Is a job offer that requires me to buy a starter kit or materials before I can begin working a scam?
Almost certainly. Legitimate employers provide tools and training at their own cost — requiring workers to purchase starter kits is a defining sign of a scam.
Last reviewed: 1 August 2026
Explanation
Starter kit job scams are common in work-from-home listings for craft assembly, envelope stuffing, product testing, and content creation. The employer asks you to purchase a starter kit, training materials, or initial stock before you can begin. Once you pay, you either receive nothing, receive materials of no practical use, or discover that the promised work does not exist. A variation involves multi-level marketing schemes that technically call kit purchases 'business investment'. Real employers bear the cost of onboarding tools and training. Any situation where you spend money to start a job should be treated as a strong warning sign regardless of how convincingly it is framed as an 'investment in your future'.
The framing does a lot of work in this scam. Calling the fee an 'investment', a 'deposit', or a 'refundable materials charge' reframes an extraction as a commitment, and some operations reinforce it by pointing to the flexibility or income you stand to gain. A useful mental test is to reverse the flow: in genuine employment, money moves from employer to worker from the first day, and any exceptions — such as regulated licence fees paid to third parties in some trades — are paid to independent bodies, never to the employer itself. If the person offering the job is also the person collecting your payment, the job is the product being sold, and you are the customer, not the hire.
Common red flags
- Required to purchase a starter kit, training, or materials before starting
- Kit can only be purchased through the employer or a linked site
- Job found through a social media ad promising flexible high earnings
- Employer has no verifiable address or phone number
- Terms of the work are vague or only revealed after the kit is purchased
What to do now
- Never pay to start a job
- Research the company on a business register and independent review sites
- Report fee-charging job listings to the platform and consumer authority
- Seek employment through established job boards rather than social media ads
Frequently asked questions
What if the seller promises to refund the kit cost from my first earnings?
This promise is designed to overcome your objection and is almost never honoured. The refund commitment has no value if the employer disappears after the purchase.
Are there any legitimate costs when starting a new job?
A few trades require licences or certifications paid to independent regulated bodies, and some roles need standard tools you would own anyway. What is never legitimate is paying the employer itself to access work.