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Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:25:07 +0100

Get Paid To Share Your Opinion Now!
Participating in The Best Paid Surveys Online is the easiest way to make money online for both those who want to work from home and for those who want to have more fun by getting paid: to shop, to drive a car, or just to share their opinion. However, do paid surveys really pay? What are the dangers of paid survey scams? Read on to find out the truth.

What is a Paid Survey?

A paid survey is a statistical survey in which the participants are paid cash or offered other incentives for sharing their opinions. It is a method of data collection used in market research.

What is Mystery Shopping?

Mystery Shopping is a model of Paid Survey. Have you ever wanted to be a secret agent? Just Kidding :) Mystery Shopping is a method of market research used by companies to evaluate the retail and customer services of stores that sell their products. As a mystery shopper you get paid to pose as a customer, shop at a mall or eat at a restaurant, and later answer a few questions about your experience. According to Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA) companies in USA spent $600 million in 2004 on mystery shopping.

Mystery Shopping is used to evaluate services at retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters, clubs, car dealerships, apartments, banks, gas stations, health care centers, etc. You don't have to pay for the shopping. In fact you get paid for the shopping, for the evaluation of your shopping experience, and for your time. Now, isn't that fun? You get to have your cake and eat it too ;)

What is a Focus Group?

A Focus Group is also a model of Paid Survey. A Focus Group is a small group of people who are paid to participate in group discussions by market research companies. The participants are chosen by market research companies for acquiring feedback regarding a new product or service. It is an interactive group setting in which about 8 to 12 people share their opinions and ideas about a new product or service.

The group members are free to talk with one another to exchange their ideas. The interactions are interesting and fun. The aim of the companies is to get insights on consumer attitudes and perceptions. This provides invaluable information about the potential market acceptance of products or services before they are made available to the public.

The participants of a focus group are well paid - each participant is paid upto $250 per session which can last for two hours. However, only a selected few who pass a screening survey can qualify to participate in a focus group. Here is an example of a screening survey used by Cobbey & Associates.

Why do people get paid to share their opinions? What are the advantages of paid surveys, mystery shopping, and focus groups?

Advantages of paid surveys to the companies: -

The frank opinions of people help companies to improve their products or services, and also to create new products and services. To make important decisions companies need to be objective and know the facts. For example, before spending a fortune on creating a new product, it is very important for a company to know if people would really be interested in buying it. It is also important to know what features the customers would expect in the product.

Every year multinational companies spend billions of dollars on marketing research, which involves data collection and analysis. A statistical survey is an effective tool for marketing research. Some large multinational companies offer incentives to survey participants in order to encourage them to spend their precious time.

Statistical surveys have long been used for data collection and analysis in political polling, public opinion, government, health, social science, and marketing research. Before the onset of the modern Internet age, face-to-face interviews, surveys by telephone, surveys by mail, etc. were some of the time tested, traditional modes of conducting statistical surveys.

The traditional modes of conducting surveys were very time consuming and expensive. For example a single phone call or a postal mail (for conducting a survey) would cost much more time and money than what it costs today to send dozens of emails to gather data. Further, people are more likely to respond to an email (especially if it offers an incentive) than to a phone call, because they can respond to an email whenever they get free time.

To save time, money, and energy, large multinational companies are using the Internet. The Internet makes it easy and inexpensive to interact with millions of people worldwide to know their opinions. In the early days of using the internet for surveys, the most notable organizations were Gallup Poll and YouGov. Gallup Polls are unpaid whereas YouGov offers incentives to survey takers.

To encourage people to participate in the surveys, some large multinational companies offer incentives such as cash, gift-coupons, discounts, freebies, or entry into sweep stakes. Apart from saving time, money, and energy, online surveys are cost efficient, easy to administer, and yield quick results due to automated statistical analysis.

Advantages of paid surveys to the participants: -

Getting paid to share one's opinion is an easy way to earn money online.
The participants get a satisfaction from the fact that they are able to influence
current and future products and services.
It is fun to be a mystery shopper - shopping and getting paid for it.
It is fun to evaluate new products and get to keep them for free.
It is fun to preview movie trailers and get paid for it.
It is fun to get paid for driving a new car.
It is fun to voice one's opinion and be appreciated for doing that.

What are the disadvantages of paid surveys?

Disadvantages of paid surveys to the companies: -

Public opinion is essential for companies to survive amidst tough international competition. However this does not mean that there are no negative aspects of paid surveys: Several questions can be raised regarding the statistical validity of paid surveys. People might lie while participating in paid surveys. Since incentives are offered, some people might try to make easy money by randomly selecting check boxes or radio buttons (in case of multiple choice answers) without paying attention to what is being asked. The incentives can lure people to create multiple accounts and answer the same survey questions multiple times.

There are some techniques to overcome these problems: For example, the same question can be asked twice or thrice in a survey and if the answers don't match then most probably the person has not read the questions. The IP address can be used to track multiple accounts created by the same person. To prevent people from creating multiple accounts some companies (e.g. e-rewards.com) choose the survey participants only through an invitation.

Disadvantages of paid surveys to the participants: -

Some participants may have very high expectations and they are likely to
get disappointed because no paid survey can make them a millionaire.
Most of the self-joined paid surveys online turn out to be scams.
Participating in paid surveys online does not fall into the "Income Autopilot" category.
It is "work" to answer questions.
Scam "paid surveys" do not pay what they promise.
A minimum amount needs to be accumulated before it can be withdrawn.
Privacy concerns scare some participants.

Do online paid surveys really pay?

Surveys for money are one of the easiest ways to earn money from home - by participating in paid surveys online millions of people do get paid to take surveys online. However one has to proceed with caution because the Internet is full of paid survey scams and many people do not know how to differentiate between legitimate and fake online paid surveys. In fact an online paid survey is more likely to be a scam than being legitimate.

How to tell if a paid survey online is legitimate or not?

Legitimate online paid surveys are always free to join.
Legitimate online paid surveys don't ask for confidential information such as bank account passwords, credit card passwords, etc.
Legitimate online paid surveys respect your privacy and the privacy of your answers.
Legitimate online paid surveys ask your date of birth only to determine your age group. It is not really necessary to reveal your exact day and month of birth - The year of your birth should be sufficient.
Legitimate online paid surveys do not reveal your personal data such as name, address, phone number, personal information, or your responses to the survey questions to any third party without your explicit written permission.
Legitimate online paid surveys do not claim to be "get rich quick" schemes.
Legitimate online paid surveys pay only a few dollars for each survey that you complete. They do not lure people with ridiculous offers such as "Make millions every month working 2 hours from home....$1000 per survey....Hurry offer closing soon".
Legitimate paid surveys online will not make you a millionaire but will help you to make some extra money.
Legitimate paid surveys online do not ask you to buy products or services and promise you that they will pay you for evaluating what you need to purchase first.
Legitimate paid surveys online respect your decision to refuse answering any particular question or questions that you don't want to answer. They also respect your decision to discontinue your participation.
There may be a minimum payout amount and you might have to complete several surveys before you make sufficient money that you can withdraw. Sometimes it might take weeks to accumulate this "minimum payout amount". However, legitimate paid surveys online pay you on time once you have accumulated this amount.

Signs of paid survey online scams: -

They do not comply with the above mentioned characteristics of legitimate online paid surveys.
They ask you to reveal confidential data such as passwords.
They spam your inbox with advertisements.
They ask you to purchase things and in return they promise you great rewards.
They don't pay you on time.
They lack customer support. Your queries fall on deaf ears.
They sell or reveal your personal information to third parties without asking your explicit permission! This has a potential for abuse e.g. identity theft, social engineering, hacking, credit card fraud, invasion of privacy, etc.
[Discover How to Stay Safe on the Internet.]

Are paid surveys online free to join?

Yes, all legitimate paid surveys are free to join. After all they are "paid" surveys which means that they pay you; it can't be the other way round. However, paid surveys online should not be confused with "Survey Membership Sites". The former are free to join whereas the latter charge a small onetime fee for membership.

How do I receive my payments?

You will receive your payments through a check sent to your postal address. Many companies pay through PayPal, MoneyBookers, or AlertPay. You will want to create your free accounts on these payment processors not only to send or receive money online but also to conduct eCommerce.

What are "Survey Membership Sites"? How to avoid paid survey scams?

Survey Membership Sites are directories of hundreds of market research companies. Paid Surveys Online are conducted by market research companies. You can find market research companies that conduct online paid surveys on your own. A simple Google search for "Paid Surveys Online" can display hundreds of thousands of results. However, it is a real challenge to avoid online paid surveys scams, and find legitimate paid surveys online that actually pay well!

If you are really serious about avoiding scams and making a good amount of money then you need to join a survey membership site which will give you access to hundreds of screened market research companies. Finding free to join online paid surveys on your own can be very tedious, risky, and you may not necessarily qualify because some surveys are meant only for a particular region or market segment. Besides, membership to some sites is through invitation only.

This is where "Survey Membership Sites" come into the picture. They are actually third party companies that maintain a huge list (or database) of market research companies. They regularly update this list by actively finding the best paying survey offers, removing the poor performing ones, and screening and filtering scams. Survey Membership Sites charge a onetime membership fee to give you access to hundreds of online paid surveys. Survey Membership Sites do not pay you, they only give you access to the best, free to join market research companies and it is the latter who pay you.

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