How to Safely Earn Money Online Doing Paid Surveys

Participating in online surveys

One of the simplest ways of making some extra "money" online is by joining survey panels and participating in surveys. These are often a fun way to spend some time, to learn about new products, and get rewarded for your time. However, it is also a field that attracts a lot of scam artists and spammers. To get the most out of participating in online surveys, there are some basic principles you should follow.
 

Some spare change

Make a little extra cash doing paid survyes

Source: Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Paid surveys should be a hobby

Always keep in mind that participating in online surveys should only be considered as a source of extra income (rather than regular, reliable income). Participation in surveys should be a hobby, it is not a job. Any panel that says you can "earn" hundreds or thousands of dollars a month doing surveys is lying.
To increase your "earning" potential, sign up to a handful of panels to increase your chances of being selected to participate in surveys. There is no shortage of online survey panels available on the internet, but you must learn to identify a legitimate survey panel from a scam.

How to identify a legitimate survey panel

Take note of the following tips to avoid being caught out by scam artists and spammers. Whilst there are plenty of fake survey sites on the internet, there are also lots of really good quality legitimate survey sites. Here are some points to note before signing up to any survey panel.

1. If you have to pay to join or reveal any credit card details, it’s a scam.
2. Depending on your country, there are laws governing legitimate market research in terms of what information is collected in surveys and how it gets stored. In each country, there will usually be an industry body that sets the standards for this, so look for this information on the site. Make sure the company is a member of the governing market research body in that particular country.
3. Check that the company has an address, contact details, and is a registered business (there are different ways to check this depending on your country).
4. Be sure to read the terms and conditions and the privacy policy before signing up. It sounds like a drag, but you don't want your personal details being sold for anyone to use.

Filling out your profile

After finding some online survey panels to join, you need to go about filling out your profile. It is really important that you take the time to fill in all the profile questions carefully, and that you update your information regularly. This information is what the company will use to send you surveys in which you may qualify to participate. Therefore if your profile is incomplete or inaccurate, chances are your aren't going to qualify for many surveys.

Taking surveys

Once your profile is complete, it is a matter of simply waiting to be sent surveys. It may be a few days or a few weeks until you get sent a survey, it just depends on the demographics that companies are looking for. Be sure to add the company's survey invite email address to your contacts list to avoid having survey invites ending up in your spam folder.

Accumulating survey earnings

Each survey will “pay” a different amount, and usually this amount will generally be added to the “balance” of your account. Once your balance reaches a certain amount, you can elect to “redeem your points” or “cash out”. Every panel you join will be different, in terms of how they reward you and the minimum balance needed to redeem your earnings. Some might reward you with cash, PayPal payments or gift cards from certain retailers.
It takes time to accumulate earnings and this is why online surveys should never be considered a reliable source of income, rather as a way to make a little bit of extra money over time. Some patience is required, as it could take three months of regular participation in surveys before you can redeem your earnings. If after this time-frame you are nowhere near the minimum redemption amount, don’t keep wasting your time with that survey panel! Delete your account and try somewhere else.

Keeping track of survey earnings

It would be worthwhile to keep a table or spreadsheet of the date you joined the a particular panel and the time taken to earn enough points to make a redemption. That way you can decide whether or not a particular panel is worth your time and effort.
Looking at the table below, if the date was November 3, with no rewards yet from Panel 3 it may be worth reconsidering your panel membership.

Example table for survey earnings

Survey Panel	Date Joined	Rewards	Rewards
Panel 1	5/5/13	$20 Pay Pal 8/8/13	$20 Pay Pal 11/3/13
Panel 2	5/5/13	$15 Amazon 9/9/13
Panel 3	5/5/13

Use a table to determine if a survey panel is worth your time and effort

Be realistic about paid surveys

It is possible to safely earn money online from participating in paid surveys, by following a few basic principles. The key to remember is participating in surveys is not going to make you rich, they are just a fun way to make some extra money. If you choose your survey panels wisely, you will not receive any spam and can be reassured that your details are secure. Choose carefully and enjoy spending your survey money!