If you’re interested in taking paid online surveys, InboxDollars is a completely legit market research platform that will pay you to take surveys, watch videos, play games, and more. It’s an easy and mindless way to make money from the comfort of your home.
This InboxDollars review will break down everything you need to know about the platform, how much surveys pay, how you’re paid, and much more. Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
- What is InboxDollars?
- Is InboxDollars Safe and Legit?
- How Does InboxDollars Work?
- 1. Paid online surveys
- 2. Watch videos
- 3. Playing games
- 4. Shop online and get cashback
- 5. Get paid to read emails
- 6. Print and redeem coupons
- 7. Refer friends program
- 8. Scratch off cards
- Getting Paid with InboxDollars
- InboxDollars Pricing and Fees
- Signing Up for InboxDollars
- InboxDollars Customer Service and Support
- InboxDollars Review: Pros and Cons
- InboxDollars Alternatives
- InboxDollars review, the final word: Is InboxDollars worth it?
- FAQs
What is InboxDollars?
InboxDollars is a marketing research platform that’s partnered with major brands like Netflix, Target, Walmart, and more. Since they were established in 2000, InboxDollars has already paid out over $80 million in cash rewards to its’ members, and InboxDollars pays anywhere from $0.50 to $5 per survey.
New InboxDollars users can earn a $5 bonus for signing up, and then you can start taking surveys for money, getting paid to watch videos, and more.
This market research site works like many other legit survey sites — it’s looking for feedback that helps companies improve their offerings, from products and services to marketing campaigns. InboxDollars pays you for feedback because this kind of information is so useful.
I want to be very transparent: you’re not going to make a ton of money with InboxDollars or any other paid survey site. You literally might only make $1-$2/hour.
There are considerably higher-paying options like driving for DoorDash or shopping for Instacart. But paid surveys are a very mindless way to make extra money, and you don’t even have to leave your couch!
Is InboxDollars Safe and Legit?
InboxDollars is a completely legitimate and safe way to make extra money. They’re backed by the market research giant Prodege, which also owns other paid survey sites Swagbucks and MyPoints. You will never be asked to share your Social Security number, credit card number, or other sensitive information with InboxDollars, and the information they do collect is only used for marketing research purposes.
InboxDollars reviews:
- Trustpilot: InboxDollars has a 4.1 out of 5-star rating on Trustpilot. Most of the negative reviews are from users who are frustrated with how long it takes to receive their rewards.
- Better Business Bureau: InboxDollars an F rating with the BBB because of users writing reviews that report that their account has been deactivated before they’ve gotten paid.
Let’s talk about deactivated accounts for a second
Any survey site can deactivate your account if they find that you’ve somehow violated their terms of service. It’s important to read the fine print before you proceed, and the biggest issue for survey sites is falsifying information. Our advice is to be honest, and you’ll be fine.
How Does InboxDollars Work?
One of the things people like about InboxDollars is that there are lots of different ways to make money on this platform. Paid surveys are the most popular, but let’s go through all of the ways you can make money with InboxDollars.
1. Paid online surveys
The paid online surveys on InboxDollars take 3 to 25 minutes to complete and pay $0.50 to $5. Each survey is looking for users who fit specific demographic profiles, so you’re not going to qualify for every survey. Most surveys ask you to answer multiple-choice questions, but there are occasionally surveys looking for short answers.
You see how much each survey pays and the length before you take it, like this:
2. Watch videos
You can get paid to watch short videos, like new product features or movie trailers. InboxDollars sorts videos into categories for news, sports, financial content, entertainment, and lifestyle, and you can watch the videos you want.
You can actually keep a video playlist running in the background while you’re doing other things, but you will need to switch back to it and click a button to get another video running. You can expect to make $0.01 to $0.02 for every 3 to 4.5 minutes of videos you watch.
3. Playing games
InboxDollars says you can “Get Rewarded for Playing Games,” but that doesn’t mean cash rewards. You don’t earn anything for playing free games on the platform, except the occasional Scratch & Win ticket, but you will earn 18% cashback for every dollar you spend on GSN games.
Here’s a sample of some of the free games available:
This probably isn’t the best use of your time if you want to make money, but it’s worth mentioning.
4. Shop online and get cashback
You can earn cashback from hundreds of different major retailers when you shop online through InboxDollars. This is a pretty passive way to make extra money, especially if you’re already planning on shopping.
The cashback offers vary from store to store and can range from 1% to 25% back on your purchase. If you see an offer you like, click on it to read the fine print, and then InboxDollars will send you to the retailer’s site to shop. Cashback will be deposited into your InboxDollars account.
Pay attention to the fine print! Some deals exclude certain items, so it might not be worth it. And only shop if it’s something you were planning on doing — don’t do it just to earn the cashback!
M$M tip: If you have AdBlock or AdBlock Plus, disable it otherwise you may experience issues with tracking and crediting.
5. Get paid to read emails
InboxDollars will send you offers via email, and you can make money by reading them. It sounds simple; however, most of the emails require that you make a purchase to receive the offer. Some InboxDollars reviews say the offers can be pretty lucrative, but only complete them if it makes sense to you. You shouldn’t waste money to make money.
Claim your $5 sign-up bonus
InboxDollars is a 100% legit platform where you can take surveys for money, get paid to watch videos, play games, and more.
6. Print and redeem coupons
If you’re still into paper coupons, InboxDollars will pay you $0.01 for every coupon you print (up to 50 credits per day) and an extra $0.10 for every coupon you redeem. Plus, you get whatever savings the coupon offers.
But, you don’t actually have to waste the paper and printer ink to earn the $0.01. InboxDollars will credit you for “printing” if you simply save the coupon as a PDF to print. The downside is that it can take a while to receive your points for redeemed coupons — up to 12 weeks, according to some InboxDollars reviews.
7. Refer friends program
This referral program gives users $1 for every person who signs up through a unique referral link that InboxDollars sends you. Your referral must earn a total of $7 or more on their account before you see the credit, and you can earn up to $5 this way.
If you refer 6 or more people, you’ll be eligible to earn 30% of your referral’s qualified earnings. However, creating fake accounts to earn the referral bonus is grounds for kicking you off the site.
8. Scratch off cards
Scratch & Win is a reward you might see for playing games or completing certain offers. As you complete an earning activity, you’ll see a progress meter on the scratcher ticket, and every level unlocks a chance at winning a larger cash prize. You’re not winning a ton with these, and some InboxDollars reviews report Scratch & Win earnings at $0.01-$0.08 on average.
Getting Paid with InboxDollars
InboxDollars pays in cash, not with points that are redeemable for cash. Paying in points is a really common survey practice. Seeing your cash earnings on the screen before you take a survey or complete an offer helps you understand if it’s worth your time or not. You don’t have to waste time doing the math to calculate the points value to cash.
New users can cash out once they have $15 in their account. After that, you can request payments starting at $10.
You have three options for payment requests:
- Gift Card: These are virtual gift cards and take 3-5 days to receive via email.
- PayPal: Payments take 3-5 business after you’ve requested your payment.
- Visa Prepaid: It takes 3-5 days to receive your digital prepaid Visa card.
InboxDollars Pricing and Fees
It’s 100% free to sign up for InboxDollars, and there are $0 fees for using the platform.
Legitimate survey sites like InboxDollars will never charge you a fee for taking a survey. Avoid any sites that say you need to pay a membership fee because it could be a scam.
The only time you’d need to pay for anything on InboxDollars is if you’re shopping online or claiming an offer, and all of these are processed through third-party sites.
InboxDollars pays you to take free surveys, and you’re paid anywhere from $0.50 to $3 for your time. That’s not a lot of money, so keep that in mind when you decide if InboxDollars is worth it for you.
Signing Up for InboxDollars
Ready to join InboxDollars? Awesome! The sign-up process is incredibly, and here’s how you get started:
Go to the InboxDollars website, enter your email address, and choose a secure password. InboxDollars will send you an email to verify your email address, and that’s it!
InboxDollars will prompt you to fill out a short series of questionnaires so they can match you with surveys. Remember, companies want feedback from consumers who fit specific demographic profiles, so you won’t qualify for every survey. The questionnaires help filter the ones you’re eligible for, but sometimes you will get a late-stage disqualification.
InboxDollars Customer Service and Support
If you have any issues while you’re taking surveys, InboxDollars runs its customer support through a customer support portal located within your account.
InboxDollars’ Facebook page also appears to be a quick way to receive customer support. Users can post to the page with questions and add screenshots, and it looks like InboxDollars is pretty quick to respond.
There’s no phone number or email address to contact for support, and this is really common for paid survey sites.
InboxDollars Review: Pros and Cons
Pros
- Sign-up bonus: InboxDollars gives new users a $5 bonus for signing up.
- Lots of ways to make money: You can take paid surveys, earn cashback for shopping online, make money with coupons, and more.
- Payment options: You can request payment with PayPal, Visa prepaid card, or gift cards
- Pays in cash, not points: Unlike most rewards platforms and survey sites, InboxDollars pays in cash, instead of points that are redeemable for cash.
Cons
- Low pay overall: Compared to other side hustles, paid survey sites are very low-paying gigs, and it might not be worth your time.
- Limited customer service: The InboxDollars Facebook group appears to be the fastest way to get support, but the only other option is submitting a request form through InboxDollars’ customer support portal.
- High Cashout Threshold: New users must have $15 in earnings before they can cash out, and that’s a bit higher than other sites. However, you can request payments at $10 after you’ve submitted your first request.
InboxDollars Alternatives
There’s no shortage of paid survey sites out there, and this is really good news if you’re looking for alternative options. Here are my top picks for 2024:
Survey Junkie |
Branded Surveys |
Opinion Outpost |
---|---|---|
Earn $1-$3/survey |
Earn $0.50-$3/survey |
Earn $0.50-$5/survey |
Minimum cashout is 500 points (or $5) |
Minimum cashout is 500 points (or $5) |
Minimum cashout $10 for PayPal, $5 for Gift Cards |
Get paid via PayPal, Bank Transfer, or Gift Card |
Get paid via PayPal, Bank Transfer, Check, or Gift Card |
Get paid via PayPal, Amazon Gift Card, or Visa Gift Card |
InboxDollars review, the final word: Is InboxDollars worth it?
InboxDollars has several good qualities — the $5 sign-up bonus, solid cashout options, and multiple ways to make money. But this survey site won’t be for everyone, and that’s okay!
There are over a dozen legitimate paid survey sites, and here are my top picks:
- Survey Junkie: Earn $1 to $3 per survey, and you can request a payment when you hit $5 worth of points.
- Branded Surveys: You can make $0.50 to $3 per survey, and you only need $5 to request a payment.
If you’re looking for more ways to make money from home, check out our definitive list of Best Side Hustle Ideas (Make $1,000+ Per Month!).
FAQs
InboxDollars was founded in 2022 by Daren Cotter, who was in college at the time. He created the site from his college dorm room in Minnesota.
InboxDollars pays $0.50 to $5 per survey, but the amount you earn varies based on what surveys you qualify for and how many you take.
Yes! InboxDollars currently gives new users a $5 sign-up bonus.
The offers generally pay the most on InboxDollars, but you’ll be required to buy something. These are only worthwhile if the offer is for something you were planning on buying in the first place.
InboxDollars says it takes 3-5 days to process payment requests for PayPal, gift cards, or Visa prepaid cards. However, depending on the number of requests and issues with third parties, it can take longer.
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