The US Direct Selling Association (DSA) has announced that its Board of Directors unanimously approved the establishment of a third party self-regulatory program. The Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (Direct Selling-SRC), which will be administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), is designed to ensure high standards of integrity and business ethics which remain the guiding […]

Lois Greisman, Associate Director of the Division of Marketing Practices, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lauded the establishment of the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DS-SRC) at the Direct Selling Association (DSA) Fall Conference in Arlington, VA. In addition to providing an overview of the January 2018 FTC Business Guidance Concerning Multi-Level Marketing, Associate Director Greisman characterized […]

Senator Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in US history, gave a nod to the direct selling channel during a recent judicial hearing. During the “Oversight of the Enforcement of Antitrust Laws” hearing held on Wednesday—part of the US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights—the senior senator from Utah, home to nearly 100 […]

We all know how Amazon has impacted competition on the product side of our business, and the emerging gig economy players that rely on independent contractors have brought even more disruption to the marketplace. What makes direct selling so attractive—our commitment to creating a more supportive world for independent contractors—is central to who we are […]

Thank you for being part of the DSA Annual Meeting. Ours is an age marked by transition. As direct selling faces these tides of change, the fight to protect our independent salesforces and their ability to build business on their own terms remains our lynchpin issue. We have taken note of the cultural moment all […]

Last Friday, hedge fund manager Carl Icahn significantly reduced his stake in Herbalife Ltd., causing shares in the Los Angeles-based nutritional company to plunge 9.6 percent. According to a securities filing, Icahn’s fund, Icahn Enterprises (IEP) said it was tendering up to 11.4 million of Herbalife shares, making an approximate 25 percent divestiture of the […]

On Wednesday, Feb. 28, hedge fund manager William Ackman told CNBC’s Scott Wapner that his Pershing Square Capital company has exited its bet against Los Angeles-based nutritional supplement maker Herbalife. The announcement came five years after Ackman’s on-air verbal confrontation with billionaire Carl Icahn, an Herbalife investor, on CNBC. In December 2012, Ackman launched a […]

“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” —Benjamin Franklin Mr. Franklin’s words can be applied to any of his roles: newspaper publisher, inventor, postmaster, statesman and humorist. But his words have an especially keen meaning for DSA’s ethics and self-regulation program that has been a guiding force […]

In Washington, D.C. and across the country, there is an association for everything. Each industry, product or interest group has its own agenda. And there is an association to advocate for each one of those agendas on all levels of government. For Americans, it seems only natural to stand together and advocate for a point […]

On Jan. 4, the Federal Trade Commission, which works to promote competition and protect and educate consumers, released business guidance to help members of multi-level marketing (MLM) companies apply core consumer protection principles to their business practices. The non-binding guidance features detailed answers to 17 questions related to multi-level marketing, including compensation structures, internal consumption […]

I am proud of how direct selling truly is open to all, with its low risk and ease of entry, no requirement for formal qualifications or training or high capital investment, and with ease of exit should a participant decide it’s not for them. Direct selling can offer a route to entrepreneurialism to anyone who […]

With more than 40 years of direct selling experience under his belt, John Fleming knows just about all there is to know about this channel. But there’s one thing that still puzzles him, says the Direct Selling News former Publisher and now Ambassador: “I’ve never understood why anyone associated with the direct selling business model didn’t understand […]