Hannah’s Top Five Survey Panels (December 2011)

I’m happy to report that my husband was thrilled with the Wii console that I purchased for his Christmas gift with my survey earnings. As a stay-at-home mom, I was also happy to be able to buy him something with “my money,” so it was a win all around. And of course, I can play it while he is at work….

December was a slightly slower month for me. This was mostly due to a lack of time to take surveys, choosing instead to spend time with extended family around Christmas and New Year’s Day. I am certain that I lost at least a week’s worth of surveys because I was not around a computer to take them, and will have the same problem for January’s earnings. I had no product tests once again. However, I did have an additional income of $30 from participation an online community, and a $30 payment for a completed diary study, which brought my December total up to $184.20.

Here is the list of my top five paying survey panels (December 2011):

Opinion OutpostTotal Earned in December: $32.50Total Earned since Joining: $319.60Date Joined: December 13, 2010

Opinion Outpost was definitely disappointing this month. They used to pay 20 Opinion Points ($2) for a 20 minute survey, but now they usually pay 15 Opinion Points ($1.50) for a 20 minute survey. In addition, their ability to redeem points for Amazon.com gift cards has been broken all month and this made it more difficult to do my Christmas shopping. I have also been disqualifying from a larger than normal percentage of survey attempts, which concerns me. I was honestly surprised to see that Opinion Outpost remained my number one earner for the month. We’ll see what happens the next few months.

Here is a screenshot of my recent Opinion Outpost PayPal redemptions:

SurveyHeadTotal Earned in December: $20.00Total Earned since Joining: $75.90Date Joined: November 2, 2011

SurveyHead was another disappointment this month. I had several high-paying ($3 and up) surveys that were pending moved to “invalid,” which means that for whatever reason, I will not be paid for them. SurveyHead is not paid for them either, but it still is frustrating to have that work go for naught. I especially dislike the way that there is no feedback to let you know what is going on, or why it was invalid. Since these were surveys that had been pending for 3+ weeks, there is no way that I would remember the contents of the survey or what might have prompted the invalidation, either. On the plus side, I did receive the $25 payment I requested last month, and requested a second one this month.

Here is a screenshot of my recent SurveyHead PayPal redemption:

GlobalTestMarketTotal Earned in December: $12.00Total Earned since Joining: $41.75Date Joined: November 3, 2011

I’m getting closer to my first cash-out with GlobalTestMarket. I received a LOT of invitations this month, but many of them were while I was traveling and they filled up before I could respond. I expect that I will be able to cash out in January, though.

Here is a screenshot of my December GlobalTestMarket account balance:

MyViewTotal Earned in December: $8.68Total Earned since Joining: $50.23Date Joined: September 21, 2011

My main issue with MyView is that the rewards that I want (Amazon.com gift cards) are hardly ever available. Their reward system has rewards available at certain times until they are sold out, then unavailable until they are restocked. I have to keep checking and hoping to find them available. On the plus side, the exchange rate is better for Amazon.com gift cards than for most of the other rewards, so when I am able to cash out, I’ll get better reward for my time.

Here is a screenshot of my recent MyView account balance:

MySurveyTotal Earned in December: $5.77Total Earned since Joining: $15.05Date Joined: October 17, 2011

I didn’t receive many surveys that I qualified for at MySurvey, but again missed many invitations due to travel. Hopefully this will do better next month.

Do you have a list of favorite survey panels?

Please leave a comment below and let us know some of the survey panels that work best for you.

 
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Hannah’s Top 5 Survey Posts (January 2012)

January was an extremely low-paying month for me, but I think that is mostly my own fault. I had gotten a bit burnt out with taking all the surveys and started to ignore the invitation emails when they came in, so when I did catch up, most had already reached their quota. I also did not take surveys every weekday, but only took surveys a few days a week. I didn’t think it would make that much of a difference, but apparently it did! I will have to buckle back down and work harder on them this month. Over the last two months, my slacking off dropped my earnings from $236.99 (November) to $184.20 (December) to only $69.54 in January. The moral of the story is that if I want to continue to earn anything by taking surveys, I have to spend time at it!

Here is the list of my top five paying survey panels (January 2012):

Opinion OutpostTotal Earned in January: $12.00Total Earned since Joining: $331.60Date Joined: December 13, 2010

Opinion Outpost was even more disappointing this month. Part of that is due to the fact that I did not check for new surveys often, and part of that from the fact that when I DID check, I disqualified for a much higher rate than was usual. Their Amazon.com reward option was up for a short time in the middle of the month, but promptly went down again.

Here is a screenshot of my recent Opinion Outpost redemption:

Valued OpinionsTotal Earned in January: $7.00Total Earned since Joining: $15.50Date Joined: September 21, 2011

I learned something very important about Valued Opinions this month… they do not always send out invitations via email. I logged in yesterday to check my balance, and found FOUR surveys waiting for me. I qualified for some of them, but that was the first time that I had found surveys without getting an email first. It makes me wonder how many others I missed out on by not logging in regularly. The nice thing about Valued Opinions is that every survey seems to have a good reward amount for the time spent. Surveys regularly are for $2 or more, much better than the pennies other companies pay. I still haven’t reached my first $20 payout, but I plan to log in more often and see if I can keep the income coming!

GlobalTestMarketTotal Earned in January: $6.50Total Earned since Joining: $48.25Date Joined: November 3, 2011

I thought I would be able to cash out in January, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I found myself at 965 points, THIRTY-FIVE short of being able to cash out! Thankfully, I got a 30 point survey and an extra 20 points from a friend referral on February 1st, and that brought my total up to cashout level! I requested my first check and it should be arriving soon.
Here is a screenshot of the email confirming my cashout request:

MySurveyTotal Earned in January: $6.27Total Earned since Joining: $22.68Date Joined: October 17, 2011

I received a few surveys this month, and was able to cash out, and am about a quarter of the way to cashing out again. MySurvey is definitely not one of my favorite sites, though, as I find that the surveys I qualify for tend to have low rewards for the time spent.

Here is a screenshot of my January 2012 MySurvey redemption:

SurveyHeadTotal Earned in January: $5.25Total Earned since Joining: $81.15Date Joined: November 2, 2011

I spent much less time at SurveyHead than I should this month. Every time that I did log in, there were tons of surveys waiting for me, but most were longer (40 minutes or more) and I didn’t feel I had the time to do them. If I had, this would have been a much better paying month! Regardless, enough of my older pending surveys became available that I was able to request another cashout.

Here is a screenshot of my recent SurveyHead PayPal redemption:

Do you have a list of favorite survey panels?

Please leave a comment below and let us know some of the survey panels that work best for you.

 
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Socratic Forum

COMPANY INFORMATION
Socratic Forum
2505 Mariposa Street
San Francisco, CA 94110-1424
Email: Contact Page
Phone Support: 1-800-576-2728

Socratic Forum

Socratic Forum is an online research community where members can participate in web-based surveys on the latest technologoies, software, e-commerce innovations, and many other topics dealing with the global economy. The Socratic forum is a product of Socratic Technologies, a full service market research agency that was established in 1994.

How to Earn Money with the Socratic Forum

Get started by joining the Socratric Forum.After joining you will you receive survey invitations via email.Then just take the surveys that are sent. Most surveys pay anywhere from $3 to $5 for completing a survey, and can be completed in 20 minutes or less. If you attempt but do not qualify for a survey you are still entered into the monthly drawing to win $100.

Payment Terms

$5 minimum required before you can redeem your earnings via the member’s area.Your balance can be claimed in the form of a cash via a personal check or an Amazon Gift Certificate. Amazon E-Gift certificates are usually processed within two weeks, while checks can take four to six weeks for delivery.

Conclusion

Socratic Forum offers good compensation for the effort required to complete their surveys. The only complaint may be that they do not offer
frequent survey invitations, however it takes less than 5 minutes to join, and should be a nice addition to your survey panel portfolio.
Are you a member of Socratic Forum? Why not leave a review based on your experiences. All posted reviews will be eligible for our weekly $30 user review contest.

Not a member? Join Socratic Forum, its free!

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Stephanie’s Top Five Tips for Successfully Taking Online Surveys

I’ve been taking surveys for a few years now and have learned a lot of tips over the years about how to be successful. Although tips can vary by survey panel, I have come up with some general tips that apply to all survey panels out there.

Here are my top five tips for getting the most out of your survey-taking experience:

Focus on the survey panels that work best for you

There are a lot of survey panels available online and it’s very easy to get overwhelmed with so many to choose from. What I find that works best for me and other survey takers is to sign up with several of them and then watch your email inbox (and/or survey dashboard on their website) for the amount of surveys they send you. Keep track of what most of the surveys pay for the time invested and which companies you make the most money from. Eventually, you will find what panels work best for you and you can concentrate on taking surveys from them.

I am signed up with a ton of survey panels, but I mainly focus my attention on the five or more that are the most profitable for me. I still stay registered with the panels that don’t do so well for me in case a survey comes along that pays a lot, but I tend to not take many of their surveys.

I found myself wasting a lot of my time trying to take surveys from all the panels I was registered with when I first started taking surveys, so I decided to concentrate on just a few and my earnings went up quite a bit. When you’re too busy sifting through lots of low-paying surveys to find higher-paying ones, you miss out on a lot of better opportunities from other companies. You have to learn to manage your time well and focus on specific companies since a lot of surveys fill their quotas very quickly.

Don’t take too long on one survey or, on the other hand, rush through it

This is something I still have issues with as a long-time survey taker. There are times when I take a survey and then get interrupted for a little bit. Then, when I come back to the computer to finish the survey, it tells me the survey has expired. This can happen even when being away from the survey for just a few minutes and depends on the survey company. Sometimes you can restart the survey or click the link in the invitation email to reenter it, but most of the time you can’t go back to the survey. Sometimes I can leave a survey open for a half hour to an hour and can continue it from where I left off, but you’re better off not taking the risk. You should complete the survey in one sitting just to be safe.

On the other hand, sometimes survey companies will penalize you for completing a survey too quickly. If you rush through a survey without thoroughly reading the questions, sometimes the survey will end prematurely or the survey company will not pay you (SurveyHead tends to do this quite a bit). It’s a time balancing act and you just have to try your best not to take too long on a survey or move through it too quickly.

Always keep your demographic information and profiles up-to-date

This is something a lot of people tend to forget or put off. It’s very important to update your information and profiles regularly. I try to update mine for each survey company I belong to twice a year (or more frequently if something major changes in my life). That way, I don’t miss out on any new survey opportunities or get surveys that I don’t qualify for because I didn’t update my information (such as no longer subscribing to a specific television or Internet service). For example, I’ve noticed there are a lot of surveys out there for people who use iPhones or iPads, so if you purchase one of those devices, you will want to make sure you update your profiles as soon as possible so you can take part in those surveys and earn more cash.

It can be tedious to keep everything updated, but I find it to be worth it. Also, I’ve noticed that I tend to get more surveys immediately after updating my profiles, but perhaps this is just a coincidence.

Keep a record of all cash-outs and other important information

This is incredibly important, especially if you’re a member of a lot of different survey panels. I keep a record (in a Word file) of all the times I cash out with a company. I include the company name, date of cash-out, and how much I cashed out for. I also sometimes take a screenshot of the cash-out process (if necessary) so I have proof that I cashed out in case something goes wrong.

All of this really helps to keep track of all my cash-outs so I know what to expect in the mail or in my email in the coming days or weeks. If I don’t receive a payment that I know I’m supposed to get, all I have to do is email the company with my information (and screenshot, if I took one) and the issue is soon (hopefully) resolved. I make sure to cross out the payments I’ve received so I know not to worry about them anymore.

I also keep a record of all my login usernames and passwords for each survey panel in another Word file. It just helps to have all that information available in one place in case I forget something and can’t log in to a survey panel anymore. It’s helped on several occasions when I’ve been particularly forgetful.

 Always cash out when you reach the minimum payout level

Survey companies come and go, and a lot of them get taken over by others or make major changes to how they pay survey-takers (such as getting rid of gift card options or PayPal). When a survey company goes under and you still have money left over in an account with them, you’re almost always out of luck and you lose that money. This has happened a couple of times in my experience of taking surveys (although, thankfully, it wasn’t a huge amount of money that I lost) and it’s incredibly frustrating.

Therefore, I highly recommend that survey-takers cash out whenever they reach the minimum payout level. Each survey company differs on what this level is (such as Global Test Market, where you have to reach the 1000 point or $50 level to cash out), so you have to do your research and keep track of how much money you have in each account. As soon as that level is reached, I make it a priority to cash out just in case something happens to the company or a certain redemption option I like is removed. You never know and it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

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Opinion World

COMPANY INFORMATION
Survey Sampling International
International Place
6 Research Drive
Shelton, Connecticut 06484
US email: Contact

Opinion World Panel Information

Opinion World is a online paid survey panel that was created by Survey Sampling International, a market research company that was founded in 1977. Survey Sampling is used by over 1500 research companies each year, including 43 of the top 50 research companies in the world.
Membership to their panel is free, and when you become a member you will begin to receive survey invitations via email. Each survey invitation will usually include the topic of the survey and and the incentive offered. Some of their surveys offer points that can be redeemed for cash or prizes. Plus all new members are entered into a quarterly prize draw for various prizes, depending on region.

How to Earn Money with Opinion World

Get started by registering with Opinion World.After completing the short registration form, your will receive and email that will contain a link to your first survey which will activate your account. Upon completion of the first survey you will receive another email that will contain the link to the members area. The members area contains additional profiles, your survey history, and is the location where you can claim your rewardsAfter joining you can find information on current studies by checking your email for survey invitations. Each Survey Invitation will list the topic, estimated time to complete the survey, and the reward offered.Then just complete surveys and earn points. While not all of their survey invitations offer point values, each completed survey will at least give you an entry in their quarterly sweepstakes. If you only want to take the point paying surveys, be sure to pay attention to the incentive offered in the details of the emailed survey invitation.

Payment Terms

1000 points/$10 minimum required to request your earnings via PayPal.Payments are sent via a PayPal in US or gift vouchers. Other nations can redeem their points for gift vouchers.EVouchers and PayPal payments are processed within two days, while physical gift vouchers are shipped with within 10 working days.

Conclusion

Opinion World is a good survey panel that allows you to earn points which can be redeemed for cash or prizes depending on your region.
Are you a member of Opinion World? Why not leave a review based on your experiences. All posted reviews will be eligible for our weekly $30 user review contest.

Not a member? Join Opinion World, its free!

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