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One of the checks that I have received recently was from Mindfield Online, a survey company from which I have now been paid multiple times and can be officially placed in the “non-scamming” category. Most of their surveys that I have encountered are generally in the $1-5 range, although occasionally they will offer higher amounts. While this will not exactly catapult you into Uncle Scrooge style money piles very quickly, if you’re struggling through difficult economic times and are trying to make a little extra money from home, this program is another one that you can add to your repertoire. Here is a screenshot of my most recent check for $19.

After the initial signup, you will receive an internal account where you can track your total earnings, change your preferences or password, and access information related to common questions you might have about the program. There are also a few introductory profile surveys that you can take from here. It is recommended that you complete these because they can qualify you to receive more paying surveys in the future. Moreover, they can also help to pre-screen you, which means that you will not be sent as many surveys that you would not qualify for anyway. This can save you from wasting your time later by starting to fill out a survey, only to be screened out halfway through it and not receive any reward at the end.

Interestingly, Mindfield allows participants from outside the United States and even encourages them to join. Here is the relevant snippet from their Frequently Asked Questions section:

Can I join if I live somewhere other than the United States?

Yes. We encourage people from other countries to participate in MindField Online research projects as we offer surveys to people from all over the world. International sweepstakes regulations restrict some reasons for certain drawings held by MindField Online. However, international panelists are eligible to receive rewards for their participation in specific surveys to which they are invited. The incentive for participation in each project will be posted on the email invitation that you receive.

Payment requests are nice and easy — you can simply log into your account and press the “Get Your Check” button when your balance reaches $10 or more. According to the site, payments are processed within a week from the request date and reach most locations within 2-3 weeks. My checks have always arrived within a 7-10 day period after the request.

The only major disadvantage to Mindfield from my point of view is that they do not have any true affiliate program. Annoyingly, like several of the other rewards programs that I have seen, they simply have a “refer a friend” page inside the internal account, from which you must individually email each prospect in order to have any hope of gaining referrals. There are no referral links or banners that you can promote on your website like a regular GPT program. They do not offer any cash incentives or commissions for referrals either; you only receive entries into sweepstakes drawings for each person who clicks through from your email.

However, in spite of the lack of promotional opportunities, Mindfield is still a handy little account to build up small amounts of money in for those “rainy day” periods where you might need to give your cash flow a little extra boost. In the future, I am hoping that they will find a way to enable PayPal functionality, which would potentially speed up payments and avoid the need for us to deal with paper checks and snail mail.