441 has pointed out the section of the law I regularly referred
to when I talked about ntiparis in the other topic.
Please note that as there is no precedent of any contravention of
the amendment, this section, as well as other sections, has not
been debated or clarified in the court..yet.
Lack of specific industrial regulations and standards in MLM allow
many scams to exploit this section of the law.
Let me open this section for debate.
Take nti for example.
By right, you are not supposed to purchase anything to join the
company, nor do you receive commissions upon your downlines payment
of registrations fees. The first action leads to the contravention
of this section, while the second action point out the trait of a
pyramid scheme.
When I first entered nti for a presentation, I was asked almost
immediately to purchase the products in order to join the company.
Many of us have noted this, by referring to the replies in the
other thread. Remember that you are always asked to join in for
$288, products included?
This become a norm, join the company, pay 288 bucks, join the
company, pay 288 bucks...untill its almost impossible to
distinguish 288 bucks as product + registration fees, or
registration fees alone...
Someone told me recently, in nti recent 'trend' in shifting its
membership policies and refund agreement, its began to state that
$35 is the registration fees.
All these lead to few questions. Why do I have to purchase the $288
set? Why cant I pay just $35, and choose to purchase or sell any of
the products in any combination I choose? Why must I buy even a set
of anything together with the registration fees just to join the
scheme? And fulfilling these criteria to join the scheme, my upline
began to receive commission immediately, based on company policy of
members purchasing the 288 bucks set immediately!?
This is uncannily like frontloading and earning direct from a
newbie registration fees as whole.
Secondly, I stated this once, and I will state this again, a
company exist to sell its goods or services Another form is
investment, where in simple terms, you invest to provide capital
for the company (legally of course). Its like lending people money,
and you will receive interest as returns, in investment, its called
dividends upon company profits. That company of course use your
money in the operation of selling its good or services.
As many can see, the observation is that nti aggressively recruit.
There is really less emphasis on the products. Some agents
blatantly said products doesnt matter. I know MLM is also about
earning great income, but you DO NOT forgo selling things.
Going back to the law, nti does not legally break the law. It has
goods, it has cleverly differentiate registration fees and product
purchase. But it does not resolve the issue of the agents agressive
recruitment nor the policy of tying up products purchase with
registration fees and participation. It does not hide the fact many
agents agressively recruit people, and sales are made thru this
recruitement, and the monthly $50 input.
Remember that aromatheraphy and other stuff nti sell are what we
called oestantious good, or luxury good. Being highly priced and
without any obvious beneficial value, how are some of the agents
able to sell and earn so much, especially when their target market
seems to be teens without much money? Some, without batting an
eyelid, could tell you that it all comes down to recruitment, not
products.
All these actions lead to one thing. There is a lack of a lot of
physical evidence in terms of company written documents, and the
existence of good makes it hard to clamp down on nti because of
this very section of the law. Unless you got hard evidence that
members acquire benefits directly and explicitly from recruitment,
you cant go banging on the police door.
What is substantial is from the observation of nti daily
operations, its unofficial policies, marketing techniques and
behaviour of agents that may help clamp on nti.
I remember one thing i read on S888.com (or SMI case, either one)
flouting the MLM law, where its stated that they do not legally
break the law, but they are running the company in the 'spirit of a
pyramid'.
Essentially, some people boils it down to some black sheeps. But
this 'black sheep' is massive in number, with some of the
forumnites posting that top leaders are doing this too.
I am sure companies trying to earn by recruitment are no different
from companies with lousy management, who cant make their sheeps
behave. Coz the effect is the same at the end of the day - many
youths who lost money in the course of hoping to achieve their
dreams. Plus the blatant breaking of law by so many people, I am
sure the gahmen wont be standing idly by...
