You will undoubtedly come across many great looking business offers on the internet, and it will be difficult to seperate the good ones from the bad ones who only want your money. But knowing the key difference between the offers you find can help you determine which is legitimate and which is not. Thereby saving a lot of time and money in the end.

With most fraudulent offers for in internet business there are four red flags that need to be thoroughly investigated before signing up to work for the website. Understand that not all of the companies that make these claims are out to take your money, but these are four things that many less than honest companies have in common:

1. Large upfront investment

2. The chance to make big money with little work

3. Do not clearly state what you will be selling

4. Lack of available contact information

While it is not uncommon for business to want a fee to become a representative for their business, you have to consider the amount demanded from you before you can start selling their product or service. You should also have a clear picture of what you will get in return for your investment. It is common for the term training to be listed, but many times the training consists of links to other sites where you are expected to learn about the company's business model.

The training may also focus on how to recruit others into the business, offering to pay a "bounty" for bringing in new people. A company that focuses on bringing in more people instead of selling the product may be on the border of being illegal.

Anyone who has ever been involved in a business knows it takes work. One common trick is promising the potential business owner that you will make tons of cash without doing a lot of work...or even a week. The free lunch does not exsist, so don't let others try to convince you that it does. That disclaimer about income may not a representative of the potential earnings, should beg the question about why even bother to list it.

If you have been reading an online based business opportunity for several minutes and have no idea about the product or service you are being asked to sell, it could be an indication of a scam. Many keep it a secret until you have spent your money and find out there is no way you can sell this to others with a clear conscious. Do your homework by finding out what the product is, and what you'll need to spend to get it before moving forward with the offer.

Look for contact information. When all you can do is contact the company by email and no other way, you can bet that business may not plan to be around long enough to answer complaints or questions in the future. Money back guarantees are also only about as good as the contact information. Email addresses and post office boxes are not good contacts.