Work At Home - Cash Surveys. Are They For You?

Make money doing surveys online. That’s what they advertise. Is it really possible? Maybe, but I have learned in the last few months that you have to have a certain demographic to complete them. An unemployed 50 year old African American woman with no children under 18 and no college degree and an income under $50k does not qualify for about 90 percent of the surveys out there. Of course if I had an income of $50k I wouldn’t be doing surveys.

One would think it would be easy to do surveys. It is if you qualify. This morning since I’m awake at a disgustingly early hour, I worked on doing surveys as I do every other day. I went through about 10 different surveys and didn’t qualify for any one of them. That was one online survey company. The reward for qualifying and completing the survey is at most $3.00 or you get a sweepstakes entry. Who wins sweepstakes? Not me, that’s for sure.

They recommend that you join a number of survey sites in order to maximize your earning potential. I signed up with 12. My demographic hurts me at every one of them. It is rare I actually qualify for a survey. It’s even rarer for me to qualify for a cash reward.

But wait, there is more. You also get paid to read emails. When you click to confirm reading the paid email you are usually taken to a website for a product you don’t really want. Today, for example, I don’t have a need for 250 free business cards because I don’t have a business yet. I don’t need auto insurance since I already have it. I don’t need a subscription for a credit report or subscription for ID theft as I can’t afford their monthly fees being unemployed. I don’t need a scooter as my legs still work just fine thank you.

Don’t get me wrong you do get paid for these emails. Checking my account status at one of my paid survey sites for the 60+ emails that I have read I have amassed a whopping $1.56. This is still below the payout threshold. Paid surveys that I qualified and complete I have about $3.50 pending.

So are paid surveys the way to go? The answer is that it is not for everyone. Yes, your opinion matter to these companies. That is what they say and in a sense that much is true. You just won’t make as much money as you think you will. I am of the opinion that if this is what you want to do, then you have to stick with it day in day out. When I first started with these companies, the first surveys I received were for sweepstakes entry. I stuck with them and I’m now seeing surveys from $.50 to $3.00. In time that may increase. I don’t know if this will improve but I’m going to stick with it. If nothing else I’m learning a bit of marketing.

As with anything, time is a teacher and patience is a must.