"Paid Surveys" & More- A LIST OF SCAM SITES & REAL SITES THAT WORK!

Get Rich Quick – Real sites V.S. SCAMS

For a project in college I decide to research many of those “Get Rich Quick" sites as well as the “Mystery Shoppers Needed - $75/hr", “Paid Surveys" and so on.

My research led me to discover a few things:
1. If it sounds to good to be true, it might be.
2. There really ARE place that are legit.
3. If you have a lot of time, you may be successful at this. I stress the word A LOT of time.

Paid Surveys
Let’s begin with the “Paid Survey" ads. Most of these companies will actually pay you to take surveys. However, there are two issues. The first issue is that they don’t always pay in cash. Most will give you points. Once you have accumulated a large number of points you can cash them in for some kind of gift. The gifts range from a shot glass to a washing machine. Don’t forget, you will have to pay all shipping and handing charges on these items. One of the sites I joined that had an actual washing machine that was listed at 240,000 points paid a generous 5 points per survey. Keep in mind each survey can take up to 40 minutes to complete. You do the math. Second, many of these “paid Survey" companies want you to pay a fee upfront. They do not guarantee you will ever get a survey to take nor do they promise you will ever break even. The way they determine if you are right for the survey is by having you take a non-paid “personality" survey. This is usually about 100 or so questions about your income, hobbies, career, etc. They will then use your results to match you up with potential surveys. If you don’t fall into any of the categories they are looking for you are S.O.L. My advice to you – “NEVER PAY TO WORK, A JOB SHOULD PAY YOU" Honestly, I have not yet found a site that really pays cash for a survey.

Product Testing
Some companies offer paid product testing or you do not get paid but get to keep the products for free. There are legitimate companies that you can sign up for that do this- Hewlett Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Illuminated Ink and Hilltop research are a few.
On the other hand there are numerous scams out there that want you to sign up and pay a monthly fee to test their products. Here’s a list of real companies that will make it worth your time to test their products:
http://www.cptclabs.com/html/studies.html
http://www.voc-online.com/evaluator-center/index.htm l
http://www.contracttesting.com/testit1.html (All different items)
http://www.eventfabrics.com/field/apply.cfm (Fabrics/clothing)
http://www.foodperspectives.com/ - - New Jersey Only (Food)
http://www.golfsoftware.com/whatelse/beta/beta.html (Golf Software)
http://www.hpproducttest.com/ Hewlett Packard stuff
http://www.illuminatedink.com/?page_id=product_testers (Christian toys & Games)

Mystery Shoppers
Restaurants, Movie theaters and retail stores hire “Mystery Shoppers" to be there ‘eyes and ears’. Companies want to see how employees are interacting with customers. This allows the business to make any necessary changes.
Often sites that advertise for “Paid Mystery Shoppers" are looking for people to invest about $75. Your money will get you basically nothing. I signed up for this through two completely different companies. The first company asked me to pay $60 for a complete list of all the local businesses in my area that needed mystery shoppers. I paid the money and was given a list containing one business that is about two hours from my home. In addition the business only wanted female shoppers between the ages of 30 – 40. The second company I signed up for was a little better. They actually had a few movie theaters in my area that were looking for undercover customers. I signed up to be one f them. A few days after signing up I got an email stating that if you want to be a mystery shopper you have to follow the companies rules. These rules included – 1. You pay for everything on your own credit card and mail in documents to get reimbursed. 2. You have to purchase a minimum of to movie tickets, then try to exchange them for different tickets so they can see how their ticket seller handles the situation. Next you have to purchase one box of candy , a nacho and a drink. After receiving the nacho you have to request a cup of extra cheese. Then you have to ask the greeter about the movie you are planning to see, go check out the bathrooms and thoroughly examine the interior of the theater for cleanliness. When leaving you have to check out the parking lot on all sides and note if there is any litter. Once you are finished with your trip you have a lengthy questionnaire to fill out about every little detail. Did I mention that from the time you get the email you only have a few days to do this task? If you don’t return the questionnaire in the allotted time frame you are stuck eating the charges.
Basically, this can be a good job if you don’t mind charging things on your credit card and waiting for reimbursement.

One site I have discovered, “ shadowshopper.com" does offer a free mystery shopper opportunity. They ask you to fill out a survey about yourself. You have the option to upgrade your free mystery shopper profile by paying $49. I suggest sticking with the free one. The problem with the free one is that you will probably only be able to find a single job, and that's it. They won’t release addresses or business names w/o the upgrade. There’s a long list on “Walletboosters.com" of additional places that hire shoppers.

GET RICH QUICK
Every single one of these sites I have came across has been a total waste of time. 90% of them want you to but a book, a product or sign up for something. They all have a product of some kind that you need to invest in. Look at it like this; if you pay $99 for a book that tells you how to get rich, you all ready are in the hole a hundred bucks! If there really was a way to get rich quick don’t you think everybody would be doing it? Steer clear of anything remotely close to this.

WORK FROM HOME
We have all seen the ads – “Make $1,000 a week stuffing envelopes!". Once again, “if it sounds too good to be true…" When you sign up to stuff envelopes you will be asked to send the company a small amount of 100% refundable money. In return they will mail you an overwhelming amount of envelopes that need to be stuffed. You will realize that the work they ask you to do is not at all worth the money. My girlfriend signed up for this. Each envelope needed to be stuffed with a twenty-page document that she had to collate and staple before putting into the un-addressed envelope. She then had to address each envelope by hand and apply the pre printed postage. Lastly you have to seal it. Since the envelopes are too big for your mailbox you have to arrange for special pick up or go to the post office.
There’s another really popular “Work from home" scam. It involves trying to set up appointments. You are asked to make phone calls to a list of companies or individuals and arrange appointment times. It’s pretty much telemarketing, except you pay the phone bill and, like mystery shopping, wait to be reimbursed. Hopefully you have a good long distance carrier!

SITES THAT MAKE YOU PAY TO WORK:the following sites demand a fee upfront without ever guaranteeing you a job.

Corland Mystery Shop - $24.99 Fee upfront
Secret Shop Jobs - $24.99
Get Paid to shop - $34.95
Shopping jobs - $25.95
Dollar Frog - $24.95
Workathomefromyourpc.com - $14.99
Cashflow from credit cards.com - $99.95
your free pay site - $99.95
corland online surveys - $29.99
cash 4 surveys - $39.99
survey scout - $34.00
surveys paid - $39.00

My conclusion is that although you can make money using some of these companies, the amount of time you will invest in trying to find a legit one is not worth it. It is better to devote your time to a second job or just do without. Many of these "fake" companies will cause you more stress than it is worth - annoying spam, numerous emails and the total "run around" are a few of the problems you may encounter.

Want more Work From Home Links? Check Out:

http://bloggerparty.com/finding_work_at_home_opportunities

Want (REAL) FREE stuff? No shipping charges, no spam? Check out here for direct links:
http://bloggerparty.com/real_freebies_for_men_women_shampoo_music_computer