From the Amway Business Network, November 1998
The World Wide Web has developed in recent years into a mainstream network of commerce and communications, offering business people unlimited potential to conduct transactions and network with others with speed and convenience that could not have been imagined a few years ago. To enable Amway distributors to take advantage of the explosion of opportunities on the Web, Amway has developed the following requirements for distributors wishing to communicate with prospects and customers using this technology within the North American Market.
Distributors should keep in mind that nothing on the Internet is 100 percent secure, and should take the utmost precautions when handling sensitive customer information such as names, addresses, and credit card numbers.
Prospecting Distributors may not present the Plan or solicit participation in the Plan on the Internet in a public site, chatroom, newsgroup or any other location generally accessible on the Web. Solicitation via broadcast e-mail or "spamming" (i.e. sending of unsolicited messages) is not allowed. Initial contact must be made with a prospect via one-to-one contact (see Rule 103(b)(11)) which could include personal contact, individual e-mail contact, private chat rooms or other one on one communication technologies. However, distributors may maintain a web site for their prospects, provided the following requirements are met before the web site is posted:
- The contents of the web site, and all revisions thereto, must be reviewed in accordance with Rule 109. This includes, but is not limited to text, photos, video and audio aspects.
- Distributors must disclose any links to the web site during the content review process.
- Reviewed sites must be designated "content reviewed" and display their review number.
- The entire web site must be pass code protected utilizing a passcode that is not easily determined by individuals seeking to enter the site who have not been personally invited.
- Distributors may give out their pass code to prospective distributors only in face to face or other one-to-one contact situations.
- To ensure that one-to-one contact, which is a hallmark of the Amway business, is maintained, distributors may not broadcast, post, or in any other way mass communicate their pass code to the public or segments thereof. The pass code must be changed at reasonable intervals.
- The pass code page may only contain information needed for sign-in purposes, for example "Welcome. Please enter you password."
- The web site must not contain any income representations or sales plan depictions, including but not limited to copies of the Amway Business Review (SA-4400). All prospects must given The Amway Business Review (SA-4400) prior to signing the Amway Distributor Authorization form (SA-88).
- The web site must comply with all Rules of Conduct of Amway Distributors.
Customer Product Sales Amway seeks to ensure the accuracy of product claims, and to protect its trademarks and copyrights. Therefore, the following requirements must be met before a distributor may post a customer product sales web site.
- The contents (except for pricing information) of the web site must have been reviewed in accordance with Rule 109 and 110 ( j ).
- Each customer must be initially enrolled through one-to-one contact and have a unique password and user id.
- To ensure that the one-to-one contact of the Amway business is maintained, which is a hallmark of the Amway business, distributors may not broadcast, post, or mass communicate pass codes to the public or segments thereof.
- Pass code page may only contain information needed for sign-in purposes, for example "Welcome. Please enter your password."
- Distributors must clearly and conspicuously state that they are independent business persons and products are not being ordered directly from Amway.
- Distributors are responsible for all security issues, including but not limited to the confidentiality of customer credit card numbers, associated with their web sites.
- Distributors may not sell AMWAY products to customers outside their home market.
- Distributors must use only the AMWAY product information provided by Amway for product descriptions and use all appropriate trademark and copyright designations.
- No products other than those offered by Amway to its distributors may be sold on these sites.
- The web site must comply with all Rules of Conduct of Amway distributors.
