Can surveys and other online gigs pay your bills?

No

1 of 49

by Don Balch

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People often ask the question: "Can I make enough money through on-line surveys to pay my bills?" For prospective survey takers, the short answer, which they might not like, is "no." The long answer, which they may or may not like, is as follows:

I do not want to discourage anyone from attempting to make money via on-line surveys, but with most survey companies, there is one catch, and it's a rather annoying one: respondents are not paid unless they qualify for a particular survey, and they are not informed whether they qualify until after they complete the survey. Since surveys usually take a minimum of 2 5 minutes to complete, and since I find that 50% 75% of the time, I don't qualify for the survey, and after visiting several survey sites and after wasting 10 15 minutes per site, I can't say I'm a fan of on-line surveys because, ultimately, I do not qualify for the survey, and I make no money.

Finding out whether one qualifies for a survey after one takes the survey is puzzling process because in order for someone to take the survey, that someone has to register at the survey site and complete a personal profile. So why do I not qualify for the surveys when the survey site already has all my pertinent information? And having my information, why do they invite me to participate in a survey if I am not qualified? I have no answer to these questions.

Neverthele ss, I know people who have made and who do make some money from surveys. What is their trick? Their trick is that they register with a lot of survey sites, and they take a lot of surveys. Is this tactic worthwhile? Do they earn minimum wage? Can this strategy earn a person $12.00 an hour? $20 per hour? Is there a cap to the earnings?

To answer the can-I-pay-my-bills-w ith-surveys type questions, you have to really account for your time, and you really must know the process. First you have to find the surveys sites, and then you have to register with them. At http://www.whichsurv eys.com is an on-line directory for about 200 or so survey companies. They list approximately 50 companies that allow registration from US citizens. So for this scenario, we'll assume US residency.

Time to sign up at survey sites = 2 minutes per site. Total sign-up time = 100 minutes.
This is your investment time. Write this time off. Forget about it. Pretend it never happened. Make believe that you just watched a movie. Better yet, pretend you just watched a great movie.

So now you're registered with 50 survey sites. How much money can you make? Will you be able to pay your bills? Is there a cap to the amount of money you'll make? We'll answer the last question first: yes, there is a cap, and the number of available surveys per month determines the cap. What does this mean? It means that once you've completed all the surveys - no more money.

But how much can I make? Okay, let's assume 5 surveys from each company per month, but some of the survey sites pay in products or discounts or coupons, and we only want to deal with cash-paying surveys. We'll estimate 10 companies of the 50 pay with product incentives, so we'll remove them from this discussion. That leaves us with 40 companies.

40 companies offering 5 surveys per month = 200 surveys per month. Let's say that you qualify for 50% of the surveys. That's 100 surveys for which you've qualified.

How much money will you make? Let's estimate the average payout at $1.50 per survey. Remember, some surveys pay more; some pay less, but we're seeking an average. At $1.50 per survey and at 100 surveys, you have just pocketed $150 dollars. Should you get ready to cash that check? "Whoo-hooaa there fella! Not so fast!"

What's the caveat? Basically, because you registered with 40 different survey sites, and because each survey site has different minimum payouts, you won't receive your payout from a particular site until your payout has reached the minimum payout, usually about $20 - $25. Yes, you just made $150, and yes, it's in your account, but you won't get it ... yet. When will you get your check?

The bad news is you'll get your check in an average of about 6 - 7 months because that's how much time you'll need to answer enough surveys on all the sites for you to reach each site's minimum payout.

The good news is that if you have been diligent, and if you have been consistently answering surveys, then you have probably still been averaging about $150 per month. So after 6 months, all those survey sites will start paying out your minimum payouts. 6 months at $150 per month = a nice $900 payday. Enjoy it. You earned it.

What was my hourly wage? 6 months of surveys at 200 surveys per month = 1200 surveys. 1200 surveys at an average of 3 minutes per survey (some are longer some are shorter) (though not much shorter) translates to 4,200 minutes. 4,200 minutes equals 70 hours. 70 hours divided by 6 months = 11 or so hours per month. $900 divided by 70 hours = $12.86 per hour.

So can you make money with surveys? Yes. But when it comes to surveys, there is a process, and you have to follow the process. Also, you have to remember that I have been dealing with estimates and averages. Estimations are iffy by nature, and averages such as the average time it takes to complete an ad or the average payout per ad, for instance, fluctuate.

That's the long answer. And that long answer brings us back to the original question: "Can I make enough money with on-line surveys to pay my bills?" The short answer is "no" because bills are due monthly, and you will receive your payments sporadically, every 6 months at best.

As far as the long answer to this question goes, well, you've heard my long answer, and if you prefer, you can pay a few of your bills every 6 months. But c'mon, really? After months and months of completing surveys, do you really want to use your money paying bills? I didn't think so! Wouldn't you rather buy some $900 toy? That's what I thought!

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