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Paid Surveys? Don't Bother!

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bosco
Forums Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2010
Posts: 67
#1 · Posted: 17 Mar 2010 13:33


It's almost impossible to make any kind of actual money by filling out paid surveys. The industry, by my definition, is largely a sham.

When newbies decide to try their hand at making money online, paid surveys is one of the first things they try. Most newbies have mental blocks regarding learning new skills, especially when something 'technical' is involved, so things like paid surveys, paid to click ads or read emails, etc., are very alluring.

I was glad to see this forum doesn't allow paid to click ads recommendations but am shocked to see an entire section on paid surveys.

Paid survey sties are usually a way to get you to give permission to be spammed and to try to sell products to you under the guise of you providing "market research". Think of the door to door sales person who tells the nice mom of the house that he needs practice giving his demonstration and asks if she would let him practice and she could give him her opinion of his demo. Of course it's just a ploy to try to get sales.

With these paid survey sites, have you noticed the first thing they do is collect personal information on you? This is to help them market products to you; not to qualify you for money making surveys.

They talk about high paying surveys but somehow you didn't qualify for them from the answers you gave them about your personal habits.

Guess what? Just like the Scientologists who invite you to take a "personality test", it's all a ruse to get the hooks into you.

The information you give these companies go into databases and are sold to other companies who will contact you and try to sell you things; and you give them permission by checking the boxes on their terms and (lack of) privacy policy pages.

So you somehow never qualify for all the good paying surveys they tell you about, and you are left with occasional surveys that pay you next to nothing, or actually nothing, but they tell you they put your name in a drawing for a prize.

People will tell you that you need to register with lots of companies to give yourself a chance to make money, but the reality is, it just gives you more spam and put your personal consumption info in more databases.

Some people will say they are making money with paid survey sites, but chances are their money comes from selling info guides
to other people; not from actually doing the surveys themselves.


Or it could be from CPA marketing, Cost Per Action, where companies pay you for getting others to register, or pays you
for every survey others take part in. If you get good enough to recruit others and leverage their actions, there are so many areas that will reward your efforts a lot more than the paid survey industry.

You won't see me recruiting others or selling "how to" manuals for paid surveys, even if I could make good money, because I only take part in opportunities that I believe are win / win scenarios, and paid surveys is not win / win. My win would be your loss.

I won't promote credit cards, payday loans, or tobacco or alcohol or gambling for the same reason.

By the way, some sites lump in trial offers with surveys, and it is possible to make a little money with trial offers; but trial offers are not surveys, so if you're making money from trial offers, please don't tell people you're making money doing surveys. That only lends credibility to the industry.

The bottom line is, if you want to make a steady, job replacing income from the internet, you need to learn actual skills. It can take months to build a foundation before you see any more roll in, but when it does, it can steadily snowball and really eventually turn into auto-pilot residual income while you sleep. You have to work hard, not give up and learn skills.

But if you get fooled into being happy with checks for five or ten dollars, instead of being willing to do the work to build a foundation and meet the learning curve head on, then that is your prerogative.

But don't say you were not warned.

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FreeCashMan
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Joined: 31 Dec 2007
Posts: 1113
#2 · Posted: 17 Mar 2010 14:51


I've yet to see or know of more than a hand full of people that can substantiate a good home business income potential for many from taking surveys.

If one does make any money from surveys I would suggest leveraging it into monthly residual income with a viable opportunity.

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bosco
Forums Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2010
Posts: 67
#3 · Posted: 18 Mar 2010 13:34


Right on FreeCashMan!

And like you say, the evidence of many people making decent money with paid surveys just isn't there in the first place.

People don't think they can learn skills so they settle for paid surveys, but with the right mentor(s) we all can learn skills.

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VictoriaNTC
Silver Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 755
#4 · Posted: 18 Mar 2010 14:40


I have not tried paid surveys.
I just did not sound legitimate to me.

There are many ways to make money online, it is just a matter of research and dedication.

Great post by the way!
Victoria

mountainmom5
Gold Member
Joined: 30 Aug 2007
Posts: 3097
#5 · Posted: 19 Mar 2010 00:11


Yeah, I got a headache when I did them - however, there ARE folks that have figured out a way to make money with them so I try not to knock it too hard.

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bluetexas
Forums Member
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
Posts: 13
#6 · Posted: 19 Mar 2010 03:12 · Edited by: bluetexas


For me, surveys are something I do in my spare time for extra spending money and gift cards.

mlynn
Forums Member
Joined: 10 Jun 2007
Posts: 176
#7 · Posted: 19 Mar 2010 16:26


I also take surveys during my spare time, never expect to make a fortune but a little extra to spend.

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bosco
Forums Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2010
Posts: 67
#8 · Posted: 23 Mar 2010 13:42


bluetexas:
For me, surveys are something I do in my spare time for extra spending money and gift cards.

Are you doing actual surveys?

Some sites have trial orders that they call surveys and you can make
some gift cards or decent merchandise with them. If you're doing actual surveys, I'm guessing you're spending a TON of time to slowly build up credits before you can cash them in for anything.

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fmstom
Forums Member
Joined: 24 Nov 2009
Posts: 2
#9 · Posted: 19 Apr 2010 14:10


You can make money with these types of sites, but what you're going to find out is that you're going to have to join many, or refer a lot of people.

If you want a honest answer, you probably won't make more than $30-40 on your own. Once you start referring, this is where the money comes in

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ryanbiddulph
Forums Member
Joined: 18 Apr 2010
Posts: 87
#10 · Posted: 19 Apr 2010 21:28


Most of the money is in referrals. As for getting paid from doing surveys alone it'll be difficult to make a living unless you subsist on bread and water.

Overall surveys are a tough gig to do anything other than a little part time income stream. I'd devote my time and energy to an affiliate opportunity. Learn a product or service inside out, write some articles on it, and sell it. It might take some time to generate a substantial income stream but it's worth it.

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AusPaidSurveys
Forums Member
Joined: 17 Jun 2011
Posts: 3
#11 · Posted: 17 Jun 2011 06:04


Hey Guys,

I have been in the paid survey industry for over 5 years now and happy to let you guys in on a few secrets.

1. Yes Paid survey sites are real but they are more for people who are like to earn some spare cash, freebies or prizes. They are never going to make you rich but will add a small amount to the bottom line. There are a bunch of legitimate survey companies out there but be careful as there are way more scams than legitimate paid survey companies.

If you have a ton of spare time and enjoy sharing your opinion then online paid surveys could work well for you.

2. Get paid to sites.... these are very different to paid surveys but people usually throw them in the same box. Get paid to sites pay you for completing a certain action like joining affiliate sites. Once again these companies are legitimate and you can make some money but once again it will take awhile.

3. Market Research and Focus groups - These are by far my favorite way of making money with paid surveys. You simply need to add you name to legitimate market research companies and you will start getting invited to join in focus groups. Most focus groups are held in capital cites so if you are outside the capitals you may have to stick to the online surveys. I usually get paid $80 per focus group I attend and its great to receive cash in hand.

4. The last way i have found to earn money with paid surveys is mystery shopping. Once again just put your name down with the mystery shopping companies and wait for a call. It may take awhile to improve your reputation and get more gigs but some people actually make a full time living from mystery shopping.

Anyway I hope this has helped and feel free to contact me if you need any more info

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jschuman
Forums Member
Joined: 21 Jul 2007
Posts: 169
#12 · Posted: 18 Jul 2011 08:30


I have made almost $19,000 in the last 4 years referring people to take surveys. Every now and then I will fill one out and have found you can make .50 cents to $1.00 in 5 to 10 minutes.

I guess that works out to $3 to $6 an hour to sit on your butt at home and answer questions. It beats watching The View or Wheel Of Fortune and making nothing.

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Multimastery
Forums Member
Joined: 12 Jul 2011
Posts: 18
#13 · Posted: 18 Jul 2011 10:22


Great post... Yes there are definitely scams in the paid survey world we all know that. On the flip side there are some legitimate firms out there, but overall you won't make a ton of money taking surveys, at most a few bucks or a prize here & there for sharing you opinions. Some people do make more than others, it all just depends.

Also, you are right in pointing out the getting paid to try products, trial offers are not surveys. That's a whole 'nother ball game. Also focus groups are not "surveys" either. They are Focus Groups.

Yes, they are similar in the aspect that they aim to get your opinions, but online surveys and paid focus groups (the real ones that take place predominantly offline) are two different things, which is why they are titled differently. And with a focus group you can earn far more than any online surveys.

I'd advise anyone to thoroughly research and test survey programs for themselves. Only go for the free ones, you shouldn't have too pay a dime to be involved in these endeavors, not even for a list. The info on paid surveys is so public that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to locate information about them if you just take a look around.

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vitaminq
Forums Member
Joined: 12 Jul 2011
Posts: 3
#14 · Posted: 20 Jul 2011 14:59


There's a lot scams out there, but I have been able to make some extra money from online surveys. I agree with other posters that you do your research and never, ever "pay to play".

Unless you have a website that makes money getting others to sign up for surveys, it's never going to be a huge income stream, but every dollar counts. I can earn an extra $50-200 / mo. without spending much time on them.

I'm currently trying to get more into the mobile surveys. That way I can do them while I'm in line or waiting for someone. It's dead time; I mine as well be earning a few $$ with it.

sk8erpizimp
Forums Member
Joined: 4 Nov 2010
Posts: 11
#15 · Posted: 23 Jul 2011 20:24


I make a decent amount taking surveys you wont get reach but shoot its money in your pocket, and if you know how to get traffic to websites its pretty easy to promote them because just about everybody is looking for free ways to make money online.

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Gringo
Forums Member
Joined: 29 Jan 2009
Posts: 48
#16 · Posted: 27 Jul 2011 13:34


I make a good amount of money doing surveys. However what I have found out is that for sure you will never get rich but if you look at it like I do. You get 2 to 3$ extra an hour while your doing them. I normaly do them while at work doing other things at my liesure. This way I still am getting my full time salery but enhancing it with the surveys. I just did a 80 $ focus group and all I had to do was answer 10 questions So that was not bad. I average daily about 10 surveys from many different companies. I would say just keep with it and you will earn some money just not a full time job salery. Plus you get to voice your opinion and get free stuff while doing it.

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Survey Taker
Forums Member
Joined: 28 Jul 2011
Posts: 15
#17 · Posted: 28 Jul 2011 18:19


Actually it is possible to make money. In reality it should just be used as a supplement to regular income, especially if you have extra time.

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