Is multi-level marketing illegal? Some people say it creates pyramids, which are illegal but i dont know?

No, MLM is not illegal, as long as there is product that is exchanging hand. Also, if you more successful then you should be able to advance higher in promotion as well as income as your sponsor. The Direct Selling Association is the watchdog of MLM companys. You would want to check to make sure that the company that interests you is a member of the DSA. It sets very high ethical standards to companies who are members. You can see if your company is a member by going to their website which I believe is www.dsa.com. Also if you want to get in MLM you will need to understand that in order to get paid what you desire you will need to treat it as a business. If you treat it as a hobby you will get paid hobby money. I am in am involed in health and wellness MLM company. It is very rewarding on a personal level as well as a financial level. Please make sure that your sponsor will help you every step of the way. If you sign up and get product, you want to make sure that you are doing what it takes to get to the top. If you are new to MLM, you simply will not know how to do it by yourself. Your sponsor must be committed to helping you acheive what you want.

Also, make sure that you have not just a good product to sell, but a phenomenal one!!

There are times when it gets tough. There will be times when you hear a lot of no's. Stick with it the next month you may get a lot of yes's. If you are serious about this company you can do well. Just do not quit. You will be shaking hands with the boss (yourself) in 5 years. Enjoy the ride-it will be well worth it! Good Luck. If you have any more questions, please feel free to email me.

No, it is not illegal, it is just misunderstood. People automatically criticize things they don't understand. Mult-level marketing (MLM) makes more millionaires than any other business not requiring a degree! Every business has some type of "pyramid" structure. There is the CEO, upper management, lower management, support, and workers. If you draw this out on a board you will have a pyramid. The difference is that when you are in MLM you are leveraging the work of those you bring on and they are helping you succeed. When you are working with a company they are leveraging your time and they are making all the money. You simply trade time for money in a JOB. With MLM you work with a group of people all interested in your success. If you don't succeed then they won't either. That also goes for the people you sign up. You have to work with them to help them succeed because if they don't then you don't. This makes it fun because you meet a lot of people. As you continue to grow you will no longer be trading time for money, but you will be making money while you sleep, vacation, or whatever because your team will be building your business. You and your team will be doing all the advertising for the company. MLM companies would rather give their advertising money to their distributors than to celebrities, sports stars, or rock stars.

The most important aspect of MLM is the product. If you don't have a great consumable product then it will be difficult to succeed. Consumable means that it is used and purchased every month. You also have to believe that the product does what it says it will do or you will have a difficult time convincing anyone that you like the product. Your product should be something that is beneficial to your clients and something that you are proud to share with anyone.

MLM requires persistence and a good team to succeed. I have been on some really horrible MLM teams and could never seem to get anywhere. I am now with a company that has fantastic products and an amazing team. I have never been so motivated to succeed. I am now a leader of my own team and we are slowly but surely growing. That's the main thing you have to understand, it doesn't happen immediately! You will hear about people that did it overnight, but you won't hear that they already had a huge following that simply joined with them. Those people are rare! What you have to expect are a lot of "nos" to find the "yeses". It is truly a numbers game and you've got to do the numbers. Again, it's not a hard business, it just requires persistence! What other business can you get into that requires just a small up front fee (around $30) and a monthly purchase (usually around $100) that can make you a 6 figure income in 1-2 years? MLM also doesn't require a degree! If you want to learn more about the business then email me. I'd be glad to help you succeed in your own business! Have a blessed day!

It is only illegal if a certain % of income comes only from signing more people up. I think its something like 70% has to come from selling a product or service. They also have to sell at fair market value. The FTC regulates this. I'm sure there are plenty of crooked companies with dirty books who get around this law. Wikipedia has some good info...look up ponzai scheme...

You should check for info on the company from the BBB. One big red flag is if they don't want to talk about the product they are selling.

I looked up 4life and it looks more like a franchise scam to me...

http://franchises.about.com/od/franchisedirectory/...

No. People who don't know any better often confuse MLM with Pyramid or Ponzi Schemes because they can mimic MLM.

Legitimate MLM companies do not offer any compensation in return for signing others up. All income must be made through the sale of products or services.

For more in-depth information, wikipedia is an excellent reference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing

A Pyramid scheme is multi level marketing gone wrong, there are honest and legal and trust worthy schemes, many multinational companies use them, you just have to know which one you are getting into, research them ask around, take what they say with a pinch of salt.

I think you will find that the definition of a pyramid Scheme is where the income is based solely on inducting new members below oneself and not off of an actual product.

here is the wikipedia version of what it is.

hope this helps.

No, its not illegal. Some company has been around for more than 50 years. Pyramids scam is illegal, multi level marketing is not.

HAHAHA – I read wecangetfit’s answer and laughed so hard I almost pulled a muscle!

First off, MLM is legal because there is a product they sell, making it legal. That doesn’t mean they don’t operate just as a pyramid scheme. One only needs to see any MLM compensation plan to realize the only way to advance up the ladder is by recruiting, not sales. You could sell 10 million of product in a month and if you don’t recruit anyone you can't reach the higher levels. That is a blatand attempt as using the fundamentals of a pyramid (ponzi) scheme.

wecangetfit’s states: “Mult-level marketing (MLM) makes more millionaires than any other business not requiring a degree!”

…and you wonder why MLM industry doesn’t get any respect. This is just pure propaganda based on NO stats or facts whatsoever. It is naïve people who buy into the fact that just because the hype says people are making millions that it must be true. Further, what business actually requires a degree? Too funny.

wecangetfit’s states: “Every business has some type of "pyramid" structure. There is the CEO, upper management, lower management, support, and workers. If you draw this out on a board you will have a pyramid.”

…hahah, so because they look the same on a board they must be the same. Wow, that might be the least intelligent thing I have heard all year. Jeeeez, even the lowly janitor at McDonalds doesn’t have to recruit 5 other janitors just to get paid. What is the big difference? The lowly wage slave at the bottom of any real world business earns payment and the company doesn’t have to keep finding NEW wage slaves to pay him. In MLM if you don’t keep recruiting, you don’t make any money. The stock answer to that is that you can sell product to make money. Right, and find me one MLMer who chooses to only make money off of sales instead of recruiting others and you have a salesman, not an MLMer.

wecangetfit’s states: “ The difference is that when you are in MLM you are leveraging the work of those you bring on and they are helping you succeed.”

…any MLMer would not know what leverage is if it hit them on the head. Bringing in others to recruit other so that you can start making money is not leveraging, its adding no value to the sale of products and earning money that drives up the price of the end product. MLMers love to tell you their value is training, but none of them are doing personal sales that is enough for them to live on, so what are they even qualified to train you on? Well, they do learn how to train you to convince and brainwash others that MLM is the best thing since sliced bread, so I guess they have something to offer. Bravo, when they finally quit MLM they are now qualified to be full fledged con men.

wecangetfit’s states: “When you are working with a company they are leveraging your time and they are making all the money. You simply trade time for money in a JOB. With MLM you work with a group of people all interested in your success.”

…imagine that, when you work a job you are paid for the value you provide. In MLM, you work with a group of people that each on their own right is not even selling enough product to support themselves, yet collectively they are convinced they are all doing enough to all be millionaires.

wecangetfit’s states: “As you continue to grow you will no longer be trading time for money, but you will be making money while you sleep, vacation, or whatever because your team will be building your business. You and your team will be doing all the advertising for the company.”

…so basically the blatant goal is to get to a point where you admittedly add ZERO value whatsoever all the while earning money. Sure, the MLMer convinces themselves this is justified since business owners in the real world can achive the same; of course MLMers with no business knowledge whatsoever (or those MLMers in completely denial) overlook the fact that the real world business owner added value by formation of plans, risk capital, and efficiency to production. What has an MLMer added in value other than training people to find other people who also won’t sell enough personal volume to make a living.

wecangetfit’s states: “MLM companies would rather give their advertising money to their distributors than to celebrities, sports stars, or rock stars. “

…and they gladly pay levels upon levels of people who have absolutely nothing to do with a sale causing MLM product and services to be much more costly. It is not shocking that an MLMer would not understand the value of advertising since no MLM product or service is capable of competing in an open market where advertising drives your customer base.

wecangetfit’s states: “MLM also doesn't require a degree! “

…MLM doesn’t actually require anything at all…that is except for the will to recruit others with propaganda. Think about that, you don’t need any sales skills, any business knowledge, or the ability to do simple math. MLMer will tell you that you can just build a simple 3x3 matrix and you will be rich, all the while overlooking that a 3x3 matrix reaches over 300 million people by its 18th level.

NONE of the MLM propaganda and fantasy facts ever holds up and no MLMer is ever willing to debate them. The most common 2 replies, “you are destined to failure if you get mixed up in the numbers” or “don’t listen to negative people (negative people being anyone who points out the obvious flaws of MLM)”.

Am I negative? If you are brainwashed that is the quick conclusion you are expected to jump to. But if I point out obvious facts for anything you are considering and advise against it, am I negative just because I advise against it? If I advised against investing in Enron 10 years ago, and laid out obvious facts as to why it was a bad idea, would that make me negative, or informed? Hmmm, think about that.

Thanks for the chuckle wecangetfit

multi-level marketing does not 'create' a pyramid, it IS a pyramid scheme.

multi level marketing is by definition a prymid scheme, it's just a fancy term for it.