Avoiding Online Paid Survey Scams
Making money by completing online surveys is a good way to subsidize your income. Indeed, it is possible to make over 50 AUD a month if you are prepared to answer questionnaires on a daily basis. The fact you can complete the surveys at your leisure and from the comfort of your own home simply adds to the appeal of paid survey sites. Unfortunately, there are many scam sites which exploit the demand for paid survey sites. Such sites have no intention of paying you for any surveys you complete. The following offers some advice on how to avoid these sites.
Never Pay an Online Site
Many scam sites ask you to pay an initial joining or administration fee upfront. They usually ask around 10 - 20 AUD which is not a significant sum so seems reasonable to the customer. Indeed, the site will make it seem like quire a bargain as they often promise you will make hundreds of dollars from their site.
However, in reality, once you have paid the fee you are unlikely to ever get any work out of the site. Normally, there is no work to start with or it is so limited it is impossible to make any money at all.
Remember to never pay to join a paid survey sites, the legitimate ones are always free to join.
Too Good to be True?
Many scam sites attract customers because they appear so inviting. However, it is important to realize that you will not earn a huge amount of money from paid survey sites. The money that can be made comes from persistence and hard work.
Therefore, a site promising you hundreds of dollars a month simply from filling out a few surveys is a scam site!!!
They may often have multiple positive reviews from supposed users of the site claiming they have made huge amounts of money, but these can easily be faked.
No survey site can guarantee you will make 'x' amount of money a month because they cannot guarantee you will answer enough surveys a month.
Remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Read the Terms and Conditions Carefully
Whilst many of us would say it is important to read the small print before we sign up to anything, in reality most of us do not. However, a good way of detecting a scam site is to look closely at the terms and conditions of the site. This way you can see how much you are expected to earn before you can request payment and how you can be paid.
Scam sites may have a ridiculously high pay out limit which will never be reached.
Others are happy to sign up Australians but then claim payments can only be made to American bank accounts.
If the terms and conditions are vague or seem odd, then it is best to avoid the company. If there are no terms and conditions at all, then the site will be a scam site. Try to contact the company with any questions you do have. A legitimate company will get back to you, whereas you are unlikely to hear from a bogus one.
Research the Company
The main problem with detecting a scam paid survey website is the fact that there are so many survey sites out there. A quick Internet search will list numerous sites, some of them genuine and some of them fake. One of the best ways to detect a scam site is to research the site itself. Look on the Internet for reviews from previous users. There are also scam catching websites especially created to alert people about bogus websites. If the site is a known scam site you are likely to find out rather easily. Even if the site is legitimate, this research can help you find out how much other users generally make a month and how much work is available from one week to the next.
Unfortunately, scam survey sites exist as there are no strict rules or regulations to monitor them. This means those wishing is make some money by completing online surveys will have to be careful to avoid them. However, by following the advice above you should have no trouble in finding the many legitimate sites that are out there.