If you’re looking to make some extra money from the comfort of your own home, then you might be considering an online survey platform that rewards you for your time. The key problem in this particular area of the work-from-home arena is two-fold.
Firstly, most of the platforms that we come across pay so little that it just isn’t worth your time. Secondly, even if you are able to build up your points tally, you are often required to meet a huge threshold before you can turn your points into real-world cash.
With that being said, InboxDollars is one such platform that appears to be growing in popularity in the online space, not least because members are paid on a cash-only basis – as opposed to points. Moreover, not only will you get paid for undertaking surveys, but you can also earn money by completing other tasks such as watching videos or playing games.
If you’ve recently come across the InboxDollars platform and you’re thinking about signing up, be sure to read our in-depth review first. We cover all of the important factors that we think you should know – such as how InboxDollars works, how much you can earn, and how you can cash your rewards out.
Let’s start by getting an overview of what InboxDollars actually is.
What is InboxDollars?
If you’ve ever come across an online survey website such as the likes of SurveyJunkie – then you’ll likely know the drill. In a nutshell, InboxDollars is a third-party platform that gives you the opportunity of completing online tasks.
In return for your time and effort, the InboxDollars platform will reward you with cash. This is in stark contrast to its industry counterparts, which typically operate on a points system.
As we will explain further down in our review, InboxDollars gives you multiple ways to earn cash. While its proprietary business models centers around surveys, you can also earn money by using its search engine, referring friends, listening to the radio, shopping online, and playing games on your mobile phone.
If you’re wondering how InboxDollars is able to pay you with cash for completing simple tasks, this is because the platform partners with real-world brands. While its partnerships cover companies of all sizes, notable firms include the likes of Netflix, Groupon, and JustFab.
In terms of the fundamentals, the InboxDollars website was first launched in 2000, which makes it one of the oldest platforms in this particular niche. Interestingly, InboxDollars has also been recognized as an Inc 5000 company on multiple occasions. For those unaware, companies that fall within this bracket are identified as the 5,000 fastest growing firms in the US – which in the case of InboxDollars, is pretty impressive.
Fully in-line with the company’s ongoing growth, InboxDollars has since expanded internationally. For example, the company launched InboxPounds to the UK market in 2012, and DailyRewards in Canada in 2014.
Furthermore, the InboxDollars platform was purchased by Prodege this year, meaning that the platform now falls under the same umbrella as Swagbucks. Finally, InboxDollars claims to have paid a total of $60 million in cash to its members since 2006.
So now that you have a good understanding of what InboxDollars is, in the next section of our review we are going to explore how surveys work at the platform.
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Taking Surveys at InboxDollars
Note: When you first register an account with InboxDollars, the platform will load your account with $5. However, you won’t be able to cash the $5 out until you reach the minimum withdrawal threshold of $30.
Here’s a breakdown of everything you need to know about taking surveys at InboxDollars.
Surveys – Getting Started
Apart from referring friends and family, taking surveys at InboxDollars is the most effective way of earning cash. Companies that the platform has partnered with are looking to extract viewpoints from everyday consumers, which is why they are willing to pay for your time.
First and foremost, the surveys available at InboxDollars typically come in two key forms. While some surveys are available to all InboxDollars members, others are on an ‘invite-only’ basis. This is not too dissimilar to other survey platforms in the space
Before you are able to start taking surveys at InboxDollars, you will need to fill out your profile. This will include a range of questions such as where you live, how many people live in your household, what your income is, where you have traveled to in the past 5 years, whether or not you are a homeowner, and what form of transportation you typically take.
If you’re wondering why InboxDollars needs this information, this is because certain surveys are tailored to specific demographics. For example, if a baby food manufacturer wanted to gauge the opinion of mothers with small children, they would have a very specific demographic in mind.
There is no way of adapting your answers to give you a better chance of receiving more survey opportunities, as it really depends on what the platform’s partners are looking for. As such, you are best advised to complete the profile requirement with truthful answers.
Surveys – Subjects
In terms of what subject areas you will be asked to complete surveys on, this could be on just about anything. Once again, the specific surveys that you are offered will depend on your profile, as well as the interests that you outline during the registration process.
Nevertheless, surveys will typically fall under one of the following subjects:
- Cars
- Fashion
- Home Renovation
- Travel
- Groceries and Shopping
- Sports and Leisure
- Politics and Current Events
- Healthcare
- Insurance
Surveys – Time and Rewards
InboxDollars advise that surveys can take anywhere from 3 minutes, all the way up to 25 minutes. In some cases, the longer the time required to complete the survey, the more you will get paid. At the lower end, you will only make around $0.50 for completing a 3-5 minute survey.
If we were to do the maths conservatively ($0.50 per 5 minutes), this would amount to $6 per hour. However, we have also come across surveys that pay just $0.25, with InboxDollars advising that we should expect the survey to take 9 minutes of our time. This brings a $6 hourly wage right down to just $1.66!
As such, the specific amount that you can earn will vary considerably. From our experience of using the platform thus far, the highest-paid surveys were those that were offered to us on an invite-only basis. The survey in question centered on home-based accounting software packages, with a 25-minute survey offering $12.
Other Ways to Earn Cash at InboxDollars
As is the case with most survey sites in the online arena, InboxDollars gives you multiple ways to earn rewards. The specific amount that you are able to earn will depend on a number of factors, such as the type of task, how much time is required, and the partner behind the exercise.
Nevertheless, here’s a breakdown of some of the most common tasks that will allow you to earn rewards at InboxDollars.
Videos
One of the easiest ways to keep your cash balance ticking along nicely at InboxDollars is to watch video content. The platform explains that large companies require everyday consumers to gain exposure to their newly released content – whether that’s an upcoming movie or TV show, or a newly launched product.
In terms of the specific topics, this ranges from food, health, technology, trending news, entertainment, and even celebrity gossip. It doesn’t really matter whether or not you find the content interesting if your primary goal is to earn cash.
The InboxDollars platform will typically release between 24 and 30 new videos each and every day, which gives you plenty of opportunities to earn. Each video will usually last for 2 minutes, meaning that you could get through around 1 hour’s worth every day if you maximized what’s on offer.
It is important to note that the pay-out framework offered to members when watching videos is different from that of surveys. The reason for this is that InboxDollars will reward you with a ‘virtual scratchcard’ as opposed to cold-hard cash.
Once you receive your scratchcard, you will need to virtually scratch it off on-screen. Every scratchcard will come with a fixed cash prize, with the vast majority paying between $0.05 and $0.25 per card. However, it is also possible to land a prize of up to $25 – albeit, this is a rarity.
The key problem with watching videos at InboxDollars is that you are likely to receive the minimum prize of $0.05 more often than not. As such, watching the maximum allocation of 30 2-minute videos would yield you just $1.50. Furthermore, don’t think about watching InboxDollars videos on a 4g data connection, as the data consumption levels will cost you more than you are likely to earn in cash!
Reading Emails
Getting paid to read emails that are sent via the InboxDollars platform operates in a similar way to watching videos, insofar that partnered brands are looking to expose you to their product or service. Moreover, the reward system works in the same way as watching videos as you will be receiving virtual scratch cards, as opposed to cash.
However, if you receive a promotional email and you subsequently proceed to complete the task (for example signing up to a website offering a 1-month free trial), then you will earn additional rewards – paid out in cash. Once again, the specific amount that you will be paid can vary wildly.
On the other hand, if you do opt into this particular earning opportunity, it is important to remember that your email account is likely to be flooded with promotional emails. As such, if you are using your primary email address at InboxDollars, this is likely to become somewhat annoying very quickly!
Search Engine
In a similar fashion to SurveyMonkey, InboxDollars also gives you the opportunity to earn rewards in return for using the platform’s search engine. On the one hand, this is a super-easy way to start racking up your earnings, not least because search engine rewards are paid in cash.
However, you will only be paid $0.01 for every four searches that you make. It might still be worth considering as the search engine is powered by Yahoo, so there will be no issues with the reliability of the results. On top of earning $0.01 for every four searches, you will also receive three tickets to the daily sweepstake competition. This is where you have the chance to win cash prizes simply for holding a ticket.
Playing Games
InboxDollars has partnerships with a range of small-to-medium game developers that are looking to make it big in the ultra-competitive mobile apps space. As such, they are willing to pay people to test their games out. In most cases, you stand the chance of earning a few cents simply for downloading and installing the app on your mobile device.
Some gaming developers will pay you additional cash if you are able to complete certain levels within the game. This is to ensure that people actually test the game out, as opposed to uninstalling it as soon as they receive their reward from InboxDollars.
On top of conventional video games, InboxDollars has also partnered with GSN Casino. InboxDollars explains that for every $1 that you spend at the online gambling platform, you will receive 18% cashback.
We would suggest that you refrain from this particular earning opportunity, as you stand the very real chance of losing money. In other words, as great as 18% cashback sounds, if you end up losing at the casino you’ll still have less than what you started with!
Online Shopping
In a similar nature to the GSN Casino partnership, InboxDollars will give you cashback every time you purchase goods or services through one of its partnered companies. For example, by ordering your online shopping with Walmarts via the InboxDollars link, you might get 5% cashback.
In this sense, it might be worth considering, not least because you were going to purchase the groceries online anyway. However, it would make no sense to purchase something with the sole aim of earning cashback from InboxDollars. especially if you don’t actually need the product!
So now that we have covered the main earning opportunities available at InboxDollars, in the next section we are going to explore the withdrawal process.
How do I get Paid at InboxDollars?
Minimum Withdrawals
First and foremost, it is crucial to note that you will not be able to request a withdrawal of your earnings until you reach a minimum of $30. This is somewhat high when you factor in the level of earnings that you can realistically make.
While getting frequent invite-only surveys will certainly get you there faster, relying on video, email, and gaming tasks will potentially take a lifetime!
Some platforms in the online survey arena allow you to withdraw your earnings when you reach just $5, so it is a bit disappointing that InboxDollars have set the threshold so high.
Transaction Fees
A further drawback to the InboxDollars withdrawal process is that the platform will charge you a $3 transaction fee if the withdrawal amount is below $40. As such, when you finally reach the minimum withdrawal threshold of $30, you are essentially paying 10% in fees. Considering just how many tasks you might be required to complete to earn $3, this is once again a bit of a letdown.
Payments Options
As we have repeatedly noted throughout our review thus far, InboxDollars pays all rewards in cash, as opposed to the more conventional points system utilized by other survey platforms. However, InboxDollars also gives you other options such as an online gift card.
Nevertheless, you will need to head over to your account dashboard and select the ‘Request Payment’ option. You will then see the list of options available to you.
If it is cash that you are looking for, you will either need to do this via a prepaid Visa e-card or a check. This is somewhat surprising, as most survey platforms operating in this space will give you the option of receiving the funds via PayPal, not least because you can then withdraw the money straight to your bank account.
On the contrary, if you opt for the prepaid Visa, then you will need to use the money to purchase something online. As such, the only way to truly receive your earnings in cold-hard cash is to request a check.
If you are interested in obtaining a gift card from InboxDollars, this can also be arranged. Popular options include Amazon and Walmart.
How Long do Withdrawals Take?
The length of time that it will take for you to receive your funds will depend on your account status and the specific payment method you opt for. If you are looking to make an e-payment (which is everything apart from a check) – and you are not a gold member, then your payment request will take between 10 and 16 days before it is executed by InboxDollars.
Although this is extremely slow, you will instantly move up to a gold member status once the first payment has been facilitated. Once you are a gold member, the team at InboxDollars will process payments once a week. All requests processed before Sunday will be paid the following Wednesday. As such, if you were to request a payment on Monday, it would not be paid until the following Wednesday (i.e. 9 days).
If you are instead looking to receive a check, the end-to-end processing time is even longer. While the weekly payment system for gold members remains constant, you will need to add up to 14 working days on top to factor in the postage time-frame. Once you receive the check, you can pay it straight into your regular US checking account.
Take note – regardless of which payment method you opt for, you need to ensure that all of the information on your account is correct. For example, if the check is issued in the right wrong name, InboxDollars will not be able to help you (on the proviso it was your mistake).
Customer Support and Public Reviews at InboxDollars
Online survey platforms are often known for offering below-par customer support, not least because they do not have the required resources to offer a fully-fledged customer service team. However, customer support at InboxDollars is surprisingly reasonable.
Firstly, you have the option of speaking with a human agent via an in-house live chat facility. Typically, the only option that survey sites give you is an online support ticket system, which can take days before you receive a reply. As such, although waiting times can at times be lengthy, it is notable that a live chat option exists.
Alternatively, you also have the option of contacting InboxDollars via one of their social media accounts. This includes Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
When it comes to the reputation of the platform, the general consensus is that InboxDollars does everything that it promises. There appears to be no issues surrounding payments, which is always a good sign. After all, the platform has been around since 2000, and it claims to serve more than 10 million members. This gives InboxDollars a long-standing pedigree of just under two decades.
Over at TrustPilot, the survey platform has a ‘Great’ score of 4.2/5. As this is based on more than 7,400 individual reviews, this further highlights the general consensus that InboxDollars is a reputable survey platform to join.
InboxDollars: The Bottom Line?
If you have read our InboxDollars review from start to finish, you should now have a really good idea as to whether or not the survey platform is worth your time.
Ultimately, it will come as no surprise to learn that you won’t get rich by using InboxDollars, nor will you be able to earn enough money to yield a full-time income.
However – and as is the case with other leading survey platforms in the space, InboxDollars is an easy way to make a few dollars on the side.
With that being said, rather than treating InboxDollars as a secondary source of income, it might be worth using the platform whenever you have a bit of spear time. That way, you can focus on more profitable tasks such as invite-only surveys.
InboxDollars
Pros
- Uses cash instead of points
- Lots of offers
- Large well respected company
- Connected to Large companies
- Passive income from referring friends
Cons
- Website is a little dated
- $3 processing fee
- No PayPal option
