Legitimate Online Jobs - Do They Exist

Searching for legitimate online and work at home jobs is an exhausting experience. There are so many scams, it's not hard to see why so many people feel real online jobs don't exist.
I will list several proven online and work at home jobs, offered by real companies, but first I want to explain how an individual can be taken in different directions.
The term "online job" can have several meanings, depending on your personal criteria, current employment status, and your desire to either work at home or in an out of home environment. There are jobs that are done online, online business opportunities, and businesses that provide online services. But what are the differences between the three?
A job that is done online, whether as an employee of a legitimate company or as a consultant (aka freelancer) providing an online service, is a job where an individual has negotiated with their employer, or predetermined the fact to their client, to allow the opportunity to do the assigned work online - typically at home. These are truly legitimate work at home jobs. As an employee, the employer takes care of any payroll issues, including employment taxes. As a consultant, you are responsible for self employment tax issues. Many companies who seek individuals to fulfull online jobs do not consider individuals as employees, but rather consultants.
An online business opportunity allows an individual to feel as though they own a business. However, the individual more than likely has paid a start-up, or sign-up fee. Online business opportunities are mostly in the direct sales arena, and - in my opinion - are not worth the money invested. Most of these "opportunities" consist of a company sponsored website where an individual promotes products or services. The hidden truth: many of these "opportunities" expect you to recruit other people into the "opportunity". I don't like online business opportunities; most of them are scams - no real opportunity comes out of the deal, except to those accepting the fees. People are easily lured into the lies of earning a high income.
A business that provides online services is an actual business started by an individual. The business is something in which the individual has a great deal of interest and truly enjoys the work. The individual provides the service online to clients.
For the sake of this article, I am going to concentrate on legitimate online jobs and list actual companies who hire people to fulfill their work at home jobs. As I come upon more companies who seek online workers, I will add to the below lists. It is worth mentioning that, due to the need of their clients, some companies may require the needs of individuals on a sporadic basis. However, it is my finding that call center, customer service, and general bookkeeping online jobs are the most stable.
LEGITIMATE ONLINE JOBS:
Call Center / Customer Service Jobs
Alpine Access Premier provider of customer service solutions using home-based employees. NO FEES.
Brighten Communications A business-to-business telemarketing company specializing in the outsourcing of lead generation. The clients you will be making calls on behalf of represent professional organizations in industries such as finance, brokerage, and high-tech.
Customer Loyalty Concepts You will be contacting existing newspaper subscribers selling a variety of services.
LiveOps Outsourcing call center solutions using work at home agents. $30.00 fee for credit and background check.
West At Home West agents handle client's interaction with their customers, from customer care and live chat to email and incoming sales calls.
Working Solutions A long-standing company, workingsolutions.com offers many legitimate - NO FEE - home based opportunities.
Data Entry
Axion Data Sign up as a home-working independent contractor with this long-standing company. NO FEES TO JOIN.
CPG, Inc. Process customer rebate submissions at home, get paid by the piece. This company has been in business for over 12 years. NO FEES TO JOIN.
Palm Coast Data Data entry keyers input customer information, such as names and addresses, or revise information already in the database. Work at home on your own personal computer, linked to Palm Coast Data.
Bookkeeping
A/R Recovery Work at home collecting Accounts Receivable.
Balance Your Books Provide A/P, A/R, payroll and general support for clients.
Bateman & Co. Seeking "telecommuting" staff accountants. CPA required, with at least 3 years of prior public accounting experience. They will furnish the necessary software.
Transcription Services
Absolute Document Services Seeking corporate, medical, and legal transcriptionists to work at home.
Accutran Global Legitimate online jobs doing medical, legal, financial, investigation, interviews, and focus group transcription.
Tiger Fish Provide transcription services: video, editing and legal


Virtual Assistant Jobs
Team Double Click They offer a wide range of administrative jobs, from typing to bookkeeping.
Proficient Outsourcing Event planning, voice mail retrieval, sales and marketing experience...virtually everything an office assistant would do.
Virtual Office Temps Seeking individuals who can do desktop publishing, legal transcription, internet research, web applications...just to name a few jobs.

Hope these help somebody out there.