Thrifty Thursday: Survey Sites (part 3)

     Okay, here is part three of my short series of online surveys. Today I'm going to be talking about the sites that I recommend you stay away from! These are not strictly survey sites (though they do have surveys on them).

     Back when I first started signing up for "survey sites," drawn in by the potential of earning money for my opinions and and "free" offers (plus the $5 sign up incentive), I signed up with a site called InboxDollars. This site gives you so many cents or dollars for various offers, including daily surveys (which I think were 50 cents apiece). However, you could only take one survey a day and often I was screened out of them. So I got frustrated pretty quick. You can also sign up for "paid emails" which gives you like 2 cents for each email you open and they are usually ads. 

     Many of the offers on Inbox Dollars are 50 cents to $1 and are usually for signing up for some kind of newsletter or mailing list. The higher paying offers (like $5-8) are usually insurance quotes (for which you have to enter your SS number) or "free" trials. These so-called free trials require a credit card number to get set up and if you read the fine print, they start charging a regular fee for whatever product it is unless you cancel within the required time frame (usually something like 30-60 days). I've heard those "free" trials can be a huge hassle to cancel. 

     So, since I never signed up for anything requiring my SS number or a credit card, it took me a long time to reach the "cashout" threshold of $30. Then I was done with that site. And after my cashout they gave me another $5 "bonus," I assume to lure me into staying. But I had had enough. At later times I signed up for Snap Dollars and Cash Crate, Panda Research and Superpoints (which is currently unavailable)and guess what? Those were pretty much the same thing and I quickly unsubscribed from those, deciding it wasn't worth my time and effort.
      All of these sites were things I subscribed to because a blogger I trusted claimed to use and love the site. And referrals are probably the most profitable way to earn "points" on these sites. Now while those people may truly find it to be worth their time, I personally found it to be a waste of mine. And therefore I will not recommend these things to readers, even for the "points."
     Another note on Panda Reasearch: unlike the others, they require your phone number for registration. I had avoided this site for a long time because of this, until a blogger (who I decided to trust) raved about the site. So I was suckered into signing up anyway. Guess what? I got solicitation calls for a few days until I demaded they take me off the "list" (although they claimed to be a different caller than the previous ones). However, the calls stopped after that, so go figure.
     Anyway, stay tuned for more rambling next week. :-)