Paid Surveys - Legitimate Opportunity or Scam?

I first heard about the paid surveys about three years ago. I was talking with my sister, who lived almost a hundred miles away, via an instant messenger and she was telling me how she was getting paid for doing surveys online. She even forwarded me a link and recommended that I go to it and join so I could make money too. To be perfectly honest I shrugged it off and didnt pay much attention to it. "Getting paid for filling out surveys?" I instantly felt like it was too good to be true and most likely a scam. We continued talking about different things and I never did go check out the survey site she told me about.

A few months later I had the opportunity to visit my sister. After I was there for awhile she brought up the subject of the paid surveys again. She showed me some check stubs where she had been paid and of course that got my attention. She got online and logged into some of her paid survey accounts and showed me how much she had actually earned. While I was there she got a few survey invitations by email and I sat with her while she completed them. I saw how easy it was and there could be no doubt that she was getting paid as I had seen some of the check stubs that she had received. She also told me about some of the products she had received in the mail and by UPS. These survey companies will actually send you free stuff to try out. Not only that but they will pay you to give your opinions on the items!

Needless to say I started signing up with some of the paid survey sites and doing the surveys myself. It wasnt long before I was receiving checks and various products in the mail. I wanted to find more so I began to do searches for paid survey sites. Thats when I found out that almost every so-called paid survey site you find online is a scam, or at best they are not worth the time that it takes to earn a few pennies. Many sites require you to pay as much as 39.99 for their list of paid survey companies! In the process, through trial and error, I found out which survey sites are legitimate. I certainly found out that you do not have to pay anyone a dime for these sites and you never have to pay anything whatsoever to join a legitimate survey company. They pay you - you do not pay them. So remember, never pay for information about paid surveys. If they ask for money from you they are a scam.

From my research I have found only a small handful of really legitimate and honest paid survey companies. Unfortunately two of the survey companies do not accept new members unless it is by special invitation. It goes without saying that it is difficult to become a member of those two survey companies. From time to time they will send open invitations to their current members and you have to know one of the current members before you can have access to the invitation to join the survey site.

The good news is that it is quite simple and easy to join the remaining survey sites. When you first sign up the survey company will ask you to fill out a basic profile. This is so they will be able to send you invitations for surveys that are geared toward your particular age group, occupation, demographics, etc. Once you complete the profile they will start sending survey invitations to your email address.

You do not have to download or install any programs other than programs like flash or windows media player (which most people already have). You simply follow the link to the survey page provided in the email. If you dont want to do a certain survey just disregard the invitation. You dont have to do all of them, only the ones you want to. Of course the more surveys you do the more you will be able to earn.

How much can you earn with paid surveys?

How much you earn will depend upon how much time you want to spend doing the surveys. One survey may have only two or three simple questions such as: "Do you own a dog?" and, "Do you feed your dog dry food or canned?" These short survey will generally pay you anywhere from 10 to 75 cents. Other surveys will be more involved and may take up to half an hour and pay you ten dollars. An average survey will pay you between one to five dollars and takes five or ten minutes to complete. Generally, the money that you earn doing the surveys will accumulate in your account. Whenever you reach the payout level, usually ten dollars, you will be able to request a check to be sent out.

Surveys can often be both fun and interesting. You get to hear about new brands and products before they hit the stores. You get to see unreleased television commercials and receive payment for sharing your opinions. Movie companies will pay for your opinions on which DVD covers they will use for new release movies. All of these companies will contract through the survey companies to provide them with participants for their surveys. The survey companies, in turn, share the revenues with you in the form of a check, or in some cases, payment can be made to your PayPal account or even by direct deposit to your bank account.

Copyright 2007 Earn Cash for Surveys.

If you would like to earn extra cash with very little effort and time then you owe it to yourself to get invloved with honest, legitimate paid survey sites. Check out the top list of the most recommended legitimate paid survey companies at www.earncashforsurveys.com.