Are Survey Sites Scams? Know The Signs!

Are Survey Sites Scams?  Or Can You Really Make Money With Paid Surveys?

Online survey sites in general, tend to get a whole bunch of negative reviews: but are survey sites scams?

Even some of the longest withstanding survey related companies, have a terrible track record, with a vast amount of complaints against them.

Therefore, it’s completely understandable why someone might conclude that all survey-related sites are scams.

While I’d argue that many of them are really not worth the time invested, a large proportion of survey sites are still legitimate companies.

I will run over some of the common problems associated with survey sites and also, discuss some of the regular complaints made against them.

Criticisms against well established sites:

Even some of the most popular websites, such as Toluna, Ipsos-Isay, or Global Test Market have a whole host of complaints against them.

The same sort of complaints tend to be made against a majority of survey sites.

These can include:

• Getting thrown off the site and banned for no reason, having not been paid what they’re owed.
• Being ignored by customer service.
• Poor customer service in general.
• Taking a very long time to receive payment, (sometimes several months in very bad cases).
• Taking too long to redeem points or earn enough to get paid, (these is common among many survey sites though, due to the low pay and sometimes high payout thresholds).
• Being relentlessly disqualified by surveys, (again, this will happen with all surveys, but some more than others).

Negative Comment Examples:

Toluna:

(image source – survey police)

Ipsos-Isay:

(image source – survey police)

Global Test Market:

(image source – survey police)

You can find hundreds of negative reviews for survey sites, all over the web.

There really is no good reason why some of these things should happen either – for example, in the case of delayed/late payments.

In this day and age of advanced technology, it takes no time to send a payment, or e-certificate.

There is no adequate reason for payments to be delayed for weeks and months.

It is time that some of these companies upped their game and gave their members a fairer deal.

However, often they do not have the customer service or man power to deal with the amount of members they have.

In any cases though, companies are doing it much better than others.

What Makes A Good Survey Site?

In my mind, there are a few things that sets the better survey sites apart.

These include:

• Having a low payout threshold, so that people do not have to wait months, or even years to pay out.  One exception to this is YouGov surveys, (which has a high payout threshold) because they don’t screen you out like other surveys.
• Having a variety of ways to earn AS WELL AS surveys, so that people have more of a reason to return and stay interested.
• Having good customer service.
• Having a lower rate of disqualification in surveys, (a tricky one, this seems an issue all of them still struggle with).

Survey Sites: A Couple Of Things To Be Aware Of!

Answer Inconsistencies – be careful:

One of the biggest complaints against survey sites, is often that people claim to be banned and booted off the site for no reason, with their money kept by the company.

However, survey sites are extremely strict when it comes to monitoring the answers people give to questions.

You have to be very aware that the survey will often try to trip you up, by asking you the same sort of question, in a variety of ways.

If your answers are flagged as appearing inconsistent, then you will be banned.

Because surveys can be so dull to do at times, we tend to go into autopilot when answering them and may not always realise that we’re contradicting ourselves with our answers.

Alternatively, we may be feeling unsure about the answer to something and make a guess…

for example, it may ask how many times you’ve been to a restaurant in the last year and you may day 12+ times… but it was a bit of a guess.

Then a similar question comes around and you can’t remember what you last said, so you now put 3+ times.

Basically, you have to be really careful to pay full attention when you’re answering the questions, to avoid tripping up.

I believe that often someone may feel they’ve been banned for no reason, when really there has been some inconsistencies in their answers that they are not aware of.

Disqualification – it’s very common:

Disqualification from surveys, (being chucked off a survey) is something that survey sites get criticised for, but it’s very difficult to avoid.

This is because, the companies who are creating the surveys are looking for a very specific demographic.

They may only be looking for  females, aged between 20-25, who work full time in the teaching industry – for example.

This is why they have screening questions before each survey.

The problem often lies with how long the screening process takes and this needs to be improved in some cases.

For example, some people have complained of completing a survey for half and hour, before being told they don’t match certain criteria.

That’s just unacceptable and there is no good reason for those scenarios to exist.

Be Weary Though:  Some Survey Sites ARE Scams!

While there are many legitimate sites out there, (albeit, many with negative reviews) there are also scam sites.

Thankfully, you can spot these fairly easily and there are a few things that you should watch out for.

Firstly, you should NEVER have to pay to join a survey site.

Scams sites will ask you to pay a fee to sign up and some will have a monthly recurring fee as well.

Scam sites will also make crazy claims about how much you can earn answering surveys, often claiming you can make thousands per month.

They’ll also often tell you that you can earn something like –  up to $70 a survey, which is just not the case.

Some of the highest selling products on Clickbank, are actually these sorts of survey-related websites.

Related post:  Is clickbank a scam?

The problem is that people take a chance with these things out of desperation.

They entice you in with an affordable price, which may be as low as around $10 – normally that they claim is discounted.

But even at around $30, people may think it’s worth the risk.

Even though,  in reality, it would take you a long time to earn back that $30 just doing surveys.

The people creating these scams will make money from you, just by you signing up to these survey companies.

So, not only are they charging you for a list of survey companies that can freely be found anywhere on the web, but they also will benefit from you monetarily for any survey site you sign up with.

So, Not All Survey Sites Are Scams?

Millions of people partake happily doing online surveys and many of those people have also been paid.

While there are tonnes of complaints against companies, (some valid and some not so much) for the most part, they’re not enough to label something a scam.

What you do need to be careful of, are the ones that clearly are scams.

The most important thing of all to remember is that you do NOT have to pay to sign up with online survey sites.

They’re free to join – all over the web.

Also, be aware that completing surveys can be extremely frustrating at times and they’re a slow way to make any money.

So, unless you really enjoy completing surveys, (and some people do) you may want to look at different ways you can boost your income online.

While I don’t recommend survey sites as a good way to make money, their are some that I enjoy more than others.

Generally, I think it’s worth it when they have things you can do with very little effort.

For example, you can earn cash back on products you were already going to buy, or you can get points for surfing the web.

Here are a few:

1. Swagbucks – I enjoy getting paid to use their search engine, plus they have a whole host of ways to make money.  Cash back is one of the best ways to earn points.
2. Online Panel NET – Similar to Swagbucks.
3. Qmee – I use the google chrome extension with Qmee to earn money while surfing the web.  They now also have surveys, but this is a new feature.

Online surveys aside; I make the most online right now via Affiliate Marketing.

Affiliate Marketing involves suggesting/mentioning/recommending products to people, (generally via a website/blog/social media) and earning a commission when a purchase is made.

If you’re confused, it’s actually pretty simple to learn once you get your head around it.

If you’d like to learn how it’s done – this is where I got started.

What’s been your experience with survey sites online, have you got caught up in many scams?

Share your comments and experiences below and I will get right back to you!

All the best,