Here is my first in a series of guest posts about new ways to bring money in. Nicole from Nicole’s Nickels has had great success earning money through mystery shopping, surveys and online offers. I asked her to share her survey experience with the Moneywise Moms readers. Read on, then leave your questions and comments below:
I have been doing online surveys for almost a year now and earn approximately $100 per month doing them. I love them because I do them at my leisure, while watching TV, in my pajamas, basically anywhere and at anytime I want! Realistically, doing online surveys won’t make you rich, but $100 a month is my gas money and sure does come in handy. There are also scam survey companies out there and so I am here to make sure you sign up for the most reputable companies in the survey world. A great resource is Survey Police, a website where the focus is solely survey companies. There are wonderful forums on there so you can hear from others about their experiences with particular companies as well as a complaint system to resolve any issues you may have with companies.
In my almost-year of surveying, I’ve never had an issue with payment, legitimacy, etc. I do my research before signing up for a company and have been thrilled with the results. I am signed up with well over 25 survey companies and pick and choose which surveys to complete. You get to know the particulars of each company the more surveys you take, and I don’t do “sweepstakes only” (i.e. surveys for no compensation, just an entry into the sweepstakes) anymore. In the beginning, I did these surveys as I had heard this was the way to start to get more paying surveys. I’m not sure if this is the case but in the beginning I did do a lot of the “sweepstakes only” surveys.
It is FREE to sign up with these survey companies; they are going to pay you for your opinion. You should NEVER pay to sign up on a survey site; that would be a scam. Within a few days of signing up, you should start to receive surveys in your email inbox. I recommend getting a new web-based email address just for surveys. I use gmail for my survey email address. That way, you won’t get bogged down by the survey invites (sometimes there are many in a day) and can take the ones you want when you want to take them. Many survey companies have introductory profile surveys. I suggest taking these profile surveys as you sign up.
Each company has a different system of compensation. Many use a point system where you are notified in your survey invitation email as to how many points you will receive for successful completion of the survey. Points then translate into cash, gift cards, prizes, etc. depending on the particular site. There may also be a cash-out threshold, such as $10. I make it a point to log on to each survey company on the last day of each month to redeem points. That way, I get a monthly check or prize (unless I am saving up for a bigger prize) and can keep track of my survey earnings. Most companies do not just send a check when you do a survey, it will be up to you to “redeem” for your compensation.
I have taken surveys for everything from car insurance to skin care products to TV shows. I once got to see a TV pilot of a show before it aired. I watched for an hour and then answered questions and got paid to watch the show! There are also many opportunities to get products FREE to test. Often these products haven’t been released yet. The survey will not say “product test,” it will look just like any other survey, but based on your answers during the survey, you may be asked if you are interested in testing a product. Sometimes you get the product AND compensation; other times you just get the product for FREE. I have tested shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste, chips and frozen dinners this way, among many others.
By now, you are probably interested in knowing where to start. Below is a list of several companies I recommend. Remember to use a separate “just for surveys” email for these sign-ups and once signed up, wait for your surveys to start filling your inbox:
Pinecone Research
MySurvey
Opinion Outpost
Ipsos I-Say
Zoompanel
SayNation
For more survey companies I recommend, and for additional tips on signing up and maximizing your survey-taking experience, please visit my blog, Nicole’s Nickels.
Nicole lives in south Florida and is a career woman by day, blogger by night. Her blog, Nicole’s Nickels, is a mix of money-makers and money-savers from surveys, mystery shopping and online offers to coupons and free samples.
Nicole, awesome information. It’s so sad to see the scammers trying to charge for survey taking. I’ve done mystery shopping, but I’ve never done the surveys.
I would be curious to hear how much of the $100 you make is from your referrals, rather than from the endless clicking through to do surveys. Having signed up with two different companies, I found that getting referrals is really the only way to make more than a few dollars a day for (and that’s for LOTS of time spent clicking, clicking, clicking through different ads that are masquerading as surveys).
Anonymous: The $100 I quoted here is excluding referrals. I don’t count referrals as survey taking since I didn’t take a survey to get them! My $100 per month amounts to just a few dollars per day ($3.23 per day in a 31 day month), the dollars per day really adds up though!
the link for Pinecone Research isn't working. When I go to their main page, there isn't a way to register to become a panelist.. is this a referral only program? Thanks
Leah–I checked with Nicole, and she said:
The Pinecone link is expired, just updated my blog yesterday about it. They only had the link for a short period of time – she can go to http://www.amylynn.org/home/pinecone.html and follow where it says "pinecone usa is open" for a banner to sign up. They are very elusive!
I was just wondering which survey site would be the best one to do. I am a stay at home mom of 5 kids and I need to make some extra cash
I went to the my survey site,and what I do not care for is them wanting to know my husbands birthday,place of employment,and my children's birth dates. I would never give that type of information out to anyone. Are there any survey sites that do not ask for your children's personal data?