Work At Home Scams Thrive on the Internet

The ability to earn a living from home is one that millions of people would enjoy. No one likes being a slave to a time clock, and no one enjoys working for a difficult boss. The notion of working from home is appealing to everyone who has ever had an unpleasant job, and thousands of Americans try their hands at it every year with varying degrees of success.

Where there is opportunity for success, there is also opportunity for fraud, and the work at home sector is no exception to that rule. Offers to work from home are common subjects of spam e-mail, and there are thousands of Websites devoted to lavish descriptions of the riches one can acquire while working from home. Unfortunately, most of these offers are fraudulent, and the only thing that most people will get out of them is a lighter wallet. Offers to get rich at home while stuffing envelopes or processing medical claims for physicians earn far more for the people selling them than they do for the victims who buy them.

These are but two of the common work at home scams that can be commonly found in e-mail solicitations or in the classified advertising sections of business-related magazines. Anyone who is considering investing in a plan to work from home should first consider the following:

• You can't get something for nothing. If a company promises that you can make thousands each week from doing little or no work, you should be suspicious.
• Do not respond to solicitations that come via e-mail. These messages are literally sent out by the millions in hopes that a few people will believe the offer and send money. Don't do it.
• Find out what it is you will do to get paid. Then do some research on your own. Is there a market for the work you will be doing? Look into it.
• Research the company involved. Thanks to the Internet, it's as easy as looking them up in a search engine. See what others have to say about the company.
• Do you have to invest money? How much? What do you receive? Can you get a refund if you change your mind? Find out.

While there are legitimate opportunities to work from home, most offers to hire people to do so are fraudulent. By doing a little homework before you invest your money or time, you can avoid being another victim of a work at home scam.

Is The Rich Jerk More Than Just a Jerk?

Finally another positive review. You can't seem to do a search for home business, online marketing, or get rich quick schemes these days without hearing something about The Rich Jerk. There are articles ranging the spectrum from ranting about his "bad attitude" used to market his product, right up to glowing testimonies about how much money people (like me) are making in a day thanks to his advice. Some people certainly may find his blunt, arrogant way of bringing his point across to be somewhat offensive and unnecessary. For those of us who have practically fallen asleep reading some of the other boring, uninformative e-books about making money online; or the over-hyped sales letters for get rich quick schemes, the Rich Jerk is a welcome alternative.

I came across his e-book about a year ago during my endless search for home business ideas. I was impressed to find that the information he gave actually made sense, with little to none of the html confusion of other e-books I'd struggled through. He also didn't waste time like some e-book authors by going through the most basic details of how to build a website, or explaining in great detail how adsense works. With all of the different site-building programs and D.I.Y web-hosting companies these days, truly anyone can build a good looking website, and Google has plenty of help when it comes to adsense. (There are also some really great e-books on the net if you are looking for something specifically about adsense.) I've read e-books that were supposed to be about online marketing, but consisted of nothing more than a few pages telling you to; a) build a website, b) join an affiliate program, c) join adsense. There wasn't even any real info on how to go about doing those these things, and yet the comment was made in the script that "I know you paid a lot of money for this". No wonder people are skeptical of get rich quick schemes.

What information does The Rich Jerk give you for your purchase price?

• How to choose which affiliate programs to promote, and a listing of the best affiliate networks to join.
• Pay-Per-Click and SEO (search engine optimization) strategies, useful for any type of website.
• Advice on creating and selling your own e-book/product, and selling other companies products on e-Bay. This is his weakest chapter, in my opinion, but there are still some good points.
• A list of affiliate products and programs he personally recommends to aid you in your venture, and some alternative online business opportunities for the more adventurous.
• A full chapter for "beginners" to expand on all the topics, and make further suggestions for success. And he even explains all the above terms that you never heard of. For a jerk, he's a great teacher!

This may not sound like a lot of information, and while the Rich Jerk is only 65 pages, there is more useable info included than in some books twice the size. There's a very good reason as to why so many articles and reviews have been written about this product, if you’re looking to start an online business, it is worth your time and money to read this e-book.

As for the issue of the Rich jerk's "attitude", it's called anti-marketing. While people like to complain about it, it does get results. It grabs your attention when you're looking at a bunch of run-of-the-mill ads. After all, you're taking the time to read about him right now, just as I'm taking the time to write about him, so he's achieved his goal. It's also a matter of doing what works for you; celebrities have been doing this sort of thing for decades. (We can all easily come up with a half dozen or more names that are remembered for exactly this tactic.) I personally felt that it was refreshing to have someone be blunt and honest about what is deemed by some to be a get rich quick program. Make no mistake. What The Rich Jerk talks about is a legitimate online business, which will require you to spend some time and money before you can start making money.

Please understand that any online business or home business is going to take some work, regardless of what you're promoting; and it will take some time to actually start making money. The Rich Jerk does have some great ideas for how to make it all a lot easier though, and a lot more affordable too.

Bewarned of Western Union

When purchasing wholesale items NEVER buy products from anyone who wants to be paid by Western Union. If someone asks for payment by Western Union, do not respond to them, and block their email. I know their low priced merchandise is tempting, but it is a scam EVERY TIME. Western Union advises the following on their website:

Make sure you know to whom you are sending money. If you are purchasing goods or services and paying through the Western Union network, it is your responsibility to verify the reputation and legitimacy of the seller. Western Union is not responsible for the non-receipt or quality of any goods or services

Common Western Union scams include, but are not limited to the following:

Scam # 1: Seller asks you to pay by Western Union and tells you it will be safe because you can make out the payment to the name of one of your friend's or relative's names, but put the seller's address on the payment. You will then tell the seller the control number (identification #) of the payment so he can go to Western Union and verify you have made the payment. Once you receive the shipment, you will go to Western Union and change the name to the seller's real name so that he can pick up the money.

Why it's a scam: Once the seller knows the address or control number of the payment, he can go get thepayment and send you nothing. Many Western Union agents in foreign countries never ask for identification.

Scam #2: Seller asks you to pay by Western Union and tells you to make the payment using Western Union's "secret question" feature. This feature is designed so that the Western Union agent will ask a secret question to whoever is picking up the money, and he must get the answer right in order to collect the money.

Why it's a scam: Again, many times Western Union agents do not ask the question, and only care if the person knows the address or control number, especially outside of the United States. Western Union even advises on their website not to rely on the secret question feature.

How I Made A Fortune On Ebay Using Dropshippers... And Then Lost It All

This is the true story of how during the summer of 2001, I made $40,000 selling dropshipped goods on ebay only to lose it all and end up with $4,000 of debt. Read my cautionary tale to prevent yourself from making the same mistakes that I made.

I first found out about dropshipping back in June of 2001 a little after I started a not-so-profitable business on eBay selling cell phone accessories and such. I saw dropshipping as an all profit method of business. You don't pay for shipping. You don't pay for inventory. You basically just advertise the product on auction websites such as eBay (that's what I used, and still do today), take orders, collect the money, and pay the set amount for each item to the dropshipper keeping the remaining amounts for yourself as profits. I now realize that it is only that easy when you're dealing with the right dropshipper.

My first dropshipper was NOT the right one. I don't recall the company, and I'm sure it went under by now anyway, but the guy I delt with was named Chris. I was selling Nike Air Jordans on eBay. I saw that Jordans were real popular on eBay and people paid huge amounts for them. I'd even seen some pairs go for $1,000+. Chris only charged me $67 a pair. So, I basically just doubled the price and sold them on eBay for $134 a pair. I sold about 20 pairs of shoes within a week giving me a profit of $1,340. I suddenly became happy with the success I had because obtaining over $1,000 in a week at the age of 19 is pretty rare. So, I wanted to start putting up way more auctions so that I could make way more money. Unfortunately, this is when Chris became unreliable. He never returned any of my e-mails and never got back online. Plus, he only had shipped half of the 20 orders I had. So, I decided that I needed a replacement quick before I started to have some unhappy customers on my hands.

This now brought me to dropshipper #2. I talked to the guy about the situation and he said that he would be able to handle it. I paid him for the remaining 10 orders I had left and he shipped the shoes off to my customers. I respected the fact that he picked up right where my previous dropshipper had left off at and took care of business. So, I assumed that this guy was all about business and was a very reliable and legitimate dropshipper. So, I started to put up more buy it now auctions and these shoes were selling faster than I could put them up for auction. This is the unbelievable part. I had sold 250 pairs of shoes in a matter of 4 days. I collected over $40,000 in 4 days. That's $10,000 a day! This came as an amazement to me especially since I was only 19 at the time. I've made some people's yearly salaries in a matter of only 4 days. Little did I know though that I was in over my head.

I got a little too greedy and started to splurge on money that wasn't even mine yet; buying clothes, shoes, and even put a $1,000 down payment on a new car. My dropshipper shipped my first 30 orders only to find out that he had shipped off nothing but all wrong sizes and wrong colors. So, I had a lot of complaining customers. Some even went straight to PayPal to complain causing PayPal to limit access to my account. So, now I had over $40,000 sitting in my PayPal account that I had absolutely no access to and over 200 orders that need to be shipped off. So, my only option was to refund everyone their money back to get my PayPal account back to regular standing, which brought me to my next dilemma...

I spent almost $4,000 of the $40,000 I thought would be mine to keep. So now, my Paypal balance was negative $4,000 and I needed to come up with that $4,000 quick before PayPal took legal action to get that money. I thought the only way to get me out of this mess was by the same way that got me into this mess. This is what brought me to dropshipper #3.

I stumbled upon a guy named Jarell. I found him through a legitimate dropshipping database, so I decided to sell enough pairs of Jordans to make up the $4,000 and then I'd call it quits because this was too much for someone so young. Everything went smooth and I was able to make the $4,000 using my girlfriend's PayPal account. That was then, this is now.

After reviewing my whole experience with dropshipping in hindsight, I realized all of the mistakes that I had made. For anyone who is looking into working with dropshippers, please pay close attention:

1. My first mistake was choosing the dropshippers I did. I looked for the best deals and highest profit percentages instead of a reputable, established business. I kind of set out looking for scams. I suggest beginning with The Wholesale Detective or The Ultimate eBay Dropship Power Pak. These programs offer great databases of best honest wholesalers and dropshippers. I still don't trust a dropshipper unless The Wholesale Detective lists it.
2. The real dropshippers do not have words like "Free", "Wholesaler", "Dropshipper", "Dropship", "Club", "Store" or "Mega" in their names. And, if any company tells you they are making no money on the merchandise, it is a bold lie.
3. I suggest that you do not start off having the dropshipper ship the merchandise to your customers. Order some of the merchandise for yourself and examine it thoroughly before you go into business. I started to recieve e-mails from angry customers stating that the Jordans were of terrible quality when I was told by my dropshipper that they were of authentic quality.
4. Don't bite off more than you can chew. As stated previously, I sold 250 pairs of shoes in 4 days. Within those 4 days, I had to deal with about 600-700 e-mails which is almost impossible for only one person to deal with that also has school to worry about. Patience is the key to success.

These were a few of the mistakes that I made dealing with dropshipping. I had a price to pay for my mistakes. I owed $4,000 to PayPal and I had a $2,000 eBay bill that I ended up working during the summer to pay off. I honestly ask that everyone considering going into business with a dropshipper to take precautions and use the tips I provided. I would also like to say that even though I had a bad experience dealing with dropshipping, that is not always the case. I know there are some people who have become very successful and wealthy off of dropshipping.

Five years have passed since I began my journey in this industry. I finally did pay off all of my debts that summer and now I have made it my mission to educate and inform people of the scammers out there waiting to ambush the inexperienced and naive. I don't want anyone else to go through the experience that I did. There were times where I felt hopeless and bitter for falling into a trap that left me feeling depressed. Needless to say, I have learned from my soul-crushing mistakes and now make decent money selling on ebay.