I answered an add a few weeks ago and received a very similar response to write 100 words on one of the three articles they listed. After all was said and done, I was told I was ranked one under their highest rating and that I could now go log in and start writing articles for their site, Textbroker. I don’t know if it is the same as what you’re encountering, but Textbroker looks to be a bust. The highest paying writing assignment has been $5 for 300 words. Needless to say, I haven’t done any work for them yet. I’m still waiting for pay that is more at the level they quoted.

I can’t understand needing a possible 3 samples to tell if a writer is a good fit or not. If the first one doesn’t work, why ask for additional?

I sent an email back stating I couldn’t create free content just in the hopes of being considered and that most employers agree to review existing samples. I might have been a bit more terse than I meant to be, but they did actually respond with an explanation that because certain writers they’d hired in the past didn’t perform up to their writing sample standard based they believed that perhaps the sample was plagiarized or someone else wrote it for them so they now require fresh samples. Not sure why the same couldn’t be true of a fresh sample–but oh well. Long story short, if the ad didn’t set off enough bells it sounded very disorganized and quite possibly dishonest.

They’re asking for ‘test’ articles on certain products and will not accept previous written articles in case ‘you don’t retain the same quality’. As if a writer slowly un-learns how to write.

I don’t trust them. I think they’re harvesting free work.

I’d like to ask for some opinions as to how ‘fishy’ (on a scale of carp to really stinky carp) this email I received from the ‘Article Writing – High Pay and Entry Level ($10-$50 per 300-700 word article)’ posting seems:

“Hello,

Thank you for responding to our Craigslist.org ad. We appreciate your time and patience. Although we are based out of the Midwest, we do advertise and post in other cities and locations. Because of this, we get hundreds, to upwards of a few thousand inquires per day.

Unfortunately, we are not able to review and monitor each and every applicant.

To save both parties time, we require 1 to 3 “test” articles. Depending on the quality of the first, you may or may not be required to complete the 2nd and 3rd articles. If our review team grades your first article higher than a 7, you will automatically be accepted into employment and assigned an article manager.

Please be advised: we do not accept any pre-written articles you have written in the past. This is due to conflicts regarding ownership of these articles, as well as if you still have the same “quality”.

Unique to you, our support team will provide 3 specific subject matters. You are free to choose whichever product, service, person or place you like.

Articles should be no longer than 750 words (To save our review team time), and no shorter than 350. Proper grammar is required. Please use your regular spell checker, and make sure sentences are properly formatted.

When finished with the article(s), please send them to AnEmailAddressIRemoved@gmail.com – please attach the article(s) as a .txt or .doc file. Please include your full name and phone number in the body of the email.

On behalf of Article Writer, Inc, we look forward to working with you!

Sincerely,

A Name I Have Removed
Head Management – Advertising Division

Assigned Article(s):

Please research and write a review for one of the follow Amazon.com products. (Note: Please be aware, of company has integrated “DupeCop” into our software to check for duplicates online)

(links to three amazon products, including a HDTV and Digital Camera)”

It’s terrible to have to be on high-alert for scams all the time, but this did set off a couple of alarm bells.

- Multiple “test” articles are always a bit suspicious aren’t they? A cynical chap like me might wonder whether everybody ‘fails’ and gets less than a 7 from these mysterious graders, meaning they have to provide a couple more freebies before they even get a sniff of some cash!

- Doing ‘reviews’ of amazon.com products without any first-hand use of the products in question seems highly weird, even if it is just as a “test”.

I dunno, I just get bad vibes from this, but anybody knows better and would like to tell me it’s fine and dandy I would be pleased to hear it! The pay seemed reasonable (well, if it was closer to $50/piece than $10/piece, anyway).

Sorry I’ve rambled on a bit there. But what say you, fellow FWJobbers?

Wow, you kind of have to wonder how they put a monetary value on quality (you might think your article deserves $50 but they may say it only deserves $10? – Yikes!)