Newbie to the Board--Wanted to Share My Experiences

[Craig223]

I just stumbled on this site and it looks like it could be a valuable resource.

I am fairly new to the survey racket. I signed up at 5-10 places in September, and another 5-10 in October.

I thought I’d try to contribute to the board by summarizing my experiences so far. Perhaps someone can gain something from it.

I actually started keeping detailed records about a week after I joined that first batch in September. So my records aren’t quite complete, but really just missing a few surveys those first few days. I record how much time a survey took, what I got paid, and anything else worth noting.

I’ll describe my experiences with each place so far in alphabetical order. But first a few general notes:

1. I’ve only been responding to surveys that are sent to my e-mail. Some of the sites may require you to visit the site itself to find the surveys, but I have so many that I haven’t gone through them in detail to ascertain that, so for now if they don’t send me an e-mail I won’t know about it.

2. I’ve attempted pretty much every paid survey I’ve received.

3. I’ve skipped all surveys that are, or appear to be, only for sweepstakes entries, instant win contests, etc.

4. Where I end up with a sweepstakes entry or something like that after all, like as a consolation prize for not qualifying for a survey, I take it. I just don’t intentionally go for them. (I have never won anything.)

5. I try to do the surveys as soon as I can. Probably at least half of them have been within the first few hours after they’re sent out. I’m sure 90% have been within 12 hours. I don’t think any have been more than 24 hours.

6. For the most part I haven’t done anything “strategic,” like make up answers to fit demographics I think they’re more likely to want, etc. I might fudge a little here or there, like if I’m 80% likely to buy a used rather than new car for my next vehicle, and they ask me if I expect to buy a new car, I’ll click yes, but that’s about it. I’ve been playing it very straight. I do “rush” through them in the sense that as long as an answer’s roughly correct I go with it. I don’t sit and think about answers, but nor do I just pick things at random. I answers the questions hurriedly, but legitimately.

7. Though I haven’t ruled it out for the future, for now I’m skipping anything that involves giving a credit card number, buying stuff and being reimbursed, signing up for free trials and having to remember to cancel before being billed, etc. Some of those may be worthwhile, but I haven’t thought that through and am just skipping them at this point.

8. When I list the time spent, I’m not including all that time at each one to register, confirm, fill out all those free informational surveys to supposedly better enable them to steer the right surveys to you, etc. But really you’d have to factor all that time in as well if you wanted to figure out an hourly pay rate.

9. When I list the pay received, if it’s things like gift certificates or merchandise only, I’m trying to give the closest cash equivalent.

OK, here are the places I’ve joined so far:

BRAND INSTITUTE

Paid surveys completed: 0

Time spent on those surveys: 0

Pay for those surveys: 0

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 2

Time spent on those surveys: :03

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: :03

Total pay: 0

Notes: Just haven’t been receiving offers from this one.

CASH CRATE

Paid surveys completed: 1

Time spent on those surveys: :15

Pay for those surveys: $0.50

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 0

Time spent on those surveys: :0

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: :15

Total pay: $0.50

Notes: I know this isn’t a conventional survey site. I did look through several pages of their “offers,” but it’s all or mostly that stuff where you make commitments that are theoretically reversible, and as I mentioned, for now I’m not bothering with those. My impression is this site is pretty much useless, but maybe there are some offers like that that are worth exploring and I just don’t know it.

ELITE OPINION

Paid surveys completed: 0

Time spent on those surveys: 0

Pay for those surveys: 0

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 0

Time spent on those surveys: :0

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: 0

Total pay: 0

Notes: This is one of the first ones I signed up for, and I have still never received a survey. I should probably check if there’s a problem with my e-mail address or they went under or something, but I haven’t gotten around to it.

GLOBAL OPINION PANELS

Paid surveys completed: 4

Time spent on those surveys: :41

Pay for those surveys: $3.15

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 1

Time spent on those surveys: :01

Consolation pay for those surveys: $0.05

Total survey time: :42

Total pay: $3.20

Notes: At least I’ve only been blocked from 1 out of 5. 80% is an excellent completion rate for these places. But there are very few surveys, and the pay obviously isn’t very good.

GREENFIELD

Paid surveys completed: 2

Time spent on those surveys: :24

Pay for those surveys: $2.50

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 17

Time spent on those surveys: :19

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Interactive surveys: 1

Time spent on those surveys: 1:42

Pay for those surveys: $25.00

Total survey time: 2:25

Total pay: $27.50

Notes: Obviously a terrible ratio of 2 completed surveys to 17 I was booted from. The main thing here though is the interactive, and that was a major headache.

I followed all the instructions to the letter, but I was only able to partly participate for technical reasons. About 20% of the screen was not visible. All the multiple choice type questions seemed to work, but none of the pop up boxes where I was supposed to type in text responses worked.

I called the tech support number early during the survey. (It’s not Greenfield’s number, but whatever third party was running the survey.) The guy had me try some stuff that didn’t help. He said a lot of times they don’t work with certain browsers, even if the e-mail says otherwise. I asked if I should just quit, and he said no, that I was still able to provide enough responses to be useful, so I should just see it through to the end, and Greenfield would likely pay me, though he couldn’t formally speak for them since he was with the other firm. So I did indeed stick it through to the end, which took an hour and forty-two minutes.

I contacted Greenfield a day or two later to explain the circumstances and to tell them I expected to be paid for my efforts. Unfortunately, there’s no phone number or e-mail that I found, but just a clunky form to fill out on the website that someone hopefully reads at the other end.

I got a form letter response shortly thereafter explaining how to fill out their regular surveys. So no one had even read my message closely enough to see I was inquiring about a specific situation involving a specific interactive session.

I filled out the form again. I received a response (very sweetly worded that seemed to come from a real person and not a bot, by the way), explaining that it can take awhile for payments for those interactives to show up in one’s account. Still not responding to my specific situation and telling me whether I’d be paid in my unique circumstances.

I went to their forums and explained the situation. One or two people made perfunctory responses, but nothing really relevant, and nothing from Greenfield itself.

I decided to give up and just pull whatever money I had out of the account and shut it down. I put in a request for my $2 or whatever I had at that time. It was paid promptly and efficiently.

A couple days later, before I’d gotten around to closing my account with them in disgust, I got an e-mail telling me they’d credited my account the $25, and even a follow-up e-mail a couple days after that apologizing for the mix-ups and making sure I had gotten the first e-mail and knew I’d been paid.

So that’s cool. I’m probably on the blacklist now for the interactives with them, since they paid me for an ambiguous one and I’m sure would prefer not to in the future, but I do respect the fact that they ultimately came up with the money.

If not for that, I would have said my experience with this place was awful. Now I have to say just sub-mediocre.

Ipsos i-say

Paid surveys completed: 10

Time spent on those surveys: 1:37

Pay for those surveys: $7.00

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 4

Time spent on those surveys: :14

Consolation pay for those surveys: $0.20

Total survey time: 1:51

Total pay: $7.20

Notes: I don’t care for the convoluted double site where you log into a different place to see your pay. The reason there’s so much time on the uncompleted surveys, rather than the usual minute or so each, is that that includes a 9 minute one that booted me near the end without paying me. (I informed them of this, and never received a response.)

LIGHTSPEED

Paid surveys completed: 21

Time spent on those surveys: 3:53

Pay for those surveys: $20.60

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 28

Time spent on those surveys: :37

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: 4:30

Total pay: $20.60

Notes: The most total surveys, the most paid surveys, the most surveys where I didn’t qualify. Really a wide variety on the pay. From good ones like 50 cents in one minute and 3 dollars in sixteen minutes, to bad ones like 75 cents in 23 minutes.

Mindfield

Paid surveys completed: 2

Time spent on those surveys: :23

Pay for those surveys: $4.00

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 9

Time spent on those surveys: :12

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: :35

Total pay: $4.00

Notes: Rarely get a survey, rarely qualify for it when I do. Still, even with that the hourly rate is better than with most of these places.

MY POINTS

Paid surveys completed: 0

Time spent on those surveys: 0

Pay for those surveys: 0

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 15

Time spent on those surveys: :21

Consolation pay for those surveys: $1.14

Total survey time: :21

Total pay: $1.14

Notes: This isn’t really a conventional survey site either. But I do occasionally get survey offers from them. I have a perfect record so far of never getting one I could complete, though at least they do give you the equivalent of a few cents consolation for each of them, so that’s something. (Heck, it’s not far off the hourly rate of the places where I have been completing surveys.)

Obviously the main thrust of this site is the non-survey offers. Again, it may be that some of those are worth doing and I should take a closer look at them, but I haven’t so far.

But I do click on the link in the e-mail each time, for the 3 cents or whatever it works out to be. Open the e-mail, click the link, shut down that page, close the e-mail, delete the e-mail, takes me between 5 and 10 seconds. So I do that a few times a day and get 3 cents or whatever it works out to each time. For that tiny amount of time I guess it’s worth it.

(I’m not including that money in the calculations above. That’s just for surveys.)

MY SURVEY

Paid surveys completed: 5

Time spent on those surveys: :41

Pay for those surveys: $2.00

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 0

Time spent on those surveys: :0

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: :41

Total pay: $2.00

Notes: The good news is I always get at least a little something for their surveys; I haven’t been shut out entirely yet. The bad news is the pay is awful.

Opinion Outpost

Paid surveys completed: 10

Time spent on those surveys: 2:03

Pay for those surveys: $25.70

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 25

Time spent on those surveys: :40

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: 2:43

Total pay: $25.70

Notes: I suppose I’d have to say this is one of the best ones. The ratio of completed surveys to unqualifiers is pretty weak, but even with that I’m getting roughly $10 an hour.

PALM RESEARCH

Paid surveys completed: 5

Time spent on those surveys: 1:02

Pay for those surveys: $5.00

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 18

Time spent on those surveys: :36

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: 1:38

Total pay: $5.00

Notes: I’m developing a strong dislike for this place. They send the two survey e-mail every day. 100% of the time, the second is a dead link for me. It just has a little black rectangle or something in the center. I wrote to ask them about this and never got a response.

Almost all those 18 uncompleted ones are those, or only took a minute or two to be booted. The one exception is I did a 15 minute survey, got to 98% complete, and the next page (which presumably would have been 100% or very close to it) informed me I did not qualify for the survey. (Even though I had already been informed 10% or so of the way through that I did in fact qualify.) I wrote to complain about this as well, and, again, never got a response.

Pinecone

Notes: This one apparently you don’t get in automatically, as you have to “apply” and then they let you know. I applied and have never heard back, so I guess I’m not in this one.

PURE PROFILE

Paid surveys completed: 0

Time spent on those surveys: 0

Pay for those surveys: 0

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 0

Time spent on those surveys: 0

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: 0

Total pay: 0

Notes: I have never received a survey. This is one of the ones I need to check if there’s a problem with my account or they don’t send surveys by e-mail or what. Just haven’t gotten around to it.

SURVEY.COM

Paid surveys completed: 0

Time spent on those surveys: 0

Pay for those surveys: 0

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 0

Time spent on those surveys: 0

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: 0

Total pay: 0

Notes: I have never received a survey. This is one of the ones I need to check if there’s a problem with my account or they don’t send surveys by e-mail or what. Just haven’t gotten around to it.

SURVEY EXCHANGE

Paid surveys completed: 1

Time spent on those surveys: :12

Pay for those surveys: $0.95

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 2

Time spent on those surveys: :06

Consolation pay for those surveys: $0.06

Total survey time: :18

Total pay: $1.01

Notes: This place looks useless so far.

SURVEY SPOT

Paid surveys completed: 0

Time spent on those surveys: 0

Pay for those surveys: 0

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 13

Time spent on those surveys: :22

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: :22

Total pay: 0

Notes: Another perfect record. Have never qualified for a survey (and a few of them have even taken several minutes to find out). Just that dumb free play slot machine each time. Garbage.

Valued Opinions

Paid surveys completed: 11

Time spent on those surveys: 2:31

Pay for those surveys: $24.00

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 13

Time spent on those surveys: :20

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: 2:51

Total pay: $24.00

Notes: I’ve been able to complete about half of the surveys, which is mediocre but not terrible compared to these others. But the total pay isn’t far from $10 an hour, which is in the top two or three.

Also worth noting is I had one of those dreaded experiences with them where you do the whole survey, and then it’s “Oops, you don’t qualify,” or technical issues, or over the limit of respondents, or whatever. I wrote to them to complain. They responded promptly and paid me for the survey (though I think it was a one time courtesy thing). So bonus points for that I suppose.

VINDALE

Paid surveys completed: 0

Time spent on those surveys: 0

Pay for those surveys: 0

Paid surveys started but not allowed to complete: 2

Time spent on those surveys: :02

Consolation pay for those surveys: 0

Total survey time: :02

Total pay: 0

Notes: Virtually all of their surveys are the ones where you have to buy something or sign up for a free trial with a credit card, etc., and for now I don’t even attempt those. The two exceptions that were regular surveys I was booted from almost immediately as not qualifying.

I was getting a lot from them for awhile, and now nothing at all. It may be that since I was responding to zero of those credit card ones, they took me off the list or something.

OK, that’s what I’ve got. Mostly quite disappointing so far. There are zero I’d say have been really good. Put a gun to my head and I suppose Opinion Outpost and Valued Opinions have been the best. (Greenfield has a similar pay rate for me so far, but only because of the artificial boost from that one interactive one, which I had to fight like hell to get paid for and probably will not be repeated.)

I’ll probably shortly winnow out half or more of these (and look into any that the folks here recommend as worthwhile, if any).

I hope my experiences can add to the overall information here and help someone out.

[majax79]

All your findings are accurate.

I have roughly the same companies. Clearvoice is a company you could try as well. Lightspeed and Opinion Outpost are the only two companies where I make money. I just got rid of Valued Opinions because twice I complete a insanely long survey for $3 and at when I hit submit, I received a garbled screen of code. Sent the pic along with information and they told me basically that I was SOL.

There just isn't that many survey companies anymore. I'm sure some remember the good old times, lol.

[Craig223]

Thank you for the feedback.

I will likely try ClearVoice.

Yeah, overall it's pretty disappointing. But if I get it down to just two or three or four that are decent, I guess it's not a bad way to pick up a few more dollars here and there.

[LizzieAnn]

Please can I say what a valuable post this is to those starting out, but secondly do not become too obsessed with little details as you will die!! It will simply crack you up - go for a general overview and you won't go far wrong. Keep well away from vindale as I feel we have established elsewhere that they are a scam sort of place and you always need to give your credit card details, something I never do at all. There are literally hundreds of legitimate sites out there who pay very well and you have only skimmed the surface so far, so persist and be picky. The other thing to remember is that you will not be sent any invitations at all until you have fully completed your demographics and profiles on the site. That is of the utmost importance. You will find that Pureprofile in particular has a huge section of demographics, a profile dashboard which is very lengthy and takes some time to complete, but it is well worth it for what you get in return in the way of survey invitations. Also, www.netverdix.com are very good and they have a large profile section. Also, do not expect too much too soon, you have to be at it for a very long time and be prepared to put in the hours before you see real cash-in type returns. I have been doing this for 5 years and make about £1000 a year, I am in the UK and I find it a very valuable resource for christmas and birthdays, but not to live on! I wish you the best of luck and its nice to see someone who is dedicated - the question is are you dedicated to doing surveys and giving your opinion or simply making money? You will not last long if it is the latter, I am afraid to say, because life is about more than money making. I am just giving you my opinion, my friend, please do not take offence.

[Allrighttythen]

Just wanted to toss in my 2 cents when it comes to Netverdix, based on your demographics you might do well or you might wait months between invites. They aren't high on my favorite sites due to low invites but 2 invites with two completed surveys is a plus even with 5 months seperating them. At worst you can count on a little extra earnings with them.

[Craig223]

LizzieAnn that's some really good feedback.

The reason I'm keeping fairly detailed records right now is so I'll know who to keep and who to jettison. If I just went with my general impression I'd just know that it seems pretty bad, but not be able to make informed decisions. But if I know that one place I'm getting $1 an hour and another place I'm getting $10 an hour, I can drop the one and keep the other.

I hope there are "literally hundreds of legitimate sites out there who pay very well," but I'm skeptical at this point.

Good point about the profiles. I know I filled out a lot of those forms for a lot of these places, but I don't know for sure that I filled out all of them. So especially for the places where I've received few if any surveys in my e-mail, I'm intending to check back and see if there are more profiles to fill out for them.

I would say I'm doing this almost 100% to pick up some extra money. But it doesn't have to be any huge amount of money. if it's around minimum wage for doing something this easy sitting at my computer while I'm watching TV or whatever, I'd probably do it even for that little. I'm just trying to figure out the ones that pay $1, $2 (or zero), etc. per hour, and eliminate those so I don't waste my time.

I'm wondering if the veteran survey folks agree with my general approach--like skipping all "sweepstakes only" surveys, skipping offers where you make and cancel a purchase, etc.--or if I'm missing some worthwhile opportunities.

[LizzieAnn]

Thanks for your feedback too! Its nice to be able to help, I wonder if you would consider me a veteran? In terms of learning and knowledge and understanding I think I am, and I certainly have an indepth understanding of how most of the companies work. I have compiled a list, with my comments, on all the survey sites I am a member of, but I am based in the UK, so it is not really relevant to you in USA. There are very different rules, I think. I enjoy the whole world of survey taking and its spinoffs, in particular product testing, which is incredibly lucrative and fun because you get to keep the products and get paid for initial surveys as well as reports on how the product fares. The other interesting spinoffs are focus groups and online blogs/diaries many of which I have been involved in before too, and then there is mystery shopping which can be fabulously well paid, I have done one or two assignments but it is not my cup of tea, because I don't drive or have heaps of spare time but I know of people who have stayed in hotels at the company's expense, eaten meals at restaurants on a regular basis (no washing up!) and tested perfumes, and done tests and shopping trips and bought mobile phones they have got to keep and been reimbursed and paid extra for this. Worth checking out.

I can happily send my list to you but it would be irrelevant to you in USA. It would, however, give you a rough idea of what is out there in terms of volume, and you have just scratched the surface!

Persist, and do not be too ready to give up if you do not get paid much, because I think in some ways they test you before you move onto bigger things. Telephone interviews are good payers too, but do not come up much.

Good luck

LizzieAnn