Fact or Fiction

If you are an ‘Average Joe’, that is, one of the many South Africans who are looking for additional income, and turning to the internet to assist you, then surveys are a great starting point for you!

A lot of online money making methods ask you to pay upfront, or require an extensive technical know-how. Those products are great, however the ‘Average Joe’ like you and me might find those methods prohibitive.

Enter surveys. A great method for beginner ‘netrepreneurs’. All that is required is time, and an internet connection. Make Money Online in South Africa calls online surveys “ a real no-brainer method of making money on the net , and requires very little skill”.

Time is your biggest friend and enemy. A simple survey could take 20 minutes and not pay very much, and a longer survey will take much more time, and pay a bit better. While this is great to make a bit extra on the side, it will get very boring, and cumbersome to spend hours every day filling out forms to make ends meet.

The Pros & The Cons

There is a ton of conflicting information out there on what pros and cons there are to doing online surveys.
Most reach consensus on the convenience of online surveys. You work from home, in your spare time, at your own time and there is no age limit, traffic, nagging boss... in short sounds good.

[Here just a side note about working at home. It is harder than most people think and believe. It might sound great to get out of bed in the morning and walk to work... a whole 20 meters. But, the discipline is a big factor and a lot of time sorely lacking to maintain a successful work from home business. But, that’s an article all by itself...Richard]

Jenny Evans points out that obviously the best positive is that they PAY. Others pros are the opportunity to test products, which can be interesting, it is easy and you have the opportunity to choose what you want to do.

On the downside the hugely scary reality that there are hoaxters, scammers and liars out there waiting to rip off your precious time. Those who will promise to pay and don’t and those who want large amounts of money from you and give you nothing in return. Which brings me to the next point: how to avoid this problem.
According to one of Ezine Article writer Ryan Ginster this is why you should not mind paying a small fee to reputable companies to ensure that you are buying into a legitimate company. However Jenny Evans says the opposite. That you should not have to pay survey companies, they should be paying you. Talk about conflicts! I recommend that you do your homework on the company as detailed below and make your own choice.

Another important point to consider is that if you think of it, you are not going to get rich, nor replace your income. In short, if you try and only do surveys for the rest of your life, you are not going to get anywhere, and I truly hope that you, like me, are going to use surveys to start your financial freedom journey.
The final con to this is most surveys are available to Americans more often than to South Africans. You need to find a large number of survey sites to join up with. Most of them will see from your IP address that you are not in a region that they want surveyors from, however, keep trying! They have new needs continuously!

Do’s and Don’ts

• DO get yourself a PayPal account. While not all sites require one, it will ensure that your money comes faster. FNB has recently made a deal with SARS & SARB so that FNB customers are able to receive payments to their PayPal account and able to transfer the funds into their FNB account INSIDE South Africa. Previously PayPal in South Africa could only be used to send money due to SARS restrictions. Now we can receive money as well. Some companies will post a check, and very few will deposit into your South African bank account. Thus, PayPal is the quickest, most efficient and cost effective method to get your hard earned cash back to you.
• DO check our our list in our Opportunities page, under (you could probably guess) Surveys that I will update regularly with companies that I join up with, making a special note of those that I have received payment from.
• DO research to see if if a company is “too good to be true”. In your search engine type in the survey company name and the words ‘hoax’, ‘scam’, ‘not paying’ or ‘problems’ and any other word that has a negative connotation to it and see what comes up. Remember to always read from at least three sources, more if you are getting conflicting information (which the info super highway is full of). To be fair, also do the opposite as I like to get the whole picture before I decide what’s the truth. Alternatively, you can also check out the Survey Police. They have a list of ranked sites on their website, and it is updated regularly.
• DO create an email address specifically for surveys. This way you won’t have to hunt for new surveys amongst your personal emails, conversely you won’t have to hunt for your personal emails in a deluge of emails from surveyors.
• DO check your emails often, as when survey invitations are sent out, they often expire fast!
• DON’T give out too much information to the survey company.
• DON’T trust a company you have to pay too much money to. Again, do your homework before signing up!
• DON’T try and give false answers and opinions. These companies offering their surveys want honest opinions and answers. If you fill in just anything, it will be noticed and you will be removed and blocked from further surveys! A large number of companies who provide surveys are linked, and you could find yourself blocked from multiple surveyors.
• DON’T only do the high paying surveys. The short surveys ones are easy and you will be able to spend less time on them.
• DON’T put all your eggs in one basket. South Africans don’t have many sites we can join, so you must join with as many as you can as often as you can! Advice from Make Money Online in South Africa is to join at least two a day.
• DON’T trust sites that promise you will become a millionaire overnight.
• DON’T trust sites that do not allow you to contact them.
• DON’T quit your day job just yet! As I said before, you are not going to get rich from doing surveys.

Final Words

Bear in mind that surveys should only be a starting point for making money online. It does take time, and you will not get rich making surveys your only source of income. It is money on the side, and the start of your online money making adventure.
Once you have started to create a small stream of income from getting your voice heard by companies who need your point of view on their product, service or programme it is time for you to move forward to other means of earning money online. To find out more about how to make money online, come back to this site soon! Or better yet, sign up with our newsletter and the next article will be sent straight to your inbox. What great service!
[Which is another article on its own! Richard]

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