Paid Surveys: Are They Any Good, Or Just Scams?

Seeing how this post on making money online has featured high in the keywords referring to my blog, I thought I would expand on one of the elements mentioned: paid surveys.

Are they any good?

Well, after trying out a fair few myself for more than a year, I can decisively say...maybe. Now don't all jump down my throat at once, I am not avoiding the issue at all. The fact is that a few sites that offer paid surveys are reasonable, and most are either useless, outright scams, or simply a waste of time.

Straight off the bat, try to avoid sites that offer to give you a list of sites offering paid surveys. You don't need them, and they are not offering from the goodness in their e-hearts. These sites either want you to pay, or receive commission from the sites they endorse. There are a few sites out there that do link you to the actual companies conducting the market research without trying to rip you off in some way; these are obviously different from the ones mentioned above in that they do not promise you untold riches and 10 virgins if you tick a few boxes now and then.

This brings me to my next point. You will almost certainly not make enough cash from paid surveys to feed yourself, let alone make any serious dint in your mortgage. Surveys come intermittently, and pay only a few dollars if you're lucky, and if you qualify for them, and if you have reached the necessary amount to get a cash payment. In my experience, I have only completed surveys from one site that has ever sent me anything in return. Valued Opinions pays fairly well in comparison to most survey sites, and from them I have received and used two $20 Coles gift vouchers. Not a fortune to be sure, but it paid for a few meals.

If I were to receive nonstop surveys from Valued Opinions, qualified for them all, and had the time to do them, I could make around 12 dollars an hr. This is just not feasible considering I receive a good survey once every few days, not 3 or 4 times an hr.

A few of you have asked questions about http://www.surveyadvise.com. I have been a member there for a long while, and granted, they introduced me to valued opinions. However, I never completed their $10 offer challenge, as some of their suggestions requested too much personal information. As a member, they send you emails regarding some site or other that is offering paid surveys or some other money making opportunity. I must say that 99.9% of their suggestions are filled with the sort of hype I warned you about in the post I linked to at the top. In effect they are rather useless, though not really a scam as far as I can tell. I believe they get commission from the sites they link you to should you sign up.

So to finish up, some are almost certainly scams, most are useless, and a few provide a genuine tiny bit of extra cash.

Have fun and be careful kids.