Can you really make money by taking online surveys?

The answer is YES… but don’t quit your day job!  While one can earn a small amount of money taking internet surveys, you really do not earn that much money on them.  Furthermore, you will have to give out additional information about yourself.  If you sign up for all of these sites, you will spend most of your time answering surveys.  If you fill out the wrong survey, you might end up on a junk email list.  Almost all surveys have some kind of qualification mechanism; you may get invited to start the survey, but you may be disqualified before you finish, and therefore do not earn the stated reward.

Some of my favorite sites for taking online surveys are:

• www.mypoints.com – Occasionally emails a survey, and also earn points towards gift cards for reading and clicking through emails, as well as shopping
• www.e-rewards.com – Earn “money” that can be used towards magazine subscriptions, frequent flyer miles, hotel frequent stay points, free movie rentals, etc. for answering personal and business surveys.  Invite only (although you can usually apply for an invite on the website)
• www.pinecone.com – Probably my favorite survey site, also includes some product tests that are sent to your home.  Pays $3 per paid survey and product test, plus some other screener surveys that are just for a raffle entry.  Invite only (can sometimes be hard to find a person who can invite you)
• www.surveyspot.com – Surveys for cash that can be credited towards a Paypal account
• www.greenfieldonline.com – Surveys for cash that can be credited towards a Paypal account or mailed as a check
• www.testspin.com – Surveys for cash that can be credited towards a Paypal account or redeemed for an Amazon.com gift certificate
• www.myview.com – Surveys for cash that is credited towards a Paypal account
• www.buzzback.com – Surveys for a check or credited towards a Paypal account
• www.epoll.com – Earn points that can be redeemed for various gift cards
• www.globalopinionpanels.com – Earn points that can be redeemed for a check in the mail
• www.harrispollonline.com – Earn points towards various merchandise
• www.opinionsquare.com – Earn points towards various merchandise

There are many other such sites, just don’t use all of your time trying to earn money on them!  Remember, never just click on a survey from a site you’ve never heard of without first checking them out.  You may want to use disposable email addresses for some sites just in case you get junk mail.  Don’t give any information out that you are uncomfortable to give out (once you have done surveys for a while, you get a good feel for what surveys are real, and which are not).  And finally, have fun!