Who knew being opinionated could pay?

How many times have you received one of those surveys at the bottom of your receipt after you went shopping at the store? It just seems like extra work for a chance at a gift certificate sometimes, doesn't it? Well, did you know that answering surveys can sometimes be pretty lucrative? I've been getting tons of stuff just for filling out surveys online for quite a while now. Here are some of the different way surveys work now, and the best ways to use them to your advantage.

First are those surveys at the bottom of your receipt. Most of the time they are for a chance to win a gift certificate. The big thing to check on those is how many times in a month/quarter you are allowed to enter. Some companies, it is 3 times a month, some it is 4 times a quarter. The surveys typically are pretty easy to fill out, and help the stores determine how they are doing in customer service. I know, you aren't guaranteed anything, but a chance at a $5000 Target gift card is incentive enough for me. Now when you go to restaurants, you can get pretty quick gratification on their surveys. Most of the time, if you fill out the survey (phone or e-mail), you get a code or printable coupon for free food or money off your next meal there. The only drawback on those is that you have to fill them out within a couple days of your trip, and the reward is typically only good for a month or less. Hey, free food is free food, so I fill them out even if I'm not planning on going back for a while.

The second, and the one I use the most, are the online survey sites like www.mysurvey.com, amongst others. Now, I put the disclaimer here, READ ALL THE FINE PRINT. For a reliable site, you should NEVER have to give out anything more than your mailing information and basic demographics, and they should NEVER require you to pay them money to take their surveys. These sites will e-mail you when they have a survey ready for you. Those surveys will earn you "points" or "survey dollars" or something like that that you bank for rewards. Some sites' points expire after a few years, and some let you keep building them up as long as you want (again, read the fine print), so keep that in mind when looking at the rewards. The rewards for these sites can include anything from merchandise, checks, and gift certificates.

Now these survey sites have all kinds of surveys. The surveys can last for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. I've had ones about political opinions, heath issues, food, beverage, toys, restaurants, and just about anything else you could imagine. Now some I won't participate in because I find the information to sensitive. I don't do financial service surveys because I feel that giving ANYONE my financial information (besides a range of total household income) is asking for trouble. I've gotten offers to gain points by sending in credit card offers and paperwork about changes in my credit card terms, and I have TURNED THEM DOWN FLAT. I don't take chances on credit theft. I also never take them up on programs that want to install software on my PC to watch my browsing patterns. I think that is an invasion of privacy and a chance at letting a virus onto my PC. Sometimes the surveys can seem silly (how does the commercial make you feel), and sometimes they can be repetitive. The surveys I like the most are the product surveys. These are the ones where after an initial screening survey, I get offered the chance to try a product and then fill out a follow up survey. These are so fun! I've gotten cat food, skin cream, frozen dinners, snack food, and other stuff. I love trying out new products for free, and then letting the companies know what I think of them. Plus, I get to bank more reward points.

Now here's the fun part. Sometimes you can piggy back your survey rewards with some other savings I've talked about in earlier entries. In the past, I have cashed in rewards for gift certificates for sites that work with www.mypoints.com. That way I can earn points for MyPoints while I am spending my rewards. Essentially, earning rewards points with the results of other rewards points! Hey, I'll work it for all I can get for free.

Again, I caution you to read the terms of usage for ANY survey site that you sign up with. That being said, these kinds of sites are fun to participate in and can lead to some nice rewards. Just today I cashed in enough points for a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate (the free shipping point on their site). Free shipping, plus my items, and I only ended up paying $3.62 to cover the overlap and tax. Not bad for a few hours work over 4-6 months.