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Big Spot Surveys revisited
A few weeks ago I wrote about Big Spot Surveys and honestly I didn’t realize that so many people would be searching Google to answer the question: “is Big Spot Legitimate?”
So I decided to put on my detective hat and go digging a little further to help answer the questions that have arisen from my initial post.
First of all, I decided to sign up for Big Spot. I went through the sign-up process from beginning to end to see if my assumptions were correct.
UPDATE 8/2010: Their screens and graphics have changed since the writing of this article but the results and content remain the same.
The sign-up process:
The first screen that came up after I entered my information was this:
The next screen that came up after I entered my information and then clicked join was this:
This screen shows a list of “Free Sponsor Offers” that consist of other survey companies, newsletters and samples. They look interesting and exciting and the word FREE is very enticing. You can sign up for these FREE offers yourself and even earn money doing it by joining certain sites like MyPoints.com and other similar “pay to complete offer sites.”
The next screen that comes up will fill you with anticipation as you wait for all of your great, exclusive free paid survey listings:
The next screen is the “database” you have been waiting for:
This screen lists just a fraction of the market research companies who are willing to pay you for your opinion, and I actually signed up twice and filled out completely different personal information and you know what, I got the same exact list just in a different order.
What this means to you:
I don’t know all of their motives, and I certainly don’t know what they do with your personal information, but Big Spot and Survey Payoff appear to have basically set themselves up as an affiliate marketer. They are providing you with information, and you sign up through their links and they make money.
Is it legal? Yes. Is it wrong? No. Is it safe? Maybe. That depends upon what they are doing with your email address. To me, they are at least misleading people because not only is their “database” shamefully small, they do it under the guise that they have secret resources you can’t find on your own. I can even tell you why their database is so small. Because not all paid survey companies participate in affiliate marketing, so they only list the ones they get paid for sign-ups on.
If you have never signed up for a paid survey panel, and if you see their list, you can rest assured that their list does contain some legitimate market research companies who will pay you for your opinions and it does contain some of the most popular companies. But there is still the issue of why they need your email address and what they will do with it. Plus it also contains some questionable resources that I have seen other experiences survey takers claiming are not legitimate.
You will need to sign up SEPARATELY for each of the individual survey companies so it appears unnecessary for Big Spot to require your name, zip code and email address.
So, smarty pants, how do I get a list of Free Paid Surveys without providing my personal info to a third party?
If I had more time, I’d list every paid survey company known to man for you to sign up for. I don’t have that kind of time, plus there are a couple of resources I will point you to that have already done it. I have some of my favorites listed on my Free Paid Survey Sites page and also on my right sidebar. You will find that the sites I list are ones that I have been a member of for years (some since 2002 or earlier), have received surveys from and have received payment from.
When it comes to survey taking, there are a couple of “golden rules” that any experienced survey taker would tell you. The first would be to never, ever pay to receive information or access to free paid survey databases. The second would be to be extremely careful with your personal information because there are a lot of “cash for your opinion” offers out there that are not legitimate, in fact I would say the scam sites outweigh the legitimate ones. This means you have to be smart, do your homework, and read reviews and opinions from people who have experience.
The bottom line:
When it comes down to it, Big Spot does not appear to provide you with anything you cannot get from somewhere else without having to key in your personal information. You will still need to sign up with each individual market research company separately in order to receive survey invitations and payments for surveys. So the question remains about why they need your information, especially when the list they provide can be found across the web without having to share your personal info.
In addition to the sites we have on our Free Paid Survey Sites page if you want a complete database of paid surveys including actual participant ratings, check out FreePaidSurveys.net, and SurveyPolice.com. You won’t get rich taking paid surveys but you can earn some extra cash each month to order a pizza, or save it up to help fund Christmas.
Happy survey taking!
For more information on taking paid surveys:
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117 comments for “Big Spot Surveys revisited”
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KIM,
I DOUBT SERIOUSLY IF YOU CAN HELP ME,BUT PLEASE TRY!! I AM A RECENT WIDOW, MARRIED 50 YRS.NOT DOING WELL,(depression)i want to do something from home to supplement my income,just a little.but everybody has skams! are there no honest people left in this world?no get rich scheme,just a little extra income.PLEASE,PLEASE HELP ME,I HAVE LOST MUCH NEED MONEY ON SCAMES!!
NO MORE PLEASE! thank you for your time.anita
Anita,
I’m sorry to hear about your situation and the loss of your husband.
A lot of what is out there is a scam, and anything that isn’t is not going to bring in a ton of money. The people who do the best are parents of young children with paid surveys.
BUT, if you want to try, I have some LEGIT companies listed on this page: http://accidentalmommies.com/free-paid-surveys/
They will never ask you for money and they do pay if you complete surveys. The hard part will be qualifying for them with your demographics (age and marital status and such).
Good luck, I wish I could do more to help.
Looking for employment go to AARP and join the employment search.
Marty
Big spot is a ripoff. First, most of the surveys they give you to take will gather some information from you, then tell you you are not qualified for the survey (still haven’t figured that one out yet). Second, you will fill out a whole survey to be told at the end, that the survey is already full and your’s will not be used. Last, most of the surveys you will get only pay $1. It will take you 15 minutes to do, so basically you are working for $4 an hour.
Big Spot is obviously an affiliate marketer, and gets paid the lions share of your work. Stay away.
I did an online survey for JC Penny that promised a $500 gift card if I completed it. After
an hour and a half of answering the same questions over and over again I stopped, never got to the gift card area at all.
Within the next week I started getting emails from dozens of companies and people daily. I had to change my email account because I was receiving 60 to 80 emails per day!
JC Penny is one of those scamers also!
I am signed up for and have been with Bigspot.com for a few months now. I assure you they do send surveys to you and ask you for the same information all the other 10 survey companies I am signed up for. The 1 thing people are not understanding is the same thing I did not understand when I signed up for when I joined Bigspot.com. A lot of there surveys actualy come from and are sponsered through other survey companies. The difference is that every survey that you qualify and complete through bigspot has a cash value. The same survey that you do through the sponsering survey company is only offering you sweepstake entries for the same survey. Lol and yes it is very funny. My advice. Sign up for bigspot, sign into bigspot first and do all the surveys available to you from bigspot before you go to any of these sights that offer rewards such as sweepstakes entries for completeing ths same survey. clean all of the cookies daily and manually from your browser so that you don’t get the you have already done this survey notice when you come accross the same survey offer again through another survey company you are signed up with. I wish all of the survey companies were doing what bigspot does and paying cash for all of the surveys you do through them and not giving you sweepstake entries which I do a lot of surveys and have never won a sweepstakes but have been paid a lot of checks through being careful about the time i spend doing surveys for only entries versus actual points and cash value surveys.
First of all Thank you Kim for such a honest & full of helpful information on surveys article. I have been taking some surveys for several years, and also sample sites.. I am also disabled and can use any free or bit of $ that may be offered.. I have found a couple I know to stay away from after not receiving anything, but maybe spam! I will be checking out your list. And keep on warning us of the scams & other scuzzys that are out to rip off people, esp ones in need, as lots will apply to everything, as they are desperate! I enjoy knowing I can come here and know I will get straight info on anything you post.
I am handicap and looking to work and looking to making extra money, so was my daughter-in-law my son and his family live with me. A couple of years ago I signed up for these different Survey Companies. I got some surveies but I never qualified for any of them, I was sixty years old at the time. It was either I was to old or they had met their cota, and for the eithnic group also.. The thing of it is out of all of those companies I didn’t ever get one survey. My daughter in law every once in a while got one. She has since passed away from Cervix Cancer…I need to make money is there any website that isn’t a scam where a person that is handicap or not can make some money at….
Richard,
I am sorry to hear about your daughter-in-law. The problem really is your demographics. They target them at 20′s and 30′s and parents of young children.
I wish I had some better information to offer..
Good luck.
Kim, I am a male age 50 looking for focus groups to make a little extra cash, do you know of any that are not scams, since it seams these days most all things on the web are, and have you heard of Home job placement(Auction Listing Agent) I fell for this and will be going to my bank to dispute the charge since I used A visa card.
Tracy,
I’m sorry you got scammed on that home job placement thing, unfortunately many of the things online are a scam, and it’s a shame that innocent people lose money.
I have a list of survey companies that are legit here: http://accidentalmommies.com/free-paid-surveys though most do not do focus groups. Occasionally you might find an invite to one through those companies, but it’s rare.
The best advice I have is to use this list and check out all the sites and the user reviews: http://www.surveypolice.com/directory
And NEVER EVER pay money for anything related to taking surveys.
Good luck!