The smart way to get paid for your opinions
By Jennie L. Phipps • Bankrate.com

If you're looking for some extra cash, speak up!

Your opinion really could pay off when you participate in consumer surveys. Consumer and academic researchers constantly seek people familiar with their products or guinea pigs willing to give them a try. You'll be compensated for your time and trouble, sometimes with cash, other times with small gifts.

But you have to be the right person, at the right place, at the right time. And you have to be willing to sacrifice some of your time and privacy.

The most accessible, and least well-paying, opportunities are surveys over the Internet. Numerous companies simply offer participants chances to win prizes, but some send checks. Two paying sites are American Consumer Research and BuzzBack. Their clients include Kellogg's, Kraft, Procter & Gamble, General Mills and Target. Their surveys often seek opinions on familiar products.

Both research firms pay about $5 per completed five-minute survey. Occasionally a longer, more complex survey will offer as much as $25. Carol Fitzgerald, president of BuzzBack, says her company has even paid $100 for participation in a multipart survey.

The right responder
"We look for anybody and everybody," says Christie Allen, market director for Decision Analyst Inc., although heads of households (regardless of gender) are more sought after than students or single people.

Potential participants are asked to register at the site and answer a series of qualifying questions, including some nosey ones about interests and employment. Reliable survey companies make privacy an important issue and say the information will go no further. If you're nervous, using a Web-based e-mail account can afford some protection, but you must give them a legitimate name. Otherwise you won't be able to cash their checks.

There are 3.5 million names in American Consumer Research's database, 150,000 names in BuzzBack's. When clients need survey participants, the companies go to their data for people with the requested qualifications. If your name comes up, you'll get an invitation. It's wise to respond quickly because more invitations are issued than there are survey seats.

While it's impossible to second guess what will get you the most survey invitations -- a client, for instance, might be looking for people who own cats -- answering honestly is always the best idea. Liars are unwelcome and the systems are set up to eliminate them. If you're faced with a screening question that gives you the option of choosing "all of the above," think twice before clicking. Read it thoroughly first. It may be there just to trip you up. Once you're on the cheater list, you'll be tossed from the system.