How To Earn Money While Disabled With Paid Surveys
Like most people, you probably have strong opinions about lots of things. But do you get paid to express them? Well, you can by taking surveys online — one of the simplest ways to earn money while disabled without requiring much effort. No, it won’t make you rich but it can supplement your income if you put in the work.
In this article, I’ll walk you through how to get started as a survey taker and point out the pitfalls. But first, let’s understand what surveys are and why your opinions matter to companies…
WHAT ARE PAID SURVEYS?
Before releasing a product or updating an existing one, companies want to find out what the general public thinks about it…
Is it something people want?Are there aspects of it they don’t like?Is the asking price cost prohibitive?
Questions like these provide companies with the information they need to improve their products so that there are more likely to succeed once there are launched.
While some companies conduct these studies in-house, many hire market research firms to do the work for them and then report back the results. Now, there are many ways to gather this data but one of the cheaper, yet effective methods are online surveys.
And this is where you come in…
In exchange for sharing your opinions about a variety of topics ranging from cars and computers to travel and politics and everything between, you receive compensation in the form of gift cards, vouchers, and, of course, cash…
HOW MUCH CAN YOU MAKE FROM ONLINE SURVEYS?
The amount you can make filling out surveys online depends on several factors:
- The payout rate of the company
- The length of the survey
- The type of survey
- Your background
Broadly speaking, you can expect to earn an average of $0.50-$4.00 per survey where the average survey time is 5-30 minutes.
If you’re a professional with a career in something like medicine or law, you’ll likely make more than most survey takers since it’s harder for companies to find people that fit this specific demographic.
Now, you could get invited to participate in surveys offering more pay but this privilege only comes with time once a company comes to see you as a reliable and dedicated member.
HOW TO AVOID SURVEY SCAMS
It seems the more popular online surveys get, the more scammers come out of the woodwork. It’s a shame because it’s given online surveys a bad name when, in fact, real opportunities exist! With that said, here’s how to safeguard yourself from these scams…
Avoid All Spam Solicitations
Unless you requested information, don’t bother reading unsolicited emails from survey companies.
Avoid Review Websites
Many websites reviewing survey companies can’t be trusted because there are created by the survey companies themselves, thus a clear conflict of interest.
Get a Spam Blocker
Install the free Web of Trust (WOT) extension for either Firefox or Chrome to help prevent you from visiting scam websites. Now, it won’t catch everything which is why you’ll also want to do your own independent research…
Gauge Opinions
There are many ways to find out more about a survey company:
- Google [company name] + scam to see what people are saying.
- Google [company name] + payment proof to see if real people have made money with the company. (Important: Don’t automatically discount a company if nothing turns up, they might be new or simply changed their name.)
- Check the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to look for complaints and whether they were resolved.
- Check online forums to gauge trustworthiness.
- Check their social media profiles to look for bad reviews and/or complaints.
A quick word about researching companies…the internet is full of trolls so just because you come across some negative feedback about a company doesn’t necessarily mean there are a scam. Make sure to compare and contrast opinions to get an accurate picture.
Never Pay to Become a Member
There’s one surefire way to tell if a company is a scam: they require you to pay for membership. Keep this in mind…legitimate surveys companies don’t have signup fees!
Now, sometimes it’s hard to tell whether they do or not, so make sure glance over their Terms and Conditions, FAQs or fine print stated on their website. If you still come up empty-handed, forget about them and move on to another company instead.
HOW TO EARN MONEY WITH ONLINE SURVEYS
Earning money from online surveys is a multi-step process but it’s simple and straight-forward…
1. Create a New Email Address
It’s a good idea to create a new email address dedicated to survey-related messages because you’ll likely receive a TON of email once you register with a bunch of companies (look into free services like Gmail or Yahoo mail).
Alternately, you could create a new email folder for surveys using your existing email address and filter all incoming survey-related messages to it. Either way, make sure to whitelist every survey company you register with to prevent messages getting marked as spam.
2. Research the Company
Even if a company seems legitimate, not all will meet your needs…
Check Rewards
Companies normally issue reward points for every survey you complete which can then be redeemed for cash, vouchers, or gift cards depending on the company and their designated threshold. Many also offer sweepstake entries to win cash and prizes which, along with vouchers, expire after a few weeks or months.
Now, you’re probably most interested in cash payouts, right? Assuming you are, you’ll likely need to reach $10-$20 before getting paid through Paypal or check. This can take a while depending on how many surveys you complete and how long a study stays open (a few companies like Pinegrove Research issue payments right away and others like PointClub, Inbox Dollars, and Swagbucks offer a $5 sign up bonus).
Confirm Your Private Information Is Secure
Check the company’s Privacy Policy, Terms and Conditions or FAQ page to make sure your email address and/or other private information won’t be shared with third parties without your consent. It’s no fun trying to get off these mailing lists once you’re on them!
3. Sign Up with Survey Companies
Here’s a rule of thumb…expect to qualify for 1-2 surveys per month for every company you register with. Obviously, that’s not enough for a supplementary income which is why it’s best to sign up with several companies to have more opportunities.
Now, I’m not suggesting signing up with 50 companies at once, only to wake up the following day to a mountain of emails to greet you. Start with 5-10 companies at first, which works out to around 5-10 emails per day. Once you feel comfortable handling that amount, sign up with another 15-20 companies.
Preliminary Screening Questions
Part of the signup process is answering some basic questions about yourself. By taking the time to give the company a complete picture of who you are, they’ll be better able to match you to the right opportunities (pay close attention to the Interest section in particular).
Now, you’re going to have to through this process many times for every company you register with, which can be a time draining and mind numbing experience.
One great way around this problem is using free software like LastPass, which allows you to store basic information about yourself and then automatically populate form fields with it (e.g., age, gender, race, income, address, etc.) Not only does LastPass speed up company registration, it also helps complete surveys faster!
4. Check Your Email
As soon as you sign up, you’ll receive an email asking you to confirm your registration with the survey company. Once you do, survey invitations will start streaming into your inbox, sometimes in a matter of minutes!
Surveys can close quickly so you’ll want to check your email at least once per day, if not once per hour to take advantage of good opportunities. And when you do, make sure the reward and estimated completion time looks agreeable because you don’t want to commit yourself to a survey that pays next to nothing. But you shouldn’t have to, assuming you sign up with enough companies offering enough surveys to choose from.
5. Take the Online Survey
Qualifying for surveys isn’t easy. In fact, the rejection rate is often as high as 80-90% depending on the study so don’t be alarmed if/when this happens as you’re in good company. But at least it doesn’t take long to find out (1-3 minutes) so it’s not a big time waster if you’re rejected.
For the surveys you DO qualify, just answer the questions at a normal pace and answer them honestly so companies have the most accurate data to work with to help improve their products and services.
BEST LEGITIMATE SURVEY SITES
To save yourself the hassle of researching survey companies to tell apart scams from real opportunities, I’ve included 24 legitimate companies below for you to join. Start with any 5 of these and sign up with the rest once you’re ready to take on more (Panda Research, and Pinecone Research are particularly good starting points.)
PROS AND CONS OF PAID SURVEYS
Pros
- No background experience needed
- Easy way to make a couple hundred dollars per month
- Reliable income so long as you work for legitimate companies
- Ability to work around your schedule
- Doesn’t need your full attention (no problem having a TV on in the background or while listening to music)
- No big time commitment
Cons
- Monotonous work
- Average or even below minimum wage
- Trading time for money (not a passive income stream)
- High payout threshold (immediate payment is rare)
- Some companies don’t offer cash payouts, only prizes
- Not available in many non-Western countries
As long as you avoid the scams, taking surveys online is a legitimate way to supplement your income without making great demands.
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN!
Have you filled out surveys online for money? What was your experience like? Leave your comments below!
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Stephan,
I’ve stayed away from paid survey sites because of comments I read. Have you tried any of these sites yourself? I’ve heard many companies make it very difficult to reach the threshold to get your first paycheck. Others won’t give you enough surveys to make it worth your while. The couple I looked into aren’t on your list but I didn’t want to give any information about them without first signing up to their program.
John
Hi John,
Yes, I tried Swagbucks but not the others yet. All the companies on my list seem reputable from what I hear.
Hi Stephan
Thank you for such a great post!
I didn’t know there were so many legitimate survey companies. I only use Toluna and ClixSense because I’m aware of survey scams, so I wasn’t sure about other companies.
I’m going to try for now some of your recommended companies. Five for now and some more later.
Great info!
Thanks,
Alex
Hey Alex, glad I could point you in the right direction!
Hi Stephan,
I like the angle that you’re focusing on–Disabled people making money from surveys. Sure, the money may not be that great. However, it speaks to something that’s even more important–a sense of dignity.
I know people who are disabled and small things like not having to ask for money to buy a special treat, or just having a few dollars in their bag means a lot. Something that those pain-free can take for granted.
As for your many good points, two stand out for me:
1) Third party involvement–I think it’s important that people be aware that some of the survey companies can not control what country will have access to your cookie information. It may be raw data and not point to you directly, but no company can guarantee what a third party will do with information it gets from a cookie.
2) The preselection process. I think you should mention, going forward, that most companies can take a lot of your time with “pre-qualification” surveys. This leads to a large number of “incomplete” surveys. One of the stand out is Pinecone Research. It sends out a 5 minute screening survey. After you complete the pre-screen, you get a survey a few days after. The survey is never labeled incomplete, and you have a choice of being paid cash soon afterward.
In any case, you have provide a lot of good information.
Hi Thabo, thanks for commenting! Yes, Pinecone is one of the best in this regard but their guidelines are pretty strict so their acceptance rate is lower than many other survey companies.
Hi Stephan, I enjoyed your article very much and found it quite useful for people needing to work from home. As I’m from Ireland, I use a survey site called competitions.ie. They do not pay cash but you can win some great prizes and the surveys are really short. I like some of the survey sites you have selected and will perhaps join another one of these. Thanks again.
Thanks Trev
Hi there
This is a great informative post and you have done a terrific job here.
I agree with you 100% when you come across companies looking for people to work for hours doing surveys and nothing to show for it at the end of the day, in the form of payment.
I also agree with your alternative option, in recommending WA. Definitely a winner.
Best of luck and wishing you the very best of success in your online adventure.
Cheers………..Phil Browne
Thanks Phil
Excellent article on paid surveys. I myself checked into these a long time ago and found they weren’t for me just because it’s actually hard to qualify for a lot of them. You can spend hours and not qualify for a single one that day, so on top of being mind-numbing, it’s often frustrating. At least for me.
But I did find your site interesting and honest. You did point out the boring part. A few times. So excellent.
Thanks Selenity!
Hi Stephan, I really enjoyed reading your article. This is a very helpful article for those who have spare time and want to make money online. It’s a great way to earn money for just being honest about your opinion or thoughts.
I tried my luck in surveys a few years back and I learned that this isn’t about joining every single survey site you find on Google but it’s about focusing on those with decent payouts. Thanks for sharing a very informative article about the survey with us.
Thanks Bushra!
Hello,
I am disabled with a neurodegenerative disorder that is painful and very limiting.
I found most surveys tend to ask about employment and when you answer honestly and click “disabled” surveys are no longer available to you. I suppose they think disabled people don’t spend money or something. Have you had this issue?
I was trying to do a survey for Pinchme, whom does not pay for surveys but sends out monthly boxes of samples and you can use coins from surveys to enter to win things. So this was not actually a survey to get paid even but the survey asked for full honesty and then the first question was employment status. Disabled was an option so I was being honest, after that I got “Thank you for attempting this survey” and no surveys could be found for me,
Most surveys don’t care for the opinions of people who are disabled based on the assumption that they have little or no disposable income and/or do not fit their customer market. So what is the best way around this? should we lie about employment? I’m also interested if anyone else has had this issue. I have had it previously which is why I gave up on trying surveys that paid money.
Interesting. I haven’t encountered that problem, but perhaps other people reading this article can chime in with their experiences. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. All the best…