All year long we’ve been seeing news story after news story about how “direct selling” (the name meant to disguise multi-level marketing and confuse consumers about the true intent of the companies) is a great option for making money during difficult economic times.
Unfortunately, people are losing just as much money with MLMs as they always have, but no one seems to want to talk about this. Conservatve estimates are that 98% to 99% of consumers who participate in multi-level marketing or direct selling actually lose money. The “direct selling” companies want consumers to believe there is lots of money to be made selling products. But the real business the recruiting and frontloading of inventory to those new recruits.
The CBS affiliate in Philadelphia ran a story about the direct selling opportunity and the economy…
