Legitimate Adventures in Job Free Income: Surveys

If you're looking to make some money outside of your day job, the internet provides lots of legitimate ways to do so. However, be cautious because scams are also prevalent.

For taking surveys, these sites pay in cash and gift cards to major retailers. I've tried each of these and have received payouts. If you're wondering if this post has affiliate links through which I might receive compensation, the answer is of course it does.

YouGov
YouGov is one of my favorite survey sites. Unlike other survey sites, you nearly always qualify for the surveys they invite you to complete. YouGov will e-mail you when there's a survey that you qualify for. While point values per survey vary, the minimum appears to be 100 points with most surveys actually awarding 500 or more points. The results of YouGov polls are sort after by the media and other organizations. I've redeemed my points for a total of $150 worth of Amazon gift cards.

Pros: For your efforts, you'll be rewarded with cash or gifts cards to popular retailers such as Amazon, Macy's and BestBuy.
Cons: You need at least 25,000 points to redeem for a $15 Amazon gift card. You'll need more points for more valuable rewards.

Try YouGov.

Survey Junkie
At Survey Junkie, you'll need to complete a profile so the platform can send appropriate surveys to your member dashboard, which you'll see when you log in. Each survey on your dashboard has a survey number, the number of points you'll earn for completing the survey, and the approximate length of time it will take to fill out the survey. If you don't qualify for a survey, you may receive 3 points for your time. If the survey fills up before you finish it, you often will receive 2 points for your effort. The number of points you can get for a survey varies. Once you've accumulated 1,000 points you can redeem those points for cash via PayPal or your bank account. Your points can also be redeemed for gift cards to retailers like Target and Amazon.

Pros: Surveys have almost always been available when I've logged in. You can get paid in cash.
Cons: Most of the surveys I've seen award between 40 to 90 points. You have to take a lot of surveys to get to the 1,000 points, however, I've managed to do it in less than a week when I work on it a few minutes each day.