Rather than paste all the links to places I want you to join, I'll tell you honestly how to find the best ones. You will find hundreds of sites on the net telling you to join this site or that site, that this one pays the best... you need to filter out the good ones and there are ways to find the places that pay.

Almost all of the ads for companies that you see are multi-level marketing schemes which waste your time. You get paid a pittance and the only one taking in the money is the person advertising for new members. Legitimate market research companies do not work this way!

So there are better ways to see what's worth joining. The first kind are the ones that exist in real life. These are called Market Research companies, and to find them you don't just hunt on the net - you also contact real companies with real offices, and ask them if they offer online surveys. The fact that they have a real office and real people means they are accountable to their actions and can't easily dodge paying people. I have been paid good amounts of money at these companies, I have had food, drinks, detergents, cosmetics, gifts, all manner of items posted out to me for testing. I then log on to their site, answer the questions, and get paid.

Secondly look for online companies that have partnerships with reputable businesses. As an example, I'm with one company who is partnered to our national postal service. This tells me their reputation matters to them. I have been paid three times by them so far, so a bit of homework does pay off.

Now if you're interested in another company, and they have neither real-life offices or good partnerships, read their terms carefully. Make sure you get an idea of what the payment for a survey might be. Make sure you know the minimum payout and how it will be paid. Check their privacy statement. Many of these companies, even if they are genuine, can only offer one or two surveys per month - this is no good to you if the minimum payout might require 30 surveys. So be realistic on what you think you will earn.

I would also recommend creating a brand new free email account just for your surveys. Otherwise, once you join a handful, you'll be buried in invitations and spam. Having a separate email address means you can just take up the invitations that suit you.

Lastly, a real life working wage isn't realistic. But you might well be able to bring in enough to cover the cost of your internet bill, or a few dollars' pocket money. So while you enjoy taking surveys, go for it!

Learn more about this author, Eliza Sininen.
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