Product Report Card is just one of myriads of get-paid-to platforms you might stumble upon in your search for a reliable side gig. Just like all other sites, legit or scam alike, it promises to help you make some more money in your spare time. But how likely are they to deliver on that promise?
User reviews that you can find online are very mixed. Some people claim that the platform is excellent, and even single them out for quality and promptness. Others report that they haven’t been paid for months on end, and user support wasn’t helpful. How to tell which reports are trustworthy? Read this review to find out.
Before I dig in, I just want to emphasize that they are not accredited with Better Business Bureau. Still, they hold a C rating there, which is far from being the worst rating I’ve seen.
How Does It Work?
The registration process will take less than two minutes. For starters, you just need to fill in your email address, name, country of residence and street address. That, along with confirming your account from the email, is enough to get you started. However, you will improve your chances of getting more surveys by completing additional questionnaires about your household, employment, auto, food, kitchen appliances, health & wellness, beauty, fitness & sports, travel & leisure.
If you decide to complete these profiles, you will provide more demographic information, so they could target you for relevant surveys where you are most likely to qualify. Admittedly, it takes some time to fill out these surveys, with each having over a dozen questions. But if it really does improve your earning potential on this site, it should be worth it.
Once you’re done with the screening process, you should start receiving invitations to various projects. These include:
- Online surveys
- Product tests
- Online bulletin boards
- Clinical trials
- Phone consultations
- Longer term research opportunities (these are not specified further, but they should also include higher compensation)
Earning Potential
The basic and most frequent activity on Product Report Card will be taking online surveys. Most of them will pay between 25¢ and $5, with more extensive (and rare) ones earning you up to $10. There is no exact information as to how many surveys you will receive. It depends on whether your profile is complete, as well as their current demographic requirements.
I’ve even read some accounts that claim having got as much as $8 just for completing their profile. That, however, is doubtful. Even though I completed my profile, my balance didn’t change.
As for other activities, you will get up to $1 per product review. As you complete your profile, you will be prompted to check brands whose products you own. From time to time, you might get offers to write short reviews (up to 500 words) of these products. So, no need to buy anything. You just provide your experience with a product that you already own, and get a small reward for it. Focus groups pay the most, up to $200, but those are correspondingly rare.
Once you accrue $25 or more, you can cash out via PayPal or physical check. There are other options as well: you can convert your money to Amazon gift cards or Visa pre-paid cards. That sounds pretty enticing, and the cashout threshold is standard within the industry (if not very alluring).
Advantages
- The rewards are alluring. Getting cash via PayPal or redeeming it in the form of Amazon gift cards is definitely the most popular reward there is. Many other survey sites will reward you with gift cards or vouchers redeemable at obscure, anonymous online retailers that you wouldn’t normally shop at. Others will only offer the possibility of charity donations.
- There are different activities, and some of them pay quite generously. Apart from taking surveys, you can also write product reviews or participate research products (e.g. focus groups). In theory, you can earn up to $200 on the latter, if you get lucky. In practice, I haven’t been able to find out how often it happens.
- It appears that they won’t kick you out due to ineligibility very often. Even though that’s expected considering the amount of questions you get in the screener surveys, it’s good that it doesn’t happen too frequently.
Disadvantages
- They seem to be a bit out of shape in the past couple of years. When you read user reviews, most of them were great up until 2017. While there are still decent reviews occasionally, the enthusiasm seems to have dropped significantly. People now complain that they didn’t get paid, or that they get less and less surveys.
- The rewards tend to dwell in pending status for very long periods. Some users mention having had to wait for over a year for the cash to finally land to their accounts. In their response to this issue on BBB, the company states that it depends on their clients. They are the ones who keep the status pending until they wrap up the project and approve respondents. It’s fine that they did respond to this common complaint, but really? They expect us to wait for months or even years to reward our effort? That doesn’t just sound off-putting. It also sounds unfair.
- Profile completion takes way more time than with their competitors’ sites. Of course, you can try without completing your profile. But in that case, you won’t end up getting many earning opportunities. They tend to ask all sorts of questions from various areas. Such as your health conditions, products you own, travels, food, health & fitness… It will likely take over 45 minutes to answer all of these questions.
Final Verdict
From what I’ve seen and heard myself, I can say that this platform used to be absolutely reliable and legit. Moreover, it rewarded their users promptly and generously. I can’t really figure out why it isn’t the case any longer. Anyway, it seems that the panel is no longer what it was.
So, if you have a spare hour or so, it should be fine. To my knowledge, they aren’t a scam, and you won’t risk any damage except for the time you might waste.
3 Comments
Nola L Norton
Yeah, I have just received an email in my spam folder from ProductReportCard.com. Trouble is, they addressed me as Rachel and that is not my name! I did not open the entire email nor send it to my inbox. I suspected them of being a scam or something. I guess it is valid then. But where the name Rachel came from, I don't have an answer for that.
Sandra Mays
I have been taking surveys with product report card for several months . As you know the redeemable amount is 25 dollars . I can attest to the fact that they won't ever let you get there . Everything was fine till I got to 18 dollars then they started sending me three surveys that I was unable to take because it said computer only . The funny thing is I have always used my tablet ??? I emailed . They sent me same three surveys . This goes on for weeks . Today I logged in and there was a message for me none available at all .I think I was used to get a certain amount of surveys than in order to keep from paying out they pulled a fast one I consider them a bunch of scammers. There are a lot of good sites out there . DON'T PICK THIS ONE.
CARLOS C BAYRAKTAR
I hit $23.95 Sept. 19, 2021 and then all surveys stopped coming in, and I checked the website, and none are available... can not cash out with the $1.05 remaining to hit the $25.00 mark... seems like they know when to cut you off.