Analysis and Current (Jan. 5, 2007) Rankings

Here is the list of comparisons.  Please read the explanation of the different factors used, in the "Explanation of Classifying Factors" and the "Commentary", below:

Current Ranking and Analysis:

Company:	Cost to join	Gravity	Refund %	Jan 5th Rank	To Visit Site
Survey Income System - Bonus package valued at $140, autofill software for forms.	$34.95	338.47	10.11%	--	Click Here
Paid Surveys Online - This very active site offers an instant $20.00 survey that you can take upon signing up and offset your cost of joining.	$34.95	309.96	7.90%	2nd	Click Here
Survey Scout - This very active site is very highly rated by various rating agencies.	$34.95	255.13	14.84%	--	Click Here
Paid Surveys Etc.- Site has a personal feel. Many testimonials, less slick...perhaps more real? Lowest refund rate.	$34.50	189.32	2.09%	1st	Click Here
Express Paid Surveys - Slick new website	$34.95	131.55	10.45%	--	Click Here
Legit Online Jobs- Work At Home site includes surveys, "real" jobs, shopping, wholesale, grants, auctions, driving, more.	$49.95	105.10	17.38%	--	Click Here
Paid Survey Pro - Also has an instant $20.00 survey that you can take upon signing up and offset your cost of joining.	$34.95	54.46	8.67%	5th	Click Here
Highest Paid Surveys - Sample survey, bonuses, six good testimonials.	$49.95	53.01	10.69%	--	Click Here
Surveys For Checks - Offers software to speed up filling out necessary form by as much as 10 x.	$49.99	38.06	18.60%	--	Click Here
Paid Survey Program - Recommended by CBEngine as an up-and-coming growing site. 2nd lowest refund rate.	$39.95	34.99	5.14%	3rd	Click Here
Get Cash for Surveys - Three Impressive bonus packages, sample survey, testimonials. 4th lowest refund rate	$37.00	26.44	6.74%	4th	Click Here
Top Online Surveys - Nice website.  Aggressive sales approach.	$34.95	26.08	10.07%	--	Click Here
Paid-Surveys-At-Home - Over 400 survey companies on their list, offers free bonuses. 3rd lowest refund rate.	$39.95	19.58	6.32%	--	Click Here
Maximum Paid Surveys - 510 paid online survey companies, 250 mystery shopping companies	$39.95	17.68	7.14%	--	Click Here
Paid for Free -list of over 600 paying websites, get paid to drive, get paid to shop and eat	$34.95	15.64	18.12%	--	Click Here
Work Online for Pay - instant $20.00 survey that you can take upon signing up and offset your cost of joining.	$34.95	13.47	12.50%	--	Click Here
Top Dollar Surveys - you also receive $220 worth of top money-making programs & e-books. (They say they "...have the lowest refund rates on CB"! )	$34.95	10.07	12.88%	--	Click Here
Surveyhawk - U.K.company offers software to auto-fill signup forms. (Join price is actually £18.)	$33.66	9.58	7.51%	--	Click Here
Instant Paid Surveys - Up-and-coming new addition to our list of the top 20.	$34.95	8.95	8.33%	--	Click Here
Opinion Paycheck - 5th lowest refund rate. Added 15 new companies to their list in July, 2006.	$25.00	5.43	6.82%	--	Click Here

Explanation of classifying factors:

** Cost to Join - Generally speaking, this is a one-time fee. 

** 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 a somewhat distorted reading 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.  For now you can check the old list on the "Past Rankings" page here on this site, to see what the refund rates were a month ago, on December 5, 2006.

Commentary:

Why the rankings we made?

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

2. Paid Surveys Online.  Has the second lowest refund rate of the big (gravity over 100) companies.

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

4. Get Cash for Surveys.  3rd lowest 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 measure of client satisfaction and determiner of quality of their service.

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 weeks 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 10.45% (a little more than 1 in 10).