“I have answered many of those online ads and can tell you that all of those claims are false. It’s just a come on to get your email address to sell to advertising companies. The surveys are used as a way to sell individual advertising. To participate with surveys – you need to be with survey companies that use e-mail to determine if someone qualifies for in-house surveys or not.”
– Davida Shensky
“I have tried a few work from home businesses. I’m currently working on one which is bringing me $ 300 weekly. In my experience with online work from home opportunities, the ones that say you can make $ 5000 a week are scams.”
– Sara Rivera, Columbia, Pennsylvania
I have been seeing several of these ads online “make money online working part-time” and testimonials of several people along with photographs and a copy of their checks.
So, I decided to dig further to see if they work.
I signed up with a website and downloaded their eBook that gave me a list of about 300 survey companies and I signed up for some of these survey companies. Their surveys were quite long and I guess it took something like 5 to 15 minutes to fill out each survey. In several places I was not eligible to fill up the survey because they were looking for a specific demographic. There was a $ 5 bonus for signing up on one of the websites. I signed up and a $ 5 bonus was credited to my account online but to transfer that amount into my bank account or my PayPal account, I needed to have a minimum of $ 15 in my account. So, to earn $ 15 I needed to fill up even more surveys. However, I was not eligible for any more surveys because I didn’t fit the demographic.
So, overall my experience has been too much work for too little to no money. Working at McDonalds at minimum wage might be a better alternative.
However, don’t take my word for it, several of our readers have tried it and have shared their experiences below.
Tyler Ward, a 21 year old photographer says,” Before the business of photography blew up, I was constantly looking for ways to make money without having to go into work. By the age of 16 I was making money through these work from home jobs.
Everyone has seen the work from home ads, they claim you can make thousands each week just by working from home. These programs seem unpractical, but in reality they are very possible. However the amount of work required to do so is very undersold. A number of these programs work by reeling you in to do a survey, complete a free trial of a company and so on. Once you’ve complete X amount of surveys or signed up for X amount of free trials (we’ll call these offers for now on), the websites send you a fat check. Sounds all good in the hood up to this point right? Wrong.
What these get rich quick ads don’t mention until you’ve already started your ‘offers’ is you then need to refer X amount of people to do each offer that you’ve done. For example, I sign up for this website thinking I’m going to make $500 for completing 5 offers, which is true. However I have to refer 10 people (2 people per offer) to do the same. That’s why you see these ads become so viral over FB and random social networking websites because these people need others to sign up under them to do the same.
Once you dig deeper into these schemes, you will see there is plenty of opportunity for real money to be made. However, organization and patience is a huge must-have.”
Bethany Mooradian of QueenoftheRandomJob.com and also author of “I Got Scammed So You Don’t Have To!” says, ”Online surveys saying that you can make $5000 per month are certainly scams. There are legitimate ones like www.globaltestmarket.com, but you can only make pennies per survey. If there is an ad or post saying you can start your own company (a home-based business) doing surveys, then they are probably trying to rope you into buying and then selling information about surveys through an affiliate program.”
Rusty McMillen, An Associate Certified Coach (ACC) says, “The plain fact is, there are very legitimate, Work from Home opportunities out there. But anyone wanting to go down that road must be prepared for many things, it takes a lot of time and effort. The learning curve and education overload is un-daunting. You have to learn a lot of computer skills, become a marketing and sales expert, web designer and copywriter, just to name a few. Is it possible to make that $5000 per week, yes it is, but it is not going to happen in a week, a month and in most cases not even in the first 2-5 years. If you don’t have what it takes and don’t have the financial security or freedom to wait it out and you still have a decent job, stay there!!”
Overall, the general consensus among all our experts who have tried these online surveys and online work from home opportunities is that, some of them are genuine opportunities. But they are definitely not as easy they are made out to be. It requires time, energy and effort to make any real money. To make any sort of substantial money may take not just part-time work but over-time work. So, before you decide to get into this band wagon, make sure you are willing to put in the (over)time and are also ready to burn your fingers now and then. Otherwise, you may be better-off perfecting a skill or a vocation or focusing on a career that can give you greater rewards in the long run.
If you have tried any online work from home opportunities, please feel free to share your experiences in the comments section below.
Leading with Care: How Women Around the World are Inspiring Businesses, Empowering Communities, and Creating OpportunityIn partnership with international relief agency CARE, an inspiring look at how women around the world are developing businesses and creating opport... Read More >
The Vending Machine Home Business Opportunity: 3 Questions You Must Consider Before Getting StartedDo you dream about making money from home in your own business? Are you tired of the hype and false promises? And, have you ever wondered why some peo... Read More >
How to Make Your Fortune in The Cleaning Business"How To Make Your Fortune In The Cleaning Business", is a step-by-step guide. The book is written by the author who operated a very successful cleanin... Read More >
Related posts:
