Since the 1950s, multi-level marketing (MLM) companies like Amway have sold billions of dollars worth of products to consumers through independent individual distributors, who take a cut on every sale they make as well as on the sales of other “downline� distributors they have recruited. These days, a new crop of green companies has adopted the MLM business model to sell various types of environmentally friendly merchandise.
But while the marriage of multi-level marketing and environmentalism seems like an obvious fit—because distributors want to believe in the products they are selling to friends and family—consumers should beware that just because a company looks green does not mean it acts responsibly. Just as in other sectors, MLM companies run the gamut from reputable to fraudulent, and would-be distributors owe it to themselves to investigate whether any such company they are considering working with meets some basic criteria of legitimacy.
Greening Up the Downline : Multi-Level Marketing Comes of Age (by Roddy Scheer)
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