Online surveys are something you can do while sitting on your couch and watching tv, waiting in a long line at the grocery store, or even waiting for the clothes to come out of the washer. These surveys are a great side hustle when you need to make a few bucks, but not a full time income stream.
The income from surveys can range from $3 for 5 hours of surveying to anywhere between $20-$50 for just 15 minutes. The larger profit from surveys like $100 and more exist as well, just not as often as one would hope to see. Some survey websites even give you money for signing up, such as Inbox Dollars.
So how exactly do you make money from these surveys?
Survey companies exist, for the most part, to collect data from you. They want to know your interests, who you are, and what type of products and services you use amongst other things. They then take this data and sell it to whichever company is looking for the feedback and results. They practically pay you to give them your opinion so that they can sell it to researchers and other businesses.
One of the most popular survey websites out there is Swagbucks. Swagbucks pays you with points which in turn you can cash in for gift cards or money back into your PayPal account. Swagbucks points typically equate to about one cent per point, so once you’ve earned about 22,000-25,000 points you’re able to go ahead and cash them in. They let you know the survey point value ahead of time so that you are clear on how much you are making from a survey.
Important tip to remember- It’s best to look for survey websites that are clear about your point value and how much you will be earning per survey.
Depending on the company they may ask you more questions about yourself to survey screen you. What this means is that they are determining if a survey is a good fit for you to take and if your opinion on it will be of value to them. One complaint made often about online surveys is that some can disqualify you from taking them, and can feel like a waste of time. A site where you are constantly getting disqualified may not be a good one to stick around on. However, this is no reason to feel discouraged as a good tip to remember is to check your email for surveys because you are more likely to be qualified for those.
Before taking an online survey make sure to have an idea of how much you want to be making and base which ones you are taking around this. They will likely take more time than you think so finding the better paying ones is worth putting in the effort of looking around at multiple sites. Considering how much time you have available and how much you want to earn are key factors to think about prior to signing up.
Here are 8 survey sites just like Swagbucks that will help you kill time and help you make a little side money at the same time:
Survey Junkie-
This site has a pretty clear point system where one point equals one cent. You’re awarded 25 points just for signing up and an additional 50 points for taking the demographic survey. The point value per survey is pretty high and the site shows the points monetary value right on your dashboard. This site only requires you earn 10,000 points in order to cash out for your first $10. Survey Junkie gives you options to deposit your money. You can choose direct deposit, PayPal, or cash out for a gift card.
Springboard America-
This site has a very direct sign up process and cashes you out in either PayPal or gift cards. You can see what the payout will be and the length of the survey before you take it and most of the surveys pay anywhere between $0.50 and $5. There are lots of survey options available with this site and each one typically takes between 10-20 minutes. This site is fast paying with points and it’s easy to earn rewards.
Opinion Outpost-
This site offers higher payouts than most other sites. One point is equal to ten cents instead of just one. You can cash out your points for an amazon gift card once you reach 50 or you can cash out for a PayPal deposit once you earn 100. The surveys take about ten minutes to complete and prior to each survey there is a survey screening, but every time you are disqualified from a survey the site will automatically enter you in a quarterly $10,000 prize drawing to make up for it.
Inbox Dollars-
As mentioned before, this site gives you $5 right away just for signing up. These surveys can also earn you anywhere between $0.50 to $5 and take between three to twenty-five minutes to complete. Occasionally they offer surveys that pay between $10 to $20 as well. Every survey has the monetary worth clearly listed on the survey. Before you cash out $30 needs to be earned but if you have time to kill while at the kids’ softball practice, then give it a go.
Toluna-
The surveys you take on this site might be a bit more interesting than the others because this site lets its surveyors choose their own topic to survey on. The site offers two different types of surveys to choose from, profile surveys which only take a few minutes to complete and are worth 100 points or you can choose to take the longer surveys which are worth more. The profile surveys are designed so the site can learn more about you but the longer surveys are going to be where you’ll get to choose your topic. There are various rewards to choose from as well such as various gift cards, PayPal cash out, checks, sweepstakes drawings, and the ability to buy yourself or someone else a present with the points you earn. However, the points don’t come in as high value as other sites and you need about 3,000 of them to cash out for the cheapest gift cards.
Lifepoints-
This site offers a lot of surveys and options to earn points. All surveys have an estimated amount of time they will take to complete and most surveys have a progress bar attached to them while you take them to show your progress on completion. This site gives you an automatic 10 points for signing up and 10,000 points are needed before you can cash them out for either PayPal cash, gift cards, e-certificates, or charity donations. To earn money through PayPal 12,000 points are needed for $10 but for specific store gift cards sometimes the monetary value of the points goes up and you can get more money for less points.
i-Say-
This site provides surveys through the company that owns it, Ipsos. You stay on the same site for all of the surveys, which may make it easier. This site offers a faster way to cash out points starting at 500 points which is equal to $5, unlike the typical 3,000+ points that are usually needed to cash out. If you are disqualified from a survey this site gives you five points just for attempting to take the survey. Each point is worth one cent when cashing out for gift cards and 0.98 of a cent for PayPal cash. At 500 points you can choose from an instant Starbucks gift card, a Walmart or Amazon gift card with a three day wait on them, or a donation to the American Heart Association.
My Points-
This site is easy to use and also tells you upfront how many points you will earn per survey and the amount of time estimated that it will take to complete each survey. You are awarded 30 points just for answering your profile questions when first creating your account. Unfortunately for this site the surveyors get disqualified quite often because the site sends out email invitations to more people than is needed to take the survey, so someone who may get an email invite to take the survey may also get disqualified more often than other sites. However, the site gives out five points for the first five surveys you are disqualified from per day. Points can be cashed out for travel miles on a United MileagePlus account, gift cards, and PayPal cash. PayPal cash is about 3,970 points which equals to about $25.
Things that are important to know before taking online surveys:
Don’t give out too much personal information.
If a site asks you for your drivers license information, banking info, or social security number it’s better to check out another site.
Create a survey email
Survey sites love to clutter your inbox so it’s a good idea to have a separate email for online survey websites.
Install antivirus software
In the off chance a survey sends you to a spammy website your phone or computer should be protected ahead of time.
Take breaks
Having your eyes glued to a screen while taking surveys for hours at a time can cause headaches and eye-sight problems. It’s important to take at least a 20 second break every 20 minutes.
Although doing surveys to earn extra cash has become a popular side hustle online, the truth is it can take a lot of time to earn only a couple a bucks. If you could make a full time income taking simple surveys everyone would be doing.
Would you like to find out a more profitable business you can still do from your couch but can bring in much more substantial income? If so, I recommend you watch this free video which will walk you through our #1 recommended way to earn money online from the comfort of your couch.
