> "Origami Owl just appears to be a straightforward direct sales model akin to Tupperware or various cosmetics parties (e.g. Avon in UK). The reps buy stock, ar

> "Origami Owl just appears to be a straightforward direct sales model akin to Tupperware or various cosmetics parties (e.g. Avon in UK). The reps buy stock, arrange the parties and sell it. That seems to be entirely legit." "Multi-level marketing" is looked down upon as little better than pyramid schemes/cons, even though people are aware they aren't, strictly speaking, those things. Quite a bit of the structure is heavily anti-consumer and even anti-'consultant'. Incentives often flow up, from each particular direct salesperson, to the people that recruited them, in a web of perverse incentives that leave customers and reps alike with a bad taste. To say nothing of the heavy leveraging of peer/social pressure to incent purchases by a captive/low-information audience, beyond what they would likely buy on their own. > "Tupperware call their reps "consultants"" Most of these kinds of companies call their reps "consultants", because of liability problems, should they go around presenting themselves as employees or direct representatives of the companies whose goods they're selling. And these consultants are repeatedly, explicitly admonished against presenting themselves this way. The admonishments often try to pretty up the arrangement, like you did, by making "consultant" seem like a desirable title, regardless of the particulars of the relationship. Which, in and of itself, is a fairly strong "smell" that the business (and the relationship) isn't quite on the up-and-up. EDIT: typos