Is onlinestudentjob.com a scam?

Update: This is a post from 2012 and the website onlinestudentjob.com has since been taken down. However, I do feel that this article is a good exercise in learning how to research job offers and postings you find in the real world. So, this article will remain on the site for educational purposes. 

Dear WAHFAQ,

I saw this ad posted on my school campus. Is it real job or a scam?

Well, at first glance, this doesn’t look like a job offer, it looks more like an income opportunity that you’re going to have to pay for to get information.

You’ll notice that once you enter in the website, it automatically redirects you to another website with an affiliate link:

What this means, is that Mr. 45John is going to get commission if you purchase this product. That doesn’t mean that the owner of the product, or John himself is a scam. (I sell my products via affiliates as well) It just means that he’ll earn commission if you purchase the product.

If you look up both websites on whois.com, you’ll see that the first website was registered in December of 2011, which means (at this point) it’s only 6 months old, and it’s only registered for a year. Again, this doesn’t mean that it’s a scam…it just means that they may be a ‘fly by night’ operation since it’s new and it’s registered for the minimum amount of time.

The second website fares better. It was registered in 2002, and will be valid through February 2013. That means that the site has been around for awhile, so chances are, there haven’t been a lot of complaints, and the person who owns it is serious about keeping it around. It doesn’t mean that the information he provides is legitimate, it just means that he has a vested interest in the website.

Let’s look further into the text of the website:

The very first thing that captures my eye is that the date and time are EXACTLY when I landed on the page. Internet Marketers embed a javascript plugin (a type of code) to create this effect. This means, any time that I arrive on that page, it will show the current date and time. The benefit to have this code is that it makes the content appear fresh in the reader’s mind. We immediately assume that it’s new and relevant information, rather than something that is old and won’t work anymore.

While that’s not a red warning flag, it definitely is a shade of pink.

The next thing that hits me is the type of “job” you’ll be doing…online surveys and reading emails. Yeah, you can make money in online surveys, but there are also a ton of scams out there…in addition to companies that are just trying to get you to play the “Get Paid To Try” game.

At least they’re somewhat honest when they say, “This is not an employment offer with bosses looking over your shoulder, it is an opportunity to become an independent self-employed worker.” So they’re not misleading you to think that this is an actual job…but if you think you can make even decent part-time income with surveys, you’d be severely mistaken.

When you scroll further down the site, you’ll be able to enter in your payment information to receive your login details where (apparently) all the surveys are kept.

So, is it a real job? No.

Is it a real opportunity? Perhaps…I like that the site itself has been around for so long. But you won’t be able to see if they provide quality information unless you fork over the dough. Keep in mind that if you do choose to pay for it, Clickbank has a 30-day refund policy, so that’s more than enough time to verify if the information is good. For only $19.95 (which is tax deductible as a business expense, FYI) that may be enough to satiate your curiosity.

Would I do it? No. Because I know you can only earn a few pennies to a few dollars per survey completed. I also know with online surveys sometimes they need very specific demographics in which you may not qualify. (IE: they need college-age females between 18-22 with a cat and brown hair) And, I also know that there are a lot of “get paid to try” offers that people forget to cancel on, and end up paying way more than they earned in completing the offer.

My bottom line advice: don’t do it. There are plenty of other things out there that you can make decent, consistent income with…don’t waste your time or money on this one.