by Laura Byrnes

Created on: June 19, 2007   Last Updated: November 28, 2010

Can surveys and other online gigs pay your bills? Well, that depends on how big your bills are. Do you just have a $30 a month phone bill, and nothing else? Yes, they can probably pay your bills. But as for the rest of us - certainly not.

Let's think about this. If taking online surveys could give you enough money to pay insurance, car payment, mortgage payment, utilities...wouldn't everybody be doing it? Certainly they can help you pay these bills, but if you're looking to make it a part-time job, you should probably look elsewhere. But before delving into this, let's look at the two types of survey sites.

1. First we have the sites that have hundreds or thousands of surveys to complete, all which range from approximately $0.10 to $1.00 once completed. Sounds great, but the only problem is, these aren't your normal surveys from companies that want feedback or demographic information for their particular company. These are "Win a Free IPod!" surveys, that put you through page after page of "offers" to try and snag your money. Most people simply click "No" to every offer, finish through the survey and grab their $0.50 or so, and be on their way.

So why not just do that for a few hours and build yourself up some good money? Well, for one, many of these aren't quick surveys. They're 5-8 pages long of offers and/or personal information. That's right, each survey wants your name, address, phone number, list of your greatest fears, etc.. Now I can see giving this information to legitimate companies looking for information - but these sites are built to try and take your money, fine print and all. So giving them your personal information is like sending a memo out to all available telemarketers with your phone number and usual dinner time.

Are there ways around this? Of course. There are sites that give you a free online phone number, and sites that give throw-away e-mail addresses. You could potentially make hundreds of dollars or more on the sites per month, but that requires a few hours a day sitting down and going through the same agonizing process, of trying to pull-one over on the scam sites for a little bit of change.

Next we have the legit survey sites. That is, the ones that are actual companies who send you surveys asking normal questions on various products or companies. Each survey usually pays a couple dollars for your time. Sounds great - the only problem, is you tend to only get 1-2 surveys per week. To make a decent amount of money, you would need to sign up for a good handful of these sites, and then still, we get down to the bottom line: you're not making enough to pay the bills.

In conclusion, the sites can certainly make you money. They'll put some extra rainy-day money in your PayPal account. It's a good thing on the side for at-home moms or college students who need something else besides a minimum wage part-time job. But if you're looking to make enough money to pay off your house, car or other bills, then you should look elsewhere. Because if you're going to spend 5-6 hours a day filling out agonizing surveys...why not just go get a part-time job?

Learn more about this author, Laura Byrnes.
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