Paid Surveys

By: Stacy Garrels | Updated:March 31, 2023

How do paid survey sites work?

It's really easy. Simply take online surveys to answer questions about your opinion on a variety of topics. Swagbucks rewards you when you complete surveys. Earn free gift cards for your time or use your rewards towards sweepstakes for even bigger prizes. Cash out with your PayPal account or Visa gift card.

Every day, thousands of survey respondents earn money taking paid online surveys.

Are survey websites a scam?

Companies, brands, and organizations worldwide are always seeking the opinions of people just like you to help shape new products they develop and how they market them. They count on survey companies for market research to tap a global test market and provide them with reliable information. If you spend time online and enjoy giving your opinion, paid surveys are a great side hustle to earn a little extra cash while helping these companies.

There's no need to share your credit card information to start taking surveys.

Do paid online survey sites really pay you?

Legitimate online survey sites, like Swagbucks, InboxDollars, and MyPoints, really do pay. Online survey companies need survey takers, consumers like you, to complete questionnaires and give their honest feedback to market research companies. Your opinions help companies and brands create better, new products and services.

In exchange for completing online paid surveys, you can earn rewards. The best survey sites will offer a variety of ways to cash out your rewards. Standard payout options include free gift cards for Google Play, Amazon, Walmart, or Starbucks, a prepaid Visa credit card, or a PayPal deposit to your PayPal account.

Are Paid Survey Sites Legitimate?

Legitimate survey companies, with legitimate surveys, definitely offer you a great way to make money online.

Market research companies and ad agencies will need participants to give their honest feedback in surveys. They may need anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand participants taking surveys for each survey project they are working on. This can mean completing an online survey from 5 minutes to 60 minutes in length, focus groups, or product testing in your own home.

But it can be hard work to round up the right number of participants (and the right kind of participants) for every market research project, especially when they have me working on hundreds or thousands of them every single year. That's where legitimate paid survey sites like Swagbucks, InboxDollars, and MyPoints come in. They serve as the middlemen, so to speak, being a survey club that can connect their rewards members with these big market research companies.

This gives you the chance to earn a little extra money online when you have spare time.

Beware of scam survey sites. Doing a Google search for best paid survey sites can return some sketchy results from professional scammers. You can stay clear of survey scams though by avoiding these red flags:

• Do not give your bank account information.
• Do not give sensitive personal information, like your driver's license number or social security number. (You will still need to provide your age, gender, and other identifying information to get matched to legit surveys, but this data is anonymized. No legit survey company will ever need any social security information.)
• Promise of free products that seem too good to be true. (You can't earn vacations, 50" TV's, or free PC's for doing legit online surveys.)
• Promise of a ridiculously high sign-up bonus, like hundreds of dollars or more. Many legit survey companies will offer you a signup bonus of $2 - $10 to get started, but figures beyond that scream scam.
• You are promised a steady stream of extra income or ability to quit your "day job" and make a full-time living off of paid surveys. While you can make extra cash with survey websites, and it can be a fun side hustle, in no way completing surveys can replace the income of a full-time job. Even if you join multiple survey sites, taking paid surveys is not a regular income replacement.

Why should I take Swagbucks online surveys?

With over 20 million active members, Swagbucks is one of the best paid survey sites for survey takers to make money for giving their opinion online. Swagbucks provides access to tens of thousands of paid survey opportunities with more surveys added every day. With every online survey, you are affecting key decisions from major companies and organizations. More survey opportunities mean more chances to make your opinion count - and more earning potential for you! Unlike most other online survey sites, Swagbucks will even give you a bonus when you don’t qualify for a survey, meaning you never miss out on getting paid. There is no cap on the payout threshold.

How much money can I make taking surveys on a paid survey site?

On a legit survey site, you'll find most paid surveys worth $0.25 to $5.00. On Swagbucks, you can find surveys paying up to $20 or more - depending on how detailed the survey is or the needs of the market research firm. For example, in-home product surveys can pay $100 or more.

Per month, you can reasonably earn an extra $50 to $250. When it it comes to paid surveys, you get what you put out of it. It helps to set small daily goals. If you wanted to make an xtra $100 a month, that's $3.33 a day you would need to earn. That's very doable on a paid survey site.

What type of paid online surveys can I take?

There are lots of different kinds of paid survey sites and online survey panels. Examples include:

• Advertising effectiveness surveys
• Brand recognition surveys
• Product appeal surveys
• Surveys about services

The volume of available surveys will depend on the type of focus groups market research companies would like to research for. There are opportunities to get your hands on free product for product testing and review.

What are branded surveys?

Branded surveys are surveys you complete where you are asked to provide your feedback about specific brands like Yahoo, Android, Target, Chrysler, or Nike.

You can earn a little extra cash or other perks just for sharing your honest feedback. How much do you trust or distrust this brand? Have you purchased this brand before, or would you do so in the future? Do you see these brands' ads when you play games or stream TV shows? How well do you remember these ads?

These are all common types of branded surveys. For each completed survey, you'll earn cash, points, or other virtual currency. (Swagbucks, for example, pays members in SB currency.) Build your earnings as you complete more paying surveys, and then cash out when you're ready.

How do I make money online?

Simply register with an email address and create a password to securely access your Swagbucks account. Then, you can earn extra income in your spare time at home, or work, or on-the-go from our mobile website, Android App and iPhone App. Earn gift cards to your favorite retailers like iTunes, Target, eBay, and Lowe's.

How much will I get paid to take surveys?

It's easy to earn cash for surveys. How much you get paid completely depends on the number of surveys you attempt and complete and the amount of time it takes to complete a survey. All online surveys for money have different payouts, with some offering as much as $50. Most will pay less, but also take less time. Expect to earn about 40 to 200 SB points per survey (100 SB = $1), with occasional opportunities with much higher earning potential.

How much money will I make using Swagbucks?

Motivated earners can make $100 or more each month using Swagbucks. That's because Swagbucks is one the best online surveys sites out there, offering the most opportunities to make money online.

In addition to all of the survey opportunities, there are other great site uses to earn free Amazon gift cards and other rewards.

Swagbucks members can get paid to take surveys, test products, try free samples, watch videos, use digital coupons, use print coupons, redeem special promo or Swag Codes, enter sweepstakes, complete daily checklists, sign up for other side hustles, answer daily polls, or play online trivia. You can even get paid for shopping online too because when you shop from Swagbucks links you'll earn cash back rebates.

And Swagbucks does have its share of mega earners who've earned well over $1,000. They use their funds to pay for Christmas or reach other personal finance goals. To achieve this, you have to put in a decent amount of time - maybe a half hour or more every single day.

To make the most money using Swagbucks:

• Take a good number of surveys everyday, or at least a few days a week.
• Be on the lookout for new surveys as they become available.
• Complete your daily checklists.
• Answer daily polls.
• Before making your next online purchase, check the Swagbucks shop page for promo codes, deals, and cash back.
• Discover the activities you love and focus on completing those.

If you don't like watching videos or playing BINGO, you won't enjoy the site and you won't keep at it. The key is to have fun and to pace yourself so you'll want to keep using and enjoying Swagbucks.

What are the highest paying online surveys?

The highest paying online surveys are usually the longer surveys (taking 40 minutes or more to complete), or a survey that is looking for a very particular audience. They need people who fit very specific criteria, like being bilingual in Korean or English, owning a pet Boa Constrictor, having stage 1 cancer, or having 2 or more sets of twins or other multiples.

While always selecting the highest paying online survey opportunity may look attempting, these surveys can be harder to qualify for. You may get frustrated if you disqualify from the survey after completing a 5-minute screener.

Generally, surveys that pay more moderate amounts of $0.50 to $1.50 are going to be open to a broader audience or be shorter in length. But, it's definitely a good thing to try and take as many surveys as possible, regardless of payout threshold.

Which survey sites pay cash instantly?

There aren't any legit survey sites that will pay cash truly instantly. If you need cash today to fill up your gas tank, you can't sign up for a legitimate survey site today and expect to be able to earn and cash out today.

That said, Swagbucks is the survey site that comes closest to paying cash instantly as it has the lowest payout threshold needed. The payout threshold is the amount of money you need to have banked in your account before you can cashout.

In addition to giving you the most ways to earn, Swagbucks gives you the quickest access to your survey and rewards earnings.

With any legit survey site, it will take you more time to get your first payment. For legal and tax requirements, they may be required to request a W-9. They will also need to verify your mailing address and/or email address.

Many other survey sites take 1-2 weeks or longer. With Swagbucks, your first payment can take a week but subsequent requests can be processed very quickly. Many times, it will take just 1-2 business days although in some instances it may take 5 business days or more. It depends on the type of reward you are requesting (PayPal, prepaid credit card, gift card, etc.) and how soon the merchant partner can process the request.

Which survey sites pay cash instantly?

There aren't any legit survey sites that will pay cash truly instantly. If you need cash today to fill up your gas tank, you can't sign up for a legitimate survey site today and expect to be able to earn and cash out today.

That said, Swagbucks is the survey site that comes closest to paying cash instantly as it has the lowest payout threshold needed. The payout threshold is the amount of money you need to have banked in your account before you can cashout.

In addition to giving you the most ways to earn, Swagbucks gives you the quickest access to your survey and rewards earnings.

With any legit survey site, it will take you more time to get your first payment. For legal and tax requirements, they may be required to request a W-9. They will also need to verify your mailing address and/or email address.

Many other survey sites take 1-2 weeks or longer. With Swagbucks, your first payment can take a week but subsequent requests can be processed very quickly. Many times, it will take just 1-2 business days although in some instances it may take 5 business days or more. It depends on the type of reward you are requesting (PayPal, prepaid credit card, gift card, etc.) and how soon the merchant partner can process the request.

Other legitimate companies that offer surveys include:

• InboxDollars
• MyPoints
• Upromise
• Valued Opinions
• Survey Junkie
• Opinion Panel
• Opinion Outpost

These other sites are similar to Swagbucks in offering PayPal cash or gift cards to major brands. However, most surveys pay less than the ones you'll find on Swagbucks and there are fewer other earning activities. On Survey Junkie, for example, taking paid surveys is the only way to earn. On Swagbucks, by contrast, you'll find the highest paying surveys and other ways to earn like shopping online, scanning receipts, playing games, playing live trivia, dining out, and discovering new products and services.

With any legit survey site, it will take you more time to get your first payment. For legal and tax requirements, they may be required to request a W-9. They will also need to verify your mailing address and/or email address.

Many other survey sites take 1-2 weeks or longer. With Swagbucks, your first payment can take a week but subsequent requests can be processed very quickly. Many times, it will take just 1-2 business days although in some instances it may take 5 business days or more. It depends on the type of reward you are requesting (PayPal, prepaid credit card, gift card, etc.) and how soon the merchant partner can process the request.

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