Millions of people are looking for ways to work at home. It can be done. They see it being done and wonder why they can't find ways to legitimately make money from home like others do. All they find are scams that look too good to be true—and usually are. One of the most popular ways to make money from home is by filling out surveys for cash. Companies pay consumers to answer questions regarding products and their use of many daily items and in return for it they give them anywhere from a few dollars to a hundred dollars. These companies need this information in order to fine tune their products and advertising campaigns to fit the needs of buyers. Unfortunately, many paid survey sites are amongst those work from home deals that look too good to be true. They promise big payoffs but in reality all they do is create a lot of work, jam email boxes with tons of surveys and the need to sign up for hundreds of different sites that will in turn flood your in box more and in the end only pay a few pennies, or offer gifts that you have to build up huge numbers of surveys to get.

Some of these companies require very large balances before they pay out making it frustrating when you are only getting small payouts. Knowing what to look for to avoid being scammed by these companies is even harder because you can easily get caught up with the switch of needing to purchase products in order to get paid at the end of the surveys they send. By the time you have gone through a twenty page survey you are so desperate to get paid for it the temptation to buy the products is so great you end up spending more than the survey is worth. What they don't tell you is that you do not have to go that far in the survey in order to be paid for it. All you have to do is fill out the questionnaire part consisting of the pages prior to the offers. However, some of those companies don't play fair when it comes to that catch either. They hold off approving the surveys that haven't resulted in purchases.

Because paid for survey companies are so popular they are springing up everywhere and it can be very confusing for the average person. Which ones are good and which ones aren't can be difficult to see from an initial inspection regardless of how diligent you are about checking them out. Usually the only way to know is to sign up, work the system and sometimes waste your time for a week or two until you discover the truth. The fact is there are very good companies out there but weeding them out from the rest can be a trying endeavor. Two important points to consider when looking for a paid survey site:

• Read the TOS: The TOS (Terms of Service) will tell you up front if the company you are signing up with sells information to third parties. Make sure they strictly prohibit the sale of your information to others or you will have even more mail in your inbox and possibly your home mail box as well.

• Avoid companies that pay in 'points' or prizes. You want real hard cash. That is the only way to make a fair living from taking surveys. Payment in other items like prizes can be nice if you aren't interested in earning an income but just want exciting items arriving in your mail from time to time, but for those actually interested in working from home cash is the only payment that makes sense.

Getting paid to take surveys can be a profitable situation. You will not get rich, and it is actually work that needs to be completed, but you can get paid to work from home if you know what to look for in a paid survey company.