InboxDollars was founded in 2000 by Daren Cotter. It is a US-focused rewards site that pays users to complete simple online tasks such as taking surveys and giving their opinions.
Yes, it is not a scam; you can earn money online by simply giving your opinion on surveys and doing other simple tasks. Brands pay the market research company for consumer input; the companies recruit members like you. You complete the surveys and offers, and you get paid. Thus, the InboxDollars community allows you to influence future products and services with your opinions.
InboxDollars has only grown since its founding. In 2005, Inbox dollars acquired SendEarnings. In 2012, it expanded into the UK with the launch of Inbox Pounds; and in 2014 it expanded into Canada with the launch of DailyReward.
InboxDollars and its sister sites were operated by CotterWeb Enterprises Inc until May 2019, when Prodege LLC acquired them. The giant market research company (Prodege LLC) operates Swagbucks and MyPoints; thus, the acquisition made Inbox Dollars a sister site of these world-famous rewards sites.
The big question is whether this is just an advert blurb or whether InboxDollars can put the dollars in your account from doing nothing extraordinary but the things you already do online every other day.
You’ll also want to know how InboxDollars compare with the other rewards site in the business. Also, as a rewards site, does Inbox dollars offer top services (such as many earning opportunities, low cashout limit, many reward options, fast payouts, effective customer support service, etc)? In the first place, is InboxDollars legit, or is it just another scam reward site that will rip you off or waste your time completing tasks that you won’t be paid for?
Yes, InboxDollars is legit. It is not a scam reward site because they will never deny your payment request. They also have payment proofs online. But they cheat their members and may get your account banned if you earn a lot of money.
This InboxDollars review examines InboxDollars in order to provide the information that will help you answer these questions and more.
Inbox Dollars review at a glance
- Website: inboxdollars.com
- A rewarding site started in 2000
- Accepts membership from only the US
- Offers multiple ways to earn – paid surveys, paid emails, watching videos, shopping, redeeming coupons, and more
- Offers a $5 welcome bonus
- The referral bonus is $1 for each referral (up to 5) plus 30% of the eligible earnings of your referrals.
- The minimum cashout amount is $30
- A processing fee of $3 is charged when withdrawing earnings
- The processing fee can be waived but for a minimum cashout of $40+
- Customer support is available via email (support@inboxdollars.zendesk.com)
Is InboxDollars legit?
There are fraudsters all over the web that are regularly ripping off unsuspecting netizens. As such, before using any online platform, it is wise to determine that it is legit. With a rewards site, though you may not necessarily be ripped off, using a site that is not legit will be an exercise in futility, as you will spend time and effort on the site and not be paid. Thus, the big question here is whether InboxDollars is legit. The simple answer to that is “YES”.
Our first check of a legit reward site is usually legality. This is because rewards sites that is 100% legal are less likely to be a scam. Thankfully, InboxDollars ticks this box. Only recently (May 2019), it was acquired by Prodege LLC, which is a 100% legal company and a robust operator of some of the best rewards sites in the business. Suffice it to say companies of such profiles do not run that scam stores.
Another check of a legit reward site is visibility and industry-wide recognition. This is because scam sites do not gain the recognition of industry followers and watchers. Thankfully, InboxDollars ticks this box, as it is a multi-award winner. It has been featured in Forbes, Mashable, Bustle, and many other top news outlets, and that is in addition to winning multiple Inc 5000 awards. Suffice it to say that industry watchers cannot mention a scam rewards site in a good light.
Another check of a legit rewards site is the test of time. This is because scam sites are generally short-lived. It is only a matter of time before users recognize a scam site, and with the exposure, the site will naturally wilt and disappear. Thankfully, Inboxdollars tick this box as it has been operating since 2000. Suffice it to say that a scam rewards site cannot continue ripping off or wasting users’ time for almost a decade.
However, the ultimate check of a legit rewards site is fitness for purpose. A rewards site is suitable if it offers to earn activities and pays users for completing the activities. Thankfully, Inbox Dollars also ticks this box. As we’ll find, there are many ways that Inbox Dollars provides its members for earning, and since its founding, InboxDollars has paid out $56 million to its members.
That said since Inbox Dollars is 100% legal, is a multi-award winning reward side, and has a long record of actually paying participants, there is no doubt that it is a legit rewards site.
Is InboxDollars safe?
InboxDollars is safe. Another important consideration when using online platforms is safety. A legit rewards site will not rip you or waste your time, but if it is not safe, the sensitive information you share will leak out, leaving you exposed to all the wrong elements out there. Thus, you’ll want the ideal rewards site to be both legit and safe.
Inbox Dollars comes out well in this regard, as it uses industry-standard security measures to ensure the safety of users’ data. This includes SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology, which creates a private channel between the users’ device and the sellers’ servers and encrypts every data before sending it through the channel. With the use of SSL, amongst other measures, it is safe to say that Inbox Dollars is safe.
Making Money Online With Inbox Dollars
To begin your side hustle in InboxDollars, you’ll have to register and create an account. However, registration is relatively simple. You’ll find a simple registration form on the website’s landing page. Input your email address, nominate a password, and then hit “Sign Me Up”. You’ll be sent a verification email to verify your account, after which you’ll be all set.
But just before you’re off to earning, you’ll have to complete a profile survey. The profile survey helps InboxDollars know the activities that are of interest and importance to you so that the reward site can offer you the closest match on surveys, cash offers, and more.
Since surveys and other earning activities, such as paid emails, are targeted at particular profiles, with the profile surveys filled, the reward site can send you offers that you are more likely to qualify for.
Earning Potential
If you are to use a rewards site, you’ll want it to give opportunities for earning from different activities. More earning opportunities mean more money in your pocket, and if these opportunities are from different activities, then the site promises to be more fun, as you can switch between earning activities to break the monotony that can easily creep up with a single activity.
Thankfully, InboxDollars ticks this box, as it offers a lot of earning activities, including many of the things you already do online every day, such as reading emails, watching videos, shopping, and more.
Paid Email
Something many people already do every day is read emails. InboxDollars pays you simply for opening your inbox and reading your emails. In fact, InboxDollars derives its name from its PaidEmails feature – it puts dollars in your account simply for opening your inbox and reading your emails.
Yes, it’s no scam that you can get paid simply for reading emails. Large companies and brands always want consumers to read about their products and services, to find out what they have for sale, their promotions, etc. They recruit Inbox Dollars and sites like it to get these messages to consumers; when you get these messages from InboxDollars and read them, the brand pays InboxDollars a commission, and the rewards site happily gives you a portion of the commission.
You’ll receive emails from brands based on offers and deals that are relevant to you. That is, if you are a homeowner, you’ll get emails about handyman services, etc., and if you have a baby, you’ll get emails about diapers, formulas, etc. Thus, your profile will be used to target PaidEmails to you. However, don’t expect to get rich; but expect to get paid. As you read PaidEmail, you’ll earn scratch cards, with most scratchcards paying about $0.05 – $0.20.
How many PaidEmails you receive will depend on your activity on the site. Members who are very active on the site will receive up to 3 PaidEmails per day. Members outside the US may not receive regular PaidEmails.
Paid Surveys
Just as with almost every reward site, paid surveys are the main earning activity in InboxDollars. This is simply giving your opinion on some survey questions.
You’ll be matched with online surveys that are relevant to you. The survey topics are always changing depending on your profile and interests; they include Cars and Trucks, Fashion and Shopping, Home Construction and Home Renovation, Travel, Grocery Shopping, Sports and Leisure, and more. How much you’ll earn per survey will depend on its length. However, you can expect to earn between $0.10 and $5.00. Sometimes you may even find surveys that’ll pay more.
However, it should be said that you will not always qualify for surveys. The survey panels usually target particular profiles, so unless your profile matches the targeted profile, you’ll be disqualified from the survey and not allowed to take it to completion. However, when disqualified from a survey, you’ll earn progress towards your “Scratch and Win”.
Searching the Web
“Google it” is a cliché because almost every netizen searches the web. Interestingly, with Inboxdollars, you can earn simply by searching the web. It’s simple. Instead of using popular search engines (like Google, Bing, etc.), you simply have to use the default search engine in InboxDollars.
When you do four qualifying searches, you’ll win progress towards your next Scratch and Win (the scratch cards can net you up to $0.15). To encourage “earning from web searches”, InboxDollars pays a bonus of $0.05 if you can do qualified searches four or more days in a week.
Playing Games
Many people play games while relaxing or to kill some time. InboxDollars gives you the opportunity to earn from this fun and relaxing activity, especially if you’re one to put money into gaming accounts.
When playing GSN Casino games, you’ll earn 18% cashback on every dollar spent on in-game purchases (on token packs and boosters). You can earn 0.5% – 2% on every dollar spent in WorldWinner cash tournaments.
If you’re not one to put real money into games you play online, Inbox Dollars also holds many free games. These free games will earn you progress on its Scratch & Win bar. The more you play, the more progress you earn. Games include Mahjongg, Pyramid Solitaire, and more.
Watching Videos
This is something almost everyone does every day – watching online videos. With InboxDollars you can earn while watching. Yes, it’s no scam that you’ll get paid for watching videos online. Many companies and brands want consumers to find out about their upcoming films, products, and services; they want you to watch their content and share it with other people online. They pay InboxDollars and other sites like it to get these contents to consumers, and these reward sites bring this content to you and pay you for watching them.
The cash videos are not boring advert clips; you’ll find many interesting contents, including trending news, celebrity gossip, food and cooking, sports, technology, health, and more. As you watch videos, you’ll earn virtual scratchcards. Most scratch-offs pay from $0.05 – $0.25.
Online Shopping
Online shopping is becoming more popular than ever before. Interestingly, you can get paid for your spending in online stores. It is no scam that you can earn when you shop online. This is because big brands and large retailers want more sales and will readily pay others to send customers to their sites.
Then, InboxDollars send you to these shopping sites when links in Inbox dollars take you to these e-commerce sites for your purchases. The shopping sites will track your shopping trip to InboxDollars, pays Inbox dollars a commission, and Inbox Dollars will pay you part of the commission received.
It’s easy to use. When you need to make an online purchase, simply check the InboxDollar shopping page to see if the store you wish to use is featured. If it simply clicks its link, and you’ll be directed to the store website, where you can place your order as usual. You’ll find a range of shopping partners, including supermarkets, Department stores, Hotels and Travel, Payment Plan Retailers, auto Insurance, Health and Beauty, and more.
How much you’ll earn depends on the particular store you’re shopping in. However, you can expect to earn cash back at a rate of 1.5% to 15% of whatever you purchase.
Coupons
Like with online shopping, you can also earn money when shopping in your grocery stores. Simply check the InboxDollars coupon page when planning your supermarket runs; look over the offers and find some that you like; you can print them and redeem them in the supermarket as you would with any other coupon.
The brand featured in the coupon will trace your trip back to InboxDollars and pay Inbox dollars a commission, and the reward site will pay you a portion. You’ll earn $1 for every ten coupons you redeem.
So that you know that couponing pays, Inboxdollars advertises that “over $1.8 million in cash rewards paid for redeeming coupons since 2000”.
Referral Bonus
If you’ve followed, you’ll find that the paid activities have relatively poor payouts, so the earnings, at best, qualify as extra income from a side hustle. If you’ll want to earn something significant, a lot of effort is required. Thus, it’ll be fine to be able to earn without doing anything. Rewards sites offer such opportunities for passive earning via referral programs. InboxDollars is not left out.
The InboxDollars referral bonus consists of $1 once someone you refers activate his/ her account up to a maximum of $5 (that is 5 referrals). In addition, there’s also a referral commission that is 30% of whatever your referrals earn (excluding Sign Up bonus and earnings from the profile survey). With this, if you can build up a good amount of referrals, as they complete offers and other paid activities and make withdrawals, you’ll get 30% of whatever they withdraw.
Other Features
Availability
Rewards sites do not accept members from everywhere; thus, one of the first checks when planning to use a reward site is whether the site accepts members from your country. However, everyone everywhere will want the opportunity to make some extra money.
Unfortunately, InboxDollars is not a reward site that accepts users from everywhere. According to it, “Inbox Dollars is a US Site that works with US Advertisers, so our membership is restricted to individuals living within the 50 states, so there are currently no earning opportunities for NON-US individuals”.
It should be said you shouldn’t access Inbox except you are in the US. Else your account will be tagged as a cheat and blocked. Thus, when travelling, you’ll have to pause your InboxDollars earning activities until you come back to the shores of the US of A. However, there are age requirements. While from the US, you’ll have to be at least 18 years of age to register and use Inbox Dollars.
Mobile Compatibility
You won’t want to always sit before your desktop to complete online activities that’ll put some dollars in your pocket. Thus, you’ll want the ideal reward site to be compatible with mobile devices.
Thankfully, InboxDollars ticks this box. It is mobile-compatible and mobile-optimized, so the web pages resize to fit the screen of your mobile devices when opening the website with smartphones or tablets. Thus, you can access Inbox Dollars whenever and wherever. You’ll also have an optimal experience as you fire up the reward site using mobile web browsers.
Also, InboxDollars is one reward site that has developed mobile apps. You’ll find its Android and iOS apps in the respective app store. The apps give users a personalized experience, and you’ll surely have access to all the earning activities.
Welcome Bonus
One way reward sites draw users is by offering welcome bonuses. This is a great way to start your side hustle in reward sites on a high, as it gives you the opportunity to earn even before you complete earning activities.
Thankfully, InboxDollars offers a welcome bonus; and it is relatively large. After joining and verifying your account, Inbox Dollars will reward you with a $5.00 welcome bonus. After completing your survey profile, you’ll also get some cents for the effort.
Getting Paid
Payment Proofs
InboxDollars says that it has paid over $56 million to over 10 million users. There is no doubt that InboxDollars pays. You’ll find a lot of payment proofs and testimonials on its website. However, if (for obvious reasons) you cannot trust self-published claims, you can easily find many InboxDollars payment proofs on independent platforms.
Reward Catalog
When it is time to withdraw your earnings, you’ll want to find a wide range of options. Thankfully, Inbox Dollars ticks this box. You can request payment via gift cards. InboxDollars supports a range of gift cards from top retailers such as Walmart, Starbucks, Target, Amazon, eBay, and more. What is more, most of the gift cards offered by InboxDollars can be used in-store. Simply print out the e-gift card and present it to the cashier in the particular store.
InboxDollars payment can also be requested via Tango Cards. These are even better than gift cards because while brand-name gift cards can be used in the named store, the Tango Cards can be redeemed for different gift cards giving you more options of where you can use them.
You can also elect to donate your earnings to charity, which includes the American Cancer Society, Clean Water Fund, and more. Inbox also supports PayPal payment as well as Check. Know that checks are only available to US users.
Payment Threshold
One of the first things that people look at about reward sites is the payment threshold. That is how much they’ll need to accumulate before they can request payment. Needless to say, you’ll want this as low as possible so that you can get paid as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, InboxDollars is not known for “low” minimum cashout amount. You’ll have to earn up to $30 before you can withdraw your earnings. This is definitely not the excellent minimum cashout limit that users will want. It doesn’t help that there are many reward sites out there with lower minimum cashout amounts (such as $1.00 and $5.00). You’ll have to work more in InboxDollars before you get paid than in the other reward sites with lower payment thresholds.
Also, when withdrawing your earnings, InboxDollars charge a payment processing fee of $3.00. You can have this fee waived, but that comes with a minimum cashout amount upped by $10. That is, to get a free withdrawal, the minimum amount you can cash out is $40.
Speed of Payment
Another important consideration is how long it’ll take to receive your payment after requesting payment. Needless to say, users will not want to wait for too long. Unfortunately, InboxDollars is not known for super-fast payment.
Its payment speed depends on your membership status (Non-Gold Member or Gold Member). Once your first payment is processed, you become a Gold Member.
First payments (for Non-Gold Members) are processed 10 – 16 days after the payment request and occur on Wednesday. Gold Members’ requests are processed 3 – 9 days after the request. InboxDollars processes payments only on Wednesdays, so anytime you request payment during the week, it will be processed on Wednesday of the following week.
After processing, you’ll get all ePayment (gift cards, Prepaid Visa cards, and donations) almost immediately; but where a check is requested, you’ll have to allow time for it to be mailed to your address. This may take another two weeks.
Customer Support
No matter how effectively an online platform operates, there’ll be users that’ll have questions; there also be users that’ll have account issues. Thus, the ideal online platform should answer the questions that users will have and resolve the issues that users will have.
Online platforms usually assist using a combination of self-help resources and contact help. Thankfully, InboxDollars is not different. It has a knowledge base that holds support articles that’ll answer many of your questions. The articles are arranged under the following topics: Payment, Crediting, Accounts, Social, Mobile Users, and How-To. There’s also an FAQ page that holds answers to a few questions.
If the self-help articles do not do it for you, you can directly contact a support rep of Inbox dollars by submitting a Support ticket. You’ll find a “submit a request” link on the website’s Contact Us page. You can then fill in the online contact form (including your email address), and InboxDollars will get back to you via email. Alternatively, you can send InboxDollars an email directly from your email account using the email address: support@inboxdollars.zendesk.com. However, customers generally like instant feedback channels such as telephone service. Unfortunately, Inbox dollars does not support this.
InboxDollars Complaints
Our reviews are never complete without the “complaints” section. Hearing what real users of the platform have to say about it will give you an insight into how well the site operates. Too many frequent complaints may be a pointer that things are not well with the site, while very few complaints could be that things are very well with it.
For this section, we looked at the independent customer reviews platforms like www.trustpilot.com and www.sitejabber.com. Interestingly, the InboxDollars rating in these platforms is, at best mixed. For example, at the time of writing this review, Trustpilot Inbox Dollars had been rated by 7,554 users and scored 4.1 out of 5, while Sitejabber, had been rated by 408 users and scored only 2.0 out of 5.
Some complaints stood out in the reviews, which are worth mentioning. These include: accounts frequently closed, relatively high withdrawal thresholds, slow payment speed, and more.
Not Paying for Completed Surveys
One of the complaints that you’ll see more is that often InboxDollars does not pay users after they complete surveys or some other tasks. For example:
- John Ru in Trustpilot says, “It does not pay you even after completing surveys.”
- Merry Miche in Trustpilot says, “I do things on this app, and at times I do not get the rewards that have been promised to me; and when I would contact someone, they couldn’t really help me. It’s either you make a survey or an offer, and at times, you won’t get the money or points you should have got, and I guess you are supposed to move on.”
- Sherrie in Trustpilot says, “scam and a waste of time. They do not pay you.”
- Triny C in Sitejabber says, “they never pay. Once you make $30, they make stupid excuses for not paying, never go for it….”
- Julie J in Sitejabber says, “I completed many of the cash offers, and they refuse to pay. It gave me bogus excuses, like my cookies were not working. However, get paid for the ones under $5. They are scammers and owe me $80. I have reported to the BBB. Beware!”
It should be said here that there are many reviews of customers who reported being paid after completing surveys and other paid activities. Thus, there is no doubt that InboxDollars is a legit rewards site that pays. However, there were quite a number of users complaining of not being credited after completing paying activities.
Understandably, users who have spent considerable time on a reward site will feel aggrieved if they are not paid, and they will easily attach the scam label. However, while “not crediting for completed surveys” is definitely a problem, it is just a speck in the sea of positive reviews of users getting paid. Thus, in our opinion, it doesn’t make InboxDollars a scam; at best, it makes Inbox Dollars a legit reward site with a problem that needs addressing.
Cancelled Account
Another equally popular complaint is that InboxDollars is usually quick to cancel the user account, especially when customers attempt to cash out after accumulating the required $30 for cash out. For example:
- Laura N in Sitejabber says, “Won’t pay you”. The review continued, “I worked for days on surveys just to make the $30 to get paid, then they cancelled my account and won’t pay me. I am trying to report them to the BBB….”
- Sherrie L in Sitejabber says, “You spend hours doing surveys for $30, and then they cancel your account. You only get automated responses. They make money from advertisers and don’t pay you.”
- Joe M in Sitejabber says, “Waste of time”. The review continued, “Put in months of surveys, etc., to finally cash out and have them cancel my membership without notice. This is a scam, and they should not be trusted.”
To be fair to InboxDollars, some of the “cancelled account” complaining users breached some rules. For example, one of the complaining users said: “Perhaps I accessed the account once or twice with VPN still enabled”. The rules are clear; VPN use will lead to your account being terminated. Also, another user said, “my account was cancelled when my wife and I had one at the same address, but hey, rules are rules, and it does state one account per household”. Thankfully, this user admitted his “breach of the term” that led to his account being cancelled.
Thus, InboxDollars is no different from other reward sites; they generally close users’ accounts when their terms are breached. The only thing we can finger here is communication. First, when a user account is cancelled/ closed, it will be fine if InboxDollars sends an email notification. However, as the reviews show, users are not communicated with.
Hence the “closed my account for no reason” talk. When they cannot access their accounts and reach out to Inbox Dollars, they learn nothing. Again, this is not peculiar to InboxDollars; but a general practice.
Also, when affected users contact InboxDollars and they do get a reply, the reply is usually not specific. For example, an account was terminated for using VPN/ acting like an automated BOT/ having multiple accounts. This leaves the users feeling that InboxDollars is just making up different excuses not to pay.
We’ll rather InboxDollars identify the particular breach of a term that caused the particular account to be closed and communicate this in the response email, if possible, along with the date(s) of the breach. That way, customers will have everything in black and white; and the reward site will come out as transparent.
High Minimum Cashout Amount
Another complaint about InboxDollars that dominate the online spaces is that its minimum cashout amount is relatively high, meaning that users will wait relatively long and work harder before they have the required minimum to request payment. For example:
As mentioned earlier, the $30 minimum cashout of InboxDollars is relatively high. There are actually rewards sites that’ll allow you to cash out if you’ve earned just $1.00. With those reward sites, you can actually have enough to cash out after a few hours of work.
Relatively Slow Payout Speed
As mentioned earlier, InboxDollars processes payments only on Wednesday of every week, taking 3 – 9 business days to process gold Members’ payments and taking even longer (10 – 16 days) to process Non-gold members’ payments. This is definitely not the “fast payout” that users will want, especially having waited relatively long to get the required minimum for cashout.
It also does not help that there are many rewards sites in the industry that process payment in a much faster time, with some even taking only 24 hours or less.
Another complaint you’ll find nestled within the “slow payout” complaint is that Inbox dollars charge a processing fee. It’s a whopping $3.00. With earning activities having relatively low payouts, users literally sweat to have their earnings, so it’s understandable that they are anything but happy when they receive $3 less.
Pros
- Is mobile optimized and has mobile apps
- Gives a $5 welcome bonus
- Offers a range of money-making options (paid surveys, paid offers, watching videos, searching the web, playing games, shipping, reading emails, etc.)
- The reward catalogue consists of a lot of payment options, including gift cards, Prepaid cards, Charitable donations, and Checks.
- Offers a generous referral bonus that is $1 for each referral (up to 5) plus 30% of eligible earnings of your referrals
- Customer support is provided via email
Cons
- The minimum cashout amount is relatively high ($30)
- A payment processing fee of $3 applies when withdrawing earnings.
- Payment processing time is 3 – 9 days for Gold members and 10 – 16 days for Non-gold members.
- Does not accept Non-US residents as members
- No telephone support
ALSO READ: Is Superpayme Legit or Scam?
Conclusion
InboxDollars is a legit robust US-only rewards site. It advertises as a destination where you can “earn cash for your everyday online activities”. Thankfully, it lives up to this. InboxDollars pays users for the simple tasks they already do every day, such as giving their opinion, watching online videos, searching the web, playing games, shopping online, and more. Interestingly, you’ll find a lot of surveys to take for increased earnings. You won’t qualify for every survey, but when disqualified, you’ll win progress towards Scratch and Win.
InboxDollars is mobile optimized and has mobile apps, so you can have an optimal experience when completing online earning tasks from your mobile phones and tablets.
However, you can only use InboxDollars if you are a resident of the US. InboxDollars have a relatively high $30 minimum cashout amount, so you’ll need to work more before you can cash out. Also, its payout speed is relatively slow, so you’ll need to wait relatively longer to receive your payment after cashing out.
