Opinion Outpost Work from home filling surveys is a scam Internet

 

I saw a Craigslist hiring ad that did NOT have the company's name on it by the way, BUT it had a link to a video to "learn all about the offer" that was  made. Then came a  min speech by some young guy standing in a big staged fancy house --that was obviously empty from the way his voice echoed and probably up for sale-- and accessed through a real estate pal--- and this anonymous guy flatly claimed to have made $160,000.00 in NINE MONTHS doing these surveys for "Conrad"m preaumably the owner. Well, of course anyone who has a shred of math ability knows better: unless he was paid at at a rate of $75-100+ each,

AND he was never rejected AND he did 100-300 or so surveys a month, there's no way possible to earn that much money. To say HE personally took the surveys and earned $160K over 9 months is therefore a deliberately false statement designed to hook you into believing it was possible. For that kind of money, marketing companies would tie up a LOT of your time and the questions would take HOURS to finish, not minutes -they'd want their money's worth. When I do actual in person surveys and get $50-250 per survey, it is RARELY for less than 4 hours of my time and sometimes it's all day for the bigger bucks. I doubt these online clients want any less.

NOW if that guy is the actual OWNER of the site and is getting paid $100+ for each survey ANYONE completes, he might well earn that much.

BUT for those average Joes who are spending hours online trying to qualify for surveys, getting rejected frequently --and remember, they want to hear from GAINFULLY EMPLOYED people who have a certain income level to begin with - and getting only a few surveys to complete each month,  that inflated income he prattles on about is patently IMPOSSIBLE.

Second video the ad directed me to was one of a cute young thing who played with her hair, batted her eyes, talked about paying for getting her hair done and "going shopping" with her survey earnings, and about being in college (but not mentioning that she was paying for college with it or anything.....). Well duh, Miss Cutie Pie was there to pull in the guys and/or the women who just wanted pin money - and, frankly,  that was much more honest than the original video, but it was a CALCULATED MANIPULATION in choosing the young gal for these reasons:

    He covered all the bases in trolling for survey suckers - 

greedy, desperate, hormone-driven,

or just looking for part time pin money.

The company is banking on the gullibility of the people who respond  to  that kind of FRAUDULENT MARKETING OF THE JOB.  That's how he sucks people in - by using 3rd party hired scammers or friends  to distance the company from the promise of ridiculous earnings claimed.

To call this company a scam based on what they actually DO is probably not technically correct BUT they INDIRECTLY IMPLY that one can use surveying with them and make major money by setting up "3rd party" endorsers who DO say you can make huge amounts, thereby doing an end-run around the issue of whether or not they are scamming people. 

I saw this ad on Craig

I never expected to get rich or provide a full time income doing surveys.  They come in, I do them, I redeem my points and get Amazon certificates to buy a few books or CD'.  It's pin money, and anyone who thinks they willmake more than that are fooling themselves.  However, I belong to several groups, and in the last year, I have gotten several hunderds of dollars from them.  I do not qualify for all surveys and yes, it is annoying to answer some questions and still not qualify.  It seems that they come in pockets, I dont' qualify for any and then I qualify for many. 
I do these because I am on the internet and it's fun, some are a chance to say what you rally thing about a product or comapny, and it's entertaining, and in the end you get a few bucks.  When most time you spend on the itnernet is wasted, this at least gives you pocket change.

I have been doing Opinion Outpost surveys since the beginning of 2010.  I use to think highly of this company and got paid fairly decent and fairly!  However my Opinion of there company has drastically changed since October of this year!  I have done and completed about 50 survey's from them and gotten paid rather good.  I have been disqualified for over 200 surveys, which I fully understand I wasn't what they were looking for that particular survey.  However the problems arises with 2 surveys and not getting paid for successfully and fully completed doing the.  I both had to send several emails to the company over them and spending my valuable time trying to get the money I deserved for successfully completing them and was forced to go to the BBB and ripoffreport on both of them.  On the second one I was forced to file with both company's and sent about 8 emails to Opinion outpost on it and a lot of my valuable time spent trying to get money that I rightfully deserve.  Finally at the Beginning of October they finally gave me the money.  However they stopped sending me surveys, I guess there way of punishing me for filing reports on them with the BBB and ripoffreport!

I would not say that they are a Scam company, but there customer service is just plain horrible when trying to get a problem straighten out with them!!

Hi, this is the same Bob who wrote the earlier comment.

I really hate to burst your bubble, but I'm really not an employee of Opinion Outpost. If I was, I'd like to think they'd pay me more than a couple hundred bucks a year.

Anyway, here's an idea on how to avoid this sort of conflict with legitimate marketing research sites in the future. And yes, Opinion Outpost is a legitimate site. It's just not a living wage.

1. Have a basic understanding of marketing research. Manufacturers of products are looking for the opinions of people who have disposable income. In other words, if you're unemployed, don't waste your time with survey sites, as your opinion is worthless to corporate America. Sorry if this sounds brash, but it's true. You're not always going to be the type of person marketers are looking for. And the entire basis of this site is that you will get paid ONLY IF you are the type of person they need for a certain study.

2. Don't expect to qualify for everything. They are looking for needles in haystacks, and I just happen to be a needle they pick out a lot. I'm pretty successful at this because I'm a single white 30 year old male who owns his own home and has a full-time job. I'm exactly what a lot of companies are looking for -- but not all. I still only qualify for about 15% of the surveys I'm sent, and your luck may not even be that good. Also, understand that the tiniest detail can disqualify you from a study, so even if you answer questions for 10 minutes, you still might not qualify because you don't use a specific type of shampoo or soap or whatever.

3. Don't expect to get rich off this -- or even make anything close to a living wage. This is my beer money. And maybe, if I let my points accumulate for a while, I can buy a nice dinner with it. Nothing more, though. If you're looking for a job, go look for a job. Don't waste your time on survey sites.

4. Set your expectations accordingly. Be sure to understand how the site works before you sign up, and if you have questions, ask them. If you sign up for Opinion Outpost (or any other site like this) and approach it like Anthony did, thinking you're going to have gainful employment from taking surveys online, you need a serious reality check. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Unfortunately, in this situation, it sounds like Anthony created his own overinflated expectations, and in doing so, set himself up for disappointment. If you don't have any expectations from these sites, you will never be disappointed.

Just to prove that I am not an employee, I've attached a screenshot of my rewards page on opinionoutpost.com. To date I have made $229.20 directly from Opinion Outpost, along with an additional $100-$150 from focus groups and studies I participated in as a direct result of my involvement with Opinion Outpost.

This company takes advantage of good people by misinforming them.  I have done a number of surveys and haven't gotten paid for any.  They say its some third parties fault and their just the referee.  If you like getting used, this is the perfect company for you. If you got a brain, stay away!

I got alot of surveys from Opinion Outpost.  I was getting really super tired of filling out surveys, completeting them, and then I wasn't getting my points.  I am very busy with two children, and it's an incredibly time consuming process.  For all of my efforts, I made $8.00 over the course of six weeks.  I got a wonderful survey for a movie.  It was one of the best surveys I've ever done.  It looked like I was just about done,  about 20 minutes into it, when the survey said that I wasn't being honest.  It kicked me out of the survey about hafway through.  Right then and there, I went into Opinion Outpost and unsubscribed.  I am way too busy for this kind of foolishness.

I have been an Opinion Outpost panelist since March 20, 2009. I am not an employee, and I have no interest in harming or enhancing the public image of Opinion Outpost. I am merely relaying my personal experience with them.

In the time I have been a member, I have been sent nearly 300 survey opportunities, and in doing so, have earned a total of $150.50. Of that amount, about $14 has come from referring friends who have also successfully completed surveys. In addition to this amount, I have also been paid $50-$75 to participate in a handful of discussion groups about various products. I would estimate my total earnings as a result of my involvement with Opinion Outpost at approximately $260.

First of all, I agree with the earlier poster -- one should not confuse online surveys with actual gainful employment. Even if you successfully complete surveys as often as I do, $260 over the course of nine months is really not that significant.

Secondly, Opinion Outpost does not guarantee that you will receive survey opportunities, or that you will qualify for the survey opportunities you receive, so to accuse them of making empty promises reflects not on the company, but on the original poster's inattention to the nature of the online marketing research industry.

On average, I'd say that I only qualify for about 15% of the surveys I take. I just receive a LOT of surveys. A big part of that is because I filled out every single one of the nine profile questionnaires. Another part has to do with my demographic information.

The truth is that some demographic groups are more valuable than others. I am a single Caucasian male between the ages of 29 and 34. I am a homeowner, I own a vehicle, I am an IT professional, I do all my own grocery shopping, and I subscribe to paid television, internet, and cellular services. As far as marketing research companies are concerned, I am the ideal consumer. I am unmarried, I am a professional, and I have no kids. Marketing research companies like the partners of Opinion Outpost see someone like me and assume that I have tons of disposable income, regardless of whether or not this is actually the case.

There are other factors, too -- I spend most of my day in front of a computer (unfortunately) and I have enough down-time that I can sit and complete a couple of surveys while doing other things.

To the original poster: I think a primary reason you are not qualifying for surveys is because you are unemployed. Marketing researchers are interested in reaching the people who have money to spend, and unfortunately, those are usually the people who are employed full-time.

in conclusion, is Opinion Outpost a scam? Absolutely not. It does, however, require time and patience. Most of all, though, you really should never rely on any sort of marketing research study for gainful employment. Financially speaking, if you're looking to make serious money, you'll make more money working 20 hours a week at a fast food place than you will doing any sort of online survey. Online survey sites like Opinion Outpost are great, but only as a source of beer money. And that's about it.

Good luck.

"If you really thought that you would acquire "gainful employment" through taking surveys, you have clearly misinterpreted the concept. It is not a "get rich quick" scheme or anything that you could live off of. If you would like to make an acceptable amount of money, I suggest you (or anyone) search for a job that pays well where you could live comfortably."

I don't believe anyone here is seriously looking at surveys as a replacement for gainful employment. Get real!

This data is used by companies to make a profit and market their services. Companies pay thousands for the information that Outpost scams out of people in hopes that they are compensated. If anything, the real "get rich" attitude in all of this is coming from Oupost who wants something for nothing.

People simply want a fair exchange of time spent and sharing of personal information at a reasonable cost.

Here is what Outpost does:
They ask you to sign up fill in your name, address, age, date of birth.
Then answer hundreds of profile questions that is suppose to be the determining factor in qualifying you for surveys. You are not compensated for these horribly asinine nosy questions that never seem to end.

Then at this point one expects to receive surveys and be paid for them.

Not at Outpost, when you click on a survey listing the "Possible" number of points you are then subjected to another "Premliminary" set of questions about 5 or so (where they claim) to want to keep up-to-date records to qualify you for more surveys, before you proceed through the QUALIFICATION screening and answer anywhere from a handful from up to 100 or so questions. Which is the survey itself before they boot you off and say we're out of time and you don't match.

In other words thanks for everything sucka!

"To sum it up, it's a "pocket change" sort of compensation -- making a dollar or two or three every now and then. The first two weeks I started, I made $6. With these type of sites, it is common knowledge not to expect a whole lot. Don't expect to always qualify, don't expect a ton of money."

Lucky you, because everyone I've found has made ZERO.

"Please do not assume it is a scam. They didn't promise you money. You didn't pay anything into it. You took the risk of spending time to qualify. Nobody steered you wrong. Most people are blinded by the fact that they think they could make a ton of money quick by taking surveys and just sitting in their pajamas, when in reality it isn't the case."

I didn't assume, I tried it and it is. This place is a ripoff and needs to be shut down.

I have been doing Opinion Outpost for awhile and I can tell you, it is not a scam! However, you are not "employed" -- you are just selected to pre-qualify for surveys in which you are compensated for taking if you DO qualify. You will not qualify for ALL surveys and yes, the pre-qualification can be tedious and frustrating.

If you really thought that you would acquire "gainful employment" through taking surveys, you have clearly misinterpreted the concept. It is not a "get rich quick" scheme or anything that you could live off of. If you would like to make an acceptable amount of money, I suggest you (or anyone) search for a job that pays well where you could live comfortably.

To sum it up, it's a "pocket change" sort of compensation -- making a dollar or two or three every now and then. The first two weeks I started, I made $6. With these type of sites, it is common knowledge not to expect a whole lot. Don't expect to always qualify, don't expect a ton of money.

Please do not assume it is a scam. They didn't promise you money. You didn't pay anything into it. You took the risk of spending time to qualify. Nobody steered you wrong. Most people are blinded by the fact that they think they could make a ton of money quick by taking surveys and just sitting in their pajamas, when in reality it isn't the case.