Why Paid Online Surveys are (sometimes!) the Real Thing

Tons of moms wonder if you can really make a few extra bucks at home, in your spare time -- or if your search will just lead you into a endless morass of wallet-sucking scams instead. Up front, paid cash surveys seem pretty attractive, since you don't need any special skills, and you don't need an alarm clock.

But are paid online surveys even real? Or are they a scam?

Let me assure you, they're real. Think about it. Companies spend a ton of dough every time they roll out a new product. If they're a big, established company -- the kind that already sells you your morning cereal and laundry detergent -- they also face a lot of risk.

You see, they don't want to offend you with a product that seems weird, or take the shine off a brand they've so carefully polished. (Think about Motrin and that baby sling ad -- they ticked off a lot of loyal customers, when they could have so cheaply avoided the uproar by focus-testing first!)

When a big brand rolls out a new product, they really need to know how you the customer will respond, even before the ink dries on the box. Here's where you come in!

But first, a short story. Several years ago, I was looking for a little extra cash. I also was a female head of household buying for three kids. So, I handled most of our money. And I was a "typical buyer" for many products.

As a result, big national companies (you know their names) who made things like cleansers and yogurt, breakfast cereals and frozen potatoes, truly wanted to know what I thought of their latest product concept. Did I like its name? What about the flavors they offered? Did it seem like a good fit with their brand? And what aisle would I head to if I wanted to buy it?

Knowing these things ahead of time save them tons of money, so they legitimately paid me and many others to complete their surveys, which were usually pretty long! Now, did they pay me what I thought my time was worth? (Thousands of dollars per hour, please!) No, it was more like a five here, a ten there, but it added up.

The only trick to keep in mind is that there are only a limited number of genuine national market research companies offering paid online surveys. Around this legitimate handful, there are numerous scams -- and many, many other sites that are very "gray area."

So in my next article, I'll talk about how to separate the real paid survey opportunities from the separate-your-cash-from-your-wallet ones.