Many people are afraid to enter into programs where you can get paid taking surveys, because they are concerned about becoming part of an expensive scam rather than of earning a good and dependable income for their efforts. It is true that there are people and business out there that are running a scam and have no other purpose than to separate you from your hard earned money.  You do not have to fall prey to these scumbags if you follow a few easy guidelines before responding to offers about payment for survey completion. Here are some factors to consider.

Reputation

When you are looking for a company to sign up with in order to get paid taking surveys, one of the first things to check is their reputation.  This can be checked both online and through organizations such as the Better Business Bureau. While not every company that has developed a shaky reputation in the business world will have been reported, you should at least make the effort to find out if there is a pattern of scamming people noted on the record. Sometimes errors happen, but most legitimate businesses will make every effort to clear up problems with customers or employees.

Open Forum

Another way to determine if a company is one that doesn't try to scam workers and the public about their offer to get paid taking surveys is to look for an open forum on the business web site and read what people are saying about their experience with payment from the business. Even if the business doesn't have a web site, there are open forums around the internet where people can come to sound off about bad experiences with rip off outfits. Google the name of the business you are considering and see if there are an excessive number of critical remarks directed at the company and about its professional ethics.

Pay Plan

When you look for a legitimate company from which you can get paid taking surveys, it is important that you are able to determine what the pay plan is and make certain that you understand how it works to your benefit.  If you are expecting to be paid in cash and you get points, it can be very frustrating and disappointing.  You still get paid, but if you misread the plan for payment of your work, you can't really blame the company.  Don't be slow about asking questions so that you have a definitive response to questions about how and when you will be paid.

Professional and accessible site

One of the things you should look for when determining whether a site is legitimate or not is the look of the web site itself.  Don't fall for an email that requests that you pay in order to get paid taking surveys. A legitimate business will have an attractive and professional site with correct spelling and grammar and hacker resistant features. It will spell out exactly what you will receive and what responsibilities lie with you and which are in the purview of the listing service or business.