MLMs are designed to make profit for the owners/shareholders of the company and a few individual participants at the top levels of the MLM pyramid of participants. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), some MLM companies already constitute illegal pyramid schemes even by the narrower existing legislation, exploiting members of the organization.[23]
↑ Global Statistical Report 2011. (PDF; 126 kB) (Nicht mehr online verfügbar.) World Federation of Direct Selling Associations, 20. Juni 2012, archiviert vom Original am 28. März 2013; abgerufen am 10. März 2013. Info: Der Archivlink wurde automatisch eingesetzt und noch nicht geprüft. Bitte prüfe Original- und Archivlink gemäß Anleitung und entferne dann diesen Hinweis.
Although an MLM company holds out those few top individual participants as evidence of how participation in the MLM could lead to success, the MLM business model depends on the failure of the overwhelming majority of all other participants, through the injecting of money from their own pockets, so that it can become the revenue and profit of the MLM company, of which the MLM company shares only a small proportion of it to a few individuals at the very top of the MLM participant pyramid. Participants, other than the few individuals at the top, provide nothing more than their own financial loss for the company's own profit and the profit of the top few individual participants.[16]
Mit der Untersuchung von Network-Marketing befassen sich nur wenige Kammern und Hochschulen. In der Regel sprechen sie Warnungen gegenüber unseriösen Geschäftspraktiken aus. So informiert die IHK Stuttgart über spezielle Formen und deren Abgrenzung zu illegalen Geschäftspraktiken,[3] während die Handelskammer Hamburg Kennzeichen unseriöser Netzwerk-Marketing-Unternehmen herausarbeitet.[1]
Die meisten MLM-Unternehmen bieten neben entsprechenden Anreizsystemen (Auto, Kreuzfahrt, Rentenversicherung etc.) Motivationsveranstaltungen. Wer so etwas mitmacht hat nur zwei Alternativen: entweder läßt man sich von der dort vorherrschenden Euphorie umgehend mitreißen oder empfindet das ganze als fehlgeschlagene Rosenmontagsfeier und geht dort nie wieder hin (sollte definitiv auch kleine vertraglich festgelegte Pflichtveranstaltung sein).
Independent non-salaried participants, referred to as distributors (variously called "associates", "independent business owners", "independent agents", etc.), are authorized to distribute the company's products or services. They are awarded their own immediate retail profit from customers plus commission from the company, not downlines, through a multi-level marketing compensation plan, which is based upon the volume of products sold through their own sales efforts as well as that of their downline organization.
Walter J. Carl stated in a 2004 Western Journal of Communication article that "MLM organizations have been described by some as cults (Butterfield, 1985),[57] pyramid schemes (Fitzpatrick & Reynolds, 1997),[58] or organizations rife with misleading, deceptive, and unethical behavior (Carter, 1999),[59] such as the questionable use of evangelical discourse to promote the business (Höpfl & Maddrell, 1996),[60] and the exploitation of personal relationships for financial gain (Fitzpatrick & Reynolds, 1997)".[58][61] In China, volunteers working to rescue people from the schemes have been physically attacked.[62]
MLMs have been made illegal in China as a mere variation of the traditional pyramid scheme.[11][12] MLM companies have been trying to find ways around China's prohibitions, or have been developing other methods, such as direct sales, to take their products to China through retail operations. The Direct Sales Regulations limit direct selling to cosmetics, health food, sanitary products, bodybuilding equipment and kitchen utensils. And the Regulations require Chinese or foreign companies ("FIEs") who intend to engage into direct sale business in mainland China to apply for and obtain direct selling license from the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM").[48] In 2016, there are 73 companies, including domestic and foreign companies, that have obtained the direct selling license.[49] Some multi-level marketing sellers have circumvented this ban by establishing addresses and bank accounts in Hong Kong, where the practice is legal, while selling and recruiting on the mainland.[11][50]
MLMs have been made illegal in some jurisdictions as a mere variation of the traditional pyramid scheme, including in China.[11][12] In jurisdictions where MLMs have not been made illegal, many illegal pyramid schemes attempt to present themselves as MLM businesses.[20] Given that the overwhelming majority of MLM participants cannot realistically make a net profit, let alone a significant net profit, but instead overwhelmingly operate at net losses, some sources have defined all MLMs as a type of pyramid scheme, even if they have not been made illegal like traditional pyramid schemes through legislative statutes.[13][21][22]
Die Bezeichnung der Aufbauorganisation als Netzwerk ist insofern nicht korrekt, als in einem Netzwerk die einzelnen Punkte sowohl horizontal, vertikal als auch diagonal miteinander verbunden sind und miteinander interagieren. Mit Netzwerk ist hier vielmehr die Art des Vertriebs gemeint: Der Verkauf findet zum einen über Empfehlungsmarketing statt und zum anderen im persönlichen Umfeld des Beraters. Dieser baut mit zunehmender Größe seiner Struktur ein größeres soziales Netzwerk auf, um neue Berater für sich bzw. das Unternehmen zu gewinnen. Das Vernetzungsmuster ähnelt dem Verhalten von Benutzern der sozialen Netzwerke im Internet, wie Facebook, XING, LinkedIn, MeinVZ. Potenzielle Mitglieder werden entgeltlich oder unentgeltlich von Mitgliedern „eingeladen“, der Organisation beizutreten.