majik

I enjoy taking surveys, and there are dozens and dozens of survey websites out there. Some surveys give you insight into upcoming technology. Sprint had a survey to get consumer interests for upcoming cell phone features. One of the possible features was seeing your cell phone contacts on the phone's GPS device, so if you're at the mall, you can see who else is at the mall (with their permission of course). Another was meeting a family member for dinner, and the phone's GPS device would automatically find the person and give you verbal turn-by-turn directions to get to that person's location (hopefully they aren't a moving target and actually at the location you're meeting at). I've tried quite a few survey websites, and here's a quick rundown of my positive experiences:

SurveySavvy - This site actually pays. The catch? You don't get many surveys!! I've probably attempted 20 surveys over the past year. They don't come often at all. Of those 20 surveys I only qualified for maybe 6 of them. Most are only $1 or $2, but I've seen $15 surveys (of course I didn't qualify). Those dollar values are real USD. If you take a $15 survey, you get $15. You can request a check after you earn $10.
Extra benefits: It's a pyramid program. Your referrals earn you money for every survey they take (i.e., they take a $4 survey, they earn $4 and you earn $2). Your referrals referral also earns you money (in the previous example, you get $1). So, in essence, you get paid for other people taking surveys. I hadn't verified it until now, but I received a check in the mail this week! Only $10, but hey, I didn't do much to earn it. And if you have access to multiple forums, you can get referrals from there. Build your referrals and earn cash. I've attached a scanned image of the check below for proof. If you decide to sign up, please use my referral link, it won't cost you anything: https://www.surveysavvy.com?id=2896170&action=join

OpinionPlace - This is very popular among frequent fliers who try to rack up airline miles. I use it to get AAdvantage miles with American Airlines, but it also has an offer to receive AOL credit or Paypal cash. Since I've successfully used it for a year earning miles, I would say it's safe to assume it's legit for Paypal redemption as well. Their rules are slightly different: you can only take one survey a week (sometimes every two weeks). If you don't qualify for a survey, you can try again in 3 days. The surveys never last more than 30 minutes, and the reward is completely based on the estimated time to complete the survey. For example, a 15 minute survey may earn me 75 AAdvantage miles, where a 30 minute survey is 150 miles. In the profile preferences, you can opt for what length of surveys you want to receive. I really like these surveys, but you're limited on the frequency you can take them. That's why it's not my #1 choice.

E-Rewards- Again, very popular among frequent fliers. They don't have many redemption offers, but I've always redeem AAdvantage miles. They use a dollar system, but you don't actually get cash. $25 gets me 500 miles, $50 gets me 1,000 miles, and $100 gets me 2,000 miles. Problem #1, you can only redeem once per year. Problem #2, AAdvantage just left the program. Other offers include Hilton Honors points, FTD gift card, Zales gift card, etc. I'm planning on cancelling the account once I redeem the last of my $ for miles before AA gets out of the program, but I'll be switching to a UPromise account. UPromise is a tax incentive program used to pay off student loans. Through e-rewards, you can earn $50 PER QUARTER ($200/year) to put into a savings account of some sort to pay off student loans. I haven't looked into it yet, but I will in a month or so. You earn $ for the length of time of the surveys. A 15 minute survey can be $2, $9 or $25. The more you take, the more you're offered. The more you update your profile, the more you receive. In two months I was easily able to earn $100. I found it hard to find a place to redeem, so I stopped after a while.
Benefits: I earned AA miles, but I was also part of a Sports Illustrated survey. The survey asked me to compare SI Magazine to ESPN Magazine. They sent me 4 issues (one/week) and asked for my feedback after each one (each feedback gave me $10, so I earned $40 by giving feedback). Then they wanted me to spend a week comparing SI.com to ESPN.com and give feedback again (another $10). In total, I think I earned $80 'e-rewards money', 4 free issues of SI, and at the end they gave me a sweatshirt of my favorite NFL team. Not bad IMO... Because of the lack of redemption options, and the no-cash value, I ranked this as third.

IPSOS - I've never received any cash, yet I've been entered into dozens of drawings. I was asked to test a product and give my feedback in surveys. They sent me shaving cream in two different bottles, labeled only with their labels marking Product 1 and Product 2. I was to use one for 5 days, then the other for 5 days, and give my comparison. I really liked one of them and wish I knew what it was!! They never told me... but I didn't even need aftershave lotion/balm because it was so nice. Anyways... that's all I've ever formally received from them, but they send you surveys ALL the time (a few every day).

Now, I haven't verified this, but IPSOS (i-say) just sent me an e-mail. This program might end up being my favorite, but I don't know what they offer yet. It appears at first glance that 100 points = $10 gift card (Bed Bath & Beyond, Sears, JC Penny, Fossil, Gap, and a bunch of restaurants). IPSOS is famous for reporting their survey results in the mass media market (presidential approval, economy, etc.). They work in some of those questions to the regular surveys. Here's the e-mail I received:

We value your participation and are pleased to announce one more way of saying thank you. Starting this month (April 2008), you will receive reward points for the surveys you take.
Here's how it works:
* Complete i-Say surveys
* Earn points for each survey - most surveys are worth between 1 to 25 points (depending on survey length)
* Points are deposited in your account the day after you take the survey
* Once you've saved up 50 (or more) points, you can redeem them for a variety of great gift cards and merchandise

IPSOS offers a 'refer a friend' link, but I don't get anything for your surveys. The only benefit to the "refer a friend" is that we BOTH get entered into a chance to win $5,000. Here's the referral link: https://register.i-say.com/research/links/7...?AID=1022346558

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capn tibs

I have thought about these before but have been skeptical. One of the things I wish you would cover is the cost and income reality and potential. From your experience what are the membership fees or costs? Based on a month, how much would one expect to spend and earn, and for what amount of time consumed by the use of computer?

StrikeEagle

No cost involved, it's completely free. The time is just how much you spend on surveys, which is always less than half an hour, usually around 15min. The payout for your time isn't massive, but a nice little bonus.

majik

You won't make $20/hr. filling out surveys. Maybe $5/hr. but you really aren't putting much effort into it, and it'll take 5 or 6 surveys to fill up an hour. I enjoy surveys, and I like giving my opinion. I enjoy having input on what technological advances I would prefer over others. If Sprint is going to invest $10 million into a project, I'd like to have influence on what that money is applied to and what I would like to see in the near future.

As I stated in the first thread, most companies don't give cash for surveys. SurveySavvy gives $1-$5 per survey and it can last 2 minutes or 30 minutes. They can offer $20 for a 10 minute survey. Ultimately, SurveySavvy is approached by a company (i.e., Sprint) to post a survey and aggregate the feedback and provide it to Sprint. Sprint will pay $xxx and based on that number, SurveySavvy will pay more to the participants of the survey. If Sprint wants a lot of feedback or quick feedback, they may offer $10 for a short survey. If it's not time sensitive or that important, it may only be $1.

OpinionPlace offers PayPal as a reward for surveys. I haven't used that as my reward so I don't know what the payout is. If anyone here would like to try it out, please post your results and impression of the survey. They aren't hard surveys, usually don't take more than 10 minutes and are usually somewhat interesting. Hell, if you're sitting on your butt at work, typing on the forums, why not get paid to take a short survey?

Also, there is no cost. You don't pay anything for any of these survey sites, and I wouldn't suggest EVER paying to take surveys. They should be paying you. Thus, there is no risk. I've been with each of these programs for over a year and never had any problems. I believe they're legitimate companies, that's why I posted them.

I just did a quick search for OpinionPlace and Paypal and this thread came up:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.ph...=0&t=656680

It seems surveys usually range from $1-$4.50 per survey, one guy said he earned $20 for a one hour focus group, so maybe you can earn $20/hr. I might have to stop earning Airline miles and start using Paypal! There are 12 pages worth of posts, I looked through the first 2 and saw positive feedback.

One post said, "just got one done for 4.50 took like 7 min" which by my calculations is $38.57 per hour (but only 7/60 of an hour). Pretty good return for the amount of time.

capn tibs

I'm going to check these out, including the OpinionPlace. I always got emails about taking surveys for little amounts of money or bonuses but they always seemed to have a cost risk I was concerned with. I agree with your statement that one shouldn't pay to participate in a survey so I never tried them but free no cost risk sounds like something I could get into a little with all the free time I have in the office lately. Making money while making money...my wheels are turning, lol. I'm gonna go check these out and if I'm not too rich too quick I'll come back and post some more feedback.

majik

that's my motivation... maximizing my earnings! With the internet you can make money without being at the computer. I've been trying to develop a concept for earning money online without resorting to immoral ideas.

Caj Darkmoon

Personally it's not worth my time. $5/hour worth of surveys is time that could be much better spent either working on side projects, school, or advancing my career. Just too many things I could use that time for.

capn tibs

well keep me updated on that, majik can I recommend a book. I haven't read it yet but my best friend has given me what seemed like two phone siminars, lol, over it and I'm going to buy it tonight. Its called: The Millionaire Next Door

if you already read it then thats just me a little behind the curve man

StrikeEagle

^^ Getting OT, but that book is great, and a guy named Dave Ramesey has two that are really good; Financial Peace and Total Money Makeover.

majik

I'm personally not at all a fan of Dave Ramsey. He has a huge "Financial Plaza" in Nashville. I've read Financial Peace, and while he does have some good pointers and topics, I just don't agree with everything. Oh well, everybody's different. I feel that I've done very well with my financial management strategies thus far, and have incorporated some of his theories into my habits.

and the Millionaire Next Door... isn't that the book that states 70% of 'overnight millionaires' are bankrupt in 5 years? And those who EARN their wealth typically don't flaunt it with $100,000 cars or million dollar homes? And typically the wealthy only take one nice vacation every other year rather than multiple small trips, and somehow spend less money on them? I've read parts of it, interesting ideas but I don't have much recollection of the book other than what I stated.

Back on topic....

Caj, the time you spend whoring the off-topic forum and Flyryde forum could actually be earning you a few bucks a week. Your argument doesn't hold much weight, but I do see your point. Earning a measly $4.50 for a 15 minute survey (the equivalent of $18/hr.) while you're at work waiting for the clock to hit 5:00 isn't worth it to everybody. OpinionPlace only allows you to take a survey every 14 days... you don't have 15 minutes of boredom in a two week span? I consider my life to be VERY busy... but I too get bored sometimes. Honestly, it doesn't matter to me who takes surveys and who doesn't... I don't gain anything from it. I'm just providing you with information. Use it how you wish.

I received a PM from a member after mentioning surveys in the shoutbox. I decided others may be intersted as well, so I posted a thread for everybody's benefit.


I just tried to take an OpinionPlace survey for Paypal funds, but I have to wait 3 days before I'm elligible for another survey..