Hi, Jenny et al,
Sorry, I was having a very bad day so missed out one of the major alarm bell ringers on the internet - paying to sell somebody else's product!
It beggars belief that anybody would actually contract (in the real world) with a supplier of any sort of goods, to pay a monthly fee in order to represent that supplier and sell the products.
I can understand that it is sometimes necessary to buy a presentation kit in the real world, but this is a one off cost and is usually refunded after a certain level of production has been achieved. I don't know a single person who actually pays his employer or principal for the privilege of earning him money.
The simple fact is that many internet sales organisations don't, actually, want to be bothered with sales - they are more interested in a huge sales force paying monthly charges which can be dispersed, to some degree, to give the illusion that 'earnings'are being made. This can create a comfort zone for the early members who recruit lots of 'salespeople', but the exponential nature of the forecast income is soon exposed as over optimistic by the simple linear style of recruitment - this is followed shortly by the collapse of the organisation and its resurrection, elsewhere, in a whole new guise.
Even the much vaunted 'health' area is now in a desperate search for the latest, most exotic, most remotely grown and oddly spelt berry. The strange thing is, those health products that are well represented in the real world are still going strong.
I suppose another warning sign is "You saw it on Oprah!"
Where did that come from? You all must remember the $25 mobile phone charger that was going to take the world by storm - as seen on Oprah. Where is it now? These little AA battery powered chargers are still available in Spain at €1 or a little more - as they have been for 6 or 7 years - but they weren't seen on Oprah!
Common sense, due diligence and a healthy dose of scepticism probably make up a life saver on the web.
The Old Coot