Building a successful compensation plan is about building a complete company. Compensation plans in network marketing / Multi-level marketing vary from company to company. There are literally tons of ways to make them appear better on paper then they really are. Many companies use these deceptive tactics to exploit new network marketing prospects.

There are some plans out there that payout more then 100% fortunately these companies don’t last long but do end up hurting individuals and give the industry as a whole a bad name.
Most compensation plans fall into binary, breakaway, matrix, stair-step or uni-level plan.
Binary:
First level is limited to two with infinite depth

Breakaway:
Unlimited first level width, usually with a finite depth 10 to ? levels deep.

Matrix:
First level width 2 to 7 usually 5 to 50 levels deep

Unilevel:
Unlimited first-level width with a depth of usually 5 to 10 levels