Making a Little Extra Money Online
Lots of people are making part time or even full time income online these days. While dreams of internet riches may float through your head, it isn’t usually as quick as you might hope for. There are many things to watch out for and plenty of people trying to steal your money. Here are a couple tips to help evaluate those home based or part time internet businesses for potential success:
1. Google It – Any product or company you are evaluating should be Googled with the word “Scam.” Now of course results will come up, and don’t let that scare you. These companies or people have competitors trying to dissuade you from purchasing so they can sell you their competing product. Rather, what I am suggesting is read people’s reviews of the product / company and see what they have to say. I would give more weight to those reviews with just the review and no other product links or recommendations.
2. Be Careful of Membership Fees – Often times when you aren’t purchasing a product but rather a membership or access to some database you are paying for something you could have found on your own with a little more effort. If the ease of these compilations of information works for you, then go for it. Just know what you are getting. This is especially common for online surveys and mystery shopping; you will sign up and get a list of other organizations to sign up for individually to participate in their programs.
3. Read the Fine Print – Read the disclaimer and fine print carefully. The most common thing to watch for is reoccurring fees and check their return / refund policy. You may have seen this Google Cash Machine or similar business going around (several companies did this with Acai products too). They attempt to sell you the product for only $ 1 or $ 2 dollars so you think “what a deal,” however, in the fine print it states that there is a reoccurring charge every month for $ 60 or so dollars. Most people don’t even figure this out till a month or two allowing the company to clean up in the meantime.
Don’t get scared off just yet of making a little money online. Here are a few places to check out where you can get in for free and make some extra money:
1. Elance.com – This is a great site for finding contract work in a variety of areas. It costs no money to join; however, there will be processing and service fees once you make some money from jobs.
2. Look for Contests and Giveaways – This is great for online and offline. Those promotional giveaways or contest you see advertised with your favorites products have to have a free entry option to avoid gambling laws. Read the fine print and you’ll see you usually don’t have to buy anything to enter.
3. eBay and Craigslist – Selling a few extra items through these sites is great because you don’t have to pay money to sign up or join. Again, eBay charges serving fees but nothing to list a product. Craigslist is completely free, but less organized for this option. Some people have found ways to make this a full time job.
4. Unclaimed Property – Millions of dollars in property goes unclaimed every year. You might have some out there or a relative might have some you could track down for them. This is especially common if a relative has recently passed away, property not allocated in their estate plan may still be out there and you could claim right to it.
