Program: Product Report Card
Website: productreportcard.com
Price: Free
Summary: overall a legit survey site, but small payouts and many may find it hard to reach the minimum payment amount. View my TOP recommended program for making money online.
There are countless websites that p consumers to get paid to provide feedback on all types of products they already own. While you wrovide free online surveys, but Product Report Card is a bit different. This company has some pretty in depth survey opportunities (which may even be too invasive for some) as well as provides the opportunity foron’t make much money here, the truth is that Product Report Card is a legit research and survey company.
How does Product Report Card work?
Anyone can join PRC for entirely free. After filling out your profile and some background questions, you’ll earn $8.25. You can expect them to send you 1-2 survey opportunities to your email each day.
You won’t qualify for every survey (in fact, you most likely won’t qualify for most of them) but you’ll still earn 10 cents for trying. I know it isn’t much, but most companies don’t give out any type of compensation for this.
You can also earn money by uploading pictures and information of products you already own and providing reviews. The payout is really low (about 50 cents for a review) so you aren’t going to get rich here.
Another thing they do is provide a database of reviews and side by side comparisons of products, sort of consumer reports style. Anyone can get free information on products they’re interested in buying.
You can earn money a few different ways with this company
- Completing your profile and account profiles – You get $5.00 for signing up and setting up your profile, and $3.25 extra if you fill out every profile survey. This let’s everyone start out with $8.25 with relatively little invested effort (but keep in mind you’re required to reach a $25 minimum payment threshold before cashing out)
- Participating in surveys – There are a range of different surveys available through Product Report Card, some paying a few cents and others up to $20+.
- Reviewing products you already own – You can register products you own to provide the company with your personal opinion. These are things like kitchen appliances (refrigerators, coffee grinders, microwaves) to electronics (laptops, TVs, cell phones) and a wide range in between. You have to prove that you own them by uploading pictures and product information (serial number, etc) and the payment is very low.
The minimum payment threshold is $25, and you can request to get paid by check, Amazon rewards or Paypal. It typically takes 10-14 business days to process payment requests, although can sometimes take over a month.
Non payment issues?
There have been several reports with the BBB with Product Report Card, mostly issues with non-payment. However, looking a bit further they’re mostly from around the same time period of late 2015/early 2016. The company took the time to respond to the complaints, explaining they were very behind and were taking longer than normal to process payment requests.
In a few other instances, the payments were still in a pending state. In any case, everyone seems to have gotten their issues resolved and have been paid by this company.
It’s a good thing to keep in mind that even if you are eventually able to reach the $25 payout amount, it may be quite awhile before your payment arrives. This is no place to earn quick money.
However, the company does provide a phone number, email and mailing address to contact them if you ever do run into an issue.
Some studies may be too invasive
Certain studies require you to install apps on your phone or computer that monitor your behavior and web browsing activity over a period of several weeks. The issue of privacy comes to mind here and if you are willing to let some unknown company monitor your every online activity (I wouldn’t). In addition, other studies make you join forums or online groups where you must consistently interact and share sometimes very personal information.
Every study is optional though, so you never have to participate in anything you aren’t comfortable with.
Can you expect to make a lot of money with PRC?
You aren’t going to make a lot of money with this program. In fact, you will probably find it very hard to reach the $25 payment. Your effort is going to work out to be less than minimum wage, so this isn’t the best solution for creating an extra source of income.
Pros vs Cons
Pros
- Free to join
- Earn $8.25 by setting up your profile and filling out a few questionnaires
- Earn 10 cents for surveys you disqualify from
Cons
- Low payments – really hard to reach the $25 payment threshold
- Time consuming and little monetary reward
- Some studies are too invasive
- Giving out personal information, watch out for spam (smart to use an alternate email)
Conclusion – Product Report Card is legit, but you’re not going to earn much $$$
I’ve reviewed a lot of survey companies, and my opinion remains the same. If you’re looking for a solution to earn a regular income online, Product Report Card is not the answer (nor is any survey company). The invested effort is usually never worth the payout, and it boils down to your ultimate goal. If you find it a fun hobby that happens to earn you some extra pennies, then there’s no problem. If you’re trying to use it as an extra source of income, you’re going to find it very difficult. You never will earn a full time income from this or any similar survey company.
The bottom line is they’re a legitimate company that does pay out for surveys and product reviews, but it can take a very long time to accumulate the minimum payment amount and most won’t stick around long enough to ever get paid.
Sick of earning pennies with surveys?
See my TOP recommendation for earning real money online here
I’m not a big fan of taking surveys to make money. It’s incredible how much time and effort it takes to just earn $2! I’ve never seen a survey company that will pay you $8+ to sign up, set up your account, and fill out the profile surveys. I wonder if this is a way to pull people into doing their surveys. It can’t take too much time to fill these out and $8 for a survey isn’t bad at all! I bet as users continue to fill out surveys the payout is much lower and that it really does take a while to build up to $25.
This is definitely not the way to go for people who want to work online. I started with doing surveys myself and I found that most of the surveys I took didn’t even pay cash. They had gift cards that could only be used a few select number of places.
You mentioned that the payouts for surveys range from a few cents to $20 dollars. That is a huge range! DO you know what types of products the $20 surveys are for and how long they take to complete?
Yep haha, it is very appealing to hear you can earn the $8 within a few minutes… but the reality sets in when you realize how much effort and time is required to reach the $25! I hate that, if these companies didn’t have minimum cashout requirements it wouldn’t even be a big deal. They just want as many people to sign up as possible so they can get their information and sell it for profit. Sickening.
No I am no exactly sure about the $20 surveys, but they’d most likely be very selective and you’d have to fit in a super specific creteria (like maybe you just purchased a whirlpool washing machine model xyz and live within a geographical area, between the ages of 25-50, etc) I’m sure it would also take at least a few hours to complete. They are very few and far between!
Thanks for clearing up the question mark I have always had in my head about taking online surveys for money. I always wondered if it was ever worth the time and if I was missing out on something by not joining. Actually, I did join one or two in the past, but when I realised how much I was going to have to do, I lost interest fast. Taking sruveys is not a passion for most people so that makes it even harder to stay the course. Thanks for the info!
Yeah it’s way more work then it’s worth and very difficult for a lot of people to stick with. I mean, if you’re getting paid a few bucks for an hours work, why waste your time? If the payouts were more realistic I would definitely understand wanting to do it.
Hi Wendy,
I tried once making money with online surveys. It was with Ipsos I-Say. It took me almost two weeks of hard work but finally reached the 15$ threshold lol.
After cashing out the money, I never went trying another one of those sites. It can be an easy way to earn a couple of dollars for some people, but the really is that for the time you put in… it’s not really worth it IMO.
For me survey sites and PTC are equally time consuming and not that rewarding.
Having to start over, I wouldn’t lose time like I did and instead I would focus on affiliate marketing. At least payouts are interesting.
That is pretty much what happened to me. I don’t remember the exact company it was (and this was nearly 10 years ago now) but I was determined to make extra money with online surveys. I spent 2 or 3 weeks diligently taking every survey I qualified for, spent countless hours on it, and in the end I was mailed a $10 Target gift card. What a joke!!!
Affiliate marketing is a great strategy for beginners to make money online, and I am with you there – I wish I had started focusing on it way back 10 years ago and who knows where we’d be today, huh?
Hey Wendy,
I am always interested in learning new ways to earn money online. I found Wealthy Affiliate when I was trying to think of ways to make extra money, thinking about my student loan debt, and then others as well. I never heard of this product report card, which I will try! Thanks for the tips!
No problem Megan! Personally if you are already a member of WA I feel like your time is better spent working on what they teach rather than doing these types of survey websites. Of course, that is my opinion, and I know many people do like taking surveys… so in the end it is obviously your decision!
Hi Wendy,
Enjoyed reading out your PRC-at first I thought, when I saw PRC -Peoples Republic of China, but not at all. You described PRC in much detail, I like the pros and cons about this. Even though it is legit, it takes too much work to get some decent money. Indeed, it is not a get rich enterprise. Also, your WA description fits to the T. Much better to make money at WA.
All the best
Rik
It seems like the same story for most of these survey sites.
The ones I have tried out never have any surveys I qualify for.
I can see how it would be very hard to make the minimum payout and just think how many do not reach that number. Their efforts are all profitable to the company.
Thanks for reviewing this, I think this is one to pass on!
Shawn>>
HI!
Thanks for your great review on product report card. It seems like a huge waste of time and I am very glad I read your review before I got involved with product report card. There are so many scams on the internet. The internet can be a scary place to try to make honest and legit money. I can’t wait to read more of your articles!
Julie
Hmmm. 10 cents for every survey. Doesn’t sound worth the time. Plus, if they have non-payment issues lodged with the BBB its a little risky to do business with them. I’d be out the time I spent doing surveys. Thanks for providing an honest review of Product Report Card. I’ll steer clear of them.
Alyssa
Hi Wendy, I have seen alot of reviews on making money filling out online surveys and all of them say that it is a big waste of time.
I don’t know about others but my time is very precious to me and I would rather do something that has a greater return for my investment of time.
Building a Business online is a better option to choose from and I believe in the long run you will recieve a better return on your investment of both time and money.
Hi Wendy, thanks for the thoroughly researched article! The main thing to turn me off from trying this is the privacy issue with them wanting you to install certain apps on your phone…that is a BIG turn off for me. And if you’re not going to earn serious money anyway, then what’s the point? Thanks again for your help!
Right! Fortunately, the apps are optional.. but I agree I wouldn’t feel comfortable with that being installed on my phone or computer.
You know, a common arguement I get is people use these online surveys to earn an extra $10, $20, sometimes $50/month, and how it helps them pay their bills. But the amount of time it would take to earn that type of money consistently each month from survey sites is ridiculous, and I don’t understand the willingness of these people to work for pennies. There are better options they could use to invest their time to make real money online, and if they’re already spending so much time doing surveys they could easily spend it on something that’ll pay out seriously in the end 🙂
So many survey sites out there, and a lot of them are a gateway to spam. In fact, a lot of them want you to click on links to other survey sites, which offer more spam.
I agree, doing surveys can be legit, but the amount of money is so little, and it takes so much time to complete a survey, on top of that, releasing a bunch of your personal info to people you don’t know, kind of bothers me, lol. I guess this would be good for people who don’t mind all of that, and have lots of time on their hands.
I agree with you 100% – they often will take your personal info and sell it to other companies so the amount of spam you recieve is insane if you sign up for enough of them. Which, let’s face it… if you sign up for one you probably will end up signing up for dozens more since that is the way they operate!
To me, Product Report Card sounded like a scam when I first heard about it because I’ve never had success with survey sites.
However, the program doesn’t seem too bad from your review. The only things that really concern me are the very low payments and also the payment issues that some members have experienced.
Product Report Card isn’t my ideal way of making money on the net because I’ve heard of more effective methods that pay real money for hard work.
Thank You, Wendy!
Neil
Yeah, it isn’t a scam but at the same time it is NOT ideal for making real money. There are definitely more effective methods out there!
I am always pissed off with companies claiming to give unbelievable bonus and pay checks online, without fulfilling their promises. I personally don’t just trust online money making websites who fraudulently lured customers into their system without making any profit for their customers. For me Product Report Card is one example of scam.
Personally I wouldn’t call Product Report Card a scam, but they definitely make it seem like it’s easy to earn more than you actually will, which I hate!