My 5 Favorite Survey Sites

I started doing survey sites years ago when I first learned how to use a computer. They were fun and I could get money or products for doing them. In the past couple of years I have been doing them more for money than anything else. I belonged to at least 20 survey sites until just recently, when I decided to weed out the losers.

Unless you know something I don't, I have to say the usual line...you will not get rich doing these, far from it. However, you can make a little extra money or get products if you choose wisely. There are so many problems with a lot of these sites that you can waste valuable time with them. Here are just some of the problems:

• They don't pay enough for the time you're putting in.
• They ask you five minutes worth of questions and then tell you you don't qualify!
• They have point systems that allow you to redeem them for cash or products, but require huge amounts of points for even a ten dollar redemption.
• They have very long surveys that you will have to put 30-45 minutes into for very little reward.

After reviewing all the sites I had joined, and how close I was to having enough points to use, after years (no kidding!) of doing their surveys, I felt idiotically stupid for staying with them for so long. I started hitting the unsubscribe link on all of them, except these five.

MySurvey.com

This is the first survey site I ever did and it is still my favorite. You can get your points to add up fairly quickly and they have one of the best products sections I've seen. From kitchen to pets to clothes...they have a wide range of products. You need 1000 points for $10 cash, and while it might seem it's going to take you forever to get there, they can add up quickly if you do enough surveys. It's just a great site that's easy to understand and has great reward options.

I-Say.com

There are two reasons I like I-Say. One is that if you don't qualify for a survey, they will give you five points just for answering the qualifying questions, and there aren't usually too many of them. They also let you play the poll predictor game. You guess how many people answered a question and you get points depending on how close you came to the right percentage. You can then use those points for chances to win their monthly prizes. there are usually four of them to choose from. It's just a lot of fun too!

ClearVoiceSurveys.com

Like I-Say, if you don't qualify for a survey, they will give you ten cents just for answering the questions. Again, there usually isn't too many of them, unlike other sites that will ask tons of questions before they disqualify you.

SpringboardAmerica.com

Just another good site that you can make some money on.

PaidViewpoint.com

This site is unusual. They ask you ten questions and a lot of them are things they will ask you over and over...they seem to be testing consistency in your answers. They want to see if you say you love reading one time and answer that you don't another time (just an example). They pay you ten cents for the survey and pay out is $15. This may sound like a trivial amount but it adds up quickly, takes very little time and is easy to do. You also usually get several of them a week.

Some observations on doing surveys:

Always answer truthfully.

Take your time. If they feel you are rushing through the survey, they might disqualify you.

I am not a technical person...in fact, I hate most of the new stuff around. I don't have a smartphone or whatever they're called, I have never texted in my life, I don't do games and I can barely understand how to use my video camera. So I don't qualify for a lot of surveys because they are on those products. But I'm sure most of the rest of you are much more savvy about all the new technology out there and have a lot of the items they are interested in, so you should do fine!

Again, this isn't your way to big bucks, but the money you make can add a little here and there. Or you might decide to save your points for products at the sites that offer those too. I've gotten everything from toaster ovens to pet products to kitchen gadgets.

Try a site and see how you like it!