The History of Direct Selling Part I

Direct Selling Association:

Early direct sellers - hawkers, peddlers, traders, itinerant merchants and caravans - are part of an ancient tradition that originated in man’s basic need to exchange goods and to communicate. Doorbells, catalogues and purchase orders were centuries away from the early direct seller who relied on his instincts and common sense to make a living through selling.

As he established economic ties with his neighbors, he traveled extensively despite geographical barriers. The development and use of roads and or water routes for commercial activity were pivotal points in the history of direct selling.

Early man had the option of either contending with geographical barriers like mountains and foothills, or refining the surroundings that hindered trade movements. At the outset, during a period of time called “prehistoric,” trade followed naturally-defined routes. Traffic between neighboring people of eastern Europe, for instance, was hampered by a mosaic of densely and sparsely inhabited areas covered with ridges, foothills and valley floors. These ecological niches were an impediment to commercial exchange between Northern and southern Europe.

Early traders developed easily accessible routes to facilitate land travel. Along ruggedly constructed roads treaded the early direct seller with his goods. Even before the advent of wheeled traffic, the early direct seller did not hesitate to exchange pottery, stone weapons, tools, agricultural products and raw materials with people from other lands. Barter, the direct exchange of goods for goods, was his principal means of trade.

Among the early civilizations, Egypt, Syria, Babylonia and India were actually involved in trade. Ivory and ebony were exchanged for pottery and stone vessels. Indian beads and vases, believed to have originated in remote localities, were found in Babylonia.