Paid Surveys - Get paid for taking online surveys with TestSpin and earn Amazon gift certificates!

A market research company calls TestSpin and asks us if we have a certain user profile, such as Men, age18-24. The client will have a specific "quota" of people they will need, such as 1000. We then search through our membership base to find that user profile. The client gives us a link to their survey and we email to our members with that link and ask if they would like to take a survey. Those members may go to our client's survey and start responding to questions. There usually will be a few (3-10) questions that will either qualify or disqualify members from that survey. If you don't qualify you are taken out of the survey and you do not get credited. If you do qualify, you will continue to answer questions. If you complete the survey you will be asked to enter your username for verification of your membership with TestSpin and this is what we use to credit our members who complete the survey. Once we fill the quota of people requested by the client they close the survey. We wait for the client to finish the survey (some take weeks) and then the client gives usthe usernames they collected at the end of the survey and we credit those user's accounts.

2. What is expected of me as a member?

We ask that you maintain your user profile - keep it updated. It is very important that your profile is current as you will have a hard time qualifying for surveys if it is not. Also, TestSpin is awarding "TestSpin Dollars" to those who are professional, honest, spend the time necessary to read the questions in a survey, and take this process seriously.

3. Why should I give you my personal information?

It is necessary for you to give us your demographic (personal) information and keep that information current for us to send you invitations. The more questions you answer in your registration form the more surveys invites you will receive. If you need to update your information (or finish the second page), once you are logged in go to your "MyHomepage" and click on "Edit My Account Information."

4. What personal information of mine do you give out to clients?

Our clients do not need to know who you are. They will ask us if we have a specific type of person and we will search through our database to see. If we do, we send out survey invites, but never release any identifying information.

TestSpin only uses�the information�you give us during registration to conduct focus groups or send surveys to�you on behalf of�our Clients. TestSpin will not release personally identifying information to anyone. Testers should be aware that in responding to�Clients' surveys or focus groups they may be disclosing personally identifying information.�TestSpin is not responsible for the question content and the security and privacy protections in place on�the TEstSpin web site�do not cover�our Clients' survey questions. Testers responding to surveys or focus groups are solely responsible for the content of their responses and disclosure of their personal information.

5. Why do you pay us TestSpin Dollars for market research and what are TestSpin dollars?

Our clients need your opinions and they'll pay TestSpin for them. In turn we can award you for your opinions. Unlike our competitors who enter you in a sweepstakes, we compensate everyone who completes a survey under the TestSpin Terms of Agreement. As a result, our clients come to TestSpin and rely on your honest responses to surveys. Our clients make decisions that will affect the way you buy products. Your opinions will make a difference, so it is important to us that we have members who care. TestSpin dollars have no ($0.0) monetary value. TestSpin dollars are merely "awards" for completion of a market reseach study. These awards can be redeemed in Amazon.com gift certificates if you adhere to the Terms of Agreement you "agreed" to when registering.

6. Where are the surveys, I don't see any on your site?

TestSpin's business clients have the ability to request specific demographic profiles (member info) from our database for their marketing research studies. For instance a television studio may target Males 18-34 who like horror movies, or a Baby Formula company may request Females, Married, 34-49 with 3 or more children. We at TestSpin have no control over which profiles they choose, so you may be right for our next survey... or it may take several weeks before you are invited to participate. Those surveys posted on our web site that are available to everyone (not profile specific) are rare and fill up in around 5 mins. Most clients want specific types of people to answer their surveys and prefer to send invites via email... so most of our survey invites will be sent to the email account you registered with us. Be sure to look for the "TestSpin Alert!" email message which will invite you to participate in a survey that is targeted to you… and move quickly if you qualify, our surveys typically fill up in a couple hours.

7. What is a Focus Group?

Focus groups were originally called "focused interviews" or "group depth interviews". The technique was developed after World War II to evaluate audience response to radio programs (Stewart & Shamdasani, 1990). Since then social scientists and program evaluators have found focus groups to be useful in understanding how or why people hold certain beliefs about a topic or program of interest.

A focus group could be defined as a group of interacting individuals having some common interest or characteristics, brought together by a moderator, who uses the group and it's interaction as a way to gain information about a specific or focused issue.

A focus group is typically 7-10 people who are unfamiliar with each other. These participants are selected because they have certain characteristics in common that relate to the topic of the focus group. The moderator or interviewer creates a permissive and nurturing environment that encourages different perceptions and points of view, without pressuring participants to vote, plan or reach consensus (Krueger, 1988). The group discussion is conducted several times with similar types of participants to identify trends and patterns in perceptions. Careful and systematic analysis of the discussions provide clues and insights as to how a product, service, or opportunity is perceived by the group.

8. How can I participate in a focus group?

Focus Groups are typically 7-10 people and are very profile specific. We will contact you if your profile fits exactly what we need, but because the nature of the size of focus groups, you have a better chance participating in surveys.

9. Tried to register but your form keeps telling me I didn't answer all the questions, why?

In order to register and be accepted as a TestSpin member, you need to fill out every single field in the registration form. If there is any field left saying "select one", you will not be able to register. If you aren't sure about an answer, select "other" or "none"... but something must be selected.

10. How does TestSpin make money?

TestSpin gets paid to send our members to surveys, but we only get paid if you qualify and complete their surveys. Therefore the more surveys you complete the more money we make. We are in this together and want you to participate in our clients' surveys. We also want members who are great survey takers and give great responses, as our business is only as good as our members.

11. Does TestSpin choose who they want for a survey?

No. TestSpin's business clients have the ability to request specific demographic profiles (member info) from our database for their marketing research studies. For instance a television studio may target Males 18-34 who like horror movies, or a Baby Formula company may request Females, Married, 34-49 with 3 or more children. We at TestSpin have no control over which profiles they choose, so you may be right for our next survey... or it may take several weeks before you are invited to participate.

12. Why do I have to give my username in the survey?

We use your username to credit your account. Your account will be credited approximately four weeks after the entire survey has been completed. Some surveys have different segments, (such as overseas) so it may be longer than four weeks from the day you completed the survey. We wait for our client to provide us with all the usernames they collected at the end of the survey and then we match them to our e-mailing list for verification. TestSpin's policy is that if you are not on our e-mailing list for that survey, your responses will not be counted and you will not be credited. This process assures us that we don't have anyone that we don't invite taking our clients' surveys. Some clients require us to send you a "survey access code" this further insures that only those we invite take our clients' surveys. On these surveys you will be asked to type in a code and a username.

13. I tried to take a survey, but it said I didn't qualify, why?

Surveys sometimes have restrictions, such as age or income, and they can be as restrictive as what year car you drive. For instance, a client may request Cadillac owners to take a survey, but then screen out everyone but those who have a 2001 Cadillac. The first 3-10 questions of a survey are typically screeners and determine whether or not you qualify for the survey itself. TestSpin does not get paid for anyone who does not qualify for a survey, therefore we do not credit members who do not qualify. You must qualify and complete the survey to be credited. By the way, client's know if you've tried to take a survey and not qualified and then come back and try to qualify again. They tell us who you are and this will flag your account and possibly be a reason to close your account. The purpose of screener questions is that they want a specific type of person to answer their survey, so please do not try to take a survey again if you don't qualify.

14. Does TestSpin build and host the surveys?

Most of the time, no. Although the "sample surveys" you see on your homepage are built by TestSpin, we typically don't build or host our client's surveys. We have no control over the content, their stability, browser compatibility or reliability. If you are having difficulty with a survey, there is nothing we can do about it, except offer our apologies and report the problems to our client.

15. I'm not getting any email invites, what could be the problem?

Our e-mails are sent in plain text format, which can be read by all email software programs, however some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have "spam" filters and may believe we are sending you unsolicited e-mails. You must speak with your provider (such as Go.com) and ask why you are not able to receive our invites.

If your ISP is not being cooperative, we suggest you to create an alternate e-mail account with one of the free e-mail services (yahoo, lycos, hotmail, etc.) and then update your profile in our database. Also about 20% of our invites bounce back to us because our members' free email accounts are over quota (full). Please make sure your email account has enough space to accept our emails. To update your email address: