Paid surveys online: how they pay and why you get screened out

Who pays for a survey

Companies and research agencies want opinions from particular groups of people: parents in one city, owners of a certain car, people who bought something last month. They pay survey panels and survey networks for each completed survey from someone who fits. A rewards site shows you those surveys through a survey network and passes part of the payment to you.

That is why the reward differs from survey to survey: a survey that needs rare respondents, or takes longer, pays more than a short one that almost anyone can answer.

Profile questions come first

Survey networks start by asking about you: age, country, education, work, household. They use the answers to offer you surveys you are likely to qualify for. Answer them truthfully and keep them up to date. Many surveys ask the same questions again, and answers that do not match your profile are a common reason a survey ends early or a completion is later rejected.

Why you get screened out

Each survey opens with a few screening questions. If you are not in the group the buyer wants, or that group is already full (a quota), the survey ends: a screen-out. This happens often, even to people who answer everything correctly, and it is the most common frustration with paid surveys.

Some survey networks pay a small amount for some screen-outs; many pay nothing. Do not change your answers to get past a screener. Surveys check consistency, and a completion built on false answers is likely to be rejected and taken back.

The quality checks

Buyers pay only for answers they can use, so surveys watch for: attention-check questions ("select 'agree' for this row"), finishing far faster than a person could read, giving the same answer to every row of a grid, contradicting earlier answers, and meaningless text in written answers. Failing them can end a survey without a reward, or lead to the reward being reversed later.

Read each question and answer as yourself. It is slower, but it gives your rewards the best chance of staying yours.

Judge a survey before you start

Survey lists usually show an estimated length and a reward. Compare the two: a long survey with a small reward costs you more than it pays, especially if a screen-out can come several minutes in. Your country matters a great deal: in some countries there are many surveys every day, in many others there are few, and some surveys are offered only in certain languages.

Why survey rewards can be pending or reversed

The company that bought the survey reviews the answers after you finish, and can reject ones that fail its quality checks, sometimes days later. Honest reward sites therefore hold new rewards for a while before you can withdraw them, and show a reversal in your history if a completion is rejected.

What a survey should never ask

Market research asks about your opinions, habits and background. It does not need your passwords, card numbers, a payment, or your national ID number. (A rewards site may verify your identity before paying you; that happens in your account, not inside a survey.) You can leave any survey that asks for something you do not want to share. Be careful with "surveys" that end by asking for your phone number or a sign-up to win a prize: those are marketing offers, not research, so read what you are agreeing to.

One account, your real location

Survey networks check for VPNs, proxies and multiple accounts, because buyers will not pay for answers from people who are not who and where they say. Using them usually ends with the rewards reversed and the account closed, on the network and on the reward site.