Review: Survey Spot

Unlike some other online survey companies, Survey Spot (or SurveySpot) actually pays people to take surveys. However, if you make more than $10 per year at it, consider yourself lucky. This writer was a member from 2006 - 2008. It was free to join, but cost me a lot in terms of time. Although Survey Spot does offer a sweepstakes, the odds of you winning it are extremely slim - especially since the sweepstakes drawing happens once a year.

Sometimes, though, you are offered to try out products and then take a survey on them later. This can get quite interesting as you receive practical products like food or cleaning products rather than potentially dodgy products such as credit cards or magazine subscriptions.

How It Works

You are not guaranteed payment for every survey you take. You can only receive money if the survey invitation states that this survey is for money and how much. After you complete the survey, a screen will come up telling you that you have successfully completed it and the money will be added to your account. The good news is that this screen never lied to me during the two years I was a member of Survey Spot. The bad news was that I hardly ever saw it.

The average amount of money you can make with a survey is one dollar. The most I have ever made on a Survey Spot survey was $3. You get your money by check and you cannot ask for your money until it has a $5 minimum. It can take months to reach that minimum.

The Pros

Survey Spot emails you when a survey is ready and then emails you every day until the survey is closed. The email will tell you right away if this is potentially a money making survey or just a survey for a sweepstakes entry. Sometimes they will also tell you in advance what the subject matter of the survey is. This is a good way to immediately decide if a survey is worth taking or not.

There was also a program where some Survey Spot members were asked to join focus groups on online forums and then received gift certificates as compensation. I never had the time to join one of those forums, although I have read on various review websites that Survey Spot did pay forum members what they were expected.

The Cons

As a member, it is difficult to find out how much money you had due to you. Unlike some other survey panels like IPSOS or Lightspeed, there is no direct link to a members' area from the survey invitations or the final page of a survey. You have to Google "Surveyspot" and then try to find the members area in the home page. This seems like a subtle way to discourage survey members to check up on their progress (or lack thereof).

It also takes a long time to fill out surveys honestly. These can range from one minute to a half hour. I eventually had to drop Survey Spot because I no longer had the time to take their surveys.