Can you make money for surveys? You’ve heard it’s possible… and you want to try it… but you’re not sure if you should even bother… or you’ve tried and you’ve gotten frustrated and given up. Paid online surveys are everywhere and everyone seems to claim that you can make money for surveys and quit your day job, or that they are scams that will take your money and make you nothing.

I have tried dozens of paid online survey sites in the search for honest programs that truly pay out. I have wasted lots of money and even more time filling out surveys for which I was never paid.

This article is designed to help you go straight to the ones that are tried and tested and steer clear of those that are just scams.

How to Spot a Legitimate Paid Online Survey Site from a Scam

Signs of a Scam:

1. They ask you to pay to join their survey panel and claim that membership will give you access to enough surveys to earn back your payment quickly.

2. You cannot find information about the company such as contact information, minimum payout, amount earned per survey taken, etc.

3. They advertise all over their main site for other paid survey programs. Often this is a ring of sites that essentially provide the same surveys and you’ll end up in an endless cycle of taking the same surveys and never reaching minimum payout.

4. Generally poor quality of the website. Often scam sites have pages that are flashy and full of ads. If the company is legitimate, they will more likely put money and expertise into creating an attractive website for themselves.

5. Outrageous claims of obscene amounts of money you will make quickly. If it seems too good to be true, it is. Period. Don’t fall for anything that seems like a dream come true. I had to learn the hard way that it’s true - nothing good comes without hard work and smart maneuvering.

Signs of a Potential Legitimate Paid Online Survey Program:

1. Membership is free.

2. You can locate a main company website that contains information about the company as well as contact information.

3. You do not find any connection to another company, particularly another paid online survey site. The company seems to be a legitimate source of market panel research through surveys.

4. You get a feeling from the website that the company is respectable and legitimate. The company’s main website seems clean and organized.

5. You are provided with a general sense of how much you’ll be making per survey and what the minimum payout is. You are not led to believe that you will be making an enormous income and that you can start thinking about quitting your day job.

What Works for Me

1. Create two new email addresses: one to use for the paid online survey programs you join, and one to give on any of the surveys you take. In other words, if a survey opportunity asks you to give another company your email address, give you second one - that becomes your junk box.

2. Create a bookmark folder in your web browser containing the home pages of the survey programs you join. This helps you keep organized the legitimate sites you have joined and helps you stay on top of payment times. Are you due for a payout? Make sure to check in so you don’t let money sit around!

3. Join several paid online survey programs. If you want to earn a significant supplementary income, you need to have money coming in from several programs. If the sites I recommend on this site seem that they could work for you, join all of them. I make lots of money taking surveys online but it’s because I use every single one of these sites and I earn my income from the sum of my earnings. I couldn’t earn enough just by using any one of the programs I use.

4. Take all personal surveys. After you join, some programs have personal surveys to fill out that do not reward you any points or cash. Take them! These help the company find you surveys that fit you. You can only get paid if you qualify for a survey. If you’re a 24 year old woman and you get sent a survey designed for an 87 year old man, you’re not going to qualify and so you’re not going to get paid.

5. Participate in as many legitimate offers as possible. When you find programs that prove their worth, stick with it even if it doesn’t seem to pay very much money. The key to earning online is having multiple streams of income. While two specific companies are my favorites because they have high-paying surveys, I still participate in my lower-earning ones. I use two companies that pay me the least overall, but the actions they require are too simple to pass up - 3 cents per email read! It takes literally one second and the payments add up over time to add nicely to my monthly income.

6. Be completely honest when taking surveys. Don’t say you’re something you’re not just to try to qualify for surveys. Don’t fill in answers randomly to try to finish more quickly. I ran an experiment to see if it mattered. The program where I filled in a column of answers just to get the survey done quickly asked me to join very few panels. Eventually, I almost never saw correspondence from them. The program where I carefully filled out the answers according to my honest opinion sent me more surveys with higher payouts and even asked me to join focus groups that pay significantly more.

7. Put in a bit of time every single day. These surveys expire. Sometimes surveys close within the same day they submit for survey panel members. You don’t want to miss survey opportunities, so check your inbox frequently.

8. Recommend the programs to others! As you start to earn money, refer the survey sites you find most rewarding to friends and family. Promote it on your social networking site (like myspace or facebook). Get the word out about it. Many paid online survey programs pay you for referring others. Look on each site for an affiliate program. See if you can earn money just for promoting a good thing!

9. Be patient! This should be rule #1! Your zillion dollars won’t pour in within the first fifteen minutes of joining your first paid survey panel. Join as many legitimate sites as you can, take as many surveys as possible honestly. Refer people to the programs that work for you. The money comes in slowly but surely, and you generally start to get paid more and more for surveys as the companies start to see that you’re a valuable panel member.

The Top 6 Paid Online Survey Programs I Recommend and Why

#1 Program

Requirements: 18 yrs of age, US/Canada resident

Payment per Survey: 10-200 Opinion Points

System of Payment: 10 Opinion Points = $1.00 cash

Minimum Payout: 50 Points ($5)

Method of Payment: Check sent within 6-8 weeks

My Experience: This is my favorite program because while they do not send tons of surveys, they do send a steady stream and the surveys are relatively high-paying and easy to complete. You can request a check after earning only $5 and the check is sent more quickly than they even say.

#2 + #3 Programs

These two programs are affiliates and run the same group of surveys. They pay per email read, however, so joining both will double your pay.

Requirements: 18 yrs of age, US/Canada resident

Payment per Survey: 3 cents per email read, 50 cents - $4.00 per free survey, 25 cents - $5 per 100% free offer

Minimum Payout: $30

Method of Payment: Check processed following month of request and sent within 2 weeks

My Experience: It took a long time to reach minimum payout with each of these programs, but your earnings increase over time. You start to receive more offers and you learn how to spot high-paying 100% free offers (they’ll present you with offers where the payout is high but you have to become a member or give your credit card information - don’t bother with these). I like these programs because I like earning a supplement to my income just by reading an email and clicking “Confirm Reading This Email.” I was concerned at first because it is obvious that they are affiliated with each other - their websites look similar, their offers are similar, and their programs are identical. It turns out that this is a way to double your income by doing the same simple actions - reading emails and participating in offers that pay you cash that adds up. The other thing I love about them is that they send you email confirmations that you completed an offer and how much your account has been credited. The 100% free offers really add up. I try to do a few of the $1-$3 100% free offers per day.

#4 Program

Requirements: 18 yrs of age, US/Canada resident

Payment per Survey: 75-200 Lightspeed Points

System of Payment: 575 Lightspeed Points = $5.00 cash

Minimum Payout: 575 Points ($5)

Method of Payment: Paypal electronic transfer immediately upon request

My Experience: I would say this is my second favorite program only because they are one of the few to pay electronically. That means upon reaching minimum payout (575 points), you get $5 dumped into your PayPal account immediately. As with most survey programs, your earnings will increase over time as they start to send you higher-paying surveys.

#5 Program

Requirements: 18 years of age OR 14 to 17 years of age with parental or legal guardian permission

Payment per Survey: 5-80 MarketPoints

System of Payment: 1 MarketPoint = 5 cents

Minimum Payout: 1000 Points ($50)

Method of Payment: Check sent within 4-6 weeks within the United States, 6-8 weeks outside of the U.S.

My Experience: The minimum payout is high, so I almost gave up on this program when it took me so long to climb to $50. I am so glad I stuck with it. I receive higher-paying surveys almost exclusively now and the surveys are usually much shorter than other programs making them well worth my time. I also realized that they give you 5 MarketPoints (25 cents) even if you do not qualify for a survey. That is extremely rare in the paid online survey world, but of course much appreciated.

#6 Program

Requirements: 18 years of age

Payment per Survey: 1 cent - $5.00 per click

Minimum Payout: $10.00

Method of Payment: Check sent on the 10th of the month for payment of the previous month. You can also use your earnings to get visitors to your own website.

My Experience: Over time, the clicks they presented to me were worth more than 1 cent! Although, even when they were (and sometimes still are) worth only 1 cent, it is mindless and quick and those clicks add up. I alternate how I use the money I earn. One month, I get a cash payout and have my earnings sent to me. Every other month, I use the earnings from my clicks to send visitors to my website. I don’t know why, but it’s fun to check the site every day for new clicks!

Be Patient and Persistent!

Getting to the point where you really make money for surveys, earning a significant addition to your income takes time! Don’t forget… each survey only takes a few minutes and requires little to no skill - you can’t expect to be paid enormous sums of money! If you are persistent with each panel, you will be rewarded with higher-paying and more frequent surveys! Good luck and happy earning!

For more information on the top paid online survey companies that have consistently worked for me, please visit my website listed below. It is full of free information that I update frequently. Thanks for reading!