I like sharing my opinions on products, websites, and services. I read about Crowd Tap online. They ask your opinion on products or services and occasionally have you try products in the form of a sample share or hosted party. They also are heavily involved in charity so I figured I'd give it try.
First when you sign up you get a $1 in your account. You also get points. Points are not the same as the money in your account. The more points you get the higher level you are. Once you get in a high level you eligible for the sample shares and hosted parties, which are pretty cool.
You need at least $10 to cash out. You don't get actual money, but Amazon gift certificates. They have you choose a charity from their list when you sign up. I chose Autism Speaks, since my nephew is Autistic and I work with special needs children I love this charity.
When you cash out they automatically give 5% of your earnings to your charity. Crowd Tap then matches the amount. I love this idea. You also get money occasionally for answering polls. It may only be a dollar here and there. They then make the same amount donation to your charity.
You have activities to complete. All that is answering a question on a forum about a product or your view on an idea. You get points for that.
After receiving so many points you get to a higher level. I joined about 6 months ago and am now on level 7. Level 4 and up are eligible for sample share and parties. My first one was for Old Navy. I received a coupon in the mail for a free pair of jean capris. I also got 3 free coupon for capris to hand out to my friends. We didnt' pay a dime. The people at the store was amazed we had the coupon. I then filled out a report that took about a minute about the capris and received $5 in my account and points.My next sample share was Old Navy again this time I got 1 free dress and 3 coupons for free dresses. Again I received $5 in my account. I then had a Playtex Sport Body Wipe Share. This time they sent me about 10 samples of the product. For some reason I only got $2 in account this time because they said my report was not good enough. I needed to go into my detail. My current sample share I got a box filled with Old Navy Accessories. I got in the mail a free purse, sunglasses, 2 pretty scarves, 5 free canvas reusable bags. I didn't fill out report yet. I'm suppose to have a party and give out gifts and keep one for myself. I am doing this next week.
My one friend got a sample share for free Hawaiin Tropic Suntan lotion and moisterizer. I know they had a diesel, msn and pepperidge farm shares to that I didn't qualify for.
The site is great, but still in Beta mode. So there are some kinks. For example you are suppose to get points for answering on the forums. I don't for my one sample share, I told them this and they said I do get it even though I do not. They do answer emails right away, but are not that helpful in the situation about my points. This only happen once though. They also give you 400 pts for answering thoughtfully. I take time to answer in detail, but don't always get points.
I did cash out for $107 in Amazon gcs. It took about 6 months.
All in all this is a cool site and when they get out of Beta mode I hope it's cooler. It defintely worth checking out.
Currently you can only join through invites so check it out below.
http://crowdtap.com/invitations/4cc0c44e1c3b5b3e8c*******