EarningStation merits a look as it's one of the relatively few survey sites that pays in straight cash, homie. They also have some other Swagbucks-like elements such as games and offerwalls, but they're less developed (and also less obnoxiously presented).
NATURE OF WORK AND PAYMENT
Surveys for cash (by way of PayPal) are the staple here, the usual market research stuff. They have their own internal database of surveys to draw from, and then they also have a Peanut Labs section (a third-party site that pays a little less but also screens you out less often).
In addition to the main survey board and the Peanut Labs surveys, there is also an oddball "Daily Survey" section that just seems to be links out to three other market research companies — Lab42, LiveSample and Your-Surveys. Lab42 requires you to link a Facebook account to participate, but the other two don't. I haven't tried any of these out, but I wonder if you wouldn't get more pay going directly to their websites rather than using EarningStation as a middleman?
There are also offerwalls, primarily offering free samples plus a $1 or so payment for signing up for them. Proceed with caution, however; most of the samples require you to give up a phone number and waive your "do not call" right so they can spam it with marketing calls and messages. I definitely wouldn't do this with a real number, but if you create a Google Voice or somesuch solely for spam, there are some interesting product samples available like free Swiffers and Magic Erasers.
Finally, there are games and videos, but curb your enthusiasm for these two particular sections. The "games" section just refers you to various quasi-gambling sites for a cash-back offer, while the rate of pay for videos is a ridiculous two cents for watching at least 10 minutes or so.
One final option for earning is to use it for cash back when shopping at Groupon.
If you want to cash out for actual cash, however, the thresholds are kind of high and specific. You can only cash out for either $25 or $50 for a PayPal payment or a prepaid Visa. The only lower option is a handful of gift cards for $10, the most promising of which are for AMC, Best Buy, Boston Market, Home Depot and Office Depot. More gift card options open up at the $25 level if you don't want real money for some reason.
SITE HISTORY / LEGITIMACY
The site is run by Woburn, MA-based iGain, who have been around since at least 1999 and are actually better known for their affiliate marketing network than surveys. Anyway, they're a legit established United States marketing company, and EarningStation has been online since 2011 so there's some stability at this point.
They also have a 3.3/5 rating at SurveyPolice as I type this, anything over a 3 there is pretty good as even reputable companies get dragged down by all the people that try to run scams and retaliate with buttmad reviews, or are just too dumb to realize when they violate the TOS.
INTERNATIONAL ACCESS
The FAQ page does specify you are supposed to be a US resident with a valid mailing address to receive gift cards at. I don't know if or how they verify PayPal cashouts, however.
PROBLEMS WITH EARNINGSTATION
The biggest problem I've found so far is that while the site always appears to have lots of surveys available that are high-paying, they also are almost always looking for a super-specific demographic and screen out everyone else. In fact, I've tried about a dozen surveys now and only qualified for one. I had better luck with the Peanut Labs surveys, but they pay much less (50 cents to $1 for about 10-20 minutes).
I think part of the issue is that they don't have a profile question system as most other survey sites do. Well, they do have one, but it's handled oddly. You're actually paid one cent for answering every question ... but you'll only get a new question every once in a while. Since you're not really being pre-screened, I assume that contributes to what seems like a very high rate of screen-outs.
Screen-outs also don't get you anything unless they go on for a few minutes before dumping you, in which case you get a measly two cents. They can also sometimes go on for a while before screening you out. One asshole had me "gather all the pants in my house" to check ID numbers on their tags or something, before suddenly deciding they didn't like the brands I had and dumping me out.
Finally, there's an annoying writing prompt before many surveys (which seems to be some sort of a bot check). It appears that if you just write at least five coherent words you get through it, though, you don't have to take it seriously (and you'll see the same questions repeat themselves).
FINAL VERDICT: SOME POTENTIAL
I don't think any other site we've reviewed here has fit the "some potential" label more perfectly than this one.
The pay they offer for most surveys is well above average (I've seen a bunch offering $5 to $12 for 20-30 minutes), and if you fit the demographic profiles they want it seems like you could really clean up here. That's apparently not me, though, as I get screened out of nearly everything.
If you're in a demographic group that tends to do well at survey sites, maybe give this one a crack and see if it works for you. You can also snag some pretty good free samples (plus cash) if you have a phone number you don't mind getting spammed, and if you shop at Groupon you could attach this to your purchases for a little extra cash back. Circumstantially, it could be pretty good, but so far it looks like I personally don't fit those circumstances.
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