Interesting Survey Discussion at SR

[Motherofboys]

So SR is taking comments on whether or not surveys (like the daily GF and the others) are still worth having on the site. It has quite a few members upset over there, you might want to weigh in if you are a member and depend on the site for survey opportunities.

I don't do much else besides surveys on SR, shopping cannot compete with the percentages I get back from bing. I do shop there is the site is not on bing or the payout is better than mypoints. I do book travel there too. I would really hate to see the surveys go, hopefully it's not something they are seriously considering, I had thought it was a good money maker for them?

Is it just me or are things different at SR from the past few years? The tone seems really different over there? Not in a good way either.

 

[abcboys]

I did SR for a long time a few years ago when I was saving for my first disney trip and for a little bit thereafter. Finally I got tired of wasting my time trying to do surveys I never qualified for and signing up for offers I never got credit for. About a week ago we decided to take another disney trip in the next year or 2 so I thought I get back up with SR and also signed up with QR and Simplegpt. I'm only trying to do surveys with SR and the signups on the other site. If they take away the surveys I won't mess with SR anymore. Even though they are a pain to do I have spare time so I like to try to do at least 1 a day.

As far as the tone or anything, I just started back up last week after being gone over a year so I haven't spent too much time on the forums. I did reply to the thread about the surveys, though.

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't think there's anything different or wrong about the tone.

I also think Tricia was just putting out feelers. Judging interest. Trying to see if she's meeting her peoples' needs. Not a bad thing. Wish MyPoints would do the same, b/c my life would be happier if I never saw a coupons dot com page again!

 

[bbangel]

I think she asked the question because they are seeing fewer members attempting the surveys (which means not even trying to see if there is a survey they would qualify for). The more traffic the survey companies get the more likely they are to work with a site to solve issues/problems that people may be having.

Similar questions have been asked before about different types of offers.

 

[Motherofboys]

I think she asked the question because they are seeing fewer members attempting the surveys (which means not even trying to see if there is a survey they would qualify for). The more traffic the survey companies get the more likely they are to work with a site to solve issues/problems that people may be having.

Similar questions have been asked before about different types of offers.

I certainly understood why she would ask about the freebie offers, I was just surprised about the daily surveys. I thought that was their "bread and butter".

The tone has just seemed more business like and kind of sad over there for the past 6 months or so. Maybe it is just me?

 

[bbangel]

I think the surveys used to be a large part of their business, not sure what the percentage is now. I do know that there revenues are down. Many stores aren't paying as much of a percentage as they used to, many people are on tighter budgets so aren't spending as much...it all adds up. That is why Angie isn't an employee anymore.

 

[firstfamilytrip]

Here's my take on SR lately...I know the SR mafia will be after me, but I think it needs to be said.

There are other sites out there now that have no or a very small minimum cashout. People tend to do sites where they can get their rewards the fastest. SR is taking too long getting the cashouts sent out. By the time you build up enough to cashout for the cheapest reward, two weeks have passed. If you are saving for a bigger reward it's obviously longer. Then you have to wait 6-7 weeks to get the giftcard from them.

SR is the only site that you get charged when you cashout in Paypal. I know you can change your Paypal account to a standard one and not be charged, but a lot of people have the Paypal debit card and you can't have that with a regular account. The percentage that gets taken out is rather large. People don't understand why no other sites have this problem with Paypal, but SR does.

SR is the best place for doing shopping. I wouldn't consider doing it anywhere else. They are great at tracking things down when there is a problem. However, most people don't have a lot of extra money to spend shopping right now.


All that being said, I still do my surveys and a little shopping at SR. Most of my referrals have gone elsewhere because they prefer to get their money right away. I can't blame them. I guess I feel a loyalty to SR, but new people coming into it are going to go where they get paid the most and fastest.

 

[bbangel]

Here's my take on SR lately...I know the SR mafia will be after me, but I think it needs to be said.

I hope not! You are as entitled to your opinion as anyone else. I know there are programs out there that some people love that I have just found frustrating so I can see how the reverse would be true.

I've never used the paypal option but I thought there was something about how paypal wasn't charging the fee anymore. Anyone know?

 

[firstfamilytrip]

I've never used the paypal option but I thought there was something about how paypal wasn't charging the fee anymore. Anyone know?

I hadn't heard, but maybe it has changed. I stopped cashing out with it after I had a fee that equaled several days worth of DS taken out. Ouch! If this has changed I think I can convince at least one of my referrals to come back.

 

[firstfamilytrip]

Tricia posted that the paypal issue has been resolved. She doesn't know if it is for all accounts, but SR has to pay a percentage of all payouts now. If paypal takes out some on the customer end then they are getting a percentage from the payer and the payee. Maybe someone who has cashed out recently knows more.

 

[lilstint]

At one time I was able to complete at least 25 and sometimes 30 surveys a month on SR. Then things started getting so hard and it just wasn't worth my time anymore. I've since found a couple of survey sites that are far easier (as far as qualifying)and the payouts are much, much higher. I now invest a quarter of the time doing surveys and earn twice as much.

BING has also got to be a huge blow to these programs. As loyal as I am to one of these programs it become really hard for me to pass up CB to the tune of 25% at stores like GAP, Old Navy etc.

 

[LIGrumpyGirl]

Is it just me or are things different at SR from the past few years? The tone seems really different over there? Not in a good way either.

I think things have definitely changed since Angie left (who, I believe left, to reopen a home business). Things are more stream-lined. It is easier to know who is dealing with issues. I think Cindy and Tricia have changed things back to the old way...which seems better to me! More offers are crediting and TT's are being solved PDQ!

 

[bartleby1]

I do feel things have changed at SR and I have to admit it makes me a little sad. I still check in hoping for something different because I do miss the "home-like" feeling it used to have. I'm not sure exactly even what has made me feel that way, but I think it is a series of small things that has led to it over time.

Way back when, they catered to us "disney" people by offering discounts on disney cashouts. I think it may have changed at one point to only discounts for supermembers so I strived every quarter to become supermember. I understand that they are a business and could no longer get them at a discount so they couldn't pass that along to us but when they did away with the discount on disney cards for supermembers, becoming supermember was no longer important for me.

I used to earn most of my money doing surveys strictly at SR (to become supermember for the disney discount), but like everyone else these days, times are rough and I need to get the most bang for my buck so to speak. So, I started doing surveys at a site that pays more per survey and also offers better bonuses. I would have liked to stick with doing them at SR because I like it there, but I need to earn as much as I can doing them.

Then, cashouts started to take longer and we must pay extra for postage. As, Firstfamilytrip stated, there are many other programs that ship much quicker and don't charge shipping fees. I hate having to wait 6 weeks for cashouts and at "crunchtime" right before our disney trips when I panic that we don't have enough money, I hit other sites hard trying to earn that last minute spending money because I know I can still receive it in time for our trip.

And most recently, freebie offers have greatly diminished, many of the ones on site are out of date or broken links and for some reason I have a horrible time getting them to credit over there. Very frustrating. I honestly thought I was just in too many data bases but lately I started doing freebie offers on another site and I have a much easier time getting them to credit. I don't know why that is. I still try to do the freebie offers when they are posted on SR but often offers have been out on other sites for a few days before they are posted on SR so I have already tried them elsewhere and I am very careful about not duplicating offers.

I know this sounds like I'm coming down hard on them and I really don't mean to. I understand that they needed to make some tough choices and decisions in order for the program to survive and to keep the cheaters and frauders at bay. I think Tricia is a wonderful person and I really hope she can find a way to bring some spice back to SR. I'm just guessing here, but since they've backed off on freebie offers, and now they are saying that survey takers are down, and I'm assuming many people are not shopping much these days, it must be difficult to bring money in for a business like theirs. I wish I could support them more with surveys and offers, but I need to maximize what I earn right now too.

I really do wish SR continued success! Hopefully the economy will pick up and help us all out real soon!

Wow that was long! Sorry for the novel!

 

[Disneefun]

I agree. I used to do SR, but I, too, have to go where the most bang for my time is. There are other sites that offer higher payouts for the surveys, more survey opportunities, more of the merchants I use and higher percentages, better bonus programs, and faster crediting and cash outs. I had nothing against SR and I know they're doing all they can to stay afloat, but when it's my time I'm putting in, I need to go where I can get the most return for that time. Sadly, that isn't SR anymore.

 

[3dog2kidmom]

I've made more than a few thousand dollars with SR doing surveys and shopping and offers. Yes, it's true that there are higher payouts for surveys on some other sites. Over the 4 years I've been doing rewards sites I've dabbled on a few of them but mostly find they are full of buggy links that start locking up my computer, too time consuming to figure out, or the surveys don't actually credit. Not that everything credits on SR all the time but the site is very easy to navigate, doesn't lock up my browser, and most importantly I know and trust Tricia and Cindy and for that reason alone they have my loyalty.

Not sure what people are referring to about the "tone"