It seems to be a somewhat common trend in the MLM business world to see companies struggle, either from economic changes, lack of competent management, and sometimes even as the result of illegal activities. In YTB'S case (YourTravelBiz.com), they faced the challenge of bargaining with the California and Illinois Attorney Generals, in addition to dealing with the threat of a class-action lawsuit by their former representatives. Eventually, the negative publicity caused their stocks to dwindle, and the end result was the liquidation of several of their assets. While YTB is still active and fairly strong, the damage done is permanent, and the company felt that its potential was bottle-necked enough start ShopYTB, which eventually became ZamZuu.

The company offers an online shopping portal designed to save the shopper money by utilizing rebates which vary between 2.5 and 3.0%. The products cover everything you might find at a typical K-Mart, from common household items, general tools, pillows and DVDs.

Becoming a distributor means spending a whopping $250 on top of a monthly fee of $50, which isn't a very attractive offer for most people, let alone those without any networking experience. After purchasing the web site, you then need to generate as much traffic as you can in order to get a percentage of all purchases made. In addition, you would also use the web site to recruit other distributors, whose sales will also garner you a percentage. Its an attractive offer if an entrepreneur has the social resources, time, initial investment of $300 and dedication.

Its easy to see how business like this make a profit even when new recruits fail, because every single individual inducted into the program has invested three hundred dollars, and will more than likely spend more than a couple of months trying to get their business up and running. Its also hard to imagine how much competition there must be with so many ZamZuu sites, all competing with each other.

On the plus side, there is no shortage of people that would prefer doing their shopping online, not only in home goods and electronics, but even food shopping with companies such as Peapod, or Southeastern.

YTB's latest offering under the ZamZuu name appears to be legit, and although I can see the many challenges involved, I can also see the potential since it will be functioning within such a consumer dominated society. With the right networking skills, time, and effort, this could be a worthwhile business, however there are other portals that have been around longer ready to take on the competition, and with YTB's troubled start, ZamZuu seems to stand in the middle of the road as far as life expectancy.