Comment Number: 522418-06994
Received: 7/8/2006 1:16:31 PM
Organization: Xango, LLC
Commenter: Dorothy Gierloff
State: NV
Subject: Business Opportunity Rule
Title: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
CFR Citation: 16 CFR Part 437
No Attachments

Comments:

I have been a distributor for Xango since Dec. of 2005. I had been buying and consuming their product for 3 mos before and was so impressed with the product and the health benefits that I had received that I decided to share the product. Although, I have not made a great deal of money, I can see the possibility in the future. Since I am a widow in my 70s, the possibility of being able to add funds to my retirement income is very exciting. It would mean the difference of sitting at home in the rocking chair, so to speak, and being able to travel and enjoy retirement. Although it is certainly quite common for retirees to obtain employment, direct selling offers so much more than an hourly wage and is very beneficial in contributing to personal development. I understand that there are many fraudulent people and companies in our world today, and that you are trying to protect the public, which is certainly not an easy task. It is truly unfortunate that a few rotten apples can cause rules and regulations to be implemented that cause hardships for legitimate people. On the Seven Day waiting period - the problems that this would create would greatly outnumber any benefits. In Xango, the initial monetary investment is SO SMALL that having to delay the initial order and shipment for 7 days would not only delay our customer's health benefits, but I think it would raise unnecessary negative concerns - i.e. "Why" is it necessary to wait 7 days - the initial investment is only $35.00 - What is the problem? - Is there something that I have overlooked? As to disclosure requirments of the nearest 10 purchasers, this seems to be impossible - I live in a large city (with many distributors/purchasers ) and do not have contact or knowleldge of all them. This means it goes to home office - not only would it be a large & expensive process, but all distributors/purchasers would have to approve having their names and addresses being sent out to the public. The requirements of substantiating claim of earnings would be extremely difficult and actually mean nothing. What I make this month is something that I could certainly substantiate, but no way guarantee anyone else that they would do the same. They might do better - they might do worse. It would only show possibilities and a fraudulent company would probably falsify the evidence anyway, distorting the data. The requirement to disclose all legal actions within the previous 10 years, on the surface, sounds like a good idea; however, it certainly should be limited to the business opportunity (and not personal or unrelated actions) and should also include the outcome of the litigation. There should be no need to disclose litigation that is not relevant or has had a favorable resolution for the distributor and/or company. The disclosre of the number of purchases cancelling in the past 2 years should also be limited to the cancellations from customers who are dissatisfied with the product and/or company; and the reason for their dissatisfaction. Numbers alone, often do not reflect a true picture. Sometimes cancellations result from personal reasons, and is only a temporary situation until finances and/or problems improve. If the $500.00 minimum investment requirement from the Franchise Rule ie eliminated, would business opportunities such as Xango distributorships fall under the same rules and regulations as Franchises??? This seems like apples and oranges. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to submit this. Dorothy Gierloff