Will Ftc Business Opportunity Rule Affect Us?

[ardipc]

I just got an email that is fairly alarming to me. I'll copy the email I received in, but I did follow up on the Direct Seller's website, and I had no idea that anything was up before the Federal Trade Commission that cpi;d affect our recruiting practices, but it appears there might be. My questions are: is this a true understanding of the proposed ruling? Should we all be doing something about it? Why haven't we heard anything about this from Home Office?

Here's what it says:

Dear Friends - You may not be aware of the proposed New Business Opportunity Rule that could affect the future of the profession and your business. The time is NOW to become informed because we only have until July 17 to let our voices be heard. This rule is potentially harmful and it will take a grass-roots effort from those in this industry to let those at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) know of your concerns. This email is intended to MAKE YOU AWARE, not to alarm you, so please pass this e-mail on to everyone you know in the industry.

In a nutshell here are some of the main areas of concern:

A: Anyone interested in joining your team would first have to receive from
you a packet of information (explained below) and could NOT join your team
for a minimum of 7 days after receiving the packet. (How would this impact
the enthusiasm of your new team members?)

B: Information MUST include the names of EVERYONE who got OUT of your company during the previous TWO years. (No reasons listed, just who got out and no comparisons to how many got in. How would this affect your
company's credibility?)

C: Information MUST include a list of 10 people that are in your company
that live nearest to the potential recruit. This list would need to
include name, phone, zip code, and email. (The privacy issues with this
proposal are scary, let alone the potential for unethical cross recruiting.)

D: There are other concerns as well; you can read all about it at the link
below. They tell us it COULD take anywhere from 3 months to 3 years for this to pass but WE ONLY have until July 17, 2006 to respond and voice our concerns of the impact of this ruling could have on business as we know it. (The deadline WAS June 16 but the DSA was able to get a 1 month extension.)
Please take a moment to go to the DSWA website (in cooperation with the
DSA) for complete details, a recording of the conference call,
detailed information of who to write to and how to do it so it is most
effective. the website is www.mydswa.org.

 

[Ginger428]

Do you actually think that if something like this was about to happen, that SOMEONE would have notified us? Wouldnt we have heard something, somewhere,????? The news? newspaper? something?

 

[dianevill]

I haven't heard anything about this. I just sent a note to HO inquiring. I'll let you know what kind of response I get.

Diane

 

[ardipc]

Actually, that's why I posted here. I would have thought so. And normally when I receive emails I question, the first thing I do is go about trying to discredit them. However, the Direct Seller's Association website has a big link right on their front page about this, and if you go to the Federal Trade Commission's website, you can find info about this proposed ruling and what it is supposed to do. *However* (and this is important), although it appears that the New Business Opportunity Rule is something that the FTC is mulling over, my primary questions lie in whether the email I received is an accurate interpretation of what this rule would mean for us as recruiters in a direct selling business. Perhaps we haven't heard anything because it won't actually change the way we are supposed to recruit as laid out by Home Office in the Recipe for Success. I'm not entirely certain, and wondered if anyone else knew about this. I was just about to email HO myself, but came on here first to see if I could find a discussion.

 

[Ann F]

My ED sent an email saying HO knows about this and that if it's a problem, it would be their problem, not ours. Don't remember the details, but I was convinced it was nothing for us to worry about, that it's mainly for companies who require inventory.

 

[AJPratt]

I got the same thing and figured if it was important HO would let us know.

 

[ihavethetools]

At any rate, it's a stab in the free enterprise system. Regulations and more regulations. My husband and I are in the Trucking Industry so regulations are part of our everyday life. Sad that the FTC thinks they have to put their hands on our business.

Those rules are just stupid (in my opinion). It's not like someone is MADE to sign up.

Kris