Frequently Asked Questions

SurveyPolice-Specific

SurveyPolice is a massive directory of online survey panels and GPT websites. Our website allows potential survey takers to find legitimate survey panels, and gives existing survey takers the opportunity to voice their feedback on survey panels they are already members of. It’s also a great place to connect with other survey enthusiasts via our forum.

Our ranking algorithm is a complex formula which ranks survey panels and GPT sites based on user reviews. The algorithm accounts for things such as the number of reviews for any given survey panel or GPT site, as well as when a review was left. It is meant to give users a general idea of which websites are perceived as reputable among members of the SurveyPolice community.

Pick-a-Perk is SurveyPolice’s custom search tool which matches you with survey sites that meet certain criteria. For instance, if you’re looking for survey sites that are available in the USA and specifically offer Amazon gift cards as a rewards option, Pick-a-Perk can help you find survey sites that offer this.

You can get quite specific with Pick-a-Perk, by providing criteria including over a dozen rewards options and specifying various research types including focus groups, product testing, mobile surveys, etc, and combining these together.

Part of the benefit of joining SurveyPolice is the ability to interact with other survey takers on the forum. The forum is a place where you can post your questions about survey taking or specific survey sites, and have other members of SurveyPolice help answer your questions.

When you first join SurveyPolice, you’ll be asked to provide your preferred username for the forum. Creating an account on SurveyPolice will automatically grant you the ability to post on this section of our website.

If you’d like to leave a review for a survey website listed on SurveyPolice, interact with other survey takers on the SurveyPolice forum, or use our free tools including the survey finder tool, you’ll need to create an account on SurveyPolice. Creating an account is free and only takes a couple of minutes.

SurveyPolice is a survey reviews website, not a market research company. Therefore, we do not offer any online surveys ourselves.

If you’re not receiving many surveys from the survey panels you’re a member of, please take a look at our post on how to get more surveys.

No. Like many survey related websites, SurveyPolice’s logo has been used in Nigerian scams. Dispose of the check you receive, or keep it for kicks. You can learn more about how these scams work and how dozens of legitimate market research companies have been targeted here: I received an Unexpectedly Large Check from a Survey Company. Is it Real?

You may leave a review on SurveyPolice for the survey site in question, but we no longer offer a complaints mediation service.

You may also wish to consult our post on how to collect missing survey incentives for some additional steps you can take.

All new and edited reviews are read by an actual person. Although most reviews are posted quickly, please allow up to 72 hours for your review to appear on our website. If after this time your review is still not showing up, you may have violated our commenting policy. Log into your account to see why your review was disapproved.

We do not share user data with the survey companies listed on our website, so the information they are privy to is no different from any other public visitor to our website.

If you take a look at any of the user reviews published on SurveyPolice, you will see the reviewer’s first name, country, and the date on which the review was published. Survey companies who reply to reviews on SurveyPolice do not have access to more than this very basic information.

If a survey site or GPT site has left a public reply to your review, you will be notified by e-mail. This notification will list the survey site that responded to your review, so that you can re-visit this listing on SurveyPolice to view their comments.

Sometimes the comments will consist of a simple ‘thank-you’ for leaving your review, but the survey site may also ask you to clarify or try to rectify a situation relating to your review. If your thoughts about the site has changed, you can edit your review at any time, and the site will have another opportunity to address your comments in a new reply.

SurveyPolice tries to actively maintain a database of hundreds of legitimate survey panels. Although our list is large, there may be survey panels we have not yet discovered. Please tell us if you’ve found one you believe should be listed on our site. Otherwise, because SurveyPolice strictly focuses on legitimate survey panels and GPT sites, we may be of the opinion that the site you have come across is illegitimate, in which case we do not recommend joining it. For a more detailed explanation, please refer to: Why SurveyPolice does not list all survey websites.

If you have forgotten your SurveyPolice account password, please click the “log in” button in the top right hand corner. You will then see a button that says “forgot password?”. Click it and follow the easy instructions in order to regain access to your account

If you can’t log in to your account with a survey company, please contact them directly with your inquiry.

Questions About Survey Taking

Market research companies are hired by companies, government, non-profits and academics to survey their audiences about new products and services, their attitudes, behaviors, and more. These surveys are most commonly offered by market research companies to their database of survey takers (also called a ‘panel’). These panels are free to join and people who join as market research participants are compensated for the surveys they successfully complete. Compensation may be offered in the form of PayPal payments, gift cards, or even bitcoin.

Paid surveys can also be offered by GPT programs, which are sites that allow you to earn rewards for participating in a wide variety of activities including surveys, searching the web, micro-tasks, watching videos, shopping, and more.

It depends on the surveys site. There are some panels that allow teens 13-17 to join, while others are strictly limited to adults.

You can find out more about online teen surveys in our blog post, including information on why survey sites do not target children under the age of 13. You can also find a list of sites that allow teens to join in the post, or you may use Pick-a-Perk to find these as well.

SurveyPolice offers lists of legitimate paid survey sites that are ranked according to user reviews and are tailored to your country. You can find a list of such sites by visiting our survey rankings.

Alternatively, you can consult our guide to finding the best survey sites which includes helpful information on getting started with paid survey taking, tips, and finding sites that are the most suitable for you.

It depends on the site. Some survey sites universally allow surveys to be taken from a desktop or mobile device, while others may specify the device compatibility in their e-mailed survey invitations.

If you’d prefer to take surveys from your phone, consider downloading a surveys app. These apps are frequently offered by market research companies, and all surveys offered through them will be mobile-compatible.

Focus group opportunities, both in-person and online, are frequently offered by survey panels. If you’d like to find out which sites offer them, you can use Pick-a-Perk to find a list of sites that offer these in your country.

Our article on finding the best focus groups may also help answer any questions you may have. You can also find real life examples of how focus groups impacted real companies on our blog.

Product testing most commonly consists of receiving a product sent to your home, which you’ll be asked to ‘test’ and provide your feedback on. This could be anything from food, to makeup, to a small appliance, as practically any product is a candidate for product testing.

Our in depth-article on product testing websites is a great place to learn more about how product testing works, what’s involved and how you can become a tester.

Alternatively, you can use can use Pick-a-Perk to help you find product testing companies available in your country.

If you encounter a message such as ‘quota full’ or ‘unfortunately you are not eligible to complete this survey’, it means you’ve been disqualified from completing a survey. This happens when either your demographics don’t quite match what the administrator of the surveys is looking for, or the way you’ve answered the screener questions mean you’re not part of the audience that’s meant to be surveyed.

For example, a company may specifically be looking to survey females 35-50 who are looking to buy a new car in the next 2 years. If you are not part of this cohort, you may be screened out or disqualified from completing such a survey.

Most survey companies recommend that you complete your profiler information in your survey site account in order to minimize the chances of being disqualified. Some companies also offer rewards for survey disqualifications.

The first thing is to make sure you’re being reasonable and patient. If a survey panel says they pay their members within 3 weeks, and it’s 3 weeks to the date of your request, give it another few days…even things like the postal service can influence the time it takes to receive a reward!

Otherwise, take a look here at what steps you can take to collect your reward: What do to when you don’t get your promised incentives.

Almost certainly, not. Were you expecting it? Are you being asked to wire money somewhere? Is it for hundreds of dollars? Find out here how to determine if your check is authentic.

Check if it’s listed on SurveyPolice – use our search tool at the top of the page if you’re having problems finding a survey panel on our website. Failing that, read up on how to spot survey scams.

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