Would you like to work from home? Perhaps you can find virtual assistant job openings through ClickEarners.com
I received an email asking if I would like to earn money at a job I could do from home. I was interested in seeing what they had to offer, so opened the email.
Here is my review on this company, as far as I could take it:
Name: Click Earners
Website: www.clickearners.com
Owner: Unknown
Location: Somewhere in the United Kingdom
Price: $27.00/ year or $57/lifetime + upsells
Ranking: 1 out of 5
I decided to find out what they offered. After all, a few bucks to add to my pocket is always a good idea. So, I went to the website.
Strange Profile Questions
The first thing they asked me to do was to fill out a profile form on which they stated that they needed more applicants from the United States.
Their profile questions were a bit elementary. They asked if I had regular access to the internet, if I was reliable and trustworthy (now, who is going to answer “no” to that one if you are looking for a job?),how many hours per week could I work, and was I happy to work at home.
There are three steps to take once you join:
- Choose membership level
- Log into member’s area
- Start working and get paid
I was asked to choose a membership level. Two levels are available: One is $27.00 for a year; one is $57.00 for a lifetime membership.
Why Should I Pay Someone to Find Me a Home Job?
Now, I don’t know about you, but I have never paid to get a job. Even online, when I worked occasionally doing surveys, I was never charged for accepting a job.
I worked in Seattle for temporary agencies for a couple of years, and enjoyed it…a week or two here and there, often in a downtown high-rise office building with wonderful views.
The temporary agencies never charged me to find a job. They gave me a typing test, then set me up for interviews, or just sent me to work. The employer paid the temporary agency a fee, but nothing was deducted from my wages.
ClickEarners said they needed a fee to cover their expenses. Well, okay, $27.00 isn’t too bad, so I joined.
Then I went to the member’s area. On the first page that opened, there was a job offer for stuffing envelopes. However, in order to do this job, I had to pay $47.00 to ClickEarners — Is that for envelopes?
No, I’d guess the company you worked for would have to send you supplies with their return address, their materials to be stuffed inside, and possibly labels for the envelopes. I am not sure of the rest of the details because I wasn’t about to pay another $47.00 to find out.
I clicked “decline” on that offer.
The next one was working as a mystery shopper or secret diner. To find out what this one entails, I would have had to pay another $37.00.
I declined that one, too.
Wow! A VIP Upgrade!
Now I got to a page that said I was flagged for an upgrade to VIP. I could pay $3.00 for seven days and after that, $14.95 per month. As a VIP, I would get a
monthly newsletter, a high priority email, and direct access to one of the VIP success coaches.
That is the first I have heard of the company offering any kind of support. I wonder how much information you could worm out of one of those coaches?
Thus far into the program and I have seen no information about available jobs, but have just been asked to pay for information that I think should be free.
These tasks touted by ClickEarners are all low-paying tasks, such as data entry, completing online surveys, doing product testing, and others. Why would I pay someone to find me such a job?
If the company were paid by the employers seeking workers, that would make more sense. Instead of paying someone to get the name of a prospective employer, I think I could do as well by going through the yellow pages or the phone book to line up jobs for myself. It could be quite possible to go to Google and learn about work-at-home jobs.
I just looked on Google out of curiosity, and came up with many listings of opportunities. One, for example, was from Los Angeles and presented a list of the types of work-from-home jobs available. You were not asked to pay for these opportunities. The wages were listed with the job, and they seemed to pay pretty well.
How Long Does it Take to Recoup Your Upsell Payments?
I was certainly not very impressed with what I saw on this website. It appears that you would have to work hard to stay ahead of all the charges
you had to pay.
I was baffled by this site. The company didn’t appear to have any substance. There was no explanation of what would be expected of you and no indication of what you would be paid. For example, if you paid $47.00 to stuff envelopes, how much did the job pay? I’d guess you were paid by the piece.
How many pieces of mail would you have to stuff to replace your $47.00? I’m guessing a large number. Then, you’d have to stuff an equal amount just to clear $47.00 for yourself. No, I don’t think this one is for me.
I was frustrated because I didn’t want to spend more money just to find out about more upsells. So, I read a couple other reviews. One person said the company had already changed their domain name twice. Why would they do that? Had too many people realized the problems with this company and complained?
Two former domain names were listed:
Try them — they will redirect you to the present Click Earners.
I finally found something that said the company was located in the United Kingdom, but that’s a big place and there is no physical address listed. There is also no owner. Why? How much confidence does that build in you regarding this company? What is the owner hiding? Perhaps he fears being sued.
At least you can get a refund through ClickBank. It will involve being persistent, but ClickBank, at least, is legitimate. You will get your money back.
The one time I’ve seen any mention of support from the company was in the upgrade package. There, you would get direct email access to one of the VIP coaches. Perhaps then you could get some answers.
OPINION
I do not want to have to pay someone to get job information, especially when I could possibly do as well by just doing my own research. I want to know more about the company, who and where they are, who the owner is, how long they have been in business, and I’d like to see some good testimonials. The only ones I saw were from very dissatisfied customers.
It would be nice to find out from some satisfied “virtual assistants” their report on the business. It would also be nice to hear something about the employers themselves. Where are they located? Is it even practical for me to take a home job from them if it takes a long time to get in touch with each other?
I’d also like to know something about wages — How often would I get paid? Does it vary from job to job? What guarantee would I have that I’d even get paid? When an operation appears as flaky as this one, it’s a reasonable question.
All in all, I think I’ll stay far away from this company. There are too many unanswered questions.
PROS
You can get a refund
Simple operation — pay your money and take your chances
CONS
Owner unknown
Not much information about anything
Paying to get a job doesn’t make sense
They have changed their name a few times — Why?
No information regarding location, length time in business
No information regarding how and when you get paid, or who pays your earnings
VERDICT
Ranking: 1 out of 5
Dear Fran,
Thanks a lot for the informative and helpful post.
I am a full-time blogger working from home and I do look for other opportunities to earn money online. From Fiverr gigs and Freelancer sites I got some short term projects so these sites are a greater help for freelancing jobs.
Few weeks before I came across a post on Upwork and ClickEarners. I am aware of Upwork but I am not aware of the second one so I did some research to know more information on ClickEarners and your post is a greater help.
All the three freelancing sites I mentioned are free to join but I was wondering when I came to know ClickEarners charge a fee. I can’t stop laughing when I read one of their question and your explanation on “if I was reliable and trustworthy”.
I really hate upsells and by sharing your experience you are saving people time, effort, trouble and money.
There are many red flags and after reading your review this site is a NO NO for me.
Much Success!
Paul
Thanks — it is my sincere hope that my reviews might save someone a bit of heartache or discouragement. There are too many people in the world just looking to rip people off, instead of working to find their own way to make a living.
I guess this offer appeals to people who don’t want to do their own research. They want something easy. ClickEarners does sound easy, as long as you are willing to keep giving them money. As long as there are people in the world who can be taken in by such offers, we will continue to see them.
Hi Fran
This seems like a very odd company and offer, I can almost understand the initial payment but I would expect that to provide me with access to a directory of all the jobs they had available, not to then have jobs offered to me for which I need to pay more money. The jobs you were offered also don’t seem to be of a “Virtual Assistant” type ie. jobs that can be done from anywhere in the world.
Anyway really appreciate that you spent your money on investigating this offer and writing a review to warn the rest of us. At least it was through Clickbank so you could get a refund, I wonder if you would have been so lucky if you had paid for their onsite upsells.
Yes, their first intent seemed to be to grab a bunch of your money. I think perhaps it was their second intent as well. I am glad I’m only out the initial investment, and can get that back from ClickBank.
A directory of jobs would have been welcome. However, they are keeping such information close to their chests and away from our eyes. I wish I could talk to a few folks who are in the program to see if they have made any money at all or just kept paying upsells. A strange business!
Hello Fran,
After reading your story in “About Fran”, I must say that you have led quite an exciting life – and from what it seems, all under your own terms. I was reminded a bit of my father who also lived in Alaska, where he taught on an Indian Reservation and lived with a half wolf, half Alaskan Malamute dog that slept in his bed with him – from the stories that he shared with me. Good for you! And thank you for allowing me to reminisce about my father for a brief moment.
As for your post, you have reviewed ClickEarners quite thoroughly. And I believe that your review will serve as a strong warning for others who may be attracted to being able to work from home. As you clearly outlined, the bottom line is that one shouldn’t have to pay to get work.
The other “red flag” is that there isn’t an easy way to contact the company, ask questions, and receive answers. Any legit business in my opinion should have customer service as their top priority. In any business, it is only with satisfied customers, that they will keep coming back, and be willing to introduce your products/services to others.
All the best to your in your continued journey.
I so agree with you about customer service being a top priority in a legitimate company. That’s something to look for, when you first check out a company. What kind of support do they offer?
These scam companies seem to be quite prevalent, as they are all over the internet. I guess there are enough gullible people in the world to support them. That is sad. At least, by writing reviews, I’m putting out another opinion for people to read.
When I first went to Alaska, got a malamute/wolf mix puppy. Had him for a couple of years; then gave him to my music partner, as I had to do some traveling. That dog grew up to weigh 120 pounds…big enough to take half the bed. I must tell you one other funny Alaskan dog story. We had a lab-Great Dane mix who was quite large. We lived in the village of Ouzinkie. I’d gone into Kodiak, and while I was gone, my husband gave lodging to a politician who was there for the day. That night, after the guy had gone to bed, that big black dog climbed in bed with him! The next morning he said it was fine, as the dog kept him warm…
I guess all these guys are just interested in is in collecting people’s money. Even after making the first payment they did not give out any valuable information. This is really strange because I felt that after making that payment that I would be able to instantly see offers but that wasn’t the case.
I don’t see any good thing about this site except that I can get a refund. This is what they call a scam as no real valuable information is gotten from clickearners.
I agree — in fact, I wondered if perhaps it was set up by some college student who was looking for a way to finance his studies. If that were the case, at least it would be going for a good cause. Unfortunately, I think it is as you say — it is someone looking for an easy way to collect some money from folks.
It is too bad there are so many people in the world who do not look before they leap.
Wow. Thanks for your insight into this company. I agree with you, it screams SCAM. Who in their right mind would pay to find a work from home job. I have worked as a Virtual Assistant and join a few ‘online agencies ‘ and they were all free for the membership, as the employer would pay the fee to join. I hope you have an easy time getting yout money back. You took a chance to see if they were legit and maybe help others not be sucked in, in an attempt for rhem to find work.
Well, you pays your money and takes your chances. However, they are operating through ClickBank, which is good about giving refunds.
I agree — it is very possible to find such positions without paying someone else to find them for you. I just wish there weren’t so many scams out there trying to pull people in.
I got the very same email Fran,
I wanted to give it a try but I was curious about ClickEarner’s legitimacy, you’ve no idea how glad I am to know that you did a review on it! I was appalled that after paying $27, we need to pay more for the envelopes and you’re right, that’s a bit too much for the cost. In fact, we could use that money to do our own envelope biz, I’m glad you declined that offer!
Their true colours appear after you declined though because we can see how cheap the program is, all they do is bombard us with more hidden upsells and when we skip, they keep stuffing more on our faces. Definitely a scam in my eyes, great work in exposing them my friend 😀
Thanks for your comment. It was rather disturbing to receive that message, as I’m sure you understand. Live and learn.
Yes, ClickEarners does not look to me like a good idea. As you say, it doesn’t make sense for you to have to pay a bunch of upsells for work we could find by ourselves if we just take the time to look.
I received a second message from them recently, offering to sell me my first opportunity to stuff envelopes. I deleted it.
Thanks for giving a review on it!
In fact, I received quite a number of “strange” email sometimes that offer some sort of work from home job which sometimes promised a good income if you follow!! For me, it might be a scam though!
I think there should be more bloggers like you to provide more review on particular product or offer that is found to be not real or just simply a scam!
You’ve done a great job here! It really helps a lot of people especially those who are trying to earn income from the internet!
Jeff, so glad you found value in the post.
I think it’s a bit true that those of us who write reviews become a bit like crusaders, seeking out the good and exposing the bad. I also think it very important that everyone research before they buy. It is so easy to get burned if you do not check out the opportunity before you spend money on it.
Interesting and very helpful all at once. I am always seeking online legit jobs and after reading this review, it opened my eyes to research sites beyond just “about” sections. I had not thought about the fact that they can change their domain just because they failed or scammed.
Thanks for your comment. It seems that companies out to clear your wallet of cash have all sorts of techniques to do just that. Be sure to research before you buy.
I visited the site and saw that it looks pretty decent although that is the case it is not all about visuals when it comes to this type of stuff.
We need a good reputation that seeks to actually promote trust and integrity with the users and panel alike. This kind of microwork things almost always never worked out for me either way (I guess to many people as well.). This kind of scheme reminds me of another website similar to this Hive, it promises you to pay up to $10 in an hour worth’s of work but in reality, they try to hook you in with 1000 mini repetitive tasks that is very similar to your typical office day job.
It is not worth your penny or time to work in this kind of “quick cash” websites, not to mention most of the time the founder or the background of the company is not really transparent so you do not have anyone to take account for the problems you would encounter with such.
If anything the only way to go to create money online is probably Wealthy Affiliate, just started out and could definitely say that it is worth the time and effort.
Do you have any other programs you would recommend other than WA? I would love to broaden my knowledge about making money online.
Hello, and thanks for your comments. Yes, I believe I am past the stuffing envelopes stage.
I look regularly for good opportunities, as I write reviews, but Wealthy Affiliate is the best thing I have found. Since it requires so much of your focus to learn all it has to teach you, there isn’t really much time for another opportunity. However, if you really want something, what about Jaaxy? Since you are in Wealthy Affiliate you also qualify to sell Jaaxy, and you have a link. Everyone who is selling online needs a good source for keywords, and in my opinion, Jaaxy is the best.