Why the “Buy a Course to Sell a Course” Model Was Always Destined to Fail
For the last few years, the online marketing world has been obsessed with one particular business model:
Buy a training course → follow the steps → sell the same training course to others → teach them to do the same.
On the surface, it looked like a dream, and some creators did very well short term. In reality, it was a slow-motion collapse waiting to happen.
This wasn’t because the courses were bad. In fact, many were excellent. The problem was structural. The model was built on a foundation that could never support long-term sustainability, and once you understand the mechanics, the eventual crash becomes obvious.
Did we ever buy a course, yes, we invested in the Roadmap 3.0, which I still believe it’s a brilliant Business Development Course. But my intention was never to just simply resell it. I had been away from the online marketing world for 16 years and needed a fast route to update my skills and understand how the market had changed. This site was always my goal.
Let’s break down exactly why the model was flawed — and why the industry is finally waking up to it.
🌐 1. The Courses Themselves Weren’t the Problem
Before we talk about the failure, it’s important to be fair.
Most of the training courses in this space were:
- Well-produced
- Packed with genuinely useful information
- Created by people who knew what they were doing
- Valuable for learning marketing, funnels, ads, copywriting, and digital business
If these courses had been sold purely as education, they would have been perfectly legitimate products.
The issue wasn’t the content. It was the purpose the content was repurposed for.
🧱 2. The Real Problem: A Pyramid-Shaped Incentive Structure
The moment these courses became “Buy this course so you can resell this course”, everything changed. Before anyone screams they weren’t a Pyramid scheme, you’re right, they weren’t, and of course they are illegal. But the structure was. After the initial purchase, no money ever went upline again, so nothing illegal there.
This created a structure where:
- The real product wasn’t the training
- The real product was the right to sell the training
- The real promise wasn’t skill development
- The real promise was making money by recruiting others. In fairness, not everyone did this, but enough did to make the whole thing look tacky and scammie
That is the textbook definition of a pyramid-shaped incentive system. Not illegal in itself — but economically doomed.
Why it was destined to collapse:
- The model requires constant new buyers
- Those buyers must also become sellers
- Those sellers must find more buyers
- And so on…
But the pool of people willing to buy a course just to resell it is finite.
Once the market saturates, the entire structure buckles. The people in early profit. The people at the bottom are left with a product they can’t resell because the market is exhausted. This isn’t a moral argument. It’s simple mathematics. It’s also why so many course sellers keep seeking new courses to promote.
🔄 3. The “Teach Others to Teach Others” Loop Was Unsustainable
The marketing pitch from the more unscrupulous sellers often looked like this:
“Buy this course, follow the steps, and then teach others to do the same.”
But this creates a closed-loop economy where:
- No new value enters the system
- No new skills are being applied to real markets
- No external customers exist
- Everyone is selling to the same pool of marketers
It’s like a town where everyone opens a restaurant that only serves other restaurant owners.
Eventually, the money stops circulating. Real businesses sell to real customers. This model sold to its own participants. That’s why it was always going to crash.
📉 4. The MRR Licensing Issue: A Legal and Practical Time Bomb
Many of these courses used MRR (Master Resell Rights) as the licensing mechanism.
Now, let’s be clear:
- MRR itself is not illegal in the UK.
- It’s a legitimate licensing model when used correctly.
But the way it was used in these course-reselling systems created problems.
The core issue: fixed pricing
MRR allows you to resell a product, but you cannot legally enforce a fixed price in the UK.
That crosses into price-fixing, which is a competition law issue.
Yet many course creators insisted:
- “You must sell it for £497.”
- “You cannot discount it.”
- “You must follow the official pricing.”
That’s not how MRR works.
And it’s not how UK law works.
Once you give someone resale rights, they can:
- Sell at any price
- Bundle it
- Give it away
- Add bonuses
- Modify the offer
Trying to enforce a fixed price is both unenforceable and legally questionable.
This created:
- Confusion
- Conflict
- Undercutting
- Market instability
- And eventually, a race to the bottom
When everyone is selling the same product and no one can legally enforce pricing, the value collapses. I well remember seeing The Roadmap being sold for $89 in ETSY, when it had a fixed price of $497.
🧨 5. The Collapse Wasn’t a Scam — It Was a Structural Inevitability
It’s important to separate intent from outcome. Let’s again look at The Roadmap to Riches / 2.0 /3.0. This was created by two people who had the very best intentions. They created a magnificent training program and kept it updated. For 18 months it ruled TikTok and other platforms. But, they were very naïve. Firstly, they assumed everyone would treat it with the respect it deserved. Secondly, the attached MRR to it. This allowed anyone who bought it to sell it. Ten’s of thousands were sold, but Zach and Hanna only received money for the ones they sold directly, and had to fund the infrastructure to keep it going.
It should have been sold via an affiliate program from day one, win win for everyone. Also the fixed price and laws regarding MRR and fixed pricing surfaced. Their dream, to enable people to make money online became a nightmare. Is Roadmap still active, yes and highly recommended, but now as an affiliate program with much tighter rules on promoting and selling it. So, let’s be clear…..
Most creators weren’t trying to deceive anyone.
Most sellers weren’t trying to mislead anyone.
Most buyers genuinely believed they were starting a real business.
But the model itself was flawed.
It relied on:
- Endless recruitment
- A finite audience
- Fixed pricing that couldn’t be enforced
- A product that wasn’t being used for its intended purpose
- A market that quickly became saturated
This wasn’t a scam.
It was a mathematical inevitability.
I was lucky, I purchased Roadmap from a genuine seller who is still active, running a great business and a 100% great person. He committed totally to his “Digital and Affiliate Marketing”, and has become an expert in the space. He still sells training courses, creates products, offers paid advice and mentoring and makes a great living. But, and here is the big but, he knew from the start that the course was training to build a business, not “The Business”, and continues to show others how to do the same.
So, to sum up, yes, done the right way, courses still have great value. We host Roadmap 3.0 here for Hub Club members to learn the skills needed to build a business. Yes, it was created in 2024 and doesn’t include much about AI, but our other courses do, so with us, you get the whole package. Will “The Hub Club ” ever become a site where members can sell access on an affiliate basis, it’s possible, I have the infrastructure in place, but until we grow to that level, we’re fine as we are.
