How many times have you heard about or received an offer for an apparent great home business opportunity? You know, lots of claims of income and then at the bottom of the website or sales page or infomercial picture, on your television, they have a disclaimer that their scheme will not work for everyone or even a set percentage of people.

Have you bought the most common real estate infomercial that has been around for decades now? A lot of people who are big name money makers now have.

Their customer service to their sign ups is good. You have to work long and hard at it but they will help you to eventually make it if you follow their directions. The part most people do not understand is that you have to work long, smart and hard to make it, without exception.

The above is what you are looking for with any scheme you sign up for. You also want one that has a good safety net refund policy. The ClickBank programs are like this.

You have to be careful to pick good ones though because if you refund too many times they may ban you from the program. Also they, the business opportunity you join, have to be willing to hand hold you until you can swim by yourself and on your own.

If you have been an entrepreneur some time you probably have been ripped off more times than you care to or even can remember. But to go along with this how many of these home business opportunities ended up being a scam? Again, quite a few. This is a part of your growth, with few exceptions.

Have you bought into the real estate and other note buying schemes sold using infomercials and mail order? I did. I even sold a note and made $1500 from it. The cost for the whole thing was $4500. The market for marketers for this is vastly over crowded. A high percentage of entrepreneurs have no chance of making it in this business.

The note business training companies have lots of testimonials but a seminar I went to in Colorado showed me that ninety percent or more of the people there felt ripped off, even before the seminar itself started. The star of it was even angry with us in the audience when we refused to applaud him when he made his grand entrance.

I do hope that you were never the victim of any of these scams. Unfortunately, you do have to take some chances to learn the ropes of what being an entrepreneur involves.

You do have to get burned sometimes to know how it works. I hope to keep you out of the fire, as much as possible, in this article.

You can fight for refunds when you have them coming though. You can learn something from every experience.

Ironically, virtually all of these businesses legitimate or not can be made to work, in time, if you put enough time and money into them. The catch is that it can take an awful long time to attain your success this way.

Unfortunately there are those of us who probably fell for these pseudo opportunities. I have known when going into many different programs that there is a good chance that they likely will not work, even if they have a good refund policy.

The trick to actually save your money by avoiding these home business scams is to go into battle, with the sales people, prepared. Know and insist on a refund policy from every one of them. No refund policy? Fine then do not buy or try it!

The fact of the matter is that these scammers would not be wasting their time if they were not making any money. As long as people continue to get mixed up in this business, these scammers are going to stick around to trick more and more people with exaggerated claims and outright lies to get you to buy.

This makes it very hard on the many legitimate business opportunities there are out there. They have to work harder to earn your trust. You will have to work harder to earn the trust of your customers also once you do find a home business opportunity that does work because of these dishonest activities.

The best way to avoid a home business scam is to thoroughly research each opportunity before you move forward with it. What is the customer assistance level? Is it guaranteed, money back? Does the opportunity fit you personally?

This means doing much more than simply reading a bit about it online. You may possibly get lucky and end up with a good home business opportunity. Chances are that you will not, the first time anyway.

Not only will you want to read what is available on the site itself, but you will also want to search for other information as well. Check with third party review sites, on message boards and forums scrupulously too.

You may find out soon enough that many companies have been reported as being nothing more than a scam. Multi level marketing has been the star of scams over the last thirty years.

You also want to check with the Better Business Bureau if you are thinking about getting involved with a home business opportunity that you are not sure of. They will be able to tell you if they have any complaints on file.

If they do, you will want to avoid the opportunity at all costs unless the complaints were settled fairly. You can be the final authority here. If a company is doing business the right way, you can continue your research.

Before you make a final decision, attempt to get in touch with the company that you are interested in. Give them a chance to respond to any complaints or serious doubts you have.

Can you get them on the phone? Do they get upset with you when you ask questions? If so, it will get worse after you join them. Do not do it.

Do they respond to your emails? Are they slow or non existent? If you cannot even talk to a company before you start, there is no chance that they will be around when you need them.

The above is one test that you can run early on in order to ensure that you are dealing with a reputable company. Ask questions, wait for good replies or do not sign up.

If you do happen to get an employee on the phone ask them questions in order to get some feedback on the company. What is their attitude? Anything that will give you better insight into the home business opportunity is a good question. Conclusion, dig deeply and constantly to find all the facts to avoid wasting your valuable time and money.

Overall, home business scams are all over the place. Do your part in putting them out on the street by not falling prey. The best way to do this is through extensive research and questioning.

james m. lowe writes original articles about home business opportunities.

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