The company’s that everyone knows are MLM trash (HerbaLife, JuicePlus, ect). When I was looking for a job I naively joined a seminar discussing CutCo Knives. Come to find out these dud muffin companies have been around since my mom was growing up, and are somehow still operational? Wouldn’t the BBB or whatever business bureau operates in the US (FTC?) have these scams shut down by now? I understand that new ones are popping up all the time but im referring to the ones that have been around forever now.
In: Economics
If they’re providing a product *and* the money they make is primarily based on sales to the public, they’re not illegal.
Vemma is a notable one that did get shut down, even though there is a product, because they weren’t selling it to the public, the money was exclusively generated by recruitment. I remember that one well because several different people tried to recruit me, so I actually managed to get my hands on quite a lot of the product….and I liked it just fine. I would have purchased it and wasn’t against the idea of selling it. I can’t think of anything harmful in the supplements (as far as I know) and the energy drink was good as far as energy drinks go. The first time someone tried to recruit me (I was in college and young, so give me a break) I was all psyched at first because I was like “oh sick, I would be able to sell these at parties or be like a product rep at bars?” Then the guy was like “nooooooo you have to join and order this many then get these people to join and order that many and that’s how you make money.” And would not just sell me one case of Verve so I could drink some. So I was like “oh ok so that is a pyramid scheme, goodbye.” You can just find a Mary Kay rep and buy lipstick and only be financially responsible for the lipstick. She might try to recruit you, but she doesn’t *have* to. She can just make whatever pittance comes with selling lipstick. There’s more money for her in recruitment, but it’s possible to just sell stuff.
On a side note, the BBB isn’t a government agency and doesn’t have any control over anything. It can’t shut down a fraudulent company. It’s essentially a nonprofit Yelp or Angie’s List.
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