Chances are you've run into ads claiming you can make a boatload of money taking surveys. Unfortunately many of these companies exaggerate how much you can really make and how easy it is. Obviously a lot of the outrageous claims are ridiculous and faker than a hair weave. But there are some legitimate survey companies out there. But is Toluna.com one of them? That remains to be seen. But we'll find out in my review below.
Who is Toluna?
Toluna.com is a market research company that pays participants to take online surveys about various products and services. They have 16 offices in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. And according to their website, they work with many of the world's leading market-research agencies, media agencies and corporations.
They have a positive rating with the Better Business Bureau ( BBB ) if that makes you feel better. But it shouldn't if you've read my Better Business Bureau Work At Home article.
How much can I make with Toluna?
Toluna pays on a point system for taking surveys and other activities. But the points can be redeemed for real cash, so settle down. Lol It looks like you need at least $20-$25 to redeem cash via paypal or a check which is about 30,000 points. But you get 500 points just for signing up which is nice and gives you a bit of a head start.
The pay for surveys range from 15 points to 20,000 points. The longer the survey, the more you'll earn (assuming you actually get past the screener surveys).
How do I sign up for Toluna & is it free?
Unlike the middleman sites you probably run into that charge you for a list of free survey sites, you can join Toluna directly and for free! Click here to join now.
Toluna Survey Complaints.
So I'm going to cover a few of the common complaints about Toluna down below. But please keep in mind this isn't isolated to Toluna.com only. I've heard a lot of these same complaints with other legitimate survey companies. Either way it's important to know them beforehand so you don't end up wasting your time and effort if these complaints are deal breakers for you.
1. Long Ass Surveys.
This is a very common complaint. Many times you're taking a survey that can require a considerate amount of time and effort. But when you look at the reward, it usually adds up to below minimum wage or less. For some folks this isn't worth the energy. You're better off getting a job at a fast food place for that. Or if you're willing to put in all that work and want to earn some real money, then consider My #1 Free Work At Home Recommendation! Either way, whether this type of opportunity is worth the effort is all based on your perspective and situation.
2. Shady Disqualification Screeners
There is nothing more frustrating about surveys then spending at least 10-15 minutes going through a screener questionnaire to discover you don't qualify. Why would it need to take that amount of time and data for the company to figure out you don't qualify? Some have argued companies like Toluna are still gathering useful data but are jerking their panelist out of money. This is why I prefer companies like PaidViewPoint.com or FusionCash.net which always pay you something for any survey you take including screeners. This way you're not completely wasting your time!
3. Points Expire.
I tend to stack my rewards on these extra money opportunities for a rainy day or when I want to buy holiday gifts. Well that may not be an option with Toluna. Apparently your points will expire within a year of when you acquired them. Why would points need to expire? It's not like they're going to spoil like milk. I just find the policy shady and unnecessary. It reminds me of gift cards that deduct bits of money for every month you don't use them. It just seems designed to screw us over.
4. Long Wait For My Money!
It's bad enough these surveys are longer than an SAT test. But unlike some of my favorite websites like InstaGc.com, PaidViewPoint.com and InstantCashSweepstakes.com which pay instantly or within a day or two, you'll be waiting 8 long weeks for your reward from Toluna. Why it takes 8 weeks to submit an online payment or mail a check is beyond me? But if you need that money relatively quickly, this isn't the place for you.
So is Toluna.com A Scam or Legitimate?
It depends on what you define as a scam. Survey sites really get people polarized. Some people just feel like it's a complete waste of time and the pay isn't worth it. So it's a “scam”. Other complain if they don't qualify or run into technical issues that stop them from getting credited. When this happens, folks get bitter and label the company a scam as well.
I'm of the opinion that yes you can get paid to participate in surveys by Toluna.com. So it's not a scam in that technical respect. Do they have some shady policies, yes I think so. Is it worth your time, that's for your to decide. There are only a few survey websites I still mess with which are: PaidViewPoint.com, InstantCashSweepstakes.com, PollBuzzer.com and SwagBucks.com.
That said, I spend very little time on them because I make real money with My #1 Free Work At Home Recommendation! However I do believe every little bit counts. You just want to make sure you spend most of your time on the opportunities that will give you the biggest return and the rest of your free time on the smaller opportunities. I think there is room for a mix of both. But that's really on you to decide.
Either way, I hope you found my Toluna Review useful. If you do, why not join the thousands of other smart work at home seekers and become a subscriber of my little blog by clicking here. You can also find me on the following social networks, Facebook, Twitter or Google +.
I don't write just to hear myself babble on, I would love to hear from you too. So feel free to chime in down below in the comment section. Let me know your thoughts about this survey website. Don't be shy, I won't be judging you. I just really want to hear your feedback about this company. So comment down below!
Speak to you soon!
Eddy with a Y!
Toluna surveys, ripoff, fraud: sometimes I spend five to ten minutes on a survey and they collect a lot of data before determining I am not “qualified” or ” the survey just filled up” and terminate the survey without any compensation. They should qualify the testers BEFORE collecting all the data!!!
Toluna is a ripoff when they do pay, and otherwise its a fraud. on the plus side, some of the surveys are interesting. But not worth the money.
Hey Ralph,
Thanks for sharing your experience. It seems to reaffirm some of the complaints we described above.
Recently I was considering signing up to Toluna. But when I saw the standard processing time for payment…oh, hell naw! My apologies; I had to express my disdain at that aspect. I shall skip it; long payment wait times like that means payment to the user cannot and will not be guaranteed.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Jeanne.
Warning!!!
My account (of probably 10 years with no issues!) was closed when they said it was flagged because of an inaccuracy, they would keep all of my points, and would not provide anymore details.
Ironic, because I had saved up more points than ever before (for Christmas), they cancelled my account just so they don’t have to pay me what I honestly earned. Over 230,000 points! Such a dishonest thing to do. All of my surveys were accurate and honest.
No explanation offered. Because the explanation is you just want to steal the good amount of points I had saved up. Be warned of this dishonest company. At the very least cash out when you have the minimum, don’t try to save points- that is the perfect time for them to “flag” your account. Nothing more than stealing.
Also, their payments have went from a couple of days to clear to nearly a month. I imagine they are hurting financially and have turned to “flagging” large accounts with no explanation to avoid paying earnings.
I’m so disappointed with this site, I had to post my thoughts.
Back in 2012, Toluna wasn’t bad. They emailed me a lot about surveys, but the payouts were a little better. For the entire year, I was able to cash out 17 times. Each cash out was 60,000 points, an that’s when they were still worth $25, not $20 like today. So in 2012 I made $425.
Fast forward to 2013. That’s when the surveys started offering much less rewards and you’d fail to qualify on a lot more surveys. For the first 6 months, I only cashed out 3 times for $25 each. Then around July 2013 they changed the reward structure so that 60,000 points was only worth $20. The rest of the year, I only cashed out twice for $20 each.
In 2014, I’ve only gotten $30 in rewards in 8 months. I’m so frustrated with this website that I’m going to cancel my account. I literally get 5-10 emails a day, and all of the surveys seem to be 2,000 points for 20 minutes. If you do the math, that’s 66.6 cents for 20 minutes of your time! Totally not worth it. At least 75% of the surveys I click on I don’t even qualify as well. I highly recommend not using this site. If it was 2012, I’d be raving about it, but no longer. That ship has sailed.
Hey Chris,
Thanks for sharing your honest experience with the website. I can’t say I’m surprised and it’s sad that it has gone downhill. Fortunately there are other fish in the sea that can add up in time. So you may want to give some of the other companies I recommended a shot. Either way, thanks for sharing your opinion!
Hey Eddy!
Nice review as usual. For me, I’m not all that keen on sites that pay on a point system. I like to know what my money is as soon as I earn it. I’ve been wondering out on my own a bit and I’ve been able to find a few nice sites that pay cash instead of points.
Anywho, thanx again for this review as with the others and I look forward to the next.
Btw, im sure that you get this a lot, but I would very much like to pick your bran a bit. Is there any way that we can communicate outside of this forum? If not I totally get it.
Peace
Dez
Thanks Desmond.
I use to feel the same way about digital currency but as long as they make it clear exactly how much of it I need to get real cash, I’m fine.
I’ve made a lot of cash with sites like swagbucks, mysurvey and others over the years. And they all use some type of point system. So that’s all good with me. But to each their own.
In terms of connecting with me about making money online and such, I only communicate with folks directly here:
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/eddysalomon/a_aid/19Ddo8Fg
It’s a free website you can join and connect with me there if you want to learn more about how to make money online the way I do and to ask me questions about it.
Thanks for chiming in.
Eddy
Hi Eddy,
First things first…
I tried to sign up for your blog, however never received the confirmation e-mail. It’s not in my spam/junk folder either.
I tried to submit a request again but it told me I needed to confirm first.
Well, there’s nothing from you & I really would love to subscribe to you.
Thank you in advance.
Now onto Toluna….
I joined in the beginning of Feb & started creating my own polls, which they started to award me at least 20 times for what they call “quality content” at 500 points a pop.
The week of my birthday was especially a very happy one w/Toluna for not only did they make me the first ever member to make “member of the week”, which they awarded me 5000 points.
Next thing I know, I received an e-mail from them asking me if I would like to become their editor.
I replied yes, which now meant I was now required to produce 30 pieces of content per month & also edit other members polls, battles, opinions, etc for 20,000 points a month.
Everything was going great until the third week in March when I noticed all my high rated polls were never in the popular section, yet they garnished a lot of votes.
This really aggravated me!
Then a girl started stealing my polls a week after they no longer were running.
Because I was now an editor, I had inside access to the director.
I explained how this girl had taken two of my recent polls & submitted them as her own.
This really aggravated me!
So the director was fully aware of this thief.
She said she would speak to her, however the girl went on to steal two more additional high rated polls of mine, so once again I contacted the director.
I asked her to kindly pull/take down my stolen polls from this girl & basically the director said she needed to give the girl time, since she just spoke to her.
Well that was enough for me to leave.
I cannot & will not deal with a thief, not to mention the director doing absolutely nothing about it.
I have enough points to cash out..
Although I did leave on a friendly note w/the director (told her I won’t work w/a thief) so I’m waiting to see if I will be credited my participation as an editor for March.
By the way, reading that it takes 8 weeks to receive my money is a real bummer.
It was a fun place till the thief showed up but to be honest with you, it takes a lot of time to earn points to be able to check out.
I would advise people to try another place like PaidViewpoint which I absolutely love.
Their surveys are fast & to the point.
Thank you for allowing me to vent & post here on your blog.
Now, please, help me to get signed up to your newsletter/blog.
I would love to read your work on a continual basis.
All the best to you!
-Jennifer
Hey Jennifer,
I’m sorry to hear about the trouble signing up for my email updates. I checked and you’re on the list but they are waiting for you to respond to the confirmation email. Usually it is in the spam folder so check again. Or maybe it was deleted by accident. Check your trash too. You may need to try another email address because they won’t let me manually add you until you confirm now. Sorry about that.
In any event, thanks for sharing your experience with Toluna. Sounds like you had a good thing going. Hopefully you will get paid when you do cash out.
I agree I love me some PaidViewPoint and it’s one of the only survey websites I recommend among some others: https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2011/12/05/is-paidviewpoint-com-a-scam/
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2010/07/19/is-instantcashsweepstakes-com-a-scam/
http://pollbuzzer.com/?r=NjROVTB1dnI0WEkya1ZPZ08zeTlNdz090
Either way, thanks for chiming in. Hopefully we can get you on my list. I tend to post a new article at least once a week on Wed if that helps.
Thanks again.
Hi Eddy,
Thank you for replying to me.
Thank goodness I do have another e-mail address- a name similar to this name here & everything went through fine. :))
I also tweeted you & liked you on FB.
Yes, I sure did have a really good thing with Toluna.
I was the happiest I had ever been.
However, that happiness didn’t last very long because of the two problems stated in my above post.
Oh well, on to bigger & better, right?
That’s how I look at things ;))
I thank you again for blogging.
I can’t wait to read your older stuff & welcome all the new stuff you’ll be blogging about.
Have a wonder happy day!
-Jennifer
yakateeyak@aol.com
Hey Jen,
I’m glad you were able to sign up with your other email address. Sorry for all the trouble! I appreciate the social love too!
And you’re right on to bigger and better things. When one door closes, there is usually another one that just opened up. People miss it because they are too busy focused on the door that closed. But obviously you know better.
I hope you enjoy my old content and the new stuff coming. Either way, I appreciate your support and thanks for the feedback!
Hi Eddy,
I hope you’re enjoying your day.
Guess what?
I received your confirmation link for yakateeyak today!
Remember I had to use a similar sounding e-mail to confirm just yesterday?
I said yes to both, so between the two, I’m sure not to miss a future blog, lol :))
Hey, I gave you more social love too!
My guess is that Yahoo e-mail works a lot faster than AOL, lol.
Have a terrific Tuesday!
PS- thanks again for everything!
That’s so weird. Well better late than never. Thanks again for the continued support and love!