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Beware of this site - it very well might be a SCAM!
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I've had some very bad experiences with OnlineProofreaders.com, and have been coming to the conclusion that it is quite possibly a scam. Or, at the least, a very poorly designed site.
First of all, they charge you $25 UP FRONT to take the test to become one of their proofreaders. In other words, you have to pay them to work for them. This is an immediate red flag that it might be a scam, but I ignored it and went ahead and shelled out the money because I was unemployed and close to broke at the time. I was so excited at the prospect of making some money working at home doing something I was good at.
Boy do I wish now that I hadn't.
The site doesn't let you create an account or let you see the operations of the site before you pay the money. Ths is incredibly bad site design, not to mention bad business practice. OnlineProofreaders.com operates on a bidding model, where proofreaders bid to work on a project. However, unlike most reputable bidding sites like, say, ebay, unregistered users cannot watch what is going on. You can't get a real sense of how it works, how much bidding volume is actually going on, how much available work there actually is, or how much contracts are going for -- until you pay your up front money and take the test.
So, I spent the $25, and then... nothing. I couldn't log in, create an account, or even take the test. I sent an email to the site, and they sent me back a URL where I could go right to the test, which I did. Got an 86%. And then... nothing. Couldn't log in. Kept telling me that no account was there. So I emailed them again. To date, I have received no response.
I did a little checking, and found out a couple of things. First, a check of the Better Business Bureau's web site shows that the parent company of OnlineProofreaders.com, Makeke Inc., of Ontario, Canada, does have complaints filed against it. Also, I noticed something that raised some serious red flags for me: one of the "testimonials" on the front of the site, talking about how great the site worked, is signed by the same name as the author of the site's help files. In other words, an employee, not a real "satisfied customer" at all. Which brings the legitimacy of all of the other "testimonials" into question.
Probably the worst thing about this site's design is that the order of operations is backwards: 1.) pay the money. 2.) take the test, 3.) create account, 4.) log in. This is bass-ackwards from the way it should be, which is 1.) create account, 2.) log in, 3.) pay money, 4.) take test. Good site design would let users create accounts and log in to watch the goings on, but not let the users participate until they pay & test. The current design of the site inspires absolutely no confidence in the legitimacy of this company.
I can't say for sure that this company is a scam, but I can say I've been burned by incredibly its bad site design, and am out $25 with nothing to show for it.
So, when it comes to OnlineProofreaders.com... CAVEAT EMPTOR!
-Hagrid
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I've had some very bad experiences with OnlineProofreaders.com, and have been coming to the conclusion that it is quite possibly a scam. Or, at the least, a very poorly designed site.
First of all, they charge you $25 UP FRONT to take the test to become one of their proofreaders. In other words, you have to pay them to work for them. This is an immediate red flag that it might be a scam, but I ignored it and went ahead and shelled out the money because I was unemployed and close to broke at the time. I was so excited at the prospect of making some money working at home doing something I was good at.
Boy do I wish now that I hadn't.
The site doesn't let you create an account or let you see the operations of the site before you pay the money. Ths is incredibly bad site design, not to mention bad business practice. OnlineProofreaders.com operates on a bidding model, where proofreaders bid to work on a project. However, unlike most reputable bidding sites like, say, ebay, unregistered users cannot watch what is going on. You can't get a real sense of how it works, how much bidding volume is actually going on, how much available work there actually is, or how much contracts are going for -- until you pay your up front money and take the test.
So, I spent the $25, and then... nothing. I couldn't log in, create an account, or even take the test. I sent an email to the site, and they sent me back a URL where I could go right to the test, which I did. Got an 86%. And then... nothing. Couldn't log in. Kept telling me that no account was there. So I emailed them again. To date, I have received no response.
I did a little checking, and found out a couple of things. First, a check of the Better Business Bureau's web site shows that the parent company of OnlineProofreaders.com, Makeke Inc., of Ontario, Canada, does have complaints filed against it. Also, I noticed something that raised some serious red flags for me: one of the "testimonials" on the front of the site, talking about how great the site worked, is signed by the same name as the author of the site's help files. In other words, an employee, not a real "satisfied customer" at all. Which brings the legitimacy of all of the other "testimonials" into question.
Probably the worst thing about this site's design is that the order of operations is backwards: 1.) pay the money. 2.) take the test, 3.) create account, 4.) log in. This is bass-ackwards from the way it should be, which is 1.) create account, 2.) log in, 3.) pay money, 4.) take test. Good site design would let users create accounts and log in to watch the goings on, but not let the users participate until they pay & test. The current design of the site inspires absolutely no confidence in the legitimacy of this company.
I can't say for sure that this company is a scam, but I can say I've been burned by incredibly its bad site design, and am out $25 with nothing to show for it.
So, when it comes to OnlineProofreaders.com... CAVEAT EMPTOR!
-Hagrid
