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Even though I personally hate doing surveys, I've been doing my share of them for some time now and testing different companies so I could give you moms my honest opinion concerning which companies offer the best online paid surveys.
Before I start with the details on these companies, however, I want you to know that the money you earn by taking surveys is piddly. I refer to it as pocket change in a squidoo lens I wrote about this subject entitled, How to Earn Money Taking Online Surveys at Home. If anybody tells you differently or makes claims like "Make hundreds of dollars a day filling out surveys!" don't believe them...it's simply not true!
Right now I'm testing over 20 different companies and will be adding reviews on each of them to this site in the future. If you don't want to miss these, you'll want to subscribe to my private update list (below).
For now, I'm going to start with three companies that have a good reputation and have been around a long time. These are not necessarily my top picks; nor are they listed in any special order. I'm just starting with these three because I've earned more with them than I have the others.
**The links I provide here are NOT affiliate links. However, you'll notice that the squidoo pages I wrote outside of this site do contain affiliate links and advertising, so please be aware of that.
I finally achieved Gold Member status with this company, but it took me ages to do it! I have mixed feelings about this company, so before you sign up with them, you'll want to read the squidoo lens review I wrote called, What are the Pros and Cons of Inbox Dollars?
If you decide to do surveys and want to work for a lot of companies, you might want to join Inbox Dollars first--before all the others--so you can benefit from the bonuses you'll get for joining these companies within your account.
This is my absolute favorite of all the companies I've tested so far. I plan to write a more comprehensive review later, but here's the quick version for now.
Opinion Outpost rewards you with points. 1 point is worth 10 cents. I just logged into my account and saw that I have 63 points that I've not been paid on, which means they currently owe me $6.30. The good thing is that they only pay for surveys, nothing else, and there are always plenty of survey opportunities, unlike some of the other companies. I've earned several checks from them so far and IF I was going to do surveys for a living (not gonna happen), this would be the one company I'd focus my energies on.
Another thing I like is how organized and accurate thier records are. Every survey you take has a number (as with all companies) and when you log in, you can see the surveys available to take, the surveys you've already taken, the results of each one, and the points you've earned. There's no need to keep your own records with them, so this ends up saving you time. I'm also pleased with their Customer Support Department.
I can't think of anything bad to say about them yet, but I might down the road. Be sure to subscribe to my update list (below).
3) TOLUNA
This company is terrible when it comes to payout. It's more of a social network (like a forum or Facebook) where people earn a few pennies for posting and commenting on each other's posts. They do offer surveys as well, but I quickly got discouraged with these because most of them were super long, the pay was chintzy, and I hardly every qualified for them.
However, there are a few things I do like about Toluna. One is that they've been around a long time and I did actually receive two $20 checks from them over the course of about 9 months. I could've earned more, but I was testing other programs as well and my time was very limited. The other thing I like is that it's fun, once you get the hang of it. It's an easy way to develop friendships with people and learn a lot at the same time, if that's something you want to do.
Toluna also works on a point system. Different activities reward you with points. The bad thing is it takes 60,000 points to receive $20.00. If you do the math on this, you'll see why I said the pay is bad. Each point is only worth .0003 (3/100 of one penny) which means that when they send you an email saying they have a survey for you that pays 5000 points, all that means is they are going to pay you a measly $1.67! Most surveys take you a good 30 minutes, so you can see why they're not worth your time.
A Word of Warning
If you Google the subject of online surveys, be careful. You'll see lots of so-called "review" sites posing as authorities on the subject of free online surveys. If you look closely, though, you'll see that they're nothing more than a directory of affiliate links to the survey companies.
There's nothing wrong with affiliate links if you've actually tried the program you're promoting or at least know and trust the person who created it. Otherwise, if you act like something's good and you really know nothing about it, then you can't be trusted. It's that simple.
Also, if you see an ad in the paper (or anywhere) asking you to send money for an information package or to cover the cost of getting trained so you can "get paid cash for online surveys," don't do it. Everything you need to know can be found online and you don't need special training!
Personally speaking, no survey company can come close to paying what my company pays me each week in residual income. For that reason, online surveys aren't the best use of my time. If you'd rather be paid what you're worth (and more), feel free to contact me.
I hope this information has been of help to you!
