"Online Paid Surveys" is one of the latest buzzwords on the Internet. Hundreds of websites have mushroomed on the Internet in the last few months. Each website seems to or at least makes claim that is pays better then the others. And joining this euphoria are the millions of web surfers who think this as a big opportunity to make some fast and easy money. Daily, hundreds and thousands of web surfers across the globe from vastly different backgrounds are registering at these sites and fast filling up the online survey forms.

But have you ever wondered why suddenly from nowhere, this scene got created? Well the scene did not get created suddenly. Consumer companies, from old times, rely on the experience of the consumer to manufacture and sell products. They are always in need to understand the likes and dislikes of their customers. Hence their sales teams used to conduct surveys whereby a customer or a potential customer would fill out a paper form. However this was slow and expensive process.

With the advent of Internet, getting customer feedback is easier and cheaper. These companies often outsource their survey needs to the Paid Survey sites and pay them. The site then asks its subscribers to fill up the survey forms. In turn, they give a small reward to the one who takes the survey. The site then collates the data and simply passes it on the consumer company or prepares reports for these companies. The consumer company then makes the payment.

Some sites collect personal contact information like phone and email addresses. They then sell this information (fully or partially) to companies who would be looking to promote their products. These companies then send promotional emails or their telemarketers call people selling their wares. Hence one should carefully read the privacy policy before parting away with contact information.

Most paid sites these days also collect a small registration fee. Hence, this too adds to the revenue of the site. Also this sites host links to other sites. Hence they also earn money from the affiliation with other sites. This brings the point of paid survey directories. These are the sites, which simply have names of the actual paid survey websites. This means these sites are mere directory and they themselves do not conduct any survey. The actual survey conducting sites pay them for maintaining their names in the directories sites. Apart from this like any normal site, the paid survey sites and directory sites also have some advertising revenue.