It's been a little more than a year since I launched my own personal investigation into paid surveys. Let me begin by saying I did not investigate every paid survey company so you may find differing results from mine. Second, I should mention that I only responded to survey opportunities sent to me based specifically on my profile.

What did I learn?

If you're invited to take a survey you should not assume you will be allowed to complete it. I was offered a few dozen surveys. Most of them were estimated to last 5 minutes to an hour. In some cases I was 15-20 minutes into the survey when a screen popped up indicating I no longer fit their profile needs and I was sent on my way.

Surveys for actual cash are harder to find than those offering cash equivalents. If you take the time to read terms and conditions for paid survey opportunities you will find that many offer either cyber cash for your completed surveys (you will need to save these rewards until you can afford to purchase an item from their store) or they offer opportunities to win larger prizes for every completed survey. For instance you might be offered one token per survey and you can use that token to put your name in a drawing for a prize. This could be a computer, cash, a flat screen TV or any of a number of other prizes. In this sense it's a bit like playing the lottery with your hard earned cyber coins. Most never win.

Money generated from the completed surveys will not generally meet minimum wage standards. I completed less than ten surveys from start to finish (based on invitations from my profile). These surveys took an average of 15 minutes to complete and offered a payout of around $0.75 on average. Obviously it is not rocket science to figure out you won't get rich this way, but that was the primary intent of the experiment – prove or disprove what had been common sense theory up to that point.

My introduction to paid surveys as a recreational investigation was a site that is no longer in existence. I was informed that the consumer researchers of this organization were able to amass hundreds of dollars in a very short period of time from paid surveys (from the very first day). One researcher reportedly said he had to stop because there was just no challenge in making money that easily.

This was the literature many were seeing and almost no one was refuting the statements. I followed this ‘consumer' site's advice and spent money to access these ‘preferred' opportunities.

I did ultimately gain back the money I spent for that membership, but just barely. If I discount the time I investigated in this ‘opportunity' I lost substantially.

I honestly think there are many who do not share their paid survey stories simply because they are too embarrassed by the whole ordeal. Those who speak positively about it are often simply recycling the words of paid survey marketers without actual firsthand experience.

Feel free to explore paid surveys, but do not pay to gain access to a master list. All legitimate paid survey opportunities are free. Use your favorite search engine and explore what's available. Make sure to fill out your profile and wait for a response. One thing is almost guaranteed – expect a veritable flood of third party emails once you sign up.