Qmee Review: A Legit Way to Get Paid for Searching or a Scam?

Qmee is categorized among the “get paid to engage” websites.

Now there is a history to this industry sector. There has been unscrupulous website like ChatAbout that has shown dishonest characteristics, so it is easy to group Qmee along this line.

But, is Qmee just another one of a kind “get paid to engage” websites?

I have commissioned an extensive research and my review here would help you to put the matters to rest…

About the Company

The company was founded by Nick Sutton and Jonathan Knight in 2012. And according to it, it is the fastest-growing search-loyalty application on the Internet. It is very similar to Swagbucks, another “get paid to search” program which we reviewed here.

Qmee is a free software that allows you to work in conjunction with all popular search websites. And regardless of the fact that you own an Apple or a Windows powered PC, you can install Qmee.

The money making part comes in when you click on links. To put it another way, you could be working with Google, Yahoo, or Bing, it doesn’t matter. In fact the software feature extends even to Amazon.com and eBay.

At the end of the day, Qmee.com still displays search results out of those search engines mentioned. And you will get paid if you click on a sponsored link.

How does it Work?

Before I embark on my findings, it’s important to know where this company is coming from.

Its founder believes that the advertising money on the Internet should not be just restricted to the power players. Instead, the money could be distributed in a more proportional manner. The company works with search giants such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, and even Amazon.com and eBay, as these are the recognized Internet players.

At the same time, it solicits business both online and off-line. What is expected of you is for you to continue to do your search as you regularly would and Qmee gives you a share of their profits when you click on their sponsored links. It actually attempts to marry the two parties; by presenting you an earning opportunity for your click, and giving their advertisers a glimpse of your personal information as you start to do this.

The bottom line is for them to showcase to their customers how powerful their ads are.

To enable your money making potential through regular search, Qmee works in the background a it monitors your online searches. At all time, Qmee would attempt to match what you are searching for to their sponsors. Once it decides there could be reasonable match, these links are then placed inside a small window positioned to the left of your screen. There would also be indications of earning assuming you click on any of these links.

Every click you performed on the left hand side window will earn you money, and these earnings will roll over at your Piggybank, which you can be access through a green button on top at the same window.

You will be led to a web page that shows your available balance, transfer the balance to PayPal, or use them as donation to charity. It is all your choice and you decide when you wish to do that.

Registration

Membership is entirely free, but they would require you to input your email address, define a password for your account, and state your country of residence.

If you already have a Facebook or Twitter, registration is just a one-click operation.

Once information is entered in full, they will email out a verification link, PLUS a download link that allows you to download and install their web browser extension.

You must be a USA or UK resident before you can cash out your balance. But don’t get disheartened if you reside somewhere else. It says that the platform is about to move to other countries as well, just be patient!

Getting Paid

There has been this accusation that “It’s gotta be a scam” on Qmee, and that has to blamed on the fact that this site comes in a good package. Another word, it seems too good to be true.

Before I explain further, we are all so used to the tactics of most affiliate or ad networks. In general, they do pay out but often hold a ransom like demanding you to hit a minimum threshold (like $25 or $50) and then make you wait for 60 or 90 days after your cash out request.

That makes it difficult to determine if a setup is legit or otherwise. But you have to keep in mind that even something as legit as Google’s AdSense also demands that your cash out is only possible after hit the $100 mark.

No longer the case with Qmee. There is no prerequisite threshold, and you draw your payment in an instance.

I took the trouble to go through the entire workflow during my investigation. First I made myself a quick income of $1 and headed straight to my dashboard and requested complete Cash Out. If donation works better for you, you can choose to give away your earnings to approved charities listed there.

My balance at Qmee Piggy Bank was wiped clean inside 30 seconds from my request, and within minutes, an email came to declare that Qmee credited $1 into my PayPal account. And the next minute, PayPal wrote in to say that the fund is in the account.

The experience really overwhelmed me, in a pleasant way.

Installation is straightforward and the software always sits in the background until relevant search emerges.

And no hassle payment request with no preset minimum threshold, all are incentives for me to stick to this tool for sometime to come, provided of course all these good things stay.

Referral Program

For some reason, the referral program is barred from new users at the time of writing.

I did have to get in touch with them in order to get them agree to allow me access to this option.

Overall, it is a fairly generous program with one dollar credited to you whenever your referrals make a cash out through PayPal.

Again, the cash out amount can be as little, or as much, as the member fancies, there is definitely no precondition. But keep in mind that you will not be entitled to subsequent cuts when the same referrals make their next cash out.

What do other consumers have to say about Qmee?

The general impression that I got is that overall Internet users seem to rate Qmee highly, although that is a smaller size detractor camp who expresses doubts on privacy issues (as the software extension is obviously collecting personal data use and there is no guarantee that the company would not breach the rule, I will expand on this further in the blog).

Data protection aside, most people talk about the software for its user friendliness, and its ability to filter on just the most relevant links plus the clear absence of unnecessary gimmicks.

The most heard about complaints is that there are times when that little window did not pop up as expected.

You are bound to hear such complaints as people who opt to install Qmee want to make money by clicking those sponsored links. When that Qmee window does not make itself present, there is nothing for you to click at.

Warning

Given what the primary motivation is for most people who installed Qmee, there will always be this temptation to click on as many links as possible inside the little window.

However, be warned that the company, as stated in their website, has a little system in place to monitor the various clicks. If they deem your clickings are just for the sake of rewards, with later regards to engage the sponsors, they may take action that could greatly limit (or eliminate) future ad opportunities.

Qmee’s Information Gathering

Qmee say on their website that they will not share anything about you with their sponsors unless you have given your explicit agreement. In that sense, you can control how much of you is to be shared through customizing your sharing preferences.

In the end, you still need to have a good balance, as the more you are willing to share out, the clearer the sponsors are going to be on who you are.

Needless to say, the less you make yourself available as the target audience, it will bring about negative impact on your earning potential.

Having said all that, the company would have access to the following information:

• Your data on all websites
• Your tabs and browsing activity
• Your bookmarks
• Your browsing history

One thing great about the company is that they have no qualm whatsoever to make public their tracking code. Assuming you have some talent with coding, you can always explore their tracking mechanism inside out.

Is Qmee something worthwhile of your time?

The appeal of Qmee is unmistakable, people who installed the software extension like it because of its earning potential as they go about doing their everyday search.

Having said that, I have never come across anybody who claims that they have found their pot of gold with this software. According to the feedback I collected from the Internet, the pay rate for clicking on sponsored links can be anywhere between $0.05 to $0.20, although I bump into comments that claimed they make $1 or more from individual clicking.

While you may start to think this is really easy money, bear in mind that Qmee has only those sponsored entries in their database, as it attempts to match your search terms. What I’m saying is that it would not be possible for Qmee to return a match for your every search. I have mentioned earlier that some users used it for weeks before those sponsored links popped up.

That said, I think you should join Qmee. It’s a good way to earn free gift cards and even PayPal payments for doing something we already do, search. We all use Internet for search, right? We may as well get something back in return.