Another Source Of Income - Paid Surveys $$$

First of all - here is a big bunch of flowers for my followers.    Thanks for your kind words.


I'm kinda embarrassed about my dark post yesterday, but it was cathartic - and it did help, as did all my lovely messages.    I slept well last night and today I feel better.


I bought myself a bag of kiwifruit - and I will try to eat one a day.  I'll probably just end up feeding them to my parrot, but at least I tried.  Right?


When I get down, I get really down - but then I bounce back like a rubber ball.


Today is a new day.  No more moaning for another month.




If you haven't already discovered the world of Paid Surveys, you should give it a go.   Here's a small glimpse into what appears in my In Box.


Yesterday, my sales were in the toilet, I hit my inbox to give it a clear out.


I received a new email from one of my many Paid Survey websites that I belong to.  It offered me this:

I nearly swallowed my tongue!  Get paid $50 to listen to 360 music tracks and give my snotty opinion on them?   Yes please!  I hit that Survey button as quick as I could, sure that I wouldn't qualify.   But I did.

So the rest of the afternoon, in the foul mood that I was in, I swapped between listing ebay items and listening to tracks.  In the end I found it quite relaxing, and very satisfying.


For each track, I had to select whether I:  a) had never heard of it,  b)  liked it   c)   Hated it.
If I chose a) - I had to choose whether I actually like the song or not.
If I chose b) - I had to choose whether I LOVED the song, or just LIKED it.
If I chose c) - I had to choose whether, I was just plain SICK of the song, or whether I HATED it so much, I would change the station.


This was a survey from a radio station obviously.  It was the easiest $50 I ever made.

The only downside - with this company I can only spend the money on :  Ticketek vouchers, online Magazine Subscriptions or Cinema vouchers.  Given I never go out, options 1 & 3 are out.    I now have $80 worth of Magazine Subscriptions sitting there waiting to go.   Hmmm, Mother's Day is coming up, I might use it for that.


I am signed up with lots of survey companies.  Most of these are Australian.


Opinions Paid
Cafestudy
globaltestmarket.com    (this is US based)
My View
Valued Opinions
What Do You Think
Your Opinion
My Survey
My Opinions
Pure Profile
Survey Village
Your Voice
Nine Rewards
Aussie Think


I have my In Box set so that any emails from these go straight into a folder entitled "Opinions".   I check that every day and go through the ones there.


This is my Opinions folder at the moment.  There's a few for me to go through.

Given I have already cleared out a few of these, I still have a lot to go through.  Because I belong to so many Paid Survey companies, I can get anything from 10 to 15 (even more) surveys sent to me a day.


All these companies are different.  Some offer points to be accumulated.  When you get enough you can redeem them for things.  Some offer cash incentives, also to be accumulated and redeemed.  Some give you an entry into a monthly prize draw.


The items that you can redeem points for are varied - usually gift vouchers at various stores.  Some will transfer cash into your bank account, others into your Paypal account.   Some will have options where you can donate your money to charity.  


Other companies pay you for reading emails - these are only small amounts (usually 10 to 30 cents) - but it all adds up in the end.


Here's a look at at one of the emails in my in box:

This is my newest company.  This one is nearly $5 for a 30 minute survey.  That's pretty good money.  The hint with these is not to just sit down and do them all in one go.  I have them open on a different screen and between ebay listing, I swap between them and do a few questions and then go back.  Otherwise I would get bored.


Especially if it's an a$$-rippingly boring survey on credit cards or mobile phones (my two most hated ones).


Surveys can be anything from 5 minutes to 30 minutes on average.  Some can go as long as 3 hours (taken over a few days).


If you want to find some paid survey companies to join, just google the words "paid surveys" and see what comes up in your relevant area/country.


My hints for joining are:


1.   NEVER pay money to a website to get the names of paid survey companies.  These are rip-offs.  You can get this information just by searching the net.


2.   If you have children you will get into a lot of surveys.   I don't, so I get kicked out of a lot of surveys for that.  :-(


3.   I list myself as a small business owner.    I get a lot of high-paid surveys because of this.  Even though I'm only a sole-proprietor company, my opinion is still wanted on many business decisions I make.


I currently get inundated with surveys.  I browse through them and choose the shorter ones and do them as soon as they arrive.  Anything with an interesting subject or a decent reward goes next.  All surveys have an expiry date which could be from 3 days to 2 weeks from the time you receive it.


RADIO STATIONS


Your radio stations want your opinion.  They will put you in prize draws or give you rewards to rate their music.   Just find the websites of your radio stations that see what they have on there.


This is one I joined last year.  Every week or so I get to "Rate the Hits" - they play me 20 of the new/popular songs and I have to rate them.   I wade through the current crappy music and give them a rating.   With only 20 songs, it only takes about 2 minutes.   I have to rate the songs on a meter that goes between  *This Song Makes Me Want to Vomit*  (just kidding) - to *I love this Song!*    Easy as pie.


This is the email I received yesterday from one of my stations, FOX FM:

This station has different prizes on offer each time.


In the past year, I have won:


~ 5 x DVD Pack
~ 2 x CDs
~ a $50 gift voucher for Coles-Myer
~ a $200 gift voucher to a shopping centre.  This is nearly an hour from where I live.  It's still in my purse, and I will get there sometime when I can afford the petrol.


In this email I've just received, the prize is some concert tickets.   If I won those puppies, I would fling them onto Ebay ASAP.


So once I've vented my spleen on such ultra-crappy music as "Puff Daddy Mo-Ho Featuring Miss Pooh-J Versus Bunghole Gang - and rated them as *this song makes me want to eat my own head*, I feel virtuous.

 I'm having a hand in trying to save the world from crap - sorry, rap music and possibly winning something - this is a good definition of a win/win situation.


The other side of survey companys, are ones where you get the chance to try new products and give your opinion on them.  Either you go to the survey company's office - or they post it to you at home.  You try the product and then after a certain amount of time, they send you a survey and you complete it.   You get the product for free, and sometimes you get sent a gift voucher, or get allocated points as well.


The last product test I did was in February, and I got sent a huge bar of bath-soap.  I did the survey, and then they sent me a $10 gift card as well.


I have also tested at home :  canned soup, panty liners, face moisturising cream, body moisturising lotion, tissues, Fish Oil capsules, herbal tea bags, fly spray and household cleaner.     There are others that I can't remember right now.


That's a pretty good service.    If you haven't done Paid Surveys before, I suggest you give them a try.  I find them very worthwhile.  Let me know if you do to.   Mention me as the person who referred you.  *wink*


Oh, this is the other bunch of flowers pictures I wanted to post.

Bwahhhhaaaa,  I wonder where they stuck the flowers???


Hope it made you smile.   :-)