Thursday

The Paid Survey Scam-Free List

Opinion Outpost - I've been accepted to a lot of surveys from this site that pay well. It is a point based site where you convert your points to cash. Be sure to log in to the members area often as they don't always send an email to let you know they have paying surveys available. The surveys are usually fairly short and have interesting content as well. This is one of my favorites. A side note: They ask for your phone number on the sign up page but you may choose to opt out of any phone contact. I have never been contacted after giving them my phone number and opting out. [US,Canada]

American Consumer Opinion - The surveys you receive are generally short and pay well, however, you don't receive a lot of surveys per month. They automatically pay by check and it takes about a month to receive payment. Be sure to do the short 5 minute screening surveys they send as they lead to the longer paying surveys. Definitely worth joining. [International]

Cash Crate - This site offers daily surveys and they send payments every month by check. There are a lot of offers for cash on this site as well. Completing offers definitely isn't for everyone but they are a reputable site and they pay on time for the daily surveys. You will get the most out of this page by referring your friends and completing a few of the free offers though. For more information, read the seperate post about how the offers and referral system work called All about CashCrate [All countries are welcome, but US will have the most offers available]

Survey Savvy - I don't get a ton of surveys from this site but they pay quickly by check. Survey savvy has a good referral program if you have friends and family join as well. They pay you for all the surveys your referrals take. [International]

Survey Spot - I've made between $2 and $10 per survey here. I receive a steady flow of surveys from this page as well. Also, with each survey you get to play an instant win game to enter their $25000 sweepstakes. I've had good luck with this site and they pay in 4-6 weeks. [US,Canada,UK]

Pinecone Research - For this site, you have to find the Pinecone banner on a random webpage to join. If you are lucky enough to find it, join on the spot. I googled 'Pinecone Banner' and found some tips on where to look, and after a couple of weeks ran into a banner. I don't want to get too specific because they have pretty rigid rules for members. Occasionally they recruit members through their home page so it's worth checking in from time to time. They give you surveys and products to test and pay instantly through paypal. This is one of the best around if you qualify.

My Survey - My Survey offers plenty of cash paying surveys and you can also select prizes with the points you gain. They also give away $100 everyday to one lucky member, just for logging into their page. They offer Amazon gift cards, cash, sweepstakes entries, and much more. If you are so inclined, there is also an option of giving your winnings to charity. [US,Canada,UK]


Wednesday

What Survey Sites Will Ask You

With all the scams on the internet, I don't blame you if you're apprehensive about giving out your personal information. However, all of the sites I've listed here have policies of protecting your privacy and will not sell your info to any third parties. This is a short list of what information you can expect these sites to ask of you and why.

Why they ask for your contact information
These survey sites ask for your Name and Email to contact you for survey opportunities. The sites only use your postal information to mail you sweepstakes prizes, rewards, checks, and products to test.

Why they ask for gender, race, birth date, education, employment, etc..
These questions determine what demographic you belong to. For instance, there are cosmetic surveys that they only send to women or surveys related to retirement that they only send to older members. Also, if you qualify for a product test, the product may be designed for a certain profession, race, age group, etc..

Why they ask about your household makeup
Household makeup helps to determine your lifestyle. For instance, if you live alone, you are far more likely to be the sole decision maker for the purchase of products, where as a household with many children may change these choices dramatically. This also includes annual income, although most surveys give you a choice of "prefer not to answer" on that topic.

Tips for Successful Survey Taking

1.) When you first start out it is worth taking all of the surveys you get even if they are not paying surveys. Many of the sites use these non-paying surveys as screening surveys that lead to paying surveys. If you skip over the "screening" surveys some of the sites drop you as an unreliable member and don't send you the paying surveys.

2.) There is a high probability that you won't qualify for quite a few of the surveys sent your way. Because of this, it is wise to sign up for many of the free survey sites so that you can keep a steady flow of paying surveys. At times you can have a large amount of paying surveys to complete, and at other times you will have a drought.

3.) Keep up with your surveys. If you receive a paid survey opportunity, do it as quickly and diligently as you can. This will prove to the survey company that you are reliable and that you will keep up with their needs. The better your reputation, the more paying surveys you will receive. This is also important because many paying surveys have a cap on the number of people that can take them.

4.) Referrals are another great way to make money from these sites. If you have family and friends that are willing to take surveys, refer them to the pages where you've signed up and you will make money every time they take a survey as well.

5.) Don't breeze through surveys without reading the questions. Many of the surveys have quality control questions that will void your payment if you don't answer the question properly. Be as accurate as you can and become a reliable asset to the sites you've signed up for.

Tuesday

All About CashCrate

I've decided to write a seperate post about Cash Crate because it is a bit different from the other free, survey-only sites listed on the blog.

I should first mention that there is a free, daily survey available every 24 hours that pays $0.80. That is not as much as some of the other sites pay, but it will be available everyday and it adds up to around $24 a month if you keep up with it.

Cash Crate is what's known as a GPT (get-paid-to) site. This means that advertisers and companies pay CashCrate money to have you review and try products, websites, and services. In return, CashCrate passes 75% of the money back to you. You can make up to $100-$200 a month by completing the free offers and trials. It's a good idea to sign up with a seperate, free email address at cashcrate, as you will receive a lot of email in your inbox when you do the offers. I use google mail. Whether you use a seperate address or not, you can only use one email address and it has to stay the same on every daily survey or offer you do.

Cash Crate has one of the higher paying referral setups around if you are willing to tell others to sign up. There are two levels of referrals. Level one are the people signed up directly under you and level two are the people who signed up under them. When you first start out, you receive 20% of your 1st level referrals earnings and 10% of your second level referrals earnings. These numbers increase with the addition of more referrals.

You also receive a $3 bonus for any referral that reaches $10.

All of this obviously can add up. If you have 10 referrals that reach $10, you will have made $50, and if those 10 referrals have 10 referrals each that reach $10, you'll have made $450. Not bad!

I'd like to stress that you can just stick with the free daily surveys and make money on this site. There is no pressure on you to sign up other people or complete offers. You will, however, get the most out of using Cash Crate if you have others participate with you.


Sites and Scams to Avoid

I have read many negative reviews and bad stories about the following sites in message forums and survey pages across the web. I'll add to the list as I do more research over time.

surveyclub.com
vivaresearch.com
workonline4pay.com
opinionpaycheck.com
paid-online-surveys.com
paidsurveysonline.com
producttestpanel.com
nationalsurveypanel.com
gozingsurveys.com
surveyscout.com

ADVICE FOR AVOIDING SCAMS
- Avoid paying to join any survey sites
- Check the BBB about sites you're unsure of
- Use common sense, if they promise you the world, it's a scam!

Monday

Welcome to the Blog

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. My name is Steve, and I'm a stay at home dad and part-time musician. The point of this blog is to list reputable, free survey sites that I've actually used and been paid by. I've been taking surveys as an online hobby for about a year and have really enjoyed it.

Please don't expect to get rich or replace your full-time job with free survey sites. The most I've been paid in a month is about $200 when combining all of the sites I use. Considering how easy surveys are, I've been happy with the extra spending money every month.

I'll be updating content as I go. I plan to join more sites and do more research into which pages are legitimate. Again, Thanks for stopping by and reading and I hope paid surveys are as enjoyable for you as they have been for me.