There are many work-at-home offers out there. They advertise on television, radio, home mailings, magazines and on the Internet. Many offer high paying salaries with minimum work. One such offer is for a position entitled "rebate processor" where you can earn hundreds of dollars a day processing rebates. Unfortunately, most rebate processing jobs are scams and many folks have lost a significant amount of money pursuing these kinds of opportunities. In this article you will learn how to find legitimate rebate processing jobs while not succumbing to a scam.

Know work-at-home scams exist. Even if the website seems professional, the people in the pictures look honest, and the testimonials sound legitimate, it still could be a scam. If you need to initially pay money upfront to receive a starter packet or equipment, or even pay for a processing fee, this should be a sign the company could be a scam and you need to do your research. Visit the Better Business Bureau and your state's Attorney General's office. You can also check with your local consumer protection agency (See Resources below). Do this before you pay out any money for a job opportunity.

Know about rebate processing scams specifically. Rebate processing jobs that advertise you can earn hundreds of dollars a day are not data processing jobs like one might think. Rather, you will actually learn how to do affiliate marketing, which means you are selling someone else's product for a commission. With "rebate processing" jobs in particular, you pay a fee for a kit or information of some sort where you learn how to successfully market various products that have a rebate offer. Someone buys a product from one of your advertisements and you earn money. In reality, not only do you pay for the initial information on how to do this, you have to pay for your own advertising. In the end, you could make money, but you also could lose a lot, too.

Know about real rebate processing jobs. There are actually jobs out there where you can process rebates, some from home. This is the real deal. You check UPCs to see if they match up and do some data entry. These jobs do not pay hundreds of dollars, but rather something like $0.15 per rebate or an hourly salary at or just above minimum wage, in essence, a pay rate in line with typical data processing work.

Find real rebate processing jobs. There are several job databases that you can search like CareerBuilder.com, but also, check out some websites dedicated to sorting out real jobs from scams like Scams.com where people post their findings and experience on different companies. In addition, apply for large rebate processing companies who are contracted by large retail companies. Two such rebate processing companies are Continental Promotions Group (CPG), which processes rebates for companies like Lowe's, and Parago, which processes rebates for companies like Staples.