Surveys Discriminate Against Seniors

If you are older you aren’t wanted by survey companies.

When I write about taking online surveys for cash and prizes I am offering advice for everyone. Unfortunately, if you are a senior citizen little of it does you any good. That’s because online survey sites routinely discriminate against seniors.

While it is difficult to prove the case – after all you can’t get into the survey companies’ data bases to check things out scientifically – I’ve been doing surveys for a lot of years and there’s certainly a lot of anecdotal evidence of the fact that seniors are just not part of the demographic that survey sites want. Some may say that’s not discriminatory, but I’m sticking with my opinion. Even if it doesn’t meet some strict definition of discrimination, the survey sites exclusion of seniors is more evidence of how companies who hire survey companies to shill for them are willing to shove aside anyone or any group of people they think aren’t worth the effort necessary to promote their products to them.

Testing The Theory

Am I just spouting off about this? I don’t think so. In fact, I’ve conducted a test of my opinion to prove my point. Over the course of several months I’ve responded to surveys – they always ask your age and/or for your birth date – by indicating I’m over the age of 65. Yes, I didn’t tell the truth but in the interest of reporting I think you’ll forgive me this one time. In the vast majority of cases – approximately 75 percent of the time – that age indicator resulted in my being excluded from the survey. Oh, they didn’t say, “you are too old.” Rather they used phrases such as “the survey has just closed” or “we’ve received enough respondents who match your demographic.” I don’t think so.

So, you might ask – maybe the survey site’s response is accurate; maybe they did get enough responses or the survey did just close. How can I prove that it was because of my state age? Well, I took my experiment one step further. All of the survey sites frequently offer the very same survey over and over again. That’s because of one or two reasons. First, since most surveys are nothing more than product advertisements the surveys are offered again and again the same way in which you would see a television commercial many times – sometimes for years. Second, a survey may be given multiple times in order to obtain a large pool of respondents.

Because of this, I was able to reply to the same survey several times. In my subsequent responses to the question of age I responded that I was under the age of 65. So, I had the same surveys with two different ages to use as my baseline. Guess what? When I answered that I was younger than 65 I was able to proceed with the survey (not that I wasn’t at times later excluded for some other reason on some surveys). Two of the same surveys – with age the only apparent difference on whether I was allowed to proceed or not. Again, not exactly scientific – but pretty darn close.

So, what can be done about this clear anti-senior behavior by survey sites? Unfortunately, not much if anything. Yes, if you are a senior you can still take some surveys that don’t care about your age. But, you will be very limited and your rewards from survey taking will be limited. 

Is it fair, no. But, survey sites are in this for purely cold, hard business reasons. That’s just the way it is.

Opinion Outpost Makes Changes To Web Site

For online survey takers the latest news about Opinion Outpost - one of the best online survey sites - is they dramatically changed their web site, but not without some glitches.

The change, made in November 2013, is said by the company to make navigation easier and more compatible with various formats and devices, including mobile. Here's how the new site looks.

If you've been an Outpost fan you recognize how different the site looks. But, is it better? Well, not so far. In early goings there have been problems. For example, when I've clicked on the "Take A Survey" tab I am returned to the same page and asked the same question. Here's hoping that gets fixed real soon.

As for the rest of the site, while the design changes are significant I wouldn't call them necessary from a user viewpoint. The old design worked just fine for me. But, I'm assuming the back end of things got a significant makeover and that will be better for all concerned. But, we'll have to wait and see on that.

I've often touted Opinion Outpost as one of the best online survey sites. There are lots of surveys to take daily, payment is great and quick (via PayPal is the best), and there are no charges against your winnings when you cash in such as some other sites have done (calling them processing fees). For my monthly collection of winnings/rewards foronline surveys Opinion Outpost is usually at the top of the list.

If you are not a member you should be - irrespective of how their new design looks.

An Online Survey You Should Avoid

When it comes to taking online surveys – you know, the kind where you can win points toward prizes and/or cash – there are some worth taking time for and others that are a total waste of time.

Readers of my Triond articles on the subject of online survey taking, or who view my articles at my Survey Sheriff blog know that I’ve always warned against taking surveys that are about movies, television shows or the like. Why? The answer is simple – these surveys are notorious for having you do the work of taking the survey only to jip you out of any reward. I can’t recount the number of times I’ve taken these surveys (until I got wise and stopped taking them) and completed them only to be told I didn’t qualify – and this AFTER I’ve finished the survey. The surveys are usually quite long, which makes it even more frustrating.

One Site Hosts Most Problem Surveys

There’s one particular survey – it’s always the same – that will pop up over, and over, and over again. It’s typically hosted by Global Test Market (globaltestmarket.com), which is usually a good and reliable online survey site. But over the years it keeps hosting a movie survey that is a trap for the uninformed.

But, how do you know when the survey to be offered is going to be the one about movies and television. You can open the survey and when you find out what it is you can close your browser. Here’s another way – consider it a favor from me.

Whenever you see the image below, you can be assured it is a survey about movies and/or television.

This same browser page has been used for years and years and it has never been used for anything other than a movie/television survey as far as I can recall.

You can even save the image to your desktop to remind yourself to cancel out of the survey whenever you see it.

It may not be a big deal, or maybe you’ll be fine taking your chances that one day this type of survey will pay off. But, if you don’t want to waste your time take my advice. When you see the image above, move on. There are lots of other surveys out there, so why waste your time on this one?

Online Surveys are Squeezing in More Questions Without Paying You

Online surveys of late seem to be squeezing the last ounce of effort out of their members. By this I mean that I’ve noticed that some survey companies are asking questions even after you have completed a survey (either successfully or not).

One of the survey companies I have noticed this from is Opinion Outpost, which I consider to be one of the better online survey companies. It’s kind of sad to see because what it means is that the survey company is asking you additional questions with no intention of rewarding you for your effort.

How It Works

Here’s how it works. Say you complete a survey, or you’ve been disqualified, or the quota for this particular survey has been filled (at least that’s what they tell you). At this point you’d expect that you would be returned to the main page to either take another survey or conclude you survey taking for the moment. But, instead of re-directing you, the survey site says something like “we have just a few more questions for you.” That language, or something like it, is the tip off. What it means is that you will be asked a few more unrelated questions for which you’ll receive nothing.

This behavior is particularly evident when you’ve begun a survey and you know you’ll probably be screened out because the survey is about nothing you are interested in. For example, you are presented with a survey about alcohol consumption. You don’t drink so you know you’ll shortly be screened out of the survey. But, they don’t tell you that. Instead you’ll be directed to the “just a few more questions” page where you’ll be asked some non-alcohol related questions. After answering them guess what? You are told ‘sorry, you didn’t qualify for this survey,’ or ‘the quota has been filled.’

All About The Bottom Line

There’s not much you can do about this new behavior, other than close the survey when you are able to determine you won’t qualify anyway. What’s peculiar about this new approach is that squeezing survey takers and not rewarding them doesn’t make survey takers happier or less likely to catch on to this subterfuge. So, why bother? The answer is, the survey companies are in a business environment and every penny they can squeeze out of you – not an actually penny, but data they didn’t have to pay you for – helps their bottom line. That’s just the way it is.

The Survey Sheriff Says Thumbs Down to Reward TV

This new survey instrument is a no go for me

A new type of survey has been showing up recently, mostly by way of Opinion Outpost, and after trying it out my grade is a resounding “F.”

It’s called Reward TV and when it pops up on the screen it looks quite different from most other online surveys. Here’s a screen shot of what it looks like.

At first I’d thought I had been transferred to an advertising site because it’s somewhat difficult to figure out that it is indeed a survey. But, after closer examination it turns out this is a shill for advertisers. Sure, most online surveys are advertising and marketing affiliated. But, Reward TV, is heavily so.

How It Works

Here’s how it works. When you see the first screen it asks you what television shows you watched last night. Be very careful here. If you click on several shows you’ll be in survey hell, having to answer long, long questions about the shows you picked (it’s long enough just picking one show)  – AND the commercials that aired during the shows. This might be fun in a parlor game at home, but online it gets to be quite boring and tedious. And you can’t just pick randomly because you’ll have to answer specific questions about each of the shows and the ads. While it’s possible that you can answer randomly and still get compensated I haven’t tried that approach – I suspect there’ll be a way to monitor that kind of activity.

What annoys me most about Reward TV is that it is so, so long and you aren’t getting rewarded any more than you would for other shorter surveys. Also, the design and layout of the survey is sure to strain your eyes after a while.

While I found it very annoying and won’t be venturing into any more Reward TV surveys, you might find it interesting to challenge your knowledge about your favorite television show. It’s a matter of personal taste.

But, as I’ve always preached – taking online surveys to gain prizes and cash requires you to spend as little time as possible on surveys. In other words, zip through as fast as you can. With Reward TV that’s difficult to do – and that’s exactly why they’ve designed it as they have. For me, that’s a no go.

You Can't Always Believe Those Survey Hints

If you take surveys you are familiar with the pre-survey rituals in which you are screened and/or told about what the upcoming survey is all about. But, you can trust what the survey companies tell you? Sometimes, you can't.
Take for example, Toluna surveys. Toluna, as I've often said is one of the better online survey outfits. Lots of surveys to take every day and you can with some effort rack up the points and turn them in for cash. Each of Toluna's surveys come with a statement prior to each survey telling you how long it will take, how many points you'll earn and what the survey is all about. That way you can decide if you want to take it or not.
But, take a look at the following screen shot that I took from a recent Toluna survey offer I received.

You'll notice that the subject matter states it's about movies/films. It's a topic I usually avoid because movie/film surveys are notoriously bad for letting you complete the survey - or should I say they'll let you complete the survey but then they'll tell you you're not eligible or the quota has already been filled. This is true not only for Toluna but other online surveys as well.
But, guess what - in this case the survey turned out to have nothing to do with movies or films. It was a survey about financial products and banks. I took the survey and completed it and got points. I checked out a couple of other Toluna surveys and the same thing happened - the survey subject listed had nothing to do with the actual survey.
I don't know if this is flaw in Toluna's survey mechanism or if it's something Toluna is doing to keep us on our toes (or fool us in some way). I'm not sure, but the lesson here is click on the "start survey" and see what comes up. If it's about movies I'll close my browser window and move on. If not, I'll take the survey.

Opinion Outpost Recruiting Survey Takers

New option gives current members a boost when they refer others

Opinion Outpost, as I’ve written before, is one of the best online survey taking companies. Not only do they regularly have lots of surveys to take, but they also pay fast and it’s easy to accumulate cash on a regular basis.

Now Opinion Outpost has taken matters a step further by adding bonuses for those of its members who refer others to their site. This is a referral option that has a lot of benefits for both old and new members. Not only does it make it easy for members to add a few bucks to their account (nothing wrong with that), but it gives a boost to new members who can be assured they were referred by someone they know.

Opinion Outpost Outperforms

Opinion Outpost has consistently outperformed any other survey site I’ve used, and I’ve been doing this type of survey work for many years. If you are serious about doing online surveys, Opinion Outpost is a must for you. Even if you are a novice or don’t have a lot of time to be involved in online surveys you should choose Opinion Outpost if no other.

Here’s why – actually there are several reasons. It is rare when Opinion Outpost doesn’t offer you several surveys per day to take. That’s a great way to keep members interested (as opposed to some survey sites you don’t hear from for several days or weeks). Second, earnings from Opinion Outpost can be converted into a great number of gifts or cash, and cash is payable via PayPal so it is instantaneous (that’s better than some sites that either offer you a check by mail which can take weeks). Also, whereas some sites have you wait until you have accumulated a large amount of cash points (e.g. $50 or more), Opinion Outpost allows you to cash in points for much smaller amounts.

So, you should sign up for Opinion Outpost. It’s a great way to earn money and do so easily. If you’re interested, here’s the link to do so: Opinion Outpost

Is it worth complaining?

When you get rejected for a survey, or are denied rewards or points even though you completed the survey (and spent a long time doing so?) do you use the "contact us" feature to complain?

If you have you know the chances of your getting any satisfaction is slim or none. That's been my experience as well. And as a result, my motto is don't bother.

Online surveys are not meant to be fair. They are primarily marketing/advertising vehicles (for example the surveys that have you watch commercials you've already seen on television). Your just a widget for for getting products more exposure. It's your eyeballs they want and that's about it.

Unfortunately, the survey sites themselves are pretty much just shills for the advertiser/marketer. Although the survey sites will be quick to fault you for not paying attention, or booting you out if you appear not to be watching carefully or taking the proper amount of time to take a survey they are very much lacking in any similar care when it comes to the underhanded antics of their clients.

Take for instance the circumstance where you've completed a survey. You've even gotten a "thank you for completing the survey" message at the end of your efforts. Then, when you are returned to the survey site you are informed that "we have enough respondents for this survey, thank you." You've taken lots of time only to go unrewarded. Justifiably angered, you contact the survey company to complain. Invariable you get an automated reply (sometimes a reply from a person) that says, basically, tough luck. Oh, it'll be couched in less direct terms, but the meaning is the same.

Don't Expect Changes

What has been most frustrating to me is that, technologically speaking, it would be very easy for the survey companies to adjust matters so that if you are in the midst of taking a survey you are locked in until you complete it. In other words, no more than the actual number of survey respondents are allowed to even take the survey. This way, it's not a race for who finishes first, but a more fair system that says if you start the survey and complete it we will give you the promised rewards. At the very least, if the total number of surveys are taken, then those who are in the middle of completing it should be notified so they don't waste any more time.

Is this about to happen? Not a chance. While a survey site like Mechanical Turk makes a sincere effort to let you know if a survey has reached its quota, and lock you in if you accept a survey so you can finish it and are sure to be rewarded, the commercial survey sites don't do so, and are not inclined to in the future.

So, should you bother complaining? Don't bother. Being unjustifiably aced out of rewards you've earned are just part of online survey taking. Just grin and bear it.

Those Annoying Online Survey Screeners

Some just aren’t worth spending time on

For online survey takers, one of the most annoying features is the screening process. That’s the seemingly endless and repetitive questions you are asked in order to determine if you are eligible – or a better word is desirable – to take a survey.

Some screeners are quick and easy, others are long, boring and annoying. Some even screen you and then forward you to the actual survey where you’ll be asked the same screening questions all over again. It’s an unfortunate fact of life if you are a survey addict that screeners are something you just have to put up with. Or are they?

Some Screeners You Can Just Skip

I’ve noticed – and this is informal, so your experience might be different – that some screeners are recognizable in terms of taking you right out of a survey. That is, when you see a particular screening question(s), you are more likely at that point to be excluded from continuing to the actual survey than to be put through to the actual point/money-earning survey.

Take, for example, the survey site (actually it’s more likely a screening service before you are passed along to other, real survey site surveys) is opinionshere.com. If you ever try to enter that web address in a browser it will result in your being told there is no such site or you’ll get a “web error” message. That’s why I’m pretty sure the site is just a screening service. Every time I see an Opinions Here survey message I know I’m in for a lengthy screening process. I can almost fill in the screening questions in my sleep they are so familiar.

The trouble with Opinions Here screeners is that they actually do at times eventually lead to a legitimate survey for you to take. So, you pretty much grin and bear it.

The Point Of No Return

But, on occasion an Opinions Here screener (and sometimes with other survey sites that use the same method) will take you to a page that I call the point of no return. That means more often than not I know that if this screening page pops up on my screen it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be passed through to a survey.

Now, my opinion is more subjective than research-based fact. But, I’ve been doing surveys for a long time and I have a really good feeling about this.

Here’s one example of a question page that often appears as part of the screening process.

 

I’ve come to believe – again it’s just my experience talking here – that this page is one that is more likely than not to lead you to be excluded from the actual survey. Sure, if you click on any one of the alcohol-related buttons it may pull you to a survey on that subject. But, absent that, it’s a better chance that you’ll be bumped out of the real survey, or the chance to take a real survey..

This is no big deal, I suppose. But, if you’re serious about taking surveys you want to maximize your time. You don’t want to spend any more time than you have to on screeners that give you little chance to proceed to an actual survey. So, for me, when I see a screener such as the one above, I’m inclined to close my browser and go on to another site that is more likely to give me an actual survey to take.

I’d be interested in knowing your thoughts on screeners and if you also skip some that are longer than you like, or seem to always tell you - after filling it all out - that you aren’t eligible to take the survey.

Toluna Problems

Toluna, one of the better online survey sites – at least in terms of the number of surveys you can complete (daily) – has a problem you might have noticed.

Recently (over the past two or three months – 2013), whenever a survey with the title “consumer topics” is offered clicking on it will take you to a blank page. There’s nothing there, the page doesn’t forward, and there is no link to anywhere – it is absolutely blank.

When this first happened I thought it was just a fluke, a bad link or something. But, then it continued to happen. It got to the point where I contacted Toluna ands asked about it. Not surprisingly they were of little help (no offense, Toluna, online help from any online survey site is usually pathetic). Their response was to try another browser. I doubted that would make a difference and sure enough, it didn’t.

The ‘consumer topics’ survey request continues to arrive in my inbox every day, sometimes multiple times a day. The solution? I just delete it without opening the email. As I’ve preached, if you are a serious survey taker you are going to the survey sites you belong to every day and you complete the list of surveys shown there. That will get you more surveys than waiting for them to arrive in your email.

As for Toluna’s consumer topics, this consumer is having none of that.

Focusline Online Surveys: A Cautionary Tale

Avoid encounters that could lead to your being bumped off survey site

As an avid online survey taker I am very aware of the pitfalls that sometimes open up – often unexpectedly (and unjustifiably) – when you take online surveys. Here’s a cautionary tale that occurred to me recently.

Focusline is one of the better online survey sites. It offers a plethora of surveys to take almost every day and you can accumulate rewards (which you can transfer to cash or get prizes) fairly quickly. I’ve highly recommended it in the past and continue to do so.

However, like other survey sites, Focusline can get quite sneaky. Recently, I’d accumulated enough reward points, $50, to take a cash payout. But, when I proceeded to the reward site I was unable to complete my cash out transaction. Repeated emails to the company proved fruitless. I was getting pretty upset about this when I finally received a response that said my account had been suspended because I had been tagged for taking surveys to rapidly.

Speed Kills

Now, being dinged for speeding through surveys is not a new experience. I’ve often preached that moving rapidly through surveys is the only way you’ll every make a decent amount of money doing online surveys – although never enough to make it anywhere near your sole source of income. Accordingly, I’m fairly careful about this and I’ve taken several precautions – such as opening two windows simultaneously and doing surveys from two sites at the same time – something you should do as well.

I’m pretty sure my speeding through surveys was not something I’d been doing on Focusline, but whether I had or not is not the issue as far as I’m concerned.

Survey companies, I’ve found, do a number of things that are annoying and border on unfair (e.g. not rewarding you for surveys you complete, taking a percentage out of your rewards for their “expenses” and more). But, in this case what was particularly annoying is that 1) there was no warning that there was a problem, 2) the money I was legitimately due was taken, and 3) the confiscation and the closing of my account only came when I was near cashing out my accumulated rewards (if I was truly speeding along, why no cut-off when I had only a few cents or dollars accumulated instead of being at my cash out threshold?).

Be Cautious, But Fast

So, the lesson here is to be cautious. Fortunately, in pleading my case I was reinstated. Does that mean I’m going to slow down or do anything differently? Not a chance. I’m not wedded to any one survey site and there are plenty out there that I could spend my time on and get rewarded for. Well, perhaps I’ll take a half second longer, but that’s the limit of the changes I’ll make.

The online survey businesses would love to hold your attention for long periods of time in order to market their wares to you. If you’ve got oodles of time on your hand, great. But, if you value your time and you realize that the rewards are meager anyway, I’d say follow my advice and proceed with all due haste through your survey experiences. I’ve got other tips on survey taking and you can read more at http://surveysheriff.blogspot.com/.

NiceQuest: A Foreign-Based Survey Site

Online survey sites can emanate from anywhere in the world. Here’s one

You may be an online survey aficionado, like me, and you don’t often know – let alone care – where the survey originates. But, just for the record, survey sites can be based in almost any country in the world. And while it is not too common for you to receive a survey invitation from a site that is based in another country with a different language than your own – occasionally it does happen.

Take for example a survey I recently received from a company called Nicequest (nicequest.com). The survey itself was much like any other. But, when I followed the survey link to find out more about the company that hosted the survey I found myself on a website that was in Spanish. Fortunately, I used the translation option using Google Translate and the full site appeared in English.

Foreign Based Survey Company

Once I had the site translated I was able to see that the company specializes in surveys in Latin America, Spain and Portugal (it seems to have offices in all three locations). So, why did the survey land in my inbox? I’m not sure if it was in error or intentional. Either way I earned points for completing the survey (which I received via a survey portal – I think it was Toluna), so I didn’t really care where it originated.

Nicequest seems to host other survey panels (Panelnetquest and Survey Manager are two listed on the site). The company has been around since 2001.

So, is taking a foreign-based survey a problem? Probably not since many surveys you’ll receive from any number of survey portals originate in foreign countries and/or may be from survey companies that are outside your particular geographic location.

Of course, most surveys are data collection entities and taking surveys inherently means someone is trying to collect information about you. If that’s a problem for you then you probably should not be taking online surveys at all. And, as I’ve written before, you should take precautions (don’t reveal to much information – e.g. if a site asks for your Social Security Number, that’s a big no-no.). Likewise I take other precautions (e.g. a birth date may not be exact, etc.) and so should you.

Brainjuicer: A Quirky Online Survey, Research Company

This survey/marketing company is strange and they like it that way

If you participate in online surveys, every once in a while you’ll find a survey conducted by something called Brainjuicer. I have and I can’t say it’s been very enjoyable (long surveys, and other requirements that are a turn off for me), but that’s just me. You may find their survey offers fun and interesting. But what, or who, is Brainjuicer?

Like most survey generating companies, Brainjuicer is a market research organization. It was founded in the United Kingdom in 1999 by its head honcho (or Chief Juicer as he likes to call himself) John Kearon. It boasts a client list that includes the likes of Nestle, Kraft and Nike.

Like many marketing agencies Brainjuicer touts itself as “translating a generation of breakthroughs in psychology, behavioral economics and social sciences.” What marketing agency doesn’t wrap itself in some kind of ‘special’ ability to seek out data from the masses it surveys? It’s pretty much the same, no matter how they phrase it.

Quirky Company

The quirkiness of Brainjuicer is evident when you go to its website at brainjuicer.com/html/stream/home. It makes you feel like you have entered the lair of a mad scientist. It’s so quirky (Flash-based) that the company offers you the preference of going to its alternate site which is a little less, er , energetic, shall we say? Both sites offer the same information.

I don’t see Brainjuicer surveys very often, but when I do I tend to pass on them. They usually mandate that I close other open applications or do something else to accommodate taking their surveys, something I find annoying. Their surveys are usually quite long and I don’t think the points/rewards offered are worth the time it takes to do the surveys. But, that’s the case with a number of survey sites. But, Brainjuicer’s quirkiness sometimes comes through in the way their surveys frame questions. There’s also an intangible element that I can’t quite put my finger on, but the entire experience of taking their surveys turns me off. I just don’t feel like taking the time to take their surveys.

You may feel differently, and that’s ok. But I think the purpose of online surveys is to make it a simple and enjoyable experience for the survey taker and Brainjuicer just doesn’t do that very well, in my view. But, I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

Myopinionnow is Not an Online Survey Site Worth Bothering with

If you are a devotee of online surveys here’s a review of a site you might want to skip

For those who are fans of online survey sites and just love doing surveys irrespective of the rewards, then any online survey site is fun. But, for the rest of us – which I suspect is most people – there are rewards to be had and the more the better.

Unfortunately MyOpinionNow.com is not a survey site that’s going to earn you much of anything anytime soon.

Based in New Jersey, MON boasts that it “is as straightforward as it sounds: Give your opinions in fun online surveys and earn cash online. There's nothing to lose.” Sadly, there’s not much to gain either. In more than a year of membership I doubt that I’ve received more than a half dozen surveys to take. What’s worse the points I’ve earned are so meager as to be meaningless.

Points Are Very Hard To Earn

Even more disturbing about MON is that even if I had received two or three times the number of surveys and completed them successfully, the accumulation of points wouldn’t have resulted in anything more than the most meager of rewards.

MON’s “Reward Points Program” earnings depend on the length of the survey. So, it won’t matter if you have completed dozens of surveys, the rewards could be infinitesimal if they aren’t long enough and there’s no explanation of what length means. If I take a two hour survey will I earn more? How much more? There’s no way to know. And while points “are redeemable for cash,” you have to accumulate 20,000 points to be able to cash out. This is in spite of MON’s claim that “unlike many other survey websites, which force you to choose from unappealing merchandise prizes,” MON offers something better. Hardly. And what does 20,000 points get you? A meager $20. Levels increase by 20,000 and the payment goes up accordingly. But, in more than a year of diligently completing all the surveys offered, I’ve yet to get farther than 2500 points.

MON also offers bonuses for referring friends to their program. If you value your friendship I’d suggest you not even think about referring a friend. You’re worst enemy? Maybe.

As far as I’m concerned MyOpinionNow deserves a letter grade of F-.

Surveytouch Survey Site is New Entry to Online Survey Community

Site is much like others in the business, but its quality rates it a “D.”

For those who are engaged in taking online surveys, there’s a new opportunity that’s recently entered the jammed field.

The name of the new online survey site is SurveyTouch (surveytouch.com). However, the company that is promoting the survey panel is not new. Cint (cint.com) is a privately owned software company based in Stockholm, Sweden with has offices in Europe, Asia and North America. You’ve probably seen “cint” in other online surveys you’ve received (they send out surveys to many other survey sites – a common practice among marketing/data collection companies). The roots of the company dates back to 2005 and now boasts more than 10 million panelists in more than 50 countries.

I didn’t so much find SurveyTouch as much as it found me. I got an email invitation to join the panel, which means they probably got my contact information through another panel I belong too (and you thought your information was secure and private?). I’ve been using it for a few weeks and so far I’m not impressed.

I Grade It A “D”

SurveyTouch works pretty much like any other panel. You take surveys, you get paid a few cents or as much as a few dollars, and you can cash in once you get to a certain amount of money. However, thus far I’ve not been overwhelmed by the number of surveys I’ve been invited to take and successfully completing them is a high hurdle indeed.

I’ve rated the site a “D” because of the above reasons, but also because it doesn’t seem to function particularly well. Trying to navigate around the site to find information is challenging to say the least. Either the company isn’t monitoring its website or its still in the early phases of getting the bugs out. Either way, I’d say avoid the site for now, unless you have nothing else to do with your life – something us online survey takers couldn’t possibly identify with, right?

A Review of Hall & Partners Online Surveys

For those of you who have been regular readers of this blog about online survey taking,  you might remember that I have ranted about certain survey companies that seem to do nothing more than take up your time and fail often to pay the meager sum you believe you’ve earned from taking their surveys. Worse, they often have you spend considerable time taking the survey only to be informed near the end of the survey that you either don’t qualify or the quota has been filled.

One of the worst perpetrators of this kind of shoddy business practice is a company called Hall & Partners. I won’t take their surveys and I urge others to avoid them as well. Perhaps eventually they’ll get the message and clean up their act.

H&P is the brainchild of Mike Hall, an advertising executive for a couple of decades. Today the company is international in scope with offices in Chicago, Seattle, Australia, South Africa, London, New York and Singapore.

Sneaky Methods

The company’s work revolves around brand management and its bottom line is trying to get people – like you and I – to like the brands that pay them to promote what they are, what they sell and what they offer. As such they are not much different than any other online survey/research company. Why they resort to such underhanded methods to get consumers to like their clients’ products is a mystery. They’re certainly not getting me to feel any endearing qualities for their clients when they resort to very, very long surveys and then do the old “quota reached” or “do not qualify” shenanigans. I wonder if their clients would be so enamored of using H&P’s services if they knew how consumers felt about these tactics?

H&P’s surveys can be found on any survey site you may be a member of. They have a distinctive look to them, usually some shade of green with the H&P logo prominently displayed, and a format that tells you immediately that it comes from H&P. You’ll know it when you see it. For me, whenever I see their distinctive surveys it I have a Pavlovian reaction. I know immediately that there is a high probability that the survey will end in my being mad, frustrated or both. So, I immediately close the survey and move on to another.

It’s hard enough to make a few bucks doing online surveys; you don’t need the antics of H&P to make it an even more unpleasant experience. My advice is to avoid them.

Changes To Global Test Market, Toluna

Global Test Market 

Global Test Market (GTM), a fairly good survey site, has announced some changes starting in June 2013.

While the changes primarily have to do with a wider array of prizes and rewards the fine print is somewhat disturbing. While the GTM rewards ‘catalogue’ has been expanded to include more merchants (e.g. Macy’s, Applebee’s, CVS pharmacy and more) and donation options (e.g. UNICEF, Red Cross), getting rewarded isn’t as simple a proposition as one would hope.

You can get electronic vouchers for Amazon credit, or get cash rewards via PayPal, as well as physical products from some of the merchants. You can even get a paper check for your cash rewards. But, getting an item might cost you more. While the cash value of the points you earn for doing surveys stays the same (e.g. 1,000 points gets you $50), other items now will include what GTM calls “delivery and management fees.” That’s a sneaky sort of way of telling you a reward point will cost you more because they’ll deduct these mysterious fees from the total.

The details of the new reward system are worth checking out, although you won’t be able to do much about it. Survey sites make the rules and you have to live with it.

Toluna

For many years Toluna has had an off/on relationship with the electronic payment service PayPal. Apparently the relationship is back on. Up to now cash payments have been by paper check only – a cumbersome and time consuming task. Now with PayPal back in the fold you can get payments, but you’ll have to wait a week to have your PayPal payment credited. There’s no reason why it would take even that long, but it’s better than waiting for snail mail

But, you can still get a paper check mailed to you if that’s your preference (it typically takes three to four weeks). However, it will cost you more. Whereas PayPal payments get you a $20 credit when you reach the 60,000 point threshold, a paper check will earn you $25 but only when you’ve reached the 75,000 point mark. I haven’t done the math but since I have both options I’ll go with what’s faster.

While I’m talking about Toluna changes, the site has also announced an update for it’s mobile application, which includes what Toluna calls a “Neighborhood” feature (for iPhones) that lets you exchange the Tango card for gifts to your local businesses such as restaurants, spas, etc. You can check out all the details at the Toluna site.

The Pain of Repeat Surveys

Survey firms are interested in your opinion. Sometimes they are interested over and over and over again - to the point where you wish you had never heard of doing surveys.

One such survey, which is frequently posted by Global Test Market but is also posted on many survey sites, has to do with what movies you've gone to see in theaters. You'll recognize the survey when the first page has in large letters the word "integrity' showing urging you to conduct yourself with honor and honesty when taking the survey. Of course, that is a one way street because if you start the survey the chances are that no matter how much of it you complete - or even complete all of it - you'll never get points for doing so.

Of course you can always close out the window as soon as you see such a survey appear, as I've started to do, but you have to wonder why any survey company would keep posting these surveys. Yes, they are paid to do so but is it worth it to risk the wrath of survey takers to have their time wasted? Moreover, of what value is it to post a survey that knowledgeable survey takers refuse to take (as you should do dear reader)?

Perhaps they need a stronger reminder that survey takers are not to be trifled with so easily (not that we aren't already; after all we're taking surveys that reward us with a few cents at best). I'm calling on all survey takers to boycott these bogus movie surveys. Just refuse to take them. If they pop up on your screen just close the window and reload a new window. This may have no effect at all, but perhaps when the data stops flowing in to them they'll realize that perhaps this tactic isn't working so well.
Give it a shot  - it can't hurt. After all, you're not going to be earning anything from these phony movie surveys anyway.

That Cash Out Amount Got Skinnier - Fees Now Applied

It's really not fair, nor right, but iPoll (formerly Survey Head) is now charging you to cash in.

I recently cashed out rewards totaling $35, but when I received confirmation of my pay pal payment that $35 had shrunk. That's because iPoll now charges a 3 percent transaction fee when you cash out. Why? I have no idea and it really doesn't matter what concocted reason the company gives - the bottom line is that it isn't fair nor right. It's not like you are making a lot of money by doing these surveys, right? Plus, it's not like the survey company, which also offers the Focusline survey site, isn't making tons of money, right? But, they've decided they need to ding you for the measly amounts you earn after months of tirelessly doing their surveys.

I never promised you'd get rich doing online surveys - but now your path to what little wealth you can accumulate got a little bit longer.

Those Annoying Screeners

If you are going to do online surveys you are going to have to put up with screening questions designed to see if you match a particular survey or not.
They are REALLY annoying. But of late a new method of screening has appeared that makes the process even more annoying. I'm talking about online screeners that ask you the same questions over and over and over again. You come to recognize these surveys the minute they appear on your computer screen. You'd like to disregard them, but you can't because you can't tell if you will be screened out or not.
What's even more annoying is that you'll often find yourself going through the long screening process, answering the same questions in the same way as you always do, only to be screened out. You're left wondering how come answering the same questions previously gave you entry to a survey and this time you are bounced out? I wish I could give you an answer to this phenomenon but I can't. If any of you can figure it out I'd appreciate hearing from you.
That doesn't mean you can't do anything, however. There are some survey hosts that I studiously avoid. For example, any survey offered by Hall & Associates I avoid like the plague. There has rarely been an instance where that company has acted in a way that benefits survey takers. Their surveys are invariably long, boring, and all too often after spending a good deal of time on the survey you are told you don't qualify.
But, the long, long screeners are being used more and more frequently. Even stalwart Toluna - one of the best survey sites - has started using them.
For now, I guess we have to put up with it. But, it certainly isn't fun.

Surveyhead Changes to iPoll

They’ve been telling members for several months that a change would be coming and now it has happened. Surveyhead is now iPoll.

It doesn’t appear as though much has changed with the new iPoll survey site, although I said several weeks ago I was leery of any changes because in my experience such changes rarely go well – for survey takers, that is. While the web site looks different, it operates pretty much the same. Oh, there have been and continue to be a few glitches – such as the site opening a non-functional window on top of itself in which the surveys are purportedly supposed to open but never do – but hopefully those things will get straightened out.

Surveyhead and Focusline have been among the most reliable of survey sites, regularly offering surveys and making it easy to accumulate rewards. Both sites are owned and operated by the same company, gozing, and it was never quite clear why they operated two sites that were the same and usually offered the exact same surveys. I don’t know if the transfer of Surveyhead to iPoll is the first step in folding Focusline into iPoll as well, but we’ll know soon enough.

Valued Opinions Makes It Harder To Earn Rewards

Taking online surveys is not going to make you rich. But, from time to time the companies that sponsor online surveys make it even harder to earn a few measly rewards.

Valued Opinions, a survey site owned and operated by Researchnow.com, has just announced it is upping the level at which you are able to cash out your winnings. In an email announcement to members, Valued Opinion says its cost for Amazon.com vouchers (the primary method you are able to earn rewards) has gone up and therefore it is increasing the cash out minimum from $20 to $22.

How valid is this? Valued Opinions says it’s because the cost of purchasing Amazon gift cards has gone up. Don’t believe it. The cost of $1 in Amazon gifts still is … well, $1. Valued Opinions isn’t charged any more for buying gift cards than you or I would be. If they are, they’re doing it all wrong. This is just another way in which survey companies make more money by paying their members less. But, that’s nothing new.

Other Sites Boost Their Minimum Payout Level

The bigger issue here is that the rewards system for doing online surveys has always been very meager. Valued Opinions has been fairly miserly in their rewards system from the get go. You won’t get many invitations to their surveys and when you do the odds for not being able to complete the survey is very high. Plus, the rewards for even the surveys you complete are small and very, very slow to accumulate. It’s usually several months of diligently working on their surveys that I’m able to even get close to their cash out limit.

Sadly, Valued Opinions is not the first, nor the last online site to boost their minimum payments. As I always say, if you’re doing online surveys don’t think for a minute you’re going to be making a lot of money. Cumulatively, if you stick to the major online sites like Mechanical Turk, Toluna, Opinion Outpost, Surveyhead, and the like you can pull down several hundred a month – but you’ll have to devote several hours a day to the task in order to reach this level.

Luth Research - AKA SurveySavvy

You may not have heard of Luth Research before, but if you are a serious online survey taker you’ve heard of their products.

Luth Research is based in San Diego, California and if I mention SurveySavvy you’re probably familiar with one of Luth’s better-known products. Not that SurveySavvy is a great online survey site (it doesn’t offer a whole lot of surveys, their pay rates are low, and it takes quite a while to earn enough to cash out), but there are many sites operated by companies like Luth that do much the same thing in order to get your opinions and to be able to market/advertise products to you.

Luth was founded in 1977 and it launched SurveySavvy in 1999. It’s founder and president is Roseanne Luth. SurveySavvy now boasts more than 3 million members.

Marketing, Data Collection and More

But SurveySavvy is not the only thing Luth does, not by a long shot. They are a full service data collection company. They operate a massive call center, conduct focus groups and one-on-one interviews and other communication activities designed to glean as much information as possible out of you for their clients. That’s just so their clients can find better (and often more intrusive) ways to contact you and urge you to buy their products or use their service.

The fact that Luth is a data collection company and intent on getting information about you from you shouldn’t be to alarming. The reason you do online surveys and agree to get paid a pittance for it is because you are willing (you know this, right) to let companies like Luth get a peak into your life and get enough information about you to let their clients know you may be a potential customer. That’s the bargain you make and Luth is just one of the companies that facilitate that process.

Hotspex gets A D-

There are a number of survey review sites like Survey Sheriff and if you read or glance at them from time to time you'll get opinions of what survey sites are good and which are not so good.
One of the survey sites often touted as being really, really good is Hotspex (www.myhotspex.com). Naturally I thought with reviews being so positive I should sign up and see why. Well, I have to tell you Hotspex is not so hot at all. Moreover, I cannot understand why anyone would rate them highly, or use Hotspex at all.
When I signed up it was fairly easy and not much different from any other site. But, after months and months of being a member I've yet to achieve anywhere near to an amount of Hotspex "bux" (their point system) to cash in for anything. In fact, it would take almost 3,000 bux to earn enough to get $25 in PayPal cash or some kind of gift. So far I've earned 100 bux, so you can see that it'll be a cold day in you-know-where before I get a cent from Hotspex.
Why is this? The answer is simple - there are never any surveys offered by Hotspex. Strange as this may seem for a survey site, I can't remember the last time I received an invitation to a survey and the last times I did all I've gotten for my trouble is the aforementioned 100 bux.
As I mentioned I don't understand why anyone would rate Hotspex highly, but I don't and I suggest you not waste your time with it. Stick to the proven money makers - sites like Opinion Outpost, Toluna, and a couple of others I've written about on this blog. Survey sites, like Hotspex, that don't offer surveys are definitely not on my top 10 list and they shouldn't be on yours.

Age Discrimination and Surveys

Do survey sites discriminate against older folks?
I'm not claiming they do, but I do have a suspicion. While most surveys ask you what category of age you fall into, they claim it is just for the purpose of separating their findings into certain demographic groups and that it's just for research purposes.
That may be true. However, recently I suggested to a friend of mine that he might like to join a survey group since it involved cars, which I knew he would like since he's a big car enthusiast. The only difference between he and I was that he was past a certain age and I was under that age. The survey site was even encouraging new members to join who were interested in cars. While my application to join the survey group was accepted, his was not.
Further, I tested a survey - one that is offered by many sites; it's actually the same survey that is offered over and over again. In one of the surveys I put down an age that was over 65 just to see what would happen. It was rejected. When the same survey came around a few days later, I put my actual age and it was accepted. I did this two more times just to make sure it was not a fluke. Sure enough, the older age was the one that always got rejected.
There's not a problem with survey sites choosing to exclude people of a certain age, or some other demographic. In most case they are marketing a product or service that is more likely to find an audience with a certain, usually younger, age group. But, if you are of a certain age you might find yourself with fewer surveys being offered to you.

Changes coming to Surveyhead

One of the most popular and well paying survey sites, Surveyhead, is announcing that it is converting to something called iPoll. The message you receive when you go to the Surveyhead sites is as follows: "A few months ago Surveyhead launched the iPoll mobile app. Launching a product we put so much care and effort into was a special time for us and the abundance of positive feedback from the community has been truly moving. For us, this reinforces the success of iPoll and sets a clear path for the future. Over the next few weeks we will be rebranding Surveyhead to iPoll and saying goodbye to the Surveyhead brand."
The popup window gives you to options: "Tell Me More" or "Remind Me Later." Having experienced these kinds of switchovers before - sometimes you get switched to something terrible (For example, what Toluna tried to do recently) - I'm not going to do anything until more information is available. For now, clicking on Remind Me Later takes me to the existing Surveyhead site where I can take the surveys as usual.
I'm advising a little caution here until more details are published and you can determine what to do having the benefit of more complete disclosure. After all, why do anything unless you have to? As the old saying does - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Hotspex Not So Hot

There are several websites that review survey sites and several have touted Hotspex (hotspex.com) as one of the best in terms of rewards, number of surveys, etc.
Some time ago I joined Hotspex hoping that it would provide a meaningful, enjoyable and lucrative survey taking experience. Sadly, that's not the case.
I can probably count the fingers on one hand and come up with a higher number than the number of surveys Hotspex has invited to me to take. Indeed, it has taken me a lot longer to fill out the Hotspex profiles than it has taken to fill out all the surveys that Hotspex has sent me.
Hotspex pays out in what they call "BUX," but it's much the same as every other site. You earn "BUX" which you can transfer into cash. Unfortunately, it'll take you a month of Sundays before you'll ever earn enough to cash in.
All of this should come as no great surprise. Hotspex is actually - like many other survey sites - the marketing arm of a commercial research site. However, unlike other such companies that actually offer surveys to take, Hotspex does not.
So, I'll keep it around in the off chance that I'll eventually earn a buck or two before I'm too old to use the money. But, on the whole I'd say Hotspex isn't very hot and isn't worthy spending any time with at all.

Survey Sites Getting Tougher

Survey sites continue to seek out new ways of eliminating computer-generated programs that try to whiz through surveys in order to collect rewards and cash. While I don't have any statistics on how serious a problem this is, the survey sites continue to generate new ways to foil the scammers.
Recently some of the new methods being employed have included asking survey takers to solve math problems (such as how much is 2 + 2), confirming that the month of February follows January, or that Tuesday follows Monday. A more recent iteration of this kind of effort has you picking the backward spelling of a given word.
While human survey takers will find all these easy, if not a little time consuming, hoops to jump through you wonder if they'll really thwart the wrong doers. You also have to wonder why the scammers would even bother with the pittance that comes from taking surveys - even a large number of surveys. Just the same, the survey companies see it as a serious problem. While there's not much we human survey takers can do about this, it is to our advantage that the scammers be stopped if only to make it less cumbersome for us honest survey takers.

Toluna, Again

I've been blogging over the past couple of months about the strange goings-on at Toluna. To recap, one day I found my Toluna account transferred to a mysterious iQuestion account. When I complained I was told I had asked to go to the new site, which I hadn't. Worse, there were no surveys to take at iQuestion, and none ever appeared over the weeks I 'resided' there.
Apparently, my protests to Toluna have had an effect. Recently I was reinstated to the Toluna site and the iQuestion site became inactive. There were no explanations for the changeover that took place in the first instance. And, I had to reenter a great man of the profile information I previously had entered on the Toluna site.
But, to make it all worthwhile, Toluna provided a few extra points to my account for my troubles. Not much, but a nice gesture nonetheless.
I'm not sure what to make of all this, or what words of wisdom to pass on to you dear readers.
OK, maybe a couple.
First, my belief is there was some trickery involved on Toluna's part to capture survey takers. So, it pays to sometimes read the fine print on what surveys you are given.
Second, there is a human being somewhere deep inside these mostly robotically operated survey sites. Occasionally, although not often, you can reach out to them by yelling loudly and protesting aggressively and frequently if you feel you've been wronged.
Lastly, would I have bothered with my protest had it been one against a lesser valued site (e.g. they pay next to nothing and don't often have surveys to take anyway)? Probably not. But I can depend on Toluna - with all its faults - to produce good returns each month, so it was worth battling. And it feels good to have won.
So, pay attention and fight for what you believe is right - if you feel it's worth the time and effort. In this case there was nothing to lose and a few bucks to gain.

Survey Site Review: GFK Custom Research

If you come across a survey sponsored by GFK Custom Research there is one thing you can usually be sure of – the survey will be long.

That’s the case with several notable survey sites, like OpinionsHere, and GFK is no different. It’s not necessarily bad that surveys are long, but what is often problematic with long surveys is that you can spend a lot of time on them only to be informed that after a considerable time has passed that you have been screened out. Such is life with online survey taking.

GFK is based on New York City, but it’s part of a global network operating in 37 countries with 12,000 employees and its corporate headquarters are in Germany. Its focus is in the areas of consumer, pharmaceutical and media service. That’s why you will see many surveys having to do with medicinal products in the surveys you get from GFK. But, it also delves into automotive, financial, health and other survey subjects.

Note – GFK is not a survey site you sign up for to take surveys; it’s a research firm that distributes surveys to multiple survey-taking sites, so you may see GFK just about anywhere.

GFK claims its corporate history goes back to 1934 in Germany. Indeed its name is composed of the initials of a set of German words that are so long and hard to pronounce that I won’t even try.

For the survey taker the only question I’ve found about taking GFK surveys is time. If I have nothing better to do and am willing to spend (waste?) my time, I’ll take a GFK Survey. Otherwise, I’m prone to pass on it and move on to a survey that is shorter in length. Your choice.

Speeding Ticket

You know I love speed -- when it comes to taking surveys. Although the survey companies warn against it I still do it and I advocate that others do so as well. The reason is simple: There's just no way to earn much of anything if you go slow. The survey companies know this, but they are so desperate to prove to their clients that survey takers are taking their surveys seriously that they must try to slow things down to prove how serious this is.

Baloney! Being asked a zillion times to take the same old movie survey is nothing short of ridiculous. Taking longer than a nano-second for you to take such surveys is also absurd - especially since movie surveys, as well as others frequently posted, are little more than shams because they are notorious for bumping you out for failing to be eligible for because all of a sudden they've gotten enough entrants who have taken the survey - which all seems to happen only after you've completed the survey. And, we all know, these surveys are just marketing schemes anyway.

At any rate whether you take a survey slowly or quickly is often a moot point. Take for example a recent survey I took for Opinion Outpost (one of the top survey sites in my view). In this case I took the survey at a fairly leisurely pace. However, it was a very easy survey to take: The questions were clear, the answers obvious. You'd have to intentionally slow yourself down to a crawl - go read a magazine between questions or something - to go any slower than I did. Despite my caution, upon finishing the survey I was denied my completion points. I emailed Opinion Outlook to complain and surprisingly got an immediate reply that they and the survey sponsor's database concluded - wrongly - that I had not spent enough time considering the survey.
Talk about your Catch-22's. The one time I took an inordinate time taking a survey is the one time I'm accused of going to fast. How's that for irony?
However, Opinion Outpost took a very unusual action by thanking me and giving me a few points as a consolation. I've never had that happen and I tip my hat to Opinion Outpost for their kindness. Nevertheless, it does point out how arbitrary taking surveys can be. The results and decisions aren't made directly by humans (although getting some points from Opinion Outpost certainly was a human action in this case) but by machines using algorithms, etc.

So, does this slow me down? Not a chance. Nor should you. The worst that can happen is a survey site decides it's had enough of you and kicks you out. No big deal, given the vast number of survey sites out there. Besides, unless you depend on surveys to feed your family this is all a lark anyway, right?