The name “inbox dollars” is somewhat revealing – they pay you simply to read your emails. All you need do is check your inbox and read the special offers sent to you, then click the button that confirms that you’ve read the mail, and you’ll be paid. You can get between 1 – 10 cents for every email you read. Active members usually get about 3 paid emails per day. Very often, you’ll be sent offers, and by signing up for these offers, you’ll earn more cash, which can be between $2.00 – $20.00.


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.
When brands want to find out what consumers think about their product and services, they turn to market research companies. Market research companies are the ones actually administering the surveys on behalf of the corporations looking for data/feedback. Think of online surveys as a type of focus group, except in this case, everything is done online.
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.

NO PAYMENT GUARANTEE. PandaResearch does NOT guarantee that a member will receive credit for a completed survey and offer. PandaResearch will make reasonable efforts to track and report your signing up for offers but does not guarantee the precision of the process. We reserves the right to refuse the credit to members for offers for variety of reasons, including, but not limited to , Lack of appropriate information, Improper signup, Improper browser settings, Errors in third party reporting, and / or any other reason.
It’s a very well-known scam. You cash the check, then they ask you to either wire some of that money back to them as some sort of fee or buy something for them and send the item to them. So, you deposit the check, then wire some cash to them thinking that the check you just deposited will cover that. A few days later, after you already send them the money, the check will bounce and the money you send to them will come out of your own account.

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.
How it works: Vindale is one of the oldest, most well-known, and most highly-rated survey companies around (boasting an “A” rating from the BBB and a great Trustpilot score of 8.1). The only thing that keeps this site from ranking higher on my list is the minimum cashout amount, which is $50. It can take a good amount of time and dedication to hit that mark. Still, the company provides high-quality surveys with good payouts, which makes Vindale a great choice for users who plan on filling out surveys regularly but less attractive for those who are thinking about just dabbling.
Some websites, like eBay will pay you as much as $6 to sign up to their sites and place bids. Another website, Stamps.com, will pay you as much as $10 for signing up for their free trial program.  However, with the latter, if you do not cancel the free trial before expiration, then you will be billed monthly for their programs (in the case of Stamps, its $15.99 per month). 

In a few cases, InboxDollars directed me to “exclusive offers” instead of straightforward surveys. One required me to give my name, address, phone number and birthdate to earn money and enter a sweepstakes for a Target gift card. Another time, I was prompted to give my email address and choose between Coke and Pepsi in exchange for $1 and a sweepstakes entry. I didn’t want to give my contact information to what appeared to be third-party sites, so I clicked out of these promotions.
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