26 Ways to Leave your Money - The Entire List - Part 4
Section 437.5 of the FTC's proposed business opportunity rule lists 18 prohibited practices, a) to r). Since four of these practices contain conjunctions, I believe that there are actually 22 deceptive practices, and since Simon and Garfunkel didn't pen a song about 22 ways to leave your lover, I call this thread 26 Ways to Leave Your Money.
Kim Klaver asked me to post the entire list of 22 deceptive practices, which are from the Federal Registrar Vol. 71, No. 70/Wednesday, April 12, 2006.
Here is the list, which I have taken the liberty of writing in plain English, or a plain as I can be.
- Tell a prospective distributor that they have contracted out of the protection offered by the FTC Biz Op Rule.
- Provide, orally, visually, or in writing information inconsistent with the disclosure document.
- Provide, orally, visually, or in writing information with inconsistent with the earnings claim document.
- Include in the disclosure document more information than is required by the FTC Biz Op Rule.
- Provide misleading information about the gross, net income or profits, that other prior purchasers have earned.
- Tell a prospect that the FTC or some other government prevents the seller from making an earnings claim.
- Fail to make available to prospects written substantiation of the seller's earnings claims.
- Fail to make available to the FTC written substantiation of the seller's earnings claims.
- Provide misleading information about how commissions, bonuses, incentives and other rewards are paid.
- Misrepresent the essential nature of goods being sold by the prospect.
- Provide misleading information about the nature of support that the prospect will receive.
- Tell the prospect that the seller, lead generator, or locator will likely find customers, accounts or locations.
- Misrepresent the seller's refund or cancellation policy to the prospect.
- Fail to provide the refund or cancellation, when the terms in 13 are meet.
- Advertise the distributorship as an employment opportunity.
- Offer the prospect an "exclusive" territory, when the terms of the territorial protection are not exclusive.
- Offer the prospect an "exclusive" territory that intersects another territory assigned to another purchaser.
- Tell the prospect that some trademark holder, or government agency directly or indirectly endorses the opportunity.
- Misrepresent to the prospect that some reference, ie shill, has is a purchaser of the opportunity.
- Misrepresent to the prospect that some reference, ie shill, can provide an independent reliable report about the company.
- Fail to disclose that you have paid your references.
- Fail to disclose that you have personal relationships with your references.
This is my rendering of the proposed practices into plain English, but please consult the FTC Business Opportunities Rule.
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