pyramid sellingn.
/ˈpɪrəmɪd ˌsɛlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈpɪrəˌmɪd ˌsɛlɪŋ/ Business.
A system of selling goods or services in which agency rights are sold to an increasing number of distributors at successively lower levels; (also frequently) an illegal scheme which purports to trade in goods or services in this manner, but which in fact is set up solely to make money from the recruitment of new participants. Cf. pyramid n. 10b.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > [noun] > selling method or technique > types of
branding1913
cross-selling1919
mass marketing1920
supermarketing1940
hard sell1945
market testing1947
sales drive1951
soft sell1953
rack-jobbing1954
switch selling1960
cold selling1961
telesales1962
telemarketing1963
loss-leading1964
test-marketing1964
pyramid selling1965
inertia selling1968
overselling1968
bundling1969
oversell1969
rack job1969
bounceback1970
party plan1973
sale-leaseback1973
up-marketing1975
sellathon1976
upselling1977
cold calling1978
cold call1980
network marketing1981
ambush marketing1987
green marketing1988
relationship marketing1988
freemium1994
e-tailing1995
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > defrauding or swindling > [noun] > scheme > commercial or financial
bubble1700
Ponzi scheme1920
pyramid1920
pyramid scheme1949
pyramid selling1965
1965 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 22 Dec. 14 The latest gimmick..is a sort of pyramid selling scheme.
1972 Daily Tel. 30 Mar. 3/1 A company whose cosmetic business is said to involve ‘pyramid selling’—a system whereby a franchiser sells to others the right to market goods—was banned in the High Court yesterday from operating its bank account.
2003 Franchise Mag. New Year Issue 118/4 The diluted offspring of pyramid selling are often to be found in magazines covering ‘network marketing’ or ‘direct selling’, where it is still the norm to earn money chiefly from recruiting subordinate levels.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1965