If you are wondering if Pinecone Research is a scam, this in-depth review is probably what you’re looking for.
Pinecone Research Review
PRODUCT NAME: Pinecone Research
Price: Free
Overall Ranking: 30/100
Our Recommendation: Pinecone Research is legit but if I had to recommend a survey site, it would be Swagbucks. However, I do not suggest you waste time on survey sites. If you want to earn real money online, I strongly recommend you build an online business.
An Overview of Pinecone Research
This review is completely honest and unbiased and was written solely to provide you with as much information as possible about this program in order to help you make an informed decision on whether to join or not.
I understand that some people do not have the time or the patience to sit through a long review. If you are one of such people, here is a point-form summary of some stuff you should know about Pinecone Research:
- The company is legit
- You will get paid for taking surveys unless you breach their terms
- You will not qualify for every survey
- Some days, you will get surveys. Other days, you won’t
- You can receive your due Paypal payment within a day of taking a survey
- You can make some decent pocket change if you commit a lot of time and effort but generally speaking, you will not earn a lot of money on any survey site.
- If you were looking for a way to earn a lot of money online, click the link below.
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What is Pinecone Research?
Pinecone Research is a survey company founded by Nielsen Holdings and has been operating since 1999. Its parent company, Nielsen Holdings, was actually founded in 1923.
Is Pinecone Research a Scam?
No, it is not. They do not claim you will get rich by taking surveys with them and they pay you for each survey you complete. So as far as I am concerned they are doing their part, so they are not a scam.
The low payout is simply a consequence of it being a survey site. This is the cycle you should expect from most survey sites:
sign up -> wait for a survey in your email -> spend 10 mins to qualify for the survey -> spend 20 minutes taking the survey -> earn a few cents.
Then the cycle repeats.
How does Pinecone Research work?
Of course, the first thing you need to do is sign up. I had to do a Google search for “Pinecone Research sign up” to get directly to their sign-up page because I could not find a sign-up link on their regular homepage for some reason.
After you have filled out the form, you should receive a confirmation email containing your username and password. You will want to write these down as you did not choose these, they were chosen for you and they will be difficult to remember.
After signing up, you will have to go through a bunch of personal questions about your household – a 20-minute questionnaire most of which are annoying repetitions of each other.
After completing this questionnaire, there is a chance you will get the message below. If not, good for you but be prepared to get it after you answer a lot of pre-qualification questions in future.
This was what I got after spending 20 minutes of my time!
If you are fortunate enough to land a survey, you could earn as high as 3 dollars if you land a good survey. $3 is low, but it is relatively high compared to a lot of other survey sites.
**Only one account is allowed per household. If more than one account is created in your household, your account will be deleted.
How you get paid
Paypal
I find this method to be very convenient. If you choose to cash out your Pinecone earnings through Paypal, your request will be processed on the next business day. You can choose to cash out after each survey if you want.
Just keep in mind that even though Pinecone Research could send payments to your Paypal account, you cannot actually withdraw from your Paypal account until you have reached their $10 threshold. This has nothing to do with Pinecone Research, but is Paypal’s policy.
Cheque
This is less convenient as you will have to wait for the cheque to arrive in your mail. This takes 3-5 business days to process and could take up to two weeks to be delivered.
What I Liked
- The company has been around for a very long time
- It is free to sign up
- You can receive payments through Paypal
- You can cash out whenever you want
What I Didn’t Like
- You do not get surveys everyday
- Pre-qualification questions are too long
- You do not get any compensation for the time you spend in taking pre-qualification questions if you fail to qualify
- If everything goes well, you will earn a maximum of $3 for 30 minutes of time spent taking a survey
- It is simply a waste of time
How much could you really earn?
Let’s make this generous assumption that you will get a survey sent to your email everyday and you will earn $3 for each survey. Let’s also assume that you will qualify for all the surveys you are sent.
These assumptions are unrealistic but for simplicity, let’s stick with them.
Based on these assumptions, you should earn $90 a month. Now let’s account for time…
It takes about 30 minutes to complete a survey (including qualification questions). To earn $90 a month, you will have to take 30 surveys.
Based on the scenario we have drawn, it will take you 900 minutes to complete 30 surveys. If these 30 surveys earn you $90 per month, this means you would be making $6 per hour.
I must confess that this hourly rate is high if we want to compare this to other survey sites like Inbox Dollars, but remember we are talking about only the best case scenario here. It is highly unlikely that you would earn anywhere near this amount.
Closing Thoughts
My problem is not so much with Pinecone Research, but with survey sites in general. Until it is put to you that you are earning less than $6 an hour, you probably wouldn’t realize how time-consuming these surveys are.
You are spending valuable time for next to nothing – time that could be better spent building an online business. My biggest advice to you is to stop wasting time and start taking action.
If you would love to start up your own successful online business, check out the program that taught me.
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