If you’ve been looking for a way to make money online using online paid survey websites, then, steer clear of Panel Bucks.
Usually, I don’t go out of my way to diss an online business, but I guess, there’s always that one instance, or sometimes, two, where I feel it necessary to call a spade a spade.
To understand what I mean, you have to first understand how Panel Bucks makes their money.
I’ll get into this more, later in this review to help you to decide whether Panel Bucks is legit or a scam.
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What is Panel Bucks?
The purpose of the Panel Bucks website is supposedly to give you a list of survey websites that are worth joining, in order for you to make money.
The idea being, the more survey websites you join, the more opportunity you get to receive and complete survey questionnaires, leading to payment from the survey companies.
Whilst, Panel Bucks is free to join, if I look at the URL the visitor is sent to when clicking the join button, it looks like, for every referral, they earn a commission on the lead.
In their FAQ section they say “We make money from our partners when our members take their surveys” which could mean, they earn a commission from the referral, plus referral bonuses or some other type of financial arrangement.
Who uses Panel Bucks?
The main users of Panel Bucks are people who are looking for online survey opportunities.
These types of money making opportunities are popular with stay at home moms or dads, and students who are wanting to make some extra money on the side.
Whilst, completing these surveys are a legitimate way to make money, they’re not always the best use of your time and resources for the little pay you get for completing them.
However, they are still worth considering, if that’s something you can see yourself doing, or have the time for.
How To Join Panel Bucks
The sign up process is fairly intuitive and covers the usual, first name, last name, email, country you reside in, zip code, date of birth and gender.
Just click on the Subscribe link at the very top right hand corner of the website and start filling out your details.
An interesting observation is that the only countries available in their drop down menu are the following, the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia.
This is no surprise to me given most CPA networks will only pay for leads coming from these countries.
And an interesting side note is, since I live in New Zealand, being outside most CPA network country parameters, when I clicked on the “Join Now” button associated with a legit survey website, I was sent to a different money making opportunity, that fitted my country of origin.
Whilst, this makes absolutely no sense as a user, this action is typical of CPA networks where offers fail to meet the country parameters.
They typically send visitors to corresponding offers that match the intent of the visitor in an effort to convert a lead or sale from the visitor.
What’s Up with The $25 Sign Up Bonus?
Something that was intriguing on their website was the $25 sign up bonus opportunity that users get when signing up with Panel Bucks.
Who doesn’t like the idea of getting a chance to bank $25 bucks for free.
Well, I hate to burst your bubble, – if you read the fine print, they don’t actually pay out a $25 bonus at all, but that this bonus is dependent on the survey company you join.
Some online survey companies like Inboxdollars automatically credit your account with a $5 bonus upon sign up, others survey companies may offer other incentives, even a $25 bonus.
Here’s an extract from their website.
The $25.00 bonus opportunity can be awarded and paid by the survey/reward companies that are listed on our website. Some of the survey/reward companies offer a $5.00 bonus for joining their website. Each company has their own set of rules on how to earn and to receive payment of the bonus. We do not personally pay out our users/subscribers we simply provide you with these companies.
How Do You Make Money With Panel Bucks?
For most online websites you join, you are given the opportunity of making money with that website, but this is not the case with Panel Bucks, as it is only a way to be alerted on new survey websites to join.
So, the way you make money from using Panel Bucks is by joining the online survey websites they promote to you; complete surveys with that company, which then leads to that survey company paying you.
Panel Bucks doesn’t pay you a thing.
An argument can be said that the service Panel Bucks offer is of some value, but I could just as easily setup a Google alert for new online survey websites coming into the marketplace and get the same – if not, better results.
I say better results, because, if Panel Bucks’s business model is driven by earning commissions on leads, then there’s no value in promoting online surveys that don’t earn them a commission.
Which means they may not send you a new survey opportunity if they can’t make money out of the referral.
What I Liked about Panel Bucks
Honestly, I’d have to say that I’m not a big fan of Panel Bucks.
And while they might offer some value in providing easy access to new or recommended survey websites, I question the intent of what they recommend.
If I was to glean a positive aspect about Panel Bucks, then it would be their innovation of creating a lead generating website to make themselves money.
I know that sounds kind of funny, given the context in which I am reviewing this website, but, you can’t really knock the idea, given it mostly creates a win, win, situation for both parties – marrying up people who want to make money completing online surveys and the online survey companies who need people to complete them.
It’s just a sneaky way of going about it – in my opinion.
What I Didn’t Like about Panel Bucks
One of my biggest complaints with Panel Bucks is that it really doesn’t provide any value to the end user. Yes, you might be handed new survey sites to join, but you can easily do this yourself, using Google alerts.
It’s also obvious to me that it’s nothing more than a lead generating website that is designed to generate money from referrals for the website owner.
The sign up process is just a way for them to keep marketing new survey companies to you and get paid to do so.
Do I Recommend Panel Bucks?
In a word – nope, I can’t recommend them for the reasons I stated above.
But, now that you understand how Panel Bucks works, it’s really up to you as to the value you see in joining such a website.
I’m not a huge fan of getting paid to complete online surveys in general, mostly, because I know that there are much better ways for you to spend your time and effort, that will pay huge dividends not only in the short term, but more in the long term.
However, I do recognize that completing online surveys to make money can be helpful to some people, albeit in the short term.
If you want to know what program I recommend to make money, then please read this review.
Frank
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I never once got paid from ant servey company n i joined quite a few where could the money go how come no one had contacted me