So they were “sold” one way or another?
I’m blanking on the cite but somewhere there was a collection of short parodies of TOS Star Trek episodes, which included “Space Seeds For Prizes”.
Leroy tries to sell seeds in “The Great Gildersleeve” (1942).
Here is a PDF of the full FTC decision.
If I’m gonna walk around selling stuff I need to get a monkey out of it.
Maybe you need an organ.
My daughter, at the age of 12, decided she wanted to sell soaps and other skin care products that she would make at home using recipes she found on YouTube.
I was like, ‘sure, let’s do this, it’s a teaching moment’. So I loaned her $250, she bought the supplies and whipped them up, putting the soaps, etc, into these cases we got from Temu (or whatever the low-cost online seller of the day (2013) was). I created a brand, ‘Sophia’s Scentsations’, made labels, and we spent a week or so packaging these soaps.
She (we) then went door to door in our neighborhood pitching these. I helped her with a sales script and stood in the background while she knocked on doors, etc. Made over $600 in revenue - people were just throwing money at her, lol, “OMG, you’re so cute, here’s $20, keep the change”.
When done, we did the accounting, I got my $250 back, she cleared over $400 for our trip to Los Angeles (a Gallifrey (Doctor Who) convention), she learned a LOT about things that people in their twenties and thirties are unaware, and gained a LOT of confidence in her ability to plan, execute, and make money.
Not comic related, of course, but your comment about ‘petroleum salve(s)’ triggered this memory.
I tried greeting cards once. From Boys Life. Knocked on a grand total of 1 door, and that unsuccessful experience likely soured me on any future in sales.
Don’t remember any follow-up from the card company.
A classmate of mine had the right idea. He used to set up shop in front of the school - 7th through 9th grades - and sell these long packages of bubble gum that were very popular at the time. He had a dozen or so flavors, and he must have had an in (his dad, I’m guessing) at the local wholesaler. He had cases of the stuff, and every morning he had a swarm of kids surrounding him preparing to get their gum fix.
I wonder what he’s doing these days.
mmm
@JohnT, that’s a really impressive story, particularly with respect to the effort that both you and Sophia put into it and the success that resulted.
Curious question. Were her homemade products actually any good? Or did people buy them because she was cute? Regardless, that was an amazing youth entrepreneur story.
I think the reason so many others failed is that the whole comic-book sales thing was a scam. The FTC order cited upthread is more evidence of that – I had a quick look at the actual filing and among many other things it stated that the “free gifts” offered to kids was deceptive.
I myself was never infected by the entrepreneurial spirit so I never did any of those things. I’m certain I would have been terrible.
I did make money as a kid but only because I was virtually shanghaied off the street by a newspaper employee, apparently desperate to find a new newspaper delivery boy after the previous one had quit. I remember sitting in his car while he described the job, but leaving the door open due to the fear of Bad Men that my parents had instilled into me, so I could leap out if necessary. 
It wasn’t necessary. It was a real job. And it perfectly suited my timid personality because all I had to do was pull my little wagon full of newspapers and drop them off in mailboxes or doorsteps. I didn’t even have to talk to anyone except on collection day, which was weekly.
It made me enough money to buy a really nice 35mm camera and a bunch of darkroom equipment including an enlarger and a developing tank so I could develop and print my own film.
I remember reading about Michael Dell’s childhood. (He’s the one who founded the Dell Computer Company.) As a teenager he sold the local newspaper subscriptions. He concentrated on newlyweds and those who just moved to town. I think he had something like 500 subscribers. He also bought stock as a kid. I think Warren Buffett also invested early.
It was probably a dun letter. He just exaggerated to scare me straight.
I was notorious for getting my older sibs mags and comics and send off for anything that required SASE(remember those?) and seemed free to a 10yo old me.
Columbia House was a favorite. Got it lots of hot water about that. Eeek 
(Boredom does weird things to me. Still does)
No doubt, the business plan for all of these companies relied on parents bailing out their kids. Legally, none of these companies making contracts with kids had a leg to stand on but enough parents were ignorant of that fact to make them profitable for decades.
I tried the seeds as well. What’s worse was the ad came with a coupon that you fill in for your friend so I signed him up as well. My eight-year old self didn’t consider letting him know, let alone ask him first. I only remembered after we went there to try to sell some. His mom wasn’t thrilled.
I don’t remember how it ended. I may have sold a few to relatives and friends then just ignored the letters after that.
99% sure it was because she was cute. And she was cute. And determined.
I bet the products she made were just as good as anything commercially made. And fresher.
Good for her.