Stephanie’s Top 5 Survey Panels (February 2012)

February was also a pretty good month for me for surveys, much like January. I earned more money than I thought I would, mainly because I was invited to a few Invoke online focus groups and online discussion boards. I did well with SurveySpot (only because of an Invoke), Global Test Market, Valued Opinions, SurveyHead, and E-Poll (new to my top five list) this month.

The Invoke focus group I took part in paid $30.00 and was through SurveySpot, which was a surprise. I haven’t earned much at all with SurveySpot in the past few months, so this was quite nice. I also got invited to a Communispace discussion panel and took part in a $50.00 one-day discussion board on electronics with another survey panel I belong to called Permission Research.

For product tests, I also did pretty well. I received lotion, shaving cream, razors, crackers, frozen dinners, cat litter, makeup, and cleanser from various survey panels (including Synovate, Global Test Market, and Opinion Outpost).

Rankings are based mainly on what I earned for the month from each survey company, as well as the number of survey invites.

Here are my current top earners for February:

1. SurveySpot
   • Total Earned Since Joining: $645.00
   • Total Earned in February: $30.00
   • Last Payment Requested: $30.00 PayPal on February 29, 2012
   • Joined: August 20, 2008

   I normally do not even bother with SurveySpot anymore (their surveys are hard to qualify for, they don’t pay enough per survey, and technical problems are rampant), but I did qualify for an Invoke online focus group this month. The Invoke paid $30.00 and I received the cash in my account a couple of weeks later. I promptly cashed out for $30.00 PayPal, which arrived in my account immediately. I love survey companies that send payment right away. That’s the one thing I really like about SurveySpot.I normally just skim through the surveys a few times a week to see if I can find an Invoke (I do the same with Opinion Outpost and Toluna). Most of the other surveys I tried to take either disqualified me or booted me at the end because of some technical issue. At least I found one Invoke, though! They are becoming quite hard to find nowadays.

2. Global Test Market
   • Total Earned Since Joining: $450.00
   • Total Earned in February: $20.00
   • Last Payment Requested: $50.00 check on February 29, 2012
   • Joined: September 21, 2008

   February was another pretty good month for me with Global Test Market. I received a lot of surveys and also managed to finally cash out again for a $50.00 check. I also received a few product tests, which mainly include personal care products.

3. Valued Opinions
   • Total Earned Since Joining: $470.00
   • Total Earned in February: $18.00
   • Last Payment Requested: Two $20.00 Amazon.com gift cards on January 10, 2012
   • Joined: September 5, 2008

   I received a lot of surveys from Valued Opinions in February, much like January. I took part in a lot of $2.00 surveys and a couple of $4.00 surveys. Qualifying was a little more difficult this month, however, mostly because many of the surveys had full quotas by the time I got to them. I will be cashing out with them again in March as soon as my remaining rewards are verified.

4. SurveyHead
   • Total Earned Since Joining: $715.00
   • Total Earned in February: $16.00
   • Last Payment Requested: $25.00 PayPal on February 28, 2012
   • Joined: August 15, 2008

   I decided this month to try my hand again at SurveyHead. I think I did pretty well, considering I did not invest a ton of time into them. Qualifying for surveys with them is hit or miss most of the time. I try to focus on the surveys that pay the most for the smallest amount of time invested. There were some surveys that paid $1.00 for a few minutes, so that was pretty awesome. I wish those were offered more often. I also managed to cash out again, which took a few weeks to process the payment. I only wish it didn’t take so long for survey rewards to be verified. It seems like some survey rewards remain in “pending” status for weeks or even months sometimes.

5. E-Poll
   • Total Earned Since Joining: $250.00
   • Total Earned in February: $10.00
   • Last Payment Requested: $30.00 PayPal on February 7, 2012
   • Joined: August 5, 2009

   I have been a member of E-Poll for a few years now and have done pretty well with them. I tend to not get a consistent amount of surveys from them each month, however. Some months can be pretty dead. In January and February, I received a number of surveys from them. What I like about them is that I qualify for the majority of the surveys they send me and they can be pretty fun to take. Many involve watching full television programs that haven’t even aired yet and voicing your opinion on them after viewing the video. Although they can sometimes be quite time-consuming, they are generally more fun than other surveys from other survey panels. They also offer PayPal, which I really like. I’ve cashed out with them a few times last year and once this year in February.