I'll be curious to hear other people's opinion and whether they agree or disagree with this person's feedback.

Here are the comments we received about New England Crafters – AKA Magical Gift Company

"New England Crafters, aka Magical Gift Co is NOT A SCAM, HOWEVER…

I just received my "kit" and paid extra for a glue gun they recommended and also a CD which is better than the written instructions. (about $75 total)

But the product was very difficult to make.  I know it was my first attempt, but get this…

I am great working with my hands, yet I estimate that with practice I might (at best) produce only 2 or 3 of these per hour, receiving only $1.50 per piece. ($3-4.50/hr)

It is really what I call "slave labor", and it is not only very tedious work, it is exacting work!  Many pieces submitted will most likely be returned for fixing.

Although they also offer several other projects, I see from their "forum site" that many people are having many problems with most of the projects.

One "success story" is that someone did finally receive their first check for sending in 10 items worth $1.00 apiece – a check for only $10!!

However, it took her from August to December to become "approved" with making the item properly.

I do NOT recommend even this LEGIT COMPANY for those aspiring to make some REAL MONEY!  As I said, to me it is SLAVE LABOR…"

Note from WorkAtHomeTruth:

If you still have interest in New England Crafters/Magical Gift Co you might want to read the Official NEC-magical gift post at WAHM.com

However, when they explain the activities that their "shoppers" will be doing they state:

You can can get paid to do things "such as

• Get paid to shop at online stores.
• Get paid to complete trial offers.
• Get paid to get free samples.
• Get paid to receive free quotes."

All of these activities are activities that you would do with an "Incentivized Website Freebie" type company – NOT a mystery shopping company.

If you want to get involved in real mystery shopping, we suggest you read our free mystery shopping report or visit the official organization for North American Mystery Shopping – MysteryShop.org.

The biggest problem with HighestPaySurveys are some of the claims they make on their site:

For example, their sales page states:

"Some of our members participate in surveys to make an extra $100-$500 a month to cover the cost of a vacation or new car payment. Other people spend more time and earn enough to generate a full time income."

While the first is possible (to make $100 or more over time), the second is NOT possible at all. There is ZERO chance that you can make a full-time living doing pure paid surveys – even if you were to join one of the nefarious underground survey rings and fake your qualification profiles!

Some have asked me how to get a refund on Highest Pay Surveys.

The good news is that it seems to be sold through Clickbank which means you can just follow the ClickBank Refund Instructions here.

I say you may be in luck because I can't vouch for the accuracy of the following tool because I personally don't know how to do a bibliographic referenence for an Interent page – APA style.

However, given that the tool is provided by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University it's a pretty safe bet that it's accurate.

Click here to use Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Reference Machine.

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is ranked extremely high in several disciplines.

You can get more detailes about the university at Wikipedia here.

A: I don't know it other than from rumors (it doesn't have a great rep)…but I can tell you what I DON'T
like about – and it's a BIG thing I don't like…

It uses semi-hidden negative option marketing. On the page you pay $2.95 – to the left and "beneath the fold" (which you have to scroll down to see) are details that after 7 days you'll be paying $47/month unless you
cancel within the 7 days.

Now most people are just going to press the "Order" button and not scroll down and not realize that their card is going to be dinged for $47/month.

I checked at AbosoluteWrite which is one of the better freelance forums and here's the link to what they had to say:

Absolute Write Forum Discussion about FreelanceHomeWriters.com

They mention another site that's free and looks better called:

http://www.freelancewritinggigs.com

There's also a page I helped put together here
http://hubpages.com/hub/Make_Money_Writing_for_the_Web

Let me know if you need more on this.

Paul

I suppose technically the book should have been called The Little White eBook of Virtual Assistant Freelancing Opportunities or something like that.

But if don't get too hung up on Little White's use of the word "job" you'll likely want to read through Debra's review of this resource for aspiring and experienced virtual assistants.

Note: I edited the question a bit to cut out the irrelevant parts.

I am looking for a legitimate source of freelance writing jobs.

I am a communicator and proficient at story writing/telling.  That would be another source of much needed income for me, to keep a roof overhead, have utilities and food without having to choose one or the other.

I found your website and I am grateful for you and your service.  Finally there is someone that exposes the frauds.
This past November I was laidoff, searched until exhausted and found no other option; as of this month I become retired. A Baby Boomer,very low retirement benefits and dependents still; I need to work.

But despite college degrees, being multilingual, very PC proficient and my extensive CSR experience, aging people such as I do not get hired, at least where I live. I have been trying to find a solution such as working from home.

There is a long list of frauds and scams I have found offered in my area (North Carolina). If your service is interested in knowing of those, please tell me and I will be happy to provide you with a list.

A:

There's definitely a bigger demand for writers than ever right now. Basically the reasons are:

1) The search engines filter out junk
and duplicate content more than ever which
means that more and more sites need
better content.

2) The Web 2.0 model where a content
is produced by the users and revenue
is shared or content is paid for
up front (rates are lower than regular
freelancing, but it's easier to
get content accepted.

3) I'm sure there's a 3rd reason.
It doesn't seem right unless there's 3. LOL

OK,

First: If you're not a member of
a good freelance writing forum, you must,
must, must join one.

One of the better ones is here:

http://forums.writersweekly.com/

which is part of:

http://www.writersweekly.com/

Also:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/

which is part of

http://www.absolutewrite.com

You'll start getting a sense of which
companies & sites to trust within
the field by participating in a couple
of quality forums.

I wouldn't recommend joining a ton
of writing forums. You're probably
best sticking to a couple high quality
ones so you can get to know the
members better.

Second:

Use these watchdog sites:
http://www.sfwa.org/beware/
http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/
http://www.writersweekly.com/whispers_and_warnings.php

I'll do a little digging on that site you
mentioned, but I suspect most of it
is the same as the free resources I
helped put together here:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Make_Money_Writing_for_the_Web

You probably want to look at the section there
called Additional Resource for Writers as it lists
the sites that are geared more towards the
serious freelancer.

There are tons of free, excellent legitimate
freelancing sites. If you start with the
"authority sites" such as absolutewrite
and writersweekly you'll have much better
luck not hitting the scams.

Yes, please send me info on the scams
in your area.

Thanks.

Paul