Howdy abulail-ga,
There are several things that can tell us if an online company is one
that would be advisable (or not) to be your employer, especially when
it comes to "work at home" companies.
- How long have they been around? The Network Solutions "Whois" page
helps us answer that question.
http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/index.jhtml
The domain of homemailingjob.com has a creation date of August 9, 2004.
In other words, they appear to have been around for just over a month.
This ultimately means they haven't been around long enough to generate
any complaints. Probably not a good sign.
- Do they charge you to work for them? From the site's order page.
http://www.homemailingjob.com/order.shtml
"We will send you the Work At Home Mailing Circulars Program for only a
one-time registration fee of $29.95 which includes regular shipping ..."
This about.com web page on "Work at Home Job Scams" warns about the above.
http://jobsearchtech.about.com/library/weekly/aa112000-3.htm
"The fee is your ... most important clue, as parting you from your money
is exactly what scams are about. Legitimate employers don't charge you to
work for them, period. Would IBM charge you a fee to telecommute for them?"
At one time I worked for one of the few legitimate "envelope stuffing"
companies and all of "work at home" people were local to the company and
never were charged a fee to work for the company. I have never known of
a legitimate company that would charge someone a fee just for employment.
- Does the site in question have content that is duplicated on other web
sites? This tells us if it might be a "formula" scheme. Here is some
content from the HomeMailingJob.com web site.
http://www.homemailingjob.com/faq.shtml
"How Can I Be Sure Your Company Is Legitimate?
This is one of the best questions we have ever received. First of all,
congratulations on being skeptical."
This S M Enterprises web page appears to have an identical statement.
http://home.comcast.net/~s_m_enterprises/Circular.Html
"How Can I Be Sure Your Company Is Legitimate?
This is one of the best questions we have ever received. First of all,
congratulations on being skeptical."
Probably the definitive source of information on such things is the U.S.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) web page on "Work-at-Home Schemes."
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/invest/homewrk.htm
"Envelope stuffing. Promoters usually advertise that, for a 'small' fee,
they will tell you how to earn money stuffing envelopes at home. Later -
when it's too late - you find out that the promoter never had any employment
to offer. Instead, for your fee, you're likely to get a letter telling you
to place the same 'envelope-stuffing' ad in newspapers or magazines, or to
send the ad to friends and relatives. The only way you'll earn money is if
people respond to your work-at-home ad."
As without absolute proof there is no way that I can say that these people
are not legitimate or honest. The best I can tell you is that there is not
one thing about this web site that instills any sort of confidence to me.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true.
There is no way that I would advise anyone that I cared for to sign up for
this type of business plan. Everyone that I have known that signed up for
such a business plan is now out their $29.95, or whatever fee they paid.
If you need any clarification, feel free to ask.
Search strategy:
Personal knowledge of such "deals" and the Federal Trade Commission site.
Google search on: "work at home" fee
://www.google.com/search?q=%22work+at+home%22+fee
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher |
