Make sure you check out my list of FREE, legit paid survey sites. I only list companies that I have experience with and I give you the low-down on each one. And if that’s not enough, you can check out surveypolice.com for ratings and reviews.
Make sure to visit our updated post about Big Spot Surveys for additional information.
I have been seeing commercials lately, mostly on the channels that Jake watches, for a website called BigSpot.com.
I have taken notice because I am a big online survey taker and am usually “in the know” when a new one pops up and I had never heard of this one. They advertise it as a paid survey company, meaning they imply that you get surveys directly from them and receive compensation through them. I’m not going to go into great detail about how paid surveys work, you can read more about that here: free paid survey info; I have all kinds of posts about them.
So I finally got around to checking out BigSpot.com and I want to issue a warning to anyone else who may sign up there. BigSpot.com is NOT a free paid survey company in the sense that they do not appear to administer the surveys or pay you for participation. They collect your information and claim to send you information about other free paid survey companies but in the meantime they have your personal information. You do not need to sign up for any site that claims to collect your demographics in order to match you with paid survey or market research companies. I have links to many of the big survey companies and I don’t collect your information. There are also plenty of other online sources that have EXTENSIVE lists who also don’t collect your personal info. Free Paid Surveys.net is my all time favorite.
Now, I have no proof that BigSpot.com does anything with your personal info other than what they claim, in fact they do have a privacy policy, but why sign up for something that you don’t have to and risk handing out your name, email address and zip code to a third party company for NO REASON?
For more information on taking paid surveys:
About Kim
frist time 4 me to do something like this. so here i will try this and will let u know how i come out
I just signed up on Bigspot about 3 days ago and so far it does as it says. In fact, some of the “survey companies” listed for me to choose from are also listed under some of the most reliable, best ones on other lists. As for personal info required, you do need to give things such as address, email and name, but in most cases the rest of the info is voluntary as it applies to demographics. I really don’t care if I give out my education achieved, the make of car I drive and other junk like that. I always am careful about income and such and always choose “decline to state” or what have you. Of course I never give financial info or SSN or Drivers License or anything like that
So far I have not received any spam, but I have a filter so it’s no big deal if I do.
Yes, I see some earn points for cash, some for prizes, some for gift cards and some for sweepstakes enteries. The sweepstakes ones I just do for free not bothering to use any points I might earn because I do not believe in sweepstakes, they are all scams (ie Publishers Clearing House)nobody wins anything, it’s all false testimony and acting. Sometimes I just like doing surveys for entertainment value. I’m not trying to specifically earn money or anything doing this because it’s next to impossible to even earn $15 in a year with it. If I get reward for my time then fine, if I don’t that’s fine too.
Right, but why sign up with them if you don’t have to? The same information is provided across the web without having to register with a third party.
I’m glad they don’t spam, thanks for letting me know. The problem, in my opinion, is that they imply that you need THEM in order to take surveys and are not super clear that they are a middle-man and do not administer surveys nor do they provide payment.
I see what your saying and yes, they do imply that you need them, but your right, you really don’t if your willing or have the time to look for and find every survey company in the world and research each of them (which one should do anyway no matter where you find them). I look at Bigspot as a convieniance really, kind of a starting point because I did not know where to begin looking and such. Got myself hooked up with 12 companies so far through them, so we will see how it goes. Now I am going to look at some of the other suggestions from the comments on this article as well, now that I have a start. I did gather though that they do not administer surveys or pay you for them when I signed up. It became clear very quickly that they merely put you in touch with some survey companies and that’s all they do. So I knew going in.
However, they should be more forth-coming in their adverts and such, absolutely.
Kim, I went to one of your websites that you recommend, and they too want our email info. names etc. Are you saying it is ok to give this info. to them as well or we should never give that info to anyone? They all use demographics. I just want to be sure that when I give out that personal information, it won’t be sold to anyone. I suppose they do need specific info in order to pay us, right? Thanks for researching all of this for us.
Yes, in order to sign-up to participate with the survey companies, you will have to provide certain personal info.
Check out this post that I wrote and see if that helps: http://accidentalmommies.com/free-paid-surveys-safe-to-share-personal-info/
THANKS FOR YOUR INSIGHT ON BIGSPOT.COM. I SEEN THE COMMERCIAL OVER THE WEEKEND AND LIKE MOST OF USE , LOOKING FOR AN EXTRA $ WAS READY TO JUMP IN. I DECIDED TO GOOGLE BIGSPOT AND CLICKED ON YOUR LINK. I APPRECIATE THAT YOU SAVED ME ALOT OF TIME AND IRRITATION.
Hi Kim. I guess your link for my points is outdated or broken. Love your site! Excited to get started!
Your website is cool!!!
Hey Kim. I was researching online surveys when I stumbled on your site. I just want to say what a big help your site was on my search for a legit company. I’ve sent an application to PineCone already, but I want to explore all the possibilities. What are the best companies in your experience? I’m mainly looking for one that offers the quickest payout. If you have any recommendations that would be awesome. Thanks
Murdoc,
Thanks for visiting.
Most of them, especially the ones that send checks are not super quick. Lightspeed Research and Elite Opinion are VERY fast, like within hours of requesting payout if you request an online gift cert. such as Amazon.com.
Keynote pays out an Amazon certificate within a few days.
With many though you are looking at a 4-6 week turn around for your redemption if is mailed.
Lightspeed research is no longer accepting people for their program.. thats what the website says.. thanks!
Mona
i joined big spot.com and iwas not impressed with there form of payment and the way they send you e-mails and after reading your site information i would like to stop this and i don’t know how and i would like to use some of your sites Iam a novis about the whole computer world.
Sherry,
BigSpot should have an option to unsubscribe from their mailings on their website. Although it did give me an error when I tried, but that was a few months back.
As for the survey companies that pay you directly (they are legit), you can check here: http://accidentalmommies.com/free-paid-surveys/
Good luck!
I would like to be part of your surveys
I hope that I GET TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SURVEYS
can you actually get paid to take surveys?I thought that was a scam.How do I find the ones that actually pay you?
Dave,
There are sites that are scams, but there are actual legitimate ones too.
I have some listed here: http://accidentalmommies.com/free-paid-surveys/
And you can possibly find more at surveypolice.com.
Good luck!
This is by far the best one out there.(in my opinion.)PINECONERESEARCH.
I was a member for 3 years and I stop taking the survey in 03, because I was doing work away from home for 4 months which kept me from participating, so they ban me.
They mostly look for families with 3 or more.
You get paid $5.00 most of the time , plus they send products for you and your family to try. I watched the Bigspot ad on ESPN after my Yankees kick A**, then decided to Google pinecone and there is was, registration now open. The odds of someone joing is no easy task you need to get lucky, or have someone recommend you. I have been wating for this for a while now, I can truthfully say I made around $30.00 or more a month including trying out vendors products.Remember registration is open. Good Luck!!!
Joe,
Thanks for the input on Pinecone. They are definitely one of the most reliable companies! I actually just put their banner up on my survey listings page because I noticed they were open for new registrations. It is not easy to get in there so I hope people take advantage of it and sign up now!
http://accidentalmommies.com/free-paid-surveys/