Big Buck Surveys Review: a Legitimate Paid Survey Site or a Scam?

I got an email the other day from a reader of SurveySatrap, Donna Burks.

Donna writes:
“Satrap, I was wondering if you know anything about a site called Big Buck Surveys, and whether or not its a legitimate survey panel.

I have been seeing a lot of ads and surveys from this site, but I’m just not clear how this site works since it doesn’t look anything like the other normal panels like MySurvey or Globaltestmarket.

I searched SurveySatrap and didn’t find any reviews of this site. I would appreciate any information. Thanks.

Dona Burks”

Donna is right, although I have done a lot of paid survey reviews, I haven’t reviewed this site yet.

So, in order to help Dona and other readers interested about BBS, I did some research to find out whether or not BBS is a trustworthy site.

Here is the review.

A Little About the Company

Big Buck Surveys is among the many websites (including CoolSavings.com) owned as well as operated by Vente Inc, which was recently acquired by Q Interactive.

As far as the lead generation and online marketing industry is concerned, Vente is a leading name.

Not only does the company benefit from intricate client knowledge but thanks to its creative and technical expertise, it helps other companies establish efficient communication with existing and potential customers.

BBB Rating and Review

OK, so I checked the BBB’s official site, but it seems like Big Buck Survey doesn’t have a profile there.

Ok, that’s no problem. There are thousands of legit companies who are not listed on the BBB.

That said, I did find a rating for the parent company, i.e., Q Interactive, and found out that it has been rated A by the BBB. And that is a good sign since its only one level lower than the maximum rating A+.

So, the parent company checks out as far as a good BBB rating goes.

Now, let’s see how membership works on this site.

How it Works

To join Big Buck Surveys, you must be over 18 and reside in the United States.

Additionally, you’ll need to complete a short form before confirming your registration through an email. That’s it!

As a member, you stand a chance to win through sweepstakes drawings. Consisting of prizes ranging from $1, 500 to even $50,000, these sweepstakes drawings are conducted on a monthly and quarterly basis. However, information as to how the site works is hard to come by.

Although it does offer paid surveys to those signing-up, these offers are more suited to the GPT (Get Paid To) genre.

From what I have gathered, most of their surveys are not actual “market research studies”, rather they are meant for “lead generation”.

You see, when online companies want to get some exposure, they hire sites like Big Buck Surveys to basically get the word out about their products and services.

And Sites like BBS, use incentives, like an entry to one of their many sweepstakes, to get people to answer their questioners which is meant to introduce them to the product/service they are trying to get some exposure for.

So, in a sense, BigBuckSurveys is more like a Get Paid To program, like InboxDollars or even CashCrate, than a traditional survey panel like SurveySpot or MindField.

Though if I were to categories this site, I would certainly put it under the “sites where you can win prizes by entering sweepstakes”.

Rewards

As I mentioned, there is no set prize for completing each survey/questioner. I guess, you could say in a way there is if you consider an entry to their sweepstakes a reward.

The moment you finish a survey with Big Buck Surveys, your name is automatically entered into a home makeover sweepstakes that carries a top prize of $50,000.

Additionally, the site also runs cash prize drawings worth $1,500 and $3,500 every month and quarter respectively!

The site aims to build confidence by listing the name of past winners on a page. And if you win one of these drawings, a notification regarding the same would be sent to you via email and a certified letter.

More information concerning winner notification can be found in the site’s official rules section.

And in all honestly, I have heard from real people who have won these prizes. So, that part of it is true. There are actual winners for these drawings.

You can actually check out list of some of their past winners on this page.

Warning

The devil usually lies in the details and it seems things are no different with Big Buck Surveys.

Take a look at this clause plucked out from the Privacy Policy section that talks about the site’s stand on the user info it collects:

“BigBuckSurveys.com may send you e-mail messages regarding marketing offers from other reputable organizations whose products and services we think you might find interesting. Contact, postal, e-mail address and demographic information may be shared with third party marketers for marketing purposes. Similarly, your answers to health related questions may be used or shared to market or advertise products, goods or services to you.”

The site does provide you with a choice to keep your contact information private. This is done by adding (on request from you) you to the site’s “do-not-share” list. The caveat here is that a user’s contact information is “shared” by default, unless and until you send a request to “opt-out”.

So, Should You Join Big Buck Surveys?

To summarize, I personally wouldn’t recommend spending too much time on sites like BigBuckSurveys.

But if you’re on the lookout for something other than conventional paid survey sites, GPT (Get Paid To) sites like Big Buck Surveys can be fun, and occasionally you may win something big as well.