn money as a Vortex Travel Agent or access to YTB Travel Network so I can’t see a reason why someone would even bother purchasing either of them in the first place…
The video below sheds a little bit more light on how Vortex works so make sure to watch it before you move any further.
Surge365 Business Associate
Compensation Plan
The majority of MLM companies have so overly complicated compensation plans that it feels like you need to have a rocket scientist doctorate to understand just their first paragraph.
Surge365’s compensation plan is no exception… In fact, it’s one of the most unnecessarily complicated compensation plans I’ve come across until now…
Nonetheless, I’ll try my best to get you up to speed.
Surge365 compensates its Business Associates in 11 different ways…
- Surge365 SBA
- Team Builder Level Bonuses
- Fast Start Bonuses
- $10.000 Bonus
- Regional Team Builder Level Bonuses
- National Team Builder Level Bonuses
- The 100% Match
- Team Builder Generation Commissions
- Director Generation Commissions
- Director Program
- $500 Guarantee Program
1 • Surge365 SBA
Earn commissions for every Vortex product you sell:
- Vortex – $15
- Vortex Membership – $15
- Vortex Platinum – $30
2 • Team Builder Level Bonuses
To qualify for the Team Builder Level Bonuses, you first have to reach the Team Builder rank.
To become a Team Builder you have to gather 14 points. Those points are gathered through your own personal sales or the sales of other Business Associates on your team.
At least 6 of those 14 points must come from your own personal sales.
- Vortex = 1 point
- Vortex Membership = 1 point
- Vortex Platinum = 2 points
If you accumulate 6 points through your own personal sales during your first 30 days as an SBA (Surge365 Business Associate), you are automatically promoted to Team Builder.
After you make your 3rd personal Vortex sale, you become Qualified to Override (QTO).
As long as you remain QTO, you earn an additional $20 for every Vortex Platinum sale, $10 for Vortex Membership sales and $5 on Vortex sales made within your Team Builder Group (Personal sales & sales made by the SBAs in your group who have not yet become Team Builders).
Lastly, after you reach the rank of Team Builder you’ll earn $1000 bonus for every 14 points you gather either through personal Vortex sales or by SBAs in your Team Builder Group who have not yet reached the Team Builder level.
3 • Fast Start Bonuses
You will receive a $150 Fast Start Bonus when you personally make a total of 3 Vortex sales of any product during your first 8 days as an SBA.
In addition, you will receive a $1000 Fast Start Bonus when you generate a total of 14 points through personal Vortex sales dueing your first 30 days as an SBA.
4 • $10.000 Bonus
Each time your Team Builder Group grows by 100 active sales, you will earn a $10.000 Bonus.
Active sales = Vortex, Vortex Membership, and Vortex Platinum customers who are paying their monthly subscription fee or are qualified for the 3 & Free.
To qualify for this bonus you must have 100 active sales in your Team Builder Group at the end of any given month.
To actually earn the bonus you’ll have to maintain at least 100 active sales until the last day of the following month.
Your bonus will then be paid on the 11th day of the next month.
For instance, if you achieve 100 sales in your Team Builder Group on March 31st you get qualified for the bonus.
In order to receive the $10.000 bonus you’ll have to maintain at least 100 active sales until the 30th of April.
The $10.000 bonus will be paid on May 11th.
5 • Regional Team Builder Level Bonuses
Once you reach the rank of Regional Team Builder and for as long as you remain QTO, you earn an additional
- $20 on Vortex Platinum sales
- $10 on Vortex Membership sales
- and $5 on Vortex sales
made in your Regional Team Builder group by you or your team.
Furthermore, you’ll earn an additional
- $20 on Vortex Platinum sales
- $10 on Vortex Membership sales
- and $5 on Vortex sales
made by SBAs who report to Team Builders within your Regional Team Group.
Lastly, you’ll earn up to $100 more on the $1000 Fast Start Bonus and up to $2000 more on the $10.000 Bonus.
6 • National Team Builder Level Bonuses
Once you reach the rank of National Team Builder and for as long as you remain QTO, you earn an additional
- $20 on Vortex Platinum sales
- $10 on Vortex Membership sales
- and $5 on Vortex sales
made in your National Team Builder group.
Lastly, you’ll earn an additional $100 on the $1000 Fast Start Bonus and an additional $2000 on the $10.000 Bonus.
7 • The 100% Match
As long as you are QTO, you will earn a 100% Match on the Team Builder Commissions earned by all your personally sponsored SBAs.
For example, if one of your personally sponsored Team Builder SBAs earns $20, you earn $20.
Additionally, the 100% Match also applies to the $2.00 Team Builder Residual commissions paid from the monthly subscription fee of Vortex customers.
8 • Team Builder Generation Commissions
Earn a $2 commission through the active monthly Vortex subscriptions up to 6 Generations of Team Builders deep.
A Team Builder Generation starts when one of your SBAs starts their own Team Builder Group by sponsoring a new SBA.
This Team Builder Group is considered your 1st Team Builder Generation.
When an SBA on your 1st Generation starts their Team Builder Group, that Group is considered your 2nd Team Builder Generation, and so on.
In addition, you’ll earn commissions based on the initial fee of Vortex products sold by Team Builders on your Generations 1 – 6.
- Vortex – $2.50
- Vortex Membership – $5
- Vortex Platinum – $10
9 • Director Generation Commissions
Earn a $2 commission from the active monthly Vortex subscriptions of customers of up to 3 Generations of Marketing Directors deep.
A Director Generation starts when one of your SBAs reaches the rank of Marketing Director.
This Marketing Director is considered your 1st Director Generation.
When an SBA on your 1st Director Generation becomes a Marketing Director they are considered your 2nd Director Generation, and so on.
In addition, you’ll earn commissions based on the initial fee of Vortex products sold by Marketing Directors on your 1st through 3rd Generations.
- Vortex – $2.50
- Vortex Membership – $5
- Vortex Platinum – $10
10 • Director Program
Once you reach the rank of Marketing Director, you can start qualifying for the Director Program which includes
- Monthly Paycheck
- Car Program
- Presidential Rolex
- The Million Dollar Bonus
To start qualifying for the Director Program you’ll have to have 250 active Vortex sales in your organization with no more than one-third coming from any one leg (a leg is a personally sponsored SBA and their team).
Further details about the Director Program are provided as you approach it and can also be found in your Surge365 back office.
11 • $500 Guarantee Program
Earn $500 every month that your team grows by at least 1 SBA if you meet the following qualifications:
- Become QTO
- Help 3 personally enrolled members qualify for 3 & Free
- Help 9 members that your personally enrolled members have recruited qualify for 3 & Free
You can study Surge365’s full compensation plan right here (good luck).
Please note that Surge365’s compensation plan might undergo changes from time to time so by the time you read this review, some of the info, the commission rates, the rank qualifications, etc that I shared with you right above might not be that accurate.
If you still have questions about Surge365’s compensation plan, you can contact the company’s support team through the contact form of the company’s official website or by calling them at (618) 655 2431
Or you could email me at harry@dearboss-iquit.com and I will do my best to help you out.
Surge365 Business Associate
Ranks & Qualifications
SBA:
- Sign up as a Business Associate
Team Builder:
- Gather 14 points through your own personal sales or the sales of other Business Associates on your team
- At least 6 of those 14 points must come from your own personal sales
- Or accumulate 6 points through your own personal sales during your first 30 days as an SBA
Regional Team Builder:
- Earn 5 $1000 Team Builder Bonuses
- Or gather 70 Team Builder points
National Team Builder:
- Earn 15 $1000 Team Builder Bonuses
- Or gather 210 Team Builder points
- Or have a total of 167 balanced credits towards the Marketing Director position (no clue what that means)
Marketing Director Levels 1 – 8:
- Surge365 doesn’t reveal any information about the qualifications towards reaching the Marketing Director Levels
How to Join Surge365 as a Business Associate?
You can only join Surge365 as a Business Associate through another SBA’s replicated website.
On this replicated website there’s a video presenting Surge365’s “business opportunity” and products. The video is presented by Surge365’s founder Scott Tomer so as you can imagine it is extremely biased.
Anyway, in order to become a Business Associate, click on the “Get Positioned Today” button. Then click on “Would you like to be an SBA only?” and after that click “Next”.
Fill in the application form and click “Next” again.
Agree to the company’s Policies and Procedures and Income Disclosure Statement and hit “Next”.
Lastly, fill in your payment information, click “Complete Purchase” and voila!
You are a Surge365 Business Associate.
How Much Does It Cost to Join Surge365 as a Business Associate?
The cost to join Surge365 as a Business Associate is $19.95 per month.
Once you become an SBA you’ll get your hands on the following:
- Online Back Office (tools, reports, and communications to manage your customers and business)
- Surge365 Mobile App
- Taxbot app (mileage and expense tracker)
- Free replicated website
- Self Development Workshops
- Mobile Coaching
There are no further monthly qualifications, minimum sales quotas or extra expenses in order for you to remain active and qualified for commissions.
If in addition to selling Vortex products you want to earn money as a Vortex Travel Agent yourself, you’ll have to purchase Vortex Platinum at $499 (one-time payment) plus $63.54 per month.
Is Surge365 a Pyramid Scheme?
Most of the time it’s very hard to distinguish between a legit MLM company and a pyramid scheme.
The video below will help you understand how to spot and avoid pyramid schemes in general.
The main difference between an MLM and a pyramid scheme is that MLMs give you the opportunity to earn commissions by selling actual products or services to retail customers while with a pyramid scheme the only way to earn money is by recruiting other people into the scheme.
Not all MLMs are legitimate. If the money you make through an MLM is based on your sales to the public, it may be a legitimate one. If the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, it’s not legit. It’s a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal, and the vast majority of their participants lose money. – Federal Trade Commission
Surge365 is not a pyramid scheme.
First of all, Surge365 pays you commissions by selling its Vortex products to customers.
In addition, the company compensates neither SBAs nor their upline based on the personal purchases or the monthly fees of the SBAs on their downline.
All Surge365’s team commissions and bonuses are calculated based upon actual Vortex sales you or team members on your downline make.
However, be aware that the amount of commissions Surge365 pays out per personal sale is way too small (just $30 out of each $499 Vortex Platinum sale which is actually only 6%).
It’s pretty obvious that to be able to build a substantial income as an SBA, you’ll have to actually focus on building a team of other SBAs who will be actively selling Vortex products to other customers.
Surge365 Pros
- Free Replicated Website
- Affordable to Join
1 • Free Replicated Website
Once you join Surge365 as a Business Associate, the company provides you with a free replicated website.
When people purchase a Vortex membership through your replicated website, you earn a fixed amount of money depending on which Vortex membership they signed up for…
In addition, if someone signs up as a Business Associate through your replicated website you automatically become their sponsor, and they become part of your downline.
If marketed the right way, this replicated e-shop could help you maximize your retail customers and recruits and thus your income.
If your business is not on the internet, then your business will be out of business – Bill Gates
2 • Affordable to Join
Joining Surge365 as a Business Partner costs $19.95 per month.
This is pretty affordable compared to other MLM companies that require hundreds and maybe even thousands of dollars of initial investment to join them as an independent distributor.
To give you a frame of reference, in order to become a Distributor for an MLM called Enagic Kangen Water you need to purchase one of its products and the cheapest one costs $1980.
While $19.95 per month is an affordable price to join an MLM, you can create an online business with just about the same money.
As I already mentioned, the profitability and success rate of running an online business is a lot higher than being an MLM rep. In addition, you won’t have to make direct sales or recruit other people, no maintaining stock, no talking with angry and disappointed customers, etc.
I am now paying $24.90 per month at Wealthy Affiliate which is a platform that provides all the training, tools, and support you might need to go from zero to earning a full-time income online.
Hundreds of people have found enormous success after joining Wealthy Affiliate and you could be the next one.
You can actually join and test-drive Wealthy Affiliate for free (no credit card required) to see for yourself what the platform has to offer.
Surge365 Cons
- MLM Business Model
- Complicated Compensation Plan
- Very Low Income Potential
- Pricey Products
1 • MLM Business Model
As mentioned earlier, I am not at all fond of the MLM business model in general for many reasons…
First of all, the percentage of MLM participants who never actually make a profit is awfully high (74% – 99%).
In addition, the majority of those who do manage to make a profit, don’t earn more than $5000 per year (most of the time they earn a lot less).
Secondly, I hate selling…
And thirdly, I’ve heard so many stories of people losing all their friends, family, and money due to the pushy and sleazy practices they were being taught by their “mentors” that I have become repulsed by the MLM business model in general.
Being involved in an MLM is just not worth the trouble in my mind.
Especially when there exist other much more legit ways of building a substantial income without having to turn into a sleazy salesperson jeopardizing your relationships with those around you because you can’t stop perceiving them as walking bags of cash.
2 • Complicated Compensation Plan
QTOs, points, builder groups, fast start bonuses, generations, various percentages and commissions, legs, different ranks and qualifications, blah, blah, blah…
A person who is newly introduced to the MLM business model doesn’t stand a chance of really grasping exactly how Surge365 is going to compensate them as a Business Associate.
This is no random occurrence though…
MLM companies make their compensation plans so complicated on purpose to “confuse” people into joining them.
It’s called “Complexity Bias” and it’s the tendency of people to trust complex concepts more than simple ones.
Marketers use complexity bias all the time to boost the sales of a product/service by incorporating confusing language or insignificant details into its packaging or sales copy.
MLM companies do the exact same thing with their compensation plans to get more people to join them.
You can read more about complexity bias right here.
3 • Very Low income Potential
Income Disclosure Statements are a double-edged sword…
On one hand, the majority of MLM companies never publish an IDS probably because they want to keep the low income their reps earn hidden.
On the other hand, all Income Disclosure Statements I’ve come across until now reveal the exact same thing… That the vast majority of MLM reps never actually make any profit and those who do make a profit, would have to throw an additional couple of bucks on top of it to buy a pizza.
Unfortunately, Surge365’s Income Disclosure Statement tells the exact same story…
The average income for all Surge365 Business Associates, whether inactive or active, during 2017 was $491.44
- 65.97% earned no income
- 76.22% earned an average of $32.66
- 21.89% earned an average of $646.40
- 1.49% earned an average of $6835.90
- and the remaining 0.4% actually earned more than $25k
You can take a look at Surge365’s IDS right here.
I don’t know about you but in my eyes, instead of investing $20 per month in a Company with such an awful income potential, you could purchase $20 worth of food and feed the homeless.
This way, you’ll have done a good deed while saving the time end energy you would waste trying to build an income with Surge365.
4 • Pricey Products
Surge365’s Vortex products are undeniably pricey.
Their initial fees are kinda normal but the monthly fee of $63.54 stings quite a lot, especially if you consider that Vortex and Vortex Membership are 100% worthless.
And I can’t see why would someone in the right mind want to invest $500 + $64 per month (almost $800 per year) to start a “travel agency” based on Vortex Platinum which is a product provided by an MLM company while they might as well create a profitable online travel business of their own much cheaper with
- Wealthy Affiliate (free to join, $49 per month, $234 for six months, $359 per year, $299 per year – Black Friday deal)
- Project 24 ($449 for the first year and then $199 per year)
Beats me…
Surge 365 MLM Review Summary
Income
Potential
66% of all Surge365 Business Associates earned no income whatsoever during 2017.
Resources
Free replicated website, back office, marketing materials, training.
Price
Joining Surge365 as a Business Associate costs $19.95 per month. $499 + $63.54 per month to start a Travel Agency.
Legitimacy
Surge365 is NOT a pyramid scheme. The past of the company’s founders is extremely sketchy.
Overall Rating
Is Surge365 Suggested?
I wouldn’t suggest joining Surge365 as a Business Associate for many reasons.
First and foremost, according to the company’s Income Disclosure Statement, the vast majority of its Business Associates earn no money.
98% of those who do earn money, earn so little that they can barely cover their membership fees and other business expenses.
In addition, Surge365 is creating way too much hype around its “business opportunity”.
Quoting Surge365:
Surge365 is a fun, simple, “anywhere-based” business that you can do from home, your office, the beach, or even from your smartphone. $1000 and $10.000 Bonuses paid thru Infinity!
As it seems Surge365 tries to appeal to people’s dreams of making money while working from anywhere and any time they want while claiming that they will earn “unlimited” $1000 and $10.000 Bonuses paid through “Infinity” (whatever that means).
However, not a single of all those claims is ever likely to actually take place.
Nope, you won’t end up sipping cocktails on a beach in Hawai while earning tens of thousands of dollars by working for 10 minutes per day through your smartphone…
Surge365 is making such unrealistic claims just to mislead people into joining it and its IDS proves this.
In fact, Surge365’s travel-themed MLM business opportunity has really nothing to do with travel.
If you thought that as Surge365’s Business Associate you will be getting free travel or discounted travel or paid to travel then you are dead wrong. To earn money as an SBA you’ll have to sell Vortex products to other people… That’s it… Nothing more, nothing less…
Then, you can use the money you earn through your sales to go on vacation just like you would do with the money you’d earn from a regular job.
Besides all that, the most alarming aspect of Surge365 is the sketchy past of 2 of its founders, Coach and Scott Tomer.
Coach and Scott had founded another MLM company back in 2001, YTB International, which was sued multiple times about operating as a pyramid scheme. The company eventually bankrupted and got sold.
The worst part is that Surge365 still cooperates with YTB and it actually calls it “The most successful host agency in the travel industry” something that makes me very suspicious about Coach and Scott still having a vested interest in YTB.
Would you really want to invest your time and money in such a “business opportunity”?
If so, then well, you have my blessing!
If not, make sure to check out a better money-making opportunity right here.
