More than likely you have seen them cropping up all over the internet: work from home schemes promising participants vast sums of money for taking surveys, selling a product or service, stuffing envelopes, clicking ads, making phone calls, etc. The plans are as varied as they are innovative. Remember not all work from home online business are scams. There are some excellent online businesses out there, you just need to look for them and do your due diligence.
Unfortunately, many are scams meant to extract cash from your wallet and certain to leave you feeling miserable and stupid. So, just how can you make sure that an online business is legitimate? Continuing reading on for some suggestions to help you avoid being cheated.
Better Business Bureau
– Check with your local Better Business Bureau (BBB) to determine whether the company has had any complaints levied against it. If it is an out of state concern, check with the BBB in the area (state) where the company is based.
State Attorney General’s Office
– Every state has an Office of the Attorney General and in most cases it is this office that is tasked with investigating complaints against companies. Some states allocate this responsibility to their Bureau of Consumer Affairs agency or similar department.
Online Forums, Blogs, etc.
– Google a search on the internet for the company’s name and narrow the results further by including negative words such as: complaint, scam, judgment, etc. If a company or program is up to no good, likely that information has been published somewhere.
Caution: too much praise about a company could be a company “plant” placed online to create a positive spin about their operation. Conversely, bad news could be a single disgruntled person. Get as much additional and independent information before making a determination whether something you read online is actually true.
Personal Investment
– If you have to pay to receive a list of companies providing work information, etc. this should be a warning flag to you. Any outlay of cash on your part should raise some concern. They should be providing an explanation about their opportunity and/or service for free.
MLM
– Some work at home businesses are nothing more than multi level marketing (MLM) schemes. This means you make a percentage of the sales of people you bring in to the business below you. Not all MLM schemes are illegal…unethical may be another matter! Some are legitimate so perform your due diligence.
In all, exercise extreme caution before agreeing to any work from home plan. If a work from home plan sounds too good to be true, then likely it probably is too good to be true. Ask hard questions and do not sign a contract before letting a legal professional (of your choice) review the plan. There are a lot of legitimate work from home online businesses just be careful and do your research. Also remember these programs do take some work and effort as there is no such thing as getting rich overnight. Check out the program below for an honest way to make money online.
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