I shared about a few of my favorite survey companies last Friday and
talked about how this was a little way I brought in some extra money
during our lean law school days. Since I posted that, I’ve done some
more research on survey companies and wanted to share some more links
to reputable companies which my friends have recommended.
SurveySpot–This is one of the companies I’ve heard the most rave reviews about in the last year or so. They pay up to $5 per survey and you can request payout when you have earned $5. So therefore, it’s not hard at all to earn enough to get a check. In fact, while I don’t have a lot of extra time these days, I’m seriously considering signing up just to see what it’s like! Go here to sign up.
LightSpeed Research—This survey site pays in points and they are fairly generous in their points given. Once you’ve accumulated enough points, you can cash them in for cash, online gift certificates, music downloads, and hundreds of
other prizes. Or, build up your points for bigger prizes in your
Lightspeed Points Account. Go here to sign up.
iPoll–Pays in point rewards for every completed survey. You can cash these in for instant win opportunities, sweepstakes, or cash. There are also opportunities to do free product testing. Go here to sign up.
If you have any experience with these companies–either good or bad–please tell us about it in the comments section. As always, remember that you won’t get rich taking surveys and it takes work and effort to earn money from surveys, but if you stick with it, you can create a small and steady sidestream of income through surveys.
Question on mypoints, will they send you the emails to read and the surveys to take or do you have to frequently log in? Thanks!
I am having the same problem with SurveySpot. I can’t log in or get a password, yet I have don 3 surveys!! I e-mailed them twice but have had no response. I just want to LOGIN!!
Thanks so much. I’ve been using Pine Cone Research b/c of your suggestion, and I’ll try a couple of these too.
I signed up for Surveyspot about a week ago. I have probably done 3-4 surveys a day since that time. In the past week, not ONE of them has been for any money. They are all to participate in the “$25,000 sweepstakes”. They take a very long time… usually about 15-20 minutes. Not worth my time!
I have the same password problem with survey spot. I signed up and even took surveys and earned on one but cannot get my password? HELP!!
I have tried all of these survey companies and Opinion Outpost is the best by far. They pay quickly. They have a lot of survey opportunities and their customer service is awesome. They actually have live people answer the phone and they are very helpful. I would definitely recommend Opinion Outpost.
I just noticed today that SurveySpot is changing over to PayPal instead of using checks. I believe I read that they’re changing to a point system where 1000 points = $10. You can cash out into your PayPal once you have 1000 points. I still had $48 in my account, and it still let me request a check for that since it was earned before the swith over, but from now on, they are only doing PayPal.
I guess no one has the contact info for SurveySpot? Thanks…
In my experience, Survey Spot isn’t too bad, but it often takes a long time to fill out the “qualifier” questions and then I often am not qualified to take it, so I felt like I wasted more time than I ultimately earned.
I agree with most of the others about Survey Spot. I get a ton of emails, but most of them are just sweepstakes entries and I rarely qualify for the paying surveys. I’ve been doing it for a few months, and haven’t yet earned enough to cash out. I did get to participate in a baby wipe trial where I received two free boxes of baby wipes to use and review, though, so that was fun. Once I get enough money to cash out, though, I’m going to end my run with Survey Spot.
Just curious: About how long does it take to complete a 20 point ($2) survery from Opinion Outpost?
Mariah, I had the same question. It didn’t give me the option to set up a password and I can’t log in to do more surveys. Even though I got a ‘welcome’ email from them. Weird. Anybody know what to do?
How do you get a password for Survey Spot? I signed up, it took me to a survey and when I tried to go to there website and take another one, it asked me to log in, but I never got a pswd.
One survey site that I never seen mentioned on blogs – opinionplace.com. It’s affiliated with AOL and pays out in either Amazon gift codes, Paypal credits or frequent flyer miles (your choice at the beginning of each survey). You can only visit the site to complete surveys once a week, but they do send special invitation surveys that can be done in between that time, and if you don’t qualify for anything one week you can visit again in 3 days. You can also complete more than one survey during a visit if you qualify. I always choose Amazon codes and a survey usually pays between $1-5. Sometimes the codes arrive within a few days, sometimes within a few weeks. I’ve NEVER received any junk e-mail from them – just the occasional reminder if they have new surveys available, and the surveys are often enjoyable and not terribly long.
I also am a member of Neilson Panel and have made money doing surveys–they pay out as soon as you complete the suvey.
SurveySpot I do as well. If you get an offer for a paid survey, do it right away because they meet their quota quickly. This summer I was able to review a new product on cereal in which they actually sent me a full box to try. It was quite fun!
I’m a huge fan of Lightspeed Consumer Panel. Their surveys aren’t long and drawn out. Within a couple of months I accumulated enough points to cash out for $10.00 PayPal and within a few days it was in my account. I’m not back up for another $5.00! Very good and reliable survey company!
I’m a member of all 3. Lightspeed is my favorite: I’ve been a member since June and have cashed out 4 times without putting in too much effort. Opinion Outpost is good too, and I’ve cashed out a couple times with them as well. Neither takes very long to get a check/paypal/Amazon gift card.
Survey spot is okay, but like someone else said, they send you a ton of emails and most are for sweepstakes entries rather than money, and even the money ones you won’t necessarily qualify for. I finally cashed out for the first time the other day on that one, and got my $7 check yesterday.
Survey Spot is GREAT. I have earned $50 with them in the past few months….Quick and easy. They sent a lot of surveys, but I only click on the ones with a cash reward.
I LOVE Opinion Outpost. I tried Survey Spot, but I would spend forever on screeners and never actually qualify. In nearly three months, I did not qualify for a single survey so I moved on.
I LOVE Opinion Outpost! I have earned $32 in amazon gift codes in the past two months. I did not like Survey Spot, as I found that I never qualified for any of the surveys that paid cash, only surveys that were rewarded with sweepstakes entries . I have not been able to register for Lightspeed – every time I try I get a “technical error”.
I have used Survey Spot! I found they send quite a few surveys for entries into their sweepstakes. The ones that pay usually fill up quickly, so you have to act fast. In addition, it does take a while for their surveys to “credit” (sometimes the full 6 weeks they tell you). But I never had any trouble getting paid by them!
I also use(d) LightSpeed. I loved them and accumulated points pretty quickly. I recently quit, because I also work full time, so I needed to cut some things out to balance my time better.
I hated Lightspeed. I quit them after finally earning my first $10 check. I never qualified for their surveys except a beverage study that made me meet my minimum payout. My mom who has completely different demographics also never qualified so she quit them without getting paid anything.
Survey spot is good, I only do the ones that offer payment which they send out often enough (though they send dozens of sweeps ones). I earned $60-something within about 4 months of joining and that was not doing all the surveys (just don’t have time) though I haven’t done anything in several months so I guess I should go take one so my account doesn’t become inactive.
I love Survey Spot! I’ve actually made about $10 in the past few days from them alone AND was signed up for a really awesome product test.
Survey Spot goes in waves- some weeks you may be getting $ making surveys everyday, some weeks you may only get one worth $1. I recommend clicking through to the surveys that are not e-mailed to you, more often than not you will get invites to product tests and paid online forums. They pay out quickly and easily also.
Surveys are perfect to do while I’m watching TV- I can click away and make a couple dollars while the commercials are on!
Opinion Outpost has also worked well for me!
I’ve done LightSpeed panel, and I found them sort of frustrating. I did get my rewards, but they either send you a ton of surveys in one day, or none at all. I was out of email range unexpectedly for a week and when I got back they stopped sending me surveys because I had missed the ones they sent out while I was gone. That was pretty irritating. I did get some amazon.com gift cards though, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time.
I’ve worked with IPSOS I-say and gotten cash sent out several times, I think that is my most reliable survey company. Even if you don’t qualify for a survey after answering the first couple of questions, they give you a point toward your total. 50 points gets you a 5$ check. Usually 4-15 points are given per survey.
Thanks all for the tips. I’ve *never* gotten very good at surveys but it’s on my list;)
I do SurveySpot and several others. I don’t qualify for most of the surveys since we don’t watch TV or plan to make any purchases of major, new items in the next two years. It is taking for ever to accumulate enough to actually get the rewards in hand.
I have been using Opinion Outpost for almost 2 years. I get surveys all the time and payments are always made quickly.
I also like ePollSurveys, their surveys aren’t as frequent, but you always get the points even if you didn’t qualify for that particular survey. They have great options for redemption in the form of gift cards to popular places.
I also use e-Rewards. Their surveys are fussy about qualifying you, but even if you don’t qualify you get a partial credit. The only thing with e-Rewards is that their redemption options are a little limited. I actually use eRewards exclusively to get HiltonHonors rewards points and I have accumulated enough HH points through eRewards for 3 free nights.
Does anyone have the contact info for SurveySpot? It will not allow me to sign up as it does not recognize our address. We’ve lived here 3 years now but it still isn’t recogizable. I clicked on the contact link but it took me too 404 Not found page. Thanks!!
Thank you for all these offers they are such a help even if it’s just a little. It’s fast and easy work.
I love Opinion Outpost and would definitely recommend them – in nine months I’ve made $20 with them (and that’s with doing surveys sporadically).
Survey Spot is no good, IMO. I’ve been with them for the same amount of time, and in all that time I’ve made $1.00. Yep, just one dollar. But they send me like five to ten survey invites a day – hardly any of them pay and are mostly just sweepstakes entries. I would not recommend them.
LightSpeed I got a lot of surveys from in the beginning, but then they tapered off. I had to log in and do the screeners from their website, which is something I don’t remember to do very often (I like when surveys are just emailed to me), and started getting surveys again. In that amount of time with the points that I’ve accumulated, I could get one $5 gift card.
I have been a member of Lightspeed for years. I have never had a problem with getting my points. They are usually in my account right after I complete the survey. I have gotten gift cards for Olive Garden/Red Lobster that we have used to help make our date nights cheaper or have given as a gift to my daughters teacher as a thank you. They now have amazon e-cards which I will probably be using for Christmas presents. A $5 amazon card is 550 points. Many of the surveys I do are worth 150 points, but range from 75 to 300. I think that I have done at least 4 300 point surveys this year. So far this year I have earned about $40. There are times I don’t respond to the email because I just don’t have the time or feel like it. So I think that I probably could have earned much more. I also did a snack survey this year were they sent my a palm pilot and I had keep track of my snacks for a week. I ended up getting $65 in VISA cash cards for doing this and also 550 points for a pre and post surveys on lightspeed. This was the first time I got to do something like this. Out of the survey companies I have used this has been the one I have used most.
I’ve been doing Opinion Outpost and Light Speed for several years and they are two of my favorites. I can accumulate a ton of points with Light Speed and Opinion Outpost sends their check so fast, I usually get in within a week. Another one of my favorites (get tons of points quickly) is http://www.globalopinionpanels.com.
I signed up for Survey Spot but most of their surveys are only for $1 and they take between 25-30 minutes. It’s just not worth it to me to take that much time for $1. The rest that I’ve received have been for sweepstakes entries and those still take 10-15 minutes. I’ve not qualified for any higher than $1.
I’ve used many survey companies, and one of them is Lightspeed. I’ve just about given up on them. They send a lot of surveys, but you have to pass the screening questions and don’t get any points for your time for those (and I often find I am disqualified, having wasted 5-10 min for nothing to show for it). It takes me longer than I’d like to be able to earn enough to be worth it through this site.
I much prefer MySurvey and MyPoints, who always give you some points (usually 10), even if you don’t complete the survey. Ipsos is another one I like, and I earn points into my account with them, as well as into my account with MyPoints, so it’s like getting paid double.
I’ve also had problems MANY times with Lightspeed where I would completely finish a survey and it would tell me I would earn 75 points when I clicked the button, and then it would never show up in my account. I would email Lightspeed over and over to try to get my points posted, and sometimes they would, and mostly they wouldn’t. More often than not, they would ignore me and I wouldn’t get a response from a real person. Bottom line, I don’t recommend Lightspeed when there are so many other good survey companies out there.
I also love Opinion Outpost. You can get Amazon gift cards instantly unlike waiting for the check. I’ve been with them about 6 weeks, and it seems that most surveys are around 20 points, which equals $2! You can cash out at $5, so it really doesn’t take long.
I’ve tried several of these survey sites and one thing to remember is that they almost always have “screener” questions that you have to answer to see if you qualify for the rest of the survey. So, you don’t always get the $ if you don’t fit the profile that they’re looking for, for that particular survey.
Survey sites are how I earn $$ for Christmas presents each year, and I’ve really enjoyed doing them.
I too love Opinion Outpost. I requested a payout and had the check about 4 days later. I also love MySurvey. I haven’t tried Survey Spot yet-I’ll have to put that on the list. I’ve had nothing but unfortunate experiences with Lightspeed- most of the surveys I qualify for and complete with them they haven’t credited me for, and attempts to contact customer service have been futile. About 8 out of 10 surveys I qualify and complete go to a “technical problems” redirect page after I click the “finished” button, or their system asks me to sign in again after completion and then they never credit me for the completed survey. I’ve decided this past week to stop using them after finding a number of bad reviews online and negative reports to the BBB, etc. If anybody else has had success getting some help from their customer service, I’d love to hear how you did it because I might be willing to try them again since the surveys I took with them were among the more interesting ones I’ve participated in.
I love love love opinion outpost. You get lots of surveys and they seem to me to have the highest payout. The checks come quickly 2-3 weeks. I’ve been with them since March and have made abt 65-70 dollars. SurveySpot I don’t like as much. They send a huge amt of emails and only abt 10% of those are paid surveys, the rest are for entries into their sweepstakes. It took me almost a year to get to the 5 dollar payout with them but they do pay.