Side Money/Gift Cards

There are some great, legitimate websites that give you the ability to earn extra money on the side as well as gift cards. The key is finding the legitimate sites over the scam sites. Well don’t worry, we have done all of the grunt work for you!

This section will list some sites where you can earn extra cash and other rewards, how they work, and how long it will actually take to see a reward.

Check out our Screenshots page to see the rewards we have earned on various sites.
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MyView is probably my favorite survey/reward site. I joined October 19th, earned my first $15 Amazon gift card on October 30th and my second $15 on November 19. That’s $30 in exactly a month!

At MyView, all you do is take surveys. It is easier to qualify for surveys on this site than ANY other site I have come across. Even better, you get points even if you don’t qualify after the initial questions. The average points earned per survey is 1,000 and the $15 cash out level for Amazon is at 21,000 and the $25 level is 33,950.

Check your email daily. You can pretty easily average 3-4 surveys per week.
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This is the best site for making actual extra money. I joined this one about 3 months ago and just requested a check for $57.32.

$5.00 bonus for signing up!

Every day the user will get a few paid emails, which you get $0.02 each for reading and clicking through (very easy). An average of one of the paid emails each day will be a survey. Complete the survey for $0.50-$1.50 on average. There are also cash offers and sign up offers, but I recommend sticking to the surveys and paid emails unless the ads are for something you would buy anyway.

Installing the toolbar will earn you a buck. It is also very easy to manage your account and emails through the toolbar.

You have to reach $30 in order to cash out. Be patient, it won’t take as long as you think.

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Surveyhead is another good one. You qualify for a lot of surveys and they don’t waste your time with a ton of initial questions before either kicking you out of the survey or accepting you. The rewards are pretty good (average $1-$3) per survey. The surveys vary in length from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. I’ve gotten rewards of $8 for one survey with them! Cashout level for Amazon is $25, but they have a lot of other rewards as well!
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Springboard America is the runner up for making actual money. You get paid for each survey, once you hit $50, you get a check! We got ours and let me tell you, getting $50 in the mail for taking surveys is awesome!
Males sign up here.
Females sign up here.

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MySurvey – Surveys are fairly tough to qualify for. You get a lot though, so you can probably qualify for about 1 every 2 days. There rewards are nice because they have a ton of gift cards to choose from. It takes some time to get to the cash out level, but it’s not unreasonable. Sign ups are not going on all of the time, so stay posted to see when they are accepting applicants.
*Currently accepting applicants!
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Sites I would not recommend:

Reward TV
*Update: After spending some time in my recommended section, I have chosen to move Reward TV here due to about 10 failed ”shopping spree” gift card redemptions. Basically, when you get enough points for a reward, it is still like a contest to see who actually gets the gift card. Turns out I had beginner’s luck the first time.
This is a different kind of survey site. You can earn various gift cards by answering questions about TV programs. The questions that are important to them are the ones about TV commercials. You will also be able to take surveys about movies, electronics and other stuff.
Their surveys are probably the quickest and easiest to take, which makes their reward scheme a bummer.

The way redeeming your points works is a little different too. They have auctions where you can spend your points. The auctions are for people with a ridiculous amount of points. Go for the gift cards. Every couple of days or so, they have a “Shopping Spree” where you can get gift cards. There are 3 different ones available each time, BUT there are limited quantities of each, so you have to have a little luck. The first time I tried, I got a $5 Chevron gift card and just received it in the mail! The second time, I tried for a $25 Marshalls GC and they were out. Then, every time I tried for anything, they were out. It feels like a scam now. The gift cards go within 10-20 seconds, but it is possible. Like I said, I got one on my first try, but after that, I am about 0-50.
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Panda Research – The “surveys” here are more like sign up offers that never end and don’t pay much. They reel you in with $5 “surveys” that are NOT surveys at all. Don’t waste your time here.
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Shadow Shopper – Tries to look like a legit secret shopping company, but the free membership offers access to no jobs. You get emails every day saying that there are jobs, but you have to pay for their premium service to gain access to them. I’m not buying what they’re selling.

Anytime you are weary of signing up for something, try checking out Snopes for info.
Also, for reviews on basically any survey site out there, check out Survey Police