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There are many readers who dream of having a work at home chat job. I have come across many legit companies that initially made me very excited. Unfortunately most of those chat jobs were not very promising, paying very little per chat or simply never really coming to fruit. Then things changed for the better. I learned all about Needle.com! Needle offers an hourly work at home chat job.
Who is Needle.com?
Needle is a fairly new company, beginning in November of 2009. In only a short 3 years they have gained the trust and confidence of many great companies such as Overstock, Norton, Skull Candy, Under Armour, Coach, Norwegian Cruise Lines and many other top brands. Needle offers chat support and hires agents to work from home providing customer assistance as needed.
What is the Pay Structure at Needle?
This is where I personally get very excited about Needle. They pay an hourly rate! I have a feeling the pay could vary depending on the specialty you are hired for but the several people online who have shared their hourly rate at Needle say they make $10 per hour. In addition to the hourly pay Needlers (as they are referred to by Needle) earn incentive points based on a variety of factors such as how quickly you respond to a chat requests, the number of sales you make and customer satisfaction scores. The points can be exchanged for products such as an iPad, Speakers, Hoodies and other items from their clients.
Needlers are Independent Contractors and therefore do not have taxes withheld from their paychecks. Being a Work at Home Chat Agent for Needle.com is considered being self employed.
When and How does Needle pay their chat agents?
Needle pays every Monday through PayPal for the work completed the previous week. The pay week is from Sunday to Saturday. There is very little waiting time for your pay! This is a GREAT benefit for work at home chat agents at needle.com.
What is the Scheduling like at Needle.com?
Scheduling is also pretty awesome. Needle chat agents have a very flexible scheduling system! They are able to make their own schedule. Available schedules are released at a set date and time. Agents can then grab the hours they would like to work as they are available. You schedule one hour increments.
You can release your commit time if something comes up but it must be at least 6 hours prior to the hour you are schedule to work.
The down side to this style of scheduling is that if available hours are low- you will be fighting for your schedule. But on the plus-side of things you can work under ‘freeskate’. Which means you can log in and work unscheduled 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Then, you can grab any overflow chats when scheduled agents are busy. The pay for these chats are still at the $10 an hour rate but you are only paid for the time you actually spend in a chat while in ‘freeskate’, or unscheduled, mode.
Applying for Needle.com
Wow the application process is brutally confusing. You are required to link your Facebook page to apply when jobs are available. The actual application part is very simple. For example, I applied for the recent Home and Garden chat position for their client, Overstock. I answered a few questions to help them determine my knowledge and experience in home and garden and customer service. Once I submitted my application it redirected me to what appears to be a needler hub or dashboard page. It offered me the ability to go ahead and begin steps of training…without really any explanation. I recommend completing this section as it proves you are motivated.
Then you just wait and hope to receive an email offering you a position with Needle.com. They will not send you a reject letter, so the hope is left hanging in the air. (be sure to watch your spam box)
Unfortunately, if you hear of another position open with Needle.com there is no way for you to apply for it unless you have multiple Facebook pages to use to apply under. An inside source tells me this is something Needle is working to improve. They would like for you to be able to apply for multiple positions and are working to make it possible.
Heard Back from Needle.com? Interview Process:
Interviews with Needle.com are held via chat. During the interview needle.com will ask more detailed questions to learn more about you and your skills. Additionally, it gives you the opportunity to ask any questions as well. From my understanding, you will not know at the end of the interview if you have the position as a chat agent with needle.com. Once decision is made Needle will send you an email if you are hired. I do not believe they send reject emails, but I would assume it could mean they keep you in mind just in case. Again, it can feel very confusing.
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You can visit Needle.com and apply using their general application. However, I highly suggest NOT applying this way and instead wait until they are hiring for a specific position you are qualified for- remember at this point- you may only have one chance.
Current openings will be shared on the WAHA Facebook and our WAH Job Leads page whenever I am aware of an open position. I usually find out about openings through WAH forums where current needle chat agents share the news. Needle doesn’t seem to advertise broadly when they are hiring. I am sure they receive plenty of applications regardless.
Current known work at home chat job openings:
It is unknown if Needle is hiring for the following clients:
- FinishLine
- Under Armour
- Astro Gaming
- Skull Candy
- Norwegian Cruise Lines
- LuckyGunner Ammo
- Timex
- Urban Outfitters
- LeisurePro
- Marriott
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- Work Around Your Schedule with Alorica (West) at Home Flexible Phone Job
- Non Phone Work at Home Job List
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Miranda, I’m glad that you did write this review. I’ve been seeing Needle.com come up in different WAH forums and chat rooms. I couldn’t seem to find out too much about it. So, thank you for shedding light on this company. As always, you did a great review.
Thank you Leisa
I applied for Needle way back in December and have sent a few emails following up with my application, and have gotten no responses. That says a lot right there. My advice is don’t waste your time filling out the app.
I applied with the needle last week and I just interviewed for a chat for Coach yesterday. So we’ll see how it goes.
fantastic! I had not heard of them hiring for the Coach line. So thanks for sharing! Did you apply specifically for the Coach line or the general application?
Can you tell me if Needle hire experienced chat agents in Canada?
Thank you.
I applied specifically for the Coach line. The interviewer said if I was picked I would hear something before next Friday. Fingers crossed! I’ll keep ya posted.
I’m officially a Needler for Coach.
Hi Jessica,
Can you please provide an update about your experience working with them so far?
Yay!!!!! Congrats Jessica 🙂 I have an interview for the Overstock line this Monday! 🙂
How much do you have to know about a certain topic in order to apply? I’m totally new to working at home because I’ve been having a horrible time finding a job after graduating from college. I don’t want to apply without having the expertise they’re looking for.
I was contracted to work the Overstock home and garden section on 1-28-13. I love it! Best job I ever had. Best people to work with. I am addicted to chatting now.
Not all Needler’s make $10/hour. Once they secure a partner or even from the get go they may offer as little as $1.50 per chat. If chat volume is high and you are not discussing anything very technical or involved it MIGHT be ok. Otherwise you will likely find yourself chatting for less than minimum wage – even significantly less. They ca change your contract rate at anytime. Beware.
I work as a needler, and yes it is $1.40 per chat, but that often leads to 10-15$ hour. You are often juggling 2-4 chats at a time.
I have a question for you Needlers here: is chatting done online or over the phone? Is a laptop/desktop really necessary, or can I use my iPad/iPhone? My laptop is on the fritz, and I’m supposed to be interviewed for a position on Friday. The email wasn’t clear on the method, so I’m sorta confused :-/
I actually finished my training/certification yesterday. Chatting is done online. No phone is needed. However, i dont think you can do this job using an iPad or iPhone. You need to have multiple windows open and you have to use chrome or mozilla. I hope that helps.
How is training? Do they expect you to have great expertise in the company you are applying for?
Seems they are looking that you have general experience in the area.
Since Needle laid off most of their Overstock Home & Garden Needlers yesterday I’m just wondering if you’re still working for them. I know they *say* it’s only a test and possibly only temporary, everyone feels it is a permanent house-cleaning.
I was included in the ‘temporary’ lay off as well. Very disappointing. I have hopes that we will all be back at it in a few weeks–trying to stay positive.
Too bad they only use facebook. I closed my account after repeated hacks into my account showing pornography. No more FB for me. Shame companies are using that as a way to find people. Not everyone uses social media nor do they want to. Sorry for the lay-offs yucko, hopefully you all will get back to work soon. This sounds like something perfect for me to do. I love COACH products can’t even apply bummer
ACtually you can login without facebook. There is an option in blue text below the login with facebook button that says “I dont have a Facebook account”. I used that method of logging in when I was hired for the Overstock line.
oh I see it Miranda thank you, I’ll apply and see what happens. Thanks dear
I went on quite a while ago and completed all the training and such but haven’t heard anything back. Do you automatically get paired with the brands they think you would be best suited for or do you have to apply for the specific brands? I see they are hiring for Adidas, Reebok, and Coach and I wasn’t sure if I could actually apply for them individually. Thanks for your help!
I had an interview 6 days ago for Adidas. I received an email today stating that I passed the interview and can move on to the certification process. Certification is at the end of this month. I look forward to this new opportunity. It appears like it will perfectly fit my lifestyle and my personality!
YAY!!!! That is awesome Rachel! Congrats. I am very excited for you. Thanks for giving us an update to that as well.
I want to start of saying… thank god for this blog! I’m so glad someone else is able to help me sift through all the scams.
I wanted to add to this review that I found that USA Today had done an interview with the founder of Needle.com… it’s worth the watch if you are considering needle.com
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/talkingtech/story/2012-05-30/needle-talking-tech/55287900/1
Thank you again!
Since we have to link our Facebook’s to apply… can the ’employer’ see our personal Facebook content?
I feel I should mention it seems to be US only. 🙁
Had my interview yesterday for ZAGG. Will know by tomorrow they said.
Hey guys! I have a adidas interview and i was wondering if anybody can give me insight on how the interviews usually go. Pretty nervous!!
Was a needler for Reebok. Poor communication from Needle and Reebok. Lack of stock on the site which turned the Needlers into scapegoats for customer complaints. The Needlers are not trained “experts” as it claims. Last time I checked, this was a “fan based” operation. Poor training, lack of communication and ordering product is frustrating. Unprofessional people at Needle as well. BIG DISAPPOINTMENT!
It is true there could be better communication between the client and needlers representing them, but there is also some responsibility on the needlers to make sure they are up to date on what they need to know.
I am looking for a genuine work from home job. I have worked for Norton as a customer service agent. I would like to work for similar profile. If there is any work from home job, than please let me know. My email address is [email removed]
I start my training to become certified tomorrow for Carhartt, so excited.. Only question I have is, how much do they pay? Does needle pay or does Carhartt? I’ve got a 300 dollar car payment plus a high insurance bill and I highly doubt 1.50 per chat is gonna cover that.
Also I don’t have a paypal account yet, I was going to use my husband’s account, when ever I get my own can I change it over to mine?
Needle is the one who will pay you. Each campaign has different pay structures and chat volume- so it can be very difficult to say what you can expect to earn. My experience with myself and friends working for Overstock through needle.com tells me it can all vary from week to week as chat volume increases and decreases. I hope it all works out for you!
Also, I do believe you can go back in and edit your paypal account when you get your own set up.
I applied for Coach a while ago and never heard back. Just by chance today I logged to to check it out and I had training blocks for Coach. Does anyone know if this normal?
so miranda.. was your layoff only a temp thing??? i heard overstock got axed from needle… seems this is how they treat all workers… very childish… 1st its “oh we are just temporarily cutting back hours” then you go to log in and blam nothing..
it is still a pending ‘temporary’ thing…but it has been MONTHS. Every once in a while they make us think we might get invited back but then we dont….I have a friend who still works for Overstock through Needle- so I know they didn’t get axed….I honestly think Needle has just been trying to get their ducks in a row. They are still fairly new to all of this.
i am in the process of applying finished
my assessments and it has a page of brand profile etc but nothing will open where do i go from here?
I can honestly say this about Needle.. don’t waste your time on it. The pay SUCKS the managers seriously need to be fired for not doing their job properly. I currently work for Carhartt and I work with the most immature childish team members I swear my 5 year old is more mature than the people I work with. I could sit here and rant all day about how worthless Needle is but I’ll just end up making myself annoyed so take my advice.. DON’T DO IT.. NOT WORTH IT
I’ve been a needler for way too long….what a mess. This may possibly be the least organized company on the planet. While they’re enjoying free gourmet dinners in headquarters, they’re paying you just a bit more than $1/chat with a points structure for “free” product that takes months to earn enough to do anything with. Each year of your service, they lower that rate without fail. Thanks for all the hard work! Management is not only inept, but rude, and they ignore emails without fail, even when you’re diligently trying to get around another one of their faulty systems errors to do your job. My team is great, and they honestly do care about the client…..too bad Needle doesn’t.
I was so excited until I read the most recent updates. The initial email says you’ll hear something in 1-2 days and Its been nearly 4. I’ve completed all of the trainings and still nothing. 🙁
Like other Needlers have said. It really isn’t worth it. Needle Inc. is run terribly and most of the time you’ll be making below minimum wage. It’s 90 cents to a little over a dollar per chat. If you schedule at the wrong time you could be making 3 dollars for the whole hour. You go above and beyond to help customers with the little info you’re given while the community managers do their absolute least to help you help customers. Weeks go by without ever hearing from anyone while you try to work around their failed chat system to do your job. Emails for help and more information about the products you’re supposed to be selling go unanswered. Positive suggestions go unimplemented. You won’t matter to this company.
Stay away from this cyber sweatshop.
It’s really sad how down-hill Needle went after I wrote this article. I no longer recommend them to anyone who is looking for serious work.
I found out about Needle from this post. And as much as I don’t think it should be recommended with the way it’s run now, I want to say I do appreciate you posting about it originally because it helped me pay some bills for a few months while I found something else. I always recommend your blog to anyone looking for WAH advice and I always will because it has been a great resource for me. So thanks for that Miranda. That said, more layoffs are on the way. Another partner is getting phased out in a few weeks. I think the most you can expect to work with Needle is about six months before mismanagement leads to them losing the contract with your partner.
You said that right! “mismanagement” is a clear problem with Needle. They seem to have no clue what they are doing. It’s a real shame too because there is/was so much potential and so many big-names that have given them a try. Makes me sad to see it going down the pot.
Thanks for the encouragement and for referring others to WAHA too! I appreciate it a lot!
I’m surprised by the negative feedback I have seen here. I have worked for Needle for about a year and it has been great! Maybe it depends on which company or client you work for but I have been very pleased with our team and management.
Hi,
I have no experience in chat field. Earlier I worked as a full time employee in knowledge management. I am new to this work from home thing and want to apply for needle.
But I need help with few questions. Can anyone please help me out!
1. what interview questions they will be asking?
2. If gets selected, do we have to pay for training ?
3. How much are they currently paying ?
appreciate any help 🙂
Miranda, I love your site! I came on today looking for more info about Needle as I got a pretty random email that I’d been “fast tracked” and could start the training process for Reebok. They said I’d done well in an interview that I’ve never had….At any rate, I did apply in December (5 months ago!) and never heard back, so I guess this is it…I am saddened to hear the horror stories though. I was hoping to use this for, at minimum, car payment money. I will continue with the process and see what happens. I will definitely report back!
Congrats Lani! I really believe every line/client at Needle will offer the agents a different experience. It seems the clients have a lot of control over the way things are paid and some of the unexpected events. While I am sure communication failures are in part at the fault of Needle- some people are not having those issues, so it will probably depend on management/team leaders. I really hope it works well for you. I am doing some work for Needle right now on the side and I am having positive results from it, it is not chat work though.
What do you do for needle? Do you know what clients pay 10 per hour?
Hi, I’m interested in applying for needle. Does anyone have the needle application page link? Thanks!
Hello. I actually work for needle now. I started about two months and work for hhgregg. We were the first set of advocates who do work for hhgregg.
There are a few things that I think may have changed when this was originally posted. I will tell you of my experience with them.
I currently work for hhgregg. We do not get paid an hourly rate, but per chat. If you are committed it is $1.07 per chat. If you are not committed and freeskating it is $.95 for the chat. Is there a way we can get paid $10 an hour, yes… If we get 10 chats that hour which never happens. I have been paid as little as $1.07 if there was only one chat that hour. Last week I made $155 bucks and worked (committed) 40 hours. So that averages around $3.89 an hour. They also go by a point system. Every three hours of chat time (actually talking to someone) it is a block. If you make so many sales, ask so many questions, average a good rating (customers rate you after every chat 0-10 they average them for the block and if you do well) you get more points. Each block is worth any where from 0 points to over 1,000 depending on how well you did. Those points can be used to buy certain product from who you are working for. I think it is a bad system because you can’t really use all of your points unless you find something worth exactly the same amount of the points you have. Example if you want to buy anything $0-$50 bucks it is worth 10,000 points. If you buy something for $10 bucks it is going to use the same amount of points as if you buy something that is $50 bucks. 10,000 points is really hard to come by and I think that system is not fair.
Your schedule can be picked based also on how well you do. I also think that system is flawed. There is a leader board. 1-4 get to pick their schedules first, with 1st place going first. The way you get on the leader board is they will average out your blocks for the week with the points you made per bock. If you have the highest points average, you are first. Example.. Say I have 6 blocks for the week, each block was worth 425,725, 580,350,725,425 pts. My average would be about 538ish. Say my co worker has 2 blocks because they don’t work as much as I do and their blocks were worth 725 and 580. They would average about 602. That to me is unfair because I worked three times as much as them and I had more blocks that were worth more than them. It tends to make those who work harder not want to try because they are not getting anything out of it. And when that happens, we get into issues with people who may get two blocks go above someone who works 6 blocks in the leader board and they take hours and not work them.
That comes to my MAJOR complaint. With hhgregg we are having advocates take committed time and not working it. You lost 250 points for every commit missed. BUT people do not care. Two people can commit an hour. If you are not committed you free skate, as mentioned. Advocates are taking those hours and simply not come or leave after 20 or 30 minutes of being there. Once it is committed and not worked, no one can come in and take the commit. Only way is if they, the person who didn’t come into the commit they signed up for, releases it 6 hour prior. That leaves advocates who want to work not able to get the $1.07 for the chat because they were unable to grab the commit because the one who grabbed it didn’t let it go. We have two people who do it week after week and it has been brought to the attention of the supervisor and nothing has been done. That is a big thing also. Communication is awful. Emails have been sent to supervisor by me and never returned, and those emails being about people missing commit. There is no true team lead. There is one person that is kinda a lead but she is in there maybe 4 hours a day at the most. She has also seen the problem and sent emails to supervisor and still, nothing has been done. So communication is awful.
That all being said I like to pick my own hours. I work my butt off for very small pay but it helps my family and I can be home with the kids and get them from school when needed. I think that things need to change a little and find some of it not thought out when they made the rules.
I have got an interview for needle. I did it and the person said i did good and he said they send a email if i got the job in a couple of days
did you hear anything back from them and what was the interview process like? Also If you are working for them can share a little bit about the job and training
I worked with Needle for Dick’s Sporting Goods as a chat advocate. I was hired September 2014 and was just laid off a couple weeks ago (end of January 2015). When we started, it was .98 per chat or .89 per chat, that depending if you were Freeskating or Scheduled, but then we were set at 20-30 hours at $10/hour. I was bringing home anywhere from $200-$300 a week. I hope I can get in with another company soon!
I am in the application, testing part of my process. For Needle.I keep getting”flags” that the site is not. Secure? Input on that?
Hi. I’m looking for online chat work from home. Do you know if any of these companies hire in Australia?
Hi. I’m also looking for online chat work from home. Do you know if any of these companies hire in Australia?
Hi. im australian do you know if any of these companies hire in Australia? if so who thanks
Update***Needle is completely a point based system now. You will not be paid for chats. You will get points only. You can redeem your points for merchandise or for gift cards.
I just got hired for Needle and the way I am understanding it is Needle pays on point system and the partner company you work with pays you per chat so you get both. It’s kinda like you can a hourly wage at your job but you also get benefits…same concept…points which are redeemed I see them as the benefit and the pay per chat would be my take home money. If you go into it thinking like this it may not be so bad. I haven’t started yet cause I don’t feel comfortable yet but will be in a couple days. I do find that alot of it you kind of have to learn by trial and error….ASK QUESTIONS that is the key otherwise no one will be there to hold your hand. I do dislike they only allow so many to work a certain hour time slot. I also hate that the lead is the one who sets your max so if they don’t like you it’s possible you will only get to work 1-2 chats at a time verses someone else who is working 3-5 at a time. I also don’t like the fact that certain folks can commit almost an entire day. Which sucks when partners have set customer service chat availability between certain hours of the day for example chat agent is only available between 7 and 11 so someone can commit the whole day and if the company has it set only 2-3 agents can work at any given time well that means if you aren’t top of leader board you could be working practically for free if at all cause you are freeskating and not committed. I see freeskating as better than nothing.
Needle does not pay money at all any longer. It is a pure gaming system that you gain points for actions. The points are redeemable for limited products at a ridiculously high mark up of almost 100%. zero management . very unhappy work environment. Excuses and lip service galore. It appears they are going out of business.
I have an interview with Needle to be a Lime Crime advocate. Will I get paid for chat? How much? Does anyone know anything about Lime Crime pay?
I am currently living in Dubai UAE can I apply here?
i don’t have website. can i apply
You need to update your website all these responses are from 2013