Online Paid Surveys Pitfalls and Help

Online paid surveys are nothing new but most people have no inklings of what they are. A little of history here…Market research companies have been paying consumers to be survey takers or panelists for years now. For a fee, a consumer would participate in a paper or face-to-face survey or focus group discussion. In the last decade, with the prominence of internet, this process of data collection was also taken online and made more efficient. But the problem is that since you cannot see the online survey company physically, how do you know if it is legitimate? This difficulty is compounded with the emergence of so many websites offering online paid surveys.

First, there are Tier Two middlemen offering online paid surveys. The term Tier Two means that they are contracted by the survey companies to conduct the surveys. Obviously, this also means the payout for surveys get diluted. Even among these websites, some are misleading honest opportunity seekers how easy it is to make money from participating in free internet paid surveys in their pajamas. The third kind, which is the worst of the lot, would simply ask you for a membership fee and then disappear into thin air after a while, leaving you dry and cleaned out.

The truth is there really are legitimate websites that pay decent fees for completing their online paid surveys. For a simple 5 - 10 minute survey, it is realistic to expect a payment of $5 onwards. Focus groups pay more naturally and bigger companies are willing to offer up to $150. Another fact is that you cannot become rich, and drive sports cars and convertibles, or live in a nice bungalow with a nice swimming pool by doing free internet paid surveys. But to make an extra couple of hundreds to a few thousands is achievable depending on a few factors – the time you put into it and the number of online paid surveys companies you are registered with. Also, earning in your pajamas can happen and is not a bluff.

There are plenty of sites that are willing to sign you up as their registered survey takers or panelists. However, the trouble is you have to really spend hours to days of time to research into these online paid surveys companies. Like what we have seen, some are pure scam sites. If you are new to it, this part of research can be daunting and many times, disappointing and time wasting. But again, this approach is free.

Alternatively, you can always get hold of ready lists or directories from survey sites that sell them. These survey sites are not the market research companies that offer online paid surveys. They essentially scour the internet, attend business discussions, and interview the online survey companies and the survey takers to dig out the best among the lot. So for a fee of less than $40 – 50, you can get started with survey taking and earning some money in no time.

Read about the survey sites that hold the list of companies that offer the highest paying online paid surveys at my blog. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author's name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.