Chapter Two
Are Survey Sites Just Scams?
For every survey panel, you will find something that they will give you in return to take them. This usually comes in an incentive such as gift cards, movie tickets, sweepstakes etc. but you may be asking yourself, "Do I need any of that stuff?" Well the answer is only left up to you, and how much time you'd want to put into it. Some folks would sign onto panels without researching them first and believe they'll make money, only to find out they won a $5 gift card for Walmart.
Gift cards aren't bad, but personally I don't want them. This also includes: coupons, trial offers and sweepstake entries. Just give me the money! Many people online complain about this and they believe that its all part of some scam. Most of the paid survey sites out there are free to join and nothing else on the site afterwards require a payment from you. I'm pretty sure by now it would be very hard to convince someone to pay a fee for joining a paid survey panel online, as many folks would quickly spread the word about it not to join.
A great number of people, especially "noobs" are eager to make money and never read the site's terms or other rules before signing up. However, you still have folks saying things like, "I was told that when I sign up, I'll have $5 in my account and now I can't cash it out to my Paypal!" or "I'm always told I'm not qualified or the survey has closed for the day" and "All you get is points for gift cards and in return, they trick you into taking your information and wasting your time." And usually all of these complaints are followed by that four letter word in all caps SCAM!!...
Well technically this is not a scam, and again its just some folks that are not carefully reading what the terms and conditions say. Although I have to honestly say that, who really reads that stuff anyway? All of those complaints was something I experienced too but it quickly wore off as I eventually found better ones to take. For example, you will not qualify for every single survey that's attempted. On average for each site I usually qualify up to 1-3 a day or 7-21 a week. Later, I will discuss in detail which sites are better for your chances to qualify.
Also, many survey panels feature high paid offers for you to take. The panel would pay you to try an offer free, for a set time period. They'll usually require your credit card information before taking it but mention you'll only be charged, if you don't cancel before a certain period. Panels will pay you around $20-50 per offer and you will only be paid, after fully completing it. These offers look really good on the surface because of its high payouts but if you don't carefully read them, you can easily run up your credit card bills. This is another scam claim some people would put out but again, its all about carefully reading before signing up.
In the next chapter, I will go into great detail of which types of survey sites you should choose and not choose for making money, what to look for in sites before registering and how & when you're going to get paid. Hopefully this should help clarify everything in your next decision to join a survey site before labeling it a SCAM!