Paid Surveys - How To Avoid Scams
Posted on May 27, 2008
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I don’t claim, by any means, to have an exhaustive list. There are many other good survey sites out there. Unfortunately, there are also scams. Here are a few tips on how to avoid them.
1. Don’t sign up for any survey site which asks you to pay to access the surveys. These generally only offer links to other survey sites you will have to register at separately (and you can find these other ways without paying a dime). These are not worth your money. You should never have to pay to do a job, and that includes taking surveys.
2. Always carefully read a site’s terms of service and privacy policy before registering. If in their privacy policy they say they only use aggregated info, this is GOOD SIGN they are legit. Aggregated information is info (such as answers to survey questions) that is grouped together so it can’t be connected with anyone’s personal identification like name, e-mail, phone or address. That’s what survey sites SHOULD collect. Watch out for sites that say they give, rent, or sell any personal information (info that is not aggregated) to third parties.
3. Watch for language like “get paid for taking surveys AND SIGNING UP FOR OFFERS” if you don’t want to have to sign up for stuff with other companies to get paid. There are sites which say they pay for surveys, but what they actually do is pay you to sign up for offers…and to take surveys when you sign up. They also may refer you to some legitimate survey sites which have affiliate programs or pay for referrals. If you decide that you want to try any of these sites, be careful to read all the information on the specific offers–as these offers come from separate companies with their own terms of service and privacy policies. Otherwise, you may end up paying more than you’re getting (or give away your info to those who will sell it).
4. NEVER sign up for a survey site (or any other type of site) through un-solicited e-mail. These can be phishing schemes, where they try to get your information to mis-use it (often pretending to be legitimate sites). I’ve gotten e-mails asking me to sign up for survey sites I’ve already been a part of for some time. I contacted the real sites, and they confirmed the e-mails had nothing to do with them.
Some legitimate sites do have e-mail referral programs, so if the e-mail is from a friend (or claims to be sent on behalf of a friend) check with the friend first to make sure they sent it.
5. Check around and do a little background research. You can check the site’s rating on Survey Police.com (a very good survey rating a review site) and see if there are any reports against it on Rip Off Report.com. A google under the survey name and the word scam or review can also be revealing. Remember though, many survey sites offer affiliate commissions for sign ups, so the absence of bad reviews is much more convincing than the presence of good reviews.
Risk Free to Making Money Online
Posted on May 26, 2008
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It seems like people are always looking for new ways to make money online. There is one method that has been tried and tested, is risk free and is proven to make money online. Most people discount it, but it has lasted for years and gets stronger all the time. That method is taking surveys online and getting paid.
Yes, you read that right. Online paid surveys are a great risk free way to make money online. You may not get rich, but you can create a perfect part time job for yourself. It isn’t unusual for people to make anywhere from $500 to $1000 a month from the comfort of their own computers taking paid surveys online.
I know that there is a lot of skepticism surrounding paid surveys online. I think this comes mostly from two things. First there are all the ads out there promising outrageous amounts of money like “Make $150 and hour”. Secondly and related to the first there is a lack of information and misinformation about how to make money online through paid surveys.
Hopefully I can share my experience and clear up some of this misinformation for you. That way you will see that paid surveys are a legitimate way to make money online.
Major companies around the world from Citibank to Microsoft to Warner Brothers to Disney all know that they have to satisfy their customers. That’s how they get repeat business and continue making money. In order to find out WHAT satisfies their customers they do the obvious thing, they ask them.
The medium that many companies are using to get feedback from their customers is the internet. As of 2005 only 30% of surveys were internet based and that number has been growing steadily. Companies realize that they can get large amounts of opinions cheaply through the use of paid internet surveys.
Companies used to have to spend much more time and money to survey their customers either by mail, by telephone or by bringing the customers to a physical location. This was very time consuming and very expensive.
Now many companies contract with internet survey companies to get the data they need. These large companies pay well for surveys and the survey companies pass that along to you when you take a survey from them. When you take paid surveys online you are like a contractor for the market research company.
If you spend a lot of time online, then why not get paid for some of it by taking some paid surveys. It’s a good and profitable use of your free time. You get to make some extra money while enjoying yourself online.
And as a part time job it really isn’t that bad. I’ve calculated for myself and my rate seems to be around $15.00 an hour which I think is pretty darn good for a part time job where I am working from home and making my own hours. In addition to the cash I also receive the occasional prize like Amazon.com gift certificates or restaurant gift certificates. Nothing big yet, but even the little things add up.
So, give it a try. Like I said earlier it is fun and easy and best of all it is one of the only risk free ways to make money online consistently. What could be better than working from home and making your own hours?
Paid Surveys on the Internet
Posted on May 26, 2008
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Interested in paid surveys on the internet? They are easy to find. Type “paid surveys” into Google and you’ll get back 7,810,000 results (as of Aug 2, 2007). With a list like that it shouldn’t be too hard to find paid surveys on the internet…but there’s a catch.
As you start to look through the results you’ll find a common theme. The sites are NOT the actual survey sites, but rather sites that promise “$150 an hour taking surveys” or “get rich taking surveys”. Some want your email address to register and get access to their list of paid surveys on the internet and others expect you to pay your hard earned money for “membership” to their site. Other sites may even claim that getting paid for internet surveys is a total scam. So what should you do and who can you believe?
Is it really worth it to try getting paid for internet surveys or should you stay away?
First, you need to understand that these websites with lists are not the ones that will be paying you to do internet surveys. The surveys and payments come from market research companies, many of which started offline, but have moved to online surveys to be able to reach a larger audience. These market research companies have been paying people for their opinions for years, sometimes decades. They have found that the internet is an efficient and cost effective way for them to reach the largest number of people to get data for companies who pay them for their research. These market research companies are, for the most part, completely legitimate. Their research is used by companies to improve existing products and services or to determine the best way to introduce new products and services.
The thing is that there have been many sites, some good and some really bad, that are trying to cash in as well on the popularity of paid surveys on the internet. The information itself is not bad, but some sites require you to pay them for membership to their sites and access to their “special” list of paying surveys. Honestly, there is no reason to ever pay someone for a list of paying internet survey companies. This information is freely available and anyone who wants you to pay them for the information is simply stealing your money. The ones who offer free access, but require your email address to register are not quite as bad, at least they are giving away the information, but it still comes at a price. If you give up your email address to register at one of these sites don’t be surprised if the amount of spam you receive increases dramatically. They only want your email address to resell or to use it to market to you themselves.
So, you’ve managed to avoid the scams and you’ve found the legitimate paid surveys on the internet and now you still want to know if it’s worth it trying to get paid for internet surveys. That totally depends on what you expect. If you’re looking to get rich and retire then keep looking. You won’t be able to retire with what you make taking internet paid surveys, however you can make several hundred dollars a month and improve your lifestyle.
The key to making paid surveys actually pay is twofold. First, sign up with as many paid survey companies as possible. Since the survey companies are looking for a certain demographic for each survey you won’t always qualify. By signing up with more survey companies you’ll get more survey opportunities. Second, make sure to respond to all of the surveys you get. The survey companies will track your response rate and guess what? Those who are more reliable responders will get the better surveys. Makes sense doesn’t it?
Each survey typically takes 15-20 minutes and pay ranges anywhere from $1.00 to $50.00 per survey. You can take 3-4 surveys a day in just 1 hour and at an average pay of $5.00 a survey you’ll make $150 in a months time. Of course your earnings will vary from month to month depending on what surveys you get, how fast you’re able to complete the surveys and how much time you devote to taking surveys. In any case you should be making around $15 an hour which isn’t bad for a part time job you can do at your leisure from home.
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