How to Identify Legitimate Work From Home Opportunities

If you go online and look for work from home opportunities, you will be presented with a plethora of jobs. The trick is to sort out the legitimate work from home jobs from the work at home ideas that are scams. Never assume that a job is legitimate because you see it listed on a certain site. Know how to spot the signs of work at home scams and you’ll soon be earning money instead of throwing it away.

Identifying Legitimate Work from Home Jobs

First, use your common sense. If a job offers thousands of dollars a month for a part-time commitment, the offer is probably a scam. The reality is that developing a business takes hard work and time.

Does the company ask you to pay them a fee before you start to work? Compare the job with a traditional workplace job. Direct-sales companies will require you to buy the products that you will sell. Apart from this situation, most legitimate brick and mortar companies do not ask you to pay them for training or materials. They provide the training and information that you need to get the job done. So should an online job opportunity.

Finding Information

Check the company’s Web site. A legitimate company should have information about the history of the company and its founders. The company should also have an address and phone number, in addition to a working e-mail address. If the company does not have a Web site or does not provide contact information, you may be looking at a red flag. Beware of e-mail addresses that go to overseas e-mail accounts or that originate from free e-mail providers, such as Google and Yahoo.

After you get the company’s address, contact the local Better Business Bureau to check for any complaints that have been lodged against the business. If you see complaints, look for another job. If the company has a clean record, it may be legitimate, or it may be so new that nobody’s had a chance to file a complaint yet. Scammers frequently change addresses, telephone numbers and company names to stay one step ahead of the law.

Go to your favorite search engine and investigate the company or individual who is looking to hire you. People who do not get paid for online work from home opportunities tend to rather vocal about their displeasure on discussion boards. If you find out that former employees are dissatisfied with the person or company that is offering the job, you are likely to be dissatisfied too.

Ask for references. Then check them.

Make sure that you ask the appropriate questions regarding pay, including what the company’s payment terms are and whether you have to submit invoices for your work.

Think carefully before you pay for job listings. The jobs listed may not be current or the jobs may not even actually exist. There are a number of Web sites that offer you free, up-to-date job listings at no charge. Start your search there.