Thanks for checking out my Global Test Market review. One of the most frequent questions with regards to making money online is related to paid surveys. A lot of people have fun doing surveys online, and they do make a little extra coffee money, unfortunately… it isn't much.
In this Global Test Market Review I'll go over the way it works, what you can expect, and of course… what a lot of people are wondering; Are paid surveys a scam?
Disclaimer:
Please note, I am not a member or an affiliate for Global Test Market. This review has been researched with information and/or testimonials that are available online in the public domain. Any recommendations and/or conclusions are strictly opinions and may not apply to, or agree with, all persons or situations. See full disclaimer for more info
What is Globaltestmarket.com?
Global Test Market is an online survey company that acts as a go-between, connecting you (and your opinions) with individual entrepreneurs, small businesses and corporations. By answering questions regarding a variety of goods and services, you are providing direct insight to Global Test Market’s clients.
But… is it a scam?
As a way to make extra money, paid surveys are getting more popular by the day, but not all survey sites are created equal..
Owned by Lightspeed Research (who also owns MySurvey.com), Globaltestmarket.com is one of the older survey sites having been around since 1999. In that time they claim to have paid out more than $30 million throughout 60+ countries.
How Does It Work?
Like many paid survey sites, Globaltestmarket.com works with clients who are willing to spend money on your opinions and feedback.
Having said that, the process can become a bit more complicated… And for many people, it's not really worth it.
The registration procedure is straightforward… followed by a confirmation email.
Your next step though… is filling out your profile.
This is my first problem with paid surveys. The questions they ask are often invasive, such as occupation and household income.
They need to establish your demographic profile, but quite often they dig for information you wouldn’t even share with close friends or family (I once joined a survey site that wanted to know which banks I used and the value of the loans I had with them).
Global Test Market doesn’t get that personal, and if you don't mind sharing some of your details, then this won't be an issue.
Paid Survey Limitations
Paid surveys have a few other limitations as well.
The web is a powerful tool that gives you leverage.. It enables you to produce something once and get paid over and over for it.
Generating income with paid surveys gives you zero leverage. You do the work and you only make money once.
Some would also argue that the most significant earning limitations with Global Test Market (and other online survey companies) has to do with eligibility.
If there's a single common concern with online surveys it's this; You invest your time completing a survey… only to see an error message with “0 points earned” at the end (after answering questions)… usually a result of your answers indicating you may have been the wrong candidate (demographic) for that particular survey.
And of course, if you don’t qualify, you don’t get paid.
This is often the biggest reason that online survey companies get accused of being a fraud.
I'm pretty sure that doing “unpaid” surveys is not exactly what you had in mind.
It's normal to go after as many surveys as possible, but it's also crucial to be sure you're the right person for the job.
Is Global Test Market Safe?
With Global Test Market collecting your information, and the appearance of deception by disqualifying you AFTER the survey… many wonder if Global Test Market is safe.
I think we all have to be diligent when it comes to sharing information online… and this will likely become a bigger issue in the future.
However… to be fair and consider Global Test Market’s point of view, their clients are paying for the information that Global Test Market is collecting. And, they are entitled to accurate and relevant information.
The surveys are usually put together in a way to be “self-screening”, which is to say their objective is not only about collecting the obvious information, but to also screen out people who don't fit that demographic. It's not fair… but it's a common practice among online survey websites.
So, there are two ways to look at it… a forgiving viewpoint (described above), or… you can also be suspicious and think Global Test Market is unsafe by taking your information for free and making a false claim you don't qualify for the survey.
How Much Does Global Test Market Pay?
Global Test Market pays in what they call LifePoints (previously called Marketpoints) which can be exchanged for cash, retail vouchers, sweepstakes entries (depending on the country you live in) and gift cards from places like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and Starbucks).
Converted to dollars, 1 point is approximately $0.87 but this changes slightly over time and depending on what you’re redeeming your points for.
For example, 3850 points will get you a $35 gift card, and 4800 points is worth $40 into your PayPal account.
They are tight-lipped about the exact points payout per survey, only saying it depends on the length and urgency of the survey.
Reports range everywhere from a few cents to more than a dollar per survey…
If there’s a catch here, this is it. Global Test Market has a minimum 4000 point payout threshold. [update: this has apparently been changed to 1200 points, or $10]
That means you cannot pull out the money you've accrued from Global Test Market until you meet the minimum 1200 point threshold.
You can imagine where a minimum payout might lead to problems, and I’ll get more into that below when we talk about Global Test Market’s complaints.
I'm certainly not accusing Global Test Market of dishonesty… but the skeptic might think the frequency of “non-relevant” surveys (the ones you don't qualify for) will grow as you get closer to your payout, while the ones you do qualify for vanish… (making it difficult if not impossible to ever reach the minimum payout).
Other Ways to Make Money With Global Test Market
Like many online survey companies, Global Test Market diversifies, and offers their members additional ways to make money. You can also earn with product testing (although I couldn’t find anyone who actually tested physical products) and their referral program.
Their referral program pays you Lifepoints for every person who joins based on your recommendation. Again… finding a definitive answer to the number of points per referral requires a forensic investigations degree…
Under the old Marketpoints system, they paid 20 points per referral. The Marketpoints to Lifepoints conversion is 1 Marketpoint = 3.32 Lifepoints, which would make each referral worth 66.4 cents. I’m sure they round that number up or down… and most survey companies pay in the $0.50 to $1.50 range per referral.
Is Globaltestmarket.com a Scam?
It will depend how you define a scam. Wikipedia defines a scam as “an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their confidence”.
Not that Wikipedia is the final word on what a scam is, but what I find interesting (although it's a tiny thing to point out) is that they use the word “defraud” rather than “deceive”, which indicates something different entirely.
In that context, it wouldn't be out-of-bounds to say that “deception” is using TV commercials with kittens, cute babies, and kids toys that actually work to “inspire” people into paying for their junk. Does that make it a scam because the “implied” benefits of the product don’t match reality?
I know there are legitimate complaints (which I’ll get into below) about Globaltestmarket.com, and that the problems are real… but that doesn't necessarily mean they're a scam… although they could probably improve a few things.
Global Test Market Reviews and Complaints
Global Test Market reviews are in general (I hate to say) not so good. The common issues reported are…
- Slow to pay
- In addition to the error message saying you’ve earned 0 points, you may also get a popup AFTER completing the survey that says “Survey Full”. This happens when a limited number of responses have been ordered (by the client). For example, if the client orders 100 responses and 150 people jump on the survey all at once… the first 100 to finish are accepted. The other 50… well, they just wasted their time.
- Poor support (long time to respond, no response at all or just a cut and paste auto-email).
- Low pay per survey and a long time to accumulate points.
I’d like to balance out the complaints with some positive reviews but unfortunately I couldn’t find many. The one positive I did notice is that unlike a lot of online survey sites, Global Test Market provides a decent number of invites.
What I Like About Globaltestmarket.com
- Free to sign-up.
- Do surveys at your own convenience.
What I Don’t Like
- Low pay for the amount of time you invest.
- Recurring complaints are hard to ignore.
- Zero-leverage… there is no passive income potential.
Final Thoughts
In my opinion, making money with online surveys is not an efficient use of time.
But… if you've never made money online before, online surveys can be a fun way to get started. The pay is far too low for my taste, but their are worse ways to spend your time.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope this Global Test Market Review was helpful. If you have any comments or questions please share in the comments section below
I took surveys for global test market for about a year. I was able to earn enough to pay for a nice hotel for vacation for my family. I also tested several products for them.