I started this to mostly vent about paid survey sites, but hopefully you can get some knowledge out of it. I want to explain the basics of paid survey sites and the difference between some of the "other" places out there that also give you options to do offers, enter your zip code, email address and such. I also just want to vent about the bad rap many websites with surveys get and how to find the ones that pay and are 100% legit.

First of all, the word "scam" is being thrown around too much when talking about paid survey sites. Sure, there are a lot of websites that will disappear, or won't pay you, but this is the case with every business, especially online. It doesn't take long to find out if a paid survey site is legit or not. The best place to get information on certain places is the browse through some of the friendlier internet forums. You can find some honest information in there. Sure, you will run into people trying to advertise the crap out of their website, but those are easily picked out and you can simply skip them.

Want to know another way to find out if a paid survey site is legit? Check to see if they have their "own" forum. That's right. Many paid survey sites will have their own forum, where member's are free to talk about what they want. Most are not heavily moderated, so you can get a darn good feel of how other people like it and if they are making money with them. The good places will have active forums and you can even use them to look at other people's experiences about how to make the most money. It's as simple as that.

You also should not expect to become a millionaire by taking surveys. I know, most people don't expect to be millionaires, but many of them expect to be paid somewhere around $40 for doing a twenty minute survey. How realistic is this goal? (yes, I know many paid survey sites advertise that you can make this much, but we should all know this is not true). This doesn't make them a scam, though. How many other companies and websites advertise over the top numbers to get your business? Somewhere around 99.9%, right? So why do paid survey sites get the bad rap, while the others don't?

Oh yeah, one more simple way to avoid a scam.....Never, ever pay a website any money to get there "top 50 paid survey site list" or info on "how to do surveys", unless you have money to throw away. Sure, you might get the list, but you could have gotten this list from anywhere and most of the places they list aren't even worth your time. Most people that pay for that list will only use one or two of the paid survey sites anyway.

Anyway, you will run into websites that don't live up to expectation and paid survey sites are no exception. Yes, there are places that don't pay you very well. It's all a matter of finding the ones that Do pay you. The truth is that there are many, many high quality paid survey sites out there. For example: Greenfield, GlobalTestMarket,Pinecone, SurveySpot, TestSpin. And that's just to name a few.

If you want survey sites that also have offers and zip code, email entry offers: Treasure Trooper, Cash Crate, Fusion and many, many others are 100% legit, they pay you when they say they will pay you, and they have been around for a very long time, so they aren't going anywhere.

All in all, if you do just a couple minutes of research, you can easily find the good paid survey sites and find out which ones should be avoided. We live in a world ruled by instant gratification, though, so most people won't take the time to do this. Like I said, scams are everywhere in this world, inducing the paid survey site industry, but it shouldn't stop you from trying to make extra money by having fun at the places that are not.

Here is a a link I threw up of the top 5 paid survey sites I have personally been paid from. Free Survey List