One of the many ways that freelancers can make money from home is to sign up to one or more of the “Get Paid To” programs (or GPTs). If you have been researching work at home jobs, you will probably have seen ads which claim that you can make money by reading e-mail or by answering surveys and trying free samples. The good news is that many freelancers make money doing exactly those things. However, a word of warning is necessary; this particular industry is attracts a lot of scammers so if you are interested in getting involved with GPT programs make sure that you do thorough checks on the companies that attract your interest. Take special precautions to protect both yourself and the security of the data on your computer.



It should be stressed that very few people actually make full time income from GPT programs. Like mystery shopping, GPT should be viewed as a source of supplemental income. For many freelancers, GPT programs offer a fun and easy way to earn some extra cash when they need to. Freelancers who have most experience of using the programs usually advise that you never rely on GPT to pay your monthly bills. On the other hand, they can provide a perfectly good way of earning money for special occasions, for holidays or shopping for gifts.

So how exactly do GPT programs work? There are basically three distinct categories of GPT program. You can get paid to read e-mail, get paid to fill out surveys and get paid to sample products. Each type has its own particular advantages and disadvantages. Before you start any GPT program, you should take some precautionary measures to safeguard your personal information. You will be required to give some personal information in order to join many of these programs, but the less you actually say about yourself the better.

For a start you should set up a separate e-mail address for your GPT activities. Many GPT programs end up generating a lot of spam mail, so you will not want to use your main e-mail address. If one of the conditions is that you provide a phone number, you can register with voicemail service to get a voicemail inbox and private phone number. This will help keep your home phone free of telemarketing calls.

Get paid to read e-mail programs generally pay you a few cents for reading e-mail and clicking on the accompanying links. The email messages usually contain offers for special deals on products or invitations to sign up for programs. Depending on the e-mail program, you will sometimes get more money or points if you try the offer, however, you should still get paid a few cents even if you decline to try the offers, provided you click the link inside the email. There are many popular paid e-mail companies. Do some research on Internet forums or via Google before you sign up for a program to make sure that people are actually getting paid. Avoid signing up for too many programs at once or your GPT e-mail address will be swamped with junk mail.

Getting paid to complete surveys works in a similar way. You sign up for a survey program and then fill out some personal details. You will be matched to surveys that are looking for the opinions of people in your particular niche; that is, people of your age, income bracket and some other factors. Depending on the company, either you will get paid for each survey you complete or the surveys you complete will earn you points that can be redeemed later. Just as with get paid to read e-mail programs, make sure you do adequate research on survey companies before you sign up to any of them. There are hundreds out there but only a relatively few are worth the time and effort.

Finally there are programs that pay you to sample products. These programs pay significantly more than the other GPT programs. On the other hand, however, you will be required to pay anything from $1 to $10 to try the products. When you sign up to this kind of program, you have to make a point of keeping complete records of what you will be receiving and when you need to cancel the service or return the item otherwise you may end up paying more than you earn. Most of the time you will have to make an initial commitment to receive a product automatically every month, but you will have an option to cancel the contract within a certain period of time. Unless you really get hooked on the product you sample you will probably want to cancel the standing order before you have to pay for it. With legitimate GTI programs you will be able to call the company and cancel the service, yet still be paid for signing up for the GPT program.

Remember that GPT programs are a great way to earn supplementary income but should not really be considered as something to be relied on to cover your monthly bills.