Paid Survey Sites

There are plenty of paid survey sites out there. None of them will pay you a lot, but you may get a little extra money each month. Sign up for multiple survey sites to maximize money-making chances. I've been taking paid surveys for years, and what follows is information about some of the most popular survey sites.

Survey Spot : Survey Spot is one of the best survey-taking site out there. When I first signed up they were up front about the fact that taking surveys will not get you a lot of money. They send the most survey invitations (although you won't qualify for every survey). You get points for every survey that you complete and those points can be redeemed for either a Paypal payment or gift cards. (You don't get any points if you don't get to complete the survey, though). When you cash out with Paypal they pay right away. Literally, when I cashed out I received an e-mail just a few seconds later letting me know there was money deposited into my Paypal account. You can also redeem your points with an Amazon or iTunes gift card or Webshop vouchers from multiple online stores.


Ipsos i-Say : Ipsos i-Say offers points in exchange for taking surveys that can be redeemed for Amazon or iTunes gift cards, Paypal deposits, or charity donations. If you don't qualify for a survey you still get a few points so the time you spent seeing if you qualify for a particular survey isn't a complete waste. They send a fair amount of survey opportunities, maybe two or three each day. But again, you might not qualify for all of them.

Harris Poll : Harris Poll offers about one survey each day, sometimes less. You receive points in exchange for completing a survey, and you do get a few points if you don't qualify. The points can be redeemed for gift cards or magazine subscriptions. They have gift cards for many stores, including Amazon.com, so you won't have trouble finding a redemption that works well for you. Harris Poll allows people as young as thirteen to join.

My Survey : My Survey has a few surveys posted each day that you can take. You get points for completing a survey that can redeemed for Paypal deposits, e-certificates and gift cards, DVDs and video games, and assorted items. I like the rewards on My Survey best because you aren't limited to boring cash or gift cards, you can get an actual item if you want to (and that just seems more fun to me). Looking through the DVDs I saw a DVD of Mama's Family (the Carol Burnett show spin-off from the '80s) and Doctor Who (and they have over 1,000 DVDs and Blu Rays to choose from). Given that you won't make serious money taking surveys, sometimes it's better to get a neat item in return for your time.

Survey Savvy : Survey Savvy has the highest payout for their surveys, but surveys are only available a couple of times a week (and there's no guarantee that you'll qualify for every survey). They only pay with checks. There's no points system, just a straight cash incentive per survey. You don't get any sort of compensation if you don't complete a particular survey.

VIP Voice  : VIP Voice has easy surveys every few days but the only options for reward redemptions are one of their auctions or sweepstakes. You get points for every survey you take and you can use them to bid on an auction or you can use them to try and win one of their sweepstakes. So basically you're not guaranteed any real incentive for taking their surveys. 

How to Really Make Money Taking Surveys :  All of these survey sites are well and good, but as you can see you won't make a lot of money by using them. Even signing up for all of them you might get $50 each month if you're lucky. To make real money taking surveys go to Amazon Mechanical Turk. There are a lot of tasks posted to this website that pay you pennies (sometimes more) per task, but the real money is in the surveys. And there are people constantly posting surveys, so you won't have to worry about only getting two or three surveys each day. I easily make $10 each day taking surveys on Mechanical Turk (that's $300 each month at least). Some of the surveys will drag on and on with little pay, so check Hits Worth Turking For on reddit to find surveys that are worth your time. Their rule is to only post HITS (which are mostly surveys) that will amount to at least $0.10 per minute, so you won't have to keep doing surveys that pay $0.20 for twenty minutes of your time.

Never sign up for a survey site that asks you to pay first to access a bunch of surveys. There are plenty of free survey sites. You won't get rich taking surveys so don't trust any site that says you will. Before signing up to take surveys check with the Survey Police. They have information on thousands of survey sites and people can comment if they've tried a particular site to let others know if it's worth it.