Multilevel Marketing: A High Risk Merchant's Experience Told Part 2

In Part 1 of this article I mentioned about my own experience with MLMs, what most people would call a high risk business by virtue of high incidences of scam involved. I must admit there's a difference between the legit ones that sell real products and ones that merely ask you to recruit new distributors so that you may gain commissions off their membership fees. High risk merchant providers are aware of these. They will certainly not accept your application if they learned you had been previously involved in a MLM fraud. To learn more about this topic I wrote, see Insider Tricks to Successful Merchant Application.

PYRAMID SCAMS VS. LEGIT MLMs

I was then in my college days and seeking some help for my university fees when I saw an ad about scholarship opportunity on the local paper. I contacted the number and was told to attend a meeting to find out more about it. Soon I realized it was some sort of MLM business with a variety of benefits for the members. In my desire to get the scholarship, I joined. I paid a downpayment for my fee but it took long for me to realize that the scholarship I wanted from them would never materialize. Why?

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Multilevel Marketing: A High Risk Merchant's Experience Told Part 2

Multilevel Marketing: A High Risk Merchant's Experience Told Part 1

High risk merchant providers include Multilevel Marketing in their list of industries. To some, MLM has earned a bad reputation for being a lousy business scheme in which members could supposedly become wealthy by virtue of "downline recruitment". To others, MLM is a decent way to make a profit out of sales as well as commission from new salespersons enrolled in the company. High risk merchants who own successful MLM businesses know that despite being tagged illegal or fraudulent, MLM is still a highly profitable industry. That is, if distributors aim to earn through product selling and not through recruitment alone.

SECRET MEETINGS

It was back in 2004 when my cousin approached me and asked me to come with him to some mysterious business meeting at a building downtown. He said if I was open to opportunities to make money part time more than I made then, I could learn a lot just by mere listening to the speakers of that meeting. There was no commitment to join or pay for anything. I was optimistic and joined. Yep, I was hardly surprised when I sat in the corner of the room with my cousin, listened to the highly motivational lectures of three self-professed millionaires, and learned that it was possible to make a lot of dough with the MLM scheme. We had to sell Asian coffee...

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Multilevel Marketing: A High Risk Merchant's Experience Told Part 1