So this is cool –> I’ve earned $80.00 worth of Amazon credit! Woo!
I started doing surveys for rewards last year when I was bored and trying to be more productive, haha, and then right before I was gonna quit ‘cuz I started getting busy again I decided to check and see what my points were worth…
And turns out, a lot more than nothing!
So I quickly cashed them in and released my finger from the “delete my account” button, and then my kids blew through the $$$ in about 15 minutes 😂
Still, worth the 5 hours total I probably spent on it over the months? And have actually come to enjoy giving my opinion over the money itself! The surveys are always so diverse and gets me to stop and *think* for a hot second which is great – at least after convincing my A.D.H.D. to pipe down, lol… (that’s probably the hardest part of all – sitting still for 15 mins straight and focusing!)
Here’s a snapshot of my history so far from the year:
You can see how diverse the surveys are in that right-hand column…
So far we’ve covered gaming, Covid, healthcare, climate issues, public affairs, financial items, and legal services. Pretty serious stuff, and all things most of us have opinions on! Or at least will LEARN you have opinions on after seeing the questions, lol…
I’ve actually been *learning* a ton of stuff along the way too – namely that a lot of people have it much worse out there than I realized :( I like to think I have a good grasp on how “the other world” lives, but seeing some of the pointed questions asked throughout the surveys has def. helped put things in better perspective.
Here were some of the ones I copied down from the healthcare affordability survey, ugh…
- Ever not seek treatment due to cost?
- Ever not get medication because of cost?
- Ever file bankruptcy or drop insurance or other equally as scary things because of not having money??
- How confident are you that you could afford the health care you need if you, or a family member who is financially dependent on you, were to become seriously ill?
- If you were to experience an unexpected medical event this year that left you with a bill for $1,000, how confident are you that you would have the money to pay the bill within 30 days?
Can you imagine answering “yes” to those top ones? Or not being able to cover $1,000 just in general??!
So heart wrenching, gosh… And perhaps there was a time I wouldn’t have been able to afford any of it myself, but no way I would have been left stranded with the family and support system I’ve been blessed with since birth. The biggest problem I had growing up was not being able to rock Nikes like all my friends 🙃
But I digress…
I’m now a survey monkey – did not see that coming! Haha…. especially since I’ve lasted over 14 years in this space without having been tempted! Just never assumed it was worth the trade off for time (and maybe it isn’t with other survey sites?!), but after being contacted by these guys and liking what they were about (seemed more serious and helpful than other silly surveys), I figured I’d give it a shot and see where I end up…
They are called AmeriSpeak, and even have a Wikipedia page so you know they’re legit 😂 Now unfortunately it looks like you have to be *invited* to participate in their surveys (“to ensure that it represents a cross-section of U.S. households”), but if you wanna check them out in case one day you are, you can learn more here: AmeriSpeak.org
They were created in 2014 by NORC at the University of Chicago, “whose studies inform government, business, and nonprofits to help them understand important topics related to society, education, employment, human development, and finance. Organizations such as Consumer Reports, the American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, Associated Press, Harvard University, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and many more, have asked NORC to conduct research for them.”
(And btw, I’m not getting compensated in the least to write about them… Though if I recall correctly, they did mail me a $5.00 bill to get my attention in hopes I signed up, and it worked! Haha… Good job, marketing team 😎)
While you can’t sign up to them though yet (maybe they’ll see this and let me invite some of you?!), here are other popular survey sites in the space in case you’re convinced to jump in and give it a shot too.
I haven’t tested any of them yet, but if this itch continues I just may have to cheat on AmeriSpeak and hook up with others, haha… Would love to know which of these are worth it and which aren’t if you’ve tried any??!
Most popular sites:
- Survey Junkie (est. 2013)* — one of the more popular survey sites in the space that a lot of bloggers blog about…
- Swagbucks (est. 2008)* — another super popular one, and one of the original survey sites, though you don’t hear *as much* about them as you used to for some reason? ($5.00 bonus when you first sign up)
- Inbox Dollars (est. 2000)* — another original in the space that you used to hear a lot about back in the day… ($5.00 bonus when you first sign up)
- MyPoints (est. 1996)* — don’t know much about these guys, but they’re always showing up on peoples’ “top surveys” lists. ($10 bonus when you first sign up)
- UPDATE: Forgot about Amazon Mechanicial Turk! — another popular place to knock off some surveys. We did a side hustle post on it a few years back, check it out: I’ve Made $20,000 Through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk
Other sites I hadn’t heard of before , but came up in my poking around:
- Ipsos i-Say (est. 1975 – parent company) — “Want to influence the future and direction of societies, citizens, and brands? Ipsos iSay is the rewards community for you.”
- Opinion Outpost (est. 1977 – parent company)* — “Get paid for your opinions. Earn rocking rewards by taking surveys in your spare time.”
- PrizeRebel (est. 2007)* – “Take surveys. Earn points. Get PayPal cash. Redeem over 100+ rewards, including gift cards to Amazon.com, Walmart, and PayPal cash”
- National Consumer Panel (est. 1987) — “Your voice. Your impact. Your reward. Share your shopping opinions, earn points and enjoy great rewards.”
- Respondent (est. 2016)* — “Get paid to share your knowledge and experience. Respondent is the best place to leverage your professional expertise for paid user research.” (They state the average payout is $100/hr, with some professions being able to get up to $500/hr!)
I’ll let you know if I end up deep diving into any of these later, but if you’re curious you can easily find reviews of them from other bloggers in the space. Taking surveys are always one of the top 3 “ways to make money” on peoples’ lists. And if any of you are SUPER takers of them, lemme know as outside of Mechanical Turk I don’t believe we’ve covered it much in our Side Hustle Series? Would love to find someone who’s cracked the code and makes BANK!
At any rate, there we have it… I now take surveys and I like it 🤑
Tell us your experience with them! Which sites are the best to use and which blow??! Does anyone else use AmeriSpeak too?
X$X$,
UPDATE: I just got a survey request on personal finances and retirement!!! What are the odds that it hits the same day this post goes live?! Are you watching me AmeriSpeak? And more importantly, can I have more of these please! 🤩🤩🤩
*These links ARE affiliate links, which means I will get compensated if you end up trying any…
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I do surveys, have for years. I have several apps in a folder on the desktop of my phone that I check regularly and participate with. When I focus on them I can usually bank about $1-200.00 of Amazon credit in 1-2 mos. It’s a bit time consuming and with ADHD a bit dangerous but it let’s me but stuff with Amazon credit instead of cash, or use that credit towards stuff I need.
I would LOVE an invite to Ameispeak if anyine ever figures out how to get one.
$200 in a month or two would be killer! AmeriSpeak pays you well, but the surveys can be spread out so would take a bit to hit $200 there… I think you’ve got it right doing a number of them at the same time to really stack it up :)
I do surveys throughout the work day since I’m sitting at a computer already, but through Amazon Mechanical Turk. I’m always surprised when I don’t see people talking about Mturk because it’s one of the few survey sites I’ve found where you actually make money/get paid (in cash). I wrote a post on it on my site recently, I think the big reason you don’t hear about it is because they don’t offer a referral for getting other people to sign up which is where most of these “top 3 money making” posts actually make their money on surveys (I think) — with referrals, rather than the surveys themselves. I don’t make bank by any means but usually do anywhere from $50-150 per month depending on how disciplined I am with it.
yes!! forgot about them!
we did a side hustle post on that actually where a guy had made over $20,000 so far – def. seems like a worthy one to try!
https://budgetsaresexy.com/make-money-amazon-mechanical-turk/
I’ve been doing surveys with Prolific – https://www.prolific.co/. In two months I made over $300. What’s nice about Prolific is they tell you how long each survey is, the amount you will be paid, and what the hourly rate is. I think most surveys pay in the $8-$10 per hour range. Also once you start a survey, you will get paid. None of this answering a bunch of questions and then being told you are not eligible. Any you only need 5 GBP (everything paid in pounds) to cash out. The only problem now with Prolific, is there is a waiting list — so not sure if or when they will take new participants. But you can sign up and they will tell you when they have accepted you.
Thx for the heads up! Awesome you get paid for at least *starting* them – you’re right, it blows when you spend 5 mins answering a bunch of questions only to be told you don’t qualify for it, lol…
When I was young and dumb and didn’t know beans about researching I did inbox for like a week. I got a “free” pair of boots out of it. They requested I check out their sponsor for x amount of points. I paid shipping only for signing up for a their subscription. Set a notification in my Calendar and canceled the subscription after the boots arrived. Got back to inbox and got a bonus worth the $10 I paid for shipping. So free shoes! But I was looking for a quick Benjamin in a week so didn’t stick with it and didn’t have enough to cash out. I think it was online only at the time but I’ve seen the have an app in the app store now so might be worth looking into.
Do you still have the boots? :)
I sure do!!
If you do get the chance to invite people, I’d love an invite!
Much more productive to take a survey that could potentially earn you a little $$ than playing an unproductive phone game.
Good and informational post as per usual, thanks!!
Thanks H!
I will 100% let you know if I get my hands on some invites :) Def. better than wasting time on games or scrolling the endlessness that is social media, haha…
I have pandora for music and they send out surveys for which you get points to eventually get $5.00 Amazon credits. Haven’t figured out if it’s worth it. I miss the survey deadlines sometimes. In the end it works okay for me.
Have you gotten any $5 cards yet? If not, then it’s probably not worth it lol…
Probably at least $25-50 so far over the years.
That’s something!
I don’t know what it is, but I just hate doing surveys. Maybe I’ve been duped by too many faulty sites in the past that made it very much not worth the time, but I have a visceral reaction to opening a survey. Nevertheless, great list of potential sites to use if my survey hatred dissipates haha.
Hah! No shame in that… that’s like me and iced coffee – why you gonna ruin such a fantastic drink and put ICE CUBES in it??? 😂