大象传媒

Multi-level-marketing (MLMs): it's a business model that's been around for years. Brands sell products direct to distributors who then sell the products for them.

When a person joins an MLM, they become what is commonly known as an 鈥渋ndependent distributor鈥� and they can make money in two ways: by selling the products themselves or by recruiting other people into the MLM. Once recruited, those people form part of what is known as a 鈥渄ownline鈥�.

For some it's a low-cost and low-risk way of making some extra cash but others have lost hundreds of pounds through the industry. The Nine鈥檚 Consumer Affairs Correspondent Nick Sheridan spoke to people who have had varying degrees of success in venturing into the business of MLMs.

Produced by Alan Ritchie.