Another Day as a Survey Taker

Day Two into survey taking and I've made $15.00. But of course I can't have it. You have to wait for cash out periods and you have to have a minimum of so much money in your account before they’ll send you a check. How many legitimate surveys have I taken? I'd say I've taken a grand total of about 15 surveys which took about three or four hours. But it took two whole days to shift through garbage and “bonus offers” to get the real thing.

My favorite find of the day? Old Buddy at fusioncash.net. He does an introduction or tutorial video and at the end of it he reveals he's spent two years using fusion cash and has made just over $1600...after two years. You go get ‘em (insert sarcasm here).

What about offline? Are there legitimate "Survey Takers?" I emailed Mark Wiser of Wiser Marketing Group (fun name, huh?) to get him on the phone.



"(It'd) be the world's worst job," he said. He says traditionally people participate in focus groups for $50-$75 or they'd receive cold calls from survey administrators. Now it's just much cheaper to do it all online. And much easier too, I would think. Wiser reminds us all that no one really wants to sit in a focus group where one guy overpowers you because he knows everything about everything (this is also what it feels like to be a woman, Wiser).

"(It's) more accurate and you get a general cross-section of the population," Wiser explains of the online surveys. True. Research firms need information not just from a handful of hippies vacationing in Maine, but from a diverse group of individuals all across the US. So the results from online surveys are good for the research firms, which they pass on to manufacturers who can make better products. But what about the Survey Taker? What do they get?

"(Survey-taking) is more for people who want to be in the know and see ads and products before anyone else," Wiser says. So I guess it's true. Money isn't everything. Survey Taker as a career? Sorry, not so, folks. And the claims, “make extra money!” and “work from home filling out surveys!”? Absolutely, but you can’t have it. Not a penny. Nope. But you can get coupons. And special bonus offers. Oooh, and if you’re lucky, you can get free samples.

Check back for an updated list of the sites that offered legitimate money. Each site comes with a paragraph summary and a personal rating.

Got a Career you want explored? Let us know! Otherwise our next career exploration is going to be Anesthesiologist and I'm having a hard time coming up with a fun angle on that one.

Survey Taker

Though it's laughable to consider it a serious "occupation" you can't deny people have fallen for get rich quick schemes and earn extra money at home type of efforts over the years. Survey Taking is one such endeavor. Follow me as I waste my time filling out surveys and participating in focus groups for a buck and let's see exactly how much money I do make. In addition, I'll compile a list of the ones where you really do, "earn extra cash" or "make $2500/wk" (if any). And I'm not going to spend a dime.

I started this project 9AM on Tuesday August 17 and so far I have attempted to sign up with the following five survey-taking websites:

1. qualityhealth.com
2. opinionoutpost.com
3. mindfieldonline.com
4. surveyspot.com
5. npdor.com

Qualityhealth.com was the most annoying. I filled out a general form of less than ten questions (not the annoying part) and then was sent through a series of "free offers!" which consisted of newsletter subscriptions and interest in receiving coupons. Page of page of the heading "Select your FREE BONUS OFFERS Below! Select as many free offers as you like and click 'submit' below to accept and continue." I was so tired of reading the offers that eventually I just started clicking 'no' to each one. Finally I got to the end. Hooray! My reward? Access to a bunch of coupons and no further information. I thought I was signing up for a survey-taking service? Big X on qualityhealth.com and a rating point of zero.

Opinionoutpost.com was conforting. I could go to my member's area and actually see a dollar amount (if I had taken surveys yet) of my accumulated points. Reading through the FAQs and information I discovered that surveys sometimes pay up to $5.00, but most will pay about a $1.00. But that's only if they offer monetary compensation. Some only offer points that you use to gamble away in sweepstakes. Further investigation is required with opinionoutpost.com, but the general consensus is looking good from where I'm sitting.

Mindfieldonline.com is my second choice, next to opinionoutpost. Right there on the front page is your dollar amount of points earned. Both outpost and mindfield ask that you fill out "questionnaires" or "reports" to help them send you surveys that you're qualified for. I spent about an hour and filled out half of the fifteen questionnaires on mindfield. Both mindfield and opinion indicated it'd be a few weeks before I'd receive a survey other than the first survey. Mindfield explained they'd probably only send out one or two surveys a month to me. So that's like $5/mo. Damn, that's alot of "extra cash." :D

Surveyspot.com wouldn't let me have an account because their form said my address was invalid. After doing a google search and spending 20 minutes researching the proper way to write a state route address I gave up. I tried every manner of writing my address and nothing seemed to work.

npdor.com was the biggest laugh. You take surveys to gamble. Each survey you take you receive points that you can't redeem for cash. You can only use the points to "buy" tickets into sweepstakes that they offer on their website. Oh and they're good prizes too, like 7-day Hawaiian Vacation and $5,000, but who really wants to fill out surveys just to gamble? But I suppose to each their own.

Check back here for updates and in a few weeks I'll reveal the salary, perks and benefits of being a Survey Taker. I'll also post a newly completed and rated list of online and offline companies that offer surveys.

~Tab