Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council Recommends Global Domains Discontinue Salesforce Member Earnings Claims

McLean, VA – June 27, 2024 – The Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DSSRC) of BBB National Programs recommended that Global Domains International, Inc. discontinue certain earnings claims made on the company website as well as by salesforce members on social media.  

The inquiry into Global Domains, a direct-selling company that sells domain names via an affiliate network, was commenced by DSSRC through its ongoing independent monitoring of advertising and marketing claims in the direct-selling industry. 

The earnings claims that formed the basis of this inquiry include, but are not limited to:

• “Global Domains International (GDI). "INCOME FOR LIFE" Time Freedom and Financial Freedom.”
• “If you want to become Debt Free and reaching Financial Freedom, then GDI is for you. It's Simple, Profitable, Easy, and it will change your life forever. Just share with others who are looking for Financial Freedom and wanting to be Debt Free, this is the business for you…”
• “You can become an affiliate of Global Domains International (GDI) and start your very own online home business. You can make massive weekly bonuses and monthly commissions just by referring other people to do the same…Remember that the bonuses are UNLIMITED so if you refer 50 people, YOU GET A $1000 BONUS!”
• “you earn hundreds to thousands of dollars in monthly income
• “#incomeforlife#”
• “Thousands Per Week in Personal Income” “Income for Life”
• “Earn an unlimited number of $100 bonuses each week”
• YouTube video offering the chance for people all over the world to earn a significant income
• “reliable and unlimited income for life”
• “securing our future in a business than anyone can do; change your destiny; additional income; make an incredible income from other peoples efforts; longtime income opportunity; building substantial income; earn as much as little as you desire; start building your income for life”
• “unlimited income potential”
• “living their dreams and building their own income for life; whether you would like to earn an extra $1,000 a month; 1000 a week or long term 6 figure income; solid and dependable lifelong income”
• “get everything you want in life; earning terrific residual income; whole new lifestyle; potential for income is staggering; ticket to substantial lifelong income/potentially worth millions to you.”
• “earn up to $30K a month”
• “income for life”
• “1000s of people worldwide are earning quite fortunes for life...even while they sleep.”

As stated in DSSRC’s Guidance on Earnings Claims for the Direct Selling Industry, some words and phrases commonly used in earnings claims can carry a particularly high risk of being misleading to consumers. Such words and phrases include claims such as “financial freedom,” “full-time income,” “replacement income,” “residual income,” and “career-level income.” Furthermore, earnings claims must be substantiated and representative of a level of earnings that can be generally expected by the audience. 

When DSSRC opened its inquiry and informed Global Domains of its concern that these types of earnings claims can lead a reasonable consumer to conclude that salesforce members can earn significant, career level, or replacement income from the Global Domains business opportunity, Global Domains did not try and substantiate the claims but instead promptly removed 18 of the 20 challenged claims.  

Regarding the claims that remain accessible to the public, one is found on an unauthorized webpage that impersonates GDI. In this case, DSSRC recommends that Global Domains continue their efforts to locate the impersonating website and have it and the challenged claim taken down.

The other remaining claim is an animated video on the GDI website. Because the disclosure at the bottom of the video is insufficient to qualify the claim made in the video and not clear and conspicuous, DSSRC recommended that the video be discontinued. 

All BBB National Programs case decision summaries can be found in the case decision library. For full text of DSSRC decisions, visit the DSSRC Cases and Closures webpage.