When people hear the term "paid surveys", they immediately think that for every survey they take, they are going to get some kind of monetary payment. Well, these people are in for quite a rude awakening. The truth is, many surveys pay you in anything but money and when the survey taker finds this out, they are just fit to be tied. So you know what to expect when taking paid surveys, here's a brief list of the types of payments that you might receive for giving your opinion.

Yes, there are some surveys that do pay cash. The cash amount usually coincides with how long the survey is expected to take. For surveys that take about 10 or 15 minutes. don't expect to be paid more than a dollar or two and that's even if these short surveys pay a cash award. Most short surveys don't. To get paid cash, you usually have to take a survey that is at minimum a half hour or more. Most hour surveys may pay you as much as $10 but most will pay less than that. Also, the number of paid surveys that you're going to get that are that long and do pay that much are very rare.

So, if paid surveys for actual cash is so rare, just what do most surveys pay you in?

One of the methods that surveys pay you is in points. For every survey you take, you get a certain number of points. For a 10 minute survey you may get 10 points. Ultimately, when you get a certain number of points you will get a monetary reward for those points, which can be in the form of money, but doesn't have to be. Some paid surveys pay in prizes. Others pay in gift certificates. The monetary award is usually $1 for every 100 points. So you end up taking about 10 surveys to make that $1. Talk about slave labor.

Another way that paid surveys pay is in entries into drawings. In other words, for every survey you take you are entered into a drawing for some kind of prize. They usually tell you what the prize is before you take the survey. Rarely is the prize anything worth wasting your time for. Even if it was, the number of people taking these surveys is so great that the chances of you winning one of these drawings are slim to none. And usually, the prize being given away has been donated to the survey site so there is no expense out of their pocket. In most cases, the donation comes from the company who is asking for the survey.

Another way that paid surveys pay is with discounts on certain services. For example, you might take a survey on Internet Service Providers and your payment is a 30% discount on Comcast Cable for 6 months. If it's something that you were thinking of doing anyway, then taking the survey makes sense. But most of the discounts given are on things that nobody wants any part of. That's why the discounts are given because the company is trying to make a few sales. Again, the discounts are provided by the company giving the survey.

If you're getting the impression that paid surveys aren't worth wasting your time on, you're right. That is of course unless you're in the market for 30% off on your Internet connection.