Stephanie’s Top Ten Survey Panels – January 2011

January was a bit of a slow month for me, survey-wise. December was a very busy month for me and January wasn’t much better, so I didn’t make as much as I had hoped for. Even so, I managed to get several product tests and a few Invokes. While SurveySpot has gone a bit downhill for me and I haven’t been very happy about the Lightspeed/MySurvey merger, I’m beginning to really like Opinion Outpost again and I’m still having good luck with Toluna. 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:

1. 1. Toluna
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $610.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $70.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $40.00 check on January 30, 2011
      • Joined: August 15, 2008

I know a lot of people don’t care for Toluna much, but I really like them. I got into two Invokes during January (that paid from $25-30 each). I make sure to check their surveys each day to make sure I don’t miss a possible Invoke invite. I still don’t bother much with their regular surveys unless they pay enough points, but I do take their quick polls and quick surveys each day (some quick surveys lead to an Invoke if you’re lucky).

1. 1. Opinion Outpost
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $415.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $30.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $65.00 Amazon.com gift card on January 31,2011
      • Joined: August 12, 2008

I’ve been having much more luck this year with Opinion Outpost since I’ve been paying more attention to taking the surveys they send me right away. I’ve noticed that their surveys fill up very quickly if you don’t take them right away, so I’ve made it a habit to jump on them immediately when I see an invitation in my inbox. I still have trouble qualifying sometimes, but I’ve noticed it’s improved a bit since the beginning of this year. Here’s hoping I fair better with them this year than last.

1. 1. MyView
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $250.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $25.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $25.00 Amazon.com gift card on January 5, 2011
      • Joined: November 12, 2008

I still like MyView, but I’ve noticed more and more low-paying (500 or less points) surveys this year that take quite a long time to complete. It’s hard to find surveys that pay more than that, which is a bit disappointing. I still enjoy taking their magazine surveys, though, and I always try to cash out for a $25 Amazon.com gift card at the end of each month.

1. 1. GlobalTestMarket
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $200.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $25.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $50.00 check on December 20, 2010
      • Joined: September 21, 2008

I still get a lot of surveys from Global Test Market. I qualify for the vast majority of them, too. I honestly don’t have any issues with them at the moment, except that it takes a long time to get a check mailed. I currently have 710 points in my account (1000 points are needed to cash out for a $50 check).

1. 1. SurveySpot
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $585.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $21.50
      • Last Payment Requested: $48.80 PayPal on December 31, 2010
      • Joined: August 20, 2008

I haven’t been having much luck with SurveySpot lately. I’ve noticed quite an increase in the number of long (20+ minute) surveys for only 50 points, which I have decided to avoid recently because they take up so much of my time. I mainly try to stick to surveys that offer a reasonable amount for the time invested, but those seem harder to find lately. I haven’t been getting many product tests at all lately, either, and there has been a major lack of Invokes since December. It may just be my experience. I am hoping they improve in the coming months.

1. 1. Valued Opinions
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $300.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $20.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $20.00 Amazon.com gift card on January 30, 2011
      • Joined: September 5, 2008

I didn’t get as many surveys from Valued Opinions this month, but still managed to cash out for a gift card at the end of the month.

1. 1. MySurvey (merged with Lightspeed recently)
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $410.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $15.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $40.00 PayPal on December 31, 2010
      • Joined: October 22, 2008

Lightspeed and MySurvey recently merged, and I have to say I’m not thrilled so far about it. I never cared much for MySurvey (I rarely qualified for their surveys and some surveys were a bit vague about the amount of points offered), but I always liked Lightspeed because of the amount of surveys I received and qualified for. So far, I’m not very impressed, but it hasn’t been long since they merged, so I will give them a chance to work the bugs out. I seem to be getting fewer surveys than I did with Lightspeed and not qualifying for as many, which is a bit disappointing.

1. 1. Synovate (Global Opinion Panel)
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $75.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $15.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $25.00 check on November 15, 2010
      • Joined: August 15, 2009

I’ve been receiving a lot more surveys from Synovate this year. Many of them have not involved product testing, however, which is a bit unusual. I did get a few product tests this month, though, which include deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, and toilet paper.

1. 1. E-Rewards
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $75.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $15.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $25.00 GameStop gift card on January, 27 2011
      • Joined: September 4, 2010

I joined E-Rewards last year and have been doing pretty well with them. You need an invite to join them (I was invited by signing up with GameStop’s email newsletter, but I believe there are other ways to get invites). Although they do not offer PayPal or Amazon gift cards, and many of their rewards are not spectacular, I do enjoy getting GameStop gift cards through them since I play a lot of video games. I always get several surveys from them each week and manage to qualify for a lot of them. I recently cashed out for another $25 GameStop gift card. I do really like that it only takes a couple weeks or less to get a gift card mailed. So far, I’m very pleased with them.

1. 1. SurveyHead
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $545.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $10.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $25 Amazon.com gift card on January 14, 2011
      • Joined: August 15, 2008

SurveyHead has been an even bigger disappointment for me this month. I’m not sure what is going on, but I hardly ever get invites anymore from them and there’s rarely a survey on my dashboard as of late (not counting the iPad sweepstakes surveys). I seem to be getting more surveys on the SurveyHead-clone websites (like ERG Surveys and Focusline), so I’ve been sticking to those and not going on SurveyHead as much anymore. Qualifying for surveys has been quite difficult, too. I did cash out for a $50 Amazon.com gift card at the beginning of November, but have yet to see it (it takes 4-6 weeks or even longer… I was hoping to get it by Christmas, but knowing SurveyHead and their VERY slow payouts, I’m unsure at this rate). Do you have a list of favorite survey panels? Please leave a comment below and let us know some of the survey panels that work best for you.