Stephanie’s Top Ten Survey Panels – February 2011

February 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: $660.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $50.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $20.00 check on February 16, 2011
      • Joined: August 15, 2008

February was a little disappointing as far as Invokes go. I only got into one, which paid $25.00 worth in points. Another Invoke was cancelled at the last minute (although thankfully it was rescheduled for March). I’m still doing the short polls and mini-surveys every day, since sometimes those lead to Invokes or higher-paying surveys. Cycling through surveys each day is a bit tedious, but there are some higher-paying surveys in there if you’re patient enough.

1. 1. Opinion Outpost
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $450.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $35.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $65.00 Amazon.com gift card on January 31,2011
      • Joined: August 12, 2008

As I reported in January, I’ve been having much more success with Opinion Outpost as long as I jump on their survey invites as soon as I receive them in my email. Even still, though, I get the occasional flood of surveys that I do not qualify for, even if I respond right away. Sometimes I disqualify immediately after entering a survey. Still, I’ve been having much more luck with them. I wish I’d win the $50 in the instant win game (like some others have reported) after taking the surveys, but no luck there yet. I’ll keep trying!

1. 1. GlobalTestMarket
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $225.00
      • 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. MyView
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $260.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $15.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $25.00 Amazon.com gift card on January 5, 2011
      • Joined: November 12, 2008

MyView was rather slow this month, too. There were not many high-paying surveys and, some days, not any surveys at all. It’s a bit disappointing, but sometimes this is the way MyView can be. I’m hoping to cash out again in March.

1. 1. Valued Opinions
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $315.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $15.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $20.00 Amazon.com gift card on February 28, 2011
      • Joined: September 5, 2008
   2. MySurvey (merged with Lightspeed recently)
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $425.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $15.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $25.00 Amazon.com gift card on February 17,2011
      • Joined: October 22, 2008

I wasn’t thrilled with the MySurvey x Lightspeed merger at first, but things have gradually improved over the past month or so for me with them. I am getting more surveys, which is good. However, there are still some annoying technical problems that I run into occasionally with their surveys. Also, I don’t like that sometimes the surveys you don’t qualify for or that have full quotas stay on your list of surveys to take and take a long time to disappear. It can get a bit confusing. Otherwise, they are getting better and I was able to cash out for an Amazon.com gift card recently.

1. 1. Synovate (Global Opinion Panel)
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $90.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $15.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $25.00 check on November 15, 2010
      • Joined: August 15, 2009

I didn’t get as many surveys from Synovate this month and product tests have been few and far between lately. Some months are just better than others. I’m hoping to cash out again with them soon, though. I do miss their frequent product tests, although, I admit, I don’t really need any more body wash or shampoo/conditioner, which is what they tend to send me a lot of. Still, getting products to test is always fun.

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. SurveySpot
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $600.50
      • Total Earned This Month: $15.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $48.80 PayPal on December 31, 2010
      • Joined: August 20, 2008

I’m still not having very good luck with SurveySpot lately and I know some others have experienced the same thing. I just don’t get many invites from them anymore, and I just can’t seem to qualify for the good-paying surveys (of which there are few). I still do a few 50 point ones here and there if they’re short enough and I have time, but I haven’t really been bothering with them much lately because I’ve been so frustrated with their surveys (and the annoying technical problems that plague a lot of them). I haven’t run across any Invokes lately, either. I really hope things improve with them, but I won’t hold out much hope.

1. 1. SurveyHead
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $553.00
      • Total Earned This Month: $8.50
      • 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.