Let me guess, you found a seemingly good business opportunity, but you wonder, Is SFI A Scam? If you came across my site to find the answers, you’ve come to the right place.
In my SFI Marketing Group review, I’ll cover the below topics to help you make up your mind.
- What Is SFI Marketing Group?
- Who Is The Founder of SFI Marketing Group?
- Ways To Make Money With SFI Marketing Group
- SFI Compensation Plan
- Who Is SFI Marketing Group For?
- SFI Marketing Group Pros & Cons
- Is SFI Marketing Group A Scam?
Without further ado, let’s dive deep.
Disclaimer: As the owner of Smileaffiliatesuccess.com, I have tracked down special deals for products, tools, and services mentioned herein. When you click my affiliate links on this page to make a purchase, I may get a small commission, and you will definitely get a great bargain. This is a win-win advantage for both of us.
What Is SFI Marketing Group?
-Summary of SFI-
Product Name: SFI or SFI Marketing Group
Founders: Gery Carson
Product Type: An MLM(multi-level marketing) Business Opportunity
Price: Free to join + extra costs
Recommend: No
SFI or SFI Marketing Group is a platform that helps you make money online by promoting the same platform to others, and it works like an MLM business.
The business comes from selling overpriced products and receiving monthly recurring commissions, depending on how much each affiliate sells from their shop and how many downlines people refer to the system.
I don’t know about you, but I hate recruiting. So, this is not my cup of tea. Let me share more details right below, so you can be the judge yourself to make better decisions.
Who Is The Founder of SFI?
Gery Carson is the founder of SFI Marketing Group, which s a division of Carson Services inc. SFI is the marketing arm of TripleClicks, Rewardical, Astro Auctions, etc.
Gery launched SFI in 1998 and has run the business for over two decades. According to BBB(Better Business Bureau), the company was accredited in 2000 and held an A+ rating.
Inside SFI
Once you sign up with SFI for free, you’ll get access to the SFI Affiliate Center and the homepage. When you first log in, you will get a welcome letter from your sponsor(upline) telling you how SFI works and what to do.
You will be placed in a position as a Power Line of members. To keep your position, you must upgrade to the Executive Affiliate membership within the first 30 days.
They will give you a website to promote SFI to recruit new members under you. And if you sell more products from your stores, you will make more affiliate commissions every month.
?Pro Tip: How I Start A Blog?
Ways To Make Money With SFI
1. VersaPoints
There are 100,000+ products in TripleClicks.com, an online marketplace. You can accumulate VersaPoints by selling products on TripleClicks, and what you need to do is to sell as many products as you can. The more you sell, the more you will earn.
2. TripleClicks
Every time you refer someone to purchase products on TripleClicks, you will get a 45% of the commission. Your referrals stay with you forever once you are an active SFI affiliate. Meaning you can create a recurring commission for a lifetime.
3. Recruiting
Since SFI works like an MLM, recruiting people under you is inevitable to maximize your earning potential.
SFI’s Versa Point Matching program makes you earn the same amount whenever your referrals earn VersaPoints, motivating you to recruit as many downlines as possible.
4. Vendor Referrals
As an SFI affiliate, you can refer vendors to TripleClicks to earn commissions. And once you’ve referred a vendor, they become your customer for life! There is no limit to how many commissions you can make.
5. Executive Pool 2.0
At the end of every month, the company will calculate the CV(commission volume) for all sales, and then 50% of this total CV amount goes into the Executive Pool for affiliates to share.
6. T-Credit Bonuses
You earn T-credit bonuses based on your rank. The higher the rank, the more T-credits you’ll make. You can use T-credits for various sites of Carson Services Inc. or transfer to your downlines.
SFI Compensation Plan
There are mainly two ways to make money with SFI: direct commission and income from recruiting. If you turn yourself into a full-time sales manager and a recruiting machine, it’s highly possible to make money with SFI.
Here are five ways to make commissions inside SFI:
- Referral Rewards: refer an affiliate, member, or vendor to make commissions
- Direct Commissions: Earn up to 50% of the Commission Volume on all purchases by your downlines
- Co-Sponsor Commissions: Earn up to 10% of the CV on all purchases by your Co-Sponsored Affiliates
- Generation Override Commissions: Earn up to 5% CV overrides on people that the affiliates in your group refer, and it goes down to 12 generations of affiliates.
- Rewardical Matches: Earn 1 RT for every 10 RTs earned by your personally sponsored affiliates, members, and vendors
Who Is SFI For?
People are dead serious about making money online through an MLM business opportunity. If you are looking for overnight success or a get-rich-quick scheme, SFI is not for you. Don’t give up on hopes now.
GPT sites are good to start turning your online activities into a few bucks, and it’s possible to make $20-$50 by reading emails, watching videos, downloading apps, or completing online surveys.
If you are talking about making $200+ per month, an online business is what you need to get what you want. Wealthy Affiliate teaches me everything I need and helps me make a stable online income. TRUST ME! If I can do this, you can make it too.
Ugly Truth About SFI
TOP#1 You Need To Upgrade
Although it’s free to join SFI, you need to upgrade to the Executive Affiliate membership to keep your status and commissions.
TOP#2 The Cost Piles Up!
Once you upgrade to Executive Affiliate membership, you also need to pay for website hosting, T-Credits, gift cards, and other costs to maintain your status inside the platform.
Even if you pay for it, it doesn’t give you any income guarantee. You still need to put in hard work, patience, and persistence to work it through. If you are a newbie, this is quite a challenge!
TOP#3 Online Complaints
Before jumping into SFI, I managed to find what actual SFI members have to say about it. Look what I found:
The major complaints are users didn’t get the money from what they earned, SFI refused to refund, and a low-income potential. I hope those help you make better decisions.
What I Liked About SFI
TOP#1 It’s Free to Join
Yes, you can join SFI to learn an internet income course for FREE, including PPC(Pay-Per-Click) marketing, internet marketing, and advertising strategies.
At least, you trade your time for some general knowledge.
TOP#2 Potential to Make Money
While I see SFI as an MLM business opportunity, making money with the system is still possible if you sit in the top 1-2% of affiliates. Meaning the rest lose money in the long run.
Is SFI A Scam?
No, SFI is not a scam. It’s an MLM business opportunity, but this is not my top pick for making money online.
Unlike SFI Marketing Group, I prefer to start a blog running an affiliate marketing business. If you don’t know about affiliate marketing, let me explain.
Affiliate marketing allows you to promote others’ products without creating your own, so you won’t have a stockpiling issue like any MLM business. (Nu Skin, Park Lane Jewelry, or Modere)
You can write reviews for products that meet your expectations and are helpful for other affiliate marketers. By implementing good SEO & keyword research, you can rank your articles higher on the SERP so that people can land on your site ahead of others.
They may purchase the products through your affiliate links if they like your sharing. Here come your earning potentials.
I know I’ve made the process sound easier than done, but it takes a lot of hard work, time, and patience to see positive results.
The online income won’t fall on your lap without doing anything on your side. The more you are willing to put into your site, the more you stand to earn with it.
If you want to escape the rat race and kiss your boss goodbye, feel free to check my alternative to make money online right below.
Alternative Program(My Favorite)
You can get all affiliate marketing at a $49 monthly membership fee or $495 yearly. An alternative I do recommend is Wealthy Affiliate(WA).
- When you are doing your training courses, you get to know Kyle & Carson, the founders of Wealthy Affiliate. They are both down-to-earth guys that make WA always over-deliver and under-promise.
- Wealthy Affiliate is an affiliate marketing education platform with training courses, powerful tools & features(one keyword research tool included), and the 24/7 support you need to maintain your affiliate marketing business.
- At Wealthy Affiliate, we won’t give you false and misleading claims to make you think it’s easy to make money online. We all know things won’t go in that direction.
- You are not restricted to promoting the product from one specific company, and you can promote any niche you are passionate about with the related products or services.
- You don’t need to pay for the upsells provided to know how the affiliate marketing system works. You can get it instantly from Wealthy Affiliate when you first start.
- Wealthy Affiliate offers a 7-day FREE trial without the credit card details required. If this is not your cup of tea after seven days, you won’t lose a penny from your pocket. I will also be your coach & advisor for your online business, so see you soon on the other side.
- There are many WA success stories on the internet, and I am sure you can find a lot with one simple Google search. I’ve handpicked the most inspiring ones in the next paragraph, so enjoy them.
You are more than welcome to check my full Wealthy Affiliate review HERE, or click the button right below to start your online journey with us.
Wealthy Affiliate Income Proof
Here are some most active members from Wealthy Affiliate. They generated a sustainable income to replace their 9-5 jobs. You are more than welcome to check their stories HERE.
- I Made Over $1 Million With Affiliate Marketing.
- Can someone make a full time income promoting WA? You bet they can!
- What Does $1000 Per Day Look Like?$
- 40,000 In One Weekend
- A Very Humbling $12,803.26 Month – August Progress Report
- It’s Getting Better: $500+ in 2 Days
- Newbies Pay Attention! $5,195.20 Affiliate Check for June: Thanks WA!
- Joined the 10K Per Month Club. January Earnings $13,481.39
- New Record: $1,300+ Per DAY! Affiliate Marketing Works & Rocks!
- Made $7,395 in a WEEK: First Black Friday Results!
I hope you enjoy this review, and you are more than welcome to share ideas or leave your comments below. I will reply as soon as I can, thanks.
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Thanks, Matt for your insightful SFI review. After a closer look, it looks indeed like a typical MLM scheme, so I don’t understand why they call themselves Affiliate network? Anyway, the fact that you need to pay in order to stay active is really discouraging. As these payments may grow to almost unbelievable $10k, as from the screenshot you provided, I think it shows that this type of opportunity is not suitable almost for no one. Your recommendation looks much better and it is a beginner (no big budget) friendly. Cheers
Hi Julius,
I hope this review helps you well. In the MLM business, only the top 1-2% who sit on the highest-ranking make the most earnings. For the rest, they end up losing more money than they can make.
My recommendation, Wealthy Affiliate is an online platform where people can find lots of useful resources to start a blog running an affiliate marketing business. It taught me everything and I make a stable online income now. If I can do this, everyone can make it. đ
Cheers,
Matt
Hey Matt,
I too do not like having to recruit people to come to buy and sell a product they may end up feeling like I âscammedâ them when they donât end up making money.
I donât like Multi-Level Marketing because the way that old and new members would make money is only if they are able to recruit other people. That would be very time-consuming and stressful.
And the fact that SFI products are overpriced is not encouraging at all.
I know that the SFI program is not a scam but the truth is that itâll take too much work for an average person to earn a sustainable income through their model. So I’d rather just stay away.
Thank you for this review.
Cheers,
Femi.
Hi Femi,
Yes, recruiting is something I find myself unfamiliar with, so this is not my cup of tea. I would instead try something else to make money online, such as affiliate marketing.
The success rate of any MLM business is close to 0.5-2%, and only those who sit on the top rankings make money. For the rest, it’s hard to recoup the investment, let alone make profits. People should do more online research to know what’s inside each platform and make better decisions.
Cheers,
Matt
Sounds like SFI is something to avoid. Though not a scam appears that there are too many issues with having to pay too much in order to receive very little. I think affiliate marketing is probably the way to go. Yes, a little time, effort, and money are to be expected but if done right you can reap rewards and earn money while youâre sleeping. Anyone would like that. I do!
Hi Martine,
Thanks for your comment. I hope this review helps you well. đ I am glad you agree that affiliate marketing is the best way to start making money online. It’s not overnight success nor a get-rich-quick scheme, but you surely can make money through blogging if you don’t give up.
I joined Wealthy Affiliate in 2019 without any knowledge and skills, but I’ve leveraged it to make a stable online income now. If I can do this, everyone can make it.
Matt
It looks like in theory, one could earn high commissions with SFI, but recruiting and selling overpriced products is not my cup of tea either. I’m no fan of MLMs.
Although you say it’s not a scam, it’s a legitimate MLM business, the complaints you shared here make the company look suspiciously like a scam. Each complaint is about money that SFI didn’t pay them, about having to invest a lot but not getting anything or very little back. And then there was the suspended account due to a Paypal dispute … it looks fishy. With such negative reviews, I wonder how they get people to sign up …
Hi Christine,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment. I hope this helps you make a better decision. đ Most people join a platform like SFI with a hope to make money overnight, and once they find out it’s not possible, they leave SFI and never come back. Even if you stay with SFI, you still need to recruit people under your team and teach them to do the same…which is not my thing.
I prefer to start a blog running an affiliate marketing business with quality content about my passions to feel like sharing my hobbies with my readers instead of work.
Cheers,
Matt
Hey Matt,
Thanks for the review! I’m always cautious about MLMs due to the requirement to sell – I find it has the opposite effect and pushes people away. Rather than drawing them in… It also sounds like you get stuck selling SFI on, which might not interest everyone.
I would personally have the freedom to choose a topic that I’m interested in, like a hobby. Which sounds like Affiliate Marketing does allow me to do that?
Thanks
Hi John,
Yes, People don’t like MLMs for many reasons. The first one is overpriced products and the second is recruitment. I know I don’t fit into the industry, so I am never interested. However, I’ve seen my friends make lots of money with Nu Skin, so it’s still possible.
Affiliate marketing is my top pick if you don’t like MLMs but still like to try making money online. Yes, you can start a blog with a topic that you love sharing, like your hobby. By doing that, it will be more fun and interesting instead of work.
Matt
Hi Matt,
Thank you for introducing me to the SFI MLM program. I don’t like MLM either as I am not a fan of recruiting people either. And I don’t like companies that ask you to sell products at high prices. It is just an uphill battle. Even if they are legit, I will pass.
I agree with your alternative choice, Wealthy Affiliate. I know they are a legitimate company and have loads of testimonials to prove it. And you won’t invest tons of money getting your business going.
Thanks for giving everyone the “heads up” on SFI.
Hi Chas,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment. I hope this review helps you well. I am also like you, not a fan of MLM, and hate recruiting. I am glad to see you are in the same boat.
On the other hand, Wealthy Affiliate is the best affiliate marketing platform for newbies. I joined WA in 2019, and it taught me everything to build an affiliate marketing business step by step. Now, I’ve made a stable online income. So if I can do this, everyone can make it. Trust me!
Matt
Even though SFI may be a legitimate business, it is still one that I will avoid… Why? Because the investor’s comments point to a company that doesn’t care about their ‘workers.’
These people did the work and deserve to be rewarded as per the terms of the agreement. So why wouldn’t SFI just pay them what they were entitled to?
There are much better MLM companies out there as you have mentioned, ones that don’t rip their sellers off. I can’t see SFI lasting long unless they get a serious positive attitude adjustment.
Thanks for the heads up!
Hi Andrew,
Yes, from the online complaints I gathered on this review, it’s easy to find out that SFI refused to pay or refund. I would suggest people do online research before jumping into any online training course or an affiliate marketing platform.
Other MLM companies pay their affiliates for their contributions, such as Nu Skin, Park Lane Jewelry, and Modere. I believe people can try promoting those MLMs if they love using their products.
Matt
Hi Matt,
This is an interesting SFI review. I still wonder what services and skills can anyone learn from SFI?
You mentioned that the SFI business comes from selling overpriced products (I presume this is selling products within SFI or the whole SFI membership) and receiving monthly recurring commissions.
Can you help me out a bit – how does anyone benefit from SFI in terms of products or services they receive other than being able to recruit others into this scheme?
Thanks in advance
Hi John,
People can benefit from SFI because they learn online marketing basics and a platform to recruit others into the scheme. SFI is a marketing arm of TripleClicks.com, a similar platform like Amazon where you can find 100,000+ overpriced products. So, you use the marketing basics to recruit people into buying products from TripleClicks, and you get commissions.
I prefer to start a blog running an affiliate marketing business to build trust with my readers. Once they trust me, they will love to try things I recommend on my blog. đ
Matt