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BigSpot.com Scam – I’d Avoid This Place.. And for Good Reason

BigSpot.com Scam

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BigSpot at first seems like it might be a good place to earn a little bit of extra money on the side, but is it really? The quick answer is no, at least not in my opinion and for good reason.

Will BigSpot.com scam you? I don't know if I would go as far as to say that, but there are a lot of people out there calling this place a scam and I completely understand where they are coming from.

This site is fairly popular, mainly because they run commercials and ads everywhere. You may have seen one of their commercials on the TV which led you to the website. Usually they are bit on the humorous side, showing some crappy product in telling you how you can make money taking surveys and influencing products like it. But there are a lot of details about the website that the commercials leave out and that you should probably know before hand.

In this short review I'll be going over all you need to know about this website, including my experience with them, what they are really doing, how they make money, complaints and more.

Quick Navigation

Name: BigSpot

Website: BigSpot.com

Type: Paid survey referral site

Recommended?: No and for good reason

BigSpot

Overview

As I mentioned, BigSpot (as I will calls BS at times) runs commercials and ads all over the place. There is a good chance this is how you came across the website in the first place because I can't imagine anyone who has experience with it actually referring you there, but is just about sums up my opinion on the place (it's a waste of time).


They tell you that you can make money by sharing your opinion and influencing products, and while not completely untrue, they leave out a lot of information that would be very helpful knowing before wasting time. They tell you that they help match you up with paid surveys, but it just isn't as you would probably expect after hearing this.


You are probably wondering what the heck I mean by all this and I'll show you. I walk you through my experience with this website and how it works…

My Experience With Them

So when you go to the website you will see something like the screenshot pictured below. It might look a little bit different because they change up the graphics, but basically will tell you that signing up is free and easy, you will get matched with companies that need your opinions, and that can take their free surveys to earn extra money…

And all you have to do to sign up is enter your email address, date of birth, choose whether you are a male or female, and if you have Hispanic origin or not.


After clicking the "join now" button you will then be directed to another page that lists several survey panels that they recommend for you. I was recommended to join GlobalTestMarket, MySurvey, and Toluna...

They state that they match you up with the survey sites "based on your profile". However, I don't understand how they can do a very good at matching you up with survey sites that are a good fit for you, because they really don't have any sort of profile on file at this point. The only information I gave them was my email, date of birth, sex, and whether or not I have Hispanic origin.


How can they use this limited information to recommend survey sites to make? Who knows.…


But anyways, I decided to take their advice and join the first recommended site, which was GlobalTestMarket. After clicking to join I was directed to the main site where I could sign up. There I had to create a new account which required my first and last name along with my email address again…

They state that you can earn up to $5 per survey, that the surveys are "fun", and that you can even join for a chance to win $2000… Sounds pretty awesome to me.


But after the initial information was entered, I was then directed to another page to continue my registration. Here had to enter a lot more detailed information, such as my address. But I guess they're still really wasn't all that much personal information given out…

It makes sense that they would ask me for a bit more personal information and I see no problem with this. BigSpot didn't really have much of any information so I understand why the recommended survey sites would require more.


After completing the registration I was then able to make my way into the members area of the survey site. The next step was to fill out my profile, which basically means that you have to answer a series of other questions and provide more information about yourself. This is something that raises a lot of people's suspicion and makes them wonder why they need to enter such information, but this is actually a common process. Survey sites want to match you up with surveys that are relevant to your demographic so they try to get all the information necessary to be able to do this.


After doing all of that I decided to sign up for another one of their recommended sites, the MySurvey one, to see what would happen.


It was the same deal with this one, first you had to give your name and email…

And then you had to provide a lot more detailed information about yourself…

Why is all the personal information required?

As I said, it is important for survey sites like this to get your personal information so that they can match you up with appropriate surveys.


Just think about it… If you are a 19-year-old college student do you want to be taking surveys about retirement plans and raising grandkids? Probably not. But… If they don't get enough detailed personal information then you might be getting matched with surveys that are completely irrelevant like this.


Now of course that is an extreme example, but you get the point. A kids toys company isn't going to want to pay survey panels like this to have 18-year-olds answering questions about kids toys when they don't even have kids.

So What Is BigSpot Really?

You probably noticed that BS isn't much of anything. Basically all the site does is provide you with a list of survey panels… Survey panels actually offer surveys and pay you for them, which BS does not do.


In a nutshell, the anything this place does is refer you to other survey sites. They get very limited personal information about you and then recommend some sites that they claim listed "based on your profile", but I doubt this is true.


What Is The Point of This Place?


Now this is a very good question… What the heck is the point of this place? All they are doing is recommending you to other paid survey sites so why not just go directly to the other paid survey sites in the first place? You can do this you know. There is no need to be recommended to them through BS.


I could understand and see value in this website if they would actually do a good job at matching you up with survey sites that are a good match for you in particular, but I just don't see any proof of this being the case.


I don't think it matters at all what information you provide them when you are signing up… I think they just randomly match you up with some of the survey sites they are working with, which brings me to my next point… How they make money…

How They Make Money

You may or may not know this, but you can actually get paid to refer people to paid survey websites like this. Just about every paid survey site out there have their own referral program where members can get paid to do this.


That said, since BS is a rather popular site they probably are not using the normal referral programs for the different survey sites they are referring people to it. It is likely that they have their own individual agreements with the different survey sites and are getting paid more than normal people could to refer people to them.


So this makes you question their recommendations even more. Are they really recommending the best paid survey panels based on your profile? Or are they just trying to make some money in the best way possible?


Again... I see no problem in being able to make money referring people to survey sites like this, or to buy any sort of product/service. However, they do so in a somewhat deceptive manner and don't really seem to be providing any sort of value.


* I was reading other people's reviews and saw that some people claim they display a series of promotional ads (which they would make money off of) after you sign up but before you are presented with the list of recommended survey panels. I however did not come across this.

The Company Behind It

I was curious and knowing the legitimacy of the company behind this website so I decided to do a little bit of laying around.


There is very little information I could find, but I was able to find out that BigSpot.com is owned by a company called Varsityplaza LLC, which there is virtually no information on.


The little information that I was able to find came mostly from the Better Business Bureau's website. The address listed for this company is as follows…


44095 Pipeline Plaza

Suite 330

Ashburn, VA 20147


And it is worth mentioning that they have an A+ rating with the BBB, although this rating doesn't seem to matter all that much.


One think I found strange is that this company has supposedly been around for 14 years yet BigSpot.com has only been around for 10 years (at the time of me writing this). It might not sound strange, but when you consider that BS is there only business, you might start to wonder.

Complaints

One thing I always like to do when writing reviews, and just when looking into the legitimacy of something in general, is to look at independent reviews from people who have experience with whatever it is I am looking into.


SiteJabber is a good place to find independent reviews like this. Sure, reviews on this website can easily be manipulated because anyone can go and leave reviews, but a lot of times you find out some very helpful information.


For example, here are some very telling reviews that I came across warning people that this is a scam and a ripoff…

As you can see with the second complaint, the person claims that they are selling your personal information. You may be wondering… "What personal information?" Because all they asked for what your email address and date of birth for the most part. However, selling email addresses is a big business online. I have come across a lot of scams over the years, which I call "email harvesting scams", that have been involved in this. What they do and sell your email address to people so that they can spam the heck out of you and market products.


But I'm not saying that BigSpot is doing this and as far as I know, they are not. I just thought it was a complaint worth elaborating on.


In addition to the many negative complaints you will find, there also some positive ones such as these…

These comments are great and all, but I don't think I am the only one here questioning their legitimacy. Are they fake reviews? I think they very well could be.

Scam or Not?

Whether or not you want to say BigSpot is a scam is up to you. Some people would consider this a scam while others would not. It all depends on how you look at things and what your definition of a scam is.


I do agree that their commercials and advertisements are somewhat misleading. You are led into thinking that BS is going to be the company offering you surveys and paying you, when in reality they just refer you to a bunch of other survey panels.


That said, the survey panels that they do recommend you to are legitimate and you really can make money with them.

Is BigSpot Worth Your Time?

No they are not worth anyone's time in my opinion. They do not provide any real value in just send you off to a bunch of other survey panels. How is this worth anyone's time?


My recommendation would be to just go out and join survey panels directly… Skip the middleman because there is no need for them in this particular case.

3 Survey Sites I Recommend

#1 - Swagbucks

Swagbucks is one of the most popular survey panels out there and for good reason. They, unlike BigSpot, are actually a place that I recommend.


Here you can earn money doing a variety of different things, such as taking surveys and much more. You can also make money by playing games, watching videos, searching the web, and they even have their own cash back shopping program.


You are rewarded in swagbucks (points) but you can later redeem these for a number of good rewards, some of which include things like Amazon gift cards and PayPal cash.


#2 - InboxDollars

InboxDollars is another fairly popular survey panel that is similar to Swagbucks in the way that they are much more than just a survey panel. You can also earn by playing games, watching videos, getting cash back via shopping, searching the web, and even reading emails that this place.


They are good when it comes to the variety of ways that you can earn, but they do not offer as good of rewards compared to Swagbucks.


#3 - PaidViewPoint

PaidViewPoint it is a survey panel that is strictly that… They do not have all the crazy ways that you can earn like the previous two mentioned. However, they are usually considered one of the best a survey panels out there and are actually ranked number one by user reviews on SurveyPolice.

Important: You WON'T Make Much!

One point that I want to make it very clear is that you will NOT make much money with any paid survey site. All of the survey sites that BS recommends you to join our legitimate, but they are only good for making small amounts of pocket change in your spare time.


In the same goes with the site recommended above by me. Some people consider these sites to be enjoyable and a nice way to earn a little extra money on a lunch break, commuting to work, or in spirit time in general, but it is very important that you know that the potential of these places.


If you are looking for an opportunity to make real money online then I would suggest taking a look at how I went from $0 to over $6000 a month working online.


I Hope you enjoyed my review and found it helpful. Please leave any comments or questions down below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can 🙂 Also, please let me and any other readers know what you think of BS if you have experience with this place.

About the Author

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I hope you found this article helpful! I'm Kyle, the creator of this site, which is probably pretty obvious after seeing the name. Like most, I've had my fair share of difficulties and a pretty bumpy road while trying to find success online, which is why I put togetherthis guide so that others can get started right the first time around.


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