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.
Some users have also complained how after playing hours and hours of games on sites like Winster, their accounts were not credited, and upon contacting InboxDollars' customer support, were told that “it is not the company’s responsibility to determine playing time but the responsibility of their partners.” Some users have decried how after being inactive at InboxDollars for a few weeks or a month, their accounts were suspended and they were no longer able to receive paid emails.
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.
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.
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.
Like many other reviews, I used the site properly but as I reached the minimum $30 payout threshold, they terminated my account with generic multiple choice possible reasons of using VPN / acting like a automated BOT / having multiple accounts - none of which was true, perhaps I accessed the account once or twice with VPN still enabled, but that didn't prevent them from earning their partner referral fees they partially share with me while I wasn't using VPN. They can block access to site while using VPN so they ensure proper tracking as you complete each offer. I earned offers while not on VPN, so accidental VPN access that doesn't impact any specific offer they earned through me becomes their dishonest way of stealing the bonus money from you. Support says they escalated to 2nd level support that will respond with an email in a few days, of course they don't.
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.
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:
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.
Unfortunately, a lot of people think that because they didn’t qualify for a survey, the company conducting it is somehow scamming them. Remember, companies want to gather data and feedback from their target customers. Remember the Starbucks example above? Well, if you are not a coffee drinker, it makes sense that Starbucks doesn’t want to spend money on giving you a survey on something that doesn’t apply to you!
Here’s my experience with InboxDollars. I was a member for over 5 years. I cancelled my membership about 3 years ago. Frank is right. They should’ve called themselves InboxPennies, and that’s exactly what it’s worth, pennies. I didn’t take a lot of surveys because you won’t qualify for many of them. I also didn’t do any of the trial offers because I don’t trust giving out my credit card info to these crooks, plus I was looking to make money, not spend it. But, I did all of the paid emails, and they amounted to about 3 or 4 cents per paid email. The minimum payout is $30. I made about $2 or $3 a month. Now you do the math on this one. I remember it taking about 12 months or longer to reach payout of $30! I even signed up a few referrals and never made anything; I guess they figured it wasn’t worth their time. InboxDollars should be shut down. Getting paid pennies is a direct insult to anyone’s intelligence. There are too many of these type companies that sucker you into believing you’ll make some decent money. Nobody’s trying to get rich, but at least a real part-time job will pay you about 200 bucks a week. We all have been bamboozled and hoodwinked.
InboxDollars doesn't care to keep you as a customer because they realize most people once they reach the minimum $30 payout won't continue, because the amount of time required to earn pitiful tiny sums isn't worth it, so revoke your earnings as you reach the threshold is an intentional part of their dishonest business model. They offer no explanation and no flexibility and no reasonable business practices.
Inboxdollars does not tell you this – you have to find it on your own. After uninstalling Firefox 54, and installing this version required, the issue with those partner ads still persist. I am still seeing the majority of ads as inboxdollars offers.. So I guess this means I will have the “feature” disabled again. Despite screenshots of the ads, showing them what I am seeing it is being blamed on some security setting, adblocker, or those plugins not being enabled. Rather than checking with their site, or the partner and checking their own ad rotations. When an ad starts to play sometimes it just vanishes and an inboxdolls offer pops up.
How it works: Panda Research is a market data company that claims to have paid out over $2 million to date. Users complete surveys, which can take anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes each. The sign-up and survey completion process are both easy and typical, but there are a few things you should be aware of before investing too much time on the platform:
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.
InboxDollars is a trademark of CotterWeb Enterprises, along with InboxPounds.co.uk (UK) SendEarnings.com, DailyRewards.com (Canada) and PaidEmail. The 6-time Inc. 5000 honoree is a Better Business Bureau (BBB) accredited business with an A+ rating as of this review. The corporation is headquartered in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. Daren Cotter, founder and CEO is a well-respected investor, adviser and mentor and was recently honored as Technology CEO at the 2017 Titans of Technology awards.