The Money Making Review

A survey site is a good place to start earning money on the internet.  The amount and type of surveys you will receive will be based on your profile questionnaire.  The rewards differ based on the length of the survey, the needs of the marketer and the amount of responses needed.  One of my favorite survey sites is My View.  I have been a member for about 2 years.

With My Views I have never had problems getting paid for my completed survey.  The site is upgrading their rewards tracking, previously rewards were paid as earned (after confirmation), now they are accumulated in your bank.  I have noticed with this site that the time it takes to “confirm” your survey takes longer than other sites.  However, this is a cash based system instead of points which is something that I prefer.  (UPDATE!: They are now using a point system that you can use to get a pre-paid debit card)  I like getting cash rewards instead of accruing points to purchase something in their bank. You will need to get $25 dollars approved before ability to cash out.

The only problem with My Views that I find annoying (but not a deal breaker) is that the site makes you confirm your basic demographics before each survey.  In other words, confirmation of your age, sex, and income etc, then when you get into the survey, you have to complete the same questions again!  In the second portion is when you will get eliminated from being able to take the survey.  It takes precious time, which you will find is very important. If make this a hobby (cause you can’t make enough money to make it your day job) know to take your time to complete each survey, if you rush through it too fast you will be dismissed from the survey and not get compensation from your survey.

I enjoy taking the time for the surveys, and it makes me feel like I am able to help a business help me.  I have found the business to be honest and have received my payments on the timeline that they gave.

You can visit their website at: www.myviews.com – you can also sign up with them through My Points and get points!!!

NPD Online Research is an online survey site that gives points based on your qualification for each survey.  As with all (legit) survey sites, there is a profile that will help to narrow your survey invitations so there is relevance and more chances for you to qualify.

NPD offers points that you enter into a sweepstakes of your choosing (out of what they have available), instant wins for points or prizes and a game that can increase the amount of points after your survey is complete.  I have been a member of NPDOR for about 2 years, I get about 3-5 survey invitations per week and qualify for the majority.  I like the way the set up is on their site; it is easy to move through the surveys.  As with all survey sites, it is important to take your time and answer the questions; if you rush through a survey the site will not give you credit and you will be out of luck for spending so much time on it.

In the two years of being a member I have not been able to win any of the prizes.  As a last attempt I saved almost 2,000 entries for the $100 daily sweepstakes, but did not win.  In conclusion, the surveys are interesting and if you really like taking surveys this is a good site; however, if you want to be sure that you will be rewarded, this is not the site.

You can visit their website at: www.npdor.com – you can also sign up with them through read emails get paid sites (good way to get some money for signing up for something you would have signed up for anyway).

I guess AOL is losing enough marketing money to start their own survey site that rewards those who qualify and complete surveys.  Opinion Place is the same type of paid survey taking as others.

Once thing I really like about Opinion Place is that you get paid right away, it does not go into a bank for future pay out.  I chose to get my payments directly into my PayPal account.  There are other ways to get paid including having it count toward your AOL account, American Airlines miles, Amazon credit, and sweepstake entries.  (Although, if you are still paying for your AOL account…there is another conversation to have in the future.)  With the PayPal account, the money goes right into the account and I have had no problems getting paid.

This is a more recent occurrence; I signed on right away and have made about $50.  There is only a couple of invites per week and are usually filled very quickly!  Depending on the amount of the award, the quicker it is filled.  To give you an idea, there was a $5 reward on an invite and in the one hour it took to check my email the survey was filled.  So, if you do not have regular access to your email account (needs to be an AOL account); I would not expect to be able to complete all surveys.

You can visit their website at: www.opinionplace.com.  I have not seen them on any other get paid to sign up, but if you do, please leave a response.

Zoom Panel is an online survey site that gives points based on your qualification for each survey.  As with all (legit) survey sites, there is a profile that will help to narrow your survey invitations so there is relevance and more chances for you to qualify.

Zoom panel give points based on qualification for surveys.  The rewards seem to be good quality.  The amount of points that you have to get versus the amount received for the survey completion is not good.  I get about 2-3 per week and qualify for at least one of them.  The points range from 5 – 250 points per survey.  One thing I like about the site is that you get a reward when you do not qualify for the survey.  Yes, it is only 5 points, but at least it is something.  I like the surveys that they offer and have been part of many of the recurring surveys that are rewarded with bonus points after completing a certain amount of the surveys.

In the two years of being a member I have only retrieved one piece of merchandise. Since then I have chosen to save my points for a larger reward.  I have noticed that they have added Amazon credits to the rewards folios, which I find a better value than most of the merchandise available.

You can visit their website at: www.zoompanel.com – you can also sign up with them through MyPoints and get points for joining as well as other paid read email sites.

Global Test Market is an online survey site that gives points based on your qualification for each survey.  As with all (legit) survey sites, there is a profile that will help to narrow your survey invitations so there is relevance and more chances for you to qualify.

I get about 2-3 per month and qualify for at least one of them.  Since there are so few offering to take surveys it is not a very lucrative site.  In addition, since it is points it is hard to get to a prize.  I have recently closed my account since I was not gaining any prizes and needed to focus time on those that will reward me.

In the two years of being a member I have received one prize, using my saved points for a prize before deactivating the site. Sad scenario and the surveys do not strike a memory.  I really like taking surveys that are fun and different; this site just does not seem to have them.  In conclusion, I would recommend other survey sites before this site.  There is not enough reward for your time and the site issues are overly annoying.

You can visit their website at: www.globaltestmarker.com – you can also sign up with them through MyPoints and get points for joining as well as paid “read email” sites.

Ipsos I Say, is a point system survey site.  As with other sites, you would need to complete a profile to get emails sent to you to invite you to complete appropriate surveys.  The emails for the surveys do not give you the amount of the points you can receive for the survey; however, after you click into it the first page gives you the amount of points that you will get as well as the estimated amount of time it will take to complete.  One extra step depends on your time if it is worth it or not. I like I Say, because they have offers of product tests.  This is something that really interests me and makes me really feel like I am making a difference in the consumer’s life.  Plus, the monetary rewards are even better!  You do not have to send anything back and get to use the entire product.  The main thing they are looking for is confidentiality and allergies.  So, if you can’t keep it under wraps or have lots of allergies, find something else. There is a minimum for cash out on your points at 50 points, which translates to about $5. 

UPDATE: Starting January 14, 2010, you will be getting updates on your points via email.  They are changing the site and should be done in March 2010.  This update includes having the ability to complete surveys, see your points in real-time after completing a survey, order rewards, get all the information you need about membership and more in the one stop shop.

With a HUGE listing of merchants you can get gift certificates it is hard to choose. One can also chose merchandise from their rewards center.  In addition, there is a chance to win after the survey is complete, sweepstakes style after answering a question on Poll Predictor.  You get points toward the sweepstake entries that are not part of your points for rewards.   I have never won, but take the time to play, just because I find it fun.  In other words, if you play or don’t; it does not affect your reward points.

You can visit their website at: www.i-say.com – you can also sign up with them through read emails get paid sites (good way to get some money for signing up for something you would have signed up for anyway).  I would also recommend checking on MyPoints.com to see if they are offering points to sign up.

Valued Opinions is a survey site that gives its members cash allowance toward rewards for completing surveys.  I like that in the invitation it states the amount of reward that is offered to the member before completing the survey.  There are usually interesting and informative surveys that are offered for a good amount of a reward.

Since I joined about a year ago, I have earned over $60 in rewards.  The site has a minimum to cash out your rewards, at $20 you can cash out your account for that amount in the form of a gift certificate to Amazon, pre-paid Visa cards, and many more.  One of the bad things about this site is that the only amount you can cash in is at $20, so if you have $21.50, you can only cash the $20 and the other $1.50 stays in your account.  I recently received a Visa Debit card pre-paid for the amount, man are those things annoying!  I prefer the gift certificates; at least you know how much you have left.

One can also tell that they care about their members and want to make sure that the members are happy with the set-up of the surveys.  After each survey, you have an opportunity to give them feedback about the survey itself (yes, a survey on the survey) which is nice.

You can visit their website at: www.valuedopinions.com – you can also sign up with them through read emails get paid sites (good way to get some money for signing up for something you would have signed up for anyway).  I would also recommend checking on MyPoints.com to see if they are offering points to sign up.

Harris Poll is a survey site that gives its members “HI Points” which can be used toward prizes within “gift folios”.  In addition, to every completed survey you are entered into a sweepstakes for $10,000.

Since I joined almost two years ago, I have earned almost $50 in rewards.  I try to choose the money equivalent as a prize.  In this case it has been Amazon gift cards.  The site has offers of sweepstake gift folios in which you use your points toward entries into their sweepstakes.  As many of the regular readers know, I do not like this type of award.  Although, the appeal is that you will get a bigger amount there is no guarantee that you will win anything.  I like to get something for the work that is put into surveys.  The sweepstakes folio starts at 200 points, this is about 2 surveys as they average 100 points each, but it depends on the survey.  Next the gift folios start at 800 and go up to 10,000 points.  I like that you are able to preview folios before you get to that amount so you can decide if it is worth it to you to wait.  They have also added new folios that are to be directed toward teens and young adults (I find these prizes better).

I like their main website allowing you to review all of your history; including, full history of your points per survey completed.  It is easy to navigate and does not overcrowd any other information.  I have not had the need to get involved with support, so I do not know if they have a good support system to offer.  It is important to understand that when you first sign up your Harris Poll Online passwords and the main awards website’s password are not the same (HIpoints).

The survey invitations are only available through your email; once deleted you are not able to get back onto the survey through the home page.  When you have completed the survey you are told how many HIpoints you have earned and there is a link to go to the rewards website.  A unique piece of Harris Poll is that at the end of the survey you are given a link to access the results of the survey.  This is different than most other survey sites that you do not get any feedback on the results of the surveys.

You can visit their website at: www.harrispollonline.com – you can also sign up with them through read emails get paid sites (good way to get some money for signing up for something you would have signed up for anyway).  I would also recommend checking on MyPoints.com to see if they are offering points to sign up.

Polling Point is a survey site that specializes in political and consumer polls. It gives points for completing polls based on email invitation. Awards for completed surveys are usually 500 points for the survey; however, there are opportunities to make 1,000 points on some longer surveys. I joined about a year ago, and have earned 32,000 points. This is just enough to get a prize of 2 movie tickets (Value of $15?). There are standard polls sent out that are interesting in their set-up, they ask more about consumer products and your thoughts / feelings about those brands. There were interesting political polls during the election. I think it also helped that the company who runs the site; are based out of California and it was when I lived in California so there were specific questions for that area. As far as rewards go for this site; they are hard to achieve. The first prize is at 17,500 and it is a Polling Point bag. Good advertising for them, but does not help me much. The highest reward prize is worth 100,000 points and is $100 cash. In other words, if you are doing these surveys for the rewards and cash – skip this site; however, It is a good site to voice your political opinion. When the survey is completed they do ask how the survey was and if you have any feedback that may be typed into an open text box. I like that they care enough to ask the surveyed if the survey was of good quality. You can visit their website at: www.pollingpoint.com – you can also sign up with them through read emails get paid sites (good way to get some money for signing up for something you would have signed up for anyway). I would also recommend checking on MyPoints.com to see if they are offering points to sign up.

**Update Polling Point is now YouGov Polling Point.

E-polls is a survey site that gives its members points towards a rewards store that includes merchandise and cash!  Your email invitation will include how much the possible reward would be if you qualify, it does not state the exact amount.  Most surveys are 500 points they increase from that point based on the length of the survey.

I find this survey site to have long surveys for the amount of the award.  The topics range and some are interesting while others are overly redundant.  Make sure you are paying attention on this survey site, they are quick to throw the quality question into the questionnaire so pay attention or have your survey thrown out and get no credit.

Since I joined about two years ago, I have earned $50 in rewards.  The smallest amount of points to get a reward is 2,500 (about 5 surveys).  They allow for donation of points to give back to several different charities.  I like that they offer a PayPal and other gift card options as a reward.  If you have additional points, they stay in your bank of points until you earn enough to get another reward.  As with most survey sites, it pays to save; the higher your points the better the reward.

You can visit their website at: www.epollsurveys.com – you can also sign up with them through read emails get paid sites (good way to get some money for signing up for something you would have signed up for anyway).  I would also recommend checking on MyPoints.com to see if they are offering points to sign up.