IOCS is a not-for-profit research organization that conducts studies and experiments on shopping-related behavior – things like how we, as consumers, evaluate products, how we make the buying decisions, etc. Although the focus is mostly on shopping related behavior, some of their experiments and studies include broader areas of marketing, psychology, and economics.
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.
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Inbox dollars is a scam. They will pull you in by offering $5 to begin and another $7 for completing some other tasks. It all goes downhill from there. I quickly realized that filling out countless surveys. I really gave them a try, I tried and tried and tried. Finally I snapped and said “No More!” What happens is that once you start a survey and it could be 15-20 minutes of filling questions, they will reject you based on answering a question as “no”. So you could answer “yes, yes, yes” for multiple questions and after 20 minutes of tedious (and yes, boooring!) questioning you are rejected from survey by punching one lousy “No”. Then they offer “sweeps” which is a raffle ticket that will never win you anything, pathetic! So, after seeing what a sham I got myself into I just decided to get my $30 by strictly opening the “paid mail” and using “paid search”. I had opened the account with them 1.5 years ago and finally was able to collect my $30 (actually $27, they even take $3 for “processing fee” – a final slap in the face) after countless hours of filling surveys and opening stupid paid mail. They pay 2 cents per one paid e-mail so yes it will take a while. I will be closing my account with inbox dollars now that I recovered a small fraction of what my time is actually worth, and I recommend staying clear from them and finding another way of making $$$.
This is a service owned and operated by a Kenyan company known as Simba Survey. The company works with local and international businesses, government agencies, research institutions, NGOs and universities to create and deploy flexible and scalable mobile surveys. The survey rates can move from a minimum of Ksh. 50 upwards. There are two types of surveys one can take; the cash reward surveys and the draw entry surveys. Members can withdraw their money directly via MPESA.

Inboxdollars Bing


You shouldn’t expect to make a killing by taking paid online surveys. Instead, you should view them as a way to make a little bit of extra money in your spare time — while you’re in line or when you’re stuck in a waiting room, for example. In cases like these, surveys can be a decent way to monetize your time. And while the payouts aren’t huge, even a few dollars per month can add up in a savings account and help you start to build a more solid financial foundation.
It’s a scam.I’ve been making surveys and other stuf for 2-3 months and i was close to my first payment and they decided to ban me for botlike activity.I’ve emailed them to see what’s the deal cause I wasted so much time in it and at the end I was left with nothign and they got all my money I don’t reccomend these thieves to anyone they will waste your time and nerves jsut for their good and will take your money just before you get to 30 dollars (which is the needed amount to cash out).I hope there are not many people screwed as me.Btw they anwsered me email with other stuf telling me that I’m not from U.S. and that’s why they won’t pay me or unban me……..
Like other sites we tested, InboxDollars is a survey aggregator. So clicking on a survey opportunity typically redirects you to a third-party site. In most cases, I was led to a typical survey setup: starter questions about my age, gender and ZIP code, followed by either a disqualification or questions on a specific topic. A few survey topics I covered include McDonald’s, insurance and grocery stores.

Hi, I'm Zina! I'm a personal finance expert with a passion for helping millennials figure out their most pressing financial issues. My interest is personal -- I paid off my student loans in three years and have been helping others take control of their finances ever since. My work has been featured in the Washington Post, Fox Business, Time, Quicken Loans, LendingTree, Forbes, Money.com, Mint, and many more.  I currently live in Indianapolis, IN with my husband and two dogs.
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.

Inboxdollars Amazon


Did ok first two payouts, then on third payout, got an email saying account was terminated. This is after I cashed out. Had to request check before Sunday for them to cut check on Wed. I did this on Friday, two days early, on Monday I get email saying account terminated, Did NOT get paid, so they waited until I did three months worth of surveys, requested funds then terminated, so angry.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There are people who do make a few thousand dollars or more a year with paid surveys. But that’s not the norm. If you do want to increase your earnings substantially, your best bet is to also join focus groups (we have a big list of ’em. Just do a quick search on Google for “moneypantry.com focus groups”). They pay much more between $50 to $400 or more per focus group secession.

Inboxdollars Twitter


This is a joke, it isn’t a scam but its not worth the trouble. It works don’t get me wrong but it takes FOREVER to make any actual money plus you have to hit a certain dollar amount before you can even cash out. Surveys said to be 4 minutes long pay out the same as survey that will take 50 minutes, and it only pays $0.25 for most surveys! $0.25 for an hour!? What! When you do find a higher paying one (meaning $0.50-$1.00), it’ll say its full or you don’t qualify EVERY time. The “Billy Spin Win” IS cool but also it is rigged. You NEVER land on money only “no win” or survey tokens. Out of 50 spins I landed on “cash” ($0.02 & $0.09!) twice. Like really? Complete waste of time honestly, SurveyJunkie pays better and you can cash out at $10 not $30! I’ve made $40 in about a month with SurveyJunkie rather $9 with Inbox Dollars

Inbox Dollars Paypal


First, thank you for providing this extensive list. I wanted to offer a quick follow up. After reading your post I decided to give Survey Junkie a try and I’ve already closed the account. Yes, I can tell it’s well organized and it is definitely a user-friendly platform. The problems I experienced were first that not one of the surveys they emailed me about were available. I did, however, complete several surveys from the site itself and I found them to be lengthy – in itself, not a problem, but 3 out of 5 told me I didn’t qualify after I’d already invested 10 – 12 minutes filling out the forms. They got more than enough information from me to be useful which is an old and highly unethical trick in market research – which happens to be my background. All in all, it was a LOT of wasted time.

Inboxdollars Ads


They tell me today that this are “popups” and they have no ads in the tv rotation (I’ve watched it since it came out and these were always there). They keep pushing out this java plugin explanation, this should not hold any salt the tv channel worked fine until the latest firefox update. If it is a “security setting” they are doing nothing to push me in the right direction of fixing it. 

Dear Dave, You should contact LiveChat for more assistance but an account can be deleted/removed for inactivity on the account for a period of 6 months or more of if the account was in a violation of the terms. Accounts are never randomly deleted without cause so if you reach out to LiveChat they can review and escalate your inquiry if further review is needed. We have more information in our Terms of Membership: http://www.inboxdollars.com/pages/terms
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 tell me today that this are “popups” and they have no ads in the tv rotation (I’ve watched it since it came out and these were always there). They keep pushing out this java plugin explanation, this should not hold any salt the tv channel worked fine until the latest firefox update. If it is a “security setting” they are doing nothing to push me in the right direction of fixing it. 

The only reason Springboard didn’t rank higher on our list is because some users have reported a fairly limited supply of available surveys, making it difficult to reach the $50 minimum cashout threshold. However, the availability of surveys depends on your demographics — so my recommendation is to join, making sure your profile is 100% complete, and then see if enough opportunities come your way to make it worth your while.
I belong to almost all of the sites you listed and out of all the surveys I take I don’t qualify for 95% of them. I will spend 15 minutes with generic questions with them collecting information about me then when done they say I’m not eligible for the survey or they have reached the required amount of people for that research. I can understand the reaching the required amount of people but I would think I would qualify for at least 1 or 2. It’s really discouraging when you take all that time to do the survey and not even get any points for doing so!
The conclusion of this impartial review is rather obvious – it is undoubtedly worth trying it out, to say the least, and you can instantly earn a $5 bonus while you’re at it. Why not benefit from getting easy cash for the stuff you’d be doing on the internet anyway? Your cash rewards are just a click away – simply join the club for free and get that extra money you rightfully deserve. Sounds like a plan, doesn’t it?

Inbox Dollars


MyPoints isn’t as shady as them and isn’t as difficult. I’ve been clicking emails for 5-7 years (they offer surveys too but I only click emails) and cannot even remember how many gift cards I’ve gotten from them (a lot in that many years). Not once did they stop sending emails once I got to a certain amount of points. I can quit at any time after cashing out too, unlike InboxDollars who forces you to stay active until your payment is sent.
It’s a scam.I’ve been making surveys and other stuf for 2-3 months and i was close to my first payment and they decided to ban me for botlike activity.I’ve emailed them to see what’s the deal cause I wasted so much time in it and at the end I was left with nothign and they got all my money I don’t reccomend these thieves to anyone they will waste your time and nerves jsut for their good and will take your money just before you get to 30 dollars (which is the needed amount to cash out).I hope there are not many people screwed as me.Btw they anwsered me email with other stuf telling me that I’m not from U.S. and that’s why they won’t pay me or unban me……..
They are legitimate but things have slow down for me. One time I did very well with them and the past 6 months have not been very good for me with the same amount of time I have giving to the site for the last 4 years.I use to see as many as 15 surveys offers on any day. Now I am lucky to get 3 offers and I am usually disqualified.what can I say are there any others sites I could do better.
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