How is it legal for ads to say Free when there is always a fee?
fatcat08 asked:
While exploring the internet I have come across hundreds of ad for work at home. These sites claim that if you do surveys and such that you can earn money, however; at the very end in small print they change you money. Is this legal?
While exploring the internet I have come across hundreds of ad for work at home. These sites claim that if you do surveys and such that you can earn money, however; at the very end in small print they change you money. Is this legal?
I work for a Newspaper and whenever we get these types of ads in we have to ask them if they require a start up fee and if they do, we make them disclose it in the ad. As far as the internet is concerned, not sure but it doesn’t seem right.
they have to disclose it and that is what the small print is doing so yes it is legal to put free in big letters and then say in small there is a start up fee of 50 dollars.
It’s not legal. But the scammers who run these ads are the type of people who don’t care whether what they’re doing is legal or not — they’re just in business to cheat people out of their money. That’s why you see so many warnings against “make money quick” schemes on places like Yahoo Answers. The more people who object to these spammers and warn others about them, the quicker they’ll give up and go away.
I’m a magazine editor (as well as a Realtor), and I would never accept or run such an ad. It’s highly deceptive.
A good rule of thumb: If an ad itself is deceptive (claiming something is free when it really isn’t), then you can assume the advertiser is equally deceptive in its products and offerings, and that the products aren’t worth the price. After all, people are still willing to pay for value.
As for it being legal, most are sneaky enough to work their way around that. But just because it’s legal doesn’t make it moral, ethical, or even accurate.
Good question.
It is not wise to consider any of the offers made in those types of ads. They are simply scamming you to get your money. I know it is in the small print, but they are disclosing there that you must pay them. That probably means it is legal. When something sounds too good to be true it is.
In my advertising I sometimes offer something free to potential customers. Whatever I offer is completely FREE. (Of course, I do not claim that I will provide you with a way to earn money.) There is no charge for shipping and handling either. If I say free, I mean free.