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Friday, July 3, 2009

Paid For Surveys: The Naked Truth

By Joe Alexis

Paid online surveys have been lurking around the internet for a long time now, and many consumers are participating in them hoping to get some extra cash for payment of monthly bills, everyday expenses or get a new cell phone or iPod. Companies are basically spending some time and money for researching the capabilities and potential of their products and services through these surveys which also includes focus groups. A number of paid for surveys are available in the internet and one must be able to pinpoint which site is genuine and which is fake.

Actually there is some truth behind all these paid online surveys; they need your opinion and you get paid for giving it. Companies of all shapes and sizes know just how important people's opinion is regarding their products and services so that they could continue to make improvements and changes that will ultimately give them better returns. These companies pay literally thousands of dollars for their marketing and advertising campaigns, and these surveys are part of it.

These paid for surveys are about almost anything under the sun. From luxurious restaurants you love to eat at, upcoming movies and music events, the products you buy at your favorite grocery store, and even the latest gaming consoles, the possibilities are seemingly endless. Surveys may target specific age groups, hobbies and areas of interests; all of which are aimed at improving the quality of the products and services that these companies are offering.

Upon registering with sites offering paid for surveys, you will then be entering some pertinent information including your gender, age, income range and type of work. You will then be notified thru email if you are eligible to participate in a certain survey, and will be receiving an invitation that contains a link to the survey form.

The rewards coming from these paid online surveys may take the form of cash, discount coupons, merchandise or points that are convertible to cash and other freebies. Each survey site will have different means of giving you incentives for participating in their surveys; some will directly give you a small amount of cash, and some will require you to earn points and exchange them for a particular gift item.

With the advent of paid online surveys also comes unscrupulous websites wanting to take advantage of people looking for some ways of earning some money. These said sites will usually promote themselves as having a huge database collection of paid for surveys in which you can access through membership in their websites.

But the membership does not come free, and this is where bogus sites will take advantage of your search for extra income; membership comes at a price ranging from $25-$100 or some even more. These sites contains a lot of information on the services they offer after you sign-up, and even give you pictures of the earnings of their members just to entice you to join. Problem is, after signing-up, they will leave you with fake survey sites or those that are expired and no longer active.

These bogus websites will try to tempt you with huge monthly or daily income and tell you that you can earn enough to quit your job and get retired early. They also present you with member testimonials that are so believable and make their site more irresistible to those unaware of their gimmicks. They even tell you that they have a 24-hour customer service feature which will answer your queries and give you guides, but after joining you'll be surprised that no one is answering their chat programs and email contact options.

Knowing all these, one must be very careful in participating in paid online surveys. For one, they must not require you any amount of fee for completing a survey, as legitimate companies will not ask for anything in return; in fact they are the ones which will give something. Do not get carried away with their too-good-to-be-true promotions and promises. With a little effort, you can easily find yourself some genuine websites offering real paid for surveys. Good luck!

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