What is an online survey?

These are questionnaires sent out by Market Research companies to gather opinions about new products, changes in existing products, advertising, food, and many other topics.

Businesses need to know if they're doing a good job or where they may need to improve. By paying regular consumers, like us, they get an unbiased opinion. They also want to know how marketable what they have to sell may be. It boils down to them not wanting to throw money away on a product that won't sell.

If they spend money on market research, the results could save or make them millions per year!

Are there any fees for me to pay to take surveys?

Absolutely not! You should never pay anything to take online surveys, mystery shop, focus groups, or get paid to sites.

Some sites may offer a premium membership for a monthly fee that opens up more paid opportunities, but always stick with the basic and free memberships. You will make money, but it may take a little longer. Besides, if it turns out to be worthless, you won't be out anything but a little time.

Who can participate in online surveys?

For the most part, anyone with a pulse. There is really only a minimum age requirement of at least 13 years old, and that is with a parents consent.

Most parents don't mind because it gives their children a medium to express their opinions in a positive way.

In some cases, parents are asked to have children who may be younger than 13 participate in surveys. They do ask that the parent remain present with their child to help them with anything they may not understand.

Children will not be asked to view anything deemed inappropriate. So no worries about that!

If I sign up to be a survey panelist with any site, am I required to participate?

Not at all. This is completely voluntary and you decide if you want to complete a survey or not. It's basically work when you want. You will earn more if you qualify and complete more surveys, but it's totally up to you.

But do keep in mind, if you are inactive, meaning you haven't taken a survey with a particular panel in a long time, they will terminate your account. They want to open up membership for fresh opinions and may need your spot to do so, if you're not participating.

You can't get upset, either. When you become a member, you're considered an at-will contractor. This means you're pretty much expendible and they can sever ties with you for any reason they want.

Can I really make money doing online surveys?

Yes you can! How much you make does depend on how often you qualify and complete paid surveys.

The hard truth is you won't qualify for many more surveys than you do. Don't get discouraged, though. Every dollar you make does add up to a nice payout when the time comes.

It basically boils down to having a lot of patience. Sometimes it may seem like you've been trying forever and not qualifying. The relief you get when you finally do cash out is amazing.

You pretty much just made a decent bit of money for, looking back, very little time. The best part is, you did it on your own terms.

How much money should I expect to make each month?

If you show your patience and complete what you can, I would expect to make anywhere from $200-$350 per month.

This may not be the case every single month, and it may not be that way for every single person. There are some who will make considerably more than that average and some who will make a bit less.

My suggestion is to take what you can and run with it!

How much money will I make per survey?

As with the monthly pay, it varies. Most surveys pay $1-$3 a piece. This seems to be the average on most sites. There are exceptions, though. In some cases, there may be a need for longer, more in-depth questionnaires and those can pay $5-$10 a piece. On rare occasions, they can pay as little as 50 cents.

Is there a minimum amount I need to make before I can cash out?

I would say at least 98% of the survey websites require you to meet some minimum. There are a few who do pay shortly after a survey has been completed.

The reason you're required to meet a minimum is that it's more cost effective for the survey host so they're not constantly paying out so much money, so frequently.

It also helps that when they bill a client for the work done, that client has sufficient time to make payment. This is so there isn't overlapping and money is disappearing faster than it's coming in.

The payout minimums are reasonable and attainable. Don't get stressed when you see you need to make $25 to cash out. The money adds up quick and you will get there before you know it.

The lowest payout that I know of is $5, and there are only a couple sites that have it. Many are requiring anywhere from $10-$25. A few are set higher at $50, but there aren't many of those.

How long does it take to complete a survey?

If I gave an average amount of time to complete surveys, it would be between 15-20 minutes.

But, there are exceptions. There can be surveys that last up to an hour, and some that may only be 5 minutes.

It all depends on what the client is looking for and how in-depth they need their results to be.

I would realistically expect them to be at least 20 minutes. From my experience, that's what I've seen.

How do I begin taking surveys?

Sign up with any of the sites you want and fill out basic profile questionnaires about yourself.

These will include basic demographic questions like: age, sex, race, location; automobiles owned, household products used, movie and television preferences, banking, etc.

This is to hook you up with surveys that you have a chance at qualifying at and not ones you don't. It's a huge time saver for everyone and the survey companies DO NOT provide this information to anyone else for marketing purposes.

You do have to provide a valid email address, so I suggest you either use one that you don't care about or set one up for the sole purpose of getting survey invitations.

Be honest when describing your demographics. If you lie about them and are repeatedly disqualified from surveys that are based on these answers because you know nothing about the subject matter, this will start to put up red flags in the survey websites system. If they look into the matter and find this out, they can and will cancel your account. No questions asked, no answers given when you want to know why.

How do I tell if a survey site is a scam or not?

This is where a lot of people get tripped up. It's pretty easy, though. If a site is telling you that you can make $5-$25 per survey, $75 for a movie review and $150 for a focus group, it's bogus. Like I said earlier, the average for surveys is $1-$3. As for movie reviews, in 3 years, I've never seen one, so I don't even know if it exists.

These so-called survey sites are basically farms for personal information. They get you to fill out all sorts of forms and then they sell your information to third party marketers, who in turn send you spam mail based on your answers. This is in hopes to get you to buy something from them.

Another tip to look for is if the website has a professional affiliation. You will usually see an affiliation tag at the bottom of the home page. These are usually with the BBB, CASRO, and others. A few examples of what to look for are below.

I don't want to sign up for 100 websites. What are the best ones for me to make the most money?

I've listed many sites that have worked for me, or those who have told me they work. Keep in mind what I said earlier, what works for one may not work for another.

Having said that, check out the survey reviews. I put the basic information for many sites so you can get an idea of what to expect. There are ratings from visitors to this site on whether a site is worth it or not. You can use that information and decide for yourself from there. Or, read my article on which sites are good, bad, or just plain ugly.

It helps that I don't tell you what site is better and others can help you make a decision. This way, there is no bias toward one site over another based on my own experiences with it.

What is mystery shopping?

What is a focus group?

What are PTC websites?