Good or Bad?

[AIsuccess]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that a legal MLM type business must have a product. I have been presented, online with tons of new businessess and it is hard decide whether or not they are scams. From what I remember reading, non of them are because they all have a product.

Two businessess in particular I won't name them (but if you must know PM me) have setup a matrix type of pay plan. Now I believe most of us know what that is.( I am not saying this is bad). My concern is that their products are just a bunch of tools to advertise their business to recruit new people, such as Autoresponders, Automated Setup Promotion Systems, Personal Site, Redirect System/Tracking, Rotator Systems among others tools.

Can these so-called businessess really be called businessess? I mean they are all working together to make some money, but WTF, the products are just tools to recruit others.

I don't know. You be the judge.

[*MissBiz*]

Nice observation.

It's up for debate I guess. I would say that these "recruitment businesses" would have been legitamate at one time in the history of internet marketing, as their "products" (ie: get-rich-quick e-books, matrix system formats, etc) would have been new and even innovative, and therefore, possibly attractive to people at the time.

But now that these businesses are everywhere (basically viral), and many of them have taken advantage of their consumers/ members, they tend to be pigeon-holed as scams.

I would call it more viral marketing and lacking in creativity than "a business". They're not what I typically think of when I think of a business because of their scammy connotations.

[tbeer22]

This site is 10 percent spam, 50 percent entrepreneurs and 40 percent low-life scammers...

[Aletheides]

Sounds pretty ridiculous...Really no longevity there but I'm sure it will make a quick buck for the huckster that came up with it.

[New billionaire]

In a way, it is a business. However, it is not a legitimate business. Sorry I voted yes, then I found out that legitimate at the behind of the sentence.
I agree that the business don't last for long. Perhaps, less than 2 years.

[akula]

no, these shops are not a real business for a lot of reasons

1) no business structure - if you're involved in these things, your venture does not have perpetuity because you cannot sell your mlm membership for capital gains. a business is an entity which can be sold to new owners for a profit. everything else is not a business, but something else

2) no business function - ventures have to perform an economic role, which is to extend the demand curve by either selling new kinds of goods (creating new demand), or selling existing kinds of goods at lower prices than the competition, or via some other competitive value proposition

these mlm shops do not perform the economic function of business. they sell overpriced, low quality crap, to people who fall for buying this stuff not based on the merits of the product being sold, but based on lies, obfuscation and deception packaged around the product

things like $15 bottles of amway shampoo shouldn't exist, but the do because poor souls buy this stuff thinking they're participating in some sort of an "opportunity".

thse are two reasons why mlm shops are not "businesses" in the traditional sense of the word - they (legally) do not look like a business, and practically do not do what business is supposed to do in a perfectly competitive market

[The Stealthy One]

Remember, too, that just because an MLM business has a product does not mean it is also not a scam. They could be selling a product but never shipping it, for instance.