ChaCha hiring work-at-home Expediators

In all fairness, I have worked for them since last September and have always received my money. Nobody was getting rich at .03, but when they cut it to .02 it made it very difficult to make any real money. Some people can do over 100 questions an hour, but that's still only $2 an hour. And that's assuming they are all good questions and they aren't abuse which you don't get paid for. And I don't know what the quality percentage is but they raised it once or more when I was working. If you have a lot of time and have nothing else to do it does pay something. I suppose I should check in to see what's going on there. It's been so nice not being tied to the computer hours a day.

I just went and looked and I actually started August 20, 2009. Wow, where does the time go?

Nomad

2 cents? I was getting 15 to 20 cents per question! Well, as I say, theoretically getting. I was hired in 2008 and had racked up a nice account balance but the debit card never arrived and all attempts at resolving the matter failed. Last time I logged in my balance was at 0. Now I cannot log in at all.

My daughter did some work for them and chose the debit card option. It took months to finally get it. I went the other way and get paid monthly by direct deposit as long as I have made $150. Needless to say I don't get paid often. I am an Expiditor, we get .02. Specialists and Generalists were making .10-.20, but I don't know how much it is now. We have to answer 58% of the questions ourselves now. It was 50% when I started and then went up to 55%. They would much rather have us answer at .02 than to pay the big money if we have to send them on.


Nomad

I almost forgot to add that you can't figure your pay by the amount of questions you can answer. I just did 15 questions in 27 minutes. That is a whopping rate of .67 an hour. I'm gettin rich today. It is very slow a lot of the time, so you never know what you can make. You just have to sit here and wait, it does get pretty frustrating. It's a good thing I have nothing else to do.

Nomad

I did cha cha for a bit last year while stuck at home recovering from a surgery. Ill be honest Nobody is gonna get rich doing this, but if you have time to kill its not bad as you can stop and start anytime you want. You can make a little more off of some of the contests that they offer. Sometimes they have what they call golden tickets which is a question they place on a certain day if you give what they feel is a good answer There is a pre set prize amount for that question. My girlfriend got one of the $25 ones. One of the most common ones is where they will pay a bonus on weekends when they are real busy. For that one they will give you a few extra dollars if you answer a minimum number of questions within the time frame and then a little more for every 100 or 200 that you answer. As for making money off referrals that just depends on the contests. Sometimes they run one for whoever get the most referrals. Last year they ran one where you got 10% of whatever your referrals earn, it didn't come out of their earnings it was just a bonus that you got. As for accepting new guides sometimes they accept right off the website, sometimes only off of referrals. There is a lot off miss information out there about cha cha hopefully this clears some of it up. I'll say again you wont be able to quit your day job but maybe you if you have some time to kill you can earn some christmass money or something like that.
Since the original poster has not posted for a long time if anyone wants a referral you can pm me.

They have been paying $3 per referral lately. I don't bother, it's just more competition for me which slows down the questions. I was averaging 74 questions an hour yesterday. That is $1.48 an hour. They have made things a bit better and I can usually average about 110 questions an hour. Still really nothing, but I can sit here and listen to music or play solitaire while I wait for questions to come in when it's slow like that.

Nomad

Okay, going to give this a try. I'm doing a couple of other things as well. While it doesn't pay much it is in line and similar with some other things I'm doing.

At this point I figure - even if it's only .02 cents per questions, it's money I didn't have before.

__________________
DeeDee
Rockwall, TX

That is just sickening.

Look, if you have the smarts to do online research, have you ever considered day trading in the stock market? I'm serious. It isn't rocket science and you can set up an account at eTrade (or one of the other online services) for free. Yes, you will need some start-up capital, but almost any business venture requires some. If you can scrape together a couple thousand bucks to start out with, you're good to go!

I mostly study the earnings calendar (available online free from a number of sources) and pick companies that I think will get a 'bump' in the week their announcements are due. I have some criteria I use in picking companies (I will share it if anyone's interested.) The crucial thing is figuring when to jump in and jump back out again. I'd rather sell a stock a little early and make a smaller profit than hold onto it too long. I don't think I've held anything for more than 60 days, though. I haven't lost money yet.

I'm not going to become a millionaire doing this but it's a nice sideline. Usually I spend an hour or two on Sunday afternoons doing research and lining up my picks. I don't trade every day or even every week; only if I find something I like. Last Tuesday I bought a stock (KAI) for $22.00; on Wednesday it was up to $23.67 and I walked away with $147 after paying eTrade its cut. (On Friday I kicked myself HARD as it was up to $23.96, LOL!) So far in the first 2 weeks of January, I'm up $250 on two trades. Have a third in the works; bought it Friday and it was up at the closing bell but I didn't sell it because I don't think it's finished yet.

I didn't go into this with any special skills or knowledge other than an ability to do research and analysis. If I can do this, anyone can!!!

__________________
"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

willow girl- That sounds very interesting. Would you start a thread about it and maybe explain in more detail how to get started?

__________________
New Forum:
http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/


Find me on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MelissaRileyNorris

Melissa, I started a thread awhile back, I think it was in GC. Link: Question for investors

There is more info there and several people's perspectives.

I can't give you the specifics about registering with eTrade as my husband already had an account and just added several subaccounts for me. (But how hard can it be? ) (Also, it's free.) I have an IRA, an account for daytrading and a savings account all in eTrade. I can move money back and forth between accounts and also into or out of my checking and savings accounts held by "outside" banks.

As far as picking stocks, I mostly follow the earnings calendar. I look for a company with strong fundamentals, one I won't mind holding onto for awhile if the stock doesn't go up immediately. I stay away from anything with regulatory issues. I look for companies that are trending upward but usually somewhat below their 52-week high. I also glance at volume to make sure a fair number of shares are being traded -- I want to be able to dump that stock after it goes up, and there needs to be someone willing to buy it!

I keep a watch list and track several stocks over time to see whether my hunches have panned out. It's interesting to see how things play out. Like I said earlier, this isn't rocket science, and if you have decent research skills (and a bit of luck) you can do OK!

My husband has been doing this for years, and when I first started, he suggested some companies to buy, but now he's just as likely to look at what I've selected and jump on the bandwagon! (One stock I picked has gone up 17% since he bought it back in December. I only held my shares for a few days, then sold them for a quick profit, darn it!)

There is so much information available online that it's almost ridiculously easy to find out about a company. I'll Google its name (make sure to look for it in the news), look at recent earnings, analysts' opinions, etc. It's really not as time-consuming as it sounds, because I can red-flag a lot of companies in under a minute, and simply move on to the next.

One way to get started is to think of the chain stores and restaurants you shop at. Which ones do you think are profitable? Which are struggling? Now go to eTrade and hit the 'research' tab and look them up, see if the market corresponds to your perceptions. I remember years ago thinking that Family Dollar had an excellent concept and probably would be a highly successful company. This was before I'd met my husband, though, and it never occurred to me to go buy stock in it. D'oh! As recently as 2008, it could be had for less than $19 a share; now it's approaching $50.

As soon as I buy a stock, I set it up to sell with a limit (when it reaches my targeted price). I don't have a smart phone so I can't always track my stocks during the day (unless I call and pester my husband, LOL) so this keeps me from missing the boat. (You can always go back and revise or cancel the limit if you change your mind.)

I've haven't messed with options yet, as those scare the heck out of me. There is money to be made there for sure, but you've gotta know what you're doing.

I realize this is sort of a "Let them eat cake!" solution because you do need some money to start out with. (Most of my individual trades are in the $2,000-$5,000 range.) So this isn't going to work for everybody, but if you *do* have some capital, it's a great way to turn a quick buck!

__________________
"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

I don't know anything about this, so please excuse my dumb question. Don't you need money to do it? I have a few dollar bills laying on my desk and that's about it. I don't remember the last time I had $2000 and I have never had $5000 in my life. I guess this isn't for me, unless there is a way to do it without money.

I just went back and reread the long post and I see money is needed. Just one more thing in this life I am left out of by being poor.

Nomad

I did chacha for a few weeks... I think I made around $40, too little to cash out. Not worth the effort IMHO. :/

I would be interested in eTrade... I even have a college education. But, to be completely honest, I feel like the stock market is explained in a foreign language! I come from poor working folk who never saved or invested in their lives, so I have no one to go to for guidance.

Are there any "practice" websites out there? Or stock market games? If you could explain it or guide me to an explanation as if I were a ten year old, that would be awesome! Thanks for your help.

Nicky,

I would suggest that you start by setting up an eTrade account. (Or one of the other companies ... Scottrade actually is cheaper than eTrade, but DH already was using eTrade so I took the lazy way out. I like to keep an eye on his portfolio, too!)

Once it's set up, you will be able to use their search and research functions. Pick a couple businesses you're familiar with, look up their stock symbols and then do a search ... you'll be able to see how the company has performed over the past 5 years and what some analysts have to say about it. eTrade will even suggest similar companies and show their stock prices for comparison. TONS of information! You will find explanations for the terminology, too. It's really not so scary, trust me. (LOL)

Follow a couple of stocks for awhile and see where they go and whether your predictions are on target. Or you could do what I do; Google up an earnings report calendar and research the stocks that have quarterly earnings reports coming up. If it looks like earnings will exceed analysts' predictions, sometimes the stock price will get a little 'bump' in the week or so before the report comes out. I try to buy ahead of the hoopla and sell before the report actually is released.

My parents didn't invest either, other than in CDs. My 401Ks always were in the market, but I always followed a financial advisor's advice or just picked one of the 3 or 4 plans offered by the company. I didn't know anything, and I didn't really want to know anything! Then I met my husband, who made a fair chunk of his money in the market ... he got me started, and I was amazed how easy it is! I had no idea. It's kind of fun, too!

Feel free to PM me if you have questions; I feel bad about drifting this thread! But the idea of people working hard for so little really got under my skin. Nomad, I hope I didn't offend you by initially responding to your post. I am sorry my advice didn't apply to your situation at present and I hope things will change for the better for you!

__________________
"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

Thank you, willow girl! It looks like with etrade you have a couple months before you have to make a deposit of funds... so that should give me time to get familiar with it.

Have fun, and feel free to PM me for hot stock tips ... LOL

__________________
"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

I wasn't offended in the least. I just get tired of not being able to do things other people can do because I'm all but penniless. That's not your fault. It seems to happen to me a lot. I wish I could do the trading thing, because I'd probably be good at it. I love to do research. Oh well, maybe in my next life.

Nomad

Don't give up! If what you're doing isn't working, do something else! Rinse, lather, repeat.

I never thought I would find myself cleaning toilets for a living, but I've built up a nice little business, and I don't have to be dependent on a single employer during these unstable economic times.

__________________
"I love all of this mud," said no one, ever.

We're living on Social Security, so things probably aren't going to get much better. However, I've cleaned a lot of toilets in my day and wouldn't mind doing it again. Just how would a person go about having that kind of business?

Nomad

What do you guys think about lending club? I was looking around the net this afternoon and just stumbled upon it and I guess I kind of understand it better than stocks. I wonder if it would be decent investing?

On the "daytrading" theme. I can provide referals (free trades) as well. PM if you are looking for a broker. Not raining on Willow's post, but another option as I don't use etrade.

Money can be made day trading. But I would recommend a very strong base of which to operate. Scared money makes dumb decisions, and the biggest battle in trading is with your own mind.

I would be interested to hear about experiences with Lending Club. I'd hate to haveto hunt down deadbeats in the middle of the night you know?


By the way, sorry in advance for the hijacking.

__________________
My Adventure

Our Adventure