multilevel marketing business definition

Selling a good or service through a network of distributors. Essentially, sales take place through word of mouth and at parties rather than in stores. Distributors who successfully recruit additional distributors receive commissions on their own sales and also on the sales of the downline distributors they recruit. Multilevel marketing sometimes turns out to be disguised pyramid operations in which the main order of business is collecting fees from new distributors who wish to join the program.