My Favorite and Most Profitable Survey Sites Review

Here are my top choices for survey sites that pay real money, are completely legit, and are actually fun to be a part of. I can vouch that these sites actually pay out either via paypal or check and that they don't drive you to insanity making you take a long pre-qualifying survey only to tell you at the end that you're not right for the survey. I hate that.

Here are my survey site choices:

HCD Online Surveys (https://www.hcdsurveys.com/panel/index.cfm)

This site is a different type of survey site than the usual. Often, their surveys include videos to watch and to click on "agree" or "disagree" with the points being made. I have gotten a slew of political surveys. Just recently, I was invited to watch Barack Obama's nomination acceptance speech live and give my feedback as he spoke. Results were posted in many media outlets minutes after the speech. I was paid $5.00 for that survey and enjoyed having my say!

This site invites you to surveys and rarely disqualifies you. Generally, they pay from $1.00 to $5.00 per survey. Some more intense projects pay more. I find the surveys interesting and fun to do and they are quite different from the norm. Some can take a while to complete but, since they are interesting, I don't mind a bit.

It takes a while to get a check after you redeem but you WILL get one. In addition, the survey results are posted on their sister site, www.mediacurves.com, shortly after the survey closes so you can see how others answered the same questions. I like that. In all, HCD is an honest, serious survey site that compensates well for your time.

Opinion Outpost - (https://www.opinionoutpost.com)

This survey site pays the most of any that I am a part of. They offer surveys that pay up to $10.00 and very often, they pay $3.00 or $4.00 per survey. They do have a pre-qualifying survey and you won't always get to take the survey they invite you to, which is a bummer, but they do have the option of "finding surveys you qualify for". You can spend as much time as you want pre-qualifying and finding surveys that you qualify for. Recently, I didn't qualify for a vehicle survey but was given the chance to try to qualify for another survey. I qualified immediately for a movie survey which was a lot of fun and paid me $2.00. Of course, some people will get more survey invites than others will, but I get several a week and usually qualify for at least half. And they don't make me do the whole survey before telling me I don't qualify.

You can easily see your balance, refer friends (and get $1.00 per friend who signs up and completes a survey), and request payment. This site is a good one and you can make good money if you have the time to take the surveys. There are all types of subject matter for surveys and, occasionally, you will be asked to join a focus group where you can earn $20.00 or even more. I have had great success with Opinions Outpost and enjoy the site.

NFO My Survey (http://www.mysurvey.com)

This is my favorite survey site of all I belong to or ever belonged to. They don't pay as much as some others but, when they send you an invite, you already qualify and are never turned down. You may be asked to take a longer survey after the initial one which pays more if you fit into a certain demographic category. You get paid between 10 cents and 50 cents for the short surveys and between $1.00 and $5.00 for the longer surveys.

They also will invite you to blind test products. I have gotten shampoo, clothes detergent, facial cream, hair color, scented candles, other air fresheners, dog food and cat food, litter, and many other products to try and keep. I then earn more by reporting back about my impressions of the products. I have also been a part of focus groups which paid handsomely.

I just received a check for $120.00 two weeks after requesting a payout so I know they pay and pay fast. You can opt to use your points to buy merchandise or to donate to charity as well. Every time you log on to the site, you are entered into a monthly sweepstakes for $10,000.

My account info is always right and always available. I have never had any issues with the site and plan to be a part of it until they won't have me any longer. I don't make as much money per survey but I always have surveys piling up and my whole family gets them as well through my account. They can answer the surveys and the points are credited to my account rather than having us all sign up on our own.

Honorable Mentions:

Valued Opinions (http://www.valuedopinions.com)

This is the latest site that I have joined. So far, I have taken two surveys and made $3.50 total and have not received any surveys that I didn't qualify for. They usually pay between $1.00 to $5.00 per survey. They also have special focus groups and other types of surveys that pay up to $50.00 each. Although they pay in real money, you must redeem your earnings for gift certificates/gift cards but they don't rip you off. That is, if you have $25.00, you can redeem that for a $25.00 gift certificate or card to places like Amazon, Macy's, and a host of others. You need $20.00 to redeem. Although I generally want the money honey, these gift cards are for places I shop anyway and they are dollar for dollar so it's just like money to me. This is one to watch for!

MyView (http://www.myview.com)

This site is not my favorite by any means. It is often tough to qualify for surveys and I tend to answer what seems like the whole survey before I'm told I don't qualify. They do, however, pay well and they do send many invites. If you are lucky enough to fall into a demographic of people that the survey affiliates are looking for, you can make money pretty quickly doing MyView surveys. They pay between $1.00 and $10.00 and sometimes more per survey if you qualify. You get nothing if you don't qualify and it can really be annoying because the qualification process is so time consuming. Still, I have made well over $30.00 and so has my son in a short time. They pay via paypal but you need to wait about a month after you take surveys to redeem and you need to have a $25.00 balance.

I know people who love this site. My son has not had any issues yet I have had numerous glitches and such that have made my blood boil. They seem to be more stable these days than a month ago so I may have simply joined at a bad time. How do you join, you say? Beats me. You can't just sign up. You need to be invited. And how do I invite people? Beats me. There is not one thing on the site that tells me how to send an invite to anyone.

I will continue to search around for the invite link and post it here if you want it. I know LisaCarey here on VP is a happy member and she has posted an invite link on the discussion boards if you are interested. You may have great luck with this site and you may pull your hair out trying to qualify for the surveys but either way, they DO pay well and they do offer quite a few chances to qualify for surveys. Just don't say I didn't warn you if you find you're in a group of people who don't seem to qualify for ANYTHING. That's so frustrating. I just added this site because it pays well and some people have tremendous success with it.

There you have my picks and my honorable mentions. If you have a bit of time to do surveys, the top survey hosts I named are great options. Your time is valuable so you should be paid well for your opinions and not have to rack up 50 million points just to get a free bookmark. I'm done with chancy sites that promise sweepstakes entries and nothing else. And I'm done with sites that pay in points and give you only a few options of how to redeem those points for anything of value.

If you are too, all of the above can put a little extra cash in your pocket.

Thanks for reading and, if you know of a good survey host, please share!

Patty