Comment Number: 522418-11984
Received: 7/17/2006 5:15:37 PM
Organization:
Commenter: Michael Jindra
State: TX
Subject: Business Opportunity Rule
Title: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
CFR Citation: 16 CFR Part 437
No Attachments

Comments:

I have been an Amway Distributor / Quixtar Independent Business Owner since February 1998. I support the Federal Trade Commission's intentions to protect consumers from fraudulent business schemes while simultaneously protecting and enhancing the ability of legitimate businesses to conduct business. Toward both these ends, I have some concerns regarding several aspects of the proposed new rule and recommend consideration of the following alternatives: 1. Rather than a 7-day "cooling off" period, I recommend a 3-day period. This shorter period is the more common practice in the states in which I conduct business ... a practice which affords protection for both the consumer and the business owner. 2. Recommend that each prospect be provided with information regarding income levels possible within the proposed business opportunity ... with percentages of business owners that attain (and average income earned within) each level. 3. Rather than providing the names of 10 references ... some or all of whom may be direct competitors, I recommend stipulating that the names of those references come from within my "Line of Sponsorship". [Quixtar's own rules of conduct prohibit any and all Quixtar-affiliated businesses from "raiding" other Quixtar-affiliated businesses. Quixtar's own rules of conduct prohibit (with penalties of loss of authority to conduct business) "upline" from "stealing" prospects from "downline".] I further recommend that the name of at least one reference be provided within each of the income levels presented in 2 preceding. 4. I recommend that not only average earnings but also average costs be presented for each income level. This allows the prospect to make an informed decision regarding the probabilities of actually making a profit in the proposed business venture ... the true protection I believe the FTC is seeking. 5. As litigation is always a fluid issue, I recommend the FTC maintain an online database of all such litigation and make it easily and readily available for review by any business prospect. Then I could be required to present to any prospect the URL / "link" to that online database. That way the prospect is afforded access to information necessary for making an informed choice ... and the business opportunity presenter is afforded protection from any accusation of withholding (whether inadvertent or purposeful) any information from that prospect ... information it would be extraordinarily onerous if not virtually impossible for the business opportunity presenter to keep both accurate and up-to-date from day-to-day as they conduct business. This "litigation revelation" requirement should apply to all businesses ... not just "direct" businesses such as mine. It is a noble objective to seek protections for the consumer / prospect in this regard; but, please make sure that these protections are equally and levelly applied. Thank you for your efforts to protect not only my prospects but also me from fraudulent business practices.