Demotivated!

[rosiesmom]

Are you only interested in Paypal? Swagbucks is a site where you can do some surveys, do a poll, use their toolbar, etc. and the points kind of pile up after a while. I don't think there is a quick turnaround, but I use them to get like 4 points a day doing almost nothing. Paypal for $25 is like 2,500 swagbucks. You can shop and get swagbucks, and you can watch videos, you get swagbucks. You might want to just look it over. Just a suggestion.

rosiesmom,

Do you know that you can cash out on Swagbucks 450 points for $5.00 amazon. Cashing out 2,500 you are loosing 250 points and those 250 points add up. You can cash out 2 x a day but only 5 x in one month. I just get a $5.00 every time I get to that 450 now. I too the first time waited till I had like 5,000 so I had to cash out 5x in one month and 5x the next but saved 500 points and got an extra $5.00 amazon doing it that way.....................

Superpoints was just like Swagbucks except for the button, but remember how one day superpoints just closed it's doors and all those people lost their points. I was lucky, I had cashed out 2 days before and planned not to do them any more. I was saved the anguish of loosing the points........

I saw that but I don't think there is a Paypal payout until like 2500 points. I am cashing out at 450 for Amazon on their now. I won't be able to do so but maybe twice a year, I refuse to do the surveys there anymore. And I usually don't get credited for those 1 or 2 point videos, so I kicked those to the curb too. If I get $10 a year for a few seconds of work I am good with it. Oh yeh, and they pay for searches, but that is a random amount. I always like the way you think 1957horses!

[Huntress]

I clicked on your post because I too feel 'demotivated' regarding some of these sites. I am with iPoll (I had signed up with Surveyhead years ago) and just joined Opinion Outpost in May.

I would suggest with Opinion Outpost you switch browsers (my story below) to see if that helps. If not, contact customer service--they are usually very helpful.

iPoll seems like a gigantic waste of time. After spending what seems like years just waiting for the webpage to load, I'll click on a survey, which also takes forever to load and go thru most of the questions, only to be informed after wasting my time 'sorry you didn't qualify' or 'this survey is now closed'. I rarely am able to complete an iPoll survey--if I have to guess, I'd say maybe 5% of the surveys I take with iPoll I actually can complete.

otoh--Opinion Outpost is my favorite survey company now. Thank God for this site and the rankings page--as well as this forum--that's what clued me into OO.

Initially I had many problems with OO and thought it was a sham--I kept getting 'flagged for data concerns' (no way had I answered anything except 100% honestly, so this was totally bogus). Then when I finally accumulated enough points to cash out, I received the following message after logging into PayPal:

Your Opinion Outpost membership has been terminated for non-compliance with Opinion Outpost's Terms & Conditions. From now on you will be denied access to our website. You also lose the right to all accumulated rewards. Terms & Conditions

Like the 'flagged for data concerns' I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, and 'speeding thru' surveys is far from an issue--I think I take twice as long to complete them as the time listed in the beginning states-- so I thought it must be a scam company not wanting to reward me for my time and effort or a technical glitch because I was still able to log in and take surveys. I emailed customer service who assured me that my account was still active.

I tried repeatedly to get thru the cashout process every time with the same outcome--I didn't get the Paypal $$$ and I was informed my account was terminated.

So out of desperation (I was now up to 200 points in my account) I tried switching from Mozilla Firefox browser to Internet Explorer . It worked. The payout went right through without any problems and I immediately received the money in my Paypal account.

Now I still take my surveys with FF, but open IE to cashout. Hasn't failed yet.

[footfree]

Survey companies and surveys can deflate a balloon faster then a monkey sitting on it.I got a invite yesterday asking me to join Ipoll.I declined because they are set up with the same structure as Surveyhead-(didnt surveyhead change their name to ipoll?). The reason I stay away from them is that they will put your earned money into pending and it can take a very long time to get it and that's if you get it. I quit them a long time ago and I will not join another company that has that same structure base.

I hope you write down every survey name -date of survey taken- amount to be paid-and when they are to pay you.Unfortunately most survey companies make you hunt down your money that is owed to you now.They have even started to charge us the survey takers for processing checks and or other forms of payment.SO YES IT IS VERY DEMOTIVATING TO SAY THE LEAST-sorry about all caps not yelling out you I'm yelling at the survey companies for demoralizing us because now we have to beg for what we already earned.

Don't do surveys that don't pay it sends a bad precedent to survey companies that we will work for free.There a few good survey companies but they aren't the ones who send you numerous invites per day.At least that's my opinion.

Look in the rant and rave to see which companies some of us like and dont like.While some have luck with certain companies some of us dont.You need to weed what you will and will not tolerate.If you have any questions please come here and ask as you can tell we all our a very opinionated group.

[avemaria]

it is tough in the beginning until you get the pulse of what works for you.. then you just accept that this is what you're able to do with surveys.. but i know that beginning feeling of looking through 30 sites trying to figure out what to do. It's why I came here.. everyone here knows pretty much what's good or not.

[avemaria]

I got a invite yesterday asking me to join Ipoll.I declined because they are set up with the same structure as Surveyhead-(didnt surveyhead change their name to ipoll?).

Surveyhead is Ipoll now.. one and the same.

[phoenixlady2]

I am getting so many emails...not sure who to click on or what to do! I am going to see if I can contact Opinion Outpost tomorrow..I will also contact Ipoll because I feel they deliberately make excuses not to cash out. I am taking everybody's advice, trying everything and PLEASE if anybody knows of any other survey company who is reliable (at this stage I need cash and I do have a Paypal account) Can you also please tel me what is the difference between the companies who send surveys and those advertising "pay to read emails". I honestly do not know what I am doing here and I think it will take time before I settle down with the companies I feel comfortable with.

[phoenixlady2]

I want to add that you have all given me a little more hope (I am in an extremely difficult situation, I have no support and having to feed four children without an income and it all happened suddenly) I am panicking and trying surveys to at least get food on the table. I want to thank each and every one of you for your advice and Huntress, thank you for telling me about O O, I am going to call them tomorrow. The only problem I am now finding is that I am getting hundreds of emails and I cant remember with who I did surveys etc...but I guess I will slowly get there

[ksedwar]

I hate to say this because you are needing the surveys to help you and your kids get through a tough time but taking surveys is not going to support you let alone you and your children. You will run into dry spells where you can't seem to make any money. Some days I feel successful if I manage to get to the $5 mark. Other days I may hit $5 or $10 in what seems like no time at all or i may need to give up without making a single dime because I cant be a dad setting at a computer taking surveys with all of my free time. Its never the same no matter how many panels, good or bad ones, you try each day. Surveys can not replace a real source of income.

[phoenixlady2]

I do understand that, but I am in a situation where I am not able to do anything else. It is a difficult situation and my only option for now..for the next few months is to make money online. I spend most of my spare time on the computer jumping from one survey company to the next, deleting survey companies, joining survey companies, reading survey forums...If I can make $20 it will make a difference. It helps when you have no income or no money whatsoever!

[ksedwar]

I understand. Sometimes we may sound like or say we are really making a lot of money doing surveys when a lot really isn't much compared to a real pay check. A lot in survey money really isn't that much...

Another thing you might try is some focus group panels. They do pay good (from $50 to $200 or more) and send out invites a few times a week. I have never qualified for one but that just means I don't fit the demographics and you may have better luck then I do. The only one I have ever qualified for was through a survey on i-say and not the focus group panel website.

http://www.paidfocusgroup.net/paid-focus-groups.html

https://www.focusfwdonline.com/signup_f ... _site.aspx

You might also try http://www.usertesting.com - They pay a minimum of $10 for 10 to 15 minute surveys. You probably won't qualify for most of them but it's nice when you do since it's quick and PayPal hits within 7 days.

[phoenixlady2]

Thank you so much! I am going to try those immediately!!

[ksedwar]

Your welcome.

For the focus group panels if you subscribe to their RSS feed or like them on Facebook/follow them on Twitter then you will see more offers compared to what is sent out by email. Good luck.

[Huntress]

I completely understand the concept of every little bit helping. And yes, these surveys can accumulate and pay a grocery bill or two and when you have little cash, it makes a big difference.

I would not give up on OO yet. They've been the best so far for me at accumulating points and redeeming them for PayPal. iPoll does take awhile to credit your points so you can redeem them instead of having them pending. So be patient. It seems to take about 6-8 weeks.

Although I originally found this site (survey police.com) because of an issue I had with Valued Opinions (without notice, they began charging a 25% cashout fee for Visa Promo Codes--which are like prepaid Visa cards), if you don't have any other surveys to take, maybe sign up with them. I can't believe I'm recommending them because I think what they did was unfair and unreasonable--I had over $130 in rewards that was devalued to under $100 overnight thanks to the cashout fee--but you might be able to accumulate points. There is an amazon gift certificate as well and that cashout fee is 2%. The way I use the Visa codes is to buy a physical gift card from my local grocery store via the store's online site. I've purchased $130 in GC's so far this way (two $50 visa codes from iPoll and one $30 code from Valued Opinion).

Speaking of which, iPoll has a 3% Paypal fee. So consider going with the Visa Promo Code instead--unlike Valued Opinion (which charges $5 for a $20 Visa code) iPoll doesn't (yet) have a fee associated with this.

Then there are mysurvey and SurveySpot--though I have my issues with them both--underpaying for surveys, etc. so I rarely do their surveys, I believe both have PayPal options. I know SurveySpot does, but with either company it will take forever to be able to accumulate points. SurveySpot is run by the same company as Opinion Outpost.

Good luck to you. And you're not the only one who finds herself suddenly cash-strapped--alot of us are in the same boat to varying degrees.

[phoenixlady2]

How do the promo codes work, can you give me an example?

[avemaria]

for Visa they just email you a code and password.. this leads to a virtual visa gift card account with the money in it..