Is Mint Builder a Scam? It’s a Coin and Bullion Recruitment Scheme!

Mint Builder is a MLM or multi-level marketing company that operates in the coin mint business. Their domain was registered on October 2017 with Matt Barkes listed as the owner. The domain’s registered address is somewhere in West Sussex, UK. 

But his Facebook profile shows that he lives in Indiana, USA, which means he’s operating Mint Builder out of the USA. 

This isn’t Barkes’ first MLM rodeo. Prior to Mint Builder, he was the founder of ISN Coins, which operated as a Ponzi scheme and had the same business model as Mint Builder. This business model revolved around membership autoship recruitment. 

On the ISN Coins website, it mentions that the company is now “Mint Builder”. But we don’t know why Barkes’ name isn’t listed as founder on the Mint Builder website. 

Mint Builder Product Line

Mint Builder offers a wide range of bullion, semi-numismatic assets, and numismatic assets. These products are mostly coins, but there are more exotic items for sale, as seen below:

Does The Product Work?

Mint Builder is Barkes’ attempt at adding bitcoin to an existing business model. Taking the compensation plan from ISN Coins, the retail part is nothing more than afterthought. The plan is intended to make it look like there’s retail sales involved, but the FTC is smarter than that. 

Their guidelines actually stipulate that if recruitment is the main focus of a MLM income opportunity, then it gets flagged as a potential pyramid scheme. This will prompt the FTC to investigate the company. 

Going back into their coins, they’re not exactly at the lower end of the pricing spectrum.

Mint Builder is the latest unnecessary addition of bitcoin to an existing MLM model. 

For example, the MS70 Graded Mint Coin that retails for $145 at Mint Builder is priced at $32 at a different store (and can go up to $99 with shipping). Their 1oz Silver Round costs you $20.09 retail at Mint Builder, but it’s $5.25 with $18.95 shipping. 

There is a cheaper alternative to these coins outside of Mint Builder, so why would customers even bother with them? 

This would leave us to believe that the real reason why these products are more expensive is that Mint Builder wants you to focus on the recruitment side of things. 

As a member you’re encouraged to sign up for the monthly Graded Mint Coin autoship and get people to sign up for the same. 

This was the same thing that happened with ISN Coins, which wasn’t able to sustain itself and then collapsed. 

Mint Builder was just created as a new iteration of ISN Coins because Barkes wanted to get in on the cryptocurrency biz.

Mint Builder offers only two ways to make money from their program: 

1. Retail commissions from sales
2. Recruitment commissions from building a team.

How To Get Started with Mint Builder?

Here’s where it gets confusing. Their membership options on their compensation plan don’t match up with what’s listed on their website. 

The lowest tier on their compensation plan is a basic membership fee for $39 ($37 on the website). 

The lowest subscription tier in their compensation plan is Silver Piece, which is $47 a month and includes $17 coin value. 

Here’s the rest of their membership tiers:

• Platinum Gram (not in Mint Builder’s compensation documentation) – $85 a month, includes “$63+/- bullion value”
• Around the World – $97 a month, includes “$80 coin value”
• Gold Gram Bundle (not in Mint Builder’s compensation documentation) – $117 a month, includes “$95 +/- bullion value”
• Bullion & Numismatic Bundle (not in Mint Builder’s compensation documentation) – $127 a month, includes “$30 +/- bullion value and $80 +/- numismatic value”
• The Select Few Bundle – $177 a month, includes “$180 coin value”
• Global Elite Bundle (not in Mint Builder’s compensation documentation) – $497 a month, includes “asset valued well in excess of $595 +/-, access to wholesale pricing and “secret discounts”

Mint Builder Compensation Plan

Mint Builder’s compensation plan is a mix of retail commissions and recruitment commissions, but recruitment is weighed more heavily than retail.

Retail Commissions

You earn 1% on the sales of bullion to retail customers. 

Recruitment Commissions

You earn 10% of membership fees paid out by your personally recruited members. 

Residual Commissions

Their residual commission structure follows a unilevel compensation structure. This structure places you at the top of the team. 

Your direct recruits (personal recruits) are placed under you and are marked as your level 1. 

Your level 1’s recruits are placed under them and become your level 2’s. These in turn become your level 1’s level 1 members. 

And this goes on infinitely in theory. 

Mint Builder caps out this structure at 5 levels. Residual commissions pay you at 50% retail and recruitment commissions earned by the downline members across these 5 levels.

#1 Recruitment-Focused!

Let’s get one thing straight here. Their income opportunity is heavily focused on recruitment. Retail sales are there, but it’s close to non-existent. 1% commission for retail sales for something that can be bought for cheap anywhere online is not enticing. 

What their business model does is to discourage you from focusing on retail and instead focusing on the recruitment side of things. 

This is a huge red flag. 

#2 Autoship! 

We don’t really like the fact that MLM companies force their members to purchase products or services on a monthly basis. This ends up growing out of control as the monthly costs exceed profits, so you end up losing money the longer you hold in products. 

Autoship also forces you to dump all products to make the money back before the next cycle. 

#3 No Income Disclosure Statement

We don’t think that anyone outside of Barkes and his team are making any real money here. The absence of an income disclosure statement implies that they don’t have enough data on how many members are earning and that they don’t want to disclose how much they’re earning because it’s discouraging.

There’s nothing to like about Mint Builder. 

Mint Builder is a questionable MLM company because it’s operating the same way as its predecessor, ISN Coins. ISN Coins was flagged as a pyramid scheme and was eventually shut down because it couldn’t sustain itself. 

We believe that Mint Builder is going to follow in ISN Coins’ footsteps and they’re going to tank in the future. If that doesn’t happen, their compensation plan may draw the attention of the FTC because it has the major red flag of a pyramid scheme. 

There’s nothing to gain from this company. If you are into the bullion market, you’re better off buying from legitimate sources online. Mint Builder won’t do it for you.

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