Analysis and Past (Dec. 5, 2006) Rankings

Here is a brief explanation of the factors shown, and the list:

Current Ranking and Analysis:

Explanation of classifying factors:

** Cost to Join - Generally speaking, this is a one-time fee.  Where there are exceptions we put an *(n) and explain in a footnote.

** Gravity - This is a ClickBank number which is an expression of the level of activity, number of affiliates involved, volume of business, number of transactions and so forth.  Generally, the bigger the number the more business that is being done by that company.  This number changes daily and summaries are reported weekly.

** Refund % - This number is calculated based on data published by Clickbank, and, while it is a very good indicator it can be deceptive.  The problem is that the refund is calculated by taking the gross income figures less the refunds.  The gross income figures and the refunds are actual for the last two weeks.  This is mathematically correct and will be exact over time.  However, the reality is that income is from current sales and refunds are for clients who began sometime over the last two months. 

So that means that if the company has, say, declining sales for the last six weeks or so, so that their sales today are half of what they were six weeks ago, and their "real" refund rate is 5.0%, then that amount being claimed by clients who came in six weeks ago will look like 10% against today's lower sales.  Similarly, if there is an increase in sales, the refund rate of today will look smaller.

It's what is called a "lagging indicator" and can give somewhat distorted readings when the weekly sales rate trends up or down.  In the long run, a moving average will be correct.  We have started recording the info needed to calculate that moving average.

Commentary:

Why the rankings we made?

1. Paid Surveys Etc.  Has the lowest refund rate of the big (gravity over 100) companies. We picked big for stability and proven performance, low refund rate for quality of service.

2. Paid Surveys Online.  Has the second lowest refund rate of the big companies.

3. Paid Survey Program.  2nd lowest refund rate in our top 20.  Small but growing steadily.

4. Get Cash for Surveys.  Low refund rate, impressive signup bonuses.

5. Paid Survey Pro. Medium size, low refund rate, $20 start-up survey amounts to an instant rebate on signup.

Note that none of our picks had refund rates as high as 10% (1 client in 10). All things being equal we felt that the refund rate was the single most important determiner.

We looked at numbers of source companies on their lists, but generally discarded this number as the quality of the list is much more important than the shear number of names that are on it.

The choices in some cases were very close.  During the next few days we will investigate the close contestants more carefully and in more depth.  When we have more info we will update our table and revise our picks.  Paid survey companies change and market conditions change.  Our selection of recommended companies will be dynamic and will change as new information about current conditions warrant such changes.

In general, you probably won't go wrong with any of the companies listed, especially those with refund rates below the average.  For the 20 companies listed above the current refund average is 11.19%.