Survey Scout research is one of those names in paid surveys industry that is recognized by lots of people who use online surveys as a way to earn extra cash.
On the other hand, there are lots of people who aren’t familiar with this company and believe in Survey Scout scam idea. To be honest, I don’t blame them. With so many paid survey scams out there, you have to be cautious and careful when it comes to choosing a survey company to join as a panel member.
Try Swagbucks, the famous rewards program that pays you for watching videos, taking surveys, shopping and more.
But what is the reality here? Is Survey Scout real? Is it safe, and does it work?…
There are lots of reviews of SurveyScout out there. But to answer these and other SS related questions, I decided to write my own review to shed some light on what really this company is all about and whether it’s a scam or a legit company.
I actually got to know SurveyScout about 5 years ago when I was really active in making money online with paid surveys. Like many of you, I had been hearing about Survey Scout on the web and had read a few reviews about it as well. But I still was not sure if it was a legitimate paid surveys site or just another survey scam designed to rip people off.
Now, if you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I always say legitimate market research sites are 100% free to join and I would personally never pay to join a survey site and I always advise you to not do that either.
But it was my early days of trying to learn how to make a living online and since I had been hearing so much about this company, I went against my instinct that kept telling me “It’s too good to be true”, and paid the $34.95 fee to register. What you about to read is an account of my personal experience with SurveyScout.
Is Survey Scout real?
Here is the thing, SurveyScout is not actually a market research company. Unlike real consumer research companies such as MySurvey, they don’t conducts online surveys. Meaning, when you sign up with them, you don’t actually get invitation to paid surveys where you can fill out the survey and get paid. You may be wondering what the hell then, why would I pay for it?…
If you have to only sign up for one paid survey site to make money with, I recommend Ipsos-iSay. Ipsos is the most fun and well-paying panel. Give it a try to see how you like it. It is free anyway!
What is SurveyScout?
We know what SurveyScout is not, an actual survey company that conducting market research! But what it actually is is a directory of hundreds of legitimate paid surveys sites. Think of it as a yellow book of paid survey companies.
So, basically you are paying that one time fee of $34.95 to get a list of a few hundred legitimate paid survey companies that you can register with for free and make money by participating in their studies.
Now, here is the deal: you could pretty much find many of these paid surveys sites that are listed in Survey Scout’s database by researching online and also by reading my list of 40+ real and legitimate online surveys sites, but…
Why sign up then?
So, if you can find sites listed in their database for free online, why would you then pay for it?… Well, the thing is if you were to search the Internet and attempt to find all these few hundred legit surveys sites that are listed in Survey Scout’s database, you could probably find 1/3 of them for free. However, you would have to spend a lot of time and efforts trying to find and separate legit sites from scams.
Now, if you are like most people and think time equals money, then you wouldn’t want to spend hours and days perhaps, searching all over the web trying to find all these sites. Not to mention that almost 2/3 of the legitimate paid surveys sites that are listed with Survey Scout can not be found elsewhere on the Internet, no matter how long you search for them and how much time you spend trying to find them.
Note:
From reading on their site, it seems like SurveyScout has recently added a whole bunch of new companies that offer work at home jobs including data entry, transaction, call center agent and customer service on top of the few hundred paid surveys companies that they originally had in their database.
An International Paid Survey site?
Also, SurveyScout is an international company, meaning you can register with them no matter where you live.
And if you live in countries but the US, Canada, UK and a few other western countries, you know that most survey sites only accept members from these few countries.
]So, since SurveyScout is an international company, by joining you can get access to market research companies that accept members from other countries as well, such as India, Pakistan, Japan, China, France and so on.
Would I recommend anyone to join?
I’ll be honest, you should only register with Survey Scout if…
- You are really committed and want to make decent money with surveys. In that case it makes sense to join SurveyScout and pay the fee, so you can join as many companies as you can to increase the amount of survey invitations you get, thus increasing your earnings.
- You can actually afford to pay the one time fee to become a member and access their database of legit paid surveys companies. If you have to use your electricity bill money to pay for it, then just don’t do it! As I said, you can use my free list of survey sites. It lists more than enough companies for you to join.
Do not join if…
You are just trying to make some extra cash by spending a few hours a week or so taking online surveys. I suggest you save your money. You can use my free list of surveys sites to register with a few survey companies. You will have more survey invitations that you can handle. Trust me!
In a nut shell, when you pay to register with Survey Scout, you are paying for a huge list of legit paid surveys sites that you couldn’t otherwise find (at least most of them) elsewhere. So, in a sense it does save you money by helping you save a lot of time
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would say Survey Scout is not a scam, but it is also not what most of us think it is. It is not a paid survey company, thus you can’t actually make money with them (as they claim on their sales page). But Survey Scout can indirectly help you make money with paid surveys by providing you a comprehensive list of legitimate paid surveys sites which you can join to get paid for your opinion.
Please feel free to share your experience (if any) with SurveyScout by leaving a comment below.
I hope I was able to shed some light on this subject for those of you who wanted to join SurveyScout but weren’t sure if it was a scam or a real paid survey company.