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Current Rankings (as of September 5,
2007) The list below shows the largest companies at the top (as measured by "Gravity"), and is sorted down in order, with the smallest at the bottom. To see these sorted by ranking, click here: Current Rankings- Our selection and Current Ranking of our top 5 choices are in the next-to-the-last column on the right. The single most important ranking factor is their refund rate history. We use and show three numbers for this, each in per cent (%):
[Please note:
Analysis and Current Rankings:
Footnotes: * Two new paid survey sites were added on August 5: GreatNetMoney and Daily Paid Surveys. We only have one and a half month's history on these, including the current 2-week refund numbers. For this reason their Composite Index numbers are made up of somewhat limited data.
Explanation of classifying factors: ** Cost to Join - Generally speaking, this is a one-time fee. ** Gravity - This is a ClickBank number which is a composite 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. We use the Gravity number to separate guide companies into three categories: Large (Gravity of 100 or more), Medium (Gravity of 15-99.99) and Small (Gravity of 5-14.99). ** Refund % - General: The refund rate is the strongest indicator of the value and quality of service provided by a paid survey guide company. Consider it a measure of the "no confidence votes" or "unhappiness complaints" made by others who have used the service in the last two to three months. Every refund request is a tangible complaint filed by someone like you who signed up with that company within two months of asking for the refund. They were unhappy enough to demand their money back. The more refund requests filed, the more votes against using that particular guide company. So a high (9% or more) refund rate is an indicator of problems that you want to avoid. A low (3-6%) refund rate indicates a high degree of satisfaction, many happy clients who got paid cash for answering online surveys, that you would be pleased to join. The ideal guide company will have a low current refund rate AND a relatively low average rate for the past three months. We believe that this measure is best expressed in our new Composite Index, which includes measures in the last 2 weeks and the last 3 months. You can also check the old list on the "Past Rankings" page here on this site, if you like. You can see what the refund rates have been, month by month, beginning over eight months ago, on December 5, 2006. ** Refund % - 3mo: This is the three-month moving average refund rate. It has been added for clarity, since sometimes the 2-week refund rate varies greatly from one time period to another. The three month average refund rate shows the company's history of past refund rates, for the 3-month period ending with this ranking date. ** Refund % - 2wks: This is the current refund rate, which is based on the experience of the previous two weeks up to the ranking date. It should be looked at in conjunction with the 3 month moving average to evaluate the specific paid survey guide company. ** Refund % - Composite Index: Finally, we get down to making a choice among candidates. To do that we must put a weight on the 2 week results and on the 3 month results and look at them together. This we have now done with the new Composite Idex. The formula used is: (1.5 times the 2 week average plus the 3 month average) divided by 2.5 or [(1.5 x 2wks) + 3 mo. avg]/2.5 = Composite Index. In words then, the Composite Index is composed of 60% of the 2-week average plus 40% of the 3-month average. This way of weighting the two averages seems to us about the right balance in importance between the two and gives us a single number which can be logically used to judge the past performance of all.
Commentary: Why the rankings we made? 1. Express Paid Surveys. Large size (gravity 101.3) consistent performer with 2-week refund rate of 4.1% and 3-month moving average refund rate of 5.2%. Its Composite Index is 4.6%, the lowest for the time period. 2. Quick Paid Surveys. Medium sized company, (gravity 19.6) with a current refund rate of 5.2% for the latest two weeks but a higher 7.4% rate for the three month average. Its Composite Index is 6.1. 3. Surveyhawk. Small size (gravity 12.1) Its 2-week refund rate of 6.4% and its 3-month average refund rate of 6.3%, combined to give it the number three choice. Its Composite Index is 6.36. 4. Get Cash for Surveys. Medium size (gravity 21.6) Has current refund rate of 6.7% and a very reasonable 3 month average of 6.1%. We picked low refund rate for quality of service. It has enough size to indicate stability and proven performance. Its Composite Index is 6.48. 5. Legit Online Jobs. Large sized company, (gravity 121.5) growing recently. They have been improving, especially recently. Two week refund rate of 6.1% and 3-month moving average refund rate of 8.5%. Its Composite Index is 7.1%, the fifth lowest for this time period. Changes this month: Refund rates have gone up across the board and are generally very high. The average refund rate for the latest 2-week period was 10.16%, which compares to 9.82% on August 21, 8.28% on August 5, 8.84% on July 21, 8.55% on July 5, 8.87% on the 21st of June 21 and 7.34% on the 5th of June. Note that none of our picks had either a 2 week or a Composite Index refund rate higher than 7.14% (1 client in 14). 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 tend to favor larger companies over smaller ones, based on the market's choice and greater stability. We now print the refund rates of the worst 25% or of all with refund rates of 10% or higher, of our top 20 in Red above. This is to highlight their lower quartile status and urge caution with these. Note that we have added a red "X" to the left of each of these, to point out that these are in the bottom quartile of the top 20 and their refund rates have passed our "red line" danger mark. At this time we would NOT recommend them. The overall average refund rate this month is 10.16%, which is elevated somewhat by the extraordinairily high figures this month for both 'Work Online For Pay' and 'Paid Survey Pro". We looked at numbers of survey makers on their lists as a qualifying factor, but have generally downplayed this number as the quality of the list is much more important than the shear number of names that are on it. We now update our analyses twice a month, at which time we review and revise our picks. Paid survey companies change and market conditions change. Our selection of recommended companies is dynamic and will change as new information comes in. We always pick the current best choices for you! We now have ten months of history posted on this website, with the numbers and the picks from December 5, 2006 all the way up to September 5, 2007. We invite you to look at the past numbers in Past Rankings for comparisons. 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 10.16% (means that on average, for the top 20 companies shown here, approximately 1 new member in every 9.8 asked for a refund for one reason or another).
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The 3-month moving average.
Survey Scout - This very active site is very highly rated by various rating agencies. Still, the
refund numbers show that 1 out of every 6.6 clients demands a refund! We do not recommend this site at this time.
Express Paid Surveys - Slick new website, sample survey. Not much info. FAQ's explain the paid survey
business.
© 2006-2012 Net Income Associates http://surveysentinel.ya23.com