Question about home based businesses

I've seen quite a few home based businesses being advertized online and heard a few on the radio and want to know what they're all about. When I went to the websites to check them out, I saw that you have to send money before you even find out what the deal is. One such "business" is incomeathome.com. I'm not about to spend money without knowing what I'll be getting in return. Does anyone here know what these things are? I'd really like to work from home, but like I said, I'm leery of sending money without info. You never know which one is a scam. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

LOL I saw your title and thought you meant business like mine.
I make candles and soaps at home and sell them.
So you mean like stuffing envelopes and things like that? I thought most all of those, especially ones that ask for money first were scams?

I've always heard if they ask for any money up front to be leery.

I have haven't seen one advertised that seemed legit to me so always pass

reply to post by chiefsmom

Hey, we make candles too!!!
Good for you.

I have also heard ads for incomeathome.com but didn't give it much thought. A quick google search found this article:

incomeathome article

Hope this helps...

Also, the bit in the article about looking through the BBB info is a good place to start when researching any business.

reply to post by Skid Mark


Anything that claims to make you money if you send THEM money.
Is a SCAM SCAM SCAM.
Don't do it.

It normally is simple data entry jobs or some form of product referral program. I worked for a year and made decent money referring people to our products. They then would join up and the do the same thing I was doing. Its called a pyramid scheme, this one was actually cool. Made about 20,000 Canadian $ in my last year of grade 12 just by hopping on the computer two hours every night and 4 hours a day on weekends. Can be pretty nice in college.

EDIT: Lots of talking on skype and over the phone, have to be good at bull#ing and talking with a big freaking smile the ISS could see from space. If your kind, polite and personable, then you can make money. Like I did.

I've tried 2 of those "work at home" things when I was younger. One of them took my 50$ and I was unable to get in contact with them ever again, and the other one sent me a cheque for 3000$ right away without even doing anything just so I could buy supplies... something seemed REALLY fishy there, they kept calling me to tell me to cash it and reassuring me that it would be ok.

There are many BlackHat marketing forums and sites on the internet where you can see these scammers making plans and talking about how they ripped people off.

The best and only way to make money from home is to start your OWN business. But even that is hit or miss.
I have had MANY businesses.. a hookup site, a dating site, a real-estate site, a network of online advertising, a news blog, freelance graphic design, freelance web design, freelance coding, I even made a bunch of iPhone games and apps, and probably other ventures that I've forgot about because they were THAT bad.

One of those many things could be have been HUGE. It could have been one of those sites that gets bought out by a big company for over a million dollars. But no, most of them (yes, including the iPhones games and apps) made me just some extra cash to invest in other little things that failed.

The number one thing is marketing and if you can't afford to do good marketing or you don't have a a really good product or a horseshoe up your butt... It takes A LOT of trying before you find something that works for you.

I STILL have yet to find something that works for me.

reply to post by Skid Mark

I saw a news channel do a story about this company that sells you a teddy bear kit and buys back the finished product. Only problem is that the finished product is always rejected. They (the new station) even hired a seamstress the make the bear. It was perfect, but the company still rejected it. Bottom line is if you have to send them money first forget about it.

Come up with your own home-based business idea. You don't need their help. You must be good at, and have a passion for something that will start making you money. Even part-time to start with.

As the Joker says: "If you're good at something, never do it for free."

Thanks for all the comments. I don't think I'll be trying any of those things out. Like a few of you have said, if you have to send money to find out what it is, it's most likely a scam. The candle thing sounds interesting, though. That, or soap. Hmmm...