Are All Online MLM Programs Scams?

Admin   |   05 March, 2015   |   1223   |   3980

Reported by StreetWise Journal: It’s very easy to be skeptical about online multilevel marketing (MLM) programs. It’s easy to get jaded. Why? A lot of them are marketed in very scummy ways. Prospects are enticed with ridiculous rates of return and all sorts of promises and the underlying program being promoted is positioned to appeal to the prospects’ greed. This really is all unfortunate.

You have to understand that the multilevel marketing is exactly that—it is a selling structure. In of itself, the multilevel marketing promotion structure is not necessarily bad. If you need proof of this, just look at Amway. Amway is a multibillion dollar corporation that produces money reliably for many of its top sellers. Of course, there is a huge number of people complaining because they either don’t know how to promote, or they are just too far down in the chain to make any money from Amway’s multilevel marketing system. Regardless, an MLM structure is simply a selling structure.

It really is too bad that most online MLM programs are simply selling the privilege to participate in the MLM. In short, they are selling the registration fee. Most of these programs can have the effect of scams because the only real product or service being sold is the ability to participate and give others the opportunity to sell the program to others. That is the worst form of online MLM. I’d have no problems with that kind of MLM being labeled as scam and being made a target of government prosecution.

With that said, the actual structure of online MLMs shows great potential. You have to understand that the Internet is all about social relationships. Whether we’re talking about people on our Facebook friend list or our Twitter follower list, the Internet commerce can be turbo charged by these social connections. An online MLM program that offers real value and real returns can stand to benefit from turbo charging these online relationships. The key here of course is producing real value. And real value doesn’t involve selling the “right” to upsell people to an online MLM membership.