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1 | Comment ID | Document ID | Title | Comment | First Name | Last Name | Organization | Modified Date | Posted Date | Withdrawn? | Reason Withdrawn | State/Providence/Region | Country | Tracking Number | Attachment Links | |||||||||||
2 | FTC-2022-0020-0943 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Nicole Haedo | I cannot count the amount of times I have seen multi level marketing representatives making income claims, including but not limited to claiming their MLM company afforded them the ability to take lavish vacations, afford expensive homes & vehicles, luxury goods, enough money for their significant other to leave their careers, etc. These types of claims along with monetary claims are detrimental to vulnerable individuals looking for either supplemental income or work from home opportunities, especially during a global pandemic. I myself have been in an MLM and experienced my "upline" asking me to place a $600 order my first month so she could hit her rank. I did not have any orders so instead she logged into my account and ordered $600 of product (using her credit card, with my permission) in order to hit a rank. The structure of these companies is not only unethical but presented in a way that seems attainable but in fact things like this are taking place, rank buying, distributors putting in more money than they are making to maintain active and often times, going into debt trying to create their "business" | Nicole | Haedo | 2022-05-03T13:46:08Z | 2022-05-03T04:00:00Z | FALSE | IL | United States | l2p-7qld-rw2b | ||||||||||||||
3 | FTC-2022-0020-0982 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Camilla Crawford | Good afternoon, / / I write this comment in hopes that the FTC will consider additional regulatory measures for corrupt and destructive MLMs. / One of my best friends, a dedicated, ambitious, smart, hard-working woman, fell on hard times and found herself desperately seeking an opportunity to bring in passive and residual income while working from home. / / She was preyed upon by a lesser-known MLM called 'Primerica'. A friend of hers, seeing her struggle, encouraged her to join Primerica using manipulative and false income claims (the friend claimed my friend would become a millionaire and retire in 10 years off the backs of her hard-working 'downline'). When my friend questioned this, she was sent to Primerica's website to read 'success stories' on their very poorly constructed website - which you can find here: https://www.primerica.com/public/businessopportunity/primerica-real-life-success-chatmans.html). The manipulation in these 'success stories' is astounding. People use the loss of their mothers, faith manipulation, and statements such as "unless you were born rich, you're going to have to work your butt off. Why not do it for yourself?" / She was also made to attend unpaid manipulative Zoom calls where she was introduced to 'Million Dollar Earners', such as Frank Dillion - who supposedly left his job as a doctor to become a 'millionaire' at Primerica. (https://www.primericabusinessopportunity.com/public/businessopportunity/primerica-frank-dillon.html). / / Once she agreed to sign up, she was not only made to pay $199 to get an insurance license - she was also made by her upline to purchase an expensive life insurance premium that she is now contractually BOUND to. She was told not to worry, she would make all of that money back and more. Little did she know what a lie she had been sold. / / For starters, she was made to hand over 25 'warm leads' - friends' and families' email addresses and phone numbers, so she could 'shadow' her upline while they sold her family on Primerica. Her upline then made money off of HER friends and family, which left her with no 'leads' to recruit or even sell an insurance premium to. Her only choice was to recruit somebody else, and make money off THEIR warm leads - and so the closed-loop cycle continues. / / Over the 2 years she has been there, she has spent almost $8,000 just on the trips she was forced to attend for Primerica's brainwashing events - this is not including the life insurance policy she pays for monthly - which, by the way, a portion of that money goes to her upline as 'commission' - this included flights, rental cars, tickets to the events, food, spending money, so on, so forth. She is made to go to approximately 3-5 of these events PER YEAR. She was told by her upline that she would not be successful if she did not attend these events, which started at the end of 2020 while Covid was still running rampant, IN PERSON - no masks, no vaccine mandates, nothing. She was told she would be unable to network and be a part of the 'community'. She was made to feel like she had no choice in the matter. MLM manipulation is a powerful thing. They prey on vulnerable people. They use their ambition and optimism against them. Most importantly, they promise that any money spent on their 'business' will come back tenfold. To this day, my friend has made approximately $1000 total over the past 2 years. / / I didn't know about any of this until one day she called me crying, in severe credit card debt, stranded in Florida (for a Primerica event) with no rental car because her card had been declined. I had to send her hundreds of dollars so she could get home. She doesn't have family - anybody else in this position would have been left stranded. Her credit score had also been destroyed. / / She got another job to help her stay afloat, but she is still pursuing Primerica. She told me she's seen other people who have reached 'the top', she just needs to keep going, she can do it too. She told me she wants to work for herself, not be stuck in a 9-5. Instead she is working 2 jobs and struggling to survive until she gets to live the Primerica dream - which will never happen, because she is at the bottom of the pyramid. I noticed being a part of Primerica makes her feel like she has a fancy corporate job, like she has a 'business' - yet her business is just her recruiting people to join her 'team' to sign up for life insurance in exchange for riches and early retirement, a 'community', and thousands of dollars of debt for 'events'. It's a horrible closed-loop system. She will also lose all of her friends if she leaves. / / MLM's don't sell products, they sell a dream. A lie of riches in exchange for commission. They build a pyramid of vulnerable people, and the top leaders make money by manipulating and scamming their own downline. Please protect people from these predatory companies. Don't let the DeVos family continue to use their wealth to overpower the law. | Camilla | Crawford | 2022-05-03T14:27:02Z | 2022-05-03T04:00:00Z | FALSE | NY | United States | l2p-dtm3-swc1 | ||||||||||||||
4 | FTC-2022-0020-1385 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Quick social media search produces LOTS and LOTS of income claims. This predatory behavior must stop! This company is very aware of these continued claims. The CEO even made one (which was caught in an audit by investors). The CEO has done trainings in the leader group about what income claims are and how they should not be done. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T15:58:36Z | 2022-05-10T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2z-8u39-umjp | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1385/attachment_6.pdf | |||||||||||||||
5 | FTC-2022-0020-1178 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Sophie Lesher | Many people involved in multi-level marketing present false or inflated living situations when trying to pitch their "business opportunities." They offer "free cars," "free vacations," "my MLM pays for my gas & groceries" as incentives to join, without disclosing that none of it is an accurate representation of reality. People are gullible, and would love to believe that there is such an easy solution to their financial insecurities. MLMs take advantage of that, and it should be impossible for them to do so. | Sophie | Lesher | 2022-05-12T16:50:51Z | 2022-05-09T04:00:00Z | FALSE | MA | United States | l2y-kg2t-x8xe | ||||||||||||||
6 | FTC-2022-0020-0681 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Please see attached file of comments. I appreciate your help with this important opportunity to keep others from making a choice that will negatively affect their lives in ways they have never imagined! Thank you for your consideration! | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-25T14:29:03Z | 2022-04-25T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2d-t7x9-tyef | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-0681/attachment_1.pdf|https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-0681/attachment_1.txt | |||||||||||||||
7 | FTC-2022-0020-1136 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Janet Radley-Goforth | I joined Paparazzi Accessories for fun. It looked fun and a easy way to make money. That was deceiving. It turned out to be a pyramid scheme & very cultish. Only the elites benefit . There is favoritism for those consultants . It's very hard to ever "make it" in this company. Policy & procedure continually change & with no warning. Their convention last year was a nightmare . Many Covid sicknesses & deaths due to the lack of cdc guidelines. Their jewelry has been professionally tested and traces of not only lead & nickel ( that until Dec 16 of this year claimed to be free of these metals ) but also cadmium & arsenic. How can they get away with this and to be able to have it shipped all over?? . There are so many things that are wrong with this company . I do hope that serous inquiries are made. Many of us are also sick with heavy metal poisoning . Paparazzi takes no response it's for any of these issues. Thank you for your time. | Janet | Radley-Goforth | 2022-05-06T15:05:41Z | 2022-05-06T04:00:00Z | FALSE | NC | United States | l2t-n5ai-yhdp | ||||||||||||||
8 | FTC-2022-0020-0380 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Personal Experience / I've been apart of a few different mlm's and have also been approached by NUMEROUS individuals via social media to either join their team or become a customer. I've joined It Works (a couple of times - both times got out within 60 days), Younique (a couple of times - first time was for maybe 6 months and the 2nd time I was helping a friend rank up so i bought a kit to help her), World Ventures (long enough to become a victim of DV and take 1 vacation to Vegas), Reliv (similar to Herbalife) I wasn't a distributor for this one but my boss and his family at the time were decently high up in the company and i would purchase products from them and also tag along to their meetings, and my last one was with Pure Romance for over a year. My mother is with Scentsy and I have a few friends who are/were with Rodan + Fields. / / Earnings Claims / From what I remember with the first few companies it was advertised as passive income/side income with a promise to being able to make enough money to not have to work a 9 to 5 job. I was also promised to be able to make enough money to pay off student loan debt and later it was being able to stay at home with my kids and retire my husband so he wouldn't have to work. / / Lifestyle Claims / The claims that I can remember is being able to travel w/out worrying about money, "time freedom" and more family time/flexibility, alot of postings about holidays and resorts especially World Ventures with their signs of "You Could Be Here" or something like that. More recent examples were w/in the Pure Romance "family" and boasting about building a house w/ their money they made from Pure Romance, someone making more than her husband who works high up with the Ford company where they live and how they've been able to buy houses, cars, trips, etc with the money they make from their "business". / / there were no clear indications of how much money or how being a distributor would work until AFTER joining. at first it was about the products and then it resorted to having to recruit in order to rank up and make more money. I spent more time in Pure Romance than any of the previous mlms so i'm going to go off of that on this - initially there was 3 kits (standard, deluxe and premium kit). i purchased the premium kit (it was over $500) and got pushed into doing what they call their IAP (inventory advantage program) which they still have. they only offer 2 kits now instead of 3. it was over $1000 for this IAP which i had to put on the credit card. they don't share that every 4 months or so they introduce or re-introduce new items/products which consultants are pushed to get (FOMO). if you didn't you weren't serious about your biz. They offered packages w/ the new products and it was usually over $1000 for this as well. / I invested SO much more than i had initially been informed i would. not counting products but more so with all of the products, "business supplies" they offered which cost alot w/shipping, gas, vehicle maintenance, shipping out orders (this was pre pandemic as well). / / I do not personally have any sales experience and i struggle with selling items. in all the mlms i was told by my upline that it was easy to sell products and i could definitely make my money back. pay for my kit within 2 parties (pure romance) as long as it was over a certain amount. my PR parties never hit over $200. I only sold a few products and majority of it was ALOT of wasted time for a low promise of selling anything. It felt gross and wrong trying to sell and even upsell on products because i knew their situations and i knew the products weren't worth it. I felt like i was missing something or i was doing something wrong if i didn't sell anything because my upline literally made it feel like it should be so easy - i watched so many trainings from others high up in the company on youtube and tried to adopt their personalities to start selling like they were. / / nothing that was promised to me in these mlms i was apart of or any mlms for that matter that i see are attainable unless they are able to get in early. even then there's so much misinformation, withholding information, manipulation, gaslighting, selling something that's not at all sustainable to those who truly are vulnerable and believe these claims these individuals within an mlm are making. it's not realistically attainable for everyone. / / there needs to be stricter rules and regulations on how they advertise to others about things. a big thing is whether or not money can be made and all mlm's being forthcoming and upfront with their income disclosure statements. requirement to disclose about any fees, earnings etc. an informed decision can be made / | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-15T13:49:02Z | 2022-04-15T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1z-w187-gkbj | ||||||||||||||||
9 | FTC-2022-0020-1478 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | We need stricter regulations, required disclaimers, required presentation and signature of receipt on income disclosures to all people signing up | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-13T13:48:41Z | 2022-05-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l30-oyve-yg0o | ||||||||||||||||
10 | FTC-2022-0020-0168 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Melody Walle | I was a Plexus independent ambassador from 2014-2016. I worked it "full time" for most of those two years, and the biggest paycheck I ever made was $700. Most of the time it was closer to $300. This does not take into account the money I spent on products, travel expenses to events, and "office supplies". I have permanently affected many friendships, due to aggressive recruiting tactics I was taught. But I lived in an extremely oversaturated area, so many times I lost out on new recruits to other ambassadors. Recruiting was heavily pushed over just getting customers. Toxic positivity, spiritual manipulation, and extreme health and financial claims were all things I experienced on a daily basis. I even felt I had to hide my autoimmune disease since plexus didn't "cure me". If I had known this wasn't a viable option for money or friends (that don't ditch you once you leave the company), I would never have signed up. They preyed on the fact I was depressed and I felt trapped in my social work job. | Melody | Walle | 2022-04-08T13:21:29Z | 2022-04-08T04:00:00Z | FALSE | TX | United States | l1p-hyi1-516i | ||||||||||||||
11 | FTC-2022-0020-0304 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Howard Taylor | Paparazzi is very unfair and they do not do a good job they lie and they dont back you up only when your kissing there butts but im very upset how they lied snout the product i was selling as a consultant and they need to be punished for there lack of its not cool to have us sell stuff thats not true and they cosy me slot of money and its wrong how they getting away with this because its also a pymrid scheme as well i tjought that was also not alooweed amway got sue many years ago for this very thing i feel they need to be look into | Howard | Taylor | 2022-04-13T13:34:42Z | 2022-04-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | TN | United States | l1w-odmr-vkko | ||||||||||||||
12 | FTC-2022-0020-1231 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Kristen Goble | Front loading product telling us to buy and having prizes for how much PV we spent with each order to win a prize. Always told to reinvest for our business. From the moment I signed up I was told to purchase so I would always have a box coming. I wasn't a true store owner if I didn't get active on the 1st of every month. Pushed into signing up for monthly fashion fix to set me apart from other consultants. Automatic recurring each month for monthly fashion fix sets which was $89. They told us we could own our own business when in actual reality we were treated like employees and controlled on what we could do. / / Income Disclosure: (More like buy your way to your ranks with the help of your downlines and sidelines) / Microsoft Word - 2020 Income Disclosure ENGLISH.docx (paparazziaccessories.com) | Kristen | Goble | 2022-05-12T16:37:35Z | 2022-05-09T04:00:00Z | FALSE | IL | United States | l2x-yxc3-i3gc | ||||||||||||||
13 | FTC-2022-0020-0603 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Personal Experience / I have been contacted by several acquaintances through Facebook in an attempt to get me to join their "team". Some companies I remember that they were working for were LimeLife, H2O at Home, and BeachBody. I have also had the same people and others (family) attempt to sell me products from their mlm. / / Earnings Claims / I was told I could work from home and earn fun money to do things with my baby. / / Selling/Sales / I had a family member try to sell LuLaRoe at a family Christmas dinner. I was broke and it was horrible sitting their while she pulled out piles of clothes to show and try to get family to buy. A couple people bought one item each but I never saw them wearing them. The family member who was selling them is no longer with LuLaRoe. / / I'm disgusted with the way mlms cause people to view others as essentially, a "mark" or "target" that they need to constantly push product towards and try to either recruit them or sell to them. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-22T15:17:06Z | 2022-04-22T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2a-12qr-v5h7 | ||||||||||||||||
14 | FTC-2022-0020-1517 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Liz K | Experience / I had a family member who was a teacher get sucked into many MLMs. She was a young mother not able to make enough money teaching and she wanted to contribute more to the household. She joined Lularoe and modere and one other company. She never made any money because she had to rely on family sales not recruiting and you can't make money without recruiting. She recently moved on to / Another job from teaching to a job with a slightly higher salary because the MLMs did not produce the extra income they promised. I know our family tried to support by buying products but sales were never enough to make money. The products are a sham, the money is through recruitment. / / Recommendations/Ideas / Companies that rely on recruitment and not sales to make money are pyramid schemes. They preyed on my family member but are not sustainable past few / Levels. We should be protected against pyramid schemes whether they pretend to have a product for sale or not. This is no different that the gifting tables or the airplane game. | Liz | K | 2022-05-13T14:26:26Z | 2022-05-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l30-wy1t-ofzu | ||||||||||||||||
15 | FTC-2022-0020-0194 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | A close friend of mine is a Monat Market Partner. She has been decepted by the company via her uplines to spread misinformation about the products they are selling, claiming they can regrow hair (which they can't), and heal skin issues (which they don't). The sellers also downplay legitimate lawsuits that are public record where Monat product use resulted in hair loss and rashes. They claim anyone experiencing those issues are simply "detoxing" and they should keep using them until they work (which is terrible and illegal medical advice). / / Most frighteningly, my friend has actually said to me that the only way to actually make any money as a Monat seller is to recruit sellers underneath her which absolutely makes it a pyramid scheme, which means the FTC should shut it down immediately. The mental stress this pressure has put on her to recruit has ruined her life. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-08T13:43:37Z | 2022-04-08T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1p-nd8g-qes5 | ||||||||||||||||
16 | FTC-2022-0020-0601 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Deanna Compton | I believe anyone who works for a multi level marketing company should have to show proof of median income for every rank in the company to potential recruits. | Deanna | Compton | 2022-04-22T15:16:15Z | 2022-04-22T04:00:00Z | FALSE | AL | United States | l29-y7bi-i83d | ||||||||||||||
17 | FTC-2022-0020-0898 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Ellen Mooney 3rd Comment | Income claims from QScience distributors/reps | Ellen | Mooney | 2022-05-02T17:16:40Z | 2022-05-02T04:00:00Z | FALSE | United States | l2n-urj1-xosn | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-0898/attachment_6.pdf | ||||||||||||||
18 | FTC-2022-0020-1495 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Janet Renwick | I made the mistake of joining a company Paparazzi Accessories. I was in it for 1 1/2 years . I absolutely loved it. I had fun with it . I made a lot of friends while in it . It all changed after their 2021 convention. I heard so many things about Paparazzi. Lord knows I didn't want any of it to be true. I looked into it and was totally disgusted with Paparazzi. They wanted us consultants to remove all photos and videos that we had of people unmasked at the convention . There were no cdc guidelines met even though we were assured that there would be. Tickets ($245) were sold before Vegas became a hotspot for Covid. We were denied refunds and were told that if we purchased a ticket and didn't attend we would be charged a $50 fee and if we didn't pay it we would be cancelled. Many felt pressured to go . On top of the pressure already put on us. It was preached to us that if you take your business serious and if it means anything to you you will go to the events and that if you don't go it will be noticed and frowned upon. I went but left right away after seeing no masks worn. I drive so I had that luxury. Many flew , had hotel reservations etc . There was a strike going on at that time so many people were stuck. Some even remained in their rooms the entire time -attending no functions. In fear of Covid. We later found out that consultants and 2 husbands died from Covid. Paparazzi never acknowledged them-still to today from last August . I hate Paparazzi for this reason. For many reasons but this is my #1 issue. Trying to cover up those deaths is unthinkable . I quit !! These people matter. How dare Paparazzi??? A lot has come out about Paparazzi and I'm disgusted that I was part of that vile company . From favoritism , to cult like thinking & control , to misleading about earnings, ranking,.. , pyramid scheme structure. The low ranking consultants go in more & more debt while the elites get richer off of the lower ranks . Elites live off of commissions from down lines. We get so pressured. Yet, while "drinking the koolaid" we don't even see it. Paparazzi picks and chooses who get their last commission check, we stay in fear that we might mention some other product on our live. Such as Tylenol if you have a headache . It's forbidden. We can't even sale our car on our personal social media platforms . It's all so bizarre. So controlling. But the main concern is the toxic jewelry . Many of us have heavy metal poisoning from handling so much jewelry and from so much exposure. They have to be stopped. | Janet | Renwick | 2022-05-13T14:04:22Z | 2022-05-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | NC | United States | l30-sxcj-fgs2 | ||||||||||||||
19 | FTC-2022-0020-0248 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Diana Fortney | I am very concerned about how MLMs and their distributors are allowed to operate. First the MLM business structure is very predatory. Beside the fact that so few people are able to make any amount of money, the fact that they are allowed to charge such large fees to join and require the distributors/independent contractors to purchase start up kits, aka products, is terrible. This is how they actually sell products, not to real customers. They need to be required to provide income disclosure statements that include median earning, not average to every single prospective distributor along with a 2 week waiting period. The distributors also need to be regulated better. They need to stop stating the income disclosures are wrong, or lies or anything but the truth. They need to stop stating or alluding to health claims. They need to stop make any income claims. They need to only be allowed to discuss selling the products and not even mention recruiting. If the distributors make any claims, even vague, they need to be fined along with the company. Until the distributors are also held liable, they will not stop. I have had so many friends and co-workers that have lost so much money signing up for MLM after MLM thinking the next one is going to be the one to make them rich. These are smart people that are just desperate to get ahead. When I ask them about income disclosure statements, not one of them has even heard of or seen one. It is exhausting and depressing to continue to see people being taken advantage of by this preditory industry. | Diana | Fortney | 2022-04-11T14:59:34Z | 2022-04-11T04:00:00Z | FALSE | TN | United States | l1s-81xb-fxnd | ||||||||||||||
20 | FTC-2022-0020-0827 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Attached below is my full statement. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to use our voices in to help with your decision on this matter. / / | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-02T13:45:59Z | 2022-05-02T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2n-ni7r-6v3d | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-0827/attachment_1.docx|https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-0827/attachment_1.pdf | |||||||||||||||
21 | FTC-2022-0020-1407 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Laura Vaughn | About my Personal Experience: / I was talked into joining Younique by a coworker years ago and felt like I couldn't say no because she was technically my supervisor. I felt manipulated to join because of that pre-existing professional relationship. I made zero dollars in Younique, and instead lost money on startup costs. / / Earnings Claims: / It was insinuated to me that I could easily make supplemental income by posting the products on social media. In reality, I never made back the money I paid for the starter kit. I have since learned this is typical of MLM companies. Their distributors are their main customers, and the companies do not care that many of their potential markets are already grossly oversaturated with too many distributors all trying to sell the same thing. I use Younique as my personal example, but this is not a problem with any one company. This is a systemic issue with the MLM structure more generally. They all function in the same way. So long as they continue to gain more and more distributors, the company makes money. They don't care if their new distributors ever turn a profit. Why should they? The company already got paid when you bought your startup kit. / / False Claims & Lack of Accountability: / In my experience, one of the most unethical aspects of MLM companies is the potential for a total lack of accountability when it comes to false income and lifestyle claims made by distributors. The corporate side of these companies can pay lip service to the idea of maintaining ethical practices and following FTC guidelines, but there is next to zero oversight when it comes to enforcing these practices at the distributor level. Distributors will make false health claims, income and lifestyle claims, etc. all day long on their social media accounts and face to face with potential recruits and customers, meanwhile the company is happy to look the other way. Just one example: I have seen DoTerra and Young Living distributors claim that their essential oils can cure everything from cancer to COVID-19. Many of these social media posts disappear after 24 hours (Instagram Stories, etc) or take place via live video streams, thus preventing any follow up or permanent record of these false claims being made. This system is set up to trick people and take their money through false advertising, whether that's false claims about the products themselves for new customers, or false income claims for potential new recruits. The way this industry is regulated needs fundamental change. / / What I have described here is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the predatory nature of these companies, and I think the 1000+ other comments listed here will make that clear. Thank you for providing this opportunity to share our experiences. | Laura | Vaughn | 2022-05-12T15:53:09Z | 2022-05-10T04:00:00Z | FALSE | GA | United States | l2z-ju2v-xm2g | ||||||||||||||
22 | FTC-2022-0020-1514 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Alex V | I am quite surprised at how many MLM recruiters there are in my area! I have now been approached once at the grocery store and twice at my gym! I fear for the more naive individual who might fall for their tricks. I hope that more regulations can be put in place against this way of operating.. | Alex | V | 2022-05-13T14:21:37Z | 2022-05-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | OR | United States | l30-wdu4-zbip | ||||||||||||||
23 | FTC-2022-0020-0525 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | MLM companies have to go. They prey on the vulnerable and susceptible, and the earning structure is completely unfair. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-22T14:02:30Z | 2022-04-22T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l29-hk35-j8hy | ||||||||||||||||
24 | FTC-2022-0020-0674 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | MLM distributors or 1099 Contractors consistently leaving vague posts to social media websites like Instagram Facebook and TikTok. They say "link in bio" without clearly identifying the work, products services or even company name unless you click through their link funnels. They also use deceptive and misleading hashtags to target possible recruits or sales without any disclosure upfront. MLM network marketing companies absolutely need to be included in this regulation. All companies should be required to disclose and be transparent up front everyone can make an informed decision of buying into the products or the opportunity. / Attachment an example of misleading hashtags "makemoneydaily" | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-25T13:49:53Z | 2022-04-25T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2e-5nht-bqa0 | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-0674/attachment_2.pdf | |||||||||||||||
25 | FTC-2022-0020-0579 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Lindsay Dellavecchia | We need to stop unfair business practices and have complete transparency!!! This should have happened long before now. Thank you. | Lindsay | Dellavecchia | 2022-04-22T14:56:04Z | 2022-04-22T04:00:00Z | FALSE | United States | l29-q3xb-gfiy | |||||||||||||||
26 | FTC-2022-0020-1245 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | See attached. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T16:37:40Z | 2022-05-09T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2x-jif9-5meh | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1245/attachment_1.txt|https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1245/attachment_1.pdf | |||||||||||||||
27 | FTC-2022-0020-0972 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Limelife by Alcone (formerly, Limelight by Alcone) is a Multi-Level Marketing company operating out of Long Island City, New York USA. I have been targeted by several representatives, with a goal of recruiting me to be member of Limelife's Independent Beauty Guide recruitment system. False promises with no disclosure statements of accuracy of their earnings have been particularly concerning. Not only have they claimed that their skin care will heal and cure my acne and skin conditions, but their business opportunity is also a great way to avoid being vaccinated from the Covid-19 virus (as it's not a requirement) and that I could become a Six Figure earner simply from sharing the products and recruiting other individuals into my team. In addition to this, it was heavily implied that I would be able to make a six-figure income all from the comfort of my home via my cellphone. It was implied that it would be passive income, all I must do is post about the products and build a team. I was pressured heavily to quit my full-time job to focus solely on the MLM, Limelife by Alcone, being promised that I would be able to replace my current salary of $50k/year with no proof of such evidence presented. In fact, when asked for such proof, I was blocked by many of the distributors. I was shown screen shots that my earning potential could be as high as $65k a month. This was incredibly enticing to me, but I quickly realized that this was not the case. The way to make money was not focused on selling the product but rather heavy emphasis on recruitment to build a downline of other distributors to do the same. This was supposed to be a life changing opportunity, where I would be able to quit my job and discontinue my higher learning via college. This was influencing not only me, but my little sister who is college that made her question whether traditional higher education was a waste of money and the way to truly make money is through the Multi-Level Marketing company, Limelife by Alcone. It is very difficult to find the necessary information needed to provide an educated decision on whether Multi-Level Marketing would work for the individual. Evidence is deliberately hidden from the public, as once it is discovered what is being promoted does not align with the true earning potential working for Limelife by Alcone. Multi-Level Marketing companies have not only ruined my faith in trusting those within the ecommerce realm but promote growth stunting activities such as not attending higher education or quitting a steady job for the chance of being a six-figure earner. Most of these companies do not hold their top earners accountable, but rather allow them to continue to break the rules set forth by the FTC and their own Policies and Procedures. Please implement this rule, it is desperately needed. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-03T14:14:15Z | 2022-05-03T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2p-c2m0-myhr | ||||||||||||||||
28 | FTC-2022-0020-1414 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | See attached file(s) | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T15:57:06Z | 2022-05-10T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2z-cwrc-34um | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1414/attachment_1.docx|https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1414/attachment_1.pdf | |||||||||||||||
29 | FTC-2022-0020-0362 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Desirae Clayborn | I built a team in the top 0.01% of an MLM and still lost money. | Desirae | Clayborn | 2022-04-14T20:45:12Z | 2022-04-14T04:00:00Z | FALSE | OH | United States | l1z-dr5j-au2r | ||||||||||||||
30 | FTC-2022-0020-1383 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Kat Benson | Many people who join MLM are deceived into believing they will become successful "business owners" and retire their family with the income they receive from the MLM. This is unfortunately far from the truth when looking at income disclosure statements provided by the companies. Unfortunately, many income disclosure statements don't include much information, make it difficult to interpret with company jargon, or don't have one published at all. / / All MLMs should be legally required to publish public income disclosure statements once per year and should be required to show the full statistics and not averages (or at least the mean instead of averages) and list the mean amount of time people are involved with the company as distributors. The income disclosure statement should also include the number of people who quit every year. / / MLM should be required to have a 24-48hr holding period before distributors are able to join the company and require an easy-to-read breakdown of the income disclosure statement to reduce the number of distributors who don't fully understand the income disclosure statements before joining. As it was in my case, joining without spending due diligence looking over the paperwork before joining, due to high pressure sales tactics and lack of information provided. / / In the income disclosure statement, there should be a clear definition between a distributor, a customer, and someone who purchases for a discount, and should be in a simple-to-read, and understand, format. It should also include a definition of an "active distributor". There should be a place listed including the amount of distributors who make zero dollars income, and including how much they are paying for product). The number of representatives on a map should be disclosed to show market saturation. / / Cancelling a monthly order should be simple and easily reported if not. / / Personal orders and stockpiling should be tracked for use so that abusing the system by purchasing products to make a level, or bonus, is not allowed. / / All MLM companies should be required to disclose, clearly on their website, that they are indeed a multi-level marketing company. | Kat | Benson | 2022-05-12T15:51:25Z | 2022-05-10T04:00:00Z | FALSE | TX | United States | l2z-mbnx-ey6f | ||||||||||||||
31 | FTC-2022-0020-1526 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Ken Kozlosky | Personal Experience / I have been contacted more times than I can count through the years about many MLMs. These have included home products, personal care products, weight loss supplements, fitness programs, and more. These have included Beachbody, ItWorks, Pampered Chef, Scentscy, and others. All took place via social media or in person with high pressure/guilt selling tactics. All were unsolicited. I was once tricked into attending a DoTerra essential oil event where I was told the oils were better than traditional prescription meds and that I was not caring for my family's wellbeing if I did not buy and use the oils. These experiences have spanned the last 15 years and continue to occur. / Earnings Claims / The DoTerra event I went to talked all about the money I could make selling oils, including how it could replace my full time job, just like the presenter. She said she was able to do this quickly and that we could too if we wanted to. / Business Costs / The cost of the oils was not presented clearly. There was so much thrown at me about the "personal volume points" for the products, which was similar, but not the same as the actual dollar cost. It was incredibly confusing how much I'd have to spend up front and from month to month. The starter kits pushed weee upwards of 1,000 dollars. I remember thinking "she saying it's all cheaper to sign up to sell, but this doesn't seem to make any sense." / Selling/Sales / While I did not join DoTerra, I did purchase three or so products over around 3 months from the coworker who brought me to the event. She would always ask what I wanted to order next, and I always felt pressure and guilt when I would say no or wanted to, but reluctantly agreed to buy something else, simply to avoid uncomfortable situations at work. I believe MLMs are predatory from my personal experience, and I am very thankful I had the resilience to resist the high pressure and deceptive sales pitches. I know many have not been so fortunate. I implore the FTC to take action to hold these companies accountable for the misinformation and deception they are promoting. | Ken | Kozlosky | 2022-05-13T14:46:02Z | 2022-05-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | OH | l30-yv83-tmuz | |||||||||||||||
32 | FTC-2022-0020-1025 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Personal Experience / As the spouse of someone in the military, over the years I have lost count of the amount of times that I have been approached by other women trying to sell me something, or trying to coerce me into joining their team. It is often by people I know casually and even by complete strangers. I have been solicited by ItWorks, Amway, Young Living, Scentsy, Avon, Younique, Pampered Chef, MaryKay, Zyia, Usborne Books, 31 gifts, as well as many more I'm sure I cannot remember. Some are more aggressive and manipulative than others. / Earnings Claims / I was told that in Japan, Amway did a billion dollars in earnings, and that the distributor I was talking to said I could make extra money in my "free time" and that he made $600 in four months. This was in 2015. He told me he knows people that have made $1500 in 5 days. He also claimed there was a 3 month money back guarantee. I never let it get far enough to find out how much I needed to buy in to the company but he kept setting up zoom style meetings and wanted to have me talk to his mentor. I put him down nicely. I can't remember any specifics of others, this one stuck out to me the most. / Lifestyle Claims / There was nothing too grandiose here, but for most part, the continuing trend with them all is that I would be able to stay home and be with my kids while I'm working and creating my own hours. All of this in my "spare time". / Business Costs / I never let it get far enough to know this part. / Selling/Sales / I have never sold products for a MLM. / Actual Outcomes / Every single friend or family member I have known to become involved in these schemes ends up eventually quitting. The reason is usually that they aren't making any money doing it. They also have to constantly ask their family and friends to buy products every month and meet a certain quota for the amount of products they sell. This becomes very expensive and time consuming. And honestly, people don't like being sold to in this way for the most part. The end goal is always out of reach. They might have a few good months where they do okay, maybe make more than they expected to. But keeping up that momentum month after month becomes exhausting and takes up way too much time. / Recommendations/Ideas / I feel that the practice of MLMs is extremely questionable. They always try to get people alone and vulnerable, by cornering them in a video chat and putting pressure on them to sign up. Or they try to message them privately, not giving up any details until they get them alone and give them a sense of friendship or camaraderie. They should be forced at the corporate level to display yearly earnings publicly, and not be allowed to force people into contracts where they become the customers or have to buy thousands of dollars of products with the intent of selling to their friends and family. They shouldn't be able to make grandiose claims about products being able to cure diseases or ailments. Even though I know they're not suppose to do these things, they still do and they should be fined when their distributors make these kind of claims. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-03T14:56:52Z | 2022-05-03T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2p-lo3z-5g49 | ||||||||||||||||
33 | FTC-2022-0020-0240 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Emilie Boyd | Watching as friends and family have been deceived and lose money from not being fully aware of the opportunity and financial likelihood of success in MLM and network marketing companies has been heartbreaking. I urge the FTC to include MLM companies to prevent more women and vulnerable families from being sucked into financial opportunities without having the facts laid in front of them prior to joining. | Emilie | Boyd | 2022-04-11T14:51:56Z | 2022-04-11T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1r-wgsn-13lu | ||||||||||||||||
34 | FTC-2022-0020-0403 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Gretchen Lecrone | A company should not be able to advertise income claims that have similar statistics to the Powerball. These tactics lure people with the siren call of good money, when in fact very little can be expected, if anything. / / Other industries may promise overtime or bonuses that are subject to any number of circumstances, but Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) companies cannot even guarantee a basic level of income while somehow promising a better and more prosperous life. / / It is important to keep income disclosures up-to-date and regularly available. It is also important to keep more accurate data about gross sales, commissions, and net profit for each individual representative in a given "chain". This data may be anonymized or averaged, but it would give a potential seller more realistic information. It would show how many downlines they would need to actually make that top earning. / / Another wait to better disclose the true income would be in addition to the regular income disclosures, adding the median or average number of persons in a downline. I also believe it would be illuminating to add the total number of people in each category. Getting into the 2% of persons when one is imagining 1,000 persons, less so when one is imagining 100,000 persons. / / Regarding lifestyle claims, I believe companies should need to disclose exactly what circumstances are needed to earn these trips, cars, and other prizes. Just as a non-MLM company will specify what goals need to be met for everyone to get a bonus, so too should MLM companies. / / In my view, this is especially important when it comes to "earning a car", since this statement makes it seem as though one will earn a car and therefore add to their wealth, when in reality they are leasing a vehicle (and not adding to their personal property or net worth). While I will not totally dismiss the potential value of leasing a vehicle altogether, it's quite one thing to be given the impression a car will be bought, paid for, and transferred to your name, when in reality there is a lease that only remains in place for the duration of a particular level of sales. The buyout cost of the care at the end of the lease is not particularly favorable either, so this information should also be included. / / Lastly, although not specifically mentioned in your questions, I believe a waiting period and a no-fault opt-out period should be instated. The waiting period would be that once one wants to sign up for the company, they must wait a certain number of days (3 at a minimum but a week would be nice), before taking the person's money for the "starter kit". Secondly, it would be equally advantageous if there was a no-fault opt-out option. At its most conservative, this option would function much like a return policy, where any person who has not sold or used any part of their "starter kit" within a set period of time (2-4 weeks would be my suggestion) could send it back for a full refund. / / These rules would discourage existing salespeople to pressure new persons into investing. A great deal of these businesses use psychological pressure to force persons into their employment which is unethical at the very least. Forcing someone to invest or give another person money does sound illegal (although admittedly litigating such a matter could be difficult). / / These businesses are extremely predatory and I hope this inquiry will result in more stringent rules. It is heart breaking to see friends and family lose their sense and money to these ludicrous business. | Gretchen | Lecrone | 2022-04-15T20:33:27Z | 2022-04-15T04:00:00Z | FALSE | PA | United States | l20-q979-nwtw | ||||||||||||||
35 | FTC-2022-0020-1140 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | See attached file(s). IGenius deceptive income claims | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-06T15:22:56Z | 2022-05-06T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2t-rta3-vese | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1140/attachment_5.pdf | |||||||||||||||
36 | FTC-2022-0020-0977 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Please make MLM's fully discose their earning statements and fully explain in detail how everything works. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-03T14:18:48Z | 2022-05-03T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2p-d40x-hz5h | ||||||||||||||||
37 | FTC-2022-0020-0399 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Faith Mcknight | Personal Experience / I've been contacted countless times to join an MLM. I've been sucked into joining a few and buying products from many that never do what they say they will. When I joined the one mlm i sucked my family and friends into spending a ridiculous amount of money. I was in monat for 4 years. / Earnings Claims / I joined because I was told how easy it is and how much money can be made. I was sucked in because someone was on a reality tv show I followed and saw her posting about products and an easy way to make money. Boy was that a lie! Over the years I've watched this person not care to help people she promised the world too. She has enough of a following to be able to just constantly recruit to make herself money but anyone with out a following can't do the same. / Lifestyle Claims / As explained this person who recruited me whole Instagram is a lifestyle claim. She posts designer bags, designer clothes, always posts about traveling. She is not honest about the work that's needed to go into an mlm but will brag about what she has because of it constantly. / Business Costs / I was not aware of how much product I would be encouraged to buy. I was told it's just the product pack when in reality it's costs money to throw parties and to go to these dinners and brunches your told to do. Traveling to the conventions I spent thousands of dollars and made maybe 1000 in all the years I was in. / Selling/Sales / "It's shampoo everyone washes their hair" this is what EVERYONE will tell you but what they don't say is that no people do not want to spend $120 for shampoo and conditioner. I sold the product to only 6/7 people. It felt disappointing and discouraging if it's so easy for everyone else why can't I do it. / Actual Outcomes / The outcome was the absolute opposite of what I was expecting. Never got rich, never earned a free car and never traveled for free. Then after years of promoting these products and refusing to use anything else I found out it's a full on lie. The products are not clean and safe like they claim. How can a company just lie about what's in their products. / Recommendations/Ideas / I think every MLM when signing up should make people see in a short and sweet disclosure the percent of people who don't make money. All the mlms love to claim the income disclosure statements are wrong cause it includes all the inactive people. Make every mlm have an income disclosure statement for their active and working partners. No more room for excuses to ruin peoples lives | Faith | Mcknight | 2022-04-15T20:20:39Z | 2022-04-15T04:00:00Z | FALSE | AZ | United States | l20-p7mu-iro9 | ||||||||||||||
38 | FTC-2022-0020-0002 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Neil Yeager | If I buy say a Verizon cell phone service card I get charged taxes but when I renew my cellphone monthly service I get charged more taxes. I believe I am Taxed Twice. Class action?? | neil | Yeager | 2022-03-11T20:53:35Z | 2022-03-11T05:00:00Z | FALSE | CA | United States | l0m-nbj4-imej | ||||||||||||||
39 | FTC-2022-0020-0500 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Andrea Greynolds | I saw a store in my local area selling MLM products - I can't trust that store not to recruit me or use my information if I were to shop there, and so I didn't go there or buy anything because I did not feel safe to do so. Many MLM reps push their products and recruitment on anyone they can find and they seem to do whatever it takes to make money, including using personal information that isn't legal to use for that purpose. | Andrea | Greynolds | 2022-04-20T14:02:17Z | 2022-04-20T04:00:00Z | FALSE | MI | United States | l26-x7me-y3ra | ||||||||||||||
40 | FTC-2022-0020-0257 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | MLM companies are not currently required to share income disclosure statements. This needs to change. When 99% of people are not going to make money, the companies responsible should disclose a realistic portrayal of the opportunity presented. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-11T16:22:06Z | 2022-04-11T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1s-pior-uhay | ||||||||||||||||
41 | FTC-2022-0020-1052 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Karla Aguilar | I don't believe that MLMs should be allowed to continue to operate, but at if they do, they NEED to be held accountable. They need to require their market partners to recruit ethically, without false claims, income promises, and toxic cult-like tactics. The same way celebrities and influencers are required to disclose when they are participating in an ad, the same needs to be required of recruitment tactics. Most importantly, I think every expense and recurring fee needs to be disclosed at the time of signing up. | Karla | Aguilar | 2022-05-04T13:12:16Z | 2022-05-04T04:00:00Z | FALSE | OR | United States | l2q-pfqz-2by9 | ||||||||||||||
42 | FTC-2022-0020-0104 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | I am writing to support the requirement of a disclosure listing complete and accurate earnings information prior to contracting or work on behalf of a multi-level marketing company. Such a disclosure would be a net benefit to the public by providing reliable information which would help to offset any potential harms caused by false earnings claims. As the FTC recognizes that data and statistics used to support published industry earnings claims may be misleading or manipulated, they should consider requiring substantiation of all evidence leading to the the reported earnings claims, as well as reserve the right to investigate any and all records if manipulation is suspected. Often the absence of data - including the failure to take material expenses or net profits into account and instead focusing on gross profits - is just as indicative of manipulation as the presence, so the FTC should be empowered to review any and all records in the event of a complaint. While this might add a burden to the businesses, it is entirely necessary because earnings claims of other rules do not necessarily cover the misleading earnings claims in the situation of MLM, and therefore some sort of guidelines are necessary in order to rein in bad actors in the space. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-06T13:43:10Z | 2022-04-06T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1m-nkn2-duxl | ||||||||||||||||
43 | FTC-2022-0020-0470 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Christine Cloe | Personal Experience / I signed up for many MLM companies. Most recently Young Living and Velovita. I intended to grow my business but only recruited 3 people to Velovita and 8 to Young Living. I ended up losing money on both ventures. / Earnings Claims / I joined Young Living because of an influencer I followed on Instagram and FB. I found 2 others once I joined that definitely posted about a lifestyle I envied. / In Velovita it's constant! I joined because of someone on social media posting about leaving her old company and having huge momentum. She talked about quitting her teaching job, and retiring her husband. / Lifestyle Claims / Specifically in Velovita I signed up because of the income claims posted to social media. Being able to quit their 9-5. Retiring their husband. I was also told that the comp plan allows others to recruit for you. I just had to sign up, go active and invite 2 people and others would be stacked under me. I specifically signed up because I struggled recruiting. But once I got in and got my 2, I was told I needed 3 customers as well to unlock the downline commissions. I never found 3. / Business Costs / Lifestyle claims being posted were about paying off debts, quitting jobs and retiring husbands. Big houses. Nice cars. Clothing, jewelry etc. / / I ended up spending between $75 and $300 a month and I didn't even make enough money to cover the cost of personal product. / | Christine | Cloe | 2022-04-18T16:21:03Z | 2022-04-18T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l24-uejv-n5em | ||||||||||||||||
44 | FTC-2022-0020-0789 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Please put all Multi level Markting (MLM) (even MELALEUCA(they sometimes say that are not MLM)) under this rule. That would be a great start to prevent people joining with expactations that usually are nor met. / / The companies don't prevent the distributors enough because they know that legally are "safe", and because of that: / 1. Distribitors talk more about the business instead of products / 2. Try to use phrases like "financial freedom", "time freedom", and others / 3. They target people that don't have money or have others risks (new moms, single parents, militiry sponses, etc) / / Besides all of that, there is the BITE model related to cults and a lot of the MLM companies have checked all the criteria. / / I don't have files, but this youtuber has A SERIES of stories about this type of business. People should be protect. People over money. / Link for the youtube channel menchioned: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGKUQte8RBCNnI_OYpckErg / / ---------- / / Besides this law, maybe if the MLM company had more sanctions when the reps are doing something that they shouldn't, they would teach the reps better ways to sell the product! [and i know, they are not responsability of the company but they should have to have some classes about the product and how to propaly sell the products before selling the product] / / ------- / / Other opinion/idea: Make obligatory to every year the company post a discloser agremment (ALL the staticts, not just medium, low and high) and make a report sumarizing that document, in a way that ANYONE could understand the reality / / ------ / / Note: English is not my first language but i fell the need to give my opinion about this. Sorry for the gramar and vocabulary mistakes. Hope you can see the links for seeing some exemples and people that try to explain while entretain because seeing a document that's complicaded on purpose is awful / / | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-28T13:40:17Z | 2022-04-28T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2i-8i79-jffv | ||||||||||||||||
45 | FTC-2022-0020-0696 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Amber McHaffie | I was approached to join the MLM company Beachbody via Instagram in 2018. The woman who would eventually become my upline led me to believe that she had become so successful in her health and wellness coaching that she was quitting her job with corporate America to coach full-time. Because I had a fitness related Instagram platform, she told me all I had to do was keep doing what I was doing: sharing my workouts, meal-prep recipes, and then use my Beachbody "affiliate link" to sell products and get paid. I thought I did my due diligence by checking out other Beachbody coach profiles and checking the Beachbody website for legitimacy. I quickly learned that wasn't true. / Once I signed up, she started explaining the "ranks" to me and how we would actually get paid. I was so confused because I thought all I had to do was promote products. But what I wasn't told is that to earn commission, I had to reach a certain rank before I was eligible for compensation. I was encouraged to sign up my husband as my first "customer," and then told to sign up my mom, an aunt, a sister, a brother... anyone I could sign up as another customer and "earn rank." I was also told I needed to sign up for an auto-shipment of either Beachbody protein or Shakeology because it was a way to keep me "active," and I needed to be a "product of the product." She rationalized that I couldn't promote the product without actually using it. / After three months of using these overpriced items, and not earning a single dime in commission, I told my upline I was done. She told me I wasn't working the business hard enough and that if I just worked harder or stayed longer I would start earning a commission. / I'm lucky that I ONLY stayed for such a short time, but I'm still angry to this day that I was sucked into something that seemed so legitimate. For a long time I struggled with self-doubt, wondering if I had failed or if maybe I wasn't patient enough. Now, in 2022 I know what an MLM is, how deceptive the system is, and that it's designed for 99% of the members to fail. This is absolutely a manipulative business and regulation needs to be in place to prevent the MLM industry from continuing to prey on people. | Amber | McHaffie | 2022-04-25T14:53:53Z | 2022-04-25T04:00:00Z | FALSE | AZ | United States | l2c-fhw7-ea5n | ||||||||||||||
46 | FTC-2022-0020-0383 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Mlm contractors continually post income claims, such as free cars that aren't free, being able to retire on their income from the mlm. Being able to become a 6 figure earner and posting pics of checks etc. Totally mis leading | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-15T13:50:44Z | 2022-04-15T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1z-psc9-58nn | ||||||||||||||||
47 | FTC-2022-0020-0682 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Michaela Watson | I am concerned that many people join an MLM company thinking that they will earn more money as a side gig. Many MLM influencers talk about time freedom and financial freedom that working for their company provides them. However, when you look at any of the income disclosures from these companies, 90% of people don't make any money. Less than 1% make a livable wage. These companies should not be able to advertise themselves as an employer when almost none of their workers actually make money, and they end up spending their own money on products. | Michaela | Watson | 2022-04-25T14:29:38Z | 2022-04-25T04:00:00Z | FALSE | NE | United States | l2d-g4dc-81pt | ||||||||||||||
48 | FTC-2022-0020-0302 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Sarah Castlen | Dear lawmakers, / I implore you to make companys that call themselves MLMS or network marketing to make factual income reports on a regular basis. The people selling items on social media are consistently lying about how much that make and pretending they get free vacations to create more recruits and get a bigger downline so that they can make more money. They are preying on single mothers and people with low incomes selling a dream that doesn't exist. I have seen these network marketing reps even say using their credit card to purchase their first packet to make them a seller is the best thing they've ever done. This cannot be true as if you do a little bit of research you will find that network marketing reps seldom make a living wage. Sadly, there are thousands of people who fall for this scam every year and it needs to come to an end. I know lawmakers once made loopholes that made pyramid schemes illegal but somehow if you word things a little differently an MLM or network marketing scheme is not a pyramid scheme. Let's all stop lying to ourselves. Income disclosure statements would prove that people participating in these companies CAN NOT MAKE A LIVING unless they have a downline. Which is a pyramid scheme. Make some changes. Make all MLMs and network marketing give actual, factual income statements for EVERY level of the market so that women don't get scammed into believing in a dream that is unobtainable. | Sarah | Castlen | 2022-04-13T13:33:05Z | 2022-04-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | OH | United States | l1w-mta6-k6y7 | ||||||||||||||
49 | FTC-2022-0020-0430 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | I have had many experiences with MLMs. I have not joined one, but many family members have joined Beauty Control, Medifast, Paparazzi, Transamerica, Scentsie, LuLaRoe, Rodan and Fields, Pure Romance, Young Living, Doterra, and Optavia. At the moment, my dad and step-mom are attempting the Optavia program in an effort to lose weight. They have many health concerns and I am concerned that this plan does not provide adequate nutrition. / / My family members believe these opportunities are lucrative and will provide a substantial side income. There are rooms full of inventory, parties thrown, and hopes dashed as a result of joining these companies. My family has been victimized by the pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps and the you-can-do-anything-if-you-work-hard-enough mentality. / / Many of my family members suffer from depression and ADHD. This leads them to be impulsive and idealistic. I would like to see the following changes: / 1. Consultants must review the compensation plan, current income disclosure statement, and policy and procedures with all potential consultants. These documents must be signed by both consultant and potential consultant. / 2. All MLMs in operation for two or more consecutive years must provide an income disclosure statement annually and within 3 months of the start of the new year. This income disclosure statement must be available to the public and must cover the previous calendar year. If not completed, it should be illegal to sign new consultants. / 3. Once the documentation is signed by both parties, there must be a wait period of at least 2 days before potential consultants can purchase their starter kit and be considered an active member of the company. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-18T14:38:12Z | 2022-04-18T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l21-ylko-djcm | ||||||||||||||||
50 | FTC-2022-0020-0810 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | This should be for all company's weather corporate, or not weather their employees are salary or not, i have seen managers at different companies who are supposed to be paid salary for a certain amount of hours end up working a lot more, and in the long run they end up getting paid less the their employee's do. I've also seen those managers take their vacation days, but are still at their job they don't get their vacation time back nor do they get paid for being there and the vacation time, I have also seen the opposite happen, just not as much. The first half happened to me, i have proof of my boss changing my hours from 130 or more for two weeks down to 95 hours for two weeks and if by chance any week I didn't make the 95 {which barely happened}, she would dock my pay for the missed hours. I didn't two vacations I took I ended up at the store the whole time. Didn't get the vacation hours back or paid extra for having to be at my place of work, was also fired on last vacation I tried to take even worked three of those days. But yet the 2nd assistant manager who walked out, even left the safe open. was promoted to 1st assistant and wasn't let go. On top of that i was told no weekends or holidays for the G.M. but that didn't happen I didn't receive time and a half for holidays, and if you had to work it you were supposed to get a different day off that never happened. During F.M.L.A I was required to answer phone calls and text from staff and my boss. Go to work when she showed up their or even go in and help if needed. (Which i have proof of all this). The training they say they'll give never happened, after 6 months I was supposed to be given a raise to wear all the other G.M.'s where which never happened. There's a lot of stuff company's or employers are doing to the workers that the government officials don't see or refuse to see until to many people start filing law suits for them. Then it's we have to do something about this, after the damage is already done | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-29T20:54:46Z | 2022-04-29T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2k-p8rg-eswx | ||||||||||||||||
51 | FTC-2022-0020-0774 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Here are some examples of people in multiple MLMs making income claims or lifestyle claims. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-27T17:45:26Z | 2022-04-27T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2h-u4qy-jypl | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-0774/attachment_2.pdf | |||||||||||||||
52 | FTC-2022-0020-0308 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Kimberly Russ | Paparazzi Accessories was part of my life for three years. I was a consultant and believed in the company until I learned that everything I believed was a lie. The jewelry was advertised as lead and nickel free. Lab tests have come to light that debunks those claims. They state you can make thousands of dollars selling the jewelry. The problem is you only make 2.75 for each piece sold. That does not include all of the overhead costs. The only way to make any real money is recruitment. The end users of this jewelry are other consultants, not consumers that are not consultants. They are just misleading and deceptive in the way the company is ran. Paparazzi Accessories LLC needs to be investigated | Kimberly | Russ | 2022-04-13T13:37:42Z | 2022-04-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | FL | United States | l1w-pqd9-r25s | ||||||||||||||
53 | FTC-2022-0020-1029 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Veronica Lukasinski | I am tired of being concerned for my friends and family members, especially my aging mother and her friends, of being taken advantage of mlm scams. I have seen entire churches taken over by mlms using faith manipulation. Please require full disclosures from mlms and ensure deeper investigations into the pyramid/recruitment nature of these schemes. | Veronica | Lukasinski | 2022-05-03T20:12:18Z | 2022-05-03T04:00:00Z | FALSE | AZ | United States | l2q-axxx-lft7 | ||||||||||||||
54 | FTC-2022-0020-0329 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Michelle Shinn | I was enticed to join the multi level marketing company, Paparazzi LLC, through claims on social media by current company representatives and the company's own website posting that showed people making money selling $5 jewelry that was advertised as nickel and lead free. Because my daughter was sensitive to nickel in products, I was thrilled to have a reasonably priced product to offer to my friends and family that had no nickel and lead in it, according to the company. The company's statements that the jewelry is nickel and lead free is false and misleading, as proven by the attached lab results, which materially defrauds both consumers and potential business competitors. The company had absolutely NO income disclosure statement when I joined in 2017 and the one that the company issued in 2020 does NOT disclose how people make money in that company. The company representatives that I saw posted "lifestyle" posts showing piles of cash, new cars, new homes, etc, with the social media hashtag "because of Paparazzi" (see attached photos of social media posts). While the company's website says that you can make 45% commission on sales of products, the statements I saw all said "making fortunes $5 at a time", inferring that they make $5 on sales….this is just not true. Even the company's claim of 45% commission is not true, as any costs of selling products such as website fees, postage, shipping materials, etc. are never included in this calculation. No overhead costs are included in the income disclosure statements, artificially inflating the potential profit that can be made on each piece of jewelry. Even the company's motto of "changing the world $5 at a time" is deceptive, since no one makes $5 on the sale of a piece of their wholesale inventory. In addition, Paparazzi's income disclosure statement is deceptive as it only shows income earned by recruiting other consultants whereby earning 10% of THEIR purchases. IT DOES NOT TRACK INCOME FROM PERSONAL SALES, despite the fact that they claim your make your money from selling the product. They do not even track personal product sales. In point of practice, more than 75% of the jewelry sold by Paparazzi LLC is sold to CONSULTANTS and NOT to consumers, so the consultants are the actual target customer of the company. Instead of helping you MAKE income, they are collecting money from you and doing nothing to help you sell the product to any other customer besides the consultants themselves. The company provides absolutely NO business training and constantly pressures consultants to buy inventory on a daily basis (whether or not they have a customer need or request) as it is touted as "limited" quantities that will "never be released again". The limited quantities and constant pressure to purchase the product creates an environment where the consultant is the final customer. This is deceptive and misleading. This is further proven by the corporate policy that one consultant can NEVER sell the product at wholesale to another consultant or they will be "cancelled" as a independent contractor. As a Consultant we have to pay full retail price for Paparazzi's product if we purchase from any place OTHER than the company. This shows that the consultant is actually Paparazzi's target customer. Paparazzi goes so far as to FORBID consultants and even former consultants from selling their product for less than the fixed market price of $5,and threatens legal action. Paparazzi sets the price and Consultants have no option to adjust their price to reflect market need or interest. Consultants are pressured to purchase more and more directly from the company, because "if you have jewelry you have money" according to all the upline. / Consultants are also incentivized with contests and competitions endorsed by the corporate oversight group to require minimum wholesale purchase activity to participate. Actual Sales of products to end user are NEVER tracked. The income disclosure statement is based on commissions earned when you recruit other consultants into the business and they then purchase inventory, whether or not they ever sell it and see a profit. Once you join, it is made VERY clear to you that the way you make money in Paparazzi is to RECRUIT. You make a commission by recruiting new consultants and then encouraging them to recruit even MORE consultants. Consultants are constantly on social media doing "opportunity lives" where they promise all of the business support and resources your need to "make money like me". Paparazzi LLC's income Disclosure Statement, in conjunction with their corporate and independent consultant marketing, does NOT reflect how little money there actually is to be made selling their jewelry that is actually full of nickel and lead (attached find lab testing reflecting false advertising). | Michelle | Shinn | 2022-04-13T16:48:56Z | 2022-04-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | KY | United States | l1x-m131-08cx | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-0329/attachment_2.pdf | |||||||||||||
55 | FTC-2022-0020-1107 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by M Au | I had to see my sister's life destroyed by an mlm. When she joined she had financial issues and thought this was a way to get out of those problems. But at the end of it she was even is a worse financial situation. She had lost her apartment, a destroyed credit card and friends who have ended their friendship. She feels like a failure and lost a lot of self-confidence. This an industry that needs more regulation. | M | Au | 2022-05-05T21:20:39Z | 2022-05-05T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2t-726z-v4y2 | ||||||||||||||||
56 | FTC-2022-0020-1479 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Tammy Moldenhauer | MLM's are predatory and need better regulation. They prey on the most vulnerable with the "promise" of the ability to have financial security, free trips, cars etc. So many, including myself, have fell victim to these predatory claims and have been financially negatively impacted. | Tammy | Moldenhauer | 2022-05-13T13:49:08Z | 2022-05-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | United States | l30-p0p4-2pnm | |||||||||||||||
57 | FTC-2022-0020-1000 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Bahar Tehranipoor | MLMs are a scam | Bahar | Tehranipoor | 2022-05-03T14:46:33Z | 2022-05-03T04:00:00Z | FALSE | FL | United States | l2p-n1sz-atrs | ||||||||||||||
58 | FTC-2022-0020-0036 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by David Brear, 2nd Comment | After witnessing members of my family in England undergo sudden, radical personality transformations as a result of becoming contractors of 'Amway,' I've been examining the 'MLM' phenomenon for around 25 years. During this time, I've yet to find one so-called 'MLM' company that has voluntarily made key-information available to the public concerning the quantifiable results of its so-called 'income opportunity'. / / Part of the key-information that all 'MLM' bosses seek to hide concerns the overall number of ill-informed persons who have signed contracts since the front companies were first instigated and the retention rates of these ill-informed contractors. / / When rigorously investigated, the overall hidden net-loss churn rates for so-called 'MLM income opportunites' has turned out to have been effectively 100%. Thus, any 'MLM' contractor claiming (or implying) that it is possible for participants to make a penny of net-profit, let alone a living, in an 'MLM,' cannot be aware of the truth and cannnot provide quantifiable evidence (e.g. income-tax payment receipts) to back up his/her anecdotal false-claims. Although a significant number of 'MLM' front-companies (like 'Vemma', 'Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing', 'Wake Up Now') have been shut-down by commercial regulators, some of the biggest 'MLM' rackets (like 'Amway' ,'Herbalife', Forever Living Products' ) have continued to hide in plain sight whilst secretly churning tens of millions of losing participants internationally over decades. The quantifiable results of the self-perpetuating global 'Long Con' known as 'Multi Level Marketing,' have been fiendishly hidden by convincing victims that they are 'Independent Business Owners' and that any losses they incurred, must have been entirely their own fault for not working hard enough. I have found chronic victims of 'MLM' cults to be incapable of describing what they were subjected to in accurate terms. Even though they are no longer physically playing along with the 'MLM' controlling-scenario, they unconsciously continue to think, and speak, using the jargon-laced 'MLM' script - illogically describing themselves as 'Distributors/Customers/Members, etc.' / / Chronic victims of blame-the-victim 'MLM' rackets who have managed to escape and confront the ego-destroying reality that they've been systematically deceived and exploited, are invariably destitute and dissociated from all their previous social contacts. For years afterwards, recovering 'MLM' victims can suffer from psychological problems (which are also generally indicative of the victims of abuse): / / depression; overwhelming feelings (guilt, grief, shame, fear, anger, embarrassment, etc.); dependency/ inability to make decisions; retarded psychological/ intellectual development; suicidal thoughts; panic/ anxiety attacks; extreme identity confusion; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; insomnia/ nightmares; eating disorders; psychosomatic illness, fear of forming intimate relationships; inability to trust; etc. | David | Brear | 2022-03-21T15:16:07Z | 2022-03-21T04:00:00Z | FALSE | United Kingdom | l0w-ymbp-fi20 | |||||||||||||||
59 | FTC-2022-0020-1027 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Ana Lorca | I have not joined an MLM myself, but many friends and family members fail. / / They have been manipulated, taken advantage of, belittled, yelled at, and criticized by their up-lines. / / My cousin became a MARY KAY rep a while back, she was told to buy every week to have inventory for customers. Always buy even though she wasn't selling. She lost thousands / / business costs: / For monat specifically, they leave out the recurring fees and PV requirements. They say no monthly quotas have to be met. That's false / / For the VIP program, they ask for people's credit cards and forget to mention that you're committing to 3 / Orders of 89 dollars before being able to cancel without paying a cancellation fee. / Reps take advantage of the people who join the VIP program and then Monat and many other MLM companies make it very hard to cancel. / / My cousin had to cancel her credit card because Beachbody wouldn't cancel her account and continue charging her / / earnings claims: / The rep that hacked my aunt's account claimed that if we invested with her (Igenius) we would get 9,000 USD profit in 6 hours. / / Reps preach being able to be with their kids while making money from home and making money in your sleep. / They talk about 80 millionaires in Monat and that everyone can do it. Some even talk about having 5 maxed amount retired accounts. / And they all say the same, "Join me to learn how. I can teach you how .,. The system is duplicatable. You just have to do what I did and you can retire your husband and be rich" / / I have even seen posts about reps claiming to have generational wealth, their children and grandchildren won't have to work ever again. / / lifestyle claims: / Reps from Monat always claim that they have luxury houses, a ridiculous amount of Christmas toys, groceries of 3,000 USD, luxury bags, and free trips thanks to their 5 paychecks a month. / Some reps also claim to be debt-free. Being in bankruptcy before the MLM and now having financing stability and wealth. / They hire filming crews to make short videos about their lives, luxury everything in boats and bars. Not having to worry about money / / personal experience: / My aunt's account got hacked last week by a rep of Igenius. She posted stories showing "proof" that she invested 1000 and gained 10000 6 hours later. The person that hacked the account even tagged herself so that people would fall for the scam and open accounts with the MLM. / I wrote to my aunt to let her know that this was a pyramid scheme and she blocked me, that's when I realized she wasn't in control of her account anymore. / / These companies do what they want, reps have no control and can say whatever to scam people. We need more info. / / Last year a friend of mine wanted to join NUSKIN, her friend had told her it was super easy, she would make back the investment in no time, and that making money was a given. She was about to sign up when I stopped her, we looked for the income disclosure statement and compensation plan. That's when we realized that was a lie, she would be working a lot for almost nothing. / It was hard to find the info, but more than that you have to know what to look for and most people don't know these documents even exist. And that IS the problem, / / People are being taken advantage of. / / recommendations/ideas: / 1. When a rep signs up, they should sign a pre-agreement. Then a waiting period should take place in which the rep should be sent the following documents;- income disclosure statement / - compensation plan / (Both these docs should be clearly explained) / - guides and procedures / - FTC rules (so they know what claims they can't make) / They should be instructed to read all of them independently, with no help from any reps. / / Then once the period is over, they can join / When joining they should submit their social media handles to the FTC. So that you can monitor what they do. / / 2. Once a year, they should be sent the same initial document again and they should be told where they stand on the compensation plan / / 3. Tax and financial training should be mandatory when attending the conventions / / 4. Tax balances should be sent to them clearly stating revenue vs profit vs taxes / / People don't know how much they make. The MLM makes it confusing so they believe they do | Ana | Lorca | 2022-05-03T15:03:05Z | 2022-05-03T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2q-7ate-7vtp | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1027/attachment_4.pdf | |||||||||||||||
60 | FTC-2022-0020-0129 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Chrystal Bulen | Firstly, thank you for taking public comments. Secondly, and most importantly, it's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that this issue hasn't already been heavily and heartily dealt with. That Person A can insinuate, imply, and present a facade of making a lot of money, with the sole intention of enticing Person B to want what they have and buy into Person A's lie, is unacceptable. Person A knows that they are lying. Person A knows that Person B will struggle, potentially go into debt, and have an overall negative experience, but still feels pressured to convince Person B to join them. Popular rhetoric used in the multi-level marketing community seems to be, "If you work hard it will work for you, and you'll achieve the same financial and ranking status as I have." (It being the "opportunity"). But it isn't true! Person A may not even realize that the only way for Person B to achieve the same financial and ranking status as Person A is if Person B has the same amount of commission percentage, same amount of people joining underneath them (I'll leave alone the obvious that as soon as you start talking about uplines and downlines and people being "underneath you" a very recognizable shape starts to appear but we can leave that for another time) and same sales as they do. Person B cannot achieve what Person A has reached. In fact, Person A actually doesn't want Person B to achieve that unless it also benefits Person A. It's a practice that's convoluted, greedy, and pits people against each other. Since the people who benefit the most and make the most money will not tell the truth, please, please, make it very, very uncomfortable for them to lie. It boggles my mind that there aren't already more actionable laws against people who use and abuse unknowing and unsuspecting consumers in this way. The audacity within to care so little for others and the damage they're doing. Make them tell the truth. Consumers are counting on you. | Chrystal | Bulen | 2022-04-07T15:08:48Z | 2022-04-07T04:00:00Z | FALSE | AZ | United States | l1p-3l6y-dk9x | ||||||||||||||
61 | FTC-2022-0020-1168 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu1eiw4NtRA / / Time Stamp 23:35 / Income claim that $500 per month can be made in Tranont. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T16:54:21Z | 2022-05-09T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2u-humq-m1wz | ||||||||||||||||
62 | FTC-2022-0020-0190 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | MLMs should be required to provide income disclosure statements that accurately reflect what one can reasonably be expected to earn and they should not be allowed to post income and lifestyle claims that do not reflect reality. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-08T13:37:30Z | 2022-04-08T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1p-n524-nzg6 | ||||||||||||||||
63 | FTC-2022-0020-0665 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Ashley Faria | Network marketing or multi-level marketing companies should be required to have a waiting period for any person wanting to sign up. Often companies are pushing reps to recruit people daily and incentivize them to recruit as the main way they earn money from these companies. This promotes a predatory environment where prospects are pressured into joining the team and given false promises of success. Companies and representatives should also be required to share income disclosure forms and the median income of representatives within the company. Too often income claims are made to entice prospects to get them to join. Multi-level marketing companies should be held accountable for false statements, false advertising to independent contractors, and even things like health claims, which happen too often. | Ashley | Faria | 2022-04-25T13:24:35Z | 2022-04-25T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2a-w3yh-56zq | ||||||||||||||||
64 | FTC-2022-0020-0098 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Lindsey Rayl | Please include Multi level marketing companies in the opportunity rule! | Lindsey | Rayl | 2022-04-06T13:37:55Z | 2022-04-06T04:00:00Z | FALSE | NY | l1m-s3f9-ahwl | |||||||||||||||
65 | FTC-2022-0020-1353 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | The amount of corruption and deception on how much you are told you can earn verses how much the average person actually earns by reps is grossly different. A lot of distributors advertise that what they show to have had achieved in the mlm is the norm and easily attainable. From time freedom to retiring there husbands. Everything they have they attain to the mlm. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T15:57:08Z | 2022-05-10T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2z-x97n-6qxa | ||||||||||||||||
66 | FTC-2022-0020-1259 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | attached are recruiting images from Usborn Books that make income and lifestyle claims | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T16:37:25Z | 2022-05-09T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2x-tn1y-wqdo | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1259/attachment_1.jpg|https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1259/attachment_1.pdf | |||||||||||||||
67 | FTC-2022-0020-0047 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Michael Loeks | It is my belief that earnings claims should be limited to stating what the average earnings are for a position or opportunity. "Up to" earnings claims should be illegal for MLM companies in particular as they regularly use false claims to make potential recruits think the recruiter is more successful than they are. They literally say "fake it until you make it". They also use the false claims of "successful entrepreneurs" who want to find people to mentor. Please close these loopholes. | Michael | Loeks | 2022-03-24T15:43:40Z | 2022-03-24T04:00:00Z | FALSE | CA | United States | l14-b12c-iae1 | ||||||||||||||
68 | FTC-2022-0020-0121 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Jaymond Allie | As someone who lives in the mid west - I have first hand been the one to see what MLM's can do to a persons mental health, personal well-being, lifestyle, and financial status. This has been in a completely negative way. These companies included (but do not exclude) Mary - Kay, Avon, Plexus, Arbonne, Paparazzi Jewelry, Scentsy, ThirtyOne, and worst of the lot — Forever Living. You must include MLMs into this opportunity rule. People should not be able to be deceived into joining or becoming apart of these "businesses" in any situation. / / Forever Living promotes the ingestion of essential oils - it has been proven these essential oils are extremely harmful to your body when ingested. One google search will tell you that! What makes it worse is that reps will take and show videos of them giving these drinks and shakes with essential oils in them, to their (in some cases) toddler children! / / Paparazzi Jewelry is made of toxic materials like lead, and have been basically proven to do harm to the people who wear them. People report having terrible skin issues, even stomach pains, and head aches, but when discarding of this jewelry, their problems subsequently subsided and most ended up with no problems after that. MOST. / / Plexus is the last one I want to talk about, as the others are either makeup/skincare, handbag, or fragrance related. Plexus on the other hand is a nutritional shake & vitamins company that has a very unrealistic expectation of their reps & sell high priced nutritional items that have been known to give their customers kidney failure due to laxatives in the shakes. / / That's all I want to say for now, but I will reiterate that you MUST include MLM Companies into this opportunity rule!!! / / | Jaymond | Allie | 2022-04-07T13:44:10Z | 2022-04-07T04:00:00Z | FALSE | MO | United States | l1o-8ec3-4p4k | ||||||||||||||
69 | FTC-2022-0020-1295 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous 2nd Comment | Comment 2: / 4)<span style='padding-left: 30px'></span>WAITING PERIOD / I would like to see a waiting period imposed for the new distributors. I feel that many companies and their predatory tactics rely on the dopamine hit that we get when we think that we have found the magic ingredient that will solve all of our problems. / These companies prey on: / Stay at home moms / Military wives / Sick and disabled / Depressed / Struggling / On and on… / So many of us who are in and have joined in the past have so much past trauma making us very susceptible to the predatory tactics and creating the perfect storm for their now newest victim. / I believe that we have all started out as victims – even those at the top of the pyramid were recruited and preyed upon, loved bombed into believing that this was the thing that was going to change their life. For the already influencers this was easier to achieve and they then would start preying upon others to build their teams making them, the once victim now a predator. / With a waiting period in place the original dopamine hit would subside and would no longer be a driving factor. This would give potential distributors time to think about their decision as well as read all of the agreements, the typically very long policies and procedures and let us not forget the all important Income Disclosure Statement. / / In closing if any of these would have been in place I would have never joined this because I would have been better informed and as I am not a gambler by nature I would not have wanted to roll these dice that ultimately ended up costing me many thousands of dollars with no return. Over three years of loss because I was advised that my success was just around the corner since my up line acted that she had a direct line of communication with God and He would give her information and that she would then pass that onto us her team or individuals if it benefited her. The cult mentality, predatory practices and unfair and untruthful claims made by those in the industry make this a problem and should 100% be shut down. / If it is a true business model built around a product then let us make it about the product. No levels, no teams, just product sales. / I apologize if this comment ran off of the rails from time to time. I have a lot of PTSD and depression that has resulted in my time in the "commercial cult" that I chose to be a part of because I wanted to make the same kind of difference in my life that the up lines were showing us. / When we report the income claims and nothing is done – even though the warning letters have been sent out it is very discouraging to us out here trying to make a change in the industry and holding people accountable when they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will get away with whatever they want to say – "Million Dollar Earner" is widely used within my former company and several reports have been sent and nothing has changed. If you, the FTC sends the warning letter then once the income claim is apparent – no more warnings should be sent, fine imposed and income claim removed. Period. We are out here in the field. We are boots on the ground finding the predators and those going against the FTC rules. We are reporting. We are trying to help you. Tell us what you need from us here and we will be there with bells on! / Thank you for the opportunity to tell a bit of my story. I could go on and on. I hope that the FTC will be able to impose stronger and more enforceable rules/laws/regulations to protect the people within the 90+% who are ultimately going to lose in these transactions. / | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T16:42:03Z | 2022-05-09T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2y-yzrd-j9sk | ||||||||||||||||
70 | FTC-2022-0020-1250 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Earnings Claims ANPR, R111003 / / I have been suckered into 3 MLMs in my adult life. One of which has been the most detrimental to my household. Monat promised so much if I just "worked harder and trained more" I lost money and time with my family over the course of 2 years. Being told that I need to "spend money to make money" and to "hit 200 PV by the 3rd and have a coffee on me" which is essentially having me either sell or even buy $200 worth of product within the first 3 days of the month so the person who would financially benefit from me could give my a $5 gift card to Starbucks. It sounds dumb now but when you're in it you don't even realize how ridiculous it is. The person who benefitted from me spending thousands of dollars ended up going on trips with the company, got a Cadillac and even bragged about sending her kids to private school while telling me and her entire "team" to just keep trying and if we're close to a rank at the end of the month to just go buy something to make us hit that number, which again, she benefitted from more than we did. I don't have my kids in private school, I never earned a trip or the car, but she did, on my back, because that's what this company trains their top earners to do. Encourage their team with false promises so they can also achieve those goals. When I decided to step away this same person asked for my contacts of my own downline and customers so she can contact them. I told my "downline" I was sorry and I didn't know what I was doing and had them all quit, I had my customers cancel their accounts. Because of the income lies that I believed in a desperate attempt to help my family, I ended up costing us $4,000 in debt and earning less than $2,000. That's very typical. That's not the dream. That's not what was told to me. I was not told that you'll more than likely end up in debt rather than on a trip. I was told ANYONE can go on this trip and that trip with this bonus and that bonus. But it was all based on recruiting. You bring in more people to sell you make bigger money. Not from customers. Which is what I wanted to do. Help customers. There has to be stricter guidelines on what is allowed to be stated other than people saying some tiny print disclosure at the bottom of their Instagram reel. Because it's up for a second and if you aren't looking for it you won't see it. That's being sneaky. That's cheating the public. It's lies. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T16:56:47Z | 2022-05-09T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2w-crqo-93hr | ||||||||||||||||
71 | FTC-2022-0020-0770 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Christen Wisch | I see MLM reps saying IMPOSSIBLE earnings statements A LOT. They're all over Instagram and Fb saying "YOU decide how much money you make based on how hard you work!" making it seem like (to those who maybe don't know the truth) that the earning capacity is far more than what it will actually be. I think this is really awful for anyone who sees those comments and joins based on that. Then they ultimately end up making nothing or even losing money and are told that it's their fault and they should work harder. It's just awful. | Christen | Wisch | 2022-04-27T17:01:07Z | 2022-04-27T04:00:00Z | FALSE | IL | United States | l2b-zliv-6f18 | ||||||||||||||
72 | FTC-2022-0020-0135 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Tanya Stone | When I joined Younique they rushed me…I had FOMO. So I borrowed money to get the kit. I was told I could get a flow of income that could support myself and my son. I got the kit in the mail, and started trying to sell. I never sold a thing. What they neglected to tell me was I had to buy more stuff to be able to do parties. I couldn't sell anything but was harassed by my upline to stay up and push in the middle of the night to my friends that were in the UK. I wasted about 500 bucks total and never sold a thing. Was promised the world by my upline and got nothing but debt. I got out once I realized that my market was oversaturated. They need to at the minimum need income disclosure statements, and the promises of income need to stop. The brainwashing and cult like behavior needs to stop. Thank you for your time. | Tanya | Stone | 2022-04-07T20:11:44Z | 2022-04-07T04:00:00Z | FALSE | TX | United States | l1p-5f8z-jpen | ||||||||||||||
73 | FTC-2022-0020-1146 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | See attached file(s). Top Pruvit leader income claim | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-06T15:56:46Z | 2022-05-06T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2t-qhni-s9kl | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1146/attachment_2.pdf | |||||||||||||||
74 | FTC-2022-0020-0709 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | There needs to be more disclosed on the actual earnings of those in multi level marketing companies.The false claims made both privately and publicly. I have had someone personally try to recruit me based on false information on their supposed earnings.They have been putting out false claims of their lifestyle for the years they have been in their mlm and have recruited multiple mutual friends based on those false claims who have then been dropped and ignored when the false promises were not coming to fruition after joining the company.They were also blamed for their own failure as well, when it is person after person after person facing the same let downs based on falsehood after falsehood this isnt the fault of the new recruits. This is also damaging to families and children being used to push these false income and lifestyle claims. If children are being used by parents to recruit and promote these products should parents not have to be placing income into trust funds for these children or are they allowed to use these children as props in their business on social media over and over with no compensation as well. Please police these companies since they refuse to police themselves when complaints are brought to their compliance departments and they completely ignore peoples concerns and the violations of their market partners. Thank you | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-25T15:15:38Z | 2022-04-25T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2b-6gsx-w1l7 | ||||||||||||||||
75 | FTC-2022-0020-0078 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Income claims are often heavily inflated and deceptive. Here's an example of someone who does not have a multimillion dollar business but claims to online for her own recruiting benefit. She is with a company called Tranont. She recruits people into her downline and they rarely make any money, none of them are six figure earners as she claims. After all the expenses involved with this company, there is not much left aft the end of the month. Again, misleading and deceptive in an effort to recruit. Many people have been hurt by her tactics, and in multiple companies not just Tranont. / / There are other "leaders" from this company who also post deceptive income claims. Mainly a woman | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-04T20:45:26Z | 2022-04-04T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1i-4gfx-7v9m | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-0078/attachment_5.pdf | |||||||||||||||
76 | FTC-2022-0020-1352 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | The amount of corruption and deception on how much you are told you can earn verses how much the average person actually earns by reps is grossly different. A lot of distributors advertise that what they show to have had achieved in the mlm is the norm and easily attainable. From time freedom to retiring there husbands. Everything they have they attain to the mlm. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T15:57:08Z | 2022-05-10T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2z-x97e-w452 | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1352/attachment_3.pdf | |||||||||||||||
77 | FTC-2022-0020-0050 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Earnings Claims Rulemaking R111003 / / When I was 17 years old I was looking for a summer job to save for college. I applied to everything I could find. The only place that responded was an Avon Representative. I don't remember the person recruiting me ever showing me any statement report of earnings for representatives. / / I payed for the Sales Rep package and then spent a year, buying samples, buying catalogs, sending out product. I never recruited anyone to sell underneath me. I don't think I broke even. I was lead to believe that this was as good an option as working in fast-food or retail. I would have made money had I worked that year in fast-food, instead I made no money and was in a worse place as I was before I started with Avon. / / Even now, when I look for jobs, I have to wade through job postings looking for a real job, but the job boards are flooded with these MLM opportunities disguised as real jobs. / / It should be required to have an accurate income disclose statement presented before signing up. / There should also be a cooling off period for joining these businesses, to allow people to do their own research on the business. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-03-25T14:32:18Z | 2022-03-25T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l15-f2y7-n2yl | ||||||||||||||||
78 | FTC-2022-0020-1363 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | My sister joined a number of MLM's, I never knew what they were. I just knew she was trying to make money. It was really interesting to watch, I never joined any of her businesses because I was always too young. But watching her try to do better was inspiring to me. I'm sad to see how it's affecting her mentally and her personal relationships. All she wanted to do was provide for our family. I know it's devastating to hear her business streams go out the window because of her bad experiences in network marketing. I hope she can apply some passion to another industry and win at life. I'll always be there for her no matter what, now I know about MLM's and I tell all my friends not to join them as well. / / I think they are dangerous malicious and do more harm than good. I also overheard my sister saying that a lot of these companies use churches as a tax haven, or non-for profit foundations… ick. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T15:51:44Z | 2022-05-10T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2z-p173-998i | ||||||||||||||||
79 | FTC-2022-0020-0172 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Mlms shouldn't be allowed to hide all their numbers.they claim they're running things properly, but there's plenty of things from distributors online that suggests otherwise. We need to start holding these companies accountable | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-08T13:22:50Z | 2022-04-08T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1p-i743-wv75 | ||||||||||||||||
80 | FTC-2022-0020-0090 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Hannah Cross | Because of the experiences of those around me that have been in mlm companies, there is a clear incentive to withhold needed information from new recruits. Please consider this regulation to be applicable to mlm companies, as they are incentivized to be dishonest and not upfront to new recruits on the reality of potential income earnings and there chances to those earnings (which can only truly be obtained on the backs of those below them buying products or selling it to others) | Hannah | Cross | 2022-04-06T13:31:15Z | 2022-04-06T04:00:00Z | FALSE | CO | United States | l1n-1pwv-gz70 | ||||||||||||||
81 | FTC-2022-0020-1109 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Personal Experience / Two of my family members joined an MLM called Reliv back in the early 2000s. They are still in the MLM currently. They have a basement full of Reliv products, and they are barely scraping by financially. / Earnings Claims / My family members promised me a full time income by joining their MLM. I was very young and naive, and they nearly convinced me to spend $5,000 on products so I could hit a high rank immediately. I was told that this was the way to become wealthy and retire from my retail job. / Lifestyle Claims / was told that no one was getting enough nutrients from modern day fruits and vegetables because the soil has been depleted. But if I took Reliv vitamin powder I would never get sick, and any illness I currently had would be cured. I was dragged to two seminars where high ranking distributors talked for hours about how they were nourishing the world while making money in their sleep. / Business Costs / I was a distributor for reliv for a few months in 1999-2000 before I realized it was a scam. I spent about $1,000 in total on products and promotional materials such as catalogs and brouchers. I made about $80.00 during my entire time with the company. / Selling/Sales / I was told that the products (a vitamin powder) would "sell themselves", because once I got someone to try it, they'd never want to be without it and they'd gladly purchase products from me every month. / Actual Outcomes / I was told to make a list of every person I had ever met and to contact EACH PERSON about this business opportunity. I was way too shy to do that, so I only talked to close friends and family. Most saw immediately that it was a scam. Some became very angry with me for propositioning them, and many relationships were hurt or destroyed. One or two people bought products from me one time. I made about $80.00, but lost about $1,000. / Recommendations/Ideas / The false income claims should be illegal. A distributor or customer should be able to return products for a full refund. A new distributor should be given an income disclosure statement to look over for a few weeks before being bullied into signing something. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-05T21:23:20Z | 2022-05-05T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2t-h200-kqby | ||||||||||||||||
82 | FTC-2022-0020-0296 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Every MLM 'party' or online group I've been in has the distributer or representative make a deceptive claim. I had a distributer just blatantly show us one of her pay cheques to try to recruit more distributers. Social media is full of displays of wealth that imply the distributers made their money from the MLM when the chance of making any money is extremely low. People should be aware of the actual realistic amount of money that can be earned including specific requirements for income disclosures to prevent companies from using statistics manipulation in their disclosures. Items like the turnover, 'active' distributers, time the 1% stay in the 1%, median earnings for the 'average' distributer with a specific formula (see Canada for example). Everyone I know in an MLM either dropped out or lost money. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-12T16:11:32Z | 2022-04-12T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1w-9z1p-mfwr | ||||||||||||||||
83 | FTC-2022-0020-0495 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | MLMs need to be much more closely regulated and the FTC has a obligation to protect the public from the predatory practices of MLMs. People in MLMs make egregious income and lifestyle claims which manipulates people (specifically women) in vulnerable economic positions. It has been proven that the majority of people lose money in MLMs and beyond this MLMs can cause emotional and psychological damage from their practices including making health claims relating to COVID, miscarriages, and other health conditions. MLM independent contractors should be strictly regulated in what they are allowed to post just like any other company is. MLMs have a history of unethical practices including signing up customers without their permission. I believe that MLMs should be required to have a waiting period during which they have to provide clear and concise earnings statements. I have personally been "cold messaged" by multiple women who want me to join "their business" and they have always tried to quickly get me to sign up without explaining all the data. Additionally, I have witnessed first hand on my personal social media MLM independent contractors posting false income and lifestyle claims as well as providing medical advice (when they are not licensed health care professionals) including recommending weight loss supplements to children. In summary, the FTC should implement strict earning claim, lifestyle claim, and health claim regulations on MLMs. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-20T13:53:06Z | 2022-04-20T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l26-ka2j-hzdq | ||||||||||||||||
84 | FTC-2022-0020-1528 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Thank you for taking our input into account. / / I have been a part of the same MLM for my whole life. My parents, especially my father, have been working the same MLM since before I was born. After college, when teaching jobs were nonexistent, I spent 3 years trying and failing to make it work for myself, and 10 years feeling like an utter failure— because I couldn't build my own business like my parents did before me. / / If my parents' business survives them, I do not want to profit off people being scammed. / / Here are some practices I find distressing: / / When I was younger I was told that the scammy teams were the outliers. Now I wonder if MLMS can thrive without them. When whole teams can jump from one sinking MLM to the next without changing their rhetoric, and then be heralded by their new CEO, there is a problem with the system. / / I have watched different MLM business opportunity pitches mimic other MLM pitches time after time. (Though growing up, we were told we had the best one!) / / In the digital age where everyone has the same customer pool (no longer one MLM lady in one town), market over-saturation is a concern. The opportunity is not the same for the folks who sign up years later, but the dream is pitched as though everyone has the same opportunity. / / MLM ranking up should be based off of the contracted seller's sales, not seller purchases or group volume purchases. / / With regards to recruiting: / / A recruiter must explain Personal Volume cost per month to a new recruit. More importantly, the monthly dollar cost needs to be explained. This needs to be initialed by the new recruit. (I do not know how companies assign PV to dollar value, but I feel like someone wiser than me in the way of accounting should look into that.) / / A recruiter must explain that the new recruit is an independent contractor, not a business owner. This needs to be initialed by the new recruit. / / A recruiter must explain the annual income disclosure statement from the MLM. This needs to be initialed by the new recruit. / / Frankly, I do not know what MLM company could survive your proposed regulations without seriously changing its business model. / / Thanks again for your time. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-13T14:47:15Z | 2022-05-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l31-030r-s1fq | ||||||||||||||||
85 | FTC-2022-0020-0066 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Earnings disclosures are woefully inadequate, because many people just skim and sign the written pages. What is needed, and what is justified with the great decrease in the price of data storage (e.g. cloud storage), is video disclosure and acknowledgement of the earnings claims by any new MLM 'rep'. Statistical concepts such as 'median' are too complicated for the general public; instead use decile 'buckets' to convey the claimed earnings and losses. / / For example, here is my proposed script for the recruited MLM rep to recite, to be captured on video by the MLM and to be stored for FTC audit: / / "This earnings disclosure is required by the Federal Trade Commission for me to acknowledge on video:" / "The worst 10% of MyMLM independent businesses typically have earnings of NEGATIVE $43,000 per year: They lose money and don't make a profit." / "The next 30% of MyMLM independent businesses typically have earnings of NEGATIVE $19,000 per year: They lose money and don't make a profit." / "The middle 20% of MyMLM independent businesses typically have earnings of NEGATIVE $13,000 per year: They lose money and don't make a profit." / "The next 30% of MyMLM independent businesses typically have earnings of NEGATIVE $3,000 per year: They lose money and don't make a profit." / "The best 10% of MyMLM independent businesses typically have earnings of $7,000 per year." | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-03-29T20:57:25Z | 2022-03-29T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1c-fhff-cdmx | ||||||||||||||||
86 | FTC-2022-0020-1550 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Argelia Orozco | See attached file(s) | Argelia | Orozco | 2022-05-13T16:42:43Z | 2022-05-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | CA | United States | l30-uqyk-akaj | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1550/attachment_1.pdf | |||||||||||||
87 | FTC-2022-0020-0762 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | I believe the way MLMs current recruitment process preys on peoples lack of knowledge and financial distress. Making sure all people who join an MLM are given a income disclosure statement and cooling off period will give a big helping hand to those being taken advantage of by MLMs right now | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-27T16:39:53Z | 2022-04-27T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2b-mhl9-zq7y | ||||||||||||||||
88 | FTC-2022-0020-1058 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Life style promises by the Optavia weightloss program are misleading and extremely costly, financially and healthwise. / It's a real shame the top tier coaches are allowed to perpetuate a narrative that there is a correlation between an Optavia income and the success and income they have from other professional or business income. / The so called income of coaches is almost certainly entirely from them purchasing the meal plan aka fuellings themselves, case in point a coach tried to recruit me and pay Optavia with her credit card while I paid her back by paypal (because my credit card was issued from a different country and she wanted the sale that badly). The effect of this was the Optavia coach made it seem like my signing on would change my life as transformatively as it had hers and her family. They suggest that if you work hard at the plan/business, you can have the same freedom and wonderful life they have. The reality I observed is that existing income or ability to afford this lifestyle is being marketed as earnings attributable to the plan/business. How can a person be the customer and the sales person at the same time? | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-04T13:18:26Z | 2022-05-04T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2r-3ehk-y58z | ||||||||||||||||
89 | FTC-2022-0020-1163 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | These income claims made by MLMs are deceptive and harmful. These companies prey on vulnerable people (typically young moms who are searching for community) with false promises of 6 figure incomes, and pull them in to a pyramid scheme. Once in, the recruit must keep buying product to keep their rank which pushes them further into a financial hole. And oftentimes they are told 'you need to spend more to make more'. Meanwhile, their up line and those sitting at the top of the pyramid are making money off of the recruits who are falling deeper and deeper in to debt. If the recruit realizes that they are never going to become rich at the company (because the top of the pyramid is full) and tries to quit, the MLM cuts them off, labels them as a 'hater' and then begins the whole circle again with a new recruit they can manipulate and financially take advantage off. It's disgusting that this is allowed to happen. This is a scam and it needs to be stopped. Pass this rule. Make it more difficult for these types of 'businesses' to exist and protect consumers. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T16:50:18Z | 2022-05-09T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2y-r7rr-0k3e | ||||||||||||||||
90 | FTC-2022-0020-1558 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Chelsea Oakes | Personal Experience / Since my early 20s, I have been contacted on probably a biweekly basis about joining a form of multilevel marketing company. I never joined a company, but over the years I have been promised free trips, free cars, free gifts (jewelry, handbags, clothing, etc) and all for part time hours. I did have an aunt and cousin who both were involved in multiple multilevel marketing companies, and have lost approximately $500+ per company. / / Earnings Claims / I have heard what feels like everything under the sun when it comes to earnings. The biggest thing that shocks me is the "free" things that were promised, like trips, technology, vehicles, and jewelry/purses/clothing. I have been told I would be making full time income for part time work, and if I went full time, I'd be closer to "financial freedom". / / Lifestyle Claims / My social media feed is full of pictures of people on "free" vacations and "free" cars. I have also been told that I could live off of residual income after a certain number of years (the one that sticks out most is 5 years) and would never have to work again. Mostly, I have heard about how these people could never have been able to travel/work from home/give their kids the things they want without joining a network marketing company. / / Business Costs / I have never been in an MLM myself, but almost every time I have been pitched the opportunity, they always say that joining is a 1 time starter kit fee, and you'll never have to buy anything again. Most companies, this is far from true. There's business/back office fees, auto shipments for products, etc. I also have never had one of the distributors mention that this would be taxed as a 1099 rather than a W2, which I feel could be a complete shock to some people. My cousin didn't realize they were f taking taxes out of her first time in an MLM and was just extremely lucky she didn't earn enough to make a difference on her taxes. / / Selling/Sales / I have never heard a pitch for an MLM that didn't include the phrase "____ sells itself". It's surprising how little people pitch the actual product sales when they are trying to pitch the opportunity. Unless I ask about the selling directly, I just hear about how everyone is best friends and how they were able to earn vacations/cars with no explanation on how to do it. I hear mostly about bringing other people into the organization as distributors in order to "link arms and boost other women up". / / Actual Outcomes / My cousin and aunt were both trying to earn additional income at different stages of their lives. Because they were both drawn to the more "party based" MLMs, they ended up inventory loading and having to liquidate after realizing they were not going to make any money if they didn't have a large organization below them. They each have stated a varying loss in terms of money, but each was at least $500 in the negative in the end. Neither ever received a free trip, vehicle, or any gifts aside from ones sent directly from other distributors they had signed up with. The family has never really had any issues with their participation, other than within their individual household when money was diverted from bills to fund their business expenses. They did end up losing their home at one point, which was NOT a direct result of any of their MLMS, but a contributing factor. Not only was product purchases decreasing their payments on household bills, they also lost time they could have been using at another real work opportunity to make ends meet. / / Recommendations/Ideas / Income disclosures should be a requirement, and each rep should have to sign a copy of the income disclosure stating that they have seen it in order to sign up. Each income disclosure should also mention they are a 1099 contractor again, and that the income reflects their gross, rather than net income. / / I also feel like there should be a requirement for MLMs to offer their starter pack WITH NO ADDITIONAL INCENTIVES/DISCOUNTS on two tracks - a distributor or a non distributor. Many income disclosures factor in these kit sales for the discounted price, but severely effect the numbers on the charts. By not incentivizing signing up as a distributor, we could get a clearer picture of how much people are actually able to earn in the "opportunity" based on who plans on trying to use this as a contracted position. | Chelsea | Oakes | 2022-05-13T19:02:01Z | 2022-05-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | PA | United States | l31-0ybf-vbi5 | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1558/attachment_6.pdf | |||||||||||||
91 | FTC-2022-0020-1145 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | See attached file(s). Deceptive income claims from iGenius. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-06T15:53:23Z | 2022-05-06T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2t-qf71-9kwx | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1145/attachment_3.pdf | |||||||||||||||
92 | FTC-2022-0020-0632 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Lauren Moreau | People who are being recruited to MLMs should be given upfront information about potential earnings. MLM reps should not be able to make income or health claims. Furthermore, for incentives that MLM companies offer (car programs, trips, etc) it should be more transparent that these are incentives based off of ranks/sales/etc and that they are conditional. I've seen far to many claims about "free cars" and "free trips". / / Finally, and I know this is a hard issue to tackle - but some rules should be put into place (be it, regulations about income claims, etc) that limit the amount a representative can sell a "dream life style". Overall, I know many MLMs get around loopholes because of product sales, but more regulations should be put in place to prevent recruitment in the first place. If the company is truly trying to sell a product, representatives should not be paid predominantly on recruitment. | Lauren | Moreau | 2022-04-22T15:30:40Z | 2022-04-22T04:00:00Z | FALSE | Ontario | Canada | l29-sx83-u8ve | ||||||||||||||
93 | FTC-2022-0020-1091 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Ellen Mooney 6th Comment | See attached file(s) I genius top rep income claims | Ellen | Mooney | 2022-05-05T14:39:27Z | 2022-05-05T04:00:00Z | FALSE | United States | l2s-ge3j-75tv | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1091/attachment_3.pdf | ||||||||||||||
94 | FTC-2022-0020-0290 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | MLMs are the downfall of our society. They prey on the vulnerable..mothers, financially strapped, sick..promising health and wealth. However, each and every one of these companies ( those of which actually provide an income disclosure statement that is) show a very different story on paper. Over 90% of consultants of an MLM make little to no money. And most are actually in debt because of the MLM. MLM companies lie to their consultants making them believe they are small buisness owners, when in reality they are not. They have zero say in the price of the products,how they sell the products, and in many of these MLMs consultants are bond to contracts that dictate everything from their appearance to what can be in the background of their photos and videos. They keep you pushing for the promise by filling you full of toxic positivity. They spin this perfect web of friendship and family, which they are all too happy to rip away at the tiniest " issue" they have with you. If a consultant decides to no longer promote, many MLMs have policies that prevent current consultants from so much and speaking to ex consultants. If you leave you are excommunicated. Those friends, family, " sisterhood"..all gone. / Paparazzi has gone so far as to cancel consultants just for commenting on anti MLM videos, or being a member of an anti MLM group. Paparazzi also encourages its consultants to spy on other consultants and report to compliance. In many of these circumstances the reporting consultant is rewarded. Meanwhile, the offending consultant is reprimanded many time having their account suspended making it impossible to buy product to sell...OR even have their account canceled without warning. / These are not businesses, they are cults. / I, personally, lost a friend I'd had for over a decade just because I posted test results for Paparazzi jewelry. Jewelry that my CHILDREN had been wearing that had tested positive for high levels of Lead, Arsenic, Cadmium, just to name a few. If you aren't a part of the cult you are the enemy. This structure has absolutely no place in today's society. / It has been made clear time and time again that the only people who benefit from this sales structure are the people at the top of the pyramid. They continually pull in new consultants with the promise that they too can live this lavish lifestyle. They paint it so beautifully with their staged pictures of luxury, and claims of financial freedom. Any mother who dreams to stay home with their children, but needs an income is an easy target. / You are charged to join. You are charged to stay active. You have to buy product to sell, but its so over priced or undesirable in most cases that you end up with rooms and rooms full of inventory no one wants to buy. But, if you don't buy a certain amount you lose your rank, which drops your commission, which breaks that perfect dream life you've been selling to all the people under you who are the source of your income. You fund this lavish lifestyle off of the blood sweat and tears of vulnerable men and women under you. / How is this legal? How is this not regulated? / There are millions of people who would give anything to see ALL these MLMs shut down. We are sick of people being taken advantage of. We are sick of seeing our friends and family members falling into debt, losing their homes, marriages, even lives for these disgusting cults. / Having a product does NOT make a cult a buisness. / Please approve STRICT regulations for these companies AND their consultants. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-04-12T13:32:43Z | 2022-04-12T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l1v-l4jr-d4mv | ||||||||||||||||
95 | FTC-2022-0020-1546 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Financial Publishers and Media Alliance | See attached file(s) | Financial Publishers and Media Alliance | 2022-05-13T16:13:16Z | 2022-05-13T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l30-owk0-887x | https://downloads.regulations.gov/FTC-2022-0020-1546/attachment_1.pdf | ||||||||||||||||
96 | FTC-2022-0020-0935 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | In the past my parents were part of Amway and unfortunately lost over $5000 even though they were promised that they would make it rich. Growing up I attended a lot of parties since I grew up in a small town. I never knew how bad an MLM could be until I was an adult. I have friends who are currently in MLMS and some have even made it to the the top 1%. Sadly the life they are portraying online is not the reality behind the posts. It is easy for some of them to claim they received a "free car", "free trips" and " unbelievable wealth" when they also have husbands who do well. Some of these ladies have also reached out for tax and financial input since they are so "well off" but really they profits are not good. Some have said that their cars are write offs, meet ups and dinners are write offs and that is far from the truth. Sadly I have seen many friends and family members cut ties due to this predatory behavior and blatant lies. I even had someone position me saying I would make more if I was to leave my current job (where I make six figures) if I joined their MLM. They cannot guarantee I will make that kind of money and still work 9-5. I see many friends working more than 9-5, weekends, through vacations etc only to spew they have time freedom and can work in pockets of their days. MLMS should have to provide more data and income disclosures so that people are fully aware of what they are getting into. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-02T21:02:22Z | 2022-05-02T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2p-70it-1g3d | ||||||||||||||||
97 | FTC-2022-0020-1200 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Anonymous | Please pass this measure! Network marketing/MLMs have scammed so many people with their deceptive practices and inaccurate and totally false income claims. I have watched people I know get caught up with companies who bled them dry financially because of the pressure to buy products even if they weren't selling them, in order to make their up lines look good. | Anonymous | Anonymous | 2022-05-12T16:51:23Z | 2022-05-09T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2x-osd9-shn4 | ||||||||||||||||
98 | FTC-2022-0020-0798 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Mariah Stokes | We live in a world where most people want instant gratification and money is of most importance. When marketing is misleading with the promise of great earnings this can hinder current consumers and deter future consumers. Without rules, deceptive marketing will continue. This rule will help regulate earnings claims in all industries. This rule would make it so the maker would need substantial evidence before making a claim. I believe the makers should also have to keep record on how the evidence was substantiated. To me, that seems logical and ethical and to know that it has not been a requirement thus far is scary. Makers should not be able to play on the ignorance of consumers who may be trying something like investing for the first time. After reading the background consumers may do well to take a training in empathy and/or something like professional ethics. Makers should see their consumers as humans. I think if that was more prevalent there would be less deceptiveness. I am in favor of this rule as everyone should have to be honest especially when it affects others and their assets. | Mariah | Stokes | 2022-04-29T13:58:34Z | 2022-04-29T04:00:00Z | FALSE | AR | United States | l2j-xke3-ltip | ||||||||||||||
99 | FTC-2022-0020-0651 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Autumn Moyet | I would be so happy to see mlms gone forever. I have been in my share and have lost money every time. I was sucked into plexus and I HATE the ways these "ambassadors" make and share health claims about how these products cure migraines, cure cancer, cure lupus when in fact, they do not and are horribly over priced. They sell this idea of community and friendship when they just want to make money off of you and have you recruit more to build a down line. I am now completely anti mlm. | Autumn | Moyet | 2022-04-22T18:01:07Z | 2022-04-22T04:00:00Z | FALSE | OH | United States | l2a-p8w1-12j9 | ||||||||||||||
100 | FTC-2022-0020-0917 | FTC-2022-0020-0001 | Comment Submitted by Britt Smith | Multi-Level Marketing/Network Marketing/Social Marketing (ex: Monat, It Works, Arbonne, Young Living) are the worse offenders when it comes to deceptive and unfair earning claims. Not only are they encouraged to make outlandish monetary claims to lure people in but they also make ridiculous lifestyle claims that maybe only the top .001% actually live. / These businesses also claim their model will be better for you mentally and give you a loving community of like-minded people- these are all untrue. / The way this type of business model utilizes an array of exaggerated claims to formulate pitches for vulnerable people (ie; people of a lower income, single parents, young adults, military spouses, those dealing with mental illness, and illnesses- in general) is truly despicable and predatory. / Using false and misleading earnings claims is just one of the many ways MLMs target vulnerable populations- they bring nothing but overly fake positivity, predatory behavior, and create creepy cult-like environments for their "business owners". They continue to find loopholes in our laws to take advantage of people. / If MLMs could at least be held accountable for making deceptive earning claims and would have to display truly what people earn I'm sure it will deter a whole new wave of people from ever joining these barely legal businesses.<span style='padding-left: 30px'></span> | Britt | Smith | 2022-05-02T20:19:27Z | 2022-05-02T04:00:00Z | FALSE | l2p-1n9a-dfi7 |