Paid Surveys - Are They Worth Your Time?

Yes, there are real paid survey opportunities out there. But, with the payout threshold and the infrequency of offers, you hardly make enough to count on. You have to sign up with multiple companies and clog your inbox, and that makes it hard to keep up with all of you earnings with each company. Then, there are the bogus, "Pay me $39.95" for a list of companies that hire paid survey takers, when you can find all of them free if you search enough.

So after signing up with 50 survey companies (if you are going to take that route, I suggest making a dedicated email address for use only with those companies) watch the surveys roll in. With ten offers sitting in your email from the various companies, depending on your demographic profile, you may be lucky enough to qualify for two complete surveys. The money will come in slowly, and it will build up ( I have made approximately $20.00 from the steadiest company that actually offers cash as opposed to points and gift offers) but the offers will be so few and far between that you will certainly have to continue your search for money making opportunities online. When the lucky day comes that you finally reach payout threshold, rejoice and treat yourself to something small, because unless you have waited years and a have a big chunk, you will not be able to do much with it.

I am a member of so many paid survey companies that I cannot keep up with them all, even with the use of a dedicated email address. There are days that my box is so full that I just clean out all the offers I know will not earn me cash and go from there. I have no clue what most of my balances are because there are so many I am overwhelmed. If you are looking to do this, be sure that you weed out the ones that only offer prize entries, etc, and work for the ones offering that cold hard cash. The last thing you want to do is overwhelm yourself and spend your day taking all these surveys, and at the end of the day have nothing to show for it. There are better ways to vest that time, trust me.

Out of all the various companies I started with, I have stuck with one. It offers cash for the surveys you do qualify for, and entries into cash drawings for the ones you do not. The offers do not come in very much, but I did manage to make $12.00 of that $20.00 I talked about a second ago, in one day, in under a half hour. They have paid me, so I know they are legit; however, it is a pain to wait on a check instead of the glorious PayPal.

Now, if you are one that deviates from the norm and makes plenty of money with paid surveys, I am personally asking you to share your secrets with me and the rest of the Associated Content writers!