Signing up for the site is easy. You simply fill out a questionnaire and submit answers to the site. The questionnaire screens you for which type of products you can try. The trick is to answer “yes” to most of the questions they ask, this way, you can receive the most products and gain the most points.

Upon signing up for the site, depending upon your answers to the questionnaire, you’ll be directed to various websites where you will give your name and address so they can send you the sample product. Some sites offer more than just “samples” and give you a full sized product to sample.

The products participants can try for free include household items, personal hygiene items, pet supplies, beauty products and even music CDs. After you receive the product and try it, you simply fill out a short survey that takes about 10 minutes and give your opinion of the product. You never have to pay a shipping fee or send anything back to the company.

About twice a week, startsampling.com offers contests participants enter. About 20 winners each week collect 50 “Frequent Tryer Miles” points in their account. You can enter as many contests as you like and most people win at least once. When you win a contest, the site notifies you via e-mail. You can accumulate your points

Participants earn points simply for visiting the recommended sites and additional points for sampling the product. Some of the gifts they offer include gift cards, travel items, household products and other merchandise.

The best thing about this site is the “no pressure” sales. Startsampling.com does not attempt to sell you any products. There are no “elaborate” prizes, but gifts a normal person would expect to receive for doing a minimal amount of work.

Another thing I like about this site is the opportunity to sample different products I might not otherwise try. Unlike some sampling survey companies, you know what the product is and if you enjoy using it, you can purchase it in the store.

Probably my favorite thing about this site is that it doesn’t represent magazine subscription houses, insurance companies or online education companies. In my foray into the online survey world, I’ve found that these appear to be the main “hard sell” items most companies push. Since signing up for the site, the only e-mails I’ve received relating to Start Sampling have been from their site; I have not received any unsolicited telemarketing calls related to this site. They keep their word when they say they will maintain your privacy.

The downside is that while the prizes and gifts are nice, there is no cash involved for participating in this site. But it’s fun, easy and takes only a small portion of your time.

Startsampling.com is a legitimate online survey/sampling company. You have nothing to fear if you decide to sign up to participate in this site and will have a lot of fun sampling their products.

If you enjoy market research and would like to get paid for your time, check out our section on paid market research reviews.

TheSurveyPro.com is of the latter. I clicked on the site and entered some basic information, such as my name, address, age and e-mail address. I then pressed the button to “join” the site, that promised to pay me for participating in online surveys. TheSurveyPro.com then sent me a confirmation e-mail.

I went to my inbox and clicked on the confirmation link and was directed again to the site where they asked me to participate in a brief “20 questions in 2 minutes” survey. Some of the questions they asked me consisted of the following:

Would you ever consider working from home? I answered “no.” In my experience, answering “yes” to such a question is giving the “go-ahead” to receive dozens of calls and e-mails from unscrupulous “work at home” scam companies.

Are you interested in an online degree? I answered “no.” Ever since I foolishly answered yes by mistake at another survey company, I get, on the average, four calls a week from “online education” sources using hard sell tactics to try to get me to “better” my education. At first I was nice, now I simply hang up.

Do you carry more than $10,000 in student debt? I answered “no” and this is the truth. But a “yes” answer will signal calls from debt consolidation companies, which is always bad news. Signing up with such a company ruins your credit as it is actually viewed as filing a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy.

Do you own a home or a condominium? I lied and said “no.” Because I know if I said “yes,” I would get a ton of mail asking me to refinance my home.

Do you feel it is important to know your credit score? I said “no.” Because I know if I said “yes” I would get mail and phone calls trying to “help” me raise my credit score.

Do you carry more than $10,000 in credit card debt? I truthfully answered “no.” This is just another attempt to get you into debt consolidation.

In the last 30 days, have you rented a movie? Again I truthfully answered “no.” This is an ad for Netflix. I’m not interested.

Do you consider yourself an expert in computer use? Another “no.” But I’m expecting to start receiving mail offering me instructions any day now.

Are you happy with your current body weight? I truthfully answered “yes.” I am one of the few Americans who is actually happy with my weight. Constant aggravation caused by my two kids has kept me in marvelous shape.

Do you belong to a fitness club? Gee, I signed up for three health clubs during my lifetime and ended up paying over $2,000 in fees. I think I used the club about five or six times. I wisely answered “no.”

Do you drink coffee? I answered “yes,” but I am not interested in receiving free gourmet coffee every month through the mail.

Are you interested in receiving free gourmet coffee? I answered “no.”

After answering these questions, I was directed to yet another site where they asked me to “help keep their site free” and check “yes” or “no” if I was interested in getting more information from their sponsors. As you may have guessed, most of their sponsors related to the 20 questions. They included various online universities, Overstock.com, Taste of Home (which is a wonderful magazine, but available at the bookstore), a few other magazine subscriptions and several “diet” sites.

I said “no” to all of these offers. They then asked me to “consider” another optional offer. I clicked on the site and saw a flashy car, huge house and the chance to earn THOUSANDS of dollars. All I had to do was give them my name, address and telephone number. Fat chance.

I clicked out of that site quickly and went to my inbox. There I found a link to confirm my membership to The Survey Pro website. I clicked on the link and quickly found how I can immediately earn $10 for only 30 minutes worth of work. All I had to do was sign up for 20 other survey sites.

While The Survey Pro is not technically a scam (they don’t want any money), it is not a legitimate “paid survey” site. It is merely a tool used to get information for businesses. The information that you provide to this site is sold to telemarketing companies that sell products such as diet pills, fitness equipment, magazine subscriptions, credit cards, debt consolidation, and – my personal favorite – online education.

Looking for a way to make a few extra bucks online? Skip TheSurveyPro.com. Unless, of course, you have a desire to have your mailbox flooded with offers and like to talk to telemarketers.

I signed up for surveyclub.com a month ago. Since then, I haven’t really made any money. Although the site boasts a lot of hype about visiting websites and getting paid, I found that they were more interested in selling magazine subscriptions and health insurance than actually paying for opinions.

Click on to surveyclub.com and you will get an audio sales pitch. They tout themselves as the “Number One Online Survey Club in the World.” Several testimonials on their site from different people boast of making at least $1,000 to receiving $125 for a single survey.

I’m a little leery about any “get rich quick scheme” and this site reeks of that. I’m also leery of anyone who is making $1,000 a month sitting behind a computer doing surveys all day. Things that sound too good to be true, are usually just that – too good to be true.

Surveyclub.com boasts of people making “thousands of dollars a month” just for giving their opinions. Any halfway intelligent person would be skeptical of this. The only way you are going to make “thousands of dollars a month” sitting in your home without having a widely marketable skill is if you’re selling drugs from your home. I wouldn’t advise that any more than I would advise participating in this site.

Unlike the most other online survey companies, Surveyclub.com does not pay you for taking the surveys. Payment is made from a variety of alleged “Fortune 500 Companies” who will “send you a check.” You cannot pick the surveys you want to take, opportunities are sent to you via e-mail and they usually have some sort of catch.

I have received literally hundreds of e-mails from various companies promising me everything from a car to a luxury vacation. Although I am currently not working at a job, I am a halfway intelligent person. I don’t believe in “getting something for nothing” and can usually smell a scam a mile away. These e-mails are deleted. Since I have signed up for this website, I’ve received many e-mails (most of which are directed to my spam folder). The ones I get in the my regular e-mail folder get deleted.

The one survey I did respond to, in the very beginning, was for $8. That didn’t seem like an outrageous amount. Until I read the fine print. In exchange for my $8, I had to pick four magazines to subscribe to. I would get them for one month and then be able to cancel the subscription. Sorry, but that’s just a little too much trouble to go through for $8.

Online survey companies can be a fun way to make a few extra dollars while you are at home. But they can also be a way to lose a lot of money and have your inbox flooded with unwanted e-mails. Like everything else, there are good online survey companies and bad ones. Surveyclub.com is a bad one. It preys on people who want to get rich quick (aka, suckers).

If you are thinking about joining an online survey company to make a few extra bucks, skip surveyclub.com. Take it from someone whose been there – it’s really not worth the trouble.

The site advertises that 50 lucky people a day will win a “prize” worth up to $100. Some of the prizes include back-packs, kitchen gadgets and other “promotional” type items. After extensively reviewing the site and prizes, I’ve yet to see anything worth $100. Once a month, someone will allegedly win a prize worth up to $1,000.

All you have to do to be eligible to win is to sign up for the site. You provide I-Say.com with information and they promptly turn around and give that same information to telemarketing companies and e-mail spammers. Once enrolled, you can complete as many “no-brainier” surveys as you like. During the course of these surveys, you’ll often be directed to other websites. You’ll think you’re still taking the survey, but in reality, you will be providing dozens of companies with your personal information.

I have one word for this site — Scam. Unless you are in the market for health insurance, an online education or diabetic supplies, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Here’s an account that actually happened to someone I know shortly after joining this site. In their words, they said…

I signed up and began taking a survey. They asked a few simple questions, then directed me to a site where I was asked to “pick” something I was interested in learning more about. I said “no” to every item. This went on for several pages before I was admonished by a notice that said they were looking for “active” participants in their “marketing partners” products. Like I was mentally incapacitated, they directed me to “look again” at a number of options. And like a dummy, I did.

“Taste of Home” is magazine subscription I’ve held in the past. But as I stopped cooking long ago, and gave up the guilt of not cooking last year, I haven’t felt the need to continue reading this magazine. But I always liked the magazine and occasionally, I think about cooking. So I clicked that I was “interested” in this magazine. I was soon directed to the site and asked to give them some information, which I foolishly did. They said they would send me a free copy of the magazine. I figured I had nothing to lose; if they billed me for the magazine, I’d simply cancel the subscription.

Guess what? They billed me the next day. On my telephone bill. Lucky for me, the bill was due and I took the time to view it online as it seemed higher than normal. I didn’t even think that they could do this; but apparently, they can.

So I now have a subscription to “Taste of Home” and a “chance” to win a prize up to $1,000 in the Ispos-I-Say monthly sweepstakes.

If you are planning on participating in online surveys for cash, make sure that they offer cash and not “sweepstakes” prizes. And make sure you are not directed to other websites. Any survey company that requires you to “support their marketing partners” is not legitimate. And realize that even if you are not giving out your credit card information, you can be billed through your telephone bill.