| Comment Number: | 522418-05322 |
| Received: | 6/30/2006 4:59:12 PM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Manoj Jha |
| State: | IA |
| Subject: | Business Opportunity Rule |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 437 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
Dear FTC, My name is Manoj Jha, currently a resident of Iowa and working at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. I am an Independent Business Owner (IBO # 3441738) associated with QUIXTAR. I was browsing the website which got my attention to this issue. I would like to pass on my experience and comments on issues raised by FTC: 1) I have been in QUIXTAR business opportunity since 2003. Currently I am at 4000 PV level and have a goal of reaching Platinum level by August. This is a great business opportunity and working very well for me. I am pretty excited to achieve financial success for my family through this business opportunity. 2) Before starting this business, I received enough information to make decision. I saw the marketing plan in a home setting, then went to a hotel setting meeting (OPEN meeting) and then my sponsor did follow up to show me products and get all my questions answered regarding this business. 3) When I register new IBO in my business, I do exactly same thing and teach my team the same way. We never force people to join. We explain fully what products we have, marketing plan including the concept that this is not a “get-rich-quick” scheme and it sure involved hard work ethic. 4) We explain prospects at the end of presentation that it will cost them around $135 or $180 depending on different starter packages from the corporation to get started. Out of which $49 is annual membership fee (which is 3 months money back guarantee) and rest is cost for sample products (optional) from QUIXTAR (which is 6 months money back guarantee). Prospects are always made clear that they have at least 3 months to decide whether they want to build this business without losing any money. 5) The requirement of a 7-day waiting period: I don’t think it’s really a good idea. As long as the fact is clear that they can get their money back easily any time, it is safe to sponsor right away if the prospect is ready to get started. Waiting for 7 days without proper association and system may change their decision due to so many negatives out there and eventually they may loose the opportunity. If they are excited, it’s possible to build a faster business in terms of profitability in this 7 day period. I highly recommend having the policy exactly as it is right now. 6) The requirement to provide reference: I am not comfortable giving out name and # of my IBOs to the new prospects who are not even sure yet. They might have something else in mind while taking information of my IBOs. However, prospects are always given opportunity to meet many IBOs during weekly OPEN (hotel setting e-commerce seminar) meeting and PASE (Product and System Education) meeting. Most of the times, we recommend prospects to attend at least one to these meetings before they make their final decision. This way they will have a chance to know system, many IBOs in general. This way we don’t have to disclose other name and # to somebody strange. 7) The requirement for financial substantiation: This would not be a good idea either. New IBOs probably be making less than $10.0 in the first month in general according to the FTC approved marketing plan. We cannot create enough believe to prospects with that check. There are so many others things that can be explained to justify that showing financial income from QUIXTAR should not be required.