Paid surveys are a great way to make money online. Majority of paid survey sites are open only to members from USA or Canada and they can expect to get handsome rewards for taking online surveys. International members have fewer options. However the

scene is changing and there are many survey companies which are open to members worldwide and reward them well.

Online paid survey sites are actually online divisions of market research companies. They conduct surveys to aid companies in the development of new products and services and in improving them. Many of them give handsome rewards for your participation in online surveys. Hitherto, these companies have targeted mainly the North American markets. But, with the advent of globalization, they have shown increasing interst in international markets. Here, we review four of the best international survey companies: Globaltestmarket, Ciao Surveys International, Surveysavvy and American Consumer Opinion panel.

Globaltestamarket is arguably the best international survey site at present. They offers surveys in many languages and have a presence in more than a hundred countries. They have a points based reward system. They typically reward you 50 to 100 marketpoints for surveys you complete. Even if you don't qualify for a survey, you wil get some reward points for completing the screening questionnaire. Globaltestamarket also offers rewards for referring your friends. Once you accumulate 1000 marketpoints, which is equivalent to 50 US dollars, you can request payment which will be sent to you in the form of a check. Globaltestamarket sends you checks in local currencies in many countries.

Ciao Surveys International is another leading international survey site. They are in the process of upgrading and is setting up separate panels for several countries, particularly in Europe and Latin America. In fact, they have teamed up with Greenfield Online (previously Gozing surveys) and now conducts the latter's operations outside North America. Ciao rewards you with cash, up to US$ 6.50, for surveys you take. In addition, they also offer referral rewards for referring your friends. They support payment via paypal, a leading online payment processor. At paypal, you can make a free personal account. You need to have a minimum of $5 in your Ciao account to request payment by paypal. In some countries, Ciao also supports payment by check.

Surveysavvy is a leader in online market research. A division of Luth Research, they are open to members worldwide. Although Surveysavvy does not send frequent surveys, they reward you very well for surveys you take, often up to $20 or more. They have an IT panel which rewards very well for those in the information technology field. Another great feature is their referral system which rewards you an average of $2 for surveys your referrals take and $1 for surveys their referrals take. Money you earn from surveys and referrals are paid into your surveysavvy account. You can request payment at any time without any minimum requirement. Payments are sent to you via check.

American Consumer Opinion Panel (ACOP) is a part of Decision Analyst Inc. Despite their name, they are open to members worldwide. In fact, they have panels in several European and East Asian languages. Like Surveysavvy, they don't invite you for frequnt surveys, but reward you well. Typically, you can get US$ 4 to 25 for each survey you complete. They send you payments in the form of checks in local currency or as American Express gift cheques 4 weeks after you complete a survey. Overall, ACOP is a good survey site and gives you good earnings in many countries.

In addition to the leading four, there are many good paid survey comapnies like Surveys.com, NPDOR, Palnetpulse, Yoursay and Opinionsquare which are open to members worldwide. You can get more information about them on free online survey resource sites.