Want an easy way to increase your income, but don't want to be scammed out of your hard-earned money? You're not the only one, and this question has been floating around a lot recently regarding the number of paid survey sites that are available. But today, we're looking at one in particular: Mindfield Online.
Paid surveys offer people a chance to make an extra bit of money in their free time just by filling out surveys online. But are you losing your personal information in the process? Are all of these “free” ways to get an extra buck just a scam?
Should you even risk it, or is it worth your time?
Mindfield Online
Mindfield Online is one of many paid survey sites that offers you the chance to make some extra money by completing various surveys, participating in focus groups, and inviting friends. All within the same website.
However, many people are somewhat hesitant to join in these types of sites because they are afraid of losing their information or their money.
This is a very valid worry, as many people in the past have been through scams and lost who knows how much. But is Mindfield Online one of those scams?
The Owner Is The Key
Mindfield Online is under the ownership of McMillion Research. These guys are a big name in the data collection industry and have been around for roughly 30 years, give or take. Their affiliations include companies like MRS, Insights Association, American Marketing Association, and Intellus Worldwide.McMillion Research began way back in 1980 by conducting door-to-door surveys.
By the year 2000, they branched out into online data collection and market research. And now, in 2019, they have solidified themselves as a successful data collection company.McMillion Research features online surveys, have a 100-station phone center at their headquarters, host focus groups that include one-on-one interviews, and maintains the most massive and most up-to-date database in West Virginia.
All of this to keep themselves on the leading edge in the research and data collection communities.
So What Do They Do?
Mindfield Online rewards members for completing various online activities that help their parent company build their data collection. By becoming a member, which is free, you will have access to daily online surveys, product testing, and various focus groups.
They also have studies specifically for teens and a “refer a friend” program, which rewards you for anyone you invite to the site.
The rewards for your time and participation vary depending on the activity you are a part of. The cash rewards include payouts via PayPal and sweepstakes entries, which are basically like a lottery. Other awards include Amazon gift cards, Walmart gift cards, and retail e-vouchers.
There is no point system, which is a great sign. This means that you do not have to accumulate a certain amount of points before you can cash out. Instead, you earn a set amount in U.S. dollars for each activity you complete.
For example, focus groups are said to earn you up to $100. Surveys claim to pay up to $10, but most will offer you somewhere in the $1 to $3 range. The sweepstakes are monthly and have a prize of $500, which is pretty wild.
When it comes to cashing out all that you have made, the threshold is $5. This means you have to make at least $5 before you can cash out your earnings. Seeing that the $5 is a relatively low threshold, you could cash out, supposedly, every day.
It is a pretty solid foundation that many have made use of. However, how much they made and how fast they make that money is a whole different story.
Can You Trust Them?
The short answer here is, yes. Mindfield Online and their parent company McMillion Research are both very trustworthy companies that are accredited with the Better Business Bureau. They also have the highest possible rating of an A+, making them a legitimate company.
There is no scam here whatsoever.
However, that doesn't mean you can expect to be making a ton of money by just doing these surveys. There are some things that they do not tell you until you get right into the nitty-gritty of the site. Specifically, you have to qualify for surveys.
This means that they take your demographic information and cross-check it with all of the surveys they have available. If your information does not match the information they are looking for for a particular survey, you will be disqualified.
That's not a reflection on you, personally, but if they're looking for data on soccer moms in the Midwest, and you're a high school student in Florida, your information isn't really helpful. Now, a way that Mindfield Online balances this out is by giving you Sweepstakes entries for every survey you do not qualify for.
Focus groups are something that surely everyone wants to be a part of, seeing as they are big payouts. However, they are extremely exclusive, and it is very rare to get an invite to one. Meaning they are like the golden egg that you can only look at from the outside and probably never touch.
It also turns out that it is currently impossible to join Mindfield Online. Their “Join Now” link states that they are not currently accepting new members.
Disappointing, but not enough to label this website a full-on scam.
But What About The Moola?
From the look of things, making actual money is a pretty slow process. This is because while the surveys claim they pay up to $10 and may typically fall within the $1 to $3 range, in actuality, that number is usually closer to $1. And that is if you qualify for the surveys in the first place.
They will send you a ton of emails with surveys for you to complete. However, you may only qualify for a handful of them because of their strict demographic requirements. There is even a chance that your disqualification could happen halfway through or even at the end of the survey itself, rather than before.
If and when you do reach the payout minimum, which again is very low compared to other sites like this, it will take about 5 to 10 days for your money to come through. Still, this isn't bad, just rather slow.
When it comes to what users are saying about Mindfield Online, there are a few issues that are repeatedly coming up. The disqualification is by far the biggest.
However, the time it takes to make a good amount of money is the second largest issue here.
Everyone Loves A Controversy
While there do not seem to be any actual controversies with this company, Mindfield Online did run into a bit of an issue a while back. This is regarding the mail and check fraud scams that were circulating.
According to the Mindfield Online website, they put out a PSA about the whole situation. Several scams started using their company's information in an attempt to make the scam seem legitimate. They say that McMillion Research never sends checks or money in advance of someone's full participation, and it is only after you have opted to payout that they will ever send you money.
Also, there have been other scams that have found to been plagiarizing the company's information. Mindfield left a list of links to related scams, which include the Mystery Shopper scam, Secret Shopper scams, and various fake check scams.Mindfield and McMillion Research made it clear that they were in no way related those scams and were, in fact, victims themselves.
Telling the Difference Between Scams And Legit Sites
There are a lot of survey scam sites out there that people fall victim to every day. Fortunately, Mindfield Online is not one of those. But it pays to know the difference between good sites and ones that are out to steal your information.
Two red flags that you want to be on the lookout for when surfing the beautiful world wide web both involve money. Scam sites will often send you to other offers for you to use before you can take their surveys. For example, “complete one of these offers for access to our survey,” or something along those lines.
Another big no-no to look for are sites that either require a credit card with signup or ask you to pay to take a survey. After all, you got to spend money to make money, right? Wrong! Do not give your credit card to any website unless you are sure it is secure.
Also, it is generally a good idea to never give any of your personal information online. This includes things like your email address or even your zip code. Both are ways that websites can gain access to more of your data.
Always research a sketchy website before giving them your information and always trust your gut. If you have a feeling that a website is terrible, steer clear altogether.
Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie is an excellent example of a legit survey site that has been around for a while. This website allows you to take surveys for either cash rewards or gift cards. All without asking for your credit card information or anything.
They are highly rated on Trustpilot and have a ton of excellent ratings from users. If you are looking for a baseline to judge other survey sites from, this is a great example.
Steer Clear of These Survey Sites
Some scam survey sites include CashSurveysOnly, Click 4 Surveys, Paid Surveys at Home, Surveys4Checks, among many others. Remember, legit websites will be completely free to join and should not require much else than your email address.
We thank the good people of the internet for discovering which survey sites are legit and which are scams. So if you were looking for an example of websites that are scams, look no further.
Never give out any personal information like credit card numbers when entering a survey website.
Be Wary, Internet
While there can be a lot of scam survey sites out there, Mindfield Online is not one of them. Their very favorable rating from the Better Business Bureau alone is enough to clear them of any suspicion. But the fact that people have made money from the site is a dead giveaway.
That said, this is still not a survey site that we can wholly recommend. The numerous issues that users have reported should be strongly taken into consideration when looking to join up. However, it seems like joining right now is unavailable, and it is unclear when it will be available next.
Nevertheless, Mindfield Online is a very trustworthy website, but one we still would not recommend as it is relatively slow going and rather exclusive to a select and unknown demographic.
Have you used a paid survey site in the past? Let us know your results and experience, good or bad.
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