Product Reviews

How to Earn Money with Inbox Dollars

Written by John Boitnott

Learn how to earn money using Inbox Dollars, a reward and cash based website that delivers market research and surveys to your email.

There are so many gigs and side hustles available now for those looking to control their own careers, or at the very least make extra money on the side. Survey sites and apps offer one way to make money through points redeemed for cash or gift cards. One of these survey sites is Inbox Dollars, which offers multiple ways to start earning real money.

After hearing so much about this cash rewards gig, we thought we would try it out ourselves.  Here’s our review of Inbox Dollars.

What is Inbox Dollars?

inbox dollars logo


Inbox Dollars is a reward and cash-based website, which allows you to earn money by undertaking various market research tasks. The company started in 2000 and now operates throughout the U.S., UK, and Canada. It has a top rating from the Better Business Bureau and has received numerous awards and accolades for its technology and business model.

Is Inbox Dollars Legit?

Many people are skeptical of these types of sites and wonder if they will earn real money or if it will turn out to be a scam. However, Inbox Dollars is a legitimate loyalty membership and rewards business that does pay out money. They offer a choice of prepaid Visa cash card, e-payment, or paper check for completing a wide range of activities.

Overall, Inbox Dollars makes no claims that it doesn’t live up to and is completely transparent about how it works and what you get as a member. Corporate partnerships include eBay, Netflix, Publishers Clearing House, Walmart, and Target.

How to Use Inbox Dollars

The first step is to join the Inbox Dollars site by creating an account and profile using your email address. It’s free to join and takes a few minutes to answer several prompts. You’ll earn a few pennies each time you log in. You’ll also earn money for the initial tutorials and short interest surveys they ask you to take as part of the sign-up process. These prompts help shape what type of surveys you receive. Inbox Dollars will base what you receive on your demographics, lifestyle, and personal interests.

You can immediately start earning money by looking on their website or app. These options include surveys, trial offers, television clips, games and more.

You’ll also be able to learn about other market research companies and survey companies with whom Inbox Dollars has partnerships. Plus, there are daily email offers, coupons and discounts, and rebates from different brands.

Daily, you’ll also start receiving emails with available surveys, games, and offers. Clicking on the offer in each of these emails will also earn you a few pennies. While I appreciated the email reminders about what’s new and how we could earn more money, our inbox is typically overflowing with dozens of emails.

After a certain period of time, we noticed that, because we didn’t open many of the emails from Inbox Dollars, their emails started to go into our Spam folder. In some ways, we were secretly relieved because it felt a little overwhelming. We prefer to view the various offers, deals, and rewards content through the app. While there were many offers and deals available, they were not refreshed very often with new ones over the course of many months.

The Earning Opportunities of Inbox Dollars

There is a $5 signup bonus that you immediately earn after completing your profile and clicking on an email link that confirms your account. However, you cannot request payment immediately. That “free money” becomes available when you reach the company’s minimum payout of $30. Reaching that amount takes considerable effort. This is the biggest disadvantage of working with the program.

Also, when you reach the payout amount, it feels like it takes too long to process payments compared to similar survey sites. For example, if you have a lower membership status, are relatively new or rarely use the site, you may have to wait over two weeks to receive your money. On average, it takes 10 to 14 days for payout. However, members who reach Gold status on their membership report getting paid in under a week.

The main issue with Inbox Dollars is that it is low-paying. For example, we took a survey that lasted about 20 minutes. In return, we earned 20 cents. Technically, if we did three of these, we’d be so far below minimum wage that the survey doesn’t seem worth the time or effort.

Additionally, we didn’t qualify for as many surveys as we thought we would, especially the ones that seemed to pay out more money than the 20-cent option. That’s because these surveys focus on a specific set of demographic parameters. Therefore, depending on your own set of demographics, you may meet the criteria that these companies seek.

Overall Thoughts

Inbox Dollars does help you earn money while you read emails, watch videos, play games, use a search engine, and take online surveys. It’s easy to use and navigate. It also offers one of the most versatile ways to earn money. It’s reliable and trusted by a large community of members.

Inbox Dollars also introduces you to numerous brands, retailers, and marketplaces that you may not have otherwise heard about. Compared to similar sites out there, Inbox Dollars does feel different every time we use it. This makes the site unique and fresh, if you like this option as a cash generator.

However, it’s not going to help you earn money like other types of online jobs. If you want to turn couch surfing activities like watching TV and playing games into a little side cash, then Inbox Dollars is for you. Since we have many other work projects, we didn’t have enough free time to use the site consistently. It actually took us many months to hit the $30 threshold. We concluded that we didn’t personally have the time to devote to Inbox Dollars. However, we wouldn’t discourage others, like students, from trying this rewards membership site.

Inbox Dollars - Earn cash by reading emails, searching the web, taking surveys, watching videos, playing online games and more

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About the author

John Boitnott