A Few Survey Updates
Survey Spot converted to a points accrual/PayPal payout option while I wasn't looking.
Cashed in at around $25 by the end of Q4.
So about $200 for the year.
This is not so great considering the time put in but not so bad considering I'm just sitting here drinking coffee and would just be playing Farmville anyway.
Have you ever thought about taking your survey money and starting a business?
Do you think you can start a business on what you make from surveys?
My next project is to create a step-by-step method anyone can use to start an online business with no money.
No, I won't be selling it. If someone really needs to make money with no money, it would be unconscionable to sell them an e-book, don't you think?
Better than taking a second or third job, right?
Sept '09
A very slow Summer netted only modest gains... I was even ambitious enough to take an exact tally but it was in the $45 range. That's about enough to buy web host space for awhile and that's about it.
It seems like there are more offers hitting my inbox recently so maybe things will pick up this Fall.
Toluna - who has taken over Your 2 Cents is sending a lot of offers my way and a has been showing off a new community-oriented site, while stalwart SurveySavvy seems to have taken a leave of absence.
Besides those 2 changes, not much has changed in terms of volume of offers.
June '09
Finally got paid.
Total for 1st Qtr - not too good... $125
Who paid... Survey Savvy
, Global
Test Market
, Opinion Outpost,
Survey Spot,
and
Lightspeed Panel.
Test
Spin has sent a LOT of emails but I never seem to qualify for
anything.
You can now redeem your Opinion Outpost points at Amazon with a 10 point ($1.00) minimum.
They also now have a choice of donations, sweepstakes entries or a chance at a $50 Instant Win game when you fail to get through the pre-screening.
March, '09 Update
NFO My Survey's Refer-A-Friend program is back again.
I took a look at my Opinion Outpost Points history for the past year.Putting into a spreadsheet, the numbers came out that they offered 79 surveys worth a total of $231. Of those, I was not a match for 48 (over half for $142.50), 24 were already closed (for a total of $76.40).
If I had tried to take the open surveys in time, this trend indicated that I missed out on about $30 worth of surveys.
It really pays to read these emails in a timely fashion.
Daylight Savings Time Update
Yeah, it's been a long, cold lonely winter.
As the economy slides downward, the fight to get a paying survey has
become as competitive as every other gig in town.
Since the beginning of February, I've been on the verge of reaching a
minimum cash payout on 4 different sites but it never happens.
Stay tuned....
Happy New Year!
From Your 2 Cents - It looks as though they are moving away from a strict monetary payout and really pushing the limits on a points accrual system.
*REWARD PROGRAM
UPDATE
While the Instant Winner
amounts offered for participation remain the
same, amounts will now be credited to member accounts in point values
where $1 = 3,000 points.
Points will
automatically convert to cash when you request a check.
You can request a check
when you have reached a minimum account balance of $10, or 30,000
points.
Checks will be paid in
multiples of $10. For example, if you have a
balance of $26, and request a check, you would receive a check for $20,
and have $6 remaining in your account.
Points, and payments in
$10 multiples, offer tracking efficiencies for
accounting purposes. This means we can spend more time offering our
members survey opportunities, and less time on bookkeeping.
In the near future, we
will be offering more opportunities to earn
points and extending your reward program to more options you may
purchase with these points.
So far this month: 2 surveys, 30 points accrued ( NPD Online Research) . $6 .
Winter Update
Opinion Outpost now has a new twist to the end of a survey that you don't finish where they give you the choice of an Instant Win Game, a 10 cent donation the Red Cross or an entry into their sweepstakes.
I'm also getting word that OTX is shutting you off if you've taken too many of their surveys in the past month. I don't know what that quota is but it's worth noting because a lot of places will re-direct to an OTX-led survey.
Then there are these tidbits:
"Notice:
Opinion Outpost
is implementing a way to make sure your checks
get processed more efficiently. Currently we ask you to allow 6 to 8
weeks for processing and delivery. In the meantime, you may experience
a longer delay. Please bear with us while we get things back on track
to meet your usual expectations."
Update: As of Dec 5th, Speedback is back online.
This is a good time of year to log in to your accounts and request payments and redeem points if you can. Especially with the economy these days, you can't trust that a research company will be around any longer than the auto industry and you wouldn't want them to go down with your cash.
This week: 4 surveys, 250 points accrued. 0 dollars.
A Fall Update
It's been a slow few months.
Not only on the survey front, but my cable modem bandwidth seems to be loading at 15kbs speeds (for those of you that are too young to remember, it was faster to call people than send an email).
25 emails from TestSpin in one week... and I never qualified for any of the surveys.
I did qualify for a product test from another site... FREE TOILET PAPER!!
Yep, that's 3 rolls of TP that they gave me $2 for testing in the privacy of my own home.Greenfield Online sent me an email that my profile wasn't
updated and
included a link that would let me do so.
I NEVER do that through a link and I would warn anyone else to just go
to the website from their browser and the email if they want to check
on their account profiles.
It turns out that the email was probably legit because my personal
finance profile has not been and will not be updated.
Best of the
Month - U30
They send out invitations with a more accurate idea of who they're
looking for.
You have a better chance of qualifying and getting paid through them.
Maximum of only a couple of invitations every month but don't overlook
them.
The best approach is to sign up and forget about them until they
contact
you.
Week Ending 7/13/08
It seems as if either the entire industry is saturating or everyone is taking time off for the summer.
I finally started getting invitations from Socratic Forum but that is it as far as any of the recent sign-ups (within the past 2 months) that I've checked into.
I'm still getting the strangest invitations from TestSpin.
I was just looking at the contest rules for the Lightspeed sweepstakes.
You can enter up to 100 times, but you don't need to be a member of Lightspeed at all.
To enter without being a member of the Panel or to gain additional entries if you are a member, hand print your name, address, and email address on a 3-1/2" x 5" postcard and send to: Lightspeed Research, Lightspeed Panel Sweepstakes, 180 Mount Airy Rd., Suite 100, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920. You must handprint the most current minipoll question (found on the Homepage of the Site) on your postcard. No mechanically reproduced, facsimile or computer generated mail-in entries allowed. Do not place your postcard in an envelope. Mail-in entries must be postmarked on the last day of the Promotion Period and received within seven (7) days from the last day of the Promotion Period. With each submitted postcard, a participant gains one (1) entry in the sweepstakes.
Totals for the first 2 weeks of July:30 screenings
3 surveys
8 contest entries
Week Ending 6/14/08
A 2-week total as June seems to have gotten off to a slow start...
I just went through TV ads - dumbest thing... first, I can hear the sound but I can't see anything... then, it asks if I could see or hear the ad and I said "no" and it said, "sorry - here's another one..." are you kidding me?
My multimedia settings usually work fine... but instead of closing the survey after I told them I couldn't view it, they just kept tossing one after another of these things at me.
So I got stuck in this loop of ads I could hear but couldn't see until I finally just closed the browser.
By far, the most invitations I have received in the past month came from Greenfield Online with TestSpin and Opinion Outpost rounding out the top spots.
Unfortunately, I don't seem to be qualifying for many TestSpin or Opinion Outpost surveys... and they seem to be pretty consistent with the cash survey offers.
Funny how those cash payout surveys close within a couple of hours of an email.
Lightspeed made me spend 20 minutes answering questions on a survey and then told me I didn't qualify for the rest of the survey and would receive no points - GRRRRR.
24 Active Survey Accounts is just not cutting it these days.
Time to find some new lifeblood.
47 screenings
5 surveys
7 contest entries
$7.00 (woo hoo!)
Week ending 5/31/08
I have yet to hear anything from my newest sign-up's (SpeedBack, Clear Voice, Socratic Forum, Digital Research). Maybe it was because of the long holiday weekend here in the States... maybe they're all studying for their finals.
Totals for week:
28 screenings
3 surveys
85 points over 3 different survey sites
11 contest entries.
Week Ending
5/23/08
Just like Survey Spot,
Greenfield
Online is screening for surveys at their website that aren't
being offered via email invites.
I turned down an opportunity to join a survey about credit cards... I always do. I don't mind telling people what kind of beer I drink, but I have issues with them knowing what kind of credit cards I use.
Trying to find a site that will make up for losing my place at SurveySpot, I joined Speedback and Socratic Forum.
I also tried to sign up with Clear Voice Surveys but tried 3 times to get a confirmation email and it would never go through. I don't know if I'll get any invites from them or not.
Totals for the Week:
37 Screenings
12 Contest Entries
41 Accrued Points
$5 Survey Reward from America Consumer Opinion
Week Ending 5/18/08
GoZing has been removed from the review list. It appears the "Zing" in "GoZing" got up and went. This was a part of Greenfield Online.
Interesting Note: There were a few companies that specifically asked where else I have survey memberships..
I was honest.
We'll see what happens
Totals for the week:
19 screenings
4 surveys already closed
3 Surveys taken
1 product test acceptance
2 contest entries
Week Ending 5/11/08
The kind of survey I hate...
When they ask you what your favorite "whatever" is and you have no clue what they're talking about.
For instance... I got one about medical facilities... which had the best doctors, service, etc.. What they failed to ask was "when was the last time you were a patient in a hospital?"
I have spent less than 30 minutes in on ER about 10 years ago and that was it.
So why should I type out the names of hospitals when I have zero idea about what they're asking?
Total for week:
20 screening invitations, 1 survey = 1 contest entry
Week Ending 5/4/08
First, after rebuilding my computer, I'm finally back online with a new motherboard and a great new host.
So, getting a fresh start here in May, I have noticed that one of my old standbys, "Survey Spot" is no longer sending me invitations.
I can only attribute this to my husband jumping on the survey-taking bandwagon and Survey Spot having a "one member per household rule."As such, I can only look for some new sites to sign up for.
Greenfield Online has been very consistent with their invitations.
TestSpin is relentless with their screening invitations and I received no less than 6 invites in one day (and did not qualify for one of them).
