by Survey Blogger on January 15, 2016
Make $5 $75 an hour doing surveys in the privacy of your own home!
If you haven't seen these ads online, and if you haven't received over a hundred similar emails, then you probably don't own a computer.
For many, finding a legitimate way to make money at home is a never ending quest. Promise after promise turns into scam after scam.
Yet, the search continues and the savvy internet marketers come up with new schemes almost daily that advertise the possibility of generous hourly wages in return for answering a few simple questions .
Is any of this even remotely possible? Yes and No.
There are opportunities to make money in exchange for filling out various types of surveys – but the legit offers are few and far between.
Can you make even close to $75 an hour? No. You can, however, make a few bucks if you're willing to wait extraordinary lengths of time.
Online survey companies can be categorized into different groups:-
• Those that pay you money in exchange for each survey you complete.
• Those that reward you with points that you can turn in for various prizes including cash redemptions, merchandise, gift cards, or even donations to charities.
• Those that offer you the chance to be entered into some weekly drawing for hundreds or thousands of dollars.
Rules of the Road
No matter how enticing an offer may sound, do not pay for the opportunity to take surveys! There are no secret sites, there is no secret stash of cash somewhere waiting for certain members to win. If you want to make money taking online surveys, every site out there can be found with a simple search for online surveys .
One of the biggest scams in the online survey industry involves making you think that as a paying member of some elite group of survey takers, you will have only the best and highest paying surveys sent to you. Don't fall for that! The only people making a steady stream of income are the ones charging – and getting annual membership dues from individuals who believe the promises of huge returns.
Before registering with any site, look for a phone number or at least a support email address. If these are not published on the site, don't waste your time. If you ever have a problem with a payment or with a survey, you'll never get any help.
Reality vs. Myth
Myth: What the scammers want you to believe is that you can take 10 or 20 surveys a day at $5 to $10 each and make yourself up to $200 a day on a regular basis. Sure, the math adds up but what they never tell you is you have to qualify for each survey! And that's the catch – you don't! The average person will qualify for only 1 out 5 surveys he receives each day, and almost all of those surveys will be in the $3 and under category. The scammers want you to believe that every survey that comes your way is cash in your pocket.
Reality: Surveys for Cash: Real surveys pay an average of $0 to $10 for a one time survey (keep in mind that the $10 ones are very rare). Most survey companies, including the most reputable companies online, don't even pay real money until you gather a certain amount of points. Depending on how many surveys you are sent, and depending on how many you qualify for, will depend on how long it takes to build up sufficient points to cash in .
Others that offer cash for each survey probably won't even pay you for quite a while. All too frequently you will see a disclaimer that states something to the effect that if you qualify for and finish the survey, you will see the money in your online account within six to eight weeks.
Once you do have the money deposited into your account, you most probably will have two options at this point. You might need to wait even longer to cash in because the site has a limit you must reach before claiming your money. For instance, some sites make you earn $30 before they give you anything. If you just qualified for a $2 survey, it could take months and months to make your $30.
Other sites promise to pay right away, but it still may very well take six to eight weeks to see your $2 in your account. If they allow you to cash in any amount at all, it could very well take an additional week or even a month to get your $2. Add that to the time you waited for it to end up in your account, and you'll find it could take about three months to get your $2. This is certainly a far cry from the $75 an hour you were hoping for!
Still other sites promise you will be paid almost immediately, and you are. These surveys are usually in the.50 to $1.00 range and could take a considerable amount of your time to complete if you do qualify. If you have a PayPal account you could do a few of these a day and expect your few dollars to appear in your PayPal account within a few days.
Surveys for Points: As you register with point based online survey sites, the most important thing for you to consider is how many points do you need to earn before you can cash in for a prize AND how many points does each survey usually offer?
As you will learn, some sites require an enormous point balance before allowing you to exchange these points for a prize, yet they only reward you with a tiny amount of points for each survey – making it virtually impossible to ever get anything at all. To compound the issue these same sites offer some very low end prizes in exchange for your enormous point balance. One site in particular requires a whopping 20,000 points before enticing you with rewards such as a Styrofoam cup holder or an out of date pair of ear plugs for a Walkman.
Some sites that reward with points, however, are a pretty good deal if this is how you want to spend your time. If you can restrict yourself to doing surveys only with sites that offer points immediately, and the same sites offer decent rewards, you could possibly plan on earning $10 a week on a regular basis. Yes, it takes time and it takes effort, and it takes some luck. You need to have access to a good number of these surveys in order to qualify for enough to make your $10. These same sites also tend to pay fairly quickly.
Pros and Cons of Doing Online Surveys
• You will make money and earn some decent rewards (Starbucks, Target, Home Depot, Blockbuster gift cards for instance).
• You do get to see information on new products before they come to market.
• The more surveys you do the better your chance of being invited to participate in higher paying online focus groups in the $5 0 $75 range for about 90 minutes of your time. Rare, but very possible.
• If you are not looking to get rich and are simply looking for an interesting way to pass the time, these can be fun.
• You really are serving a purpose. Remember – it's a two way street. You aren't being paid for nothing. You are being paid to provide consumer input for a wide range of products and services from cars, to banks, to what a new hand lotion might be like.
• You might get to try products for free! Lotions, makeup, food, clothing – you name it. After passing a qualifying survey you are asked to evaluate the real thing. Just don't forget to fill out the final survey form to get your reward on top of your free item.
• Decide if the time to do the survey and the reward offered is fair. Many surveys take 30, 40, 50+ minutes and you are only being compensated either a few dollars, or maybe even nothing. Is your time worth this effort?
• Yes, there are companies that don't pay. Keep track of every survey you do, and when you expect to be paid.
• There are surveys that kick you out because you don't qualify after you spent 10 – 15 minutes answering questions. This is a big time waster!
• Because of various problems technical issues, you may experience some sort of issue that prevents you from finishing the survey. Make certain you contact the support email or phone number to let them know what happened. Sometimes you can retake it. Most often, however, you'll have to chock it up to a total loss.
• As we already know, it can months to get paid for a survey.
• Most survey companies force you to have a PayPal account, yet PayPal will take a portion of your reward for their cash handling fee. When you are earning only a few dollars at a time, these fees can hurt.
When is a Survey NOT a Survey?
Technically, a survey is simply a bunch of questions that need answers and opinions of consumers. That's it. It is not an opportunity to buy a product or a service you may or may not have an interest in, in exchange for cash or points. However, many sites pass themselves off as paying survey sites by promoting products and services rather than asking questions.
Here are some samples of what is frequently passed off as a survey:-
• Sign up for DirecTV and earn $12!
• Register for a free trial with CreditReports. com and earn $8!
• Earn 8,000 points when you take advantage of this free shipping offer from Avon. Good only on purchases of $50 or more.
There is no benefit to you to participate in any of these promotions other than the prize they are offering. Do you really want to fight with DirecTV to cancel your subscription and only get $12 for your time?
If you're looking for a way to wile away a few hours, or if you're really looking for a little extra income, online surveys can and will provide both. But just remember – this is not a way to pay the mortgage or put Junior through college.
You'll be lucky to buy some groceries and maybe even get a few free lattes at Starbucks.
At the very least you will have a chance see new products ahead of anyone else, keep yourself busy, and have some fun!
