| Comment Number: | 522418-02487 |
| Received: | 6/15/2006 11:00:24 PM |
| Organization: | Xango, LLC |
| Commenter: | Geri Lynn Grossan |
| State: | NV |
| Subject: | Business Opportunity Rule |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 437 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
To Whom It May Concern, I have been in the Direct Sales Industry for over 10 years. During that time, I have been involved with three different companies including Mary Kay Cosmetics, Ideal Health and most recently Xango. These direct sales businesses have afforded me the opportunity to be self employed through a home based business. The experiences of building network marketing organizations has given me invaluable lessons and skills in the area of personal development, public speaking and an attitude of service towards others. Additionally, many of the products I personally use are purchased from direct sales companies due to their superior quality and excellent customer service. The cornerstone of America's economy is small business owners. According to the US Census 10/04 there are 4.3 million home based businesses which is up 23% from the previous year. From USA Today 1/05, 3.5 million are women owned. The Direct Sales Industry is a major contributor to these statistics. The more successful individuals are with home based businesses, the more money is available in our economy. While I am grateful the FTC wants to protect Americans from fraudulent business scams in the Direct Sales Industry, after reviewing the proposed Business Opportunity Rule R511993, I believe the actual outcome would be far more detrimental to those of us who are legitimate business owners than the intended purpose of consumer protection. I agree with the need for consumer protection and would fully support laws to stop fraudulent business schemes, however, this proposed rule needs to be revised to actually accomplish the intended goal. Specifically, the seven-day waiting period would cause my potential customers to go else where to purchase products. This is totally impractical from a business stand point. The record keeping alone would be unmanageable. Can you imagine the impact if everytime a consumer wanted to purchase any product they had to wait seven days....the waiting period for hand guns is only 3 days. The references requirement opens up potential issues with privacy, safety and possible corporate liability for ID theft which is one of the fastest growing crimes in America. I would not feel comfortable asking my customers to sign a release for their personal information to be given to complete strangers and to agree to receive telephone calls from them. It would also be very impractical to find "the 10 nearest existing sales people" when products are sold over the internet, at business expos and conventions.This would be very time consuming and labor intensive. In terms of the earning claims requirement, it would be very difficult to collect the required data. Additionally, those who are trying to "scam" others would not provide accurate data, while legitimate companies will, so in fact, this does not really accomplish the intended purpose. In summary, I would like to see the proposed Business Opportunity Rule R511993 be modified to include provisions that would actually stop fraudulent business schemes and protect consumers without the devastating impact the current proposal will have on the existing 13.6 million legitimate business owners.The ripple down affect would also greatly impact our country and world economy. Not to mention the number of mothers who would be out of work or have to work outside their home and not be able to be home to raise their children. Please consider the far reaching affects of this proposed ruling and make the necessary modifications for it to actually protect consumers and not hurt those of us who are legitate home based business owners. Thank you for your time and consideration of this very important matter. Geri Lynn Grossan 7721 Leavorite Drive Las Vegas, NV 89128