Inbox Dollars Review: Get Paid For Random Online Tasks
I waste way too much time streaming Netflix. I’m not talking, “I love Stranger Things” level of wasted time. I’m talking, “Will Mary Kate or Ashley ever make an appearance on Fuller House?” level of wasted time.
So when I stumbled onto the idea of taking surveys online while watching TV, I thought I found true redemption. Take surveys and make bank, in my PJ’s, while watching Nextflix? Yes, please!
But turns out it’s not quite so simple. Taking surveys through InboxDollars, as the name implies, pays out in dollars. You won’t qualify for all of them. You won’t get rich. But you can make money and they do pay. Want to hear about my experience? Keep reading.
Note: the activities and services on the platform do change, and this is based on my experience using the platform. If you're looking to earn money in your spare time doing random tasks, this is an option for you.
Quick Summary
- Online survey site with a $5 bonus signup incentive
- Ways to earn include surveys, arcade games, watching videos, printing coupons, scanning products in-store, searching the web, and reading PaidEmails
- Members cash out at the $30 mark, with payment options including check, PayPal, or eGiftcard
Get Started With a $5 Signup Bonus
InboxDollars sucks you in with $5 signup bonus or a “free $5 to get started.” To get started, all you have to do is provide your email address, create a site password, and then confirm your email address and you get $5. All that for $5? Sign me up.
I signed up with my email address, and after confirming my account, I got $5 credited to my account. Awesome!
Well more OK than awesome. The $5 is awesome, but you can’t request payment until you earn $30.
Watch the Welcome Video & Go Through the MyList ToDo’s
After I enrolled for InboxDollars, I completed my profile. This 10 minute task yielded another $0.50. InboxDollars wanted to know every detail about my life. What’s my birthday? Do I have any medical conditions?
You have the option to say, “I prefer not to answer.” Which I selected for many of the questions. Apparently, they use the information to help match you to surveys.
After completing the initial profile survey, you’re promoted to “Take Another Survey”. Instead of doing that, I exed out of the box and chose to go through the “MyList” of tasks to complete it and earn an additional $0.50.
The final task on the list, “Confirm Your First PaidEmail” is how you claim the $5 activation bonus.
If you’re not a fan of junk mail in your inbox, after you’ve claimed your $5 you can unsubscribe. Simply tap “Click Here to Unsubscribe” at the bottom of one of their PaidEmails. Then, adjust your settings to no longer receive their mailings.
In good news, you may find it worthwhile to get their PaidEmails. For each one that you confirm, you earn progress towards a Scratch & Win.
Scratch & Wins are multi-tiered “lottery” tickets. The higher the tier you scratch, the higher the potential prize – up to $100. After completing multiple Scratch & Win tasks (mainly reading PaidEmails and watching videos), I scratched off 80cents.
I found the other MyList items more entertaining. For “Watch TV”, I watched a few minutes of celebrity news coverage. And for “Print a Coupon”, you get directed to the coupons page where you can earn cash for printing coupons and then later redeeming them in-store.
Now Build Your Way To $30
Once you’re enrolled in InboxDollars, and you’ve adjusted your settings, you’ll have the opportunity to earn money taking surveys and completing other online task. How much money? It seems like most people earn a few dollars a day.
You can earn by couponing, watching videos, or playing some of their arcade games (Spider Solitaire, anyone?). But it seems like offers and surveys are the most lucrative ways to earn.
The whole process of taking the surveys can be frustrating. InboxDollars serves up surveys for which you aren’t qualified. Before I got through a single episode of Fuller House, I was disqualified from four surveys. Survey providers are looking for a specific demographic, you don’t meet their qualifications, blah, blah, blah.
When I finally found a survey I could take, I earned a whopping $0.25. The survey took about 10 minutes. At that rate, I was earning about $1.50 per hour. But, that’s $1.50 more than I would have otherwise made sitting on my couch and tweeting @Netflix to bring back MaryKate and Ashley.
Eventually, I was able to complete a couple more surveys for higher payouts. And when you disqualify, you spin “Billy’s Wheel” for a chance to win a cash prize or more progress towards a Scratch & Win.
The Offers page was more promising. There are some free offers: sign up for other survey sites and make a few dollars or download free eBooklets for pocket change. And there was a decent one for DoorDash: sign up as a new customer and install the app and get $5 in your InboxDollars account. Not bad, if you’re not already a member.
On the mobile web version, there are some offers to earn $0.10 to $3.50 for downloading some of the free apps onto your phone. And if you want to give them your location data, you can earn $.10 per scan when you scan specific product barcodes in stores.
In addition to the free offers, there are “paid” offers, too. i.e. Buy a bouquet of flowers through an online florist, get $7.00 back in your InboxDollars account. Lots of similar cash back offers for subscription box services and eCommerce sites. If it’s something you were already interested in, it’s not bad. Otherwise, no point in spending (read: losing) money in order to make money.
Cash Out... With A Check or ePayment
After you reach the $30 earnings mark, you can cash out with a check, eCard (i.e. Amazon giftcard), or PayPal.
InboxDollars isn’t going to make you rich. If you really need money, a minimum wage job flipping burgers would be better. But, it’s a good way to earn a few extra bucks on the side.
It’s a couple dollars here, and a few dollars there that you might earn on your way to reach $30 so you can cashout. I can’t see making much more than $30 every couple weeks unless you’re really putting in a lot of time.
But, InboxDollars could be worth your while if:
- $30 is meaningful to you
- You're into freebies and deals
- Or you just want to earn while you're sitting on the couch watching your favorite TV show
At $30 every other week, that’s an extra $ 780 a year for putzing around (wasting time) on your phone. If that seems appealing to you, go ahead and sign up.
See how they compare to other similar sites like Swagbucks.
If you really need some mega cash (i.e. college tuition, major car repairs), you’ll need to figure out a better way. Just be prepared to get off your couch to do it.
Have you ever tried InboxDollars before? What are some of your favorite ways to earn extra money?
Inbox Dollars Review
- Flexibility - 100
- Potential To Earn - 40
- Ease Of Use - 80
- Company Support - 20
Summary
InboxDollars seems like a good way to earn extra money online, but you can find out the truth in this InboxDollars Review.
Rebecca Dumas says
This company is a sham!! After months finally getting enough points together to get a payout they turn around and say that I violated some contract and was bot or VPN or something like – not sure what those are!
When I first joined and I had issues I thought I’m new at this and will keep at it ti at least get one payout from them. After many surveys telling me that I didn’t qualify after completing the entire survey I got nothing while they got all my answers. This happened quite a bit and the ones that I did get paid for is a few cents for anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. So it took me like four months to make $68 and wouldn’t you know what as soon as I make a request for my payout I get told I’m not getting anything because my account has been terminated.
I tired talking to someone over there but good luck with that. They never give you a straight answer. You just get vague emails that are generic for quit a few different issues. I have no idea if I’ll ever see the money that I honestly made!!!
Jena says
I have had Inboxdollars for about 8 years. I started doing it for some extra money to go on vacation, I didn’t make enough to go on vacation, that was unrealistic on my part, but I did make enough money to buy a laptop and I have been cashing out with about $100 each year since. I currently have $127 to cash out. The site is legit, you just have to stick to it if you really want it to work.
WCS says
If this is remotely true, it is absolutely the exception to the rule. Yes, they take all of your info, then you spend endless amounts of time filling out the prequal for a survey only to get disqualified. If you do happen to be qualified, well the 15-30+minutes you spend to “make” that 25-50 CENTS is NOT worth the time. Again the user claiming to make anywhere decent amounts of money from this is the exception rather than the rule. Don’t waste your time.
Lashona Renard says
you’re right. these people claiming to make $100 or more are straight lying. you almost never qualify for surveys and offers are a joke. who would be stupid enough to spend money when the purpose is to make money. it takes a year to make less than $50 then I don’t really see the point of their service in the first place. I don’t care how you spend your spare time you should be compensated for it not insulted. anybody who pays you a couple cents and call money needs a reality check.
James says
I have to agree with Rebecca. Took a couple months to get up to the $30 payment amount after being disqualified from multiple surveys. Some surveys said I were disqualified when I was 95% complete. The day before the payment is to be issued my account was cancelled. I tried speaking to their online support but all they tell you is that it was cancelled for bot like activity or for violating their terms of service. Funny how my activity wasn’t a problem until I requested a payment. Stay clear of them.
Nancy says
Horrible. It takes many hours to make 1 dollar, let alone 30 dollars, which is what you need to cash out. It takes about a year to make 30 dollars unless you’re at it every day, then it should take you only10 months. Don’t waste your time. There are too many survey sites that are much better. Inbox lets you answer a whole lot of questions which they keep, before they decide you are not the perfect fit. Makes me think they have the answers they really needed from you. They should investigated and shut down.
Michele says
I have been using Inbox Dollars for months now. I am at $32.60 as of right now. My amount has been the same for weeks. I click on the paid emails, and I am not being credited. I wrote to them and all I got back was that I did not have enough funds to cash out. I very clearly told them that my amount is frozen and that I am not being credited for the paid emails I click on. So I try to contact them once more to explain my problem again, I got no response. So I wasted months of my time for absolutely nothing. This site stinks! It is very time consuming. Alot of the surveys you do not qualify for. You sometimes are filling out surveys for several minutes until they decide to tell you that you do not qualify for the survey. I am upset that I wasted so much time for absolutely nothing in return. This site is a complete waste!
Kayley says
I am up to 93 dollars, after using it for 9 months. I have not used it every day, and sometimes went weeks without using. I will be paying out soon, and hopefully there will be no issues. It isn’t as hard as people say to earn money in a variety of way from inbox dollars.
William says
Inbox dollars is a scam. They will pull you in by offering $5 to begin and another $7 for completing some other tasks. It all goes downhill from there. I quickly realized that filling out countless surveys. I really gave them a try, I tried and tried and tried. Finally I snapped and said “No More!” What happens is that once you start a survey and it could be 15-20 minutes of filling questions, they will reject you based on answering a question as “no”. So you could answer “yes, yes, yes” for multiple questions and after 20 minutes of tedious (and yes, boooring!) questioning you are rejected from survey by punching one lousy “No”. Then they offer “sweeps” which is a raffle ticket that will never win you anything, pathetic! So, after seeing what a sham I got myself into I just decided to get my $30 by strictly opening the “paid mail” and using “paid search”. I had opened the account with them 1.5 years ago and finally was able to collect my $30 (actually $27, they even take $3 for “processing fee” – a final slap in the face) after countless hours of filling surveys and opening stupid paid mail. They pay 2 cents per one paid e-mail so yes it will take a while. I will be closing my account with inbox dollars now that I recovered a small fraction of what my time is actually worth, and I recommend staying clear from them and finding another way of making $$$.
Joyce says
So after a year I finally have 29.59 so hopefully when I cash out I want my money. My sister was getting checks for 40$ almost every week so they don’t take the 3$ process fee if u try to cash just 30$ but im not waiting anymore it’s been way to long and I can’t wait to take this crap out my phone I can’t even get thru a survey without them saying I don’t qualify smh the is in box dollars when I get my 27$ I will write a different review hopefully it will be a good one.
Chanel Williams says
I love Inbox Dollars. It is actually my main money making survey site. I have had the app for 3 1/2 years now. First year I cashed out $37, 2nd year I cashed out $67 and now I am up to $61, which is about $3 a day, all of which has been earned in the past 3 weeks and I have found the key to making it work for me. I use this app all day. I let all of the videos run in the background. I always have my spin and win spins at the maximum 100 and you get 20 spins daily. Sure you get qualified for a lot of the surveys, but you have to find what works for you in other ways on the site. I am also a couponer, so you get paid 10 cents per redeemed coupon. I print my coupons from the site and I use them a lot. So just about every day I am getting credited 30 cents just from coupons. I have no complaints now that I have found what works for me. I love it!
Udesh viduranga says
nbox dollars is a scam. They will pull you in by offering $5 to begin and another $7 for completing some other tasks. It all goes downhill from there. I quickly realized that filling out countless surveys. I really gave them a try, I tried and tried and tried. Finally I snapped and said “No More!” What happens is that once you start a survey and it could be 15-20 minutes of filling questions, they will reject you based on answering a question as “no”. So you could answer “yes, yes, yes” for multiple questions and after 20 minutes of tedious (and yes, boooring!) questioning you are rejected from survey by punching one lousy “No”. Then they offer “sweeps” which is a raffle ticket that will never win you anything, pathetic! So, after seeing what a sham I got myself into I just decided to get my $30 by strictly opening the “paid mail” and using “paid search”. I had opened the account with them 1.5 years ago and finally was able to collect my $30 (actually $27, they even take $3 for “processing fee” – a final slap in the face) after countless hours of filling surveys and opening stupid paid mail. They pay 2 cents per one paid e-mail so yes it will take a while. I will be closing my account with inbox dollars now that I recovered a small fraction of what my time is actually worth, and I recommend staying clear from them and finding another way of making $$$.
Cris says
I like InBox Dollars! I have earned approximately $200 in 4 months! Once you understand the variety of ways to get $ – it usually takes about 2 weeks to get up to the $40 milestone and then you request payment and I get my paper checks in a couple of days…and if you get friends or family to sign up – you get $1 for each of them- up to 5… but if they start doing surveys and keep doing them – you get 30% of their earnings credited to you!!
Nikki says
I have no complaints so far with InboxDollars. I got my first cash payment maybe a month after I started and then my other one right after. So I’ve made about $65 in a little over a month in my spare time.
ds says
I guess we are the lucky ones. I average $40 a month.
Logan says
I got 525 in just one day idk if were talking about the same app
Nicholas Parry says
Totally not legit company. Yes it is possible to get a check from them.. But you can also not get it cause they randomly close your account when you get close to cashing out. Save yourself a lot of time and heartache when they don’t pay you out and go with a company like Swagbucks or any of the other legit ones that reward more fairly. Long story short I know enough about these pricks to advise anyone to avoid using their services. I personally had amounted almost enough money to cash out, and attempted to sign up for one of their Lyft offers. Lyft says they got the promo code and inboxdollars closed my account (gave me some bullshit excuse when I followed up on the promo code) and screwed me on the 100$ sign up bonus as well. So in my opinion, YOU SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM INBOXDOLLARS!
Rinda says
This is a joke, it isn’t a scam but its not worth the trouble. It works don’t get me wrong but it takes FOREVER to make any actual money plus you have to hit a certain dollar amount before you can even cash out. Surveys said to be 4 minutes long pay out the same as survey that will take 50 minutes, and it only pays $0.25 for most surveys! $0.25 for an hour!? What! When you do find a higher paying one (meaning $0.50-$1.00), it’ll say its full or you don’t qualify EVERY time. The “Billy Spin Win” IS cool but also it is rigged. You NEVER land on money only “no win” or survey tokens. Out of 50 spins I landed on “cash” ($0.02 & $0.09!) twice. Like really? Complete waste of time honestly, SurveyJunkie pays better and you can cash out at $10 not $30! I’ve made $40 in about a month with SurveyJunkie rather $9 with Inbox Dollars
ds says
I’ve been using Inboxdollars for just over 1 year. I’ve gotten checks totalling $313.23 so far. I had little activity for the first six months after I got my first check. Just seemed too much work. So really I’ve earned that much in about 7 months. I average $40 per month. Am expecting another ~$40 check in next week’s mail!
Courtney says
Completely agree with this review! Inbox Dollars is such a joke. I hardly qualify for any surveys. I’m just about $3 away from finally getting $30 to cash out and it is taking forever. I’ll probably take the app off my phone once I can finally get to $30. WASTE OF TIME!!
Chante Thomas says
I have been using InBox Dollars for months. I earned my first $30 and cashed out. I referred my Wife and she signed up and started doing surveys. Once I reached $75 and she reached her first $30 we cashed out. The next day both of our accounts was suspended. How convenient. We spoke with a Live chat agent to explain that the accounts are separate but they didn’t care. They just hurried us off and ended the chat. Months of work all gone. INBOX DOLLARS IS A SCAM!!!!!!!!! Do not waste your time. They will use you for your services then find some reason to not pay you.
Lee Hoskin says
Just what so many have said…a waste of time. I’ve been trying to fill out surveys for 2 weeks. I “don’t qualify “. Very frustrating. Not wasting any more time. Inbox dollars gets to keep my $11.90. I will tell everyone I know to stay away from this site.
Potato says
Thanks for this honest comment
Kristin Gurganus says
I signed up for this site as recommended by a friend, and yes to be perfectly honest it’s a headache to gather the $30 earnings required to cash out but I have done so on several occasions over the past 10 years or so (I’m unsure just how long I have had my account.) My overall opinion of this site and it’s resources is very favorable. The emails pay me .02 for everyone I open, the surveys are indeed more effort than they are actually worth. However the fact that it is STILL FREE MONEY EARNED IN YOUR FREE TIME (No one in forcing you) makes it an overall worthy option. If you are seeking to earn more money become a professional and choose a career pertinent to intelligence and not free living.
C.H. says
I agree with this. Inbox dollars is not a source to make a living income, it’s to provide EXTRA income. It’s possible to make the $30.00 in a month, or close to it, if you dedicate time to it, but it’s NOT easy(and not worth it if you have more going on in your life). I’ve been using them for years and have yet to encounter a problem with them. In fact, it’s better now than it was when I first started several years ago.
I noticed someone did mention that the spins is a bit rigged. This I can’t disagree with, as I’ve seen it slow down to a good dollar amount, then suddenly jump past it. Only once in over the five I’ve used it did it ever stop completely on $5.00 and on $1.00.
Donna says
I do this and swagbucks. So far I’m happier with swag but that’s just my personal experience. I had a hard time with surveys also. In swag i have the same problem but get more points whenI’m kicked out.
Rosa says
Inbox sends you a W 9 after $300 in calendar year.can I trust them with my social security #??
I thought taxable income was $600 or more???has anyone filled out a w9 and sent it to them
Robert Farrington says
That’s common for most firms before they even will send you anything.