Survival Guide to Online Surveys

I posted my Top 5 Online surveys a few days ago and asked for feedback on your top picks. The results are in! We had great response in the form of comments on the blog and emails with every one’s favorite online survey sites. I appreciate your participation  and feel sure that your results will go a long way in helping others decide which survey sites to choose when starting to take paid surveys. Our reader results will be in the form of a Top 10 so that the sites with the most votes overall can be included.

1) Opinion Outpost

2) Survey Spot

3) MySurvey (NFO)

4) Lightspeed

5) Global Test Market

6) Pinecone

7) SurveyHead

8/ Toluna

9) Valued Opinion

10) Synovate

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One thing I know for sure. Online paid survey sites are cyclical and my list of favorites changes almost monthly. Most of the irritations lately have come with temporary glitches and payment policies, not to mention all of the headaches that go along with merging survey sites. So if you ask me on any given day what’s the best survey site, I’ll give you a different answer, depending on which survey site is having the least problems at the moment.

On the other hand, there are other survey sites that I didn’t like at all in the beginning, but have warmed to over time. Some survey sites actually listen to member complaints and suggestions and work to improve the way they handle issues and payments. 

Another thing I know for sure. No online survey site is perfect.

With this in mind, I made a list for Mark back in February of my top survey sites. Here’s my list of Top 5 from that time period:

I thought it would be interesting if  I could compile a list of our blog reader’s top 5 online survey sites.  I’m sure that we’ll get many differing opinions on which survey sites work best for you. Leave a comment or send me an email, and I’ll post the results in an upcoming blog post. Let us know what YOU think!

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I did a Top 12 list a year ago with only a few months under my belt. Some picks fell short over time, while others maintained top honor status. I was planning to wait until I had updated the survey sites on my new “Top Ten”, but with so many requests to publish it ASAP, I decided to go ahead with the basic list, and in the next few weeks, post updated reviews about the why and the how of it all.

My Top 10 from a year ago:

1) Pinecone Research

2) Survey Savvy

3) Opinion Outpost

4) My View

5) American Consumer Opinion

6) Global Test Market

7) Surveys.com

8  Esearch

9) Your2Cents

10) Synovate

The new and improved TOP TEN BEST ONLINE PAID survey SITES

1) Survey Spot

2) Global Test Market

3) Opinion Outpost

4) Survey Savvy

5) Pinecone Research

6) Greenfield Online

7) Lightspeed

Valued Opinions

9) ACOP (American Consumer Panel)

10) MyView

I’m sure many of you have different ideas about the Top 1o from your own experience. Please let us know what YOUR list is!

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One of the very first reviews I did was about Survey Spot in January of this year. At the time, I was such a novice at all of this online paid survey business, my review didn’t give it the justice it deserved. This survey site is at the very top of my list for the best paying survey site that I have joined so far. And the good news is that is only gets better!

The first important information to have about Survey Spot is that they are slow to send paid surveys in the beginning. Don’t let this discourage you, though! It takes a month or so of doing the sweepstakes surveys before you’ll be sent the ones that pay cash. This is not to say that you won’t get ANY paying surveys, but the frequency will certainly pick up after you have established yourself with them.

Another point to consider is that you may get an email invite that says this particular survey will pay $1. Once you have completed the screen-er survey, you may find that it actually pays much more than that. I learned that the hard way after Eddie told us about his experience and I realized that I skipped the $1 survey and could have actually made $20. Since then, I keep that in mind at all times, and go ahead and take them no matter what the payout. You never know!

Always check your Survey Spot emails first thing in the morning. Many of the surveys fill up quickly, and the sooner that you reply, the better chance that you will qualify for it. Survey Spot will send out interactive surveys and product testing opportunities as well, and you don’t want to miss out on these. They pay anywhere from $10 to $50. $30 is the highest amount that I have earned to date for any one interactive survey. Regular surveys generally range from $1 to $5.

My only complaint with them is that they don’t offer Paypal as a payment option. Checks are sent to you when you request payment, and it can take several weeks to receive them. You’ll also wait at least a while to see that the survey you have taken has posted to your account.

Survey Spot offers 3 ways to win; surveys, sweepsakes and instant win. Although I have never had much faith in the sweepstakes and instant win games, several of our members on the forum have actually won. It is possible! Click here to visit the 8 pages of posts about Survey Spot on the forum. You’ll find lots more information from our members there!

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You’ll find a review of Survey Savvy on this blog but I didn’t write it! My predecessor wrote about it in his first and only post before I took over. As I was filling out my latest survey Savvy survey tonight, I realized that I hadn’t actually written about it yet. And this is one of MY favorite survey sites! I  got this message when I completed the survey (I go by Heath, but Ann Heath is actually my given name )

I’ve had good luck with Survey Savvy. I just finished a survey about perfume, which paid $5 for about 20 minutes of work. I generally have gotten at least 2 surveys a month, but in October and November I’ve averaged about 4. It was with Survey Savvy that I was asked to participate in an online community, which paid me in a $10 Amazon gift card every week for about 4 weeks. Most of the complaints that I hear about Survey Savvy are about the infrequency of their surveys. I don’t mind that at all, as long as the ones that I get are good ones! As usual, demographics matter, and there is no rhyme not reason to who gets what and when. I’ve had people tell me that they get very few and have never qualified…go figure.

Payment is by check and and takes about 6 weeks to process. Keep in mind that you have to request your check or it won’t be sent. No Paypal, but they are very reliable and there is no minimum to request a check. I’ve gotten checks for $1, which in hindsight is a little silly. But that was in the beginning when I wasn’t sure what I would earn. An average of $3.00 is paid to members for each survey completion, and as a bonus, surveysavvy offers entries into monthly sweepstakes every time you don’t qualify for a survey but has completed the survey screener.

If you are looking for a good solid survey site, Survey Savvy fits the bill!

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Yesterday I compiled the list of survey sites that pay cash. This list is also one of cash paying survey sites, but you earn points for each completed survey which are redeemable for cash. It’s all cash in the end, but a little more complicated because the point value varies from site to site. I’m adding another subcategory to this as well, which will include those survey sites that pay cash in some cases and sweepstakes in others. These sites clearly state upfront how you will be paid.

Points for cash Sites

1) Opinion Outpost:points for cash by check or Paypal.

2) Directive Analytics: points for cash (check)

3) My View: points for cash

4) Harris Poll Online: points for cash (Paypal)

5) Lightspeed: points for cash by Paypal

6) Global Test Market: points for cash

Points for cash or sweepstakes

7) SurveySpot: cash and sweepstakes (cash surveys are numerous)

8- Greenfield Online: cash or sweepstakes

9) Your2Cents: sweepstakes or cash

10) Survey Spree: cash or sweepstakes by Paypal

11) Synovate: Points for cash or sweepstakes

12) NFO/MySurvey: points for cash, sweepstakes

13) Ipsos-i-Say: cash, sweepstakes

14) African American Voice: points for cash

As always, this list can be tweaked according to your feedback. I haven’t added sites that are in my “pending review” list. I’ll add them as I review them.  The category for tomorrow will be “points for gift cards and merchandise”.

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I’ve had numerous requests for  lists of top online paid survey sites categorized by cash paying, cash and Sweepstakes, Sweepstakes Only, Points (for cash and gift cards) and offer sites. I’ll be doing one each day, and then I’ll have them listed in the index for future reference.

Click on the link to read the full review and comments.

1) Pinecone Research: At the top of everyone’s list, this is a survey site that pays cash by check or Paypal. The link isn’t always available (it’s not at the moment) but I’ll put the link here as soon as it’s available again.

2) Survey Saavy: Another of the top survey sites which pays by check. They don’t send out surveys as often as some of the other sites, but they are worth the wait!

3)American Consumer Opinion Panel (ACOP): Not frequent in the amount of surveys they send out, they are worth your time and pay well when they come. Pays by check for surveys completed, and sweepstakes for screener surveys. I’ve placed it in the cash only list, because they pay cash for completed surveys.

4)Esearch: Pays cash by Paypal after each survey you complete. Another one that doesn’t send out many surveys. But it does pay cash, so I’ve put it here.

5)Brand Institute: Paypal or check

6) Mindfield Online: Payment by check

7) Surveys.com: Payment by Paypal for every survey.

Clear Voice: Payment by Payoneer or prepaid debit card.

I hoping for feedback from you guys on this before I add it to the list. Please let me know if I have left any out, or need to take one of these off. Any comments are welcome. Tomorrow I will be doing the list of the points for cash or gift card sites that is quite a bit longer than this one. Suggestions on categories are welcome as well!

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Brand Institute/Online Global Recruiting looks promising! It’s a cash only survey site that pays by check or Paypal. I’ve listed both names, as Online Global Recruiting is a subsidiary of Brand Institute, but when you join one, you are on the list for both panels.

I joined over a month ago, and held out on the review until I had actually gotten a survey from them. I did! It was concerning pharmaceuticals and took about 25 minutes. The best news of all was that it paid $8. From what I have read, the only complaint is that you’ll only get about one invitation a month. But I’m good with that as long as I’ll be paid cash! I’d much rather had one invitation a month than 2 a day that will only get you a sweepstakes entry!

Here’s an excerpt from the email I received after requesting information:

“The insights from our valuable panel members provide companies with
enhanced decision-making capability, and influence how products and
services will be made available to everyday consumers.After registering with our panel, you will receive invitations to surveys
via email. These surveys usually take 15-30 minutes and often offer
compensation anywhere from $8.00-$100.00, depending on the project. So, let your opinions be heard and join one of our market research panel
groups by clicking the link below!”

I think that those $100 surveys from Brand Institute are for medical professionals, so I wouldn’t be counting on payouts that big. I’ve done quite a bit of research on this, and the payouts seem to be from $1 to $40 from the comments on forums and consumer reviews. Although I qualified for the first survey I got, I’ve read that depending on your demographics, qualifying isn’t always easy either. So even though Brand Institute/Online Global Recruiting has the potential to be one of the better ones, I’m holding out to see how it goes for me from here. I’ll update you as I get more survey invitations and receive payment. According to my email, payment usually takes 3 weeks to process.

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Believe it or not, I can be wrong sometimes. And this was the case in one of my first posts on this blog. I was skewering ECN Research, and I said that Mindfield Online was an offer site.  I immediately got comments from people saying that they had never gotten an offer from them and that it was a good survey site. So I responded that I may have spoken too soon, and promptly put them back on my list so that I could give it a few months and report again. I must have been dreaming about the offer, in 2 months time, I have only gotten invitations for surveys from them! Mea Culpa.

I have gotten at least 3 survey invitations a week since joining. They payouts range from $1 to $5 in my experience. Sometimes I didn’t qualify, but they enter you into a drawing for $500 or a chance to win an i-pod if you don’t. Some of the surveys are short (10 minutes) but some are up to an hour (those pay more). I have noticed that the ones I’ve gotten in the last few weeks tended to be the shorter $1 surveys. Has anyone else had that experience?

Although I think that in the past  some people have had payments issues with them, apparently, they have much improved on this front. They pay by check when you have $10 in your account and you can expect to receive it within a couple of weeks. The graphics are great and the site is very easy to navigate. I think I need to do some rearranging and put his one in the top 20!

I got an email today with one of the funniest videos I’ve seen in a while. God really knew what he was doing when he made women give birth and be responsible (for the most part) for changing diapers. Now don’t send me hate mail, I know there are millions of men out there who change their babies diapers regularly. But mothers do it more often than not. And not all daddies act like the men in this video…but I personally know quite a few who do. And it’s funny. But they get an A for effort.

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 I’ve gotten a lot of requests for a Top 20 list, so here it is! I’ve incorporated the favorites of our readers as well. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

1) Pinecone Research: This site is consistently in the top 10 of the best surveys sites. Pays by check or Paypal…read more

2) Survey Saavy: One of the best all around survey sites. Pays money earned by check…read more

3) Opinion Outpost: Reliable site that pays $1 for every 10 points by check or Paypal…read more

4) Postmaster Direct/ My View: Earn points for each survey, 1 point=$1. Great site that pays cash by check…read more

5) American Consumer Opinion: cash award for completed surveys from $4 to $50…read more

6) Global Test Market: Another survey site that shows up in any top 10 list. Points=cash…read more

7) Surveys.com: cash rewards for every survey by Paypal…read more

8  Esearch: cash payments by Paypal…read more

9) Your2Cents: Payment is by check with no minimum balance to request your money…read more

10) Synovate: Top survey site that pays cash for points earned…read more

11) Clear Voice: Pays cash by Payoneer, or prepaid debit card…read more

12) NFO/My Surveys: Request a check after earning 1000 points, 100 points=$1…read more

13)Lightspeed Panel:Earn points (1150 points=$10) for cash with payment by Paypal…read more

14) Survey Spot:…cash for surveys taken or sweepstakes and drawings, pays by check…read more

15) Greenfield Online: surveys pay from $1 to $10 dollars by Paypal…read more

16) Harris Poll Online: points for gifts or gift certificates…read more

17)Ipsos-I-say: surveys for cash, sweepstakes or drawings…read more

18) E-Poll: pays by points which can be redeemed for gift cards at various locations…read more

19) Valued Opinions: surveys pay between $2 and $6 to be redeemed by gift card…read more

20) Zoom Panel: earn points for gifts and prizes…read more

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