The Board of Directors of the Direct Selling Association recently approved the membership for The Traveling Vineyard® at their Annual Board of Director’s Meeting on June 2, 2012.
In order to be approved and accepted into the Direct Selling Association, The Traveling Vineyard® completed the minimum one-year pending membership period required before full membership is granted by DSA’s Board. During this time, the marketing and business plans of the Company were reviewed to ensure compliance with all provisions of DSA’s Code of Ethics.
“The members of the Direct Selling Association pride themselves in their commitment to the highest standards in business ethics,” said DSA’s President Joseph Mariano. “By applying for membership in the association and going through a rigorous approval process, these companies are demonstrating that they take their ethical obligations to their field salesforce and to the ultimate customer seriously and are willing to make a public pledge to that effect.”
DSA’s Code of Ethics gives the direct selling industry one of the strongest self-regulatory codes in business today. All member companies are not only required to comply with the Code to be admitted to the association, but must also continue to uphold and promote the Code as a condition of continuing membership in the association. DSA’s Code is enforced by an independent code administrator who investigates and prescribes remedies in response to salesforce and consumer complaints against member companies.
“With our recent completion of the DSA’s rigorous one year approval process we are pleased to now be a proud member of the DSA and remain committed to holding our standards to the highest bar set by the DSA and their member companies. In addition to the DSA approval we are also an A- rated business with the Better Business Bureau,” said Rick Libby, the founder and CEO of The Traveling Vineyard®.
About the DSA
DSA is the national trade association of the leading firms that manufacture and distribute goods and services sold directly to consumers. Among its more than 240 active and pending members are companies selling both via a party-plan method and in the traditional person-to-person style. In 2011, U.S. direct sales were more than $29.8 billion with nearly 16 million direct sellers nationwide. The vast majority are independent business people—micro-entrepreneurs—whose purpose is to sell the product/service of the company they voluntarily choose to represent. Approximately 90 percent of direct sellers operate their business part-time.