I've Tried That » Paid Surveys

Is PaidViewpoint.com a Scam?

Steve — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:22:11 +0000

Easy money. Sure, this usually goes hand-in-hand with small amounts of it, but damn do I love me some easy money.

It’s run by the same company that operates InstantCashSweepstakes, which is a favorite here at I’ve Tried That. They are a market research company paying you to participate in surveys. It does sound familiar, but PaidViewpoint is putting a fresh spin on things, including guaranteed payments for every survey you’re invited to. Seriously, you can’t get kicked out of a survey halfway through because you don’t “qualify.” Oh, and you automatically get $1.00 just for signing up. (Details on how to increase this signup bonus at the bottom of this post.)

Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s dive in here.

What is PaidViewpoint.com?

Yes, it’s an online survey company, but it’s unlike any survey site I’ve seen before. I’ll let PaidViewpoint.com explain…

PaidViewpoint is the market research survey site built upon 4 principles:

We pay cash for every completed market research survey.

We never screen you out once you’ve been invited into a survey.

We’ve cracked the code that takes “boring” out of the survey answering experience.

Privacy – we never ask you to register your real name or complete physical address.

The most important thing to take away from those four points is the second line. Once you’re invited to take a survey, you will get paid no matter what. The biggest complaint with online survey companies is that a user will be halfway through an hour long survey just to find out he or she “doesn’t qualify” and is subsequently kicked out of the survey with no pay. That DOES NOT happen at PaidViewpoint.com. An invitation to a survey means you’re going to get paid.

You also get paid in CASH for completing a survey. No points or gift cards, but actual money. There is a $15.00 minimum withdraw though. I haven’t yet hit that amount of money, but I will keep you guys updated on how much I make there.

Lastly, we have their privacy commitment. You don’t have to give out your name or home address when signing up, but you do have to call in and verify a phone number in order to cash out your earnings. This is for two reasons: 1. To ensure that you only create one account at PaidViewpoint.com and 2. To ensure that no unauthorized party can login and steal your earnings.

I know a few of you are going to be unhappy about having to provide a phone number, but rest assured, the number is used for verification purposes only. This line is taken directly from their Privacy Policy: “We do use a third party application to dial and send the confirmation code to your phone. At no other time or function on PV is your phone number used or shared.” PaidViewpoint.com makes it clear that your number will not be used for anything other than account verification.

My experiences with InstantCashSweepstakes have been nothing less than stellar. They are running a great company and I feel safe recommending PaidViewpoint.

Click here and create your PaidViewpoint account now!
Use this code when signing up for an extra cash bonus: itriedthat

An Example Survey

While working on this review, I was actually invited to participate in a survey. I decided to grab a screenshot to demonstrate how the site works and funcitons.

There are a few things I want to point out. First, we have the earnings bar at the top. This tallies up how much money you’ve earned so far during the survey. Since you can’t get “screened out” of a survey, that money is yours. Off to the right of the survey is how much money this particular question will earn for you. In this case, I earned $0.05 for answering this question.

Next we have the question/answer window. The first black bar is the question that’s being asked with the options below. Pick an option, then click on the arrow to continue to the next question. Finally, we have the time estimation bar at the bottom. This shows you approximately how close you are to the end of the survey. This is a great feature since other survey sites generally keep you in the dark about how much time is left.

Here’s a PaidViewpoint Activation Bonus Code!

The nice folks at PaidViewpoint.com have offered to provide I’ve Tried That readers with an additional sign up bonus. Right now, you automatically get $1.00 just for signing up. As a thank you for reading I’ve Tried That, you can get an additional monetary bonus for reading this review.

All you have to do is signup using the activation bonus code: itriedthat

Click here and create your PaidViewpoint account now!

You’ll see the bonus field after you click on the register button. Don’t forget to use the code itriedthat for some extra money!

Overall, I like PaidViewpoint.com. If you’re a fan of InstantCashSweepstakes, you’re going to love PaidViewpoint. The two programs compliment each other nicely and both are legitimate ways to make some extra money online.

I joined a few hours ago and I’ve already been invited to 3 different surveys and have made a total $1.86 so far today. Not bad considering each survey only took a few minutes to complete. I think I’m going to like this site. PaidViewpoint.com gets my full recommendation.

What is BigSpot.com? Is it a Scam?

Steve — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:50:36 +0000

I always need to preface my posts regarding online surveys.

It seems that whenever the topic comes up, a few people like to come out of the woodwork to call me a scammer for saying there are legitimate online survey companies. Real survey companies do exist people. It’s not the glamorous $75/hr jobs some websites try and lead you to believe, but if you sign up for enough companies and spend enough time taking surveys, you can easily make some extra spare change each month.

It’s true! Honest.

Also, a legitimate survey company will never ask you for money or to complete offers as part of a survey. These are not surveys, but scams. As long as you know that online surveys aren’t insanely lucrative and you never spend a dime to take a survey, you’ll do just fine.

Is BigSpot.com a Scam?

BigSpot.com, while free to join and use, isn’t exactly a survey company and they do tell you this upfront. Instead, what they’re doing is “matching” you with other survey companies. You fill out a small form with your demographics and they send you a list of survey companies they recommend you join.

You do have to decline a number of “offers” (read: spam) in order to get to the list of companies and this is where BigSpot.com makes it’s money. If you’re not careful, you could be giving away your private and personal information to a bunch of companies you’ve never even heard of. You’ll receive junk mail, credit card offers, spam, and just about every annoying type of direct mail offer you can imagine.

So, I’d have to say that while BigSpot.com technically isn’t a scam, I still wouldn’t recommend joining them.

There is one redeeming quality to the site. Right on the main page is this paragraph…

Will I get rich?
No, silly. You’re not going to get rich taking surveys. You’ll have the opportunity to put some extra cash in your pocket each month and the chance to earn some really great rewards.

It’s a good relief from the usual scams that claim you could be making hundreds of dollars per hour and could even live off of the money you make taking surveys. They’re at least upfront about the income you could expect to earn.

The Bottom Line

While BigSpot.com isn’t necessarily a scam, you can skip all the hassle of shelling out your private information to a random company and join a few legitimate survey companies directly. Here are three that I highly recommend above the rest:

SurveySavvy – This is my all time favorite survey company. I’ve cashed out thousands of dollars over the past 4 years from both my completed surveys and referrals. This one is highly recommended.
Global Test Market – Another company that has been around for ages. Very reputable and well worth signing up for.
OpinionOutpost – OO may not be as big as the first two, but it definitely delivers. Surveys come in a little less frequently, but well worth it to at least register.
Bonus: InstantCashSweepstakes – ICS is a fun way to pick up some extra cash in your spare time. You answer short three question surveys every few hours. Some surveys were created by companies, other by users. Every survey you take has a chance at earning you cash. It’s fun, easy, and definitely worth checking out.

You can click here and check out a list of 22 additional survey companies. These are all legitimate companies that are looking for panel members to complete SURVEYS. They’re not looking for you to complete offers, you won’t have to spend any money, and you WILL get paid.

Proof That Not Every Survey Site Online is a Scam

Steve — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:05:12 +0000

I got into a bit of a heated debate this past weekend with some random ~~jerk~~ guy via email. He called me a low-life pathetic scammer for promoting online surveys since “every online survey site is a scam and you know it.” His exact words.

Unlucky for him, I happened to have a stack of checks from various survey companies sitting next to me at the time…

I had to resize the image to fit on the blog so the amounts might be a little hard to read.

There are three checks from Survey Savvy at $24.50, $42.50, and $40.75, two checks from Opinion Outpost at $33.00 and $39.00, and one check from American Consumer Opinion for $31.04. For a grand total of $210.79. Not bad for two months. These checks are a combination of both my efforts taking surveys and recruiting other people to the survey sites as well. The point being that there are survey websites that do pay.

You should NEVER pay money to join a survey company. I believe this is was the cause for the argument at the beginning of the post. There are scammers out there telling you you can make a full-time living online doing nothing but surveys and that you have to pay a certain amount of money to join. Don’t give them money! Survey companies pay you! It’s best to join a few different ones to maximize your chances at being invited to take a survey. It’s relatively easy money and it helps pay the bills. What more could you ask for?

Bonus asides. Last week I joined InstantCashSweepstakes and yesterday I cashed out my earnings thus far. It’s not a ton of money, but they do pay out. Here’s the confirmation email I received and the money was in my Paypal account about 10 hours later.

Again, here is the list of survey companies that have paid me in this post. Sign up for them all! They’re free to join!

Survey Savvy
Opinion Outpost
American Consumer Opinion
InstantCashSweepstakes

I’d love to hear your experiences with these companies as well. Be sure to leave a comment below.

How I Got $300 Bonus Christmas Cash

Joe — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:27:29 +0000

Here’s a true confession. Something I don’t think I’ve ever revealed on I’ve Tried That. I have five kids. Yes, it’s true and it’s a long story.

With five kids, I start dreading the holiday shopping season right around the end of February. I’m a bit of a Scrooge, you see. Not that I don’t love them, of course, but I resent all of the commercial pressure to buy, buy, buy!

And we don’t go crazy! Our Christmas giving is very sensible and totally within our means, but still. I watch the money slipping away and think, wow, a few more shopping trips like this and I could have paid for a cruise.

I Heart Surveys

That’s why this Christmas I’m feeling especially warm toward SurveySavvy.com. I would feel warm toward just about anything that sent me $300 in December, but maybe that’s just me.

SurveySavvy is there all year around, of course. It’s just that usually the checks go into the bank and I don’t pay much attention. Pizza money, as it were, or a night at the movies. But when the money arrived this month, just in time for the annual glut, I could have kissed the postman.

Yes, you can make money from surveys

You can still find posts and forums online where people insist that nobody makes money from surveys. I’m living proof. True, I don’t make much with surveys (some people make more), but having an extra $300 at Christmas is better than not having it, know what I mean?

If you’re new to surveys, it’s too late to make any money this year. But sign up now at SurveySavvy and start getting your friends to sign up and you, too, could receive $300 at this time next year.

In my experience, it’s not worth your time to try to take hundreds of surveys to earn money. The key is to recruit people. Get a lot of referrals and earn a little bit for every survey they take and it will add up. You’ll get a referral key when you sign up.

So get started for next year now by clicking here.

Updated List of Approved Survey Websites.

Steve — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:08:01 +0000

I’ll be wrapping up the previous posts on paid surveys with this very last post. Here is a rather extensive list of paid survey websites that we have found legitimate in terms of paying its users and issuing surveys on a regular basis.

In addition to this post, I’ve updated the list in the free work at home directory. You do know that we have an entire directory filled with a lot of different ways to make money online, right? No, well then click here to access the directory.

Recommended Survey Programs

There are currently 28 websites listed. You don’t need to join them all. However, as you join more sites, you’ll receive more survey invitations. More survey invitations roughly translates into more money for you.

The nifty blue check marks denotes a program we highly recommend you join.

As always, leave your opinions in the comments below.

Survey Programs Recommended by Readers

Steve — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:14:50 +0000

Last week, I wrote a post recommending the two survey programs LightSpeel Panel and EliteOpinions. That post had spurred some discussion in which readers Jeff and Deborah had suggested we feature a number of other survey programs. Well, I’ve looked into them and here are my thoughts.

NPDOR

I’ve actually been a member of NPDOR for quite a few years now. I was notified of this when I tried to register again and it said my email address was already registered. I haven’t received any invitation from them in a long time, but I’ve updated my profile and information and look forward to taking some surveys.

Click here to join NPDOR.

Ipsos I-Say

Halfway through filling out the registration form, I was redirected away from signing up and this message popped up.

Thank you for your interest in joining the i-Say Panel. Unfortunately, the quota group that you qualify for is now full.

We guarantee that the personal information you have provided will not be used to contact you and will not be passed to any third parties.

Not a good start on the way to a recommendation. I don’t have anything else to say on the program, but if you’re a member or were able to complete the sign up process, please leave a comment below and let me know how it’s worked out for you.

Click here to join Ipsos I-Say.

Epoll Surveys

This looked like another generic survey site. Nothing stuck out as problematic and nothing stuck out as exceptional. I suggest joining if you’re trying to increase the number of survey requests you receive.

Click here to join Epoll Surveys.

MySurvey

This one has generated the most support from readers. The following comment seems to sum the program up rather nicely.

An update on MySurvey.com. Considering that this topic just came up today and that Jeff and I have had similar experiences along with favoring Carol Adams Mysurvey I found it quite timely that I received an email from MySurvey several minutes ago. Much to my surprise I was thanked for my participation and awarded a $25.00 gift card without cashing in any points. Simply a thank you gift card which I just promptly requested for Target’s pharmacy.

The site looks great and I anticipate a lot of survey invitations.

Click here to join MySurvey.

Fell free to submit your favorite survey sites in the comments below.

Join the LightSpeed Panel and EliteOpinion.

Steve — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:06:47 +0000

It’s been nearly two years since I first reviewed the LightSpeed Panel and my opinion hasn’t changed: it’s the best survey site online. It’s completely free to join and one of the few survey sites to last throughout the years.

The LightSpeed Panel

If you’re looking to actually make money taking surveys, you need to join the LightSpeed Panel. It’s free to sign up and you’ll be notified via email whenever new surveys are available for you to take. At the LightSpeed Panel, your opinion actually matters and unlike other websites, you’ll be paid for the time you spend taking surveys.

Since joining a few years ago, I’ve accumulated over $300 in earnings at the site. I’ve also completed two home studies at $50 each to track the food and drink I consumed throughout the day for two weeks. The LightSpeed Panel sends about two survey invitations to me each week on average. Even when there aren’t any surveys to fill out, there are questionnaires to help improve your profile so you will qualify for more surveys. With every survey and questionnaire you complete, you will also receive an entry into the current month’s $5,000 drawing.

At the end of each survey, your account will be credited a number of points. These points range from 75 to 1000+ per survey. A point roughly translates to one cent, meaning you’ll be paid in the range of $.75 to $10 for completing a survey. Once you have accumulated enough points, you can cash them in at the rewards zone for tangible objects, gift cards, or paypal credit.

Click here to join the LightSpeed Panel now.

EliteOpinion

EliteOpinion is the latest survey site created by the Lightspeed Research group and like the LightSpeed Panel, it is entirely free to join and you can do so by clicking here to sign up. EliteOpinion focuses more on your experiences in a corporate setting rather than product reviews.

Now, I have no experience with EliteOpinion, but I’ve been a member of the LightSpeed Panel for years. The LightSpeed Panel has offered me more surveys over the years than every other survey site I’ve joined combined. Given that EliteOpinion is run by the same company as LightSpeed, I feel safe in giving a recommendation without trying it, but I would love to hear of your experiences with the program. Be sure to leave a comment after you join.

Click here to join EliteOpinion now.

Be sure to register an account at both the LightSpeed Panel and EliteOpinion now. It will only take a few minutes and it’s free. Best of all, you’ll actually get paid for your time.

Make Money Blogging Directory

Steve — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:29:27 +0000

Now tracking 9 ways to make money blogging.

Blogging Background Information

If you’re serious about making money online, blogging is your answer. Blogging is incredibly easy to do, anyone can become a blogger, and making money with a blog is relatively simple. Will you become rich just by owning a blog? Probably not. But realistically, you could make over four-figures a month with enough dedication and hard-work.

But what exactly is a blog?

Blogs are online software programs, formally known as content management systems, where people can post diary entries about their personal experiences, hobbies, jobs, interests, whatever. Fortunately for you, in order to operate a blog, you need absolutely no prior technical knowledge. As long as you know how to navigate around a web page and you can type into a box, you can easily manage your own blog.

Is running a blog for you? Absolutely it is. I need to reiterate that you need no prior technical knowledge to run a blog. Forget any notions you have linking blogs to coding and advanced degrees of technical comprehension. Those are the days of the past.

How exactly do I make money with a blog?

You can use your blog to make money through showing advertisements, promoting affiliate programs, and creating posts. That’s right. Depending on your popularity, companies will pay you for showing links on your blog or creating sponsored review posts.

I need help setting up a blog.

Well you’re in luck! If you want your own domain name and blog, but don’t want to deal with any of the technical aspects of setting one up, let me do it for you free of charge. All you need to do is follow an instruction set. I’ve laid out a detailed 10-step process (with pictures!) that will show you how to order a domain name and hosting. Once you do that, I’ll handle all of the scary technical stuff and you’ll be left with a fully functional blog. All you have to do is provide content.

Click here to get started now!

Recommended Blogging Programs

Once you get a blog setup, you can use these sites to get paid to write articles on your new blog. Be sure to check them all out!

Online Paid Survey Directory

Steve — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:57:58 +0000

Now tracking 25 legitimate paid survey companies.

Paid Survey Background Information

Paid surveys are a very popular way to make a little extra money online. The following sites provide surveys by market research companies. These companies value the opinion of consumers and thus are willing to compensate you for time spent giving feedback on different surveys. Taking individual surveys won’t make you rich, but it’s a great way of making some side money and having fun doing so.

Have you taken an online survey before? If so, skip below to view the list. If not, read the following pointers to make sure you make the most you can with paid survey opportunities.

Almost every survey company requires that you reveal some background information about yourself. This will develop your profile and will determine how often and what kind of surveys you will receive. It is recommended to fill this out as complete and as quickly as possible in order to maximize your chances of receiving survey invitations.
Survey invitations are typically sent once they are available via email. The numebr of survey invitations you receive will depend on your profile. Survey invitations typically don’t last long, so don’t wait for a few days before accepting the survey.
Nearly every survey will screen you again once you accept the invitation. The screening process is a series of short questions to make sure you are the ideal candidate for the survey. If you don’t qualify, you’ll be thanked for your time then turned away. If you do, you’ll spend anywhere from ten minutes to an hour filling out the survey.
The compensation you’ll receive for filling out a survey will be different with each company and each survey you take. You can expect at least $1 – $10 on average, depending on the length of the survey. Some specialized surveys can pay upwards of $25 or more. You will receive this money once you meet the survey companies minimum cashout requirement.

Recommended Survey Programs

Money Making Opportunities

Steve — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:20:16 +0000

We received more requests for reviews of any legitimate programs than any other program during the blitz. Legitimate programs are hard to come by because they’re in high-demand and it’s surprisingly hard to make money online. I’ll be honest, most people who set out to make money online ultimately end up failing. I’ve had my share of failures but persistence and hard work is key. Everyone is looking for an easy solution to making a lot of money online, but one doesn’t exist. There is no such thing as easy money. With that in mind, the following list are programs we’ve found to work in helping you make money online. Again, there’s no such thing as easy money.

Yaro’s Blog Mastermind Program

About the Program
Yaro Starak has developed a program designed to help anyone get started with making money with their own blog. He covers the essentials at first and covers more advanced topics as you progress with the program. It may sound complicated to a non-technical user, but I can assure you that the steps are broken down well enough that anyone can follow his program. Hell, if we can do it anyone can. Yaro’s program has been a strong influence in this blog and we continue to make money by following tactics in his program.

Can you really make money?
Absolutely. In fact, if you’re looking to make money online, using a blog to do so is probably the easiest route. The odds that you’ll succeed are much higher than with any other program. We highly recommend Blog Mastermind to everyone.
Read our Blog Mastermind Review.
Click here to visit the program.

Build a Niche Store

About the Program
Build a Niche Store is actually web-based software that you install within a website and it will automatically create a store front that is filled with tons of products. The products are pulled from eBay’s marketplace. Visitors browse your store and are then redirected to eBay after selecting a product. You make money through commissions on any sales completed by a visitor that makes a purchase at eBay.

Can you really make money?
Yes, in fact, we did a case study that spanned an entire month. I built a niche store from scratch and gave weekly status reports on traffic, expenses, and earnings. This was my first time ever using the software and it was widely successful. Build a Niche Store is incredibly easy to use and comes with detailed instructions that anyone can follow.
Click here to read the results of my case study.
Click here to visit the program.

Online Surveys

About the Program
Online surveys are nearly as old as the Internet itself. You should all know the routine by now. Companies are conducting market research online and you get paid for giving your opinion or experience with certain products. You can also influence new products before they hit the market. The thing to remember with online surveys is that company’s pay YOU. You should never have pay to take a survey.

Can you really make money?
Of course, but not the $150 per hour that a lot of scam websites are advertising. If you’re active with four or five legitimate survey companies, you can probably break $100 a month from surveys. You’ll more than likely have to take a 20-60 minute survey daily in order to achieve that much money. Online surveys are for fun at best. You’ll never make a full-time wage doing surveys, but you could make some spare change in your free time.
Click here to see our recommended survey companies.

Complete Guide to Telecommuting

About the Program
Hey look at that; it is I’ve Tried That’s very own ebook. With our book we teach you how to telecommute or work from home. We’ll teach you how and where you can find jobs online (NOT online jobs) and the basics around telecommuting. Including necessary hardware and software, cover letter and resume assistance, how to communicate with employers online, where you can find legitimate job opportunities, and so much more.

Can you really make money?
Well, yea because you’ll be doing actual work. However, instead of traveling to a place of business, you’ll be doing all of the work entirely from your home or home office. Just to be clear here, we aren’t employing you, but rather showing you where and how you can find people that want to employ you. We also have an exclusive membership plan in place where we find the jobs for you and all you have to do is apply for them.
Click here to read more about our book.
Click here to learn more about our membership plan.

Like I said before, there is no such thing as easy money. The previous four programs all require a rather large time commitment and a lot of hard work. It’s probably not what you were looking to hear, but now you’re at least pointed in the right direction when it comes to making money online.