All posts in: Work at Home

Assemble products at home? Not so fast...

By Scott Nyerges on May 21, 2010 in

home assembly jobs

Along with envelope stuffing, assembly jobs are a common work-at-home scheme, promising big bucks for jobs that require no experience. The Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau both caution that the majority of these offers are scams designed to take your cash, usually in the form of a "small fee" for a list of companies allegedly hiring for piecemeal assembly work, without any promise of obtaining (much less being paid for) legitimate work. 

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Can you make a living selling on eBay?

By Carl Laron on May 14, 2010 in

eBay sign
With over 80 million registered users, eBay is clearly the number one online venue for the buying and selling of goods. Sellers range from those looking to move a few unwanted knick-knacks to well-known retailers and manufacturers looking for another channel in which to move their products. In between, we've talked to enough small-businesspeople who use eBay as their primary source of income to say that selling on eBay can be a viable venture for someone looking to work from home. However, there are also plenty of potholes on the road to eBay success, including scammers looking to take advantage of those in search of shortcuts. Read more

Separating mystery-shopper fact from fiction

By Sage McHugh on May 7, 2010 in

Mystery Shoppers

We've all seen the ads for "mystery" or "secret" shoppers, promising to pay as much as $150 per day and offering perks like free merchandise. Getting paid to go shopping sounds like a dream job, but is mystery shopping a legitimate way to earn money or is it a scam? ConsumerSearch uncovered some secrets surrounding mystery shopping, and what we found might surprise you.

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Hello, how can I help you? Scoring a job as a home-based agent

Computers & Internet
By Christine Frietchen on April 24, 2010 in

Woman working at home

If you've been looking for a legit way to make extra money working from home, you've no doubt run head first into a minefield of scams, schemes and dubious "opportunities." Some of this stuff is for real, but selling Avon or Tupperware takes a really outgoing personality, and there's no guarantee you'll actually make money doing it. Come-ons to stuff envelopes or process rebates at home are a joke, and they can end up costing you money. But we've found one that's the real deal. If you've ever called customer service for your bank, cell phone provider, or a store, chances are good that you've spoken to an agent who was actually working from their home. And guess what? You can do it too.

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Can you really make a buck hawking cosmetics or vacuums at home?

By Sarah Burns on April 16, 2010 in

A woman selling Tupperware.
With their inspiring success stories and appealing sales pitches (be your own boss and work right from your kitchen table!), home based selling programs like Avon, Pampered Chef and Tupperware offer a compelling proposition. But how much money can you realistically expect to make? And what type of person do you need to be to make good money? To get the answer, we did a little digging. Compared to dubious work-at-home schemes like stuffing envelopes and processing rebates, these companies actually do offer an up-an-up way to make some extra money. However, it's not for everyone. Read more

Can you really make extra money processing rebates at home?

By Alex Nunez on March 31, 2010 in

Taking the bait

Rebate processing -- it sounds so easy. Buy instructional materials that tell the secret to earning a solid income without working for The Man. In no time, you'll start pulling in real dollars (guaranteed!) for every rebate you process from the comfort of home. You can even wear your fuzzy bunny slippers. It sounds too good to be true. Probably because it is.

Rebate processing -- it sounds so easy. Buy instructional materials that tell the secret to earning a solid income without working for The Man. In no time, you'll start pulling in real dollars (guaranteed!) for every rebate you process from the comfort of home. You can even wear your fuzzy bunny slippers. It sounds too good to be true. Probably because it is. Read more

Scam or success story: Stuffing envelopes at home

By Carl Laron on March 25, 2010 in

Despite the name, most envelope-stuffing schemes don't really involve stuffing envelopes for companies. After all, as noted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, technology has pretty much eliminated any need for work-from-home mailing services. What exactly, then, are you in for if you sign up for an envelope-stuffing work-at-home job? We took a closer look, and here's what we found:
  • The Promise: Make hundreds of dollars per week guaranteed, for just a few hours' work.
  • The Reality: You'll pay money -- maybe a lot of it -- to learn the "secret" details, and probably never make anything at all stuffing envelopes at home.
  • The Scoop: While we can't say that all work-at-home stuffing-envelopes jobs are complete scams, we can say with some assurance that most are. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regularly brings charges against envelope-stuffing operations, levying fines and sometimes sending their owners to jail. But because envelope-stuffing schemes are so lucrative for their promoters, that hasn't stopped them from popping up time and time again.
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Scam or success story: The truth behind work-at-home schemes

By Carl Laron on March 25, 2010 in

Work at home jobs
It really comes as no surprise: The falling economy has led to a dramatic rise in work-at-home schemes. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, PhishBucket.org, an organization that tracks and reports on fraudulent online employment offers, noted a three-fold rise in online employment scams in 2008 when the current economic crisis began, and says that the number remained high during all of 2009. Other reports, such as this one in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, say that 2010 is shaping up to be yet another banner year for work-at-home schemes. Read more

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