Are there ANY legitimate 'work from home' opportunities?

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The ads always say, no initial layout, no qualifications required, hours to suit, be your own boss, etc etc.

Has anyone got one of these that is OK and genuine?

I work for Lionbridge, and Ipsos/Tern mystery shopping. Its not as good as working for a job on minimum wage/regular hours but pays a bit. I did sign up to Usborne books at one point but wouldn't recommend it, although it's been very handy having a box of them to give to my kids or friends' kids as presents.

Can anyone tell me more about being a mystery shopper please?

If you google there are often articles (often student orientated ones) about the different types and companies. I do Ipsos and Tern if you wanted to see their websites. They post lists of jobs to apply for an I tend to do phone and email ones, I hardly ever do them in person. For example you might need to email a company and see how long they take to respond, do they write the email properly etc. For phone ones it might be how long they take to answer, what is their manner, do they thank you for calling. You complete and online form. They take a little time to start with, but after a while you might do the same type of company 20 times and you could do one in 15 minutes for £8 so it all adds up. I make about £70 per month on average and the payment is within a week or two of doing the shop so handy money.

I won't say that all such jobs are legitimate but there are companies that do hire workers for online jobs. There are a few blogs like WebEmployed that share information about such sources.
If any company asks you to pay money to get a job then it's certainly not legitimate.

I work for a company that enables experienced Recruitment Consultants to set up their own home-based, self-employed business.

Absolutely no investment upfront and it's definitely a sound solution for those who've been in the industry for a while but find the inflexibility of the recruitment job/office environment too much when other life priorities start to take hold.

It's called Boffin Recruitment if anyone wanted to take a look at the website? It's worked well for me getting back into the industry, but just working school hours with two young children.

How about Fiverr.com?

I am on there and the good thing is you can do anything at all, from teaching English to doing voice overs etc.

I earn my living exclusively online and from home but I am spread over quite a few sites. Getting all your working hours from one place might be too much especially to start with. I'm just starting out with my own site and hoping to accrue regular customers on it, but that's not an overnight thing.

Bear in mind if you get established on a few existing sites (working for others) you can then set up your own site doing the same thing and push existing customers in that direction.

So for example if you start an Etsy jewellery shop with all the site and structure already done for you, you can take your time to build a site of your own and slowly go 100% independent.