Chapter 13: Miscellaneous UnFranchise Owner Rights and Obligations

 

SEC. 1                Genealogy Report Requests

Computerized genealogy reports will be mailed upon request. There will be a charge (Refer to “GEN” code on current price list) per report, and payment must be received prior to mailing. The Distributor agrees not to divulge such information to any third party directly or indirectly. The Distributor and the company agree that, except for this agreement of confidentiality and nondisclosure, the company would not provide (or make available to UnFranchise® Management System members) confidential information.

SEC. 2                Distributor Liability for Breach of Confidentiality by Agent

Distributors may be given access to certain confidential information of Market America and Market America’s Distributors, Preferred Customers and others with whom Market America has a business relationship (Confidential Information). Distributors must protect and keep the Confidential Information secret and confidential. 

Distributors may choose to hire one or more employees, agents, consultants and/or contractors (Agents) to assist them in the operation of their Market America business. A Distributor will be solely responsible and liable to Market America (or to a Preferred Customer or Independent Distributor) for any breach or misuse of the Confidential Information by the Distributor or his/her Agent. Therefore, Market America strongly encourages any Distributor with an Agent to require the Agent to sign a binding Confidentiality Agreement prior to the disclosure of Confidential Information to the Agent. 

A Distributor will indemnify and hold harmless Market America, its owners, shareholders, officers, agents, representatives and employees from and against any and all liability arising from any breach of confidentiality made by the Independent Distributor, or any Agent of the Independent Distributor.

SEC. 3                Indemnification of Market America

Each Distributor agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Market America, its officers, agents and directors against any claims, demands, liability, loss, cost or expense, including, but not limited to, attorney’s fees arising or alleged to arise in connection with that Independent Distributor’s business, including, but not limited to, Distributor’s misrepresentation, fraud, etc.

SEC. 4                Vendor/Manufacturer Information

Distributors may not communicate (including phone calls, emails, etc.) directly with Market America’s manufacturers, suppliers or vendors without written permission from Market America (the only exception being acceptable contact at corporate-sponsored events).

(A)     Vendor Contact/Communication: Distributors may not, under any circumstances, arrange for Market America manufacturers, suppliers or vendors to attend meetings, speak at meetings or conduct product training.

(1)     Market America will make all arrangements, and only Market America shall book such engagements (i.e. training) periodically.

(2)     Violation of this policy is grounds for immediate termination.

(B)     Product Information: Additional product information, as needed, shall be obtained only through contacting the Market America Product Information Department.

(C)     Prohibition of Benefits: Distributors are not permitted to receive commissions, free or discounted products, bonuses, nor any other benefit from any current or prospective vendor, manufacturer or supplier to Market America, for arranging contact between Market America and the vendor, manufacturer or supplier.


SEC. 5                Your Market America Independent Distributor Privacy Policy

We appreciate the trust you place in Market America, and we are committed to respecting your privacy and the security of your personal information. Our privacy policy describes the information we collect and how we use it.

(A)   Information We Collect:

(1)   Personal Information: To best serve your needs, we will, from time to time, collect certain information from you. The information we collect may include, without limitation, your name, tax identification number, address, telephone number, email address, corporate information, testimonial, credit card information and date of birth. Personal information will be collected at various times including, without limitation, when you: 

  • Submit an Independent Distributor Application & Agreement
  • Register a Preferred Customer
  • Apply to change the name or ownership of your Distributorship
  • Apply to be a Business Entity Distributorship
  • Enroll in or use Transfer Buy
  • Order or reorder products in person, by telephone, by mail or on our website
  • Write an email or letter to Market America
  • Submit a product review, testimonial, power profile or personal success story to Market America
  • Order tickets to an event or seminar
  • Return an item or make an exchange
  • Participate in a marketing survey, promotion or event
  • Attend an event or seminar
  • Contact our customer service or product information departments
  • Register on our website
  • Order products and services from our Partner Stores

(2)   Technical information Collected and Stored Automatically: When you visit our website, we may store some or all of the following: the Internet address from which you accessed the site, the date and time you visited the site, whether you are a new or returning visitor, the page from which you exit the site, what country you are visiting from (your network location), the Internet address of the website from which you linked to the site, the name of the file or words you searched for, items clicked on a page, and the browser and operating system used.

(B)   Using Information We Collect: We want to provide you with the best possible Internet experience and fulfill your orders exactly as you've requested. Additionally, we want to make your experience as an Independent Distributor or Sales Representative a pleasant and successful one. In order to do this, we collect information that allows us to do the following, without limitation:

(1)   Use of Personal Information:

  • Process your order
  • Provide the products and services you request
  • Partner with stores where you like to shop
  • Send you promotional offers
  • Identify the product and service preferences of you and your customers
  • Customize our communications to you
  • Provide information concerning products you have purchased for personal use or sale
  • Improve our product selection and customer service
  • Share your positive product testimonials and personal success stories with others   
  • Enter into an Independent Distributor (or Sales Representative) relationship with you
  • Track and credit BV, IBV and Cashback
  • Monitor your compliance with Market America rules and policies
  • Include your name, stories, testimonials, product reviews, power profiles, images, and commission and retail profit income information:
    • in local and national newspapers, magazines or other media;
    • at events, on CDs, DVDs and other audios and videos, on websites and in publications and literature owned, operated or published by Market America or its affiliates or third parties;
    • in any other Market America communications to the field or others; and/or
    • as otherwise deemed useful or appropriate by Market America.          

(2)   Use of Technical Information: This information is used to measure the number of visitors to the site and to various sections of the site, the percentage of visits that came from particular key word searches, the average time spent on the site by visitors and the average number of page views by visitors. It may also be used to identify system performance or problem areas. We also use this information to help us develop the site, analyze patterns of usage, and to make the site more useful. This information is not used for associating search terms or patterns of site navigation with individual users. The site may periodically delete its web logs. We use third party analytics services to collect and analyze this data, and on occasion, we may provide this information to third party entities we contract with for the purpose of further analyzing website traffic.

(3)   Use of Cookies: Market America uses cookies on our websites. A cookie is a small data file that is stored by your web browser on your computer. Cookies allow us to enhance, personalize and track your online experience, so that the information you receive is more relevant to you. This technology will allow you to move faster through our website once the information is in our database since you do not have to re-enter the same information or log in each time you enter the site.

(C)   Information We Share with Others and Your Privacy Rights:

(1)   It is not a practice of Market America to sell, rent or trade personal information. In order to service our Distributors, Sales Representatives and Preferred Customers, we share limited personal information with our Independent Distributors and affiliates.  Market America's Independent Distributors are obligated to treat the information you supply with confidentiality.

(2)   We share certain limited information with the Partner Stores where you shop. If you order products from Alice.com, they will receive your order information, name, address, telephone number, age and gender, as well as any other information necessary to properly fulfill your order. Their treatment of your Personal Information will be governed by the terms of their Privacy Statement, which we will always provide for your review during checkout, when an Alice.com product is in your cart.  Additionally, we contract with other companies to provide certain services, including without limitation credit card processing, IT consulting, printing, shipping, Internet services, e-commerce, and public and media relations.  We make every effort to provide these companies with only the information they need to perform their services. Generally, such companies are prohibited from sharing this information with anyone other than Market America or its Independent Distributors.

(3)    On rare occasions, we may disclose specific information upon governmental request, in response to a court order, or when required by law to do so. We may also share information with companies assisting in fraud protection or investigation. We do not provide information to these agencies or companies for marketing or commercial purposes.* The Market America credit card is not available in Puerto Rico.

(D)   How We Use Email: When you provide us your email address, we may send you emails necessary to process your order, respond to a request, provide customer service, promote products or services, assist you in growing your business, inform you about products, services or promotional materials, and assist you with the promotion of products and services to your customers. It is our intent to send promotional emails only to those persons who wish to receive them. We provide instructions on how to unsubscribe in our emails.   

(E)   Links to Other Sites: We provide links on our website to other sites. These sites operate independently of Market America and have established their own privacy and security policies. We encourage you to review these policies at any site you visit.

(F)   Updating or Reviewing Your Information: You may review or update your Distributor information (name, address, telephone number, email address, credit card number, etc.) on this website (unfranchise.com) under My Account, Distributor Profile.

(G)   Security:

  • Market America is committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information. It is our intent to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of information that we have collected from you. We use a variety of current technologies and processes for protection of information we collect, and we limit the information we provide to third parties. 
  • When you make a purchase or submit an Independent Distributor Application & Agreement or other document on our website, your transactional information is transmitted in a safe, encrypted format.

(H)   Privacy of Children on Our Websites: Our website is not intended for use by anyone under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from persons under the age of 18.

(I)   Policy Changes: From time to time, we may use customer information for unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change, we will post these changes in our website. We encourage you to review our privacy policy periodically.

(J)   Your Consent: By using Market America facilities and continuing to order products and services, you consent to the collection and use of your personal and technical information and cookies as detailed in this privacy policy.

(K)   Contact Us: We always welcome your questions and feedback. For privacy-related issues, please contact us at privacy@marketamerica.com and privacy@marketunitedkingdom.com for Distributors residing in the European Union.

SEC. 6                Lead Referrals

Some individuals will initially shop for products or inquire about the business opportunity through marketamerica.com, instead of through a Distributor’s individual Portal. In this event, these individuals will be referred to eligible Distributors by Market America.

(A)     A potential customer or business prospect will be referred back to the Distributor who generated the lead whenever possible. To identify the Distributor who generated the lead, Market America has built inquires into the order process which prompt the potential customer or business prospect to identify the Distributor who generated the lead.

(B)     If a potential customer or business prospect was not referred by a Distributor, Market America will refer the lead to a Distributor who meets certain criteria:

(1)     To be eligible to receive leads from Market America, a Distributor must currently be exercising the Monthly IBV Accrual Option by meeting the following requirements:

(a)     A Distributor must order the UnFranchise® Management System (UFMS) monthly by the appropriate monthly Q-date;

(b)     A Distributor must place product orders monthly for the following minimum IBV amounts: 10 IBV for Level 1 (Distributors who have not yet earned an IBV commission check); 20 IBV for Level 2 (Distributors who have earned their first IBV commission check); and 30 IBV for Level 3 (Distributors who have earned an IBV commission check for completing the IBV commission cycle at 5000/5000 IBV), and all such amounts are assigned to BDC-001;

(c)     At least 50 BV total must be ordered monthly by 1 or more Preferred Customers through the Distributor’s Web Portal, AutoShip, or other Market America sites; and

(d)     A Distributor must complete the Getting Started Wizard.

(2)     Each potential customer or business prospect will be referred to an eligible Distributor who shares the same ZIP code as the lead. If no eligible Distributor resides in the ZIP code of the lead, Market America will refer the lead to a Distributor in a nearby ZIP code. Multiple eligible Distributors in a ZIP code will be part of a lead referral rotation, and will take turns receiving referral leads from Market America.

(C)     If a potential customer or business prospect was referred to Market America by a Distributor, but the lead is not able to provide Market America with sufficient information to identify the referring Distributor, Market America will refer the lead to an eligible Distributor. If Market America is made aware of an inaccurate referral, then Market America will take steps to identify the correct Distributor. If Market America is successful in determining the identity of the lead-generating Distributor, the potential customer or business prospect will be redirected to that Distributor. However, previous BV, IBV or retail profit earned by the Distributor who originally received the referral from Market America (or credited to Market America) will not be redirected.

(D)     When a potential customer or business prospect is referred to an eligible Distributor, the BV, IBV and retail profit created as a result of the first order placed by such potential customer within 24 hours of the potential customer’s registration with Market America will go to Market America to help offset the costs associated with the acquiring leads. After the initial 24 hour period, the Distributor will earn all BV, IBV and retail profit associated with any orders placed by the customer.

 

Last Modified :04/01/2021 10:34:15 AM EDT