PointClub
PointClub Review
PointClub is an online survey panel that offers rewards in return for taking surveys. But is it worth your time and effort? In this review, we’ll take a closer look at PointClub’s features, rewards program, and user experience to help you decide if it’s the right survey panel for you.
Andrew: Andrew is one of our reviewers who’s been with HuginX the longest. With a background in membership support at one of the largest survey companies, Andrew has a lot of inside knowledge of the Market Research industry and has helped us refine our reviewing criteria. When Andrew is not working with reviews, he likes to go hiking with his dog Charlie.
Is PointClub a legit survey site?
PointClub, an online survey panel launched in 2012, is headquartered in California, USA. The site is managed by Innovate MR, a data collection firm supplying survey participants to the market research industry. Innovate MR is also a corporate member of the market research industry bodies ESOMAR and the Insight Association. While the parent company is a fully legitimate business, many of PointClub’s users are complaining about difficulties getting paid. Here is an example from Trustpilot:
Common complaints about Pointclub include the high payment threshold ($25 for checks and $50 for PayPal) in combination with delays in receiving payments.
Data Privacy: Any reason for concern?
Data privacy is a growing concern among research participants, and it’s important to know your rights. As an example, under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), consumers have the right to know what personal information is being collected about them, and the right to request that their information be deleted.
PointClub appears to be taking data privacy seriously, but users should exercise caution and carefully review the platform’s privacy policy and data handling practices before participating in surveys or sharing their personal information. Regulations such as CCPA in California provide the right to request that personal data be deleted. While data privacy concerns linked to survey companies like PointClub are valid, the platform appears to be making efforts to address these issues and protect users’ personal information.
Hard to read the privacy policy
We found the privacy policy of PointClub to be very difficult to read. The fact that it contains 3701 words indicates that it is quite lengthy and may require a significant amount of time to read and understand fully. It is dense and complex, containing legal jargon and technical terms that will be challenging for most readers to comprehend.
Additionally, the Flesch readability score of 32 indicates that the text is complex and that many readers will struggle with the language and sentence structure used in the policy.
Here is a screenshot from PointClub’s privacy policy:
To help their users understand how data is shared, they could make a summary for their members or at least include more headings and subheadings to organize the text and make it easier to skim and find information.
How much can you make on PointClub?
In our experience, while testing PointClub for more than two months, the average points per survey on PointClub is around 400. This means users can expect to earn around $0.40 per survey (1 point is worth $0.001). However, users can only redeem their rewards once they reach a minimum of $25 for vouchers and checks or $50 for PayPal.
Taking into account the 5,000 points join bonus, users need to earn 20,000 points for vouchers and checks or 45,000 points for PayPal before they can redeem their rewards. This equates to completing as many as 50 surveys for vouchers and checks or 113 surveys for PayPal!
With these ridiculously high payment thresholds in mind, it is important to have realistic expectations and to remember that earning rewards will take considerable time and effort.
Too high payment limit
Once you’ve earned 50,000 points or $50, you can request a PayPal payment, or redeem 25,000 points or $25 for a gift card from retailers such as Walmart and Amazon. To put things in perspective, by earning an average of $0.50 per survey, you’ll need to take more than 100 surveys before you’re able to redeem in cash through PayPal. This is taking into account the $5 join bonus. How long is it going to take to complete these surveys? At least 3 months – probably more like 6 months if you’re not obsessed with taking surveys several times per day.
It’s easy to understand that some members feel that PointClub’s high payment limit is taking advantage of users’ time and effort by making it extremely difficult for them to redeem their rewards. This can create a sense of frustration and mistrust among users, which can damage the reputation of PointClub and the survey industry as a whole.
Some survey companies have been known to use a high payment limit as a way to discourage users from redeeming their rewards, thereby reducing the amount of money or gift cards they have to give out. This can be seen as a deceptive business practice, as users may have been promised rewards for their participation in surveys, only to find that they are unable to redeem them easily.
Pros and cons
On the positive side, PointClub offers several benefits that make it attractive to users. The site offers cash payments, which is a significant advantage for users who want to earn money that can be used immediately. Additionally, the site offers several gift card options, giving users more choices in how they redeem their rewards. PointClub also sends frequent survey invitations, making it easier for users to earn money by completing surveys regularly.
However, in our opinion, there are more downsides than positives to signing up with PointClub. The site has a very high payout threshold, which means users must earn a significant amount before they can cash out their rewards. This is of course frustrating for users who will need to take surveys on a daily basis for months before earning anything. Additionally, PointClub has limited earning opportunities, which means users do not have as many ways to earn money as they would with other survey sites.
In our experience, it can also be very hard to qualify for surveys on PointClub, which leads to wasted time when constantly getting screened out. This adds to the time it takes to reach the high payout threshold. PointClub is also known to be quick to suspend accounts if they suspect fraudulent activity, which can be frustrating for users who feel their accounts have been unjustly blocked after taking surveys for months.
Last but not least, PointClub’s privacy policy is hard to read and very complex, which makes it difficult for users to fully understand how their data is used. Users should be aware of the information they are sharing and how it may be used, but the lack of clarity in the policy may make this difficult.
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Disclosure: While HuginX is editorially independent, we may earn commissions on sign-up links.
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