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d the state the company is based out
of, other MLM marketers in discussion news groups or e-mail forums,
customers of the company who are not ISR's, anyone else you can
think of who know of the company but have no personal interest in
it.
If the company is so new that no one seems to know anything about
it, then try to do a similar check on its founder(s) and the main
leaders in the upline group you are about to join.
OTHER FRAUDS TO WATCH OUT FOR
In trying to start or work an MLM business you are still susceptible
other kinds of fraud and misrepresentation that aren't specific to
MLM.
900 numbers.
If you answer an ad to a 900 (or 500, 700, or possibly 809) number,
you could wind up paying a lot more than the cost of a long distance
call. Reputable companies will tell you up front what the call costs
and how long you should expect it to last.
Up front fees to get information.
An MLM business wants you to join and be a part of that business.
You should never be asked for any money (unless you decide to try
the product as a customer) until you join. All the information you
need to make your decision should be free.
Large charges to give you the tools to build your business.
In many companies you can spend several times the amount you spend
on products getting tapes, information, attending seminars, etc. How
reasonable are the prices for these and is it reasonable to keep
adding to your initial outlay before you see any clear profits.
Credit cards.
Be very careful who you give your credit card numbers to. Be aware
that if you haven't checked the company out before you give them
your credit card number, you may learn more about them than you want
to know when you see your bill.
Business support products.
Before you try to use any of the tools (web page, autoresponder,
fax-on-demand, etc.) that you can pay for to help build your
business, make sure you need them and that you're getting them at a
reasonable price. Realize that many ISP's allow you a small web page
(1/2 meg) as part of your account before you pay for more.
Check into anyone you consider paying to write your web page and ask
for the href's for the pages they've already done so you can see
what their work is like. You may wonder why I include this in a
fraud article, but if you'd seen some of the prices I've seen for
these services, you'd know why.
Watch out for web sites that try to charge high advertising fees
based on the number of "hits" they get at that site. There is more
than one way to count hits and some of the more common ones count
each access of a file on the page as a hit. If there are 20 files of
graphics and text that make up the page, then that's 20 hits each
time someone loads the page and possibly 20 more each time they
return to the home page from the pages they link to from it. Ask how
they count hits and try to find out what level of results the
business that are already advertising with them are getting.
SUMMARY WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PRODUCT?
A solid product, consider it and join or not based on normal
business factors (does the product and business plan suit your
tastes). No real value except the right to market products that a
reasonable person wouldn't buy for the price you'll be charging,
RUN, its a duck (well maybe just a turkey, but run anyway).
WHAT OTHER COSTS WILL YOU HAVE IN ADDITION TO BUYING YOUR PRODUCTS?
If they charge reasonable fees that reflect what they are truly
paying to maintain administrative support for you, treat it like a
business and make your decision accordingly. If there are recurring
fees and they add enough to the cost of the product to make it
unreasonably expensive, treat it like a duck (or turkey) whether or
not it is legally a pyramid or ponzi scheme won't matter if you lose
your money, time and effort in this "opportunity".
WHAT'S IN IT FOR THE COMPANY?
If they are getting a fair price for a good product while keeping
their overhead down by not having to maintain in-house staffs for
sale and advertising, sounds like an MLM company. If they are paying
far more out in commissions than they are keeping for themselves.
Well, if it looks like a get-rich-quick-scheme, the key word for you
is scheme, treat it as such. If they are paying out so much in
commissions that you think there has to be a cheaper way to do their
marketing, why aren't they using one?
KEEP YOURSELF SAFE
Guard your credit card numbers, avoid 900 and similar telephone
numbers (you don't even need a credit card to go broke with these),
and shop around to make sure you're not paying more than you should
for the services you use.
End of Report
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