[3][4][5] The American DSA, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the national trade association of a group of firms that manufacture and distribute goods and services sold directly to consumers typically through social selling that includes a compensation model called multi-level marketing.

[3][5] The DSA played a role in petitioning the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to exempt multi-level marketing companies from consumer protection regulations outlined in the FTC's 2006 proposed Business Opportunity Rule, encouraging people to write 17,000 form letters complaining about the rule from 2006 to 2008.

[13] The DSA supported and allegedly drafted much of the language of the "Anti-Pyramid Promotional Scheme Act" introduced by US Representative Marsha Blackburn, and an amendment to the US House of Representatives' omnibus Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2018 by US Representative John Moolenaar that would have limited the ability of the FTC and other agencies to classify companies as pyramid schemes and to investigate whether MLMs are pyramid schemes.

[20] In 2014, Avon (a founding member) left the DSA citing that its bylaws were inadequate in protecting consumers from fraud.

News reports have connected Avon's quitting to pyramid scheme allegations against DSA member Herbalife, which was under investigation by the FTC at the time,[20][21][22] and has now been ordered agreed to pay two hundred million dollars in a settlement.