| Comment Number: | 522418-06359 |
| Received: | 7/6/2006 1:08:23 AM |
| Organization: | |
| Commenter: | Cristiana St John |
| State: | CA |
| Subject: | Business Opportunity Rule |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 437 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
Dear Sirs, I wish to encourage the FTC to adopt the proposed rules requiring MLMs, aka pyramid schemes, to provide full disclosure. A great many people are taken advantage of and fleeced by these operations, and I have been told that they are now expanding into the developing economies where people are easily taken in by these smooth-talking predators promising new ways to prosperity. 1. All multi-level marketing companies must comply with earnings-claims disclosure rules. No multi-level marketing company should be given an option of making so-called no earnings claims. 2. Multi-level marketing companies must disclose the average retail-based income earned by participants in each level of the hierarchy. 3. Income disclosures of multi-level marketing companies must include: -- The total number of all participants who joined in the past year, not just the so-called active participants in one part of a year. -- The average NET, not gross, income of participants in each level. Average net income is the average of all monies received from the company by participants minus the average of all moneys paid to the company by participants in each level. Expenditures paid to the company include product purchases, renewal fees, shipping costs, books, audio and video tapes, training and motivation seminars, computer fees, etc. Thank you for your attention, Cristiana St.John