If There's a will, There's a way! 
is my motto.
If you have questions about Multi Level Marketing (MLM) and Pyramid Selling in Singapore, this is some useful information you may take a look.
What is Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) and Pyramid Selling?
A Multi-Level Marketing or Pyramid Selling scheme will typically require participants to pay an upfront charge. In return, the participants are promised financial rewards for each additional participant recruited, as well as all new participants who are in turn brought in by their recruits – hence the pyramid-like structure.
As more salespersons are recruited, participants hope to recover their upfront charges and earn sizeable profits. However, such a pyramid schemes will eventually collapse when they run out of new recruits, resulting in those salespersons at the bottom of the pyramid losing all their upfront charges.
In the interest of consumer protection, the Government’s regulation effort is targeted at preventing the proliferation of such high-risk schemes.
How do I recognise a pyramid selling scheme?
Many pyramid schemes often disguise themselves as sellers collectors’ items, software, training programmes, etc, when all they are interested is to make a quick buck through recruitment. Members of the public who attend sales talks must be vigilant to such schemes. Illegitimate MLM schemes usually share the following characteristics:
* When the promoter hype about how easy it is to earn money, people can get very rich in a very short time and that the way to earn money is by recruiting others to join the scheme;
* The so-called product that you are supposed to sell is not something you would normally buy at its price;
* Participants are required to invest money into the scheme, whether in the form of a joining fee, or buying inventory.
Remember – there is no easy money, you must believe in what you are selling and you should not put your money at unnecessary risk.
How are MLM activities governed in Singapore?
MLM activities in Singapore are governed by the Multi-level Marketing and Pyramid Selling(Prohibition) Act. The Ministry of Trade and Industry administers the Act.
The original Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Selling (Prohibition) Act was first passed in 1973. In June 2000, Parliament approved an amendment to the Act to widen the definition of pyramid selling to catch all business schemes that were multi-level in nature.
However, as not all multi-level marketing techniques are undesirable, the Government concurrently enacted the Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Selling (Excluded Schemes and Arrangements) Order (hereafter, referred to as the ‘Exclusion Order’) to exclude legitimate businesses from the Act, such as insurance companies, master franchises, and direct selling companies which fulfill certain criteria. This Exclusion Order was implemented in June 2000.
The information above is from Official website of Ministry of Trade and Industry Singapore.
If you would like to find out more and read more about the FAQ, simply login to their official website:
Ministry of Trade and Industry : Multi Level Marketing and Pyramid Selling
According to the Exclusion Order, it mentioned that , the participant is not allowed to provide any benefit… in order to participate in the scheme. And the benefit is referred to any gratutity, commission… ANY OTHER PAYMENT…
So my question is, has a company which asked participant to PAY a certain amount to buy their distribution rights, violated the order? From my knowledge of the reference above, i thought we are not required or allowed to pay.