A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products. As recruiting multiplies, recruiting becomes quickly impossible, and most members are unable to profit; as such, pyramid schemes are unsustainable and often illegal.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB), founded in 1912, is a private, nonprofit organization whose self-described mission is to focus on advancing marketplace trust, consisting of 106 independently incorporated local BBB organizations in the United States and Canada, coordinated under the International Association of Better Business Bureaus (IABBB) in Arlington, Virginia.
Mary Kay Inc. is an American privately owned multi-level marketing company. According to Direct Selling News, Mary Kay was the sixth largest network marketing company in the world in 2018, with a wholesale volume of US$3.25 billion. Mary Kay is based in Addison, Texas. The company was founded by Mary Kay Ash in 1963. Richard Rogers, Ash's son, is the chairman, and David Holl is president and was named CEO in 2006.
The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by the Columbia Records division of CBS, Inc. as an umbrella for its mail-order music clubs, the primary incarnation of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. It had a significant market presence in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. In 2005, longtime competitor BMG Direct Marketing, Inc. purchased Columbia House and consolidated operations. In 2008, the company was acquired by private investment group Najafi Companies, and its name was changed to Direct Brands, Inc.
A modeling agency is a company that represents fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model and/or the head agency.
A bidding fee auction, also called a penny auction, is a type of all-pay auction in which all participants must pay a non-refundable fee to place each small incremental bid. The auction is extended each time a new bid is placed, typically by 10 to 20 seconds. Without new bids the last participant to have placed a bid wins the item and also pays the final bid price. The auctioneer makes money in two ways: the fees for each bid and the payment for the winning bid, totalling typically significantly more than the value of the item. Such auctions are typically held over the Internet, rather than in person.
John Robert Powers was an American actor and founder of a New York City-based modeling agency.
Charity fraud is the act of using deception to get money from people who believe they are making donations to charities. Often a person or a group of people will make material representations that they are a charity or part of a charity and ask prospective donors for contributions to the non-existent charity. Charity fraud not only includes fictitious charities but also deceitful business acts. Deceitful business acts include businesses accepting donations and not using the money for its intended purposes.
Yellowpages.com is a United States-based web site operated by YP Holdings that provides listings for local businesses. In 2013 it was re-branded as YP.com or simply "YP". It currently offers a broad range of marketing tools including online presence, local search, display ads and direct marketing. It was previously a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T.
BioPerformance is a multi-level marketing company that sells fuel additives, often in the form of "gas pills", which are claimed to increase fuel efficiency in automobiles. The company was founded in 2006.
Vertrue Incorporated, headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American consumer services marketing company. The company again received an "F" from the Better Business Bureau for making unauthorized charges to its customers' credit cards. In 2007 it was acquired by a trio of investment firms, including Rho Ventures. In 2010, Vertrue and two of its subsidiaries were found guilty of defrauding nearly 500,000 of their customers in Iowa.
BBB National Programs, an independent non-profit organization, oversees more than a dozen national industry self-regulation programs that provide third-party accountability and dispute resolution services to companies, outside and in-house counsel, consumers, and others in arenas such as privacy, advertising, data collection, child-directed marketing, and more.
Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called pyramid selling, network marketing, and referral marketing, is a controversial marketing strategy for the sale of products or services where the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling the company's products/services, while the earnings of the participants are derived from a pyramid-shaped or binary compensation commission system.
The American Association of Individual Investors is a nonprofit organization with about 150,000 members whose purpose is to educate individual investors regarding stock market portfolios, financial planning, and retirement accounts. AAII "assists individuals in becoming effective managers of their own assets through programs of education, information and research." The organization markets itself as an unbiased source of investment information because of its not-for-profit status.
McKinley College is a degree-granting post-secondary distance education institution, with headquarters in Fort Collins, Colorado. The college was founded in 2005, and is owned and operated by Weston Distance Learning, Inc.
YTB International, known as YTB Global Travel, Your Travel Biz or YTB, operates a multi-level marketing business through owner-affiliate websites offering travel, excursions, and lodging. The company was founded in 2001 by J. Lloyd Tomer, Scott Tomer and Kim Sorensen. The company is currently owned by U.S. businessman Sam Hathi of Jamraval, Inc. Other YTB subsidiaries include YTB Travel Network, Inc., Zamzuu, Inc., and REZconnect Technologies, Inc (2004–2009). YTB is based in Wood River, Illinois. International subsidiaries operate in the U.S., Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Bermuda and Canada.
MyLife is an American information brokerage firm founded by Jeffrey Tinsley in 2002 as Reunion.com. In addition to that name, it previously conducted business as Wink.com.
A vanity award is an award in which the recipient purchases the award and/or marketing services to give the false appearance of a legitimate honor. Pitches for Who's Who-type publications, biographies or nominations for awards or special memberships can have a catch to them in which the honoree is required to pay to win.
LuLaRoe is a United States-based multi-level marketing company that sells women's clothing. LuLaRoe was founded in 2012 by Deanne Brady and her husband Mark Stidham, and is based in Corona, California.
Hawk Incentives, is a rewards-based incentives company that designs, implements and manages programs for other companies. Hawk Incentives is based in Texas.
