Paid surveys are NOT SCAMS!

(Although there's always a few bad apples. Anywhere.)

Claims that paid surveys are scams are everywhere. Don't forget, the internet is the best tool available to indiscriminately take shots at anything you want.

So let's get some perspective on "scams," and what a scam is and what a scam isn't.

A purposeful and malicious effort to defraud you, or not getting exactly what you paid for, or what you were promised in exchange for the agreed upon commitment, is a scam.

Getting caught in a legitimate system foul-up or not reading the "terms" carefully enough, is not a scam. Just because someone casually labels this "get paid for surveys" stuff as a scam, and then proceeds to tell you about the "super-awesome secret" they've discovered to "beat the system" and "make crazy money", does NOT make their claim legitimate.

Even some of the largest, most well respected market research companies have had some legitimate complaints registered against them. We're not vouching for or pointing fingers at anybody here. We're like Switzerland. Maybe they were sneaky-snakes about something, maybe someone on their staff lost something, dropped the ball on processing, who knows. Computers are only as good as the humans running them, remember that. Factor in the readiness and willingness of the general public to sue-first and ask questions later, there's a large gray area from what we can tell.

Then there are the scam claims that simply boil down to someone not getting what they thought they were supposed to and they're going to make someone pay because they didn't perform their own due diligence. Sometimes it's a matter of someone not reading that company's policies regarding payouts, and they decide they're going to post complaints because they didn't quite understand what they were signing up for and they feel slighted. Other times it's a legitimate mix-up, and someone's account gets temporarily suspended, and if it doesn't get rectified in a timely manner, negative posts may stay published long after the conflict is resolved. But who goes back and revises their negative posts?

Some of the paid surveys listed are "paid per offer" sites, where you have to "subscribe" or try an offer, complete a survey that records your experience, and then you are compensated. Sometimes you'll need a credit card to secure the product, which some people find very offensive, and have carelessly labeled them "scams." You need a credit card to secure just about anything anymore, like rental cars, hotel rooms, etc, so why this should be any different is ludicrous. Would you just give a whole bunch of people you didn't know something of value for free, then hope they were all honest enough to return it? No, you wouldn't. Asking for a security deposit on something is not a novel idea, and does not qualify as a scam. If you're willing to participate, are organized, motivated, and an accountable person, pay per offer deals can actually be very lucrative. It's up to you to know what you're signing up for, so read all the fine print of every offer. Pay close attention to "acquisition fees" as some are refundable, some are not.

Some of the free online surveys listed aren't "market research" organizations, or the company doing the actual research. They are "brokers" for market researchers. A totally legitimate business in and of itself. They are "middlemen", and are not the people signing your paycheck, so to speak. Again, this does not constitute a "scam". True research companies want to do the research, not the marketing, so they leave that up to sites like these. Their potential benefit to you is, depending on how much background or profile information you give them, you may be "pre-screened" for quite a few other paid survey opportunities. This saves you a bunch of time as far as registration processes go, and you'll see studies from some of the major free surveys distributors listed elsewhere on our directory. If after you sign-up with one and all you get is offers from their partner sites and never a survey, then it's time to take some action. Unsubscribe, put 'em in your spam box, etc.

Check the Federal Trade Commission, Better Business Bureau, site advisor, rip off report, or SCAM.com. Be careful about typing a name and "scam" into a search engine, it's not fool-proof. You may find some negative reviews for certain paid survey companies and work from home opportunities on various other sites as well. Of course, they'll always tell you the secret to the most awesome thing ever if you hand over your credit card info. Peculiar.

Anyway, if you feel like you have been slighted in any way, you should take action with the appropriate agencies. Do a little of your own research and go with your instincts. If it sounds like people have legitimate complaints, then common sense dictates to steer clear until those issues are resolved.