Product Name: Inbox Dollars
Website: inboxdollars.com
Owner: Darren Cotter – CotterWeb Enterprises
Price to Join: Free
Overall Rank: 1 out of 10
In 2016, survey sites are still attractive and very popular. Not only that but there are so many more sites to choose from compared to 10 years ago when I joined a survey site. That prompted me to write the Inbox Dollars review – is Inbox Dollars a legitimate survey site? Find out if it is the real deal or a scam.
Just to let you know I am not a huge fan of survey sites. I tried once but it wasn’t worth my time and I was not impressed with the survey processes you had to go through just to earn 10 cents.
What is Inbox Dollars?
Mark Cotter started Inbox Dollars in 2000 as an online rewards club. Members get paid cash for trying out new products or services or you can provide feedback.
If you’re already doing many of these online activities why not start getting paid to do them? These are 6 activities that I felt were important to discuss.
Get Paid to do:
- Online Surveys
- Read Emails
- Watch videos
- Search the Internet
- Use Coupons
- Shop Online
How Does This Stuff Work?
1. Online Surveys: After you have your account opened and before you can start to fill out surveys, you have to fill out a qualification survey to verfiy you are qualified to take surveys. This process takes approximately 20 minutes and they will ask you very personal questions.
I don’t feel they need to know what income I make and this invades my privacy. I understand where they are coming from because they need to know all about me and if I can make money using Inbox Dollars.
On their end they will compile my information to see if they will make money off of me through watching videos or online shopping.
Not only that but you have to wait to see if you qualify. They can disqualify you for not being a certain age, gender or you don’t live in the right place. You could be doing a household shopping survey or looking for a new car survey.
What’s important to remember is each survey you have to qualify for and 20 minutes of your time spent filling out the form, only to find out you are not qualified. What happens if it takes you a week to be accepted for a survey?
In my opinion, it becomes so time consuming and a complete waste of time, all for the sake of making .25 cents!
Payment ranges from $0.25 to $5.
2. Read Emails: You will be notified through emails about deals and offers that you might be interested in. When you read each email you will be paid .02 cents per email. You don’t need to try the product in order to get paid.
You have to be careful here as this is where Inbox Dollars can make money off of you. Sure the deals or offers might sound wonderful but you will have to sign up for any of the free trial offers.
Be aware of when the trial offer will end and cancel your account. If not the company will charge you a monthly fee and in return Inbox Dollars will get paid from you.
Also your information will be shared with third party companies and you will be bombarded with tons of emails and phone calls.
3. Watch Videos: Brands will pay big money for advertising via TV, video and banner ads. What they do is put ads in videos and all you have to do is watch the video and you will earn a whopping $0.01 per view.
I guess the good out watching videos is you will enjoy the music videos, tips on saving money or the movie trailers.
On the downside some brands limit the number of videos you can watch per day. You won’t know unless you try!
4. Search the Internet: When you switch from Google search to Inbox Dollars Search you will be making 2 cents per search. Just like reading emails or watching videos your earning will be capped to just 15 cents per day.
If you are searching the internet already, why not make 15 cents a day?
5. Use Coupons: If you love coupons and you are a club member, they offer hundreds of coupons from your favourite brands. Print the coupons you want and once redeemed, you will be paid 10 cents each.
Maybe you are into couponing because of the savings you get on certain products, however you are only entitled to 12 coupons a week.
6. Shop Online: We all go shopping so why not get paid to shop? You will be making cash back, up to 5%, for every dollar you spend at some of the largest US retailers like Walmart or Old Navy.
So for every dollar you spend, remember your cash back will be between 1% to 5%. Or you can look at it this way – 1% of a dollar is 1 cent and 5% is 5 cents. So for a $20 item you can earn 20 cents or up to 50 cents.
Who Can Benefit From Inbox Dollars?
People who have time on their hands! Or people who can do simple tasks such as watch tv, cut out coupons and shop online and are happy earning a few cents.
I would say the elderly or someone who is out of work as they need to make money fast. However, I feel these people get sucked into survey sites because they are gullible. They don’t realize it takes a lot of time and what they earn is pocket change not a replacement for fulltime income.
Is There Training or Tools Provided?
Absolutely no training is needed and the only tool you require is a computer.
What Is The Earning Potential?
- When you join – earn $5
- Doing Surveys – $200 per year
- Read Emails – $22 per year
- Watch Videos – $15 per year
- Search the Internet – $54 per year
- Couponing – $62 per year
- Shop Online – up to 5% of what you buy. Varies person to person.
In total this works out to $358 a year just using the above outline. However, all the 10 and 15 cents you earn do eventually add up to dollars and you will definately get paid.
Beware – before you can get paid you must have a $30 minimum in your account. Plus they will charge you a $3 processing fee. Payment is in the form of a check or a Visa cash card.
The Good:
- Free to join and get started
- Make 5$ for free upon joining
The Bad:
- Not worth the time devoted to earn cents
- You will be spending money for the better paying offers
- All of your personal information is uncovered
- Private information like your yearly salary is required on some surveys
- Be prepared for tons of emails from advertisers per third party diclosure upon joining
- Telemarketers will be phoning you day and night soliciting offers when you disclose your phone number
- You will find a lot of complaints online
My Final Opinion…
Question – does making cents with a survey site something you would like to do?
I know it sounds exciting and is an easy way to make money and a lot of people do this. However, to get paid a measly .02 for reading one email. Just think how many emails you would have to read every day just to compensate for your time.
Since this is my second time joining a survey site, I can honestly say that nothing has changed in 10 years in regards to what you will get paid – pennies! Plus the time wasted to earn these pennies!
Inbox Dollars is not really a scam and I have to say it is legitimate, just barely. This is something that I would definately not do and I would recommend you stay away from Inbox Dollars!
Being an online business owner I value my time and it is such a waste of time to read emails or do surveys that pay just pennies plus the hassle from telemarketers! It’s not worth my time!
My preference is to spend my time, energy and focus on making real good money, not $30 every 2-3 months.
For the past year and a half, I have been continually learning how to build my online business at Wealthy Affiliate. I find it way more productive and satisfying and it definitely beats trying to make pocket change on a survey site.
Below is a chart of features you get at Wealthy Affiliate compared to Inbox Dollars:
Does this make sense to you? Do you value your time? Would you like an opportunity to earn good money?
Here at Wealthy Affiliate there is absolutely NO charge to start learning the basic training. Yes it is Free to start! WA provides the best training and everything you will need to start building your business foundation. From the ground up complete with 24-7 help and support whenever you need it.
I truly hope my review has provided you with some good insight into the world of survey sites.
Perhaps you have experience with Inbox Dollars and would like to share.
Also, if you have any questions in regards to this review please leave them below. I will be more than happy to help you.
Take Care!
~Barb~