While searching online you probably have come across an ad or two promoting surveys as a way to make some extra money. Maybe your curiosity was aroused. After all, the promise of working from home and making some extra money sounds pretty appealing, right?

There may also be a part of you that is thinking that it can’t be that easy, so paid surveys must be a scam. And that’s OK, it is good to take precautions when you are learning about something new. Without some research first how are you suppose to know if they are legitimate or not.

Today we live in a capitalist consumer driven society so companies are always doing what they can to get feedback from their current or potential customers. The feedback they get from performing surveys can literally mean the difference between them gaining or losing millions of dollars.

Good companies will take the feedback about their products or marketing very seriously. This is why they are willing to pay money for surveys. Performing surveys can make a company millions so they are not a scam.

You do have to be careful; there are ways that you could fall for a paid survey scam. The companies that need these surveys for their data often hire other companies to take care of the complete survey process for them. Unfortunately, sometimes these companies aren’t scrupulous.

You probably found yourself a paid survey scam if the company asks for you to pay before you can complete the survey. All the surveys that you complete should be provided free of charge. They may say things like you need to pay $5 to start the survey but when it’s completed you will get $10 back. This usually means that the company is willing to pay $10 a survey but the survey company is trying to pocket half the money for themselves.

I should point out though, that some surveys will require you to review an actual product. In this case it is not uncommon for a company to charge a small fee up front for shipping the product to you first. This is not a paid survey scam.

Once you have paid for the shipping, they will send you the product to review. After you have finished reviewing it, it is yours to keep and you simply return your survey. Once the company gets your survey back they will pay you your commission which will be above and beyond what you paid for shipping. These types of surveys generally pay pretty well.

Some survey companies will give you points instead of money. They may even offer you coupons for stuff like food and movie tickets. If they offer points you can generally exchange them for merchandise. These are not paid survey scams either. While you may prefer cash surveys, the merchandise that you get from these ones can make great gifts or you could always sell them for cash.

You may have also come across websites that ask you for money in order to gain access to their database of surveys that is updated regularly. These are not paid survey scams either. These websites built up a relationship with the companies that handle surveys. When they have a new survey that they need filled out they tell the company that runs the survey database. By joining one of these types of sites, you’ll be able to find a lot of surveys in one convenient location.