| Comment Number: | 522418-00851 |
| Received: | 6/5/2006 2:41:43 PM |
| Organization: | N/A private citizen |
| Commenter: | Larry Leisenring |
| State: | CA |
| Subject: | Business Opportunity Rule |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 437 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
The proposed Business Opportunity Rule is long overdue. Millions of people have been duped into MLM "opportunities," with the hopes of making money by selling a product or service, but more so by recruiting people into their "downline," who then recruit more people to do the same. The most successful people in these quasi-pyramid schemes are almost always those who sell the "opportunity," not by selling the product or service of the company that they represent. Disclosure of material information about average earnings, product cancellation and returns, along with the disclosure of legal proceedings brought against the recruiting company, are paramount to allowing a person to make an informed decision about joining a MLM business opportunity. Of the MLM based companies that I have researched, they are not much more than endless-chain recruiting schemes that rely on recruiting large numbers of new "associates" to sell a little product and to recruit more associates to replace the large number of associates who either leave, or stop selling, and to replace the high percentage of customers who stop buying the product or services offered. It is time to stop the use of unsubstianted hype, false hope and half-truths as a way to entice millions of well meaning people into joining a so-called :opportunity." I strongly support the FTC's efforts to create fair and honest disclosure in the MLM/business opportunity realm.