Changes are Coming
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced following their settlement with Herbalife that they are going to officially institute the same rules for the entire multilevel marketing industry. A timeline for doing that has not yet been announced, but it is coming. Considering the millions of dollars lost each year, this is probably a good thing.
The bad thing that is about to happen is that hundreds of these companies will probably go out of business leaving all those people who had invested their time and money in them with nothing. This is because, with most of them, if you take away their overpriced products they can't compete in the marketplace. The only reason people are buying these products is because they are trying to create income, based on the hype from the company.
The FTC is not saying that many of these products are not good quality or beneficial. Many of them are great products, some are based on questionable science, and some were just created to set up the company (especially Internet-based marketing programs). Once the final rules are issued, these products will now have to compete in price with brick and mortar or internet stores.
While there are other rules coming to address the compensation structure and deceptive practices (as in the Herbalife case), the price issue has to be the most important. This is where most compensation plans will fall apart. This is the reason many companies will fail.
The Need is Still There
Regardless of the fallout from these changes, people will still be looking for a way to increase their income to live a better life. That is just human nature. And, good residual income for the rest of their lives is still the ultimate dream for these people. Residual income that still keeps coming in no matter what crises may happen along the way.
There are alternatives that provide that. If you want to see what other choices are available, stable and don't run afoul of the FTC, then we invite you to read the section on Consumer Direct Marketing.