The company’s website is open only to United States residents older than age 13. This is yet another way for your teenager to earn money; however only one person in the family can participate in each focus group. You can, as an adult, sign up for the site and have your teenager participate in a particular focus group, so even though you have one account, other members of the family can participate.

Payment for participation in a focus group ranges from $40 to $150. This is a nice survey company to join, the pay is good, although the focus groups generally take about an hour of your time. The company is based in California, so if you are planning on participating in a teleconference forum, you should have unlimited long distance service on your phone; otherwise you may end up paying more for the call than you earn in the survey.

The only drawback to participating in this site is that you can’t expect to participate on a weekly basis. But the more you answer “yes” to the general questionnaire you complete upon joining the site makes you eligible for more focus group participation. Payment is sent to your home in the form of a check.

There are many positive aspects about joining this site, besides the money. Blarry.com will never try to sell you anything. Since joining, I’ve received only a few e-mails and participated in one focus group, which was via internet. I have not yet participated in a teleconference. The internet focus group was conducted as a “chat session” and was quite painless.

In addition to not trying to sell you anything or spamming your inbox, Blarry.com maintains your privacy and will not sell your information to those who do want to sell you something. This cuts down considerably on unwanted telemarketing calls.

Blarry.com is very similar to survey groups I participated in years ago, before the advent of the internet. A panel of people who fit the criteria is selected and they give their views about a different product or service. Yes, the chat session or teleconference is lengthy, but pays well. They also cater to people who work outside the home during the day as most of the focus groups meet in the evening; however, if you live on the East Coast, you have to account for the three hour time difference.

I truly enjoy being a member of this survey company. It’s honest, professional and pays a decent amount of money to individuals for their time. Best of all, you are not limited as to how many focus groups in which you can participate.

If you are looking for a legitimate way to earn a few extra dollars (you aren’t going to retire on the money you earn from this site), and enjoy giving your opinion in front of other people, this site is for you.

There are more companies and ways to get paid for market research. Have a look at our review of the best guides for more info.

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.

The surveys are easy. And in between taking each survey, you can rest assured that you will be automatically directed to a website for one of the following:

Online education
Health Insurance
Diabetes Care

Ever since I unwittingly signed up for NPD Online Research, I have received at least 20 calls from people trying to sell me either an online education or health insurance. I never have to worry about getting lonely; the phone is always ringing.

The good news about this site is that the questions that they ask you are easy. So easy that a 5-year-old can answer them. But NPD isn’t really interested in your answers. They are interested in obtaining as much information about you so they can sell you the following:

Online education
Health Insurance
Diabetes Care

Occasionally, they will surprise you with a chance to “earn” a free issue of “Taste of Home” Magazine. With the promise of a subscription. Don’t worry about giving them your credit card information; they already have your phone number and if you check the “yes” box without reading carefully, they will charge the subscription directly to your phone bill.

In exchange for sharing personal information with this company and fending off telemarketers, participants have the advantage of being entered into their monthly “sweepstakes” drawing…for $1,000.

Ever since I mistakenly signed up for this site, my inbox has been flooded with spam. I have contacted the company several times, via e-mail, and asked them to take me off their list. I have not yet received a reply. It doesn’t matter, however, because most of the mail they send me goes directly into my “bulk” mail. And I empty that regularly without ever looking. While I used to get about 50 pieces of “bulk” mail a day, I now get at least 200 pieces of “bulk” mail a day. All thanks to NPD.

Online surveys can be fun and can earn the participant a few dollars. I’ve researched many of them and found that NPD is not one of them. They take your information and offer you absolutely nothing in return. Unless, of course, you believe that you have the chance of winning the “sweepstakes” prize.

The worst thing about NPD is that it encourages young people to join their “panel.” The site is open to anyone over the age of 13, but adds a disclaimer that they “do not KNOWINGLY collect information from persons younger than 13.” In English, this means that just about any kid with access to a computer can click on to this site and participate under the guise of entering “sweepland,” which is the name given for the sweepstakes that you can win once you’ve given them every bit of information about yourself besides your blood type.

My sense of humor has made it possible to laugh at NPD. I particularly like their non-committal answer to whether people can actually earn cash for participating in their surveys. This is a simple, direct question that requires a “yes” or “no” answer. Their answer? Sometimes you might be able to earn cash.

If you are thinking about participating in online surveys for cash, please do yourself and your family a favor and stay away from this site. Unless, of course, you wish to receive incessant phone calls and e-mails about:

Online education
Health Insurance
Diabetes Care

If you have unwittingly joined this website by accident, keep a close eye on your telephone bill in case they have decided to send you a “complimentary” magazine subscription.

Joining ClickIQ takes about 15 minutes of your time. You need to fill out an extensive questionnaire regarding the household products you use, children in your family, occupation, etc. This information is collected to put you on a panel. When your profile is complete, you can view the number of panels you are eligible for.

ClickIQ collects information for a third party, ascertains the information provided to them from your survey then informs them of the results. Surveys are sent to participants via e-mail. You are under no obligation to complete any surveys, but the more you complete, the more points you earn. You need to accumulate 2,500 points in order to “cash out.” Each 100 points is worth $1, so on the average, you will make about $1 (sometimes up to $1.50) for each survey you complete. The surveys are very short, however, and take less than 10 minutes to complete. There are some surveys that take longer and offer more points. The highest amount of points I made for completing a survey was 500 and that survey took me approximately twenty minutes to complete.

I have mixed feelings about this survey site. I found the initial questionnaire to be quite extensive and time consuming. The other problem I have is that they offer surveys sporadically. You won’t even receive one each week, which makes accumulating points a lengthy process.

The good news about this site is that it is truly legitimate. They will pay you $25 every time you accumulate 2,500 points and do so by check. You can also request to have the money put into your Paypal account.

Another positive aspect of ClickIQ is the privacy issue. Since joining the site, I haven’t received any spam mail, as a matter of fact, I haven’t received many e-mails from them at all. Unlike some online survey sites that seem to flood your inbox every 15 minutes or so, ClickIQ is very low-key. They will never provide your personal information to a third party and you won’t be harassed by a series of unwanted telemarketing calls.

Prior to writing this blog, I clicked on the website to see if there was anything new and was surprised to see that at the current time, no surveys are available. Other members of Click IQ who I’ve met and talked to state that the site tends to be either feast or famine. There are usually many surveys available at once and then the site dries up for a couple of weeks. So you can’t expect to earn a steady income on this site. But then, I don’t think there’s a paid survey site out there where you can actually earn a steady income.

ClickIQ is open to US residents only. They do not specify age, but request that you are the “decision maker” and in charge of the grocery shopping, so it’s really not a site for young people, unless there are teenagers out there who actually do grocery shopping. This is about as rare as finding a paid survey site in which to make a living.

I believe this site to be legitimate, but slow to pay. It does no harm to join, but do not expect to receive a check for at least two months.

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.

An online survey company that offers participants a chance to win a cash drawing for completing quick, fun surveys and actual cash (between $4 to $50) for completing more extensive, in depth surveys that they refer to as “focus groups.” The site contends that focus group participants generally do not make less than $50.

To join American Consumer Opinion, you need to go to www.acop.com. This will bring you to the ACOP home page where you can sign up for the site. After you complete the questions, a confirmation link will be sent to your e-mail address under the name of “Ann Parks.” The site warns that many of these e-mails end up in your bulk or spam folder, so if you are interested in receiving e-mails from the site, you should add the name “Ann Parks” to your e-mail address book.

American Consumer Opinion has been around for about 10 years. It’s a legitimate site, but, unfortunately, does not offer a lot of money. There are several pros and cons to joining American Consumer Opinions:

Some Pros:

- The site is open to international residents. You don’t have to live in the United States to participate and there is no age limit, although since many of the surveys pertain to work and other adult-oriented activities, teenagers will find the questions boring;

- There is a steady flow of both short surveys and longer questionnaires available to participants;

- Your information is private; they will never try to sell you anything, spam your mailbox with ads or telephone you.;

- The site has been around a long time and is respected in the marketing community.

Some Cons:

- There is no guarantee of earning anything for completing the short surveys, only an opportunity to win cash in a monthly drawing. To date, I haven’t won anything. Only one person wins each month and the winner receives $250;

- The cash received for participating in a lengthy survey is not paid to you by ACOP, but by the company requesting the information. You may end up waiting four to six weeks for a $4 check;

- You don’t get to pick which surveys you want to complete, you’ll receive them by e-mail;

- There are times when the site goes “down” in the middle of your survey, which means you have to take the entire thing over again. The reason the American Consumers give for this is that the site is experiencing “too much traffic.” But it is extremely frustrating.

American Consumer Opinion is a subsidiary company for Decision Analysis Inc., a Dallas based marketing research company. The company performs research for a variety of corporations around the world, including fast food chains, railroad corporations and airlines.

On a scale of one to ten, I’d have to rate this site a five. It’s not a big money maker, but is totally legitimate and private.

An alternative site that I recently discovered is called Your Free Surveys. Like ACOP, it is legitimate. We’ll have a full writeup in a future blog article. For now, they are running a special where they pay you a $4 bonus upon signup. You can read more about the site here:

http://fastsurveymoney.org/yourfreesurveysite