Earning Extra Pocket Money/Petty Cash on the Internet?
I was pretty bored some time last week and went around deciding to test out some of the internet sites that offer things like “read e-mails for cash”, or “try out things for free” or “complete surveys for token cash”. (I intend to set up a blog for my opinions and reviews and needed some material to start with anyways. This seemed like good idea).
There are legit companies out there who do these kind of things. I have been approached before by some to test out some new products (It was fun!) and give my opinion on them. I got paid nicely too! There was one I did for $20 for 20mins. I had to test this new drink. Not only was it yummy, it was quite a fun experience. Of course, the downside of it was that I had to travel all the way to Tanjong Pagar to the research company to do the survey and test. However, these opportunities are pretty rare. Out of all the time I have been registered with the company, I have been called up only twice. (I have been with them for about a year or so already).
So I decided to do something I have never done before and test out (I love to test new things) the internet based ‘companies’ that conduct these kind of offers. Actually my idea for this sprung out of boredom while I was sitting on the MRT and I saw this advertisement on the train:
I signed up for only the FREE registration ones, so I didn’t have to incur cost. (I’m not THAT dumb to go sign up for the ones you have to pay – especially since some of these companies seem to cater more towards US/UK/Canadian markets – which meant fewer opportunities for Singaporeans.
http://www.wowearnings.com
VOLUME :You receive about 3-5 e-mails per day from this company. They pay you for each e-mail read.
OPPPORTUNITIES: There’s also a “Paid-to-click” section whereby you get paid the value of the banner you click (limited to once a day). However, since joining, I’ve not seen any of these banners. The message “There are no banners to display” comes out. Their “Paid-to-signup” with offers (basically testing free online things like programs and stuff) are mostly for US citizens and you’ll find little, if any, offers that are applicable to poor Singaporeans like ourselves.
CASHABILITY: When your account reaches $20, you can cash out your earned income. For Singaporeans, they do this via paypal, stormpay or e-gold only. Too bad for people who don’t have these accounts, or aren’t computer savvy.
RELIABILITY: Questions sent out via e-mail had been answered promptly. The website is working 100% of the time and is organized well. An idiot could navigate his/her way through. I snooped around the net a bit and managed to get in contact with this Malaysian guy who is registered with them to ask if he had gotten paid before and he said yes. Not much to go on of course, but why would he lie to me?
WORTH THE TIME? If most of your income is going to come via e-mail reading, it’s not really that great. The pay out is only about 2 cents (USD) per mail read. If you are willing to take the risk and do some investing, then I would say this will probably be worth your time. For $4.95 you get $75, for instance. Some FREE trials that require registration pays out $33. They give you $5 just for signing up with their company to begin with.
UPDATE (31st August): It's funny but as of now, the 150 mails i've read have earned me about USD$5 which is more than their boasted USD$0.02 a mail.
http://www.emailcashpro.com
VOLUME : Number of e-mails received depends on your profile. It is estimated to be not more than 3 per day. I received 2 messages in the week I have joined so far.
OPPPORTUNITIES:. It accepts only Singaporean citizens and Permanent Residents. It seems like you can earn cash only through e-mails for now.
CASHABILITY: You get one point or one cent per mail read. After earning $11, you can cash out. They pay by cheque and deduct $1 for processing.
RELIABILITY: This company is registered so you can go check up on it. Their website is SO easy to use since it only has one link that you can access after joining – the member’s area. Everything you need to know is reflected there in a general overview. Looks pretty good and decent too.
WORTH THE TIME? Well, they do provide market information that can be quite relevant to Singapore since they are after all a Singapore based company. However, if you are only in it for the money then it’s not that great. Bearing in mind that they are a young company (and thus still can improve and develop more), I guess there’s no harm joining but don’t expect to make more money than to buy your favourite Teh-Tarik.
UPDATE (12th August) : I guess I was right about them getting better. They've negotiated an extended free full function trial with hollywood clicks - a dvd rental company. Plus, you get a chance to win a membership (worth about $400) from them in a new lucky draw! YAY!
http://www.e-mailpaysu.com
VOLUME : I’ve received 41 messages thus far. The average number per day is 7. The number ranges from 2 -14 messages, with 14 being the weekend hit! They also send mails to your mailbox that you have with them – automatically received when registered. These vary. I’ve received about 20 mails this way (on top of the 41). All this within a week. Expect a high volume.
OPPPORTUNITIES:. “Get paid to click” – visit websites and get paid $0.005 per click. There are 7 clicks available per day. The troublesome part is that you have to key in your username before each click that’s all. You can “play games for cash” though I still have yet to figure out that part properly. “Playing and tesing new video games” unfortunately only applies to US citizens so if you aren’t one, like me, too bad. They have “Ad-cash” where you get $0.10 per advertisement read. Of course, like all the rest, they pay you for reading their mail - $0.02 per mail. They also give you 2 points per e-mail ad read, which can later be accumulated and converted into cash. Gold membership doubles your earnings. They have a free weekly lotto where you stand a chance to win up to $500 but it’s not applicable for Singaporeans.
CASHABILITY: By cheque. $1 processing fee.
RELIABILITY: I can only find the company e-mail address. Not much to go upon. They have been delivering their services though thus far.
WORTH THE TIME? They pay you $10 just for signing up. Their website is confusing at first and seemingly disorganized, but you get used to it. The pay out is not great but the high volume makes up for it i guess.
http://www.morvo.net
VOLUME : Medium. I got a survey invite every few days or so.
OPPPORTUNITIES:. You can join focus groups and take part in surveys (through the phone, in person, or online). You can also earn points when you shop online – a fraction of what you spend is converted to points. Trying out offers also gains you points. Referring people increases your chances to win a lucky draw item – you can choose amongst a range of usually desirable things in the market like an ipod.
CASHABILITY: Taking part in focus groups earns you a token sum ranging from $10 to $250 (at least from what I have seen so far). The longer the focus group, the higher the token sum it seems. Points earned are converted to cash and can be directly transferred into your bank account (if you’re Singaporean). If you’re not a Singaporean you will receive a cheque in USD.
RELIABILITY: Registering for this automatically registers you for yoursay.com and vice versa. They seem to be under the same company.
WORTH THE TIME? It’s definitely worth registering for if you are aged 25-early 30s. The bulk of their target audience for focus groups with the highest payoffs is in that age range. However, they do have a considerable number pf surveys and focus groups for all ages, with acceptable remuneration for your time and effort. Their surveys (so far as I have observed), look for participants aged 18 and above. They seem to be quite selective with their participants though. I wish I could comment more but I have not been successful in my application for any of the surveys I signed up for so far. I’ve been registered with them for more than a year now.
www.mysurveyasia.com.sg
VOLUME : I can’t really tell for now. I just got my confirmation yesterday and the only survey I’ve done is to “profile” me. I don’t think that’s counted.
UPDATE(31st August) : It's been a month and I still haven't received a single survey invite.
OPPPORTUNITIES: Seems like just surveys for now.
CASHABILITY: I don’t know what’s the range of points they give for surveys but I got 100 just for signing up and another 100 for completing a “profiling” survey.
RELIABILITY: There seems to be a lag time when I registered. It took them a week after registration to confirm my registration. (That is, I signed up on Tuesday, and on Tuesday the next week they mailed me to confirm my registration. Until they confirm your registration you can’t do nuts.) They control referrals too! So no spamming and no being referred to someone you don’t know! I mean, if you were going to be referred by someone, and contribute to their ‘rewards’ – 50points to the referrer (maximum can refer only 5 people), you would want to give the 50 points to someone you know right? So I like that. They are managed by and operated byTNS. (TNS founded in 1960, is a member of the TNS group of companies - the second largest marketing research organization in the world. They provide custom research to leading companies and organizations across a wide variety of industries.) They profile you professionally with a well-thought of website and survey design. Very comprehensive. Very professional. I stand in favour.
WORTH THE TIME? They give you 100 points for signing up and another 100 points for completing a survey to “profile” you. *see below: global test markets* You need a minimum of 500 points to redeem something – which in my opinion should be pretty easy. You can suggest rewards if you don’t like what you see in the rewards section. So far, they’ve got lots of gift voucher redemptions available (mostly, $10/20 gift vouchers). From what I can tell so far, they have the highest payout. A definite winner.
www.globaltestmarket.com
VOLUME : Low. They only send out e-mails when there is a survey to do. (But I guess the number of opportunities you receive depends on your profile.
OPPPORTUNITIES:. Just surveys.
CASHABILITY: Instead of cash, they dish out marketpoints. These marketpoints can be converted to cash at a rate of 5 USD cents per point. However, their payout per survey depends on how far you go in the survey. Every survey you do, they will ask for your general data and if you are eligible after answering the first question, then the survey will proceed to the next question and so on. If after the first question they find you ineligible by criteria, then the survey ends. However, they do give you token points just for attempting the survey (like if you do not go further then the first question). The survey I was invited to do had a reward of 5-50points (25cents to $2.50 USD).
RELIABILITY: This company seems reputable. They’ve been around since 2004. Their membership base is huge I imagine because for the survey that I did, there was a quota of 53459 people to survey! They even give you a few surveys to do to “profile” you for their clients’ surveys (demographics, eligibility and all). They were the only company aside from www.mysurveyasia.com.sg which did so. Their website is well organized, and professional looking. On their “contact us” page they have provided a land address as well as their e-mail addresses (each e-mail specializes in different areas of questions). I am very impressed. They don’t allow spamming either!
WORTH THE TIME? The payout per survey is pretty good. I have no idea if the volume will pick up but I guess the number of survey invites you receive will depend on your profile. I don’t regret joining them. They seem professional enough in the long run and I think maybe I can get some extra pocket money here.
http://www.viewsnet.synovate.com/
VOLUME : Low. I hardly got any invites since I joined in 2005.
OPPPORTUNITIES:. Surveys only it seems. Focus Groups do not seem to be materializing.
CASHABILITY: One point is $1 so far as I can tell. I got one point for doing a very short simple survey and they gave me $1.
RELIABILITY: You get the money through GIRO/Internet Banking only. I have received a payment before so you can rest assured that they do pay out.
WORTH THE TIME? I hardly got any survey invites, and when I did, the survey was always closed by the time I got to it (not long after mind you) – quota for survey reached. My guess is that this company has got more panel members then survey opportunities. So when one survey comes up, it’s snapped up and closed in a poof. The website is slow to load too. The payout seems pretty good as long as you can complete a survey or focus group
There are legit companies out there who do these kind of things. I have been approached before by some to test out some new products (It was fun!) and give my opinion on them. I got paid nicely too! There was one I did for $20 for 20mins. I had to test this new drink. Not only was it yummy, it was quite a fun experience. Of course, the downside of it was that I had to travel all the way to Tanjong Pagar to the research company to do the survey and test. However, these opportunities are pretty rare. Out of all the time I have been registered with the company, I have been called up only twice. (I have been with them for about a year or so already).
So I decided to do something I have never done before and test out (I love to test new things) the internet based ‘companies’ that conduct these kind of offers. Actually my idea for this sprung out of boredom while I was sitting on the MRT and I saw this advertisement on the train:
I signed up for only the FREE registration ones, so I didn’t have to incur cost. (I’m not THAT dumb to go sign up for the ones you have to pay – especially since some of these companies seem to cater more towards US/UK/Canadian markets – which meant fewer opportunities for Singaporeans.
http://www.wowearnings.com
VOLUME :You receive about 3-5 e-mails per day from this company. They pay you for each e-mail read.
OPPPORTUNITIES: There’s also a “Paid-to-click” section whereby you get paid the value of the banner you click (limited to once a day). However, since joining, I’ve not seen any of these banners. The message “There are no banners to display” comes out. Their “Paid-to-signup” with offers (basically testing free online things like programs and stuff) are mostly for US citizens and you’ll find little, if any, offers that are applicable to poor Singaporeans like ourselves.
CASHABILITY: When your account reaches $20, you can cash out your earned income. For Singaporeans, they do this via paypal, stormpay or e-gold only. Too bad for people who don’t have these accounts, or aren’t computer savvy.
RELIABILITY: Questions sent out via e-mail had been answered promptly. The website is working 100% of the time and is organized well. An idiot could navigate his/her way through. I snooped around the net a bit and managed to get in contact with this Malaysian guy who is registered with them to ask if he had gotten paid before and he said yes. Not much to go on of course, but why would he lie to me?
WORTH THE TIME? If most of your income is going to come via e-mail reading, it’s not really that great. The pay out is only about 2 cents (USD) per mail read. If you are willing to take the risk and do some investing, then I would say this will probably be worth your time. For $4.95 you get $75, for instance. Some FREE trials that require registration pays out $33. They give you $5 just for signing up with their company to begin with.
UPDATE (31st August): It's funny but as of now, the 150 mails i've read have earned me about USD$5 which is more than their boasted USD$0.02 a mail.
http://www.emailcashpro.com
VOLUME : Number of e-mails received depends on your profile. It is estimated to be not more than 3 per day. I received 2 messages in the week I have joined so far.
OPPPORTUNITIES:. It accepts only Singaporean citizens and Permanent Residents. It seems like you can earn cash only through e-mails for now.
CASHABILITY: You get one point or one cent per mail read. After earning $11, you can cash out. They pay by cheque and deduct $1 for processing.
RELIABILITY: This company is registered so you can go check up on it. Their website is SO easy to use since it only has one link that you can access after joining – the member’s area. Everything you need to know is reflected there in a general overview. Looks pretty good and decent too.
WORTH THE TIME? Well, they do provide market information that can be quite relevant to Singapore since they are after all a Singapore based company. However, if you are only in it for the money then it’s not that great. Bearing in mind that they are a young company (and thus still can improve and develop more), I guess there’s no harm joining but don’t expect to make more money than to buy your favourite Teh-Tarik.
UPDATE (12th August) : I guess I was right about them getting better. They've negotiated an extended free full function trial with hollywood clicks - a dvd rental company. Plus, you get a chance to win a membership (worth about $400) from them in a new lucky draw! YAY!
http://www.e-mailpaysu.com
VOLUME : I’ve received 41 messages thus far. The average number per day is 7. The number ranges from 2 -14 messages, with 14 being the weekend hit! They also send mails to your mailbox that you have with them – automatically received when registered. These vary. I’ve received about 20 mails this way (on top of the 41). All this within a week. Expect a high volume.
OPPPORTUNITIES:. “Get paid to click” – visit websites and get paid $0.005 per click. There are 7 clicks available per day. The troublesome part is that you have to key in your username before each click that’s all. You can “play games for cash” though I still have yet to figure out that part properly. “Playing and tesing new video games” unfortunately only applies to US citizens so if you aren’t one, like me, too bad. They have “Ad-cash” where you get $0.10 per advertisement read. Of course, like all the rest, they pay you for reading their mail - $0.02 per mail. They also give you 2 points per e-mail ad read, which can later be accumulated and converted into cash. Gold membership doubles your earnings. They have a free weekly lotto where you stand a chance to win up to $500 but it’s not applicable for Singaporeans.
CASHABILITY: By cheque. $1 processing fee.
RELIABILITY: I can only find the company e-mail address. Not much to go upon. They have been delivering their services though thus far.
WORTH THE TIME? They pay you $10 just for signing up. Their website is confusing at first and seemingly disorganized, but you get used to it. The pay out is not great but the high volume makes up for it i guess.
http://www.morvo.net
VOLUME : Medium. I got a survey invite every few days or so.
OPPPORTUNITIES:. You can join focus groups and take part in surveys (through the phone, in person, or online). You can also earn points when you shop online – a fraction of what you spend is converted to points. Trying out offers also gains you points. Referring people increases your chances to win a lucky draw item – you can choose amongst a range of usually desirable things in the market like an ipod.
CASHABILITY: Taking part in focus groups earns you a token sum ranging from $10 to $250 (at least from what I have seen so far). The longer the focus group, the higher the token sum it seems. Points earned are converted to cash and can be directly transferred into your bank account (if you’re Singaporean). If you’re not a Singaporean you will receive a cheque in USD.
RELIABILITY: Registering for this automatically registers you for yoursay.com and vice versa. They seem to be under the same company.
WORTH THE TIME? It’s definitely worth registering for if you are aged 25-early 30s. The bulk of their target audience for focus groups with the highest payoffs is in that age range. However, they do have a considerable number pf surveys and focus groups for all ages, with acceptable remuneration for your time and effort. Their surveys (so far as I have observed), look for participants aged 18 and above. They seem to be quite selective with their participants though. I wish I could comment more but I have not been successful in my application for any of the surveys I signed up for so far. I’ve been registered with them for more than a year now.
www.mysurveyasia.com.sg
VOLUME : I can’t really tell for now. I just got my confirmation yesterday and the only survey I’ve done is to “profile” me. I don’t think that’s counted.
UPDATE(31st August) : It's been a month and I still haven't received a single survey invite.
OPPPORTUNITIES: Seems like just surveys for now.
CASHABILITY: I don’t know what’s the range of points they give for surveys but I got 100 just for signing up and another 100 for completing a “profiling” survey.
RELIABILITY: There seems to be a lag time when I registered. It took them a week after registration to confirm my registration. (That is, I signed up on Tuesday, and on Tuesday the next week they mailed me to confirm my registration. Until they confirm your registration you can’t do nuts.) They control referrals too! So no spamming and no being referred to someone you don’t know! I mean, if you were going to be referred by someone, and contribute to their ‘rewards’ – 50points to the referrer (maximum can refer only 5 people), you would want to give the 50 points to someone you know right? So I like that. They are managed by and operated byTNS. (TNS founded in 1960, is a member of the TNS group of companies - the second largest marketing research organization in the world. They provide custom research to leading companies and organizations across a wide variety of industries.) They profile you professionally with a well-thought of website and survey design. Very comprehensive. Very professional. I stand in favour.
WORTH THE TIME? They give you 100 points for signing up and another 100 points for completing a survey to “profile” you. *see below: global test markets* You need a minimum of 500 points to redeem something – which in my opinion should be pretty easy. You can suggest rewards if you don’t like what you see in the rewards section. So far, they’ve got lots of gift voucher redemptions available (mostly, $10/20 gift vouchers). From what I can tell so far, they have the highest payout. A definite winner.
www.globaltestmarket.com
VOLUME : Low. They only send out e-mails when there is a survey to do. (But I guess the number of opportunities you receive depends on your profile.
OPPPORTUNITIES:. Just surveys.
CASHABILITY: Instead of cash, they dish out marketpoints. These marketpoints can be converted to cash at a rate of 5 USD cents per point. However, their payout per survey depends on how far you go in the survey. Every survey you do, they will ask for your general data and if you are eligible after answering the first question, then the survey will proceed to the next question and so on. If after the first question they find you ineligible by criteria, then the survey ends. However, they do give you token points just for attempting the survey (like if you do not go further then the first question). The survey I was invited to do had a reward of 5-50points (25cents to $2.50 USD).
RELIABILITY: This company seems reputable. They’ve been around since 2004. Their membership base is huge I imagine because for the survey that I did, there was a quota of 53459 people to survey! They even give you a few surveys to do to “profile” you for their clients’ surveys (demographics, eligibility and all). They were the only company aside from www.mysurveyasia.com.sg which did so. Their website is well organized, and professional looking. On their “contact us” page they have provided a land address as well as their e-mail addresses (each e-mail specializes in different areas of questions). I am very impressed. They don’t allow spamming either!
WORTH THE TIME? The payout per survey is pretty good. I have no idea if the volume will pick up but I guess the number of survey invites you receive will depend on your profile. I don’t regret joining them. They seem professional enough in the long run and I think maybe I can get some extra pocket money here.
http://www.viewsnet.synovate.com/
VOLUME : Low. I hardly got any invites since I joined in 2005.
OPPPORTUNITIES:. Surveys only it seems. Focus Groups do not seem to be materializing.
CASHABILITY: One point is $1 so far as I can tell. I got one point for doing a very short simple survey and they gave me $1.
RELIABILITY: You get the money through GIRO/Internet Banking only. I have received a payment before so you can rest assured that they do pay out.
WORTH THE TIME? I hardly got any survey invites, and when I did, the survey was always closed by the time I got to it (not long after mind you) – quota for survey reached. My guess is that this company has got more panel members then survey opportunities. So when one survey comes up, it’s snapped up and closed in a poof. The website is slow to load too. The payout seems pretty good as long as you can complete a survey or focus group
brainjuice flowed at 5:33 AM
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