Are Paid Surveys A Scam?

The truth is, you CAN actually get paid to takeget others to do the same, you can then receive the
surveys online. But most of what you see advertisedproduct. THAT IS NOT A PAID SURVEY. But it's
online are not really paid surveys. A paid survey is aexactly those types of surveys that everyone
study conducted by a market research company toconfuses for "paid surveys" and calls scams.
gather information about a certain product orPeople are also tricked into paying up to $60 just to
advertisement. Large corporations spend billions ofget a list of companies that offer paid surveys. Most
dollars on advertising. They want to know if their adspeople think that just by paying the money they will be
are working and how the public feels about theirinvited to participate in paid surveys and make lots of
products. They hire a market research firm to find outmoney. That is not true. After paying the money to join
this information. The market research firm has severalthese sites you then have to sign up for each paid
ways to conduct a study. Some of the most popularsurvey panel individually.
ways are product testing, mystery shops, phoneThere is no valid reason to pay for a list of paid
surveys(telemarketing), and polls and surveys.surveys. There are a few good sites online that give
Here is an example:this list absolutely free. The paid membership sites are
A large cell phone carrier may have a new productjust taking advantage of the fact that most people
they want to market to women between the age ofdon't know that. You can easily find a directory of paid
18 and 25 who are single and live in a major city. Theysurveys by going to and searching for a "Free Paid
want to know what services are most wanted bySurveys Directory".
these women. How much they are willing to pay forIn order to make any real money from paid surveys
service, and what type of advertising most gets theiryou must be registered to several paid survey panels.
attention.Joining the top 20 paid survey panels is the first step
The company would hire a market research companyto getting paid to take surveys online. These are the
to get this information for them. Each market researchmost popular paid survey panels that send the most
company has an online panel. The company may wantfrequent paid surveys. There is no one paid survey
to survey 5,000 women who match the demographicspanel that is going to make you alot of money. But by
the cell phone carrier is seeking to market their productbeing a member of the top 20 you can be almost
to. The research company then emails all of its onlineguaranteed to receive at least one paid survey a day.
panelists and invites them to participate in the study.Taking an hour or so to register with them all is well
Each member fills out a short qualifying survey to seeworth it.
if the fit the profile they are looking for. If they do theyThe bottom line is, paid surveys are not going to make
are asked to particpate in an online survey and toldthe average person rich. To make a full time income
they will receive $10 to complete the survey. It's asyou would need to be registered with hundreds of paid
simple as that.survey panels so that you can make sure you are
The problem is that there are thousands of ads allalways needed by someone and take several
over the internet that say something like "Coke vs.surveys a day. But just by being a member of the top
Pepsi. Take this survey and get a 500 gift card". Once20 it is not unheard of to make a few hundred dollars
you enter your email address you are then told to signin a month. Not too bad for something you do in your
up for several offers like NetFlix, Aol, etc.. After youspare time and doesn't require any investment or
sign up for these offers, and sometimes you have tocommitment.