There has been a lot of discussion recently about paid surveys, whether you can make money from them or whether they are all just scams. The reality is that in order for big companies to tailor their products to the needs of consumers and for politicians to form policies that reflect public opinion, they need to find out what we think. In order to do this they pay survey companies a fee and in turn these companies pay their panel members a reward for completing surveys.

However, we should not get carried away here – we are not talking large sums of money for completing surveys. Most survey panels pay between $1 to $5 per survey with some paying in cash (often via Paypal) whilst others pay with shopping vouchers. Some surveys reward you with an entry into a prize draw. Occasionally you may be offered more, but these are usually directed at very specific groups of people.

So, how does it work? Well your starting point is to sign up with the survey panels. There are plenty to choose from, although some are better than others. My favorite panel is Lightspeed who send regular surveys, have a very low payment threshold and payout within 7 days. If you are looking to make a reasonable sum of money then you will need to sign with as many as possible. The amount of information you need to supply to survey panels varies enormously – many require you to fill in some personal information to make sure that you receive survey invitations that are appropriate to you and your lifestyle.

Once you have signed up you just need to wait for the survey invitations to arrive. Most surveys panels will send you an e-mail with a link to an available survey. However, some will require you to log into the site to check for available surveys. Don’t expect to be overwhelmed with surveys immediately – you will get some, but it takes two or three weeks for you to really get a decent number of invitations.

So, what can you expect from the surveys you receive? Most surveys start with some profiling questions to see if the survey is suitable for you. Don’t be surprised if you are screened out of many of the surveys you receive. This can be quite irritating at times, but there are good reasons for this – the surveys are often targeted towards a particular group of people. Once you are past this initial stage then you will need to complete the remainder of the survey which can be about a range of topics – for example companies may want to test out an idea for a new product. There are some products that I have completed surveys on several months ago that are just appearing on supermarket shelves now!

The type of questions you will be asked will vary – they are usually multiple choice, but sometimes they will want to write comments into the boxes provided. Some questions may ask somewhat strange questions like “if this product was a person, what sort of personality would it have?”.

Actually getting your hands on your money or vouchers takes a while as most survey panels require you to build up a certain amount in your account before they will pay out. Payment thresholds vary enormously.

So, yes you can make some extra money with paid surveys, but don’t expect it to replace your day job! If you see ads claiming that you can make hundreds of dollars completing surveys then you should be highly suspicious.

If you are interested in learning more about surveys and other ways to make money online then visit my blog, Extra Cash Challenge.