Paid surveys are often mentioned online as one way to earn extra money. But are paid surveys a legitimate way to make money? The answer depends heavily on the survey and the company for which you are taking them.
You can still find in-person surveys and focus groups done by marketing firms, and they are still somewhat common. However, the internet has now given these companies a more efficient way to collect data. Because of this, many firms are now choosing to conduct online paid surveys, virtual focus groups, and several other types of paid online marketing research.
There’s a fair amount of competition among these companies for your participation – which means a potential for them to be scams. With dozen of survey sites to sift through, it can be tough to find a legitimate company that delivers on its promises. This can deter people- like you- from even trying out the sites. No one wants to waste their valuable time.
Because of all the confusion in the market, we have curated a list of five different sites that offer a pretty decent reward for your participation in their surveys.
1. Swagbucks
Our top pick for a survey website is Swagbucks. This site provides much more than just survey taking, giving you tons of flexibility in how you can benefit from being a member. But it all comes down to the real question. Is Swagbucks worth it?
From us, it’s a resounding yes! First and foremost, you can cash out quickly and frequently. Like all survey sites, you get points or ‘SwagBucks’ for completing each task for the website. 100 Swagbucks is equal to $1 currently, and you earn anywhere from 50 to 500 SB’s (points) for each task completed.
Swagbucks gives you the unique opportunity to earn money back while shopping online. When you log into your Swagbucks account, you will find their shopping portal. On the portal, you will have links to popular sites like BestBuy, Amazon and more. Under each of the logos, you will see a percentage displayed. Each rate varies ranging from 2% to 20%. When you click on the logos for each company, you can save that percentage off your purchase.
By combining both survey rewards and the shopping portal, you can work to lessen the stress on your wallet.
2. Survey Junkie
Another excellent site for surveys in Survey Junkie. This site functions similarly to Swagbucks by giving you points for the completion of surveys. And again, you rack up these points and then transfer them into gift cards.
The only downfall to Survey Junkie seems to be the number of surveys. Survey Junkie requires you to take an entrance survey where you answer questions about yourself so the site can cater survey specifically to you. Unfortunately, because they want to be very specific on who qualifies for each survey, there are a minimal amount of surveys you can take in a day. This spaces out the chances you get to cash in.
3. One Opinion
When searching for the best of the best survey sites they had to meet various qualifications. OneOpinion has met all of ours: they not only pay good money for completing as many surveys as you can per day, but they also have a product testing program and payment methods that will let you access cash quickly and easily. Leaving you entertained and satisfied.
The average rate for an online survey on One Opinion is $1 to $5 which is the same amount you’d make on Swagbucks. There are chances to stumble across a $15 survey but, they will be very long. The reason for this is because the amount of money paid for a survey will depend on how long it takes to finish it. In addition to surveys, there is a fun second way to make money with OneOpinion, and that is product testing. Through their product testing program, you receive products at home that are yet to come out on the market, in exchange for your honest opinion and feedback. This is a unique opportunity to try out some cool products and help their manufactures better them before they drop on the market.
4. Inbox Dollars
Next on our list in Inbox Dollars. This site has another unique opportunity to earn money with tasks other than just completing surveys. They off you cash for watching and reviewing videos. Watching videos is another way to make money on InboxDollars, but they offer mostly the same thing as surveys do: cents for views.
For each video, you earn just a few cents. More often than not, a scratch-off card will pop up at the end. This is a fun tool the InboxDollars team is testing out. They tend to be around 2 minutes or less and tend to throw in some unique content. This can add a nice change of pace in between surveys.
While InboxDollars has this exciting opportunity, the payout is small compared to its competitors. Especially on the survey side. Often surveys under 30min will get you less than a dollar which means you earn a dollar or less in one hour. Bear in mind that you also need to make at least $30 to cash out. InboxDollars would be great as a supplement to another larger site like Swagbucks. But on its own, you may not see rewards worthy of staying.
5. My Survey
Rounding up our list is My Survey. MySurvey’s dashboard is user-friendly and very easy to navigate. It spells out point values and time estimates for each survey. They have a decent amount of surveys to complete giving you the opportunity to reach the number of points needed to rewards rather quickly.
After analyzing the point to dollar ratio for a few rewards, we found a $20 CVS Pharmacy gift card for 2,300 points (make it 115 points per dollar) and a $25 Kohl’s gift card for 2,850 points (114 points per dollar). If you want to cash out using PayPal, though, you’ll need at least 1,200 points to access the smallest option, $10. The PayPal exchange rate is then 120 points per dollar (or less than one cent per point).
The payout rate on My Survey may not be one of the highest on the market, but just like InboxDollars, you should use it to supplement another site you are already using.
Conclusion
We hope that by breaking down these sites, you can choose which one that will work best for you. If you want to make a decent amount of money by taking surveys online, you should create accounts on multiple different sites and cash in on all of them.
