| Comment Number: | 522418-12581 |
| Received: | 7/17/2006 11:01:26 PM |
| Organization: | tlk enterprises (Quixtar.com) |
| Commenter: | Thomas Karst |
| State: | VA |
| Subject: | Business Opportunity Rule |
| Title: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking |
| CFR Citation: | 16 CFR Part 437 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
I have been an Independent Business Owner (IBO) affiliated with Quixtar for seven years. My income fluctuates with my effort. When I became an IBO it was clearly explained that there was considerable work involved in reaching any income goal. When I register new IBOs, I provide them the same information I received and make certain they understand the amount of work they have ahead of them to make any specific goal. New IBOs spend less than $100 to get started, with my guarantee of a 100% refund if they decide they don't like the business or don't want to invest the work required. No one has asked for any refund, but several quit. Issue: I would have to give prospects seven days, after they received all required disclosures, before they could register as new IBOs. Comment: I do not understand the waiting period when I have a money-back guarantee for new IBOs. This should be adequate to address the issue of risk to the new IBO. Issue: I would be required to give every prospect a list of ten other IBOs in the area as references (including names addresses and phone numbers) seven days before the prospect becomes an IBO. Comment: This requirement would infringe upon the privacy of other IBOs whose personal contact information was given out to prospects. It could provide an unfair advantage to me by allowing my prospect to register with any of the references given, thus severly hindering my ability to increase my business. With our business, prospects are invited to open opportunity meetings, before they register, where they can meet and talk to all other IBOs at the meeting. Issue: I would be required to provide, to each prospect, before they registered, a list of all lawsuits, arbitrations, and other legal claims, for the last 10 years, against Quixtar and all IBOs, where someone claimed fraud, misrepresentation, or unfair trade practices - regardless of whether the claims were true or false. Comment: This would create a huge unfair cost for new and small IBOs be making them constantly monitor the legal system for any claims against Quixtar and its many IBOs. This issue would make it impossible for IBOs to continue in business, or for new IBOs to start a business, because of the impossibility of the monitoring and recording task. This requirement would open up Quixtar and all IBOs to frivolous lawsuits, thus compounding the monitoring and recording task. Also, unscrupulous companies would ignore the rule (and by the time the FTC could investigate or stop them, they would be gone). Issue: I would have to make a different disclosure for every income claim, including all examples when presenting the business to a prospect. Comment: I don't disagree with required disclosures, but make them reasonable, standard, easily understood and simple. Requiring disclosures for each potential income claim would get very time-consuming for me and difficult for a prospect to understand. If disclosures were not standardized, each IBO could use different examples which,again, would be very confusing to the prospect. A simple solution would be to disclose an "average monthly income for active IBOs". This is very simple, clear, and makes no promises of a get-rich-quick possibility to the prospects. It clearly shows that income is totally dependent upon the effort invested. It shows there is no short cut to any income level, but through hard work. Issue: I would be required to provide prospects with personal financial documents in order to substantiate my income claims. Comment: This would be an infringement upon my privacy in disclosing this information to every prospect. I should not be required to disclose this type of information except when required by the FTC or a similar state agency during an official investigation. (As a parallel, I (nor any other employee) am not required to disclose my wages from a job to anyone except an official investigator, regardless of my employer.)