Before you wire a six-figure upfront deposit, run these 10 checks
20 minutes
That is what the ten checks below cost you. The wire they protect is fifty to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, sent on trust, to a company you have known for weeks. A legitimate seller passes all ten before lunch — and an offer that resists them has answered them.
Six-figure deposits — ‘refundable,’ ‘rebatable,’ or ‘re-earnable’ — are the signature structure of clinic business-opportunity offers. Some are legitimate. All of them deserve the same ten checks, in order, before any money moves.
This applies to any turnkey clinic or ‘licensor’ offer asking for a large upfront deposit — typically anywhere from roughly fifty thousand to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Run every check regardless of how polished the offer looks.
Age the company and the domainLook up the LLC and the website registration date. A company selling six-figure packages that formed months ago is not automatically bad — it is automatically unproven, and the burden shifts to it.
Read what the deposit is ‘re-earned’ against‘Re-earnable’ through what? If you re-earn it by buying product from the seller, the deposit is a supply lock-in — you earn your own money back by spending more with them. Model that true cost.
Find the words ‘non-refundable’ and ‘binding’Read the refund, buyback, cure, and termination terms before signing anything — including documents labeled ‘MOU’ or ‘letter of intent,’ some of which are drafted to bind immediately.
Demand written substantiation for every numberAny earnings, retention, or margin figure quoted to you as a business buyer should come with a written substantiation file. Under the FTC’s business-opportunity framework, that is the standard the seller should already meet.
Visit the physical addressA virtual-office or registered-agent address is normal for a startup and abnormal for a company claiming an operating clinic network. Know which one you are looking at.
Verify any clinical or professional credentialIf a principal claims a license, get the number and confirm it with the state board yourself.
Call operators you choose, not references they chooseFrom any list provided, pick your own three. Ask each what they paid, what actually arrived, and what they would do differently.
Price the exit before the entranceWho owns the brand, the customer list, and the goodwill if you leave? The answer belongs in the agreement, not the pitch.
Check the entity against public recordsSearch the secretary of state, the BBB, and the court dockets for the entity and its principals before you wire.
Put the deposit in escrow if you proceedA seller confident in delivery should not object to milestone-based or escrowed payment tied to written acceptance criteria.
How to use this
Run all ten before you wire. A legitimate seller passes them in an afternoon; an offer that resists the questions has answered them.
Where we stand — disclosedThis page is published by Atlas Metabolic, which offers a 0%-royalty license in this category (the operator owns their own brand; final terms are controlled by a written agreement, and Atlas makes no earnings or income-performance representations). Do the next ten minutes of diligence before any sales call gets your attention: step one, run your own number through the royalty calculator so you know what any percentage-of-gross offer really costs; step two, hold the Atlas structure to the same standard — documents, ten-year cost, ownership at exit. If our terms don’t survive your diligence, don’t buy from us either. Or work through the full diligence files.
Questions buyers ask
Are six-figure business-opportunity deposits refundable?
Only if the written agreement says so — and many are drafted expressly non-refundable, including documents labeled 'MOU' or 'letter of intent' that bind immediately. Read the refund, cure, and termination terms before anything is signed, and assume nothing verbal survives.
What does 're-earnable deposit' actually mean?
Usually that the deposit is credited back through your future purchases from the seller — which makes it a supply lock-in: you re-earn your own money by spending more with them. Model that obligation as a cost, and ask in writing what happens to the balance if you stop buying.
Is a brand-new company automatically a scam?
No — new means unproven, not fraudulent. What changes is the burden of proof: a months-old entity asking for six figures owes you named references, verifiable credentials, a real address, and written substantiation for every number. If it can't produce those, the age becomes the answer.
What is a fair way to structure a large deposit?
Escrow or milestone-gated payments tied to written acceptance criteria. A seller confident in its delivery has no reason to object; an objection to escrow is information.