多层次直销计划，也叫做“网络”或“团队”营销，是一种通过分享者来销售其产品及其服务的方式。它通常会承诺：如果你签约成为分享者，你会得到报酬--既依赖于你销售的该计划的产品或服务，也依赖于那些你推荐加入的其他分享者的产品和服务。它通常许诺：通过两层或更多层新成员（就是该分享者的“下线”）的签约来支付报酬。
If a plan offers to pay commissions for recruiting new distributors, watch out! Most states outlaw this practice, which is known as "pyramiding." State laws against pyramiding say that a multilevel marketing plan should only pay commissions for retail sales of goods or services, not for recruiting new distributors.
如果一个多层次直销是通过发展新的分享者签约来支付报酬的话，千万要小心！大多数的州法律认定他们非法,它被称为“金字塔”。各州法律禁止它的理由是：多层次直销计划计酬时应该仅仅依据其零售产品的销售额及其服务，不应该依据发展新的分享者。
Why is pyramiding prohibited? Because plans that pay commissions for recruiting new distributors inevitably collapse when no new distributors can be recruited. And when a plan collapses, most people -- except perhaps those at the very top of the pyramid -- lose their money.
为什么“金字塔”会被禁止呢？因为依据发展分享者来支付报酬在没有新的分享者可以被发展的时候，“金字塔”会不可避免的崩溃，而且当金字塔崩溃的时候，除了金字塔塔尖的几个人以外，绝大多数的人失去了钱。
The Federal Trade Commission cannot tell you whether a particular multilevel marketing plan is legal. Nor can it give you advice about whether to join such a plan. You must make that decision yourself. However, the FTC suggests that you use common sense, and consider these seven tips when you make your decision:
FTC不可能告诉你一个特定的多层次直销是否合法，也不能给出一个劝告：是否你要加入这样一个计划，你必须自己做出决定。但是，FTC的建议是，在你将要做出决定时，按照一般常识，考虑下边7点：
