Survival Guide to Online Surveys

It seems that many of our members have had their issues with SurveySpot resolved within the last week. According to the emails that I have received, however, some people are still unable to cashout. I went to the SurveySpot Facebook page and found this message that may be helpful for those of you who are still having problems:

 Hi All! Have you had more success with your claims recently? Before the weekend we made updates to our claim page which should’ve improved the claiming process. Please try to claim your rewards again to see if your particular claiming issue has been resolved. If you’re still having trouble claiming please post your err…or messages on this page and I will try to help you through the process.

If you are already a Facebook member, just search SurveySpot to go to their page. If you aren’t a member of Facebook, it’s easy and free to join, even if you are only going to use it to get resolution with SurveySpot. Go to http://www.facebook.com and set up an account.

I hope this helps those of you who are still experiencing problems. Let us know if you have received payout! SurveySpot usually resolves their issues, but is shouldn’t take 3 weeks.

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Seems that SurveySpot is having issues again with members not being able to cashout with Paypal. I’ve gotten numerous emails from exasperated SurveySpot members who are frustrated with the lack of response. I went to the surveyspot Facebook page to see what I could find out. Here are some examples of the problems being experienced:

I have been trying to cash out for the past 10 mins and I keep getting a message saying, “Sorry, internal error. Please, try again later. For more assistance, please, contact the helpdesk, using the error code 99999.0.” And we know helpdesk doesn’t help anyone..might as well discontinue that service…now I need this …money and it seems like its been happening for the past few days. I am going to keep trying and hope it is fine by tomorrow because the last time..it was weeks, and that’s not good for business.

Other folks are getting various error codes, while some are getting messages that their account has been flagged for fraud or their Paypal account isn’t verified. The only message posted on the SurveySpot Facebbook page from SurveySpot was this one:

Attention SurveySpot members- It is now a requirement to have a verified PayPal account in order to redeem your points successfully through PayPal. Please go to the News Section of our website for more information about verified PayPal accounts and how to set one up. Members will only be able to make a claim again onc…e their verified PayPal account has been completed.

I hope it is a glitch in their system and that this problem will be resolved quickly. Here is a post from SurveyPolice forum who may have the answer. If you are experiencing problems, try this:

Well miracle of miracles I finally got my reward redemption problem with survey spot fixed. One of their IT people called me last night and apparently the glitch was with the adobe flash player. There was a glitch in it. So we got it fixed and I ran a download so I made sure I had the latest version. Its funny when you file a complaint with the BBB how fast things get done! Anyway I just wanted to share this with those still having problems. Go to the adobe site and make sure you have the latest version of adobe flash. its adobe 10.1. I hopes this helps.

Have you been having problems with reward claims on SurveySpot? Let us know if you have, or if you have figured out a solution!

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Lee posted a new poll on the forum asking everyone to vote on which of the following sites would you recommend from a list of some of the lesser known online paid survey sites. I’ve written about a few of them recently and am planning to update the rest of them in the near future. As is always the case, different people can have vastly difference experiences on any one survey site.  I thought it would be interesting and useful if you (our blog readers) would go to the poll on the forum and vote. If possible, in our comments area here on the blog, pick your favorite of the sites listed and leave a comment about why you like that one the best. I’ll use all of this information when writing my updated reviews.It’s always good to have input from multiple sources to get a clearer picture!  Here is the list:

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In case you haven’t checked the daily surveys at Yourfreesurveys lately, a new daily survey has been added to the list of surveys available. The SurveyHead daily ($1.00) survey joins the Yourfreesurveys daily($.90) and Opinions Here daily ($1.05) surveys to help you reach payout ($30) sooner. The potential for daily earnings is now $2.95. To take a the daily surveys, login to your account with Yourfreesurveys and click on “current surveys”.

Most of you are probably familiar with the daily survey process, but it’s a good idea to revisit the rules and how it works so that you can get the most from your experience.

1) You are allowed to take one of each of the 3 daily surveys offered. If you don’t qualify, you can take a survey as many times as you like until you do.

2) You will not qualify for every survey that you attempt. It’s the nature of the process. It can be frustrating. Clearing your cookies before taking a survey can help you to qualify, but won’t guarantee it.

3) Taking daily surveys from numerous sources can also hinder you progress. It’s a good idea to start with the survey site that pays quickly and reliably before taking daily surveys from another source. Sometimes daily surveys only allow one per day no matter where you take it.

4) Yourfreesurveys credits you for the daily surveys you take twice a week (usually on Tuesday and Thursday). Your Paypal account will be credited automatically within a few days when your account balance reaches $30. Payment to Paypal is made twice a week as well. (If you reach the $30 payment on Friday, your Paypal account will be credited by the following Tuesday.

5) Be sure to take your time and answer the questions asked thoughtfully. If you try to rush through, the daily survey site could flag you as cheating. Even if you are an experienced survey taker, your response times can be recorded and too little time spent on each question can cause problems.

I hope this information helps. If you have any additional thoughts or tips for the daily survey process please let us know!

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Toluna, formerly Your2Cents, and now merged with Greenfield has had its issues of late, not to mention the confusing nature of all of the mergers, changes and the like. I have found that since becoming part of Greenfield, the points for surveys  has decreased from about $2 per survey to less than $1. Because 3000 points equals $1, the 900 point surveys are more than annoying since all you get is $.30 for your time. I still take the online surveys, but only when I have the extra time.

Laura and Lee had some great suggestions for getting more out of your experience with Toluna that I thought I would pass along. They have helped me to increase my earnings and hopefully you will find them useful as well. From Laura’s post on the forum:

I’ve actually had pretty good luck with toluna since the merger. I was pretty wary at first since I HATED Greenfield surveys, but I have had a better experience since the companies combined. Here’s a few tricks that made collecting points at toluna easier / more time-efficient:http://us.toluna.com/mysurveys and take surveys directly through the site. If you get offered a survey that doesn’t pay well – just hit refresh! I skip over the 900 point ones (I sometimes do them if they’re 10 minutes or less, if I’m bored), and do the ones that offer a better payment (just finished one for 12,000 points, so they are there.)

Let us know what your experience with Toluna has been. Do you have any tips that you’ve discovered?

1) Sponsored polls & topics on the toluna site. I have to give credit to LapisLee for this tip he posted earlier this year. toluna hosts quick little polls that pay anywhere from 15 to 250 points. Not a lot at first glance, but I think it’s a much better payment in terms of time spent then those 900 point (aka $0.30) surveys that take 10-30 minutes. I just log in for about two minutes a couple of times each day and do all of them. I find that I can actually make around 200 – 900 points a day just doing those!

2) You can earn points for writing your own opinions. All that’s required is 80 words or more, for which you get 100 points. You can earn up to 5,000 a month just doing those. If you like to write, rant, blog, whatever, it’s easy work.

3) Go to http://us.toluna.com/mysurveys and take surveys directly through the site. If you get offered a survey that doesn’t pay well – just hit refresh! I skip over the 900 point ones (I sometimes do them if they’re 10 minutes or less, if I’m bored), and do the ones that offer a better payment (just finished one for 12,000 points, so they are there.)

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I have always loved SurveySpot. It’s one of my favorite online paid surveys and has consistently provided more money into my pocket than any of other  survey site. That being said, surveyspot recent issues have been troublesome and annoying. I received this email from Martyn:

Can you find out what’s up with SURVEYSPOT  and their payouts. Their payout function has been “unavailable pending an upgrade” but it has been over a month. I have emailed them  but have received no response. Please try and get me an answer.

Good question, Martyn. I’ve sent several emails to surveyspot with no response but did find at least some dialogue on the surveyspot Facebook FanPage where the problems have been discussed. From the FanPage:

Mar 23: We apologize for the inconvenience but surveyspot’s system enhancements are taking us longer than expected to complete. Please continue to be patient during this project phase- the Rewards Claim section will be available soon.

Mar 29: The Rewards Claim page is now available. We want to thank you for your patience during our maintenance and we apologize if this caused any disruption in your normal use of our site.

(There were 87 comments that people were getting “invalid links” and it was still not working).

Mar 29: Thank you everyone for your feedback and making us aware of this problem. Our IT team is currently working on this and should have it fixed shortly.

Mar 29: Our IT has addressed this issue and everything is now working appropriately. Thank you all for bringing this to our attention.

(From what I can tell, most people were able to login after the last “try” with only a few people still having trouble claiming rewards).

I totally understand the problems with websites upgrading their systems and dealing with survey issues when trying to improve services to their members. What I don’t understand is how surveyspot with all of its resources, could be experiencing major problems for almost a month. It has been more than inconvenient. Hopefully it has all been resolved and the new upgrade will be worth all of the recent headaches. Let us know if SurveySpot is up and working for you!

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Lee, one of the moderators on the forum and our  survey site aficionado, posted a comment yesterday that I thought had some great insights that everyone should read. Here are Lee’s tips for how to manage your online paid survey site list:

Out of the thousands of so-called legitimate survey sites out there, I would guess that less than 50 are really worthwhile. Personally, I started out with about 10-20 core sites that are highly recommended by trusted online blogs such as this one, Survival Guide to Online surveys, as well as getpaidsurveys.com and surveypolice.com. Eventually, I found about 30-35 that were fairly well compensated and that have relatively few problems; although, even the best survey sites, such as surveyspot and GTM, have had their good and bad periods.

You have to follow your instincts and be very patient before cancelling and unsubscribing to a survey site. If I can’t make at least $50 a year from a survey site, then I deprioritize it, but I don’t unsubscribe from it unless the emails become bothersome, like InboxDollars/SendEarnings and Tik Tik cash. Sites like MyView, Mindfield Online, LightSpeed, Epoll, ClearVoice, Viewpoint and Brand Institute don’t earn me as much money, but they are well-behaved and unobtrusive.

Sites likeSurveySpot, Global Test Market, Opinion Outpost, YourFreeSurveys, Valued Opinions, Surveyhead, MySurvey.com, Toluna, HCD and Pinecone Research are my bread and butter, earning me significant amounts of money and gift certificates every year and I am more than willing to show them patience and to give them the benefit of the doubt when things become difficult concerning pending credits or incentive redemption. These sites are all generally recognized as the cream-of-the-crop and these are the ones everyone should be a member of.

Although I am aware of some who spend eight hours a day, or longer, taking paid online surveys, I rarely spend more than three or four hours per day with plenty of breaks, because in the beginning I spent much longer and it drove me bonkers! On the other hand, if you are unwilling or unable to spend at least one hour per day, most days of the week, then paid online surveys are probably not for you. If you have some free time every day and are willing to work somewhat diligently and answer questions honestly, then you should easily be able to earn an extra $100-$200 per month within the first six months of taking paid online surveys.

Have fun with it and don’t get discouraged if you don’t get those $200 Invoke Interactives right away. Also, it only takes one contest win to change your luck. I won both an Apple Macbook ($1200) and an Apple iPod Touch ($200) in February 2009 and that gave me all of the incentive I needed to continue!

Great advice, Lee! Anyone else have any tips for us?

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It’s no wonder that people get frustrated with paid surveys. With survey sites advertising bogus claims of wealth, one might assume that an early retirement and riches will follow.  Not a chance. Make no mistake, these claims of thousands of dollars a month in earnings are patently false.

By far the most asked question that I get from readers of this blog is concerning how much money can be earned from participating in online paid surveys. Most people have unrealistic expectations about how well they will do when first getting started. Over the week-end, a blog reader asked if they could stop getting surveys when they earned $9000 because they couldn’t earn more than that.  That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Another person said that his time was worth no less than $60 an hour.  My time is valuable as well, but there aren’t many jobs, much less online work from home opportunities that pays that much.

Hating to be the bearer of bad news, I have to explain that you should never quit your day job to take online paid surveys. You will never, ever, make $1500 a month even if you joined every survey site on the planet. It’s not going to happen. And although you may get a $50 survey on rare occasions, you will spend much more the 30 minutes completing it. And just to reiterate, rare is the operative word here.

One of the best things about this blog (and the forum) is the people who willingly share their experiences with the rest of us. I earn $100 a month on average taking paid surveys, but I am not as dedicated as some. However, many members have graciously posted their earnings over on the forum. Judging from their experiences, $300 a month is probably the most you could expect. You can find this information here.

Will you make that much in the first few months after beginning online paid surveys?  Most survey sites have payout minimums that you have to reach before cash out. These minimums range from $1 all the way up to $100 so it can take several months before you actually see any money.  Survey sites will also start sending higher paying surveys after you have taken surveys with them for a while and you have established a reputation. It takes time.

The bottom line is that you CAN earn extra income by taking online paid surveys. But it is not going to happen overnight, and you won’t get rich by any stretch. An extra couple of hundred dollars a month is welcome, though, especially in  our current recession.  But keep your expectations realistic and you’ll avoid frustration.

What’s the most you ever earned in a month taking online surveys? How long did it take before you received your first earnings?

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