Tonight I am posting a follow up post regardnig online surveys. I have been lucky enough to have Marlone Finley offer to guest post for me, which I am extremely grateful for. Enjoy what Marlone has written on their personal experience with online surveys!
EARN REAL CASH FILLING OUT ONLINE
SURVEYS
(No Joke---and tips to master the
system)
By Marlone Finley,
I've
been researching factual methods to both earn and save money for years now. One
odd and counter-intuitive method I discovered, was earning money using online
topic and opinion surveys. I admit it...just the sound of the phonetics smacks
of fraud, deceit, and valuable time wasted. I freely confess..I was one of the
unbelieving masses. $90 to complete a five minute survey? Who was publishing this
stuff--David Hannum? My mind was soon changed however--changed by cold, hard
cash.
Rewind 6 years ago. I was planning
my wedding and my soon-to be bride was determined to have the wedding of the
century. Never the proponent of the almighty splurge, I suggested the modest
(read: cheap-olah) approach. She would have none of it. So after I emptied my
meager savings account, I was on the prowl for more ways to rake in it before
the big day. Having already found success selling gift-cards that I
earned from rewards programs like My Coke
Rewards, related web-searching brought me upon my first survey website, Panda Research. It
claimed to be a research survey site that collects consumer opinions regarding
products for major companies. In return for answers to some quick questions,
Panda rewards the surveyor with real cash via PayPal. With the day of hitching
fast approaching, I cracked my knuckles, fired up my personal info, and created
an account.
Sign-up was straightforward. I
entered the basic information form, giving my consent to the Terms of Use. I
completed a quick demographic survey (designed to better tailor surveys to me
as an individual).
 |
Sign your life away. It's like buying a house |
Just for completing this opening
survey, they rewarded me with $5. After a week or two of completing surveys, I
earned enough for a pay-out to my Paypal account. As of today, here are my
earnings:
 |
Mind. Changed.
Some offers I didn’t complete
sufficiently to qualify for the payout (I didn’t qualify for a Discover Card.
Boo.) But this site still enticed me with what I could potentially earn,
as well as reporting what I actually earned.
Interested? Here's how I did it,
with some tricks o’ the trade on how to be profitable.
Sites like Panda Research offer
different ways to complete surveys. The major types are Opinion Surveys,
Specialized Surveys, and Investment offers. The most common is the Opinion
Survey. Which soda do you prefer? Which dish liquid gets down on grease the
hardest? Would you prefer a $50 or $100 Best Buy Gift Card?
Specialized surveys are medical
surveys, vacation surveys, etc. They even have Video offers where you can watch
quick 30 sec videos, record an in-movie numerical code, and then report that
code for cash. Aside from needing an email, all of these surveys are 100% free.
The more lucrative surveys involve
signing up for a trial offer, or outright subscribing to a service (Publishers
Clearing House, Gamefly, etc).
Now that you know about the 3 main
types of surveys offered at Panda Research and similar sites, here are my tips
and tricks to earn actual cash.
1. Regardless of the type of survey, always
use a throwaway email or, as was my case, an email created just for survey
sites. Trust me on this one.
Seriously,
what's the worst that could happen?
2. For opinion surveys, you don't
have to actually complete any offers! At some point, the survey will begin
throwing inquiry surveys at you (interested in diabetes medication or car
insurance?). The YES, NO, and ENTER EMAIL buttons are huge, colored and
centered on the page. But if you scroll down, you'll find the word SKIP printed
very small. Click it and you can get to the last part of this survey in
seconds. The last 2-3 parts of this survey type involves completing qualifying
offers in order to earn cash for the survey.
Again...there is no need to do any
of that. At the bottom of these last pages, it will say, " After you
have completed qualifying offers above, click here to continue".
Simply be obedient and click the work CONTINUE, and you can complete the survey
and earn the cash.
3. Specialized surveys are cut
and dry, but no one says you have divulge personal information. I select
totally random check-boxes and whiz through these. The only caveat is the
timing. Some surveys will disqualify if you complete them too fast. So be
mindful.
4. Finally, investment surveys are all
about weighing buy-in versus payout. In the case of a trial subscription, they
are usually just $1. I would wait 3 days for the offer cash to hit my account,
and then call and cancel the trial. I've never had a problem with this method.
In the case of Pay-to-play, it's all about how much the purchase is for
compared to how much the survey site pays out. I recall a magazine subscription
cost me $15 up front, but the survey site paid out $20. In that case, I was up
by $5 and got a magazine script.
Again, the payouts can be issued
via PayPal, check, or even debit card. All survey sites have a minimum payout
threshold (usually $30), and a 30-day wait period for the first payout to
arrive in your cash-ready mitts. You won't get rich doing surveys, and there is
the issue of boredom, but here's a send-off tip: Open multiple accounts and do
exactly the same surveys.
Darn
you, payout threshold!
There are dozens of survey sites
out there. Here are some that I have used and been paid from:
Happy surveying!
Marlone Finley is the Founder of Chicago Thinkers Journal and blogs about a variety of topics. To read more from Marlone, these links below will take to there.
Thanks again Marlone for taking the time to do this post for me. Much appreciation and best of luck with your survey adventure!
Til next time,
Stay Safe, Stay Smiling :)
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