I have been a part of Palm Research for quite a few months and till now, have gathered enough information to form a detailed review of the site.
As is the case with most other survey panels, Palm Research too gets some extremely polarizing comments and reviews from people. This is also influenced by factors like time frame and the places you visit on the web.
In short, I wanted to separate the truth from the hype/fluff.
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Palm Research, the company
Palm Research has its headquarters in the Californian city of San Diego. Their online venture first saw light of the day in the early part of 2009.
Other than that, there is really not much information about their history and the company as a whole.
The Better Business Bureau rates the site an F on a scale of A+ to F. But looking at the number of complaints against the company, it seems like it’s a legit firm that cares about its members, customers and ultimately its reputation. There are only 4 complaints filed against the company from which all were resolved.
Participation
As of now, Palm Research is welcoming people from all places to participate including UK, Australia, Canada, China, Japan, India and of course, the USA.
Another thing about this panel you must know is that it’s not the most optimum one for teenagers. While the site requires its members to have completed 14 years of age, majority of its surveys need you to have attained 18 years of age.
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Registering with PR is very easy much like other panels like Opinion Outpost surveys. You need to fill in the requisite details, confirm your email by clicking on the link contained in that email and all is done.
Once you are done confirming your email, among the first things you need to do is login to your dashboard and complete the Profile Survey. This survey is basically about some general information concerning you (gender/age/employment/etc.) and your home (income/marital status/kids/etc.).
The site uses this information to narrow down the right surveys for you from its vast pool. The survey is quite short and takes fewer than 5 min to complete. This information enables the firm to match you with suitable surveys.
For instance, this mechanism ensures that middle aged members do not end up with a survey that is based on hygiene products for young females. (You can read more about this and the whole process of conducting market research studies here).
Palm Research conducts surveys daily. As such, you can expect survey invitations to land in your inbox every day. However, if you do not want your email inbox to be full of stuff from them, I recommend creating a discrete folder for the same.
This will keep all your survey offers in a single place, which prevents you from confusing them with regular emails.
You can also try creating an entirely new email account as well for this purpose. This is more useful if you have an account with multiple paid survey panels. Creating an account either with Yahoo or Gmail should be quite simple.
Daily Surveys are made available to you daily and a different one pops up every day. When you click on the option to take part in the Daily Survey, PR’s system ensures that you are coupled with a survey that provides you a good chance of qualifying.
The surveys keep changing all the time, which means you can keep visiting the site daily for new ones. Most of these surveys tend to pay you $1.00 with the typical duration being 10-15 minutes.
However, Ad-Hoc surveys are not the same as Daily Surveys as you cannot repeat your participation with them on a daily basis. Having finished an Ad-Hoc survey, an invite for another one is not sent to you until the time a new one goes online.
Also, Ad-Hoc surveys compensate higher compared to Daily Surveys while taking roughly the same amount of time to finish.
There is also money to be made by referring people to Palm Research since they do have an affiliate program. This referral fee is in the form of 10% of the total earnings of the person you referred.
Getting Paid
You push a payment request once your account balance breaches the minimum cash out mark ($10).
As of now, you can choose between the two cash out modes that the site provides:
- Personal check
- PayPal
You should choose what is more convenient to you although I prefer PayPal simply because everything is electronic that way. But if you are the type who likes to feel the cash between your hands, check through mail is perfect for you!
Other reviews of the site
As I search around to collect information for my review of this site, you can be sure that I also come across many complaints.
At times, people are way too quick to post complaints when they do not see the desired results.
I, however, was more interested in getting a balanced and unbiased view.
Many of the issues I read about on sites like SurveyPolice, were from 2009, which was just after Palm Research got started. A few issues regarding member payments were reported, which is to be expected with a brand new site and system.
In many cases, the co-owner of the panel took it upon himself/herself to deal with the members filing the complaints and ensure a good solution to their issues.
Personally, I got my payment alright but the process took close to 3 weeks. However, I must say that judging from others’ reviews, it looks like many are having issues with Palm Research.
Pros
- The site is very stable.
- Pay per survey is quite decent.
- It is completely legitimate.
- Majority of the site’s surveys are quite short but they also can be slightly dull.
- Credit cards are not required.
- Joining is free of charge.
Cons
- Number of surveys is not very much.
- Updating is not regular.
- Payment complaints exist by the dozen.
My Opinion
For the most part, Palm Research has come out as reliable and rock steady. But to be frank, the panel hasn’t shown any improvement since the time it began.
However, it continues to be quite simple and effective at the same time. This site is definitely not going to make you rich, but if are looking to be part of many survey panels, Palm Research ought to be in your list as well.
That said, because of all the other reviews I have read of the site, I can’t rate this site highly. But here is the link (http://www.palmresearch.com) if you want to give it a try for yourself.
If you do join the site, I would advise you to do enough surveys so you can reach the cash out threshold. Once there, request your payment. If you are paid on time, then continue with the site, otherwise you know what to do.
This way, you don’t end up spending lots of time taking surveys for Palm Research, all for nothing.
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