Momnesia

Get paid to...

AUGUSTA, GA. - So, you wanna get free stuff? Try products for market research companies? Perhaps earn some extra money? Then ignore all those scammers who send you "Take surveys and make $400 a day!" e-mails. They're lying to you, or they're involved in some kind of pyramid scheme.

Below, I will list reputable companies for whom I participate in market research and product testing on the side. Let's get real: It's certainly not a second income. Most of these companies deal in "points" that you earn from each survey, that you can then convert to cash, gift cards, or merchandise.

Some do offer paid surveys each time to take one, and others offer "chances to win" but send out enough big-money paid surveys to make the little sweepstakes-entry ones worth it. I've made as little as 50 cents for a survey, and as much as $100 for a survey. But I've also redeemed my points for hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise, checks and gift cards this year alone. All total, I might have "made" an extra grand this year doing this. But you never know. I might actually WIN one of those sweepstakes entries and bust out of here with a fat $25,000.

In the meantime, I'll share the info with you. There are tricks to maximizing your membership. For example, if they're offering money or points for a study, never admit that you work in marketing or journalism. They won't want to talk to you. But if they're not offering money or points, but they are offering sweepstakes or prize entries, you're ALWAYS a market researcher. Because that still gets you your entry, but you don't have to go through the entire survey.

Pay attention to what they're asking. If they ask if you take your coffee with sugar, cream, sweetener, flavoring, black or with any combination or all of the above, NEVER choose black. No one ever polls people who drink their coffee black. They want to know how you like the additives they're selling.

Most of these require the invitation of an existing panel member. So leave me your info in the comments section, and I'll send you an invitation to the ones in which you're interested.


I haven't used Global TestMarket for long, so I don't have a lot of knowledge. I know that you build points and redeem them for cash, but I don't have enough poiints to do that. You need at least 1,000, and I seem to be accruing points very slowly on this interface.

Deals n Cash offers you .02 cents for every ad you click. Yeah, it's not a lot. But the point is to be patient and let it build up over time. I don't know what my account balance is right now. Probably about 8 cents.


Inbox Dollars offers you a $5 membership boost, and then .05 cents for every ad you click or survey you take. Yes, again, it's not a lot. But it takes only seconds, and the point, again, is to be patient and let it build over time. I have about $18.00 right now. Whaever. That's $18 I didn't have before.

Zoom Panel offers between 30-500 points for taking their polls. The prize folios begin at 800 points, and go to 10,000. I just cashed in for a 10,000 prize, a Big Green Egg smoker/griller. It was totally free, and they don't even charge shipping. Of course, it took me about a year to get to that lebel. But luckily, we didn't have any smoking or grilling emergencies during the wait.

Polling Point offers 500 points for each survey you take. I only have about 8,000 points, and prize redemption begins at 10,000, so I don't have much feedback for you. I can tell you that until you get to a stupid-high level, the prizes SUCK. They're Polling Point T-shirts and tote bags. But then you get into web cams, iPod shuffles, cash and savings bonds. I'll keep accruing points until I get to the level I want.


Harris Poll is generous with points (75-800 points each survey), and has an easy redemption policy for the goods they offer on their site. They have an 800 point level beginning redemption level, and that's worth about a DVD or book or some other little item that costs about $20. But the larger levels get nicer and nicer. But Harris Poll doesn't send surveys nearly as often as Zoom Panel.


Survey Spot is a pain and a pleasure all at once. It sends you a crapload of surveys, so you have a lot of opportunities to make money. But most of their surveys do not offer money. They offer between 5 and 100 sweepstakes entries. However, they do offer between $3 and $100 for each paid survey, and I've probably cashed out about $200 this year. It does take 6-8 weeks to get your money, so plan ahead. But, again, never any problems.

Lightspeed offers frequent surveys for points. I use this one to get gift certificates to online retailers like Amazon.com and Target.com that I use often, and cover any shipping costs that I might incur. You're not going to make money off this one, and you're going to have to wait about 2 years to get to a level that is decent enough to cash in for something great. Again, with all of these, patience is key. But this one tries my patience more than others.

Survey Savvy pays for each survey, between $1 and $3. They send 1-2 surveys a week. Do the math. But it's still helpful and I've cashed in about $100 this year, one $75 and one $15. I only cashed in the $15 because I got impatient.

Here's one to be careful with: My Coke Rewards. First, I'm not certain that they'll continue this program forever. But also because it's reward points for using their products. That means that you should really only join and participate in this program if you already drink as much Diet Coke (or other Coca-Cola products) as I do... which is to say, too freaking much. So I thank them for my many points rewards, but I'd have downed all that stuff anyway. I've cashed in for free tickets to Universal Studios and two magazine subscriptions.

Here's one to stay away from: Vindale. They make you pay for services, and then reimburse you. You're not getting paid crap.You should never have to put out to get some respect, if you know what I mean... okay, I'll explain. They want you to sign up and pay for something, and then they claim to reimburse you. That got me $200 in CHARGES from stamps.com. (I finally figured out what happened, after about 2 weeks).

Here's one that I haven't fully tested yet: Opinion Outpost. But at least it hasn't cost me any money. Supposedly you accrue $1 for every 10 points. Or 100 points. I'm not sure. But we'll see.

And here's one that takes a lot more work: It's a word-of-mouth marketing site that sends products to its "agents" to use and them talk about. Sometimes you get a box of snack foods, or a book, or a gift certificate to use. Once I got a free stay at a Holiday Inn Express ($59 value), and I've also gotten a Sonicare toothbrush ($89 value) and a Sonicare UV sanitizer ($79 value). You have to earn your way, but it's not like digging ditches or busting rocks in a quarry. It's running your mouth, something I do well.

Again, if you want to join this, leave me a comment and I'll send you an invite. Yeah, I want the referral points or cash, so I'm not giving you the website addresses. Sue me. I promise to drop the referral e-mail ASAP. And for everyone who does actually ask me to send a referral e-mail instead of finding the company site on your own, I'll send you TWO companies that I withheld. One pays you cash for every survey, and it's been extremely reliable. One is only good for magazine subscriptions, but your points accrue quickly and fairly, and you can give them as gifts. In four months, I've cashed in for six different subscriptions.

Happy earning!