As the economy suffers and jobless rates soar it is only natural for an individual to search for any type of work they can find including work at home offers. If you choose to try a work-at-home position there are several things you must consider first. Work -at- home scams are plentiful and you do not want to loose any of your valuable money or time.

First thing you want to consider is the source of your information. Where did you learn about the work at home position? Many of the advertisements in the classified ads tell nothing about the company offering the position and only leave a toll free number to call. This should send off warning bells. Full disclosure is necessary in proving the legitimacy of a position.

The next thing to consider is if this position requires you to purchase any of their products, pay for postage or run advertisements at your own cost. These are all signs of a scam. A real company is not going to expect you to purchase a kit to make and then sell it back to them.

Inevitably the product you submit will never meet their quality standards. Stuffing envelopes and running ads for a company also fall under this category. You are spending your money to generate sales for their company and somehow, and it always happens, the tracking of your commissions are lost and you fail to get paid.

Companies requiring you to pay an up front fee to help you find a work-at-home job is generally in the scam category. The fine print of their agreements simply state: They are not accountable to you or able to issue you a refund if you do not obtain the desired job through their service.

In the long run I have not met anyone who has benefited from this service. Do not confuse this with a job board that often charges a fee to be a member of. People searching for freelance work should be encouraged to search for these types of agencies. A membership fee is much different then paying for a service to find a job for you.

Verify as much information as possible about the job prior to accepting an offer. And never ever pay for the chance to work for someone.