Hello! Welcome to my "Is Team National A Pyramid Scheme?" review!
Whenever we shop for various things, our attention is always caught whenever we see the word "discount" because we know that we can save money!
There are a couple of ways to do it and one of them is through Team National. It offers discount memberships. At the same time, it claims to give you a work-from-home opportunity through its MLM program.
But the question is, is it legit? Or is it a scam? Moreover, is Team National a pyramid scheme? Well, we are about to have these questions finally answered in this Team National Review! Let's get started, shall we?
Team National Review Quick Summary
Name: Team National
Website: https://www.teamnationalusa.com/
Founder: Richard Loehr
Type: Discount Membership MLM company
Price: $55 starter pack, $25 per year, $795/ $2,915 per 2 years for the discount membership and $61.95 per month
Rating: 1/5
Recommended: No
More...
What is Team National?
Let's start off this Team National Review with a brief background information about it.
Team National is a Multi-Level Marketing company that offers discount memberships. With this, people who purchase the membership enjoy discounts in certain establishments and retail stores.
Richard Loehr founded Team National in 1997 and was later on passed onto his daughter, Angelo in the year 2008. Apart from the discount memberships, Team National also offers an opportunity for people to earn money with them.
That is what we are going to discuss further in this Team National Review.
How does Team National work?
Again, Team National's product are discount memberships that people can purchase to get save money whenever they shop in certain stores.
For this to work, Team National buy products from these stores in "bulk wholesale" for them to also receive discounts. Afterwards, they offer these discounts to the members of Team National.
At the same time, Team National has a program wherein you can earn money with them. To save money in marketing and advertising, Team National has an MLM program wherein people can become its distributors.
These people are the ones who will promote and sell these discount memberships. Each of their sale earns them a commission. They can also recruit people into the program to receive bonuses.
No need to sell products or recruit anymore with this program!
Indeed, it is a lot better than MLMs! Check it out now and start earning money!
Team National Products
Team National's various products are grouped in 4 main categories. These are the following.
- Group Buying Power – allows the member to save money on various items (e.g. jewelry, home insurance, automobiles, life insurance, etc.)
- Factory-Direct Pricing – discounts on home essentials such as mattresses, flooring, appliances and many more
- Business Services – this is for business owners who want to save on payment processing, legal solutions, etc.
- Rebate Programs – provides cashback in different retail stores
There are two membership options that you can avail to enjoy these discounts.
- Standard Membership which costs $795 for 2 years
- Premium Membership, perfect for business owners and costs $2915 for 2 years
Team National's product is unique since it is rare for an MLM to offer discount membership. Most MLM companies are under the health and wellness or personal care industry such as Zurvita, Jeunesse, Vyvo and Ariix.
However, if we talk about discounts, there are a lot of ways for you to do it online and they are not even MLM companies! We have a lot of rebate websites and another discount membership company AARP, which is cheaper (costs around $16 a year!)
Knowing these alternatives, might just make you change your mind. However, Team National claims to give you an opportunity.
Can you make money with Team National?
The short answer is yes, you can make money with Team National. However, the income potential is so low that you are better off with another way of earning money.
According to Team National's 2019 Income Disclosure Statement, 98.5% of Team National's International Marketing Directors (IMD), a fancy name for its distributors, made less than $1,303 in that year.
If we take into account your total expenses in your first year which is around $1,595.40- $2,995.40 per year (I will show you later on), then that means 98.5% of MLM members will lose money.
How can you make money with Team National?
If you are still interested in making money with Team National, here is how you can do it. There are two ways for you to get paid.
- Sell the discount memberships and receive a commission from each sale
- Recruit people into the MLM program and earn commissions from their sales
Take note, you won't be paid just by recruiting people. Your recruits need to make a sale for you to earn money. If you get money by only recruiting people, Team National will be shut down by the FTC because it is a pyramid scheme.
However, there is a huge chance that Team National is a pyramid scheme in disguise. I will explain this further later on.
Are you eager to earn a 4-figure monthly income? Well, you can't do that with MLMs.
However, with this program, you can! Check it out here! No need to sell or recruit!
How to join Team National?
In order for you to join Team National and become one of its IMDs, you need to purchase the starter kit which costs $55. Moreover, there is a $25 annual membership fee.
if you wish to sell these discount memberships, Team National will encourage you to try them out first so that you will understand better how they work. And yes, you have to pay to get these memberships.
Again, the memberships run for 2 years and there are two options:
- Standard Membership: $795 (covers your immediate family)
- Or Premium Membership: $2,195 (covers some business expenses and your "extended family")
However, those are not the only expenses that you will make.
Team National Monthly Expenses
Being a Team National IMD requires you to pay for additional costs to get the more access on the company's resources.
- Success Club - $35.95/month
- TNAllAccess.com - $10/month.
- Information on Demand services for Genealogy (checking your downline) - $99/year or $9/month
- Personal Big N Marketplace website - $75/year or $7/month for members and $495 for non-members
This information is kind of "hidden" since you can't find them on Team National's website. However, with research, I was about to discover them. So in your first year with the company, your total costs is...
- $55 (Starter Kit)
- $25 (Annual Membership Fee)
- $35.95 x 12 (Success Club)
- $10 x 12 (TNAllAccess.com)
- $99 (Information on Demand services for Genealogy)
- $795- $2,195 (Discount Membership)
- $75/year (Personal Big N Marketplace website)
Total costs for the 1st year = $1,595.40- $2,995.40
Team National Compensation Plan
If you didn't notice, most MLM companies tend to make their compensation plans quite challenging to comprehend. So I will simplify Team National's Compensation Plan. There are 5 ways for you to earn money.
- Direct discount membership commissions (from the sales you make, $25 to $100)
- Residual discount membership commissions (binary compensation plan- recruiting 10 people on both of your legs makes you earn $1500. 3 points for a premium member and 1 point for a standard member. Check the diagram below.)
- Hosting bonus- (Once your downline or recruits reach 10 & 10, you earn a $1000 bonus)
- Presidential bonuses (reaching the Presidental rank gives you extra $10 to $100 bonuses for sales)
- Promotions - recruiting people awards you trips
If you still have problems understanding the compensation plan, no worries. Just remember that you have 2 main ways to earn money: sell discount memberships and recruiting people.
Also, if you haven't noticed, 4 out of 5 of the ways in the compensation plan involves recruiting! Now, that is a red flag. I shall explain later on.
Watch the video below for a more detailed explanation on the compensation plan.
Is Team National a scam?
Team National is not a scam. It has legit products and has been around in the MLM industry since 1997! And it does pay the IMDs. However, this does not mean that it is already the best work-from-home opportunity for you.
Like I said, it has a low income potential and there is a huge chance of you losing money instead of earning. Later on, I will give you the pros and cons of Team National to better help you with your decision.
Is Team National a pyramid scheme?
First of all, what is a pyramid scheme? A pyramid scheme is a business model wherein the only way you can get compensated is by recruiting people into the business. Unlike MLMs, it does not have any products for you to sell.
The FTC shut down any pyramid schemes since they are illegal and very unsustainable. Furthermore, it is almost impossible to earn money. The only ones who can benefit are the owners or the members who are at the top of the pyramid.
So the question is, "Is Team National a pyramid scheme?" Technically, it is not a pyramid scheme because obviously, it offers products. However, there is a chance of it being a pyramid scheme in disguise!
First, 4 out of 5 of the ways in the compensation plan involves recruiting. Second, its product is so much more expensive than the alternatives.
MLMs with expensive products is more likely to be a pyramid scheme in disguise because distributors are forced to recruit people to have a decent income since they find it difficult to make sales. Customers tend to choose the cheaper alternatives.
To add to that, there are hidden expenses!
Team National Pros
#1 Longevity
Most MLMs tend to not make it past 10 years. However, Team National has defied the odds! It was founded in 1997 by Dick Loehr and up until now, it is still providing its product. Angela, Dick's daughter became Team National's CEO and President in 2018.
This is a good thing since it is a sign that Team National is not a scam.
#2 No monthly sales quota to become "active"
A common thing between MLM companies are monthly sales quota that they should meet to become and remain "active". Being "active" grants them eligibility for commissions and bonuses.
Failing to do so, can result to you being suspended and you need to pay for the products yourself!
However, Team National does not have one, despite the fact that you still need to sell 2 memberships per year to be active.
#3 Positive reviews for its product
Team National has received online positive reviews about its product. Here are some of them.
#4 BBB Rating
Although Team National is not BBB accredited, it still has an impressive rating.
Team National Cons
#1 It is expensive to join
There are a lot of cheaper alternatives that can make you save money when you shop. We have hundreds of rebate and cashback websites. Moreover, AARP, which offers discount memberships also, only costs around $12! And yes, it offers similar products and benefits. Check it out below.
#2 Under a downward trend
Team National has been around for a lot of years already and that means that it is done with its momentum phase. Based on Google Trends, Team National is already under a downward trend. Meaning, less people are searching for it.
Newer MLM companies such as Farmasi are growing in popularity and are still in their momentum phase. It is easier for them to make sales compared to older ones.
Moreover, based on its income disclosure statement in 2016 and 2019, there were 48,494 IMDs in 2016, while there were only 25,420 IMDs in 2019! That is a huge decrease of the number of distributors. Yikes.
#3 Low income potential
Another thing that the income disclosure statement implies is that Team National really has a low income potential. Look at the picture above. Only 0.6% of the IMDs earned more than $14,000 in that year.
This just means that 1 out of 167 IMDs earned $1000 per month!
#4 Hidden costs
Although Team National does not have a monthly sales quota, there are still hidden costs that are not even disclosed in the website!
Moreover, the CEO, Angela even mentioned one of the hidden cost, however there is no information about it in the website. The only way to find out is by watching YouTube videos that review Team National and reading reviews.
#5 Pyramid scheme in disguise
There is enough red flags to support that Team National can be a pyramid scheme in disguise.
If it is, then it is best for you to just find another way of earning money because it is highly unlikely that you get successful with Team National! Check out the last section of this Team National Review to see my best recommendation.
Final Verdict
Let's conclude this "Is Team National A Pyramid Scheme?" review with my final verdict. Team National's product is unique for an MLM company. It has great benefits since you can save money on your shopping.
However, there are a lot of cheaper alternatives out there. As for the business opportunity, I just don't recommend it to you because, you saw that there is a very low income potential. Moreover, there are hidden costs that add up to the expensive costs that you need to meet to join!
It is also under a downward trend already, making it more difficult for you to make sales.
If you still want a work-from-home opportunity, check out my recommendation below!
Thank you so much for reading my "Is Team National A Pyramid Scheme?" If you have any questions or comments about it, feel free to leave them in the comments section below!
This is How I Make Money from Home!
A better way to earn money online or from home than MLMs is affiliate marketing. In fact, it is how I make a monthly income of over $4k! It is simple.
Affiliate marketing is a business model wherein you promote products and earn a commission from your sales.
Yes, it is similar to an MLM. However, there are no expenses that you need to pay for! No products, fees, nothing. Apart from that, no recruiting is involved.
I highly recommend doing affiliate marketing with your own website because it is more rewarding. This is a great way of earning a passive income.
If you wish to learn more, click on the buitton below to receive my training! Don't miss this opportunity now!