According to the Direct Selling Association (DSA), a trade group representing 200 direct-selling companies, in the 1990s annual sales by direct-selling companies have increased by a total of about 30 percent to $18 billion, 51 percent of it through network marketing. The number of salespeople has grown at approximately the same rate to 7.2 million, 58 percent of them network marketers. More than half the full time direct marketers make over $50,000 annually and 10 percent make $100,000 or more.
However, DSA also denies any truth to the rumor that most new millionaires are coming out of network marketing. The DSA president calls that quote "absurd".
Additionally, turnover and average compensation for the average person vary considerably and compare unfavorably with other business opportunities. According to DSA, Excel has an annual rep-turnover rate of 86 percent. Among network marketing companies, that's considered low. According to company disclosures, most Equinox distributors make an average $756 per year, most Amway distributors $1056, before product purchase costs.
