Research is something I do regularly to help keep you safe from stepping in some deep work at home “doo doo”. I share what I find here and make money by referring you to the companies that are actually legitimate. Nowadays I have a team of people that I pay to do most of the research for me. And apparently there are even more people willing to pay you for doing online research for them which is the subject of my Ask Wonder Review. So if you're pretty good at finding information online, you may want to sit back and read this article.
What Is Ask Wonder?
Ask Wonder is an international research network based out of New York. The company is fairly new and was created in 2015. Although the company is new they do seem to have some big investors such as Bloomberg. The company was created to help people and companies answer complex or tough questions .
How Does Ask Wonder Work?
AskWonder.com lists questions on their website that various clients have submitted on something called a central dashboard.
When you join the company as a researcher, you get to have your pick which questions, (also known as assignments) to answer. You are then paid for each question that you successfully answer. The company claims that each search takes approximately 12 to 20 minutes. If this doesn't sound appealing to you, you may want to consider an easier to make money with FusionCash.com and Swagbucks.com?
How Does Ask Wonder Pay?
The pay is “per search completed.” The company pays every two weeks via Paypal. The pay per question answered depends on how challenging the question is. With that said, (on average), some searches can pay $6 to $8 each. They claim that active researchers can earn as much as $2,000 per month.
How Do You Sign Up?
When you sign up, you are to fill out an application along with take a test of a short list of questions. How you answer these questions will determine if you're a good fit for Ask Wonder. You can sign up Here.
Complaints
You and I both know that all companies (legit or not) have complaints from time to time. It doesn't mean they're always scams but it's good to know what you're getting into so you don't have any surprises. So let's get into some of the complaints against AskWonder.
Weak Referral Program
They have a referral program but you're not actually paid for referring researchers or people that ask questions. Instead when invite your friends and colleagues to Wonder, both of you get a free question on them! Big whoopee do! Show me the money!
Not In My House!
Apparently due to a few state regulations that aren't really explained, Ask Wonder cannot accept people from New York, Massachusetts, or California. I happen to live in NY so that sucks for me and the people living in the banned states! I'm sure there must be some reason for this but it's not explained so you're just end up feeling left out like I do. 🙁 lol. If you don't want to deal with these type state limitations to make money, you should look into FusionCash.com and Swagbucks.com as another option.
You're on the clock!
Apparently there is currently some timer on the page where you enter your answer. It's been noted you have to keep clicking on that clock or else you lose everything you've written. That's never a good thing! They say the issue is being worked on. My advice is to write your answer in notes or notepad, and then copy and paste when you're ready.
That's A Tough Question
The whole reason this site exists is to get answers to some tough questions. And apparently some of these questions are just too tough for some. Folks are leaving because of it but that's pretty much the nature of the site. So it's definitely not made for everyone.
What happened to my answer?
It seems that there have been complaints of some answers being removed from the system without warning. The reason stated was poor grammar. But the folks that provided the answers disagree. In my mind this is just another case of he said vs she said. Unfortunately I've seen this happen with many online opportunities. So it's hard to gauge who's right.
So Is Ask Wonder a Scam or Legit?
As of the time of this review, the company is still too new to call it a scam. There was not enough bad things found with the company to say, “Hey this opportunity is an out-right scam!” So I would probably take a wait and see attitude with this company. The fact they have some big venture capital companies investing in them is a good sign. But time will tell. So you can be the guinea pig and go through their growing pains. Hopefully you can make the $2000 per month that they claim some of the active researchers make.
But if you'd prefer to go with something that is already proven and don't mind putting in some work then you might want to check out FusionCash.com, Swagbucks.com and my #1 Top Free Work At Home Recommendation.
Now keep in mind I'm a big proponent of Multiple Streams of Income. When you're working at home you have a lot more flexibility to work with different companies to increase your changes of making some decent money. So with that said in addition to my Top Free Work At Home Recommendation and/or AskWonder you may also want to look into My Work At Home Courses. It's great to have multiple checks coming in from various companies so don't limit yourself.
Well enough of my yapping. I'd love to hear from you and your thoughts about getting paid for doing research online with AskWonder.com. Would it be something you would try? Let me know down below.
Speak to you soon.
Eddy with a (Y) 🙂
It is a legitimate business that is doing everything to scam their freelance collaborators.
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Wonder-RVW16960974.htm
I submitted a ‘fast track’ research answer to complete my application froma list of questions. It could only be submitted through a ‘Wonder generated’ Google doc, which had absolutely no way to access the Google tools to submit required citings. It was really good research work (it was my area of professional expertise and had been looked over by one of my ex-proctors before submission), but they said there was not a need for it at present. So why was the question presented? I hope they don’t plagiarize my work by someone there using it. I asked if they could send me some better link to resubmit with citings, but it was never taken into consideration. I feel so USED.
I requested a research question for try out and in my considered opinion, it was a difficult question to answer using internet resources and Wonder only wants to pay $20/hour on the low end. An experienced researcher that has access to the types of resources Wonder needs should be earning much more than that.
Hey Jody,
Thanks for sharing your opinion. The gift and curse about online opportunities like this is that you’re allowed to work online from your home. So that’s a huge benefit in that you’re no longer commuting which saves you a lot of money from that respect. So most companies companies offering these opportunities will not pay anywhere near what you would expect offline. The math doesn’t add up for them. So you have to keep that in mind. It’s a gift and curse. I have always found running your own online business is the way to make the money you really want and deserve. So it’s why I’ve stayed away from opportunities like this.
Hi Eric,
I’m sorry to hear you had a bad experience. We work really hard to make researching at Wonder fun for our researchers, and I’d be happy to discuss the specifics of your experience with you – you can reach me directly at rachael@askwonder.com
Just to clarify, however, your research is not being used by any other researchers; the default in out system is that unfinished research is not shared, unless the researcher voluntarily chooses to make it accessible.
It sounds like the feedback you were getting on your research was too generic to be of real value to you. We have a team of excellent reviewers who go through the research, but we’re only human. The best thing would have been to reach out to me or a Wonder admin and let us know, so that we could get you clearer instructions and help resolve the situation.
Again – I’m really sorry you had a frustrating experience, that’s certainly not our aim. I’d love to discuss it, so please do reach out via email.
Best,
Rachael Granby
Director of Research, AskWonder
Thank you Rachael for chiming in. It’s very telling sign of a company when their reps come out and engage with the public directly. So that says a lot about the organization. Hopefully Eric will reach out to you for a further discussion about his experience.
Either way, I thank you for commenting and making yourself available!
I was recently chosen to be a wonder researcher. I had a bad experience which I want to share.
I was very exited to be chosen to be a researcher at wonder since it seemed like a great opportunity. however the way the company works is quite frankly a little disturbing…
The sample question I was given was simple enough, I researched and provided the answer it apparently was good enough for wonder so they offered me a position.
after reading through their standards and practices I moved on to my first real question where I attempted to answer the client with whatever information was available through the net.
Each time I attempted to provide an answer my response was rejected with vague notes like
“However, the response does not reach the level expected from Wonder clients. Please continue to develop your response” there was no-one to tell me what I did wrong and each time I resubmitted the question with extensive editing I received the same type of vapid response that didnt help me improve my answers at all.
I tried very hard to provide a good answers, following their guidelines, modelling my answers after some of their own, whatever I did wasn’t good enough for wonder.
In the wonder training guidelines they say “Note for new researchers: Don’t be discouraged if your first few searches come back needing revisions; it’s all a part of the learning process and in a week or so you’ll be so good you’ll be hitting your research out of the park nearly every time.”
THEY TERMINATED MY CONTRACT AFTER I HAD RESPONDED TO ONLY 5 QUESTIONS. I had been a researcher for three days when they decided I wasn’t good enough without giving me any reasonable feedback and for giving HONEST answers to clients. if there is no information available on a subject there simply int information no matter how long you google search.
to make matters worse, in every case my research is now being used by other wonder researchers I worked for over 10 total hours studying their guidelines, writing and revising research. they have used my work for profit and I was not paid a cent.
basically I feel exploited by this company as it seems they have no commitment towards training new researchers.
Hey Eric,
Thanks for sharing your experience. That’s crazy. I can’t stand canned responses from companies like this. How can anyone really know what they’re doing wrong. But the fact they are actually using what you provided is troubling. I can totally appreciate how you feel and thank you for sharing your experience. I don’t know if its the norm but it’s good to know.