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Hi! I'm Jeff. A personal finance nerd and entrepreneur at heart, I'm here to bring you all the latest cool ways to make and save extra money. I've been quoted in several online publications, including Entrepreneur, NBC News, GoBankingRates, Student Loan Hero, Business.com, Credit Karma, The Simple Dollar, US News & World Report, Lifehacker, MSN Money, Moneyish, Zumper, IdeaMensch, Discover Bank, PrimeRates, Credit.com, Yahoo! Finance, Club Thrifty, Guru Focus, Rent Track, Fit Small Business, Coupon Chief, and more.
I signed up for InBox Dollars, which led to a rabbit hole of sweepstakes and surveys, all of which, had the same 30 questions repeated 2-3 times in a single survey, punctuated by attempts at selling magazine subscriptions. One survey had a couple of telling questions. “Do you believe Trump is the best President America has ever had?” “Do you believe Hillary Clinton should be convicted of a crime?” and “Is Fox your main source of news?” I started getting an ungodly amount of spam emails and I can’t even count the number of spam calls, that are now growing at a rate of about 18 per day. I can’t block them fast enough, though one number has called 21 times in the past 3 days. 11 of those tries were yesterday. Today they only called 5 times… I just started mass spam dumping from my inbox. I don’t even care what’s in the message. If it’s not something I know. DELETE DELETE DELETE! I received a Netspend card in the mail today. Wasn’t able to activate it though.
I had to submit the tax info as well, but this is true for any legitimate business. They sent me a 1099 at the end of the year and I gave it to my accountant along with my other tax documents. The fact they pay on the books is good, it shows that they obey tax regulations. If you make money you need to be prepared to pay the taxes, of course expenses towards making that money are deductible. I am disqualified a lot, often for days, thus I mainly do surveys while watching TV etc…They should pay more and let u know sooner if u do not qualify, I wholeheartedly agree. In 3 years one a $25 sweepstakes once (Target Card) and am aware that their wheel is a virtual wheel which means some combinations much more likely than others)Have hit the $5 twice and the $1 about 4-5 times. There help desk has some good people and some who do not care. The only reason I stay with it is that little money is better than no money..
They claim to also offer paid product testing opportunities. But it’s not really paid product testing, but more of getting cash back. Basically, besides surveys, you can purchase products and services through their portal and earn a certain amount of cash back for every dollar you spend. If you were going to buy something already, it’s a great way to get some of the cash back. But don’t just buy something because of the cashback.

How it works: YouGov is one of the world’s largest research companies, with over 5 million members worldwide. The company provides market research and polling for major corporations, as well as political campaigns — particularly in the United Kingdom, where their polls are frequently cited in the media. Most surveys take between 5 to 10 minutes, and earn you 1,000 points. For reference, 1,400 points is worth about $1.
The platform also provides trait surveys which allow you to earn $0-03-$0-10. These trait surveys can increase your earnings slowly including your trait score. When you have a trait score, you will be able to get a maximum number of surveys in a month. So, strive to achieve a 9000 trait score and you will become one of the top 10 percent members who earn more per answer. What’s more, you can refer your friends and relatives and still get generous rewards to boost your income. All cash-out payments made by the company are made through Paypal or their partner virtual incentives, without any exceptions.
The only problem is with this site now to do surveys you have to put your cell phone number in before they will let you (Only once) they shouldn't ask for this for one for two they won't take my number so i'm blocked from doing surveys. I have to say one way it's bad the other way it's worse and all i can say good about this site right now is they do pay.

It seems like IBD has made several changes that benefit them financially and ends up taking away more of the minimal amount of money you earn to begin with. I have always wondered why they only allow a person 20 spins over a 24 hour period. Especially and in light of the fact you are lucky if 20 spins net you .5-.25 cents. I have been trying Cash Crate. And so far, no complaints.
How it works: Pinecone Research is owned and operated by Nielsen, the billion-dollar data and measurement company responsible for TV Nielsen Ratings. With Pinecone Research, you earn $3 per survey, which typically take 15 to 20 minutes to complete. The downside to Pinecone is that they often have strict demographic requirements, which means that you may not qualify depending on your age, education, race or other profile factors.
On 07/03/19 my Inbox Dollars account suddenly stops recieving any and all survey offers. Twice I emailed customer support with negative results. When I learned other customers had had some of their most favorite and familiar ways to earn removed from their accounts in an effort to make use of alternative earning methods or methods that may cost money.
Above all, thanks for that great article. I really enjoyed reading it all for the last 5 minutes with a mug of coffee! Despite this article being next to perfect, if I can, I’d like to add one of the best survey sites, in my mind, to this list. It would be, “ClixSense”. They’re a really old, and huge, presence in the research industry and have partnered with many of those listed in this very post. So, signing up on ClixSense lets you take paid survey invitations from multiple survey sites and research firms, like Opinion Outpost, Nielson Media Research, YouGov, I-Poll, MySurvey, Toluna and more. Almost half of all of those survey sites are listed here.
If this is remotely true, it is absolutely the exception to the rule. Yes, they take all of your info, then you spend endless amounts of time filling out the prequal for a survey only to get disqualified. If you do happen to be qualified, well the 15-30+minutes you spend to “make” that 25-50 CENTS is NOT worth the time. Again the user claiming to make anywhere decent amounts of money from this is the exception rather than the rule. Don’t waste your time.
Updating review. I have been with I.D. for a little over a month & have made $17. Because I qualify for more surveys here, I make more money than I do with other survey sites. I am sure I would have made more if I didn't have 5 other survey sites I have to try to visit while I am online. I don't get online everyday. There are a few pros and lots of cons to this site. We all know that taking surveys can be tedious, and this site has options to play some of their cheesy games for a few cents here and there. The games give me a break from the tedious surveys and I enjoy them. They also give money for using coupons through them. It is not a lot by any means, but what other survey site does that? Cents add up; don't you ever pick up pennies off of the ground? The cons on this site are signing up for supposedly free offers, it can lead to spam junk mail if you don't read the terms. I do not like spam junk mail. Nothing is actually "free" from any of the offers, minus some other survey sites. I cannot complete the bonus because I don't have FB. One big thing that concerns me is when I leave the tab for I.D. idling it creates a virus pop up window and that I do not like. I searched online to see if anyone else is experiencing that, but could not find anything. So if the virus thing happens again, I will block and unsubscribe from them.
I’ve been taking surveys at PrizeRebel for awhile and have had a consistent problem which has gotten consistently worse lately. They cheat! When I submit my survey at the end, I get this message, “Something went wrong”, or “Unable to connect to server”. Or, they put up picture of this little broken robot guy and say, “Oops, looks like he broke it again” and I don’t receive any points for my work. Then here’s the ultimate: Near the end of the survey, they put in a question that’s impossible to answer: Do you drink: A. Beer B. Whiskey? There are no other choices, so I have to pick one, which then puts me in the position of lying, cheating, or whatever. The contact button at the bottom is gone. Since it doesn’t match my profile information and they already have the rest of my information, I’m just stuck and I don’t get my points. Then they lower my quality score. PrizeRebel is a poor quality survey site that doesn’t care anything about the people who diligently work hard on these surveys. Survey takers need to beware of PrizeRebel.
My InboxDollars experience started on a high note. After receiving the signup bonus, I earned another 50 cents for completing a short profile survey. I also appreciated that I could see a list of surveys available to me, along with the exact dollar (or cent) amount they’re worth. Most sites we tested use points, and determining a survey’s monetary value can be a hassle. This list also included the estimated time required for each of the surveys and, for some, the topic.
I’ve been taking surveys at PrizeRebel for awhile and have had a consistent problem which has gotten consistently worse lately. They cheat! When I submit my survey at the end, I get this message, “Something went wrong”, or “Unable to connect to server”. Or, they put up picture of this little broken robot guy and say, “Oops, looks like he broke it again” and I don’t receive any points for my work. Then here’s the ultimate: Near the end of the survey, they put in a question that’s impossible to answer: Do you drink: A. Beer B. Whiskey? There are no other choices, so I have to pick one, which then puts me in the position of lying, cheating, or whatever. The contact button at the bottom is gone. Since it doesn’t match my profile information and they already have the rest of my information, I’m just stuck and I don’t get my points. Then they lower my quality score. PrizeRebel is a poor quality survey site that doesn’t care anything about the people who diligently work hard on these surveys. Survey takers need to beware of PrizeRebel. 

From the get-go, new members will instantly earn their first $5. The process of signing up is extremely easy and simple – enter your email, create a password and confirm your account via email. Then, you will need to answer several basic questions that are on par with every other survey panel (i.e. about your marital status, kids, degree, race, income etc).

Rip off. I referred a couple people to Inbox Dollars that lived close to me and they closed out all of our accounts saying we were all in the same location and the same person. We provided IP addresses and even went to as far as asking if we could provide identification to show proof and of course it was negative. Lost a total of about $31. As for my neighbors probably the same or close to the same..


You can also earn money by reading special emails, watching videos, or referring other people to Vindale Research. The minimum threshold is higher than InboxDollars; you need to have at least $50 in your account to withdraw funds. This can be frustrating for people who only occasionally do surveys, since they’ll have to wait longer to access their money.

Is Inbox Dollars A Legit Site


GlobalTestMarket currently has more than 5.5 million members in over 200 countries around the globe. They offer surveys which are rewarded in points. These points can then be redeemed using PayPal payments. Participants can earn easy money by simply completing a 10 or 20 minutes survey. Take part in online surveys, mobile surveys and IT surveys and earn at least 1200 points you need to request your check.

I have had Inboxdollars for about 8 years. I started doing it for some extra money to go on vacation, I didn’t make enough to go on vacation, that was unrealistic on my part, but I did make enough money to buy a laptop and I have been cashing out with about $100 each year since. I currently have $127 to cash out. The site is legit, you just have to stick to it if you really want it to work.
Total waste of time. It's nearly impossible to accumulate the $30 you have to make to cash out. 95% of the time you spend a long time answering numerous preliminary questions just to find out you dont qualify for the survey. You don't make money for learn and earn or for playing the games, you make Scratch and Win Progress which never wins more than 5 cents. The Spin to Win never lands on anything other than No Luck or Scratch and Win Progress. Maybe in a few years i'll have the $30 required to cash out but definitely not today! Really disappointing.
So after a year I finally have 29.59 so hopefully when I cash out I want my money. My sister was getting checks for 40$ almost every week so they don’t take the 3$ process fee if u try to cash just 30$ but im not waiting anymore it’s been way to long and I can’t wait to take this crap out my phone I can’t even get thru a survey without them saying I don’t qualify smh the is in box dollars when I get my 27$ I will write a different review hopefully it will be a good one.
ke c.: if you requested payment and the date has changed to process that payment it may mean that your account went to an inactive status. Members need to keep their account in active status in order to have their payments processed on the date assigned. Please contact LiveChat for assistance and they can always escalate your inquiry to Accounting for help!

How it works: LifePoints is the survey platform of a company called Lightspeed, which is owned by Kantar (one of the world’s largest market research and consumer data analytics firms). The platform was formed as a merger of two of the company’s other products, MySurvey and Global Test Market, and gives users a variety of ways to earn points that can be redeemed for cash:


InboxDollars is one of the worst programs. Unlike others, they have a very short “6-months of inactivity and we’ll close your account and keep your money” term. Plus, you earn next to nothing. I too stopped getting paid emails and tried to unsuccessfully qualify for surveys. As such, I mostly did the big-ticket things, like signing up for money back on donations to charities. I accrued $98 and log in monthly to avoid the “inactivity” thing. But, guess what? They just closed my account for not completing anything in six months. They don’t even hold up their own definition of “activity”. So, user beware–withdraw when you can, even though UNLIKE the other programs, they charge a 3% fee on what you’ve earned. Sketchy, sketchy, sketchy.
From the get-go, new members will instantly earn their first $5. The process of signing up is extremely easy and simple – enter your email, create a password and confirm your account via email. Then, you will need to answer several basic questions that are on par with every other survey panel (i.e. about your marital status, kids, degree, race, income etc).

I use Survey Junkie. It is the number one best survey app I have come across so far. I have cashed out already twice: the first time, it was for $10 and I made it within hours. Then I made almost $20, so basically $30 so far and I haven’t even had the app downloaded for longer than 2 weeks. It’s super easy to redeem. You can do PayPal, gift cards, or cash deposited into any account as long as you have a routing and account #. So, yes, it’s real cash. It says 5 business days before you receive it, but I received mine within 2 days. So, on your free time, just do surveys. You have to have patience. That’s the key. If you do, then that’s the app or site for you. Good luck.
InboxDollars makes you an offer you can’t afford to refuse – start earning extra money and even a full-time living online, at your own pace, in the comfort of your home or elsewhere and have all the money you can make at your fingertips, with minimum effort. For added convenience, you can now leverage legitimate and select reward websites to benefit from real cash plus prizes for your usual everyday online activities. Ka-ching!
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