A Mail Order Phenomenon
It is entirely possible you have accepted the offer to work in the field of
mail order. The original impression is that you will work at lead generation for the company and are paid based on the number of leads you supply. You consult your little black book, the white pages and even your enemy's list and send those names in. After all you won't be sending the actual material to them so they will never know it was you who sent in their name and address. No harm - no foul - and you profit from sending in the names.
Well, maybe not.
In many instances the overlooked fine print (or information to be revealed later) indicates that you make your money only on leads that spend a certain amount of money in their initial order using the initial catalogue. What that means is even if they order eventually you will not receive any funds because they didn't order from the first catalogue they received. It also means that if they spend one cent less than the minimum threshold for a referral fee you will not receive anything. The buyer will not be aware of your involvement so they won't know what it means if they order or not.
This may not be a scam, but it's not the easiest way to make money.
Borderline Scam and Spam
Some individuals have responded to an offer that encourages them to pay as much as $10 for information on a
mail order moneymaking idea. They send in their bucks and receive an envelope back that suggests they develop their own advertisement for the classified section of their local or regional newspaper and encourage people to send them $10 for information on how to make money. The idea is that the individual that follows through with the idea will receive lots of interest (and lots of ten dollar bills). The legitimacy in this offer is that the ad only promises information for $10. It promises no products or employment. Borderline scam to start - borderline spam to participate.
The Trouble With Scamming
It would be one thing if we could claim categorically that all
mail order jobs were scams, but we can't, and won't. There are many legitimate lead-generating jobs in
mail order. The best thing to do is research the company (if a name is provided). It may be best to avoid offers that ask you to pay for the right to participate. Again, these may not be scams, but they probably aren't in your financial best interest either.
If you have an aptitude for sales then a legitimate lead generating
mail order job may be very beneficial to your financial objectives. It doesn't hurt to call for information on offers you see in print or online. If you email you might consider using a lesser-used account to respond so if your address is sold to third parties your main account isn't flooded with spam.
The role of
mail order has a long history and there are work at home employees making money through referrals. Investigate carefully and avoid scams and the appearance of spam.
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