Surveys – Are they worth it?
Thu, 9 August, 2007 – 4:28 pm
Not strictly AIS work but still money making from the web, but are Surveys worth it? I realise they're not going to give you the return of say £25 ($50) per hour or even £10 ($20) per hour, however at least a minimum wage (£5+ / $10+) would be nice! I've been completing surveys for a company called TNS for about a year now. In return I get Nectar points. For every 2 points you get it's the equivalent to a penny back, if you're intending to use your points for shopping in Sainsburys or Argos. However, the points are worth double if you use them to get money off a meal out at selected restaurants, or they go even further if you look into using them for a holiday. TNS payouts haven't been too bad and I've probably made over £50 from them.nnSo because of the success with TNS I thought I'd look further and see what other sites offered cash for surveys. Well, of course, there are plenty of them. A lot were US orientated, but I did come across a couple of UK sites such as Ciao. However since signing up with them I've come to realise that these paid surveys are not worth it. Being offered £1 for a survey that will take half an hour, and if they don't think your answers are good enough responses, or that you've done it too quick, you may not be paid! Sure, they lure you in with offers of several pounds for a survey, but they're clearly few and far between.nnI think my time is better spent staring out the window than spending half an hour to make a £1!!
You can make good money taking paid surveys online, but not by joining just a handful of companies. You have to join as many companies as possible and that way you get increased opportunities. Pass on the low paying ones and take the higher paying ones. Another thing that most people don't know is that the survey companies want reliable responders. So, you won't be getting thier best offers from day 1, but after some time the offers will get better. Just my two cents (or shillings) after taking paid surveys for about 18 months now. Cheers!nnPaid Survey Success
By Steve on Sat, 11 August, 2007
Thanks for your comment Steve. I can see your point, it makes sense that they don't give you the juicy surveys at first. However I'm still thinking that they're not really worth the time unless it's time you wouldn't be doing much else with.
By Sarah on Sat, 11 August, 2007
I've tried surveys from nine different companies over the years and, as you suggest, most just aren't worth it. I'm now down to just two: TNS and Valued Opinions (part of Research Now), which both pay a better (though still sub-minimum wage) fee and are sufficiently good at profiling that the number of surveys that I turn out to be ineligible for after several (with some surveyors, a lot) of questions is small.
By komadori on Mon, 13 August, 2007
TNS has been by far the best for me. Last year I had a fortnight survey where I spent about 10 minutes every other day completing a survey on what I had been drinking, and got 2000 points (£10 equivalent) for the whole thing. It's also good when you get there and they simply apologise as they have enough participants but still give you 35 points – that's the best payer!
By Sarah on Mon, 13 August, 2007