It is absolutely possible to find quite a few money-making opportunities in the online survey and market research sector, but before you go crazy signing up at different sites and thinking you will instantly be rich, you need to keep in mind a few things!
A lot of the opportunities like this that you see advertised in pop ups, banners, or in email are going to be scams. That is just the way of the world, for every real opportunity out there, you are going to find several that are just there to try to rip you off. If you are serious about using online surveys and market research to make some cash, then you need to do your own research before you get started, to make sure you find a group to work with that is not going to waste your time.
First things first – not all “get paid to” positions will pay you in cash. Many companies want your opinions on specific products, and will therefore send those products to you in exchange. Instead of getting a check in the mail, you will get boxes of pizza, cookies, crackers, shampoos, cleaning products, and more. That might initially not sound as good as a check for 10 dollars, but if the shampoo and cleaning products turn out to be something you really like and will use, then that’s 10 dollars you do not need to spend at the store. Besides, everyone likes to get packages, and it’s even better when those packages are packed with free goodies!
The second thing to keep in mind is that other companies do not pay in cash or outright free stuff in the mail. Instead, you will be rewarded with points, and once you accumulate enough points, then you can trade them in for different prizes of your choice. You will obviously not make a living off of a deal like this, but if you have some spare time to spend filling out surveys, you will eventually rack up enough points to get yourself a nice little gift.
Now, the third thing to bear in mind is that some companies DO pay cash – you just need to suss them out. If a company asks you to pay them to get started with filling out surveys so that you can get paid, chances are high that you have found yourself a scam, and you should move on. Most legitimate survey and online research outfits pay anywhere from $5 to $10 for a completed survey, so if you see someone advertising a huge amount, like $50 per completed survey, chances are high that this is also a scam, or you are going to have to jump through ridiculous hoops to see any rewards. Look for well-designed, active sites that have some form of support staff and hopefully some testimonials from other people that complete the surveys talking about how it actually does pay. Some sites will show pictures of actual checks that were mailed out, so that’s a bonus to keep an eye out for – it will help you determine whether or not the site really does what it says it will.
So you can see that there are several ways to go about getting rewarded for time spent offering your opinions on the Internet – rewards that come in the form of cash, free stuff, and points to trade in for prizes. If you keep a sharp eye out and are willing to take the time to make sure you find a legitimate company, then you will soon find that your work pays off!
Most people unfortunately let social conditioning get the best of them by assuming that having what is commonly perceived as being a stable job should make them feel secure financially. But why would having a seemingly secure job be any safer than being an entrepreneur, for example?
Some might argue that a business can always go bankrupt and that is correct. But doesn’t the same principle apply when it comes to your job? In fact, your employer can just say the two magical words, and what might have originally seemed like a fortress of stability can crumble just like that.
Financial stability is a myth and nothing more these days. You can be an entrepreneur or have a regular 9-5 job, it really doesn’t matter: thinking that limiting yourself to having one income stream will be enough is not a wise decision. Having a second income stream is a realistic approach which will at least help you get closer to a goal such as financial security.
Aside from that, it will also help you spice things up a little bit. There’s nothing like a new challenge to make you feel active again. You make more money, feel more secure and less bored: it’s really a no-brainer. Having a second income stream is always the smart thing to do. It’s obviously not as easy as being lazy and limiting yourself to your current activity, but doing the right thing never is.
This is where paid online surveys can help out, one of the most simple ways to earn an alternative income is most often over looked by many people because of things they have heard or because it sounds too good to be true. To put it simply people are making money and getting paid just for giving their opinions on many every day products and services and my aim of this website is to show you where you need to go, where you need to sign up so that you can start making that 2nd income like I have been doing for the last 5 years.
Many Australians just like you and I are completing paid online surveys every day. Why are all these hardworking Australians taking time out of their busy days to complete online surveys you may ask? I have done a lot of research over the years and below I reveal my top ten observations as to what is motivating people to participate in online surveys.
- It’s free to participate in Australian online surveys. Many sites out there will try to sell you lists of sites that will do nothing for you or are for other countries, the sites I have listed here are free and all the information on getting paid online is free, lets face it you are getting paid for your opinion, not the other way round.
- Money Money Money!!! Many of the surveys offer monetary incentives for completing online surveys! It is hard to believe that numerous people are getting paid to spend a few minutes of their time and complete online surveys. Completing paid online surveys allow many financial freedoms including taking the pressures off family life, particularly families with a stay at home mum that may be on a single income this allows more time to enjoy with one’s family.
- Many people are winning prizes for completing paid online surveys and market research assessments and finding they are getting free products, holidays and discounts from companies like Dymocks, Hoyts, Dstore, Rebel Sport, and Supercheap Auto. The more online surveys completed, the greater the chance to win prizes. Many have won prizes just for registering to new sites. I personaly have won an Xbox360, digital camera, DVD player, toaster and about $1,000 in various gift certificates over the last couple of years.
- Many of the companies that offer paid online surveys give free music downloads, gift cards and other products. Free gifts are not limited to the items being surveyed, but also from many other companies.
- When users participate in paid online surveys they get the opportunity to view never-before-seen movie trailers and commercials. Their opinions even help to determine which trailers get released to the public!
- Paid online surveys offer easy ways to get paid. Payment methods include Paypal, cheques, direct deposit and gift certificates.
- Specialised paid online surveys reserved for professionals in various fields, usualy offer higher payouts.
- With many paid online surveys points can be earned and are redeemable for some great stuff, including electrical appliances, digital cameras, mp3 players etc and even to bid in auctions only available to paid survey panelists.
- Many paid online surveys allow you to keep the product you are surveying! These can be electronics, appliances, clothes, shoes and more!
- A lot of sites will pay you to refer friends and family to their sites, so not only do you earn money from the surveys you take but also you can earn a little bit extra from your referrals.
Now that you know why Australians are completing online surveys, you may ask why companies are paying us for our opinions.
Many companies spend big dollars every year on market research. No company wants to spend millions of dollars and releasing a product or service to market and then see it fail so spending a few thousand first and collecting our thoughts, can potentialy save or make millions in profit in the long term. The Australian consumer opinion is important and we can now get paid for it
After all of my research over the last few years, I have certainly decided and by now I hope you agree that online paid surveys are worth checking out.
January 1st 2009
Understandably not a lot to report on new years day, but I did receive 2 surveys, one from Ciao Surveys for 93 cents and 1 from Global Test Market, unfortunately I did not qualify for either survey. I did get paid 10 cents for visiting a website via Pure Profile.January 2nd 2009
A survey from Global Test Market for 50 points, 50 points converts into about $2.50. At this time of year I don’t expect all that much to come my way and am looking forward to next week when I think survey invites will start to pick upJanuary 3rd 2009
Earned 10 cents from Pure Profile for visiting a website and got another survey about movies from Global Test Market, unfortunately didn’t qualify for the survey but got 5 points which converts to about 25 cents just for answering the questions in the screening process.January 4th 2009
Two surveys today, one from Ciao for 93 cents and another from That’s what I think for 500 points, points at That’s what I think can be exchanged for gift certificates and 500 points is worth about $1.66 give or take a little.January 5th 2009
A total of three surveys today, things are starting to pick up in the second week of the new year it seems. First survey was from Pure Profile unfortunately I did not qualify but got 20 cents to answer the couple of screener questions, the other 2 surveys were from Global Test Market, I only qualified for one of those, so all up I will get paid 5 points for the survey I didn’t qualify for and 35 points for the survey I completed. Roughly 40 points is worth about $2.00January 6th 2009
Not a bad day today and things are certainly beginning to pick up, four surveys all up today, one from Ciao for 93 cents, 2 from Pure Profile, one of which I didn’t qualify for but still got 20 cents the other was a quick 3 minute online survey which paid 60 cents. The forth survey today was from Valued Opinions it is a 2 part survey and the second part will come in about a week, once completed it will pay $1.00. I always do the surveys from Valued Opinions they may not pay a lot but they are always quick only a couple of minutes and late last year I got invited to two market research assessments via the surveys I completed, they both paid $75.00 for about 45 minutes work. On top of the surveys I got paid 20 cents to visit 2 websites through Pure Profile.January 7th 2009
An interesting day today with my first day of the year that I have got a high paying survey, first off though one survey from Pure Profile, another one I didn’t qualify for but got 20 cents just to answer a couple of questions and even though I didn’t qualify again all those 20 cent payments start to add up. The other survey I got today was from Global Test Market, it is a survey that is conducted over a 2 week period, takes about 3 hours to complete all up and the reward is 700 points, that pretty much converts to $35.00, understandably I was stoked when I received the survey and qualified for it.January 8th 2009
Not a lot to report today with just the one survey from Pure Profile, took about 5 minutes and got paid $1.20 for it.January 9th 2009
A few surveys to report today, firstly Global test market sent out a survey worth 40 points, a quick and easy survey that took me about 5 minutes to complete. I also received online surveys from Test and Vote, My View and Ciao Surveys. The survey from Test and Vote was worth 1300 points at equates to about 50 cents, Ciao sent out a survey for 93 cents, the last 2 surveys I did not bother doing due to a lack of time and finaly the survey from My View, at the moment surveys from My View are for sweepstakes entries but they are changing over to a monetary reward format and will be paying by paypal in the early part of 2009, so I am looking forward to the change over.January 10th 2009
Not a lot to report today with just the one survey from Global test market, which was worth 50 points.January 11th 2009
To start the day I visited 2 websites through Pure profile and received 10 cents for my efforts and shortly after that I received a survey from Ciao worth $2.80January 12th 2009
Not a thing, for the 1st time this year I did not receive a single survey to do from anywhere.January 13th 2009
Not a lot to report today with just the two surveys, one from Ciao worth $2.80 and the other from Light speed for $2.15 other then that I had 2 website visits through Pure profile which netted me another 20 cents.January 14th 2009
My first survey for today was from Ciao and worth $4.48, unfortunately I didn’t qualify for the survey, unfortunately my first survey for the day was my only survey.January 15th 2009
A better day, then yesterday with a few more surveys waiting for me to be completed. A quick 6 minute survey from Pure profile earned me $1.20, I also received another survey invite from Ciao which was for 93 cents which I didn’t bother doing and finaly I got a survey from Qualified opinions which was for sweepstakes entries, I don’t usualy do these but I figure it was only 10 minutes and I guess someone has to win.January 16th 2009
Pure profile brought a smile to my face as I completed one of their surveys and got myself $5.00 for my efforts, I currently have $39.80 in earnings at Pure profile and will be cashing out when I get to $50.00. I also did a survey at Light speed which was worth a little over $2.00 and with some previous earnings I had there I claimed a $5.00 payment to my paypal account, I’ll post here when I get the payment. I also got a survey invite from Valued opinions which was worth $3.00 unfortunately I did not qualify for this one.January 17th 2009
Two surveys from Light speed today allowed me to redeem for another $5.00 paypal payment. On top of those I also received 2 surveys from Test and Vote worth all up 3250 points, due to a lack of time I didn’t bother to do these.January 18th 2009
My first survey for the day was from Ciao a quick 12 minute online survey that paid $1.50, my only other survey for the day I got from Valued opinions and paid me $2.00. Valued opinions sends out $20 gift certificates automaticaly every time your account reaches $20.00 there is gift certificates available from a heap of different companies, I have chosen the Woolworths wish gift card, I will use the card in Woolworths next time I do my grocery shopping, so it is kind of like getting cash in my pocket.January 19th 2009
A busy day at Pure profile, with a total of 3 surveys and a website visit, bad luck though I didn’t qualify for the first 2 surveys but with the 20 cents each I got from the two of those the 10 cents for visiting a website and the $3.00 I got from the survey that I completed my account is now up to $43.30 and not far from the $50.00 target that I am going to redeem my earnings and get it sent to my bank account. Other then Pure profile I did also get a short 4 minute survey from My view, they have changed over to their new payment system yet, so the survey was still for sweepstakes entries, but I figure for a 4 minute survey I may as well do it.Please Note
After being away on holidays for a few weeks and then being caught up in the Victorian bush fires over the last couple of weeks, I am along way behind as you may have noticed. With the being said I will endeavor to piece things together as well as I can and get the site back up to date and continue on as normal.Not a lot to report for the rest of the month as I was in sunny Queensland for 3 weeks, although I can tell you that I did get a couple of payouts, $10.00 from Lightspeed, $7.00 from Ciao and finaly $89.16 from Check My Stats.
Without any further ado, all sections of our online surveys is now completed and online, you will find many companies that are currently recruiting and looking for new members for their research panels. Feel free to spend some time and have a look at the sites that are currently on offer.
Glancing at the news headlines today, most people are worried about job security and looking for opportunities to supplement their income. What started out as a regional recession has now hit the world economy, and many industries in Australia are increasingly at risk of downsizing. In order to give your family an additional layer of insurance against these uncertainties, a number of leading market research firms are now offering the opportunity to earn serious money through paid online surveys.
Whether you work as in construction, finance, entertainment or any other field, you can bring your own unique expertise to help marketing companies make better product decisions. The compensation rates for paid surveys in Australia are quite competitive, and many individuals who begin taking surveys to provide additional wages end up earning a nice second income every month.
In order to understand why paid survey companies are willing to compensate you well for your opinions, consider the vast amount of products that come to market each year: a majority of product launches are not successful on their first run, and your valuable insight can save these companies thousands by helping to get the right product to market. Getting started in Paid Surveys is simple, and you only need reliable Internet access as well as time allocated to provide feedback to the surveys you take. As mentioned above everyone is an expert in their own right, and you will be providing valuable insights into market trends which will both enrich your income as well as providing a great way to learn more about the business world.
Selecting the proper survey companies is a crucial element of starting your side career. While there are, quite literally, hundreds of market research firms from Sydney to Melbourne and Brisbane to Perth, you can choose the absolute best fit for you when selecting on-line. Just as you’ll want to carefully review the survey opportunities available, it’s important to have a high level of commitment to the process, from the application to survey completion, as you’re more likely to earn a stronger supplemental income based on the quality of your feedback. In fact, the earnings potential for Survey participants are virtually unlimited, and depend entirely on your level of participation.
Thousands of Australians have earned a strong primary or secondary income by participating in Online Survey programs, and now is a great time for you to start. With all of the uncertainty in today’s economy, market research is a stable opportunity to help you enrich your life and your wallet at the same time.
