Paid survey sites. Free paid surveys.

Everybody has an opinion and now you can get paid to share yours through online surveys! That’s right. You can visit fun and exciting websites and fill out free paid surveys – for cold, hard cash and even great prizes!

It’s called market research and by providing your input through paid online surveys, you can shape and mold products to come, and help top companies worldwide better products already in the marketplace.

You see, US companies alone spend more than $250 billion a year in traditional advertising, such as television commercials and magazine ads. But by tapping into what consumer’s like you think through free surveys, and learning more about what consumers like you want, these companies can dramatically cut their advertising dollars and reach their goals of developing and maintaining a profitable product line.

Work From Home: Get Paid to Share Your Opinion on Today's Hottest Products with Online Surveys

Make $10-$150 An Hour Taking Fun, Exciting Paid Surveys

It’s an important job, and one you can do in your spare time and from the comfort of your own home.

And, it’s a worldwide trend with free paid survey opportunities available in the US, as well as in Australia, Canada, the UK and many other countries.

So whether you’re a busy mom, on-the-go student or just looking to supplement your income, everything you need is right here, in a single place – with the Net’s TOP 500+ survey companies all here and looking for you and needing you to take free paid surveys.

Because of eSurveysPro.com strong reputation and long-running success on the Net, we have partnered with the best paid survey businesses online and off, providing you with opportunities, resources, and ongoing support you just won’t find anywhere else.

Not only do you receive payment from our survey partners, but you will be provided with everything you need to work from home and to achieve whatever level of financial freedom you desire!

The bottom-line is this: You become the market research expert. Your opinion - your voice, if you will, speaks directly to the company, and, in doing so, helps to ensure consumer’s needs like your own are met.

Best of all, you get paid to do it.

And, before you know it, you too can cash-in on the online market research trend, getting paid to let your valuable opinions be known to some of the most recognizable businesses worldwide.

Are Online Paid Surveys Legit?

Paid surveys are not new, despite all the hoopla. Marketing research firms have been paying consumers to participate in surveys, focus groups and such for some time. But the Web has granted them a more-efficient way to collect data. So, many now conduct legit, online paid surveys and other types of paid, online marketing research.

But many questionable, "middleman" paid survey sites are poisoning the well, by hyping easy money for participating in online marketing research from home. When there's competition for selling an easy-money scheme working from home, you can bet that there's also exaggeration, if not outright scams.

Many questionable middleman sites charge "membership" fees for access to lists of marketing research firms that conduct online paid surveys.

But you can find many for free, by searching the Web. It's how this writer found 60+ to review for this article. It's also likely how the membership sites found most they list. Regardless, some try to dupe you into believing their lists are special. But, according to messages on scam forums, their lists are essentially the same as others. Worse, some also list other membership sites, trying to dupe you into buying essentially the same list over and over again. They include sites that seem to be their competitors, because they earn referral fees or commissions when you click the links or buy memberships. A couple mentioned in scam forums even try to dupe you into buying the same list at other membership sites they own under different domain names. So, natch, these sites have incentive to exaggerate how much you'll earn from online paid surveys.

Other middleman paid survey sites provide free lists. But, many are effectively in cahoots with the questionable membership sites, because they too earn referral fees and commissions by hosting links and ads for membership sites. So, they too have incentive to exaggerate.

If anybody is earning a living from online paid surveys, it's considerably more probable to be middleman-site owners than participating consumers. Of the 60+ paid survey sites reviewed, most "pay" only token rewards in the form of goods, services, coupons or samples. Many pay cash only through sweepstakes. Even if you're lucky enough to win several sweepstakes, it likely won't lead to early retirement. Prizes at most reviewed sites range from $5-200 in cash or goods and drawings are only occasional. Some pay with points that are redeemable for cash or goods. Typically, you must rack up a bunch to redeem them for anything of significance. Most pay nothing or only sweepstakes entries for completing screening surveys, that determine your eligibility to receive certain paid surveys. A couple don't pay much of anything, unless you recruit others as in pyramid schemes.

A few paid survey sites reviewed do pay relatively well in cash. But questionable middleman sites hype hypothetical, best-case scenarios that can't possibly apply to each and every consumer for each and every hour he or she participates. In the real world, the likelihood that you'll often earn the higher of the hyped amounts is slim. Besides the reality that most simply don't pay much, you must be invited to complete paid surveys. To be invited, you must fit targeted demographics. That alone limits your earnings right off the bat, as you can't possibly fit every demographic.

Consequently, despite what questionable middleman sites imply in their "dream job" hype, it's unlikely that you'll earn a living from paid surveys and other marketing research. You might, however, earn or win some extra spending money, or free or discounted goods or services.

Most reviewed paid survey sites effectively promise not to share personally-identifiable information or not to share it without prior consent. It's an industry standard, by which legit marketing research firms are bound. But many membership sites reviewed don't make either promise, or do so only in a limited or wishy-washy way. Unauthorized go-betweens such as membership sites don't have to honor the marketing-research industry's privacy standards.

Consequently, by joining, you might have also rolled out the red carpet for the membership site or its unnamed "marketing partners" to solicit you. (Some who joined membership sites reported in scam forums that they were swamped by spam only minutes later.) Your personally-identifiable information is worth a small fortune to direct marketers, especially since the U.S. Federal Trade Commission pushed for legislation in 2002 to stop unsolicited telemarketing calls. Ask yourself if a few extra bucks, iffy sweepstakes and other token rewards are worth the aggravation of dealing with potentially dozens of pestering privacy invasions that offer nothing for your time.

All things considered, it's no surprise that some of the marketing research sites reviewed disclaim any connection with membership sites. Real paid survey sites pay you, not the other way around.

Avoiding Online Paid Surveys Scams

The bottom line is, if the hype for online paid surveys sounds too good to be true, it likely is. That's the safest way to screen out "offers" that hype big rewards for small investments of time or money. Don't be fooled by:

• Testimonials - Ropers and shills typically write these for scams, not satisfied customers.
• Documented Proof - Some questionable paid survey sites provide checks and other documental replications as "proof." But just because someone made money at least once, doesn't mean that you will. Besides, with today's computer technology, paid survey scams can counterfeit just about any document and make it look authentic.
• Guarantees - Don't believe guarantees that promise the Moon. Paid survey sites can't possibly guarantee you much of anything, except that they'll refund your fees if you're not satisfied. But good luck collecting your refund if it's a paid surveys scam.

The "fine print" at questionable paid survey sites often contradicts much of what their hype implies. (That's how they try to cover themselves legally.) Don't let the hype alone sell you. Read all of the fine print too and ask questions if it's vague or you don't understand it. Think twice about submitting your personal information to any paid surveys site that does not provide a clear privacy policy or arouses your suspicion in any other way. Also read disclaimers, terms, conditions and any other fine print. Avoid sites that don't answer your questions in a satisfactory and timely manner. Be wary of conducting business with sites that list only email or PO box addresses for questions and other matters, as they might be fly-by-night, paid survey scams.

Perform whois lookups to reveal if paid survey sites were registered by proxy. If so, be wary of doing business with them too. Site owners might be hiding their contact information behind proxy services, because they're running paid survey scams. Whois lookups will also tell you if different sites were launched by the same owners (unless they were registered by proxy). If so, be wary about that too. Owners might have launched multiple sites to make their "industry" appear to be more legit, dupe you into buying the same list of paid surveys more than once, or both.

Check with the BBB for complaints against specific online paid survey sites and their owners. But, be aware that, just because there are no complaints, it doesn't mean that all who have conducted business with the sites are 100-percent satisfied. It just means that no one has yet complained to the BBB about those specific sites. More about that is below.

Browse scam forums, such as Scam.com and RipOffReport.com, for messages from consumers who think they've been duped by online paid survey scams. But, proceed with caution. Some messages are posted by ropers and shills pretending to "rescue" those who've been duped by paid survey scams or who are looking to avoid it. For example, the "rescuers" might say that all online paid surveys are scams, except for the "wonderful opportunities" they've found. But, what they don't tell you, is they profit from recommending the "wonderful opportunities". Scam-forum moderators typically remove such messages. But, natch, they'll remain posted until the moderators screen them.

The same goes for sites that claim to screen out paid survey scams, or that rate or rank paid survey sites. Be wary if they link to fee-based middleman sites or display ads for same, as they're probably trying to earn commissions and referral fees by duping you. Natch, sites that pay them the most receive the highest ratings or top-most rankings. Some even go so far as to display phony award logos, hokey rating stars and such.

For more information about avoiding scams, see the consumer advice from the FTC and BBB. But, although both have issued general warnings about easy-money schemes (such as work-at-home and Internet business-opportunity scams), at this writing neither has specifically warned about online paid surveys. That's likely because online paid surveys are a fairly new easy-money scheme at this writing.

Regardless, this writer is willing to bet that it won't be long before the FTC or BBB collect enough complaints to issue specific warnings. According to reputable sources on the Web, local BBB offices have been flooded by complaints against paid surveys sites.

If you've been ripped-off by online paid surveys scams, as indicated you may file complaints with the FTC and BBB. You may also file complaints with the U.S. government's Internet Fraud Complaint Center.