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InboxDollars stands as a credible platform for earning rewards through participating in paid surveys. After thoroughly testing each feature, I’ve compiled a list of what I appreciate and what I find less favorable about the platform.
I approach paid survey sites with a healthy dose of skepticism. Any platform claiming to offer “free rewards for everyday activities” can raise some doubts.
Hence, my initial expectations weren’t particularly high for InboxDollars. However, after meticulously exploring all its features and effortlessly accruing $8 in rewards within my first week, I can confidently vouch for the app’s credibility.
In this comprehensive review, I will delineate the eight primary methods through which you can generate income with InboxDollars. I’ll also provide an account of my personal experience with each feature, highlighting the most lucrative activities while advising on those that might not yield as much.
Let’s embark on this journey from the outset.
What Exactly is InboxDollars?
Established in 2000, InboxDollars is a reputable rewards platform where members can earn money by participating in surveys, utilizing cash-back offers, reading promotional emails, and completing various small tasks. The platform proudly boasts a user base of over 5 million individuals with a track record of disbursing $80 million in rewards to date.
Accessible through both desktop browsers and a user-friendly mobile application, InboxDollars provides a convenient way to earn extra income, whether you’re waiting in line at a store or have a few minutes to spare between Zoom meetings. Moreover, new users are greeted with an instant free $5 sign-up bonus.
InboxDollars is under the umbrella of Prodege LLC, the parent company that also owns similar sites like Swagbucks, MyPoints, and Tada. If you’ve used any of these platforms before, you may notice some shared features with InboxDollars. However, InboxDollars offers distinct features such as Scratch & Win cards and WinIt codes, which we’ll delve into later.
A noteworthy feature of InboxDollars is that it calculates earnings in dollars and cents rather than using a points-based system. This transparency simplifies the process of tracking your progress towards cash redemption.
Is InboxDollars a Legitimate Platform?
InboxDollars is a genuinely legitimate survey and rewards platform.
It holds a commendable 4.2 out of 5-star rating on Trustpilot, based on over 38,000 reviews.
Furthermore, the app boasts a 4.0 rating in the Google Play Store and an impressive 4.5 rating in the Apple Store, garnering a combined total of over 317,000 reviews.
The company behind the InboxDollars brand, Prodege, maintains a solid B rating from the Better Business Bureau, with zero unresolved complaints.
Personally, I’ve utilized some of Prodege’s other rewards sites, particularly Swagbucks, and have consistently received timely payouts whenever I’ve redeemed for a gift card. This experience has eliminated any lingering doubts about the platform’s legitimacy. Overall, I can confidently affirm that InboxDollars and other Prodege brands are as legitimate and secure as any other reward or cash-back apps I’ve encountered.
How InboxDollars Works
InboxDollars provides users with a variety of avenues to earn money. Depending on your availability and interests, you have the flexibility to choose from these options or even try them all.
To get started, simply sign up for a free InboxDollars account. As a bonus, you’ll instantly receive $5 upon email confirmation.
Next, complete the profile questionnaire, which requests your demographic details such as age, gender, and interests. This typically takes 5 to 10 minutes and unlocks an additional $0.50 bonus.
It’s worth noting that you won’t be able to cash out the total of $5.50 right away. The minimum threshold for redeeming rewards is set at $15. You can continue accumulating earnings through:
- Surveys
- Games
- Shopping
- Magic Receipts
- Offers
- Search
- Referring Friends
In addition to these primary methods, there are extra opportunities to gain rewards through Sweepstakes, meeting Daily Goals, redeeming WinIt codes, and participating in Scratch & Win. This diverse range of options allows you to tailor your earning approach to suit your preferences and availability.
Key Ways for Earning with InboxDollars
Undoubtedly, InboxDollars offers numerous avenues for earning. Yet, not all of them may be equally worthwhile. I’ve diligently examined each of InboxDollars’ features and here’s what I discovered about each one.
1. Surveys
To initiate survey-taking, you’ll first need to complete your profile, for which you’ll receive a $0.50 reward.
Surveys typically offer compensation ranging from $0.50 to $5.00 and generally take between 10 to 30 minutes to complete. You’ll typically find around 10 to 15 surveys available in your account.
While InboxDollars suggests surveys they believe align with your profile, you have the flexibility to tackle them in any order you prefer. This allows you to tailor your survey-taking experience to your own preferences.
2. Games
InboxDollars extends a selection of free games like Solitaire, Candy Jam, and Pet Hop. Additionally, they provide cash games such as Blackout Bingo, Cube Master, and Solitaire Cash, which have been relocated to the Offer tab. With these cash games, users make a deposit and participate in cash tournaments for the opportunity to win additional money.
Based on customer feedback, earning substantial real money by playing the free games on InboxDollars can be challenging. This is because these games don’t directly offer cash rewards. Instead, every game you engage in contributes to your Scratch & Win progress, enabling you to virtually scratch a lottery ticket for random cash prizes.
While direct cash earnings aren’t accrued through playing games on InboxDollars, it does appear to be one of the swifter methods for accumulating Scratch & Win credits.
3. Shopping
InboxDollars provides cashback opportunities from a wide array of reputable stores, including well-known names like Best Buy, Home Depot, Groupon, and Kohl’s. The cashback percentages differ from one store to another, with some offering as low as 1% and others as generously high as 25%. This diversity ensures that users have a range of options when it comes to earning rewards through their shopping endeavors.
With InboxDollars, you have the option to shop directly through your account. You can peruse their list of retailers or narrow down your search by name or category. Additionally, similar to other cashback platforms, they offer a convenient browser extension known as the
Billy Button.
This extension serves as a helpful tool while shopping. It alerts you whenever there are coupons or cashback offers available through InboxDollars, ensuring you never miss out on a valuable deal. Furthermore, it keeps you informed about any new surveys or other earning opportunities that become available in your account. This feature enhances your overall experience and ensures you make the most of your time on the platform.
4. Magic Receipts
InboxDollars offers two distinct methods for earning cashback through receipt uploads: Magic Receipts and Any Receipt.
If you’re familiar with cashback grocery apps like Ibotta, the process of uploading Magic Receipts will be quite recognizable. You simply select deals from InboxDollars’ list, add them to your cart, and make the purchase from a participating store. Afterwards, you take a photo of your receipt and upload it to your account for immediate cashback.
These deals can be either brand-specific or encompass a set amount of cashback for generic items like milk, bread, eggs, produce, and so on. This flexibility ensures that you have a range of options when it comes to maximizing your cashback earnings.
Any Receipt deals are exactly as they sound. You have the flexibility to upload receipts from over 1,100 different retailers, provided they are less than 14 days old. For each receipt you submit, you’ll receive $0.01.
While the majority of Magic Receipt deals necessitate an in-store purchase, it’s worth noting that Any Receipt offers can be submitted for both in-store and online orders. This versatility ensures that you can take advantage of cashback opportunities regardless of how you choose to shop.
5. Offers
Engaging with offers represents one of the most lucrative tasks on InboxDollars. These tasks usually entail signing up with a reputable third-party application or website. This allows users to earn substantial rewards for their participation.
Certain offers may entail placing an order or establishing a new account with a deposit, but it’s possible to filter for options that are entirely free of charge. Each offer displays its specific requirements, providing transparency for users.
It’s important to note that cashback from offers may take varying durations, ranging from 7 days to a month or even longer, to appear in your InboxDollars account. This ensures that users have a clear expectation of when to anticipate their rewards.
6. Search
Utilizing InboxDollars’ search engine doesn’t directly contribute to your dollar earnings. Similar to the free games, it instead contributes towards your progress for the next Scratch & Win ticket, a feature we’ll delve into shortly.
The number of searches that accrue credit can vary. On some days, you may earn credit for as few as 4 searches, while on others, you could be rewarded for 20 or more. This variability allows for flexibility in how users accumulate progress towards rewards.
7. Referring Friends
Through the InboxDollars Refer Friends Program, you have the opportunity to earn a $3 cash bonus for each referral who earns $3 within their initial month. Additionally, you’ll receive a 10% share of your referral’s lifetime earnings. This program offers a rewarding incentive for bringing new members into the InboxDollars community.
Please note that the bonus will be credited within 24 hours of the user reaching the $3 threshold, so there might be a slight delay before it appears in your account.
It’s worth highlighting that there is no earnings cap on how much you can potentially earn from your referral(s), making this a potentially lucrative avenue for generating passive income. This feature underscores the platform’s commitment to rewarding its users for their referrals.
Additional Methods for Earning with InboxDollars
In addition to surveys, Magic Receipts, and the core methods of earning cashback on InboxDollars, there are supplementary avenues to accrue bonus rewards. These include Scratch & Win, WinIt codes, and achieving Daily Goal streaks. These features offer extra opportunities to enhance your earnings on the platform.
Scratch & Win
As we discussed earlier in the games and search sections, engaging in surveys, games, and various activities on InboxDollars contributes to your progress towards a Scratch & Win card. This essentially operates as a digital lottery ticket, offering a random reward.
The Scratch & Win feature consists of three distinct milestones, each potentially offering a maximum reward of $10, $25, or even $100.
It’s worth noting that the more activities you complete, such as surveys, games, searches, etc., the higher-tier scratcher you’ll receive. According to an official InboxDollars blog post, most scratchers typically range from a few cents to $0.25. This ensures that users have a chance to earn a little extra with each scratcher.
Daily Goals
InboxDollars offers a bonus ranging from $0.03 to $0.10 whenever you achieve your daily earnings goal or complete your daily to-do list. Your daily goal is personalized based on your prior earnings.
Moreover, when you maintain this achievement streak, meeting your daily goal or completing your to-do list for several consecutive days, you receive an even more substantial bonus. This provides additional incentive for consistent engagement on the platform.
WinIt Codes
Periodically, InboxDollars shares “WinIt” codes on their official social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Each code presents a distinct reward, ranging from a few cents to entries in sweepstakes or progress towards your next Scratch & Win.
It’s important to note that these codes have an expiration time of 11:59pm CST on the day they are posted. This means you’ll need to regularly check their social media channels to ensure you don’t miss out on these opportunities. This feature adds an interactive element for users who are active on social media.
Earnings Potential with InboxDollars
The amount you can earn with InboxDollars depends on the types of activities you engage in and how frequently you participate.
For instance, I spent 30 minutes playing a Monkey Bubble Shooter game, which resulted in a tier 2 ticket and a $0.02 reward upon scratching.
Subsequently, I completed a 13-minute survey that paid $2.00.
In the case of the game, the hourly rate was around $0.04, which isn’t particularly high.
Taking surveys, on the other hand, yielded just over $9.00 per hour. This is relatively decent, and notably above average compared to other survey sites I’ve encountered. It’s worth noting, however, that consistently qualifying for and completing surveys at this rate is uncommon, and actual earnings from surveys typically fall within the range of $1 to $5 per day.
Surveys, cashback, and receipt uploads emerge as the highest-paying activities on InboxDollars. By focusing on these, one can reasonably expect to earn between $10 to $30 per month.
While no survey or cashback site is designed to replace a substantial income, InboxDollars offers an avenue for easy earnings through simple tasks. It fits well for those seeking straightforward ways to make extra money.
Alternative Platforms to InboxDollars
If you’re finding it a bit tricky to get those survey approvals on InboxDollars, or you’re just looking to explore some other options, here are a few alternatives to consider:
- Branded Surveys: Now, unlike InboxDollars which offers various earning methods, Branded Surveys focuses solely on surveys. You kickstart with your first 100 points just by signing up. Once you hit 500 points (equivalent to a cool $5), you can cash out for gift cards to your favorite spots, or if you prefer, you can go for the cash option via PayPal or direct bank deposit.
- Survey Junkie: This one’s a classic in the survey world and it’s still going strong. True to its name, Survey Junkie is all about the surveys. You can cash out once you hit a mere $5, and you’ve got options to redeem for e-gift cards or straight up cash via PayPal.
- Swagbucks: Now, Swagbucks is a big player in the survey and side hustle game. Much like InboxDollars, you can earn by taking surveys, using coupons, and doing other little tasks. They even kick things off with a $10 sign-up bonus for new members. The initial cashout minimum is $15, but after that, you can cash out for as little as a dollar. Your choices for redemption include sweet PayPal cash or gift cards for hot spots like Amazon and iTunes.
Remember, it’s all about finding what works best for you. So, give these alternatives a shot and see which one aligns most with your hustle style. Cheers!
