Shortly after COVID-19, US inflation just hit a 40-year high of 8.6%. The outlook is bleak: prices for nearly everything have been rising, from food and gas to apartments and cars.
Even if the Fed manages to keep inflation in check, retirees on a fixed income will feel the pinch. If you're looking for ways to pad your retirement savings, you may be wondering if survey sites like Univox Community are a good option.
We've heard good things about this site, too, but we wanted to confirm it for ourselves. Aside from trying the app, we also cross-referenced our findings with official sources and independent sites. We also searched for real Univox Community members to know what they had to say.
This article is a result of our in-depth research. Read until the end to know everything you need to know about Univox Community, including how to maximize your earnings so you can put more into your retirement fund.
Univox Community: An overview
If you're familiar with Get-Paid-To (GPT) sites like Swagbucks and Survey Monkey, Univox Community will look and feel very similar. It's an online platform that pays members for completing short online tasks and surveys.
Who owns the Univox Community?
Market Cube LLC is the company behind Univox. They provide survey and sample research services for both big and small businesses. Univox Community is one of their initiatives to get feedback from consumers about products, services, and current trends.
They also own the survey platform specpancommunity.com.
It was easy to find more details about the company, which is usually a positive sign:
- Recently acquired by research company Schlesinger Group
- Founded in 2008
- Headquartered in South Carolina, USA
- Currently has 65 employees
- Generates over $10M in yearly sales
- More than 1 million panelists (aka respondents) all over the world
In addition, they have good reviews from their employees, plus a presence on directories like Clutch.co.
However, they're not BBB-accredited. While not an instant red flag, it's something to keep in mind.
How does Univox make money from offering surveys?
Think of the Univox Community as a middleman. They connect businesses that need consumer feedback with people who are willing to provide it.
Let's take a look at a typical scenario:
- A cereal company wants to gauge public opinion about its new product before it hits store shelves. They create a survey, which Univox Community posts on their platform.
- If you fit the demographic (e.g., age, location, gender) that the cereal company is targeting, you'll receive an invitation to take the survey.
- Once you complete it, the cereal company pays Univox Community a certain amount for your feedback. Univox Community, in turn, shares a portion of that amount with you as compensation.
This is a legitimate business model and has been around for a long time. Aside from GPT sites, tons of platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and even Amazon use this business strategy as well.
Who's qualified to join the Univox Community?
Univox Community accepts new members from all over the world. As long as you're at least 18 years old with a valid email address and a smartphone and internet, you can create an account.
There's a catch: Univox only accepts a limited number of members from each country.
So if they're not currently looking for new members in your area, you'll see a message like this when you try to join, “We have enough respondents from your current location, please come back after some time.“
There's nothing you can do to speed up the process, so if you get this message, all you can do is check back later.
How do you earn money on Univox Community?
Since Univox Community is a market research platform, the tasks you'll be asked to do revolve around giving your opinions on products and services. Here are some examples:
- Short online surveys: These can be about anything, from your favorite type of food to your spending habits.
- Product testing: You may be asked to test out a new product and give your feedback.
- Phone surveys: Univox Community may contact you to do a phone survey (usually lasts around 10 minutes). The researcher may also request video or audio recordings of your conversations.
- Focus groups: You may be asked to participate in an online focus group discussion. This is usually a more in-depth conversation about a particular topic.
- In-person tasks: In rare cases, Univox may ask you to do an in-person task, such as visiting a store and taking a photo of a product display.
Aside from the surveys, you can also earn more money on Univox by:
- Attempting surveys: The fact is, not all surveys are a good fit for everyone. You may receive an invitation to do a survey, but after filling out the qualifying questions, you may be screened out.
Even if you don't qualify for a survey, Univox will still give you a few points (between 1 to 5) for your effort.
- Univox community contests: Univox Community occasionally hosts competitions, such as quizzes and writing challenges. These are usually quick and easy to do, and they're free to enter.
- Univox “Surprise Me” contests: These are similar to the community contests, but the winners are chosen based on their activity on Univox. So the surveys you attempt or complete, plus many other activities, will be taken into account.
- Wheel of Fortune: Univox has a virtual “Wheel of Fortune” that members can spin once a day. You can win as much as $10 worth of points with just one spin, so that's definitely something to take advantage of.
- Wall of Fame bonus: Univox rewards its most active members with points bonuses. There are two different leaderboards: the Daily Wall of Fame and the Monthly Wall of Fame.
The daily winner gets between 25 to 200 points, while the monthly winner can receive up to 600 points.
- Being active on the Univox online forum: As the site's name suggests, Univox Community is all about building a space for members to connect with each other. You can earn points by starting or participating in discussions on the forum.
- Referring friends to Univox: Finally, you can earn more money on Univox by inviting your friends to sign up and take surveys.
For every friend that joins and completes at least 1 survey (or attempts 10 surveys if they don't qualify), you'll earn $1. After that, you'll forever get $.10 for every survey your friend completes.
How much cash can you make on the Univox Community?
It depends on how long and how complex a survey is, but on average, each survey you complete will earn you between 100 points ($1) to 500 points ($5).
According to some members, they can regularly complete anywhere from 10 to more than 20 surveys every month.
That means you can earn as much as $100 per month on Univox Community, which isn't bad considering most other survey sites only offer one to two surveys a month.
Don't expect to regularly earn $5 per survey, though. The majority of the surveys on Univox pay around $1, with some going as high as $2 or $3.
It can be difficult to consistently qualify for surveys, too, so that can decrease your earning potential even more.
Univox Community minimum payout & payment methods
You need at least 2500 points ($25) to cash out from the Univox Community.
That's pretty high compared to other survey sites, which usually only require $5 to $10 worth of points before you can request a payout.
Once you reach the minimum payout threshold, you can choose to receive your earnings via:
- PayPal: Transfer money directly to your PayPal account and get it in cash.
- Virtual MasterCard: Univox will send you a physical MasterCard in the mail, which you can use like a debit card to spend your money anywhere.
- Amazon gift card: You can also withdraw your earnings in the form of an Amazon gift card. Use it to buy anything you want on Amazon.
- Tango gift card: Tango is a gift card marketplace where you can exchange your Univox points for a different gift card.
It usually takes 3 to 5 business days for your request to be processed and the money to appear in your account. PayPal may take longer due to the additional security measures PayPal has in place.
How to get started on Univox Community
It only takes a few minutes to sign up for an account on Univox Community.
- Visit the Univox website and click “Join.” If there's still an opening, you'll be able to sign up for an account.
- Select a username and password, and provide your basic information like your name, email address, gender, and date of birth.
- You must be at least 18 years old to sign up.
- Once you create your account, Univox will send a confirmation email. Click on the link in the email to verify your account and log in.
And that's it. You can log in to your account anytime, anywhere, to start taking surveys and earning points.
Univox Community pros and cons
Just like any money-making site, Univox has its own share of positives and negatives. We sum them up below:
PROS
- Market Cube LLC owns Univox, which looks like a stable company
- You can earn cash by taking surveys, participating in discussion forums, and referring friends
- The site is available to members worldwide
- It's free to join and only takes a few minutes to sign up
- Many users confirm getting paid
CONS
- The minimum payout is steep at $25
- Few payout options
- It can be hard to qualify for surveys
- You may not receive many surveys each month
- Low earning potential
In addition, the more high-reward surveys often require you to provide sensitive data, too.
According to Univox Community's privacy policy, this type of data can include information like your race, religious beliefs, genetic and biometric data, criminal history, and sexual orientation. If this doesn't sit well with you, you may want to consider a different survey site.
Final verdict: Should you sign up for Univox Community?
Based on our research, Univox Community is a legit survey site that actually pays its members.
If you're okay about potentially providing sensitive data and you don't mind the high minimum payout, then Univox Community could be a decent option for you to make a few extra bucks each month.
To earn more cash, we also recommend signing up for other survey and GPT sites in addition to Univox. That way, you can diversify your income sources and not be stuck waiting around for the next survey.
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Aidan has been writing about personal finance for over 6 years. Prior to this, he worked as a Corporate Finance Analyst where he specialized in Due Diligence, Company Valuations and more. He is a CFA charterholder.
