by Michelle Lynne Smith

Created on: February 23, 2009

It seems that anyone who has spent any time on the Internet has seen ads from survey companies promising you that you'll make $75 to $125 an hour for simply filling out surveys. These sites ae becoming increasingly popular, with mixed results. There are some pros and cons to these sites which will be discussed here.

These companies ads are right in one respect. It is incredibly easy to fill out these surveys. All you ned is Internet access and about half an hour, although most survey are shorter than that, which means you could easily fill out one or two of these during lunch breaks. The only work you're required to do is to sign up for an account and then click the appropriate boxes when you get a survey. Most sites also have a referral program, so if you can get a fair number of people to sign up under you, then there is a chance of making money even when you're not filling out the surveys yourself. But downlines large enough to make you a significant amount of money can take months, even years to build, so don't expect too much too soon.

I can't speak for every survey site out there, but I mainly use myview.com and surveyspot.com and have recieved payments from both. So if you are skeptical or have been scammed by a survey company before, take some comfort in the fact that there are at last two who pay you for your work.

But now for the question of whether or not you can actually make a living filling out these surveys. Most surveys pay about one or two dollars. You'll get one paying three dollars sometimes, and every once in a while you'll see one offering five. But the five dollar surveys usually seem to be reserved for people in the financial or IT world, and the three dollar ones fill up pretty quickly. Most survey sites I've seen have a minimum payout of at least $25, so you could potentially have to take 25 surveys to see any money.

That seems pretty easy though right? Setting aside an hour a day, you could potenially make that money in about a week. Not earth-shattering, but pretty good considering all you did was click some buttons. But what the survey companies don't tell you is that you can only do most of these surveys once. And a lot of sites offer the same surveys, so while you may see ten survey offers in your inbox, if you signed up for a few diffrent companies then you may only be able to do five of the surveys. Out of those five, you may only qualify to take one. They fill up pretty quickly, especially the ones paying over a dollar, so if you're serious about wanting to take these surveys, it's best if you can check your email fairly often.

Despite my last few points, I know people who swear by surveys. Like most things, the amount you make depends a lot on the amount of time and effort you're willing to put into it. Someone who signs up with a lot of different companies, checks their email diligently and takes the time to build a large downline can make a decent amount of money, although I still hesitate to say anyone can make a living from it.

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