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I Finally Got an Invitation to join Prolific BUT


Sandy21

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The invitation says I must provide them with a form of ID (such as a driver's license or a passport) to verify my identity. I've never been asked for anything like this before. Is it safe to share something like this online? I am very concerned about such information  being improperly used. 

Is it usual for a company to ask for such identification and if so is it safe to share this information

Thanks for your response!

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3 hours ago, mnleona said:

I personally would not give them this info.

Thank you. I am just not comfortable with this and wonder if they have always asked for this form of ID or if it is something new? Are you a member of Prolific?

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10 minutes ago, Sandy21 said:

Thank you. I am just not comfortable with this and wonder if they have always asked for this form of ID or if it is something new? Are you a member of Prolific?

I have been a member for some time and never had to give them that information but I think I read somewhere that they are requiring new members for that information.

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2 minutes ago, peach6 said:

I have been a member for some time and never had to give them that information but I think I read somewhere that they are requiring new members for that information.

Would you be willing to give this info if asked? Is it worth it to risk putting your personal info out there? Scary to me!

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I just clicked on the link to join just to see what else Prolific wanted from me prior to joining.  Before i could do anything else I got the following message:

"We want to make Prolific better for you, but we can't do that without knowing how you use our site. Could we have your permission to use some third party services?These services enable us to improve functionality and performance by tracking usage and optimizing the service that this site offers.You can always change or withdraw your consent later."

THIS is very intrusive to me and all I did was close the link. I have until June first to join but after seeing what they are asking for above as well as a drivers license or passport I am inclined not to join.

I am very disappointed as I REALLY wanted to join this site and was eagerly waiting for an invitation after reading all the good things that are said about them on Survey Police. Also,  the invitation came at a good time as LifePoints kicked me out for no reason and refused to pay what they owed me. 

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19 minutes ago, Sandy21 said:

Would you be willing to give this info if asked? Is it worth it to risk putting your personal info out there? Scary to me!Not sure

not really sure how I feel about that  although that information doesn't really have anything that most sites don't already have like name,address etc

I know I would not do it if it had your SSN number on it

Maybe some other members on here will reply

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1 hour ago, peach6 said:

not really sure how I feel about that  although that information doesn't really have anything that most sites don't already have like name,address etc

I know I would not do it if it had your SSN number on it

Maybe some other members on here will reply

I don't like having my drivers license out there on the web or my passport but now they are also asking for the following as well

"We want to make Prolific better for you, but we can't do that without knowing how you use our site. Could we have your permission to use some third party services?These services enable us to improve functionality and performance by tracking usage and optimizing the service that this site offers.You can always change or withdraw your consent later."

I am not happy!

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I do remember giving them something but it was a few years ago, not sure what it was. The company is British based...I am in the U.S. so wasn't worried. The surveys we get are from PhD students all over the world. I look at it this way, it pays my monthly electric bill and more. I average $20 a day, now that may make my friends laugh who are making loads of money per hour but to me, that's $600 a month which I need! I'm retired so have the time to do this but if you keep checking their site, you can pretty much find many surveys per day. It depends on your financial situation, Sandy. If I didn't have Prolific, I would be unhappy because it's my biggest source of income. Not everyone is as broke as me, lol.

I know it's a pain to have to be looking over our shoulders for identity theft but I have never had a problem. Plus, Prolific is really interesting. So different than "which cake box do you like better?" stuff from other companies. We have a chance to write to the creator of the survey, everyone is always polite and they give bonuses on certain surveys. Maybe reconsider. Honestly, I have been doing surveys for 12 years and this company is in another class, very professional. Your decision, your comfort level...good luck whatever you decide!

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5 hours ago, cricket said:

I do remember giving them something but it was a few years ago, not sure what it was. The company is British based...I am in the U.S. so wasn't worried. The surveys we get are from PhD students all over the world. I look at it this way, it pays my monthly electric bill and more. I average $20 a day, now that may make my friends laugh who are making loads of money per hour but to me, that's $600 a month which I need! I'm retired so have the time to do this but if you keep checking their site, you can pretty much find many surveys per day. It depends on your financial situation, Sandy. If I didn't have Prolific, I would be unhappy because it's my biggest source of income. Not everyone is as broke as me, lol.

I know it's a pain to have to be looking over our shoulders for identity theft but I have never had a problem. Plus, Prolific is really interesting. So different than "which cake box do you like better?" stuff from other companies. We have a chance to write to the creator of the survey, everyone is always polite and they give bonuses on certain surveys. Maybe reconsider. Honestly, I have been doing surveys for 12 years and this company is in another class, very professional. Your decision, your comfort level...good luck whatever you decide!

Cricket, your post is so VERY much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to explain all about Prolific.

I DO think I will consider joining after all you have said. It would be a breath of fresh air to take interesting surveys and not the same old crap over and over again. I assume they do not report earnings to the IRS as they are from UK? 

I am wondering IF they would take my drivers license with the number blacked out and other personal info. I might try that first. As far as giving them permission to have a third party track my interaction with them, I am wondering if all the other sites do that without even asking you. I don't think that is quite as dangerous as submitting a drivers license or a passport online. I DO worry about identity theft as I have a cousin and a friend who are going through a mess as this has happened to them. I don't need more stress and problems right now as I recently lost my husband and my parents. But I DO need the money I could earn from Prolific.

Again, Thank you for your honest and open response! 

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Sandy, I am a current member of Prolific. They never asked me for ID, but I joined before they started requiring that of their new members. Regarding asking to allow third parties, I always get popup before logging on Prolific asking if I will allow that. I can choose yes or no. 

As Cricket stated, Prolific is quite different from other survey sites. For one thing, you do not get screened out. There are a list of surveys. Many are studies done by academic institutions, some prestigious ones. And their studies pay much better. They pay in British Pounds, which is equivalent to about $1.26 in US Dollars. Today, I did one study where I received 10 British Pounds, about $12 US for one study. The study was interesting and fun. 

Prolific and Paid Viewpoint are the only two places I do surveys now. Between them, I make anywhere from $120-$180/month, pretty good money for surveys. Prolific is legit. 

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5 hours ago, dawn_b_adams said:

Sandy, I am a current member of Prolific. They never asked me for ID, but I joined before they started requiring that of their new members. Regarding asking to allow third parties, I always get popup before logging on Prolific asking if I will allow that. I can choose yes or no. 

As Cricket stated, Prolific is quite different from other survey sites. For one thing, you do not get screened out. There are a list of surveys. Many are studies done by academic institutions, some prestigious ones. And their studies pay much better. They pay in British Pounds, which is equivalent to about $1.26 in US Dollars. Today, I did one study where I received 10 British Pounds, about $12 US for one study. The study was interesting and fun. 

Prolific and Paid Viewpoint are the only two places I do surveys now. Between them, I make anywhere from $120-$180/month, pretty good money for surveys. Prolific is legit. 

Thank you so much for your response. It is MUCH appreciated. 

 

 

 

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Prolific recently changed and became more like the old unfavorites. Probably part of the ID requirement. You are being tracked and the new nonacademic private clients want to know who you are. This can be discern from the URLs. The non-academic surveys, an significant amount, are  now completely anonymous. Even some academic surveys from the university of texas went rogue. Meaning that there wasn't any consent to be a subject or statement of privacy protection. These changes started to show up in march. I was irked. So, i started digging. I discovered in the UK business registration that mid February, on the 17th, all the registered managers resigned and rehired in the same day. I suspect a charter change. Then the Prolific experience declined. I started get tasks that were not studies or surveys  like how would i design a under graduate entrepreneur program, providing at least 100 words description to defend my suggestion in correct english, no misspellings and grammatically correct, or my work would be rejected and i wouldn't get $1.57 reward. Some one was too lazy to write their own dissertation. The worst where the Chinese asking what new electronic product would you like to buy. This is a focus group question, usually hundreds of dollars, the Chinese were paying $2.13. I bailed. 
 

Prolific only pays through Paypal. Starting $2022, paypal will be sending 1099 for everyone over $600. This is easy to reach with surveys paying through a single financial service provider.  
 

Prolific support is the pits, i started many tickets, study died, not described accurately, under pays, very inaccurate time estimates, asking individuals to recall on detail traumatic work experiences at length. I never got an adjustment. I also found support’s conduct terrible, the agents didn't know their own system, made stuff up and were very casual in their conduct, like they were on a barstool next to you. Best not to plan for help. If you try to do it on your own, because the researchers ignored email requests and try to resolve  by contacting the institution, Prolific management will come down on you.  I moved on. The payouts were better, but the crap treatment was getting worse. 

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10 hours ago, schludermann said:

Prolific recently changed and became more like the old unfavorites. Probably part of the ID requirement. You are being tracked and the new nonacademic private clients want to know who you are. This can be discern from the URLs. The non-academic surveys, an significant amount, are  now completely anonymous. Even some academic surveys from the university of texas went rogue. Meaning that there wasn't any consent to be a subject or statement of privacy protection. These changes started to show up in march. I was irked. So, i started digging. I discovered in the UK business registration that mid February, on the 17th, all the registered managers resigned and rehired in the same day. I suspect a charter change. Then the Prolific experience declined. I started get tasks that were not studies or surveys  like how would i design a under graduate entrepreneur program, providing at least 100 words description to defend my suggestion in correct english, no misspellings and grammatically correct, or my work would be rejected and i wouldn't get $1.57 reward. Some one was too lazy to write their own dissertation. The worst where the Chinese asking what new electronic product would you like to buy. This is a focus group question, usually hundreds of dollars, the Chinese were paying $2.13. I bailed. 
 

Prolific only pays through Paypal. Starting $2022, paypal will be sending 1099 for everyone over $600. This is easy to reach with surveys paying through a single financial service provider.  
 

Prolific support is the pits, i started many tickets, study died, not described accurately, under pays, very inaccurate time estimates, asking individuals to recall on detail traumatic work experiences at length. I never got an adjustment. I also found support’s conduct terrible, the agents didn't know their own system, made stuff up and were very casual in their conduct, like they were on a barstool next to you. Best not to plan for help. If you try to do it on your own, because the researchers ignored email requests and try to resolve  by contacting the institution, Prolific management will come down on you.  I moved on. The payouts were better, but the crap treatment was getting worse. 

Thanks for your thorough investigation of Prolific and sharing the results. Sounds like they started going downhill 2/17/22 and continue to slide.

I am very happy for those of us here in Survey Police that still continue to make money with Prolific. I hope it continues this way for them.

I am not going to join as I am so very leary of putting my personal information out there on the web. Identity theft is a real threat in my book.

 Also it is not worth it to me if PayPal is the only way to cash out. I am not happy with the government  taking a cut of what I've earned taking surveys.

I started taking surveys because I truly enjoyed it and it was a way of making a little extra money  at my convenience. Now it's become such a hassle and I am feeling I am being  cheated and scammed. LifePoints kicks me out for no reason and keeps my hard-earned money. Tellwut partners ban me from most of their surveys  and Tellwut support has no idea how to reverse thisor even why I am banned. 

Wish there were some survey sites I could really trust and aren't out there just for themselves. As far as I am concerned  there aren't many sites that are honest and allow us to earn a bit of extra cash. Sad to say i am forced to scale back my survey  taking through no fault of my own. Maybe finding a part time second job  is the way to go? At least it's a guaranteed second income.

Thanks, everyone, for your input. Members of Survey Police are so helpful and the best!

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I only do them now and then and I do the little paying ones, but they add up quickly.  They have quite a few attention questions and if you blow those they don't pay you.  I am always being asked to update my profile, which isn't that bad because I did change my mind about a certain area of my life.  But I get some rather quick surveys done with them and they pay via Paypal.  I just don't want to earn too much with them.

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