Work at Home with Panda Research

I will be the first one to admit that I'm not so steady with survey sites. I don't really like the get-paid-to survey opportunities because, let's face it, it always seems to take forever for a few dollars. I mean, getting paid $1.00 for a 20 minute survey is not worth it to me. So, I even surprised myself when I registered for the Panda Research site (it was recommended highly by my sister though so I had to give it a shot).

How Panda Research works:

Panda Research is much like most other survey sites. You complete surveys that appear in your queue and you get paid upon completion and verification of these entries. The funds are held in reserve in your account until you accumulate $50 and then you are paid for your work.

Workers also have the ability to sign up for paid e-mails. Panda Research will send you e-mail each day that you can click on to get some compensation from viewing.

The program is really basic and straight-forward. If you've ever participated in any other survey site then this is very similar.

What the Pay is Like:

Payment is processed once you reach $50 and will go into your designated PayPal account. Payment for each survey ranges from about $.50 through a few dollars. I've seen surveys for $6 and more dollars on the site before.
Paid e-mails range, generally, from $.03 to $.15 per viewing. Multiple e-mails are sent out daily so you do have the opportunity to actually accumulate a decent sum from just viewing the e-mails.

You can keep track of your payment breakdown on the left side of your screen while signed in to Panda Research.

Wait...What's the Catch?

The catch is something that I'm not certain of, but I'd like to take note of it right now. I have completed some surveys ($11.50 worth, apparently) but none of the surveys were verified as completed. Now, I did see that users are instructed to use Internet Explorer to complete surveys, and I chose to use Mozilla Firefox so perhaps that's the issue. Perhaps it's not though.

I saw a lot of information online that Panda Research is/was a scam. I also saw some people who said they did legitimately get paid the $50+ they were owed, but that it did take awhile. What I have noticed is that if you always click on the e-mails to "confirm this paid message" then you will definitely be approved for that amount. So far I've made more than $16 in just clicking e-mails each day. An e-mail click is literally taking me seconds since I don't have to read anything or follow-through with any other actions. I would suggest that if you sign up with Panda Research that you focus on the paid e-mails rather than the surveys to be on the safe side.

Another catch is that the paid surveys I've completed were all offer surveys where you enter in you name, address, and telephone number in exchange for a change to WIN WIN WIN. You know the type of pages I mean. I'm not sure anyone actually believes or even likes these types of forms. I can tell you that I haven't really received spammy calls or anything from filling out the surveys that I did, which is a good thing, but you may want to be wary of what you input.

***Added***
A catch I've recently found is that the paid-to-click e-mails that Panda Research e-mails eventually stop allowing you to receive funds for the click. After you have clicked about $25 USD worth of e-mails these clicks are meaningless and no additional compensation is accumulated. You absolutely must fill out surveys at that point to reach the $50 cash-out minimum.

Sign-Up and Join Panda Research Today:

So, while I dislike survey sites, I've grown to be okay with Panda Research right now. The surveys are definitely not worth my time or effort, but I have concluded that the paid e-mails are worth the seconds they take to claim. I'd refer people to sign up with Panda Research as long as they kept good track of what they were doing and kept an eye on the payments "approved" section on the left side of the account. So, if you are really into get-paid-to survey sites or would like to give Panda Research a shot (hey, there are paid e-mails!) then go through the Panda Research Registration today to receive a $3.00 sign-up bonus from me.

Note: I will be updating this review as soon as I receive payment to my PayPal for $50 or more from Panda Research so please check back in the future for final verification!

Work at Home with Amazon (Amazon.com)

In this day and age everyone knows who Amazon.com is and that it's a great place to get exceptional deals. What is not so know is that they offer positions that lead to real, legitimate work at home opportunities. You can't really ask for a more reliable company either--Amazon.com has been in business since the site went live in 1995. So, the wonderful Jeff Bezos has managed to create a valuable work at home job for many people with his well-known company.

How Amazon Positions Work:

Just like any steady work with a company, you must apply, proceed with an interview, get hired on, and complete the training course. The application is filled out online, the interview may be in person or through the telephone, and training must be completed on-site. Training typically ranges from 2 - 6 weeks, depending on the position and time of year (holiday hire-es can expect to have a shorter training course).

There are main sectors of this work, such as Technical Account Management or Customer Service Representation. A TAM associate works with third-party sellers, while CS representatives offer assistance to Amazon.com customers.

In general, the job consists of a 40-hour work-week, with set schedules that are offered. They also offer week-end positions, and the Customer Service sector may allow for overnight positions in some locations.

After training has been completed associates are provided a stable work-from-home computer.

What the Pay is Like:

Pay, again, is dependent on the type of position you are hired on to manage. For example, a CS representative may earn $10-$12 per hour as a starting base, while a TAM associate may earn $12-$13 for beginning wages. As always, these numbers may fluctuate, especially during the peak seasons for Amazon.com shoppers. It's best to inquire about the hourly wages during your interview.


Wait...What's the Catch?:

There are three main "catches" to the positions that Amazon offers. One is that the training must be completed on-site, and there are only a few sites available, such as Grand Forks, North Dakota, Huntington, West Virginia, and Manila, Philippines.
The second catch is that, with holiday shopping quickly approaching, employees may be requested to accept some overtime hours. This has not been fully determined; however, it may be a possibility to inquire about during the interview process.
The final issue is that some locations do not permit the employee from becoming a work from home associate. For example, North Dakotan residents may transition to the work at home position as long as they remain within North Dakota; however, Minnesota residents must reside in North Dakota or another permitted state to transition to a home environment. Please inquire about your location during the interview process.


Apply to Join Amazon.com:

To get started on filling out an application for Amazon then make sure to visit the Amazon.com homepage or go directly to Amazon.com work at home positions. You may search by location or type of position to view a complete list of what is currently available. The application is straight-forward and should be filled out completely. (If you are in need of an internal reference, contact me and you are permitted to put my name down as your referrer.)

Work at Home with ChaCha

ChaCha is one of those sites that you might be unsure of in regards to signing up for first. I went back and fourth for a couple of months about giving them my personal information (social security number) in fear that they wouldn't keep things as confidential as I'd like. I gave it a shot recently though. I decided it was now or never, especially since I've had a family member in the hospital and now have a few thousands of dollars in medical expenses to tend to. That's alright though! ChaCha was here for me.

How ChaCha Works:

People text in a short question for ChaCha guides. Sometimes they want to know how to tie shoes or a quick homework question. Sometimes they're nothing but perverted little 14 year olds trying to get a rise out of ChaCha. Any way it is, ChaCha hires you to answer these questions. The catch here is that you don't actually type anything most of the time. All of the answers, for the most part, are already uploaded in the private database. Just read, click, and go! It helps because the answers are correct and the texter gets a speedy response in less than a minute, most of the time.
There is no limit to how many questions you choose to answer, but you will notice times the site is very slow at dishing out questions. It's user-based though so you just have to wait for them. If you get a question that you simply cannot find an answer to at all then you rewrite and reword the question and pass it along to the next level of answerers who will do some quick research.

What the Pay is Like

ChaCha pays per question you answer. Most of them are only a few cents. It really depends on what special bonus going on for that day or week. Different levels of ChaCha guides will earn more or less, depending on what their job consists of during their time spent on the site. Time really flies by though. I did over 400 questions last night in no time.

Wait...What's the Catch?

Unfortunately ChaCha has been dropping wages for awhile now. They also have a cash out minimum of $150 before it can be direct deposited into you bank account. They only pay direct deposit or through a debit card you sign-up for through ChaCha. You are also not considered to be an employee so you are held responsible for taxes at the end of the year.

Update!: ChaCha will now send payment of any amount above $1 to your personal PayPal account upon your request!

Sign-Up and Join ChaCha:

If you're into Q & A websites that will give you a little cash for helping out then ChaCha is definitely for you. Sign-up for ChaCha by clicking on this link so that you can get paid to answer questions all over the U.S. The thing I like about the whole situation is that I don't have a set work schedule so I can begin and end whenever I want and still make just as much cash. If you're looking for a step-by-step guide to help you get hired on at ChaCha then check out my fiverr posting to get hired at ChaCha quickly. Have fun and keep ChaChaing!

Work at Home with Pinecone Research

I'm not much for survey sites, really. I have no patience to sit down and spill my shopping history to some faceless examiner just so they know if I buy a lot of dryer sheets or not during the month. PineCone Research didn't catch my eye at first until I started reading some reviews about their history, payments, and reliability to keep your information fairly confidential. To top it off, I even read that the surveys weren't too intrusive and were fairly quick and simple to fill out. Interesting, I thought.

How Pinecone Research Works:

The deal with the site is that it isn't always allowing sign-ups. It can be pretty tricky to sign-up for because they only promote their ads onto certain, unidentified sites on a random basis. This is to cut down on people signing up who have no real interest in completing the surveys. That way they know most of their users are probably active and actually do want to fill out a survey for a few bucks.
So, after you actually get to sign-up on their basic who-are-you form (name, address, number of members in the household, etc.) you simply wait. There aren't surveys to do every day or even every month sometimes. They will email you when they have a survey that fits your location and basic data you previously supplied to them. From there you simply follow the email link they provided, fill out the survey as requested, and ta-da you're finished.

What the Pay is Like:

Payments from Pinecone Research are great, as I just recently found out after finishing my very first survey online. They haven't given me the option to get credited through PayPal (which I would totally prefer because my bank isn't local) but about a week after I completed their survey about a basic shopping trip I received a nice $3 check payment. That was it. I didn't have to jump through hoops for it. From what I am aware, the $3 payment is usual for this type of survey so I'm thinking $3 for a whopping 15 minutes of my time isn't bad at all. That's, like, $12 an hour if this sort-of thing was steady!

Wait...Sign-Up Isn't Open and Surveys Aren't Steady?

Yes and no. Some locations will have sign-ups more frequently based on their clients' needs. I live in the U.S. Midwest and was able to sign-up right away when I found a link. You, unfortunately, may have to wait months before finding a link to sign-up with this research panel with. No fear, you can simply make a Google Alerts for "Pinecone Research" and somebody, somewhere will probably let the news out when it's hiring again.
The surveys, again, are only available to a select few at a time. Some months you might get 5 or more surveys. Some months you might not get a survey to complete at all. From what I've been told, you have better luck if you have a larger family and/or if you're a male applying for the panel.

Sign-Up and Join Pinecone Research:

Ok, I know what I just said about having to hunt down a link to sign up for PineCone Research but I was lucky enough to find functioning links. Right now, if you follow the link in regards to making money online by filling out surveys at Pinecone Research sign-up here you will see that they are currently open to take applicants from the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the U.K. That link is updated regularly so if you've found yourself here much later and they've closed it then you can keep an eye on that if nothing else. Hey, getting paid to do surveys isn't so bad afterall. $3 in my pocket for 15 minutes? Yeah, I'll take that.