Do you enjoy making crafts in your spare time? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to make some extra money at it? Well, maybe you can. There are companies that will pay you to make craft items in your home. Just think of all the craft items you see that are stamped ‘made by hand’. They have to be made somewhere, right?

It can actually be cheaper for a company to outsource the making of their crafts to home workers on an independent contract basis than it would be for them to hire employees and maintain a workplace for them. Be careful though, because home assembly and craft making jobs are often scams.

But not all work at home crafts are scams. Although it’s true that scams are common these days, there are many available money-making opportunities out there, including work at home crafts, that are honest and legal. You just have to be extra careful in choosing the company to work for.

Here are some tips you might consider if you are planning to do some work at home crafts. Just bear in mind that this kind of work requires a lot of hard work and also very time consuming.

Avoid Scams

As mentioned earlier, scams are common these days, especially on the Internet. If you’re a frequent online user, you are probably exposed to more scams that legitimate offers everyday. So how do you pick out the legitimate work at home crafts opportunities from those that only seek to cheat you out of your hard-earned income?

The first thing you need to do is research. Before you involve yourself in work at home crafts, it is important that you first try to get as much information about the company you will be working for. It is only common sense that you know the company before you go and work for it. You can try to do your search online if you know the name of the company. Or, you can also call them and ask them some important information, such as the nature of the job, etc. etc. You can even do your research by word of mouth and by keeping your ears open for “word of the street” about the company.

Be leery of any company that operates under a PO Box. You should be able to verify that it is an actual business with a street address and phone number.

Another thing you would find yourself doing when you decide to get into work at home crafts is to find out which companies are hiring people to assemble their crafts products for them. You can actually find out what these companies are by purchasing a directory on the Internet. You will find that many individuals make profits by selling directories online. But the problem with these directories is that they are not always updated so the best you’re going to get from such a purchase is an old list of companies searching for work at home crafts job applicants.

If you want a real updated online directory of work at home crafts companies, you should try to visit Excite Yellow Pages. The great thing about Excite pages is that you can access the information they contain completely for free. All you do is type in Arts and Crafts and your state and you should be able to find a list of companies that are searching for work at home crafts job applicants.

Questions to Ask the Companies

Once you have the list of companies, it is now time for you to start calling them up and ask them about their work at home crafts opportunities. It might also be a good idea to find out if they are members of the Better Business Bureau. Also, ask if there are any deposits required, including the procedures which you need to follow in order to start your work at home crafts. An important element which you might want to make sure of before starting your work at home crafts is an Independent Contractor Agreement. This is a legal agreement which might come in handy should problems arise.

Don’t forget to take into consideration the cost of supplies and shipping of your completed crafts. You may see an ad that promises you $100 per completed unit but in reality this payment also covers the reimbursement of your material fees and shipping of your crafts into the company. This makes your net profit much less than you are led to believe for your work at home crafts project.