PaidViewpoint Review

URL: paidviewpoint.com

IMPORTANT UPDATE 4/13/2016:  A reader emailed in to tip me off that PaidViewpoint very often doesn't email you notifications of new surveys for some reason. So I've experimented with logging in during the early morning/afternoon hours for the past week. I found a Trait Survey waiting for me four out of five days, and today I just got two quick market research surveys worth .50 each! So you definitely need to log in and check this one regularly, don't just rely on the email notifications or you'll be like me sitting at $12 for months on end :).

UPDATE 5/2016: Finally cashed out my mighty $16. Was delivered to my PayPal in about two days as promised. 

NATURE OF WORK AND PAYMENT

PaidViewpoint is one of the few survey companies that actually pays cash in return for surveys. And it is the only one I'm aware of (at present) that makes that payment directly to a Paypal account -- no futzing around with "points" that have to be cashed in for a payment a la Pinecone Research.

What's the catch? A $15 cashout threshold that seems to be notoriously difficult to reach, at least if you aren't in the right demographic ...

SITE HISTORY / LEGITIMACY

PaidViewpoint is a U.S.-based organization, part of the Ask Your Target Market / Umongous Inc. network, a market research company headquartered in downtown San Francisco. I have personally not been able to reach the payment threshold yet, so I have no personal experience to offer with payment timeliness. They do make the claim that they pay no later than 72 hours after your request, however, and I cannot find significant claims of slow/late payments at the usual third-party commentary sites.

INTERNATIONAL ACCESS

PaidViewpoint is officially available in any country in which PayPal is available, though the surveys tend to be U.S.-centric, so users flagged as not being residents may see limited opportunities. You also need to verify your account by having them send a text message to a phone number.

STARTING OUT

PaidViewpoint has two different survey types. Trait Surveys are for internal use, and ask you personal questions that help the company to build a profile on you. This is usually a quick series of 10 or 15 multiple-choice questions about your personality that pays 10 cents USD, and you'll see these the most commonly.

Less frequently you will get an actual market research survey. The ones that I have seen thus far simply use a system of bubble answers and are generally asking for your thoughts and perceptions either of a product category or of a specific new product idea being tested. These pay more, potentially up to $1 per survey, but I've generally seen about 40 to 80 cents for them for surveys that last about five to ten minutes.

PROBLEMS WITH PAIDVIEWPOINT

Because there are so many different Trait questions, it's tricky to say whether or not they are lacking survey opportunities, or I'm just not personally getting them because I was honest in my answers and I'm not one of the types that marketing research generally wants to talk to (single male, cynical, introverted, thrifty, no kids). I'm wondering if you come across as a perky, naive, extroverted, freespending parent you would get way more bites. I do note the people saying they make good money off this on forum's have women's names or are on a stay-at-home-mom forum :)

Either way, the survey system is actually smooth and really well designed, faster and less hassle than any other system I've tried so far. the only potential problem here is a serious lack of opportunity. I signed up back in October, got up to $10 fairly quickly, and then things stalled out so bad it has taken nearly six months just to accumulate another $3 and I'm not sure I'm even going to get enough surveys to cash out. But then again, is that because of my "trait score" not being marketer-friendly, or do they just not have many surveys? I'd love to hear from more readers from varying demographics about their experiences in the comments, so we can collectively get a better idea of who actually makes money with this and what the upper limit is you can expect to make.

FINAL VERDICT: SOME POTENTIAL

While the earnings have been small for me personally, it is a totally passive system -- just sign up and they'll email you with a direct link (a la eRewards) whenever something is available. So it really doesn't hurt to sign up and see what happens. Just maybe fudge a little toward what you think market researchers want to see rather than being brutally honest with them :)


URL: paidviewpoint.com