Below are my suggested criteria to consider when evaluating which GPT sites to join and frequent.  Also included are obvious red flags indicative of potential sites with issues that should be avoided.  These criteria (below) are listed in the order in which I, myself, prefer to choose my favorite sites – your “order” may differ depending on your own preferences and requirements:

1. Site Stability, Honesty, & Financial Health / Backing
   Sites that look great and have great advertisements with superlative headlines boasting that they are the best site may not necessarily be the best choice.  I will do you little good to join a nice looking site, spending time earning to reach a significant internal account points balance only to find that you’ve ultimately been duped into a basically unsupported long-forgotten stagnant site that never pays out not matter what you do – chances are such a site is being milked by an administrator that:
   1. has lost interest in the site and rarely bothers to take the necessary steps to pay its members but leaves the site standing in the hopes that one day seen he/she may again suddenly start to care; and/or
   2. is disorganized or incompetent resulting in incessant excuses, delays, partial payments, and general headaches from the member’s perspective to such an extent that the site is basically useless as a reliable source of income; and/or
   3. has become financially insolvent  though he/she may have every intention of eventually paying the site’s members, never seems to have enough money when the time comes; and/or
   4. tends to delete accounts, steal from (reduce) the member’s account balance, never (or rarely) approve or credit member’s offer completions, or ban members when they have or are about to reach the minimum cash out requirement amount (playing dirty tricks); and/or
   5. is unscrupulous (fraudulent to a criminal extent) by allowing new members to join and present members to continue completing surveys and offers without any intention of ever paying those members for the work they have done while still collecting regular payments from the sponsors and pocketing it.

   How can you tell if the site you are evaluating may suffer from stability issues?  Look for red flags that may merit further investigation such as:

   1. Sites offering only private support options (a BIG tip off!) such as “contact us” forms or a private “support ticket” system while providing no publicly visible support such as a proper open support forum where gripes from present members can be openly read and evaluated (or having an open support forum but suppressing (deleting posts / banning complaining members) all gripes/complaints regularly; and/or
   2. Sites with an excessive amount of scam complaints posted elsewhere on the internet.  Take the time to Google the site name and take a look at what others are saying about the site.  Granted even the most legitimate and stable sites will inevitably have a few gripes out there from people who will never be satisfied (such as former members banned for fraud, etc.) or past issues that have been dealt with and solved but remain public because they reside within Google’s cached results or the original complaint had never been removed from the source web site; and/or
   3. Sites listed on GPTBoycott.com’s Watch List or worse, Boycott List.  GPTBoycott is an industry standard member complaint based voluntary pseudo-accreditation program offering trusted credentials to stable, paying sites while revoking credentials and publicizing issues related to sites with serious stability problems and those with documented allegedly fraudulent activities perpertrated on members.  GPTBoycott publishes a list of programs supporting their efforts and also has a rather informative and popular open discussion forum.

Gone are the days of waiting days, weeks, or even months for payments from GPT (get paid to…) and paid survey sites.  Dietzel & Dietzel (the NetworkLagoon people of CashLagoon and GamingLagoon fame) have recently implemented exciting sweeping new improvements to all of their cash based GPTs:

CashLagoon | PayByOffers | GetPaidTo | FreeBucksSite | UnderwearCash | PageantCash

1) INSTANT PAYMENTS – All cash-based NetworkLagoon GPT sites pay instantly (within 15 minutes) to PayPal.  Yes, no more waiting – instant gratification!  You may also request a promptly mailed company check or choose from a wide variety of other prizes (sent out every business day.)

2) NO MINIMUM CASH OUT – Yes, all their cash-based GPTs now have no minimum payment amount that you must reach before you can request a PayPal withdrawal (yes, if you have a penny, you may request a penny.)

3) AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS – All these sites no allow you to set an option in your profile to enable “Auto Withdrawal” of your account balance.   You may choose to be automatically paid to PayPal or promptly mailed company check.  This is especially helpful for those who gather referral earnings (no need to log in to cash out.)

4) REFERRAL POINTS TRANSFER – Neatly tucked within your account “Referrals Area” you may now notice a new option to transfer points you earned from referrals (only) to another NetworkLagoon site (including AnotherFree, DomainLagoon, GamingLagoon, HostingLagoon, PhoneLagoon, URLSavings, VideoGameLagoon, VoiceLagoon, ScubaLagoon, BabyLagoon, NascarLagoon, LagoonMusic, FreeDVDStore, AnimeLagoon, PCLagoon, NxDaily, GasLagoon, ClothingLagoon, or FreePrizeSite.)  Are you just shy of a prize you’ve been eyeing on one of the prize sites, no problem.  In addition, all the prize sites also now include the option to transfer your referral earned points to the cash sites for cold hard cash!

5) HIGHEST SURVEY / OFFER PAYOUTS – Yes, why bother going to those “other” sites that only pay dimes and nickels for surveys and offers that NetworkLagoon sites pay you much more for?  NetworkLagoon has cultivated high volume business relationships with all of the popular sponsors and sponsor networks.  They get paid higher per completion and they pass the higher incentive on to you!

CashLagoon | PayByOffers | GetPaidTo | FreeBucksSite | UnderwearCash | PageantCash

6) BEST APPROVAL RATE POTENTIAL – While those other GPT sites may check with the sponsor to see if a particular survey or offer completion has been approved for 24, 48, or 72Hrs max (after which they will deny you credit – even if they get credit for your work later) Though most approvals for credit happen within 15 minutes NetworkLagoon sites keep checking for a minimum of seven (7) whole days (sometimes longer for certain offers.)  This gives you the best possible probability in the industry for your hard work to count (approval!)

7) ALL SITES NOW INTERNATIONAL – Yes, if you live pretty much anywhere that can be considered “Earth” then you are eligible to become a member at all the NetworkLagoon sites and start earning legitimate cash and prizes! (Our sites are open to only United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, India, Virgin Islands, U.S., Germany, Bolivia, Netherlands, France, Israel, Spain, Panama, Chile, Bahamas, Argentina, Dominica, Belgium, Ireland, Belize, Brazil, South Africa, Seychelles, Tanzania, United Republic of, Egypt, Rwanda, Algeria, Swaziland, Ghana, Cameroon, Madagascar, Kenya, Angola, Namibia, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Cote D’Ivoire, Gabon, Mauritius, Togo, Senegal, Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, Liberia, Congo, The Democratic Republic of the, Benin, Tunisia, Japan, Australia, Thailand, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Korea, Republic of, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Brunei Darussalam, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Poland, Czech Republic, Russian Federation, Cyprus, Norway, Austria, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Denmark, Portugal, Turkey, Georgia, Belarus, Iraq, Armenia, Lebanon, Moldova, Republic of, Bulgaria, Finland, Oman, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Slovakia, Jordan, Hungary, Kuwait, Albania, Lithuania, San Marino, Bhutan, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Luxembourg, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Costa Rica, Macedonia, Malta, Gambia, Malawi, Slovenia, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Azerbaijan, Monaco, Haiti, Guam, Jamaica, Micronesia, Federated States of, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Cayman Islands, Guadeloupe, Honduras, Yemen, Virgin Islands, British, Saint Lucia, Syrian Arab Republic, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Netherlands Antilles, Guatemala, Venezuela, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Uruguay, El Salvador, United Arab Emirates, Trinidad and Tobago, Sri Lanka, Marshall Islands, Bahrain, Cook Islands, Gibraltar, Paraguay, Antigua and Barbuda, Lesotho, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Samoa, Palau, Qatar, Cambodia, Anguilla, American Samoa, Turks and Caicos Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Uzbekistan, Macao, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Guyana, Cuba, Congo, Barbados, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Suriname, Aruba, Fiji, Montserrat, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, Chad, Faroe Islands, Somalia, Mali, Burundi, Guinea, Ethiopia, Comoros, Mauritania, Martinique, Niger, Holy See (Vatican City State), Turkmenistan, Mayotte, Burkina Faso, Andorra, Antarctica, Greenland, Wallis and Futuna, Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, French Polynesia, Maldives, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, French Guiana, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Tonga, Niue, Tokelau, Nauru, Norfolk Island, Myanmar and Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of Residents. You and your computer both must be physically located in one of those countries.  Your must be 18 years or older OR 13 years or older with parental permission to participate.)

EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SUPPORT – The Lagoon sites are all professionally staffed by a full time crew of administrators, programmers, forum moderators, and customer service representatives that are eager to assist you with any questions or issues you may have.  Support concerns are handled via a robust professionally moderated (24/7) support forum at www.ForumLagoon.com and (for more personalized support) a trouble ticketing system (conveniently accessible through the “Support” menu option within your account.)

9) CORPORATE STABILITY – These sites are not “mom and pop” in any sense of the term (like so many (most) other sites are nowadays.)  Dietzel & Dietzel, Inc. / NetworkLagoon operates out of a bona-fide office complex (not a bedroom.) Click here to view their office webcam.  In these uncertain economic times you can rest assured that you won’t come to the site one day only to get a “web page not found” or “this site has been suspended due to non-payment” message usually indicative of the “mom and pop” site owner becoming financially insolvent (fly by night.)  NetworkLagoon has paid millions of dollars to its hundreds of thousands of happy and active members over the over a decade they have been in business.

10) LUCRATIVE REFERRAL & AFFILIATE PROGRAMS - Every site offer’s you a very generous opportunity to earn extra cash by referring friends and total strangers to the site using your standard referral link or a custom referral link that you set (optional.)  The referral system on all sites is three tiers deep (20%/20%/20%)  Earn a steady income from the work of others!   For those more active referrers and webmasters there is also the Dietzel Affiliate Program.

CashLagoon | PayByOffers | GetPaidTo | FreeBucksSite | UnderwearCash | PageantCash

Before I go on…  If you have no idea what a browser cookie is I would suggest that you take a look at The Unofficial Cookie FAQ or browse on over to the Wikipedia article on the HTTP cookie.

Some people and anti-spyware software would have you believe that all browser cookies are bad (especially “tracking cookies”.)  When it comes to paid survey, incentive, GPT, and PTS sites (hereafter referred to as the “incentive site” for the sake of simplicity) cookies are your very best friend.

How do incentivized offers track?  Most use a combination of tracking cookies, the single pixel gif, a sub-id containing your site membership information, and your unique ip address.

1. When you click on an offer/survey the incentive site’s software will note your click.
2. You then will be sent to the offer’s url with a sub-id usually containing your incentive site user name appended to the end of the url.  Though is may seem instantaneous and direct on pretty much any connection other than dial-up, your browser is actually being sent on a wild goose chase of many different urls to get to your final destination (incentive sites use sponsor (or “CPA” / “affiliate”) networks as a source of their offers – those sponsor networks usually get their offers from other bigger sponsor networks.)  The only way to properly make sure that everyone the should be paid for your “lead” will be paid is to send you through a daisy-chain of successive URLs (each noting and crediting themselves your lead.)
3. Ok, you arrive at the survey/offer.  You fill out information, make a purchase, or perform whatever “action” is required to generate credit.  This is where the tracking cookie and single pixel gif come into play.  Once the action is performed then you are usually sent to a confirmation page that will place a cookie on your computer eventually reporting to the original incentive site that you have indeed completed the required action for credit.
4. Another reporting method is the mysterious single pixel gif.  This is a uniquely named image (picture) file that is so small (1 pixel by 1 pixel) that it is invisible to you that is placed on the confirmation page.  The gif is uniquely named so that it specifically and only refers to you specifically.  The offer’s web server knows that you have completed an action when a request is made to “show” that one pixel gif (known as the gif “firing” in the industry.)
5. If the offer site notices that you already have a cookie on your system from a previous session at that site (indicating that you are NOT a “unique lead”) then it may internally note this, allow you to continue, though ultimately report to the incentive site that you are not qualified for the incentive (ouch!)  The same goes for if you are recognized by your ip address or entered information such as your name, email address, etc.)  Your ip address also plays a part in identifying if your are within the required geographic location for that offer.
6. Once you are done viewing/completing the survey/offer, close browser window of leave the site, and end up back on the original incentive site then the tracking cookie reports that you have or have not qualified for your incentive.