Saturday, July 18, 2009

MyPoints

I just redeemed my first MyPoints gift card - a $10.00 card from Bath & Body Works. I should receive it in the mail in 2-4 weeks. Once I've received and used it, I can vouch for MyPoints. I'll keep you updated.

I'm also 1 Swagbuck away from redeeming another $5.00 Swagbucks gift card. So far, I've bought one relative a birthday present using gift cards I earned through Swagbucks, so using the website has definitely paid off.

I set aside my ReviewStream reviews in order to work on some other stuff, but I'd better get cracking on those reviews if I want to make my loan bill next month.

Gaming Lagoon denied every single offer I completed, yet again. Don't bother with Gaming Lagoon - seriously.

I have received two samples through StartSampling, so far - one for Sun Crystals and another for Aveeno shampoo and conditioner. Samples are particularly useful for those who wish to write reviews about products but don't want to have to buy half the store. You also get 'Frequest Tryer Miles' which can be redeemed for gifts. The gifts kind of suck, though (a tote bag, a free shirt, or a restaurant.com gift card) and it seems like they're available in limited quantities. I guess it's better than nothing. Considering the fact that the 'best' gift (the restaurant.com card) is available on Swagbucks for a measly 45 SB, it may not be worth all of the effort. The StartSampling forums still make the website worth joining, though.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Swagbucks Now Offers Paypal

So I just noticed through the Twitter feed that Swagbucks now offers a $5 Paypal to the address you signed up for Swagbucks with. Since I've redeemed gift cards from them in the past, I know that they definitely come through on their prizes. So this is good news for those of you who are only interested in cash. A $5 gift certificate from Amazon still costs slightly more than half of the 80 Swagbucks that a $5 Paypal apparently costs - but sometimes, you just need cash.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

List O' Survey Sites Continues, July 1st - Plus Other Updates

NOT WORTH MY TIME:
http://consumer-opinions.com/ - looks very amateurish and the 'Contest rules' section is very out of date.
forummodalis.com - portal page
http://www.survey550.com/ - 404
http://marketprofiles.net/ - looks amateurish. Also, you can only be entered in a drawing to win prizes. Why bother when you can take surveys elsewhere and be paid every time?
allpaidsurveys.com - not an actual survey site. Worth exploring for its links to other survey sites but they are not well-organized. Also has links to very annoying I WILL SELL U MY SEACRET METHOD!!1 type websites.
survey904.com - Looks legitimate and professional but I can't see anywhere for survey-takers to sign up
webmysteryshoppers.com - parked portal page
survey552.com - 404
zoomerang.com - 404
survey087.com - useless link list
foodquiz.com - no longer offering surveys through the foodquiz.com website
consumercorner.com - site is closed
onlineval.com - link list
survey233.com - 404
surveypayday.com - link list
isay.com - parked/portal page
preres.com - in order to participate, you must go to the opinionwizard.com website
firstlook.com - does not appear to be a survey site any longer
survey446.com - 404
survey889.com - portal page
survey767.com - portal page
survey153.com - portal page
survey199.com - link list/portal page
survey327.com - portal page
surveysignup.com - parked/portal page
surveychoice.com - 404
researchhouse.ca - no longer appears to be a survey site
focusgroups.com - lists focus group locations, etc. but does not appear to be a survey site
surfbuzz.com - parked/portal page
quesionmarket.com - portal site
questionmarket.com - no longer accepting new registrants
gmrnet.com - offers "a chance to win prizes", looks amateurish


WORTH LOOKING AT FURTHER:

consumerlink.com
http://www.gmi-mr.com/
mysurvey.com - I believe this may be affiliated with Mypoints.com somehow
https://www.surveysavvy.com
http://focusline.com/ - has been around since 1996. Most of the page refers to 2008 dates, so I'm a bit worried it may be outdated.
gozing.com - Clicking on the BBB Accredited link on the bottom leads to a page indicating that its accredition has lapsed (as of this date, in any case). It's apparently run by Greenfield Online. I don't know how good/bad it is, its BBB rating looks like it's B- right now, and indicates that "This company's business is providing the sales of cellular phones, accessories and survey programs" - paid surveys aren't mentioned. It looks interesting but I would be wary.
product-testing.com
songpeople.com - looks interesting. Not surveys, but interesting.
pickthehits.com - I don't know what to make of this one, you have to contact them via email - I probably will.
userworks.com
opinionwizard.com
ithinkinc.com
executiveadvisoryboard.com
cobbey.com
buzzback.com
jurytest.com - this one looks odd, but interesting
surveysavvy.com
busreslab.com

Other Updates:
Thanks to Reviewstream, I can pay my student loan payment. Combined with money I made from Associated Content, money from doing some odd jobs for other people and some money I received as a birthday gift, I am also able to pay my phone bill. I've been worried that all of this was a huge waste of time, but if I was able to pay 2 bills, it wasn't. I will also be able to buy my cousin a birthday gift with the gift cards I earned through Swagbucks, which is nice and would otherwise be impossible (as I am essentially flat broke after paying bills).

DollarSurveys.net still hasn't deposited anything in my Paypal account. Well, guys, it's been a week and I'm close to calling that one a bust. Edit: DollarSurveys actually paid me today - $3.25. I'll post images tomorrow

At Points2Shop, I'm close to the 1000 point mark just through taking stupid easy Daily Surveys. I'd like to save up a decent number of points before ordering something and possibly being able to vouch for the site once my prize arrives. I probably could order something now (10 bucks is about where money starts getting 'useful' on Amazon) but I'd rather just wait.

A relative sent me an email with a link to this Yahoo! User Experience Panel. It's Yahoo! so I feel pretty safe assuming it's legit. I don't know if it'll help anyone - I'm guessing the odds of being selected are pretty low.

When I went into this, I expected to find a fistful of scams. I've definitely found my fair share of scams, but Internet, you surprise me.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Paid By Reviewstream - Reviewstream is Legit

Two hours after sending Reviewstream an email requesting payment, I received my payment of $90.80. Wow, that was fast!




So I can now say that they are definitely legit. I can also say that I'll be able to pay my student loan bill next month. Thank you, ReviewStream, and bless your little hearts.

I'd like to mention that I did this without a legion of referrals. In fact, I have no referrals at all. Nobody has been up-voting my reviews (I don't think I've gotten a single Helpful vote, although I work awfully hard on them). That's right, I wrote 47 reviews (I got paid the bulk rate for 2 of them before wising up). It wasn't easy. They tend to get accepted faster as you write more. I think out of all of the reviews I have written, perhaps 2 have gotten rejected for the full rate, and that was before I learned how to write them in a way that I knew would get them accepted for the full rate. Writing a good review really doesn't take that long once you have practice and you're writing to a template. You can see the reviews I've written by checking my review blog, ShinyReview.

Waiting...

The points I've been waiting for on MyPoints are still pending.

Nothing at all in my Paypal account from DollarSurveys - but I did get tons and tons of spam! I'll be taking my surveys through Points2Shop unless/until I see something from DollarSurveys actually arrive in my Paypal account, since they both run off of the same survey services (and the number of surveys you can take per day through those is limited) and I would like to benefit the most (or at all) from any surveys I take.

The gift card I requested a few days ago from Swagbucks is still pending - I haven't gotten my gift card number yet. They've always delivered in the past, so I'm not really worried about this, and I'm back up to 11 SwagBucks already again - almost 1/4 of the way to my next gift card.

Regarding ReviewStream - I made a formal payment request from them today. I won't state the amount I requested, since I don't want to jynx myself. I wasn't quite sure how to make the formal request - they didn't offer any suggestions or guidelines, so I just emailed them and asked for the money to be sent to my Paypal account. Yeah, I've been busy writing a lot of reviews - I've been sweating bullets lately, since I've had no way to pay my student loan or phone bill.

Still nothing worthwhile from SurveySpot, besides them expecting me to take surveys for free. Is the chance to not get paid for surveys why I signed up for SurveySpot? I think not. I think I can do that pretty much anywhere else on the Internet.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Monday, June 22, 2009

Progress, Monday June 22.

Associated Content accepted another article. It's currently processing, and I hope it posts later today.

I redeemed my third Swagbucks prize, another $5.00 Amazon gift card.

MyPoints - I finally have enough points for the $10.00 Bath & Body Works gift card, however, some of those points are still "pending" and I can't order it until they officially post.

Sendearnings - up to $16.93 (cashout is $30.00)

ReviewStream - Writing several reviews a day and up to $18.80 (cashout is $50.00). A dozen more are still pending. You can find links to posted reviews here.

Neobux - up to 50 whole cents!

Points2Shop - 764 points. Not really a 'minimum' cashout, but it's the equiv. of about $7.64 on Amazon. Got my sights set on a $25.00 pair of 'pirate' boots. It's gonna be a while. Some offers I completed last week are still 'pending' but others post almost immediately - I'm hoping this doesn't turn into another GamingLagoon situation.

Survey Spot - As of yet, I have not qualified for any paying reviews.

MyLot- have been signing in and posting every few days, I'm up to $2.54 (that only took, what, 6 months?).

Gaminglagoon - What's that? My pending offers are still pending? Surely, you jest.

I have found a few other places to join but won't be discussing them until I have an idea of how they may pan out.

A relative also emailed me a list of paid survey websites. The list is incredibly long! I don't think I could ever evaluate all of these, although I'm sure some will clearly be garbage the moment I look at them. I plan on leafing through it over the course of this week, however.

I have a lense on Squidoo, predictably called Shiny Little Pennies.