First off, what is a survey; A survey is a set of questions. Questions may ask about your opinions, your experiences, the types of products you use, etc. Please be completely honest and frank when answering these questions. Whenever you complete a survey, points/cash are credited to your account.
Important Note: Occasionally you will be screened out of a survey right away with a error page that says something to the effect that "someone else on your computer has already taken the survey". The reason for this a lot of times is, these research companies pass the surveys around to each other to get or earn referrals themselves. In doing so, you may have already inadvertently taken the survey through someone else. This is especially true if you belong to more than one research company. It will happen even more so on SurveySpot when you also belong to OpinionOutpost. SurveySpot doesn't send out as many paying surveys as OpinionOutpost, so the chances are if you recently finished a paying survey for SurveySpot, it will also be in your que on OpinionOutpost. Just thought I'd pass that along, since it just happened to me not 5 minutes ago!
All the information contained on this page, has been gathered over a period of 8 years from doing the actual surveys themselves, and although it's rather short considering how long it's taken me, i have done my best to include everything i've learned over that period of time to insure that you maximize your earning potential! The author (me) has put together a list of research companies that has resulted in financial gains exceeding $3500.00 a year, all part time with no set hours or quotas.. By trying out scores of different companies, i have figured out who pays what, how they pay, and how quickly they pay. By concentrating on one research company at a time and setting time limits and goals I can juggle all of these through the year. Some I cash out on a monthly basis like OpinionOutPost. The others I work at them for 10 months or so and cash them out in mid November. My personal favorite, OpinonOutpost pays with PayPal ( Their minimum payout is $10) When you request your money, it's in your PayPal account in seconds! These guys are the weekly bread winner! If they had a referral system I could retire! (JK! but they are good!) SurveySpot, although owned by the same parent company as OpinionOutpost, do not send as many survey invites and they tend to ask you to take surveys for sweepstakes drawings a lot. I've discovered that by throwing them a bone now and again (doing the freebies) I started to receive more paying surveys. Make sure to read the description on the freebie invites, I only do the ones that are "REAL" short! A lot of times a paying survey will show up after I've done a freebie. The good news is when you do reach enough to cash out they pay just as quick as OpinionOutpost! *SPECIAL NOTE*: If you are signed up for both opinionoutpost and surveyspot, you may experience difficulty signing in. Either one may "bounce" you back to their homepage when you initially sign in. Just sign back in as before, hit log in and continue! MySurvey.com pays with PayPal also, but there is a 10-14 day waiting period between the time you request your money, and the time you get it!. I noticed that after my first request, which took two weeks, it's only taken 10 days since! As for GlobalTestMarket, they are good for a decent check but don't expect any help from the so-called "support team" they seem to have their server and auto responder set on auto pilot because no matter what you tell them you will keep getting the same, generic response and no support what so ever! I've only had two issues with them ( In 7+ years) and finally gave up on emailing them and blew it off as a 60 point loss (that's what both surveys were worth) and a waste of 20 minutes! SurveySavvy pay's by check also, and it usually takes 4-6 weeks to get it. Their response to issues has always been consistent, a little slow (2 days) but they resolved the issue immediately and I've only had two issues all this time so no real problems there! These two, and a few others are my "Christmas accounts" By working at them a little at a time for 9-10 months i will request a check from them all around the first week of November and generally receive it 2-3 weeks before Christmas or sooner.These checks are the "big money" and take a lot of stress out of the holidays! I even know/heard of one person who I turned this on to who saves up for her family vacations every year! So far they have been able to put her husbands vacation checks in the bank for the last few years and still have plenty of fun! Like I said, you won't get rich, but with this simple plan you can boost your income quite a bit. Not only that, the surveys themselves are a lot like "brain training" similar to Luminosity.com. Kinda' like "mental gymnastics", they help keep you focused! Always keep in mind you will NOT always qualify for every survey so don't get discouraged. Be prepared to answer the same questions repeatedly. Requests for your age, gender, zipcode, state, household income and so on is necessary and the information is ALWAYS kept confidential! The very beginning of the survey is the "screener" as shown next;
Try not to get frustrated with it. They are only protecting themselves! Be sure to read the email invite or jumping off page for the survey thoroughly, there are hints at what to expect. Like who it's for, who they want to take it, points value, length and so on. It also gives them a chance to time you (some do, some don't) so they know or think they know that you are not "speeding" through the survey. Payment is important so open a basic paypal account with the same email address as your survey company login I.D. Using the same email with both will cut down on any confusion when you cash out your rewards! If the company log in requires a screen name, don't worry. The payment process will allow you to make sure that your money gets to you. All "personal" or "basic" PayPal accounts are free to open and there is no charge or fee to receive your money or transfer to your bank account. Some of the survey companies offer the option to send the money to a different PayPal account I.D. so check with each company to be sure. Always fill out ALL of your profiles/portraits. Filling these out helps them match you up to relevant surveys which increases your odds! Referrals help, they are often limited on the amount you can earn but are easy to do and you earn extra points/cash. Auto-fill can be helpful, but always check to be sure that it is correct. Don't let the amount of time that's is suggested with each survey invite fool you, quite often it is 5-10 mins. shorter or more than suggested. Checking your email often is a good idea. Some surveys are time sensitive. As you do more surveys you will begin to recognize individual types of templates / formats in the surveys themselves. This helps you to anticipate what to expect, therefore allowing you to answer faster. Time is money and the quicker you finish, the more you can make! Speaking of speed, something to watch out for and that can really trip you up is "trick questions". They are sometimes in the form of "for quality control purposes please select" and they will specify a number or phrase for you to mark or any number of ways so watch out! This a common practice so be careful and be sure to at least read enough to know what they doing. Lately some have even gone so far as to make it necessary to read the entire question before they tell you what to do for quality control, it's tricky so be on guard for anything!. *IMPORTANT TIP* Check survey availability on your dashboard before they send you any invites, especially with OpinionOutPost, MySurvey, I-Say and SurveySpot, and "ALWAYS" copy the study number that is assigned to each survey "BEFORE" you start in case you get cut off or if there is a problem recording your participation/reward. Don't be afraid to contact them about any problems,just remember to be as detailed as possible so they can better serve you. *SPECIAL TIP* For OpinonOutpost, when you are doing the dashboard surveys, if you are screened out of a survey,they will offer a choice to either "Take a Survey" or "No Thanks" ALWAYS choose "No Thanks". You will be directed to a instant win game for a chance at some extra points. Whether you win or not, you can go right back to your dashboard and take another survey. Also, for some unknown reason you cannot "copy and paste" your username on Opinionoutpost or Surveyspot, and I haven't a clue why!. *SPECIAL NOTE* SurveySpot does things a little different than OpinionOutpost, their surveys are a little longer and you can be screened out at any time unless it says "There are no right or wrong answers. If you made it past the initial classifying section on one of these the odds are you will be able to finish the survey! That's why I "ALWAYS" read the opening page so I know what to expect!, Also, every time you start a new survey, a new window opens up. No big deal but it's a good idea to close them out so it doesn't slow you down, "AFTER" you have copied the survey number in case you need it! UpWave and SafeCount Communities only pay in Amazon E-Gift Cards, but they add up rather quickly so if you can still get in, they're worth the time! *SPECIAL NOTE* Keep in mind you have to have your "cookies" enabled but with that said, also keep in mind that they (cookies) add up fast. It's a good idea to clear your cache and to clear your cookies on occasion! Just don't delete the one marked "INDEX" if you're on a PC! So as for scheduling and sorting out what to do and when to do it, I've figured out how to juggle all of this to turn it into a working plan! Pick one company and run them out through your dashboard. I've taken 3 in a row and then been told that there are no more or it's a freebie. I just log out(it seems to help) wait 10 minutes, log back in and start all over. Don't be thrown by their tactics of constantly asking you to do the freebies, they make good money on these and are necessary for them to stay in business i guess. I do one on occasion and who knows, maybe I'll actually win some day! After you've exhausted all the surveys on one company, take a break and then try another. Also be sure to set some goals for yourself or at least a time limit. I keep hammering away until I reach a certain point value or I no longer have any left to do. Remember that these places get new requests from corporations and companies around the clock so check in often! Sometimes I'll even retry after I've been told that there are no surveys available or at least one that pays, go back to my dashboard and get a paying survey right away so you never know, just "DON'T GET DISCOURAGED"!! Weekends are always slow and Globaltestmarket and Surveysavvy usually have the least amount of time sensitive surveys so I always work on them on sat. and sun. I always hit Opinionoutpost, I-Say, MySurvey and Surveyspot all through the week and "dashboard surf" to get the most out of them! Mysurvey gets filled fast,so check in often. They have a "mini poll" on their main page and it seems to help to take them, they're just one question so I knock them out when I can! That's about all I can think of at this point, you can be sure that as I learn/remember more I will quickly add it to this page! You can use the "short list" above left as a reminder and be sure to check back often for any updates as I come across more tips! ...Good Luck!
