If you are trying to make some extra cash while working from home and without investing any money, survey panels are a good option. Before the advent of survey panels, market research companies were paying huge amounts to understand the customer and hear their voice about the products.
Surveys are a win-win situation for both parties, where you as a customer take survey about services and products and get your opinion heard about them. In return these survey panels pay you for your time and valuable opinion.
Different panels have different way of rewarding, where some pay hard cash through PayPal while others have point system and get you entry into a sweepstake or bid.
However, you need to be careful while registering with these survey sites as some of them are a scam or not legit and you end up wasting your valuable time and frustrated.
What is Survey Junkie?
Survey Junkie or SJ, is a free to join market research panel, that provides direct surveys to its members.
Survey Junkie’s reward system offers its members with points after the completion of each survey, that can be redeemed for cash via PayPal or a e-Gift card.
Once you register with them, they ask you to fill in some general profile information. Based on that information and demographics, they will then provide you with best matching survey opportunities.
Survey Junkie recommends you to register with atleast 5 survey panels, to maximize your chance of qualifying for surveys and increasing your payout. However, it is completely optional and not mandatory for registration.
Can you make money with these surveys?
SJ is not a scam, however the question that still arises is whether you can make money worth your time with it or not? Personally, I think it is not worth your time and effort. You will usually end up feeling frustrated and I would not recommend it to a friend for some extra money making.
Most surveys pay you around $0.5- $ 3.00 per survey and cost you around 20-40 minutes. You end up making an average of $1-$4 an hour. Now that’s not a good ROI.
Sometimes, you will find that you do not qualify for the survey, after spending a lot of time on it. However, Survey Junkie does pay you some points for participation, even when you disqualify.
Also, most websites do not offer more than one survey per week. So you will end up juggling between panels and figuring out what survey to take to make little money.
Quick Assessment
Pros
| Free to join |
| Provides direct survey opportunity to its members with a chance to win cash or e-Gift card. |
| Easy and quick to sign up |
| Millions of members |
| Receive points immediately after completing a survey |
| Rewards sent immediately at redemption – PayPal, Amazon, e-Gift cards |
| No fees to redeem points |
| Low payout threshold – $10 |
| New surveys available daily |
| Large survey inventory |
| Receive points for surveys you do not qualify for |
| Online customer support |
| Simple and user-friendly interface |
| User personal information is not shared with third party marketing companies |
| Trustpilot Reviews – one of the highest rated survey sites with 3000+ reviews |
| A+ Rating with BBB |
Cons
| Limited for US, Canada and Australia residents only. |
| You will get to know whether you are qualified or not for a survey, only after you complete it. |
| Payouts are low and often not worth the time. |
| It cannot replace a full time job or thought of as a source of regular income, as the suvey invites are limited. You will only receive them if your profile matches their survey requirements, even when you are available to take them. |
Is it Legit?
Yes, Survey Junkie is legit. However, there are a lot of consumer complaints and negative reviews against SJ and might not prove to be a good way to earn that extra money.
Even, if you do happen to get lucky and make some money, it is usually not worth your time and effort. There are better paying survey panels that provide more survey opportunities to make money.
Conclusion
I wouldn’t say that SJ is a scam, however it is a waste of time. Honestly, I would not recommend it for money making. There are better online survey panels like Opinion Outpost, Mint Vine and YouGov. They are hassle free and offer great variety of gifts to choose from.
