Paid Survey Websites Disappoint

One of the older Internet income ideas is the paid survey website. These networks pay varying amounts of cash, reward points, or prizes for participation in market research surveys. The subject of the surveys can vary from product reviews to movie trailers to advertising reviews to just about anything else. The money or prize acts as an incentive for surrendering valuable time and information for companies that want to determine customer reactions to a good or service. However, like many Internet income ideas, paid survey websites are rarely a reliable source of income.

Most paid survey websites do not take you directly to the source of all the cash. In most cases, you cannot simply join and start taking surveys. Most membership sites simply connect the user to a "database" of market research groups, and most websites claim that they have exclusive rights to the groups offered in the database. That is often a lie.

So, you join the paid survey website and access the database. Now, you have to register for as many of the market research groups in the database as possible. You wait hopefully and you still don't see any surveys for you to take. The next page on the website informs you that they have collected your information to help match you to appropriate surveys. For your convenience, the administrator will contact you when surveys are available. By this point, you have probably spent an hour online, and you're still not making any money. Tough luck.

Most paid survey websites just want your money. With some websites, you must pay a fee (usually around $39.95) to access the database. Most sites insist that this practice separates the serious survey takers from the crowd. However, after paying for the membership, you're taken to the same database of market research groups and forced to register for as many sites as possible. Now you've lost time and money.

You will not "get rich quick" from doing paid surveys. Exercise caution with websites claiming that its members make thousands of dollars each day, week, or month. Unless those members get very lucky and don't require eating, sleeping, or blinking, it's probably a scam. In most cases, the math simply doesn't add up. Sites might claim that they offer $25 surveys, but these surveys are rare and incredibly long and tedious.

Overall, paid survey sites should be avoided. There are some genuine sites, but the overwhelming majority are scams. You will only lose time, money, and patience, and you'll rarely gain anything in return. In conclusion, it is time to look elsewhere for an Internet income.