How to Check Out the Legitimacy of Online Work at Home Sites

There are many people who have no problem making money off of someone else's need for it, and the Internet is replete with such individuals. Any Internet search for "work at home" will turn up millions of results, many claiming to help you make thousands by working from your computer for a couple of hours every day. Others make more realistic claims, and can be legitimate or scams. There are several things that you can look for to help you tell the difference between a site that is legitimate and one that is not.

 

Instructions :

 

1.   Look at the appearance of the site. Is there a contact form that allows you to freely contact the staff? Does the site include the names of any of the contacts or state who the owner is? It is a red flag if you cannot find out who is behind the site or cannot easily contact someone associated with it. Legitimate sites don't have anything to hide.

 

2.   Read the fine print. How does the site intend to pay you? Does the site require you to earn a specific amount of money before they will send you a check or credit your PayPal account? It is a very common practice for sites to have $50 or more minimum payouts. This does not always mean that the site is not legitimate, but if it is a survey site and you are earning 50 cents every other day, chances are you won't ever see a payday.

 

3.  Keep your money. Does the site require a deposit, registration fee or any other "investment"? If so, it is not a legitimate work at home site. You should never have to pay money in order to do online work, even if the site states that "it covers the initial cost of your introductory kit" or other such nonsense.

 

4.  Check work at home forums such as the one listed in the resource section. Ask people if they have heard of the company and what their opinion is. You can also search past topics in forums to see if the company's name has been mentioned before.

 

5.   Listen to your intuition. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. Internet marketers sometimes make outrageous claims such as "I earned $3000 my first week!" Sometimes the site will show screen shots of PayPal payments made to the person promoting the site. It is very easy to make screenshots with fake information, so you should never look at this "proof" as evidence that the site is legitimate. The Ripoff Report states that "There's no magic formula to get rich quick." These are words to live by when you are looking at online opportunities.

 

6.  Check with the Better Business Bureau. This only takes a minute, as you can simply type the company's name in the searchable form provided on the BBB website. See the resource section for the link. If the business you are investigating has an "F," that's the biggest red flag of all.