It’s a tough time for the United States economy, and unfortunately there are those out there looking to take advantage of people that already are barely making ends meet. While it’s true that there are plenty of real work from home jobs to be had it’s also important to be weary of fishy situations.

 

I’ve noticed lots of this going on via Craig’ s List recently. There are lots of listings for making money at home, starting your own business, or just plain outrageous claims of millions of dollars being given to you by generous strangers. My e-mail in-box used to win the British lottery every single day.

 

Still, as unbelievable as these offers seem they trick many unfortunate people who are too willing with their information, and too eager to believe any lie given to them. If you’ve ever needed help knowing what to avoid or which opportunities will allow you to actually cash in on them then here’s a few ideas.

 

Mystery Shopping

Mystery shopping is one of those fantasy jobs where websites will promise you that you can make a fortune simply by shopping, dining out, going on lavish vacations, and other things. The reality is that very few people are going to make any money doing this. Especially those that are just starting – It’s difficult to get into. You may very well spend more money in gas then what you make from your recruiter. Plus, it’s just that – A job; that does not compensate you for very much.

 

Many listings that will be offered to you are for amounts in the $5 to $10 range. If you request the job you will e-mailed by the recruiter, and asked to visit a store or a resturant. You may or may not be required to make a purchase, and you will need to document your entire visit there. This means taking detailed accounts of customer service you received, the amount of employees there, facility cleanliness, and many other aspects. All while not alerting the staff as to your means for visiting their establishment. This is supposed to be a surprise inspection after all. If you do not submit your report in a timely, and detailed manner you may become ineligible for future jobs.

 

If you’re honestly considering trying it out then you should be aware of the many scam sites out there as well. Lots of search results in google will be wanting you to pay them a ‘membership fee’ in order to see their “massive database of shopping jobs”. Most of the time these places are only after your hard earned dollars. Lists like this usually include jobs that you can’t get, and more scam sites.

 

There’s also a scam going around for several of these kinds of schemes in where you receive a fake check. You are instructed to deposit it to your account, and then send a percentage to another account elsewhere. Never do anything like this! If you are offered any deal of the sort then you need to cease communication with this party immediately. Besides being out money yourself you could potentially be involving yourself in somebody else’s criminal activities unknowingly, and get yourself into some real hot water. You are most likely not the first nor the last person that they have stolen from; and that money is probably tainted merchandise.

 

Try the Dmoz directory if you’d like to check out mystery shopping first hand. Legitimate links should at the most ask you to create an account with them. Though some sites are more like classifieds, and you will deal with the recruiter directly, and so will probably have no contact with the actual site owner. About Face Corp also has lots of resources to help you learn about the industry.

 

http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Customer_Service/Mystery_Shopping/

 

Automated Money Machine Website

Sorry, but anything you try to buy in a package like this is a total scam. There are tons of places out there offering totally automated sites with products that will be guaranteed to make you a millionaire, and get you a fancy car just like the website owner! You can get his car way easier; off of Google just like he did. They most likely don’t have any of those things, and only make money by tricking people.

 

Your “hot products” will be cookie cutter items most likely seen at the dollar store. They will be over priced, over saturated, and very hard for you to sell. Your “drop shipper” will most likely charge you exorbitant fees for their service, and you’ll end up making very little if anything for your time.

 

Anybody who’s every run a website can tell you that there’s no such thing as automated. It’s down right hard work to get one going, and keep it there. Setting up a website can be as easy or complicated as you need it to be, but it will take work to run it.

 

You’ll need to do a lot of updating to make sure you have fresh content; without it you won’t keep visitors coming back to you. Advertising is a must; because without the right link backs or even clicks you’ll have a gorgeous site that nobody will ever see. Picking the right keywords for your content is a skill mastered over time, and takes a good bit of research.

 

I’m not trying to discourage you from owning your own site. They can produce very rewarding revenue via ads, affiliation deals, and products if you want an actual business. A popular blog can get many visitors, and establish a nice part time or even full time income without selling a single item. Advertisers want their products seen on hot information sites, because as you’ll see so many times in the internet world – content is king. That’s why they sponsor web site’s contents so frequently.

 

I’m you need help building, learning about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), or anything else website related there are articles all over the web including plenty of them on Associated Content!

 

 

Drop Shipping/Wholesale lists

Similar to the above scam, but can be slightly different. These websites claim to have master lists of drop shippers or wholesalers, and will let you in on their secret for a low one time price or membership fee. Like the before mentioned lists most of these will be totally useless to you filled with either more scam companies, and false links. Even if you find a real wholesaler you will soon find out that you can’t benefit from them without becoming official. A real wholesaler will not even give you pricing unless you provide your official registered business documentation. Anybody else offering to service you without it is a fraud, and you should avoid them entirely. You should never have to pay for the websites, contact information, or names of any of these facilities either.

 

There are plenty sites offering their products for drop shipping, but you will be hard pressed to find any good options. Most of them will offer cheaply made, generic, and generally unwanted items. If you give a quick search for your potential item on ebay you will most likely find hundreds of the same listed at much lower prices than you can afford to sell them for. You will not be able to compete with wholesale merchants when you have to pay so much in fees to the drop shipper’s service.

 

If you’re really interested in selling products for real wholesale prices then it’s actually much cheaper, and easier to register as a real business than you think. In the state of Florida you can register for all of your paperwork for as little as $65.

 

 

In my state you’re required to have a DBA (Doing Business As), Sales And Use Tax ID, and a business license for your county. You do not technically ‘need’ a DBA, but only if you will be doing business as your own full name for example ‘Bob Barker’s Microphones’. If you will be using just ‘Bob’s Microphones’ or ‘Magnificent Microphones’ then legally you will need a DBA. You’ll need to research the exact requirements for your state or country, because they may be different.

 

The most expensive fees will be if you need to rent a facility, buy lots of merchandise upfront, ect.

Most wholesalers will work with small business, but you’ll probably need to order at least $500 to $1000 in merchandise before they will sell to you. If you can’t save up this much money then you may need to consider some other fund raising methods until you can!

 

If you’re having a problem finding legitimate products; I’ve found the best way is to simply ask! Try sending an e-mail to the manufacturer for assistance. They are often times more than happy to point you in the right direction, because you could be potential money for them. For example, I was interested in the video game wholesale market so I sent a quick e-mail like the below example to Sony Computer Entertainment America via their website asking for their official wholesalers.

 

‘Dear SCEA,

 

Hello, I’m a small business owner interested in offering your products at my retail location, but I’m having a bit of a problem finding legitimate wholesale distributors of your merchandise. Do you have a list of your official wholesale partner’s contact information or an on-line resources page that you could direct me to? Any help is appreciated.

 

Thanks,

John Doe

Totally Rad Games And More

www.totallyradgamesandmore.com.’

 

The representative quickly responded with a list of distributors in several U.S. States, and Canada to help me out. So, don’t be afraid to ask – Manufacturers want you to start making them money. Or if you’re looking for legitimate drop shipping you can try our drop ship directory!

 

 

Paid To Surf, Read E-mails, And On-line Surveys

 

These places promise the reader thousands of dollars just by reading e-mails, completing surveys, or even just surfing the internet. I grouped them together, because they are basically the same idea. You are being “paid” to look at advertisements, and sign up for offers. Paid being in quotations, because more often than not you will never be paid for your time.

 

These places usually have a high pay out cap. Meaning you do not get paid a dime unless you reach a certain amount of money in your account. The lowest usually being about $25, and the highest being up to $100 or more.

 

You also may not be aware, but these sites are making another pretty penny by either selling your information to people or installing ad-ware on your computer. Have you ever gotten any pop ups with your browser shut down? That means you’ve visited some type of site that has installed the scourge of the internet otherwise known as ad-ware on your computer. These nastly little programs not only will flood you with annoying advertisements, but will also hog your system resources. If you find your PC running slower than normal you may want to do a scan to make sure none of these are running in the background. If you need a scanner you can get spybot search and destroy for free.

 

Lots of the ‘surveys’ you’ll receive are not really surveys at all, but offers that you must complete with fake questions tacked on to them. Most of them will require you to shell out credit card information before you can make enough for a payout. Why? Because they know you’ll get frustrated, and not claim your money. They get paid, because you visited their affiliates, but now they don’t have to pay you.

 

If you do find any real surveys they are usually hard to qualify for, because you need to fit a certain demographic. For example: Married, home owner, with children, and a perhaps even a certain race, age group, health status, ect. If you choose to pursue this venture be prepared to do a lot of searching to find anything that will provide you with legitimate results. You probably will also only make a few dollars for all that time spent as well. You’d do less work, and make more money with a part time job at Mc Donald’s most likely.

Originally posted 2008-11-23 17:17:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter