What is the ruling on paying a monthly subscription to a group that provides packaging, shipping, a sales platform, and products, with the marketer determining the product price and taking a profit, and is this considered network marketing?

It is forbidden to pay a monthly fee merely for subscribing to a product marketing project without any benefit or service provided by the project owners to the subscribers, as the payment would then be gambling, oscillating between loss by losing the subscription and gain by gaining sales.

It is permissible to pay the subscription fee in exchange for a tangible benefit or a real service, such as providing a sales platform, follow-up, and weekly assistance for the novice subscriber.