# Working from home online **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123 "2011-02-21T16:08:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LS04](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@LS04](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LS04)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/1 "2011-02-21T16:08:53Z")
Are any of the work from home online jobs legit? I just destroyed my life and need to try and find some work. If anybody knows of any please help. Thank You for any help ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/2 "2011-02-21T16:12:32Z")
Very few. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/3 "2011-02-21T16:29:00Z")
This one is legit: [http://www.alpineaccess.com/en/](http://www.alpineaccess.com/en/) It’s customer service and pays around $8-$9 per hour. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/4 "2011-02-21T16:31:50Z")
I worked from home for about a year doing transcriptions of market research meetings/interviews. It was through a UK company and I’m going to assume you’re in the US, so the actual company name won’t help you, but there are legitimate jobs like that out there. In order to get the job, I submitted a CV, was sent a bunch of material around their formatting guidelines, and was required to do a test transcription. ---
**Author:** ![LS04](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@LS04](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LS04)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/5 "2011-02-21T16:32:03Z")
thank you very much ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/6 "2011-02-21T16:49:02Z")
Consider a website like [Freelancer.com](http://Freelancer.com), which will help weed out the scams. (Other similar sites are: Elance, [guru.com](http://guru.com), RentACoder, oDesk.) ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/7 "2011-02-22T19:43:54Z")
About those freelancer sites, though, just be aware that everyone in the world is also on those sites, and they don’t require minimum wage. I did a short stint for $5.00/hour when I was desperate. And that was the high end of the scale (at least in my experience on oDesk - I guess it really depends on the type of work). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/8 "2011-02-22T19:47:55Z")
Phone sex at home used to be legitimate. Or so I’ve heard. A neighbor has a good office-type job at home (not phone sex), but she got it before moving away from the big city. When she told her boss she had to quit because of the planned move, he suggested she work from the new home, and she’s been doing it for 15 years quite successfully. She drives 200 miles to the office for a sales meeting once a month; the rest is all by Internet, telephone, fax and UPS. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/9 "2011-02-22T19:49:31Z")
If you first have to pay them for special software or training or materials, then that job is a scam. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/10 "2011-02-22T19:54:11Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Phone sex at home used to be legitimate. It’s not legitimate _sex_. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/11 "2011-02-22T20:17:15Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > Consider a website like [Freelancer.com](http://Freelancer.com), which will help weed out the scams. (Other similar sites are: Elance, [guru.com](http://guru.com), RentACoder, oDesk.) > [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > About those freelancer sites, though, just be aware that everyone in the world is also on those sites, and they don’t require minimum wage. I did a short stint for $5.00/hour when I was desperate. And that was the high end of the scale (at least in my experience on oDesk - I guess it really depends on the type of work). We use those sites all the time to outsource work we can’t/don’t want to do. If you want to break into editorial, design, or coding, it could be a way of building a portfolio while earning something. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/12 "2011-02-22T22:18:02Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > If you first have to pay them for special software or training or materials, then that job is a scam. In fact, if they ask for money from you _ **for any reason at all** _, then it’s a scam. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-from-home-online/572123/13 "2011-02-22T22:59:52Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > In fact, if they ask for money from you _ **for any reason at all** _, then it’s a scam. Yeah. See, the thing about a job is, a job is when they pay you. If you’re paying them, it ain’t a job.