Direct sales vs. Pyramid Schemes

A lot of people think that direct sales are a pyramid scheme, but it is not. To understand this, you need to know the definition of both.

Pyramid Scheme:
A fraudulent moneymaking scheme in which people are recruited to make payments to others above them in a hierarchy while expecting to receive payments from people recruited below them. Eventually the number of new recruits fails to sustain the payment structure, and the scheme collapses with most people losing the money they paid in.
(Provided by dictionary.com)

Direct Sales:
Direct Selling is the sale of a consumer product or service, person-to-person, away from a fixed retail location. These products and services are marketed to customers by independent salespeople. Depending on the company, the salespeople may be called distributors, representatives, consultants or various other titles. Products are sold primarily through in-home product demonstrations, parties and one-on-one selling.
(Provided by internetmarketingdefinitions.com)

Once you read through both of these, do they sound like the same thing?