If you’ve ever wondered how to make some extra cash without leaving your home or taking on a part-time job, you’re not alone. Many money-strapped men and women scour the classifieds section every Sunday in hopes of finding the perfect job. What if you could be paid just for having an opinion?

It sounds like a great idea and its one that online surveys can help make a reality. While you won’t become the next Bill Gates off a paid survey site, you can make a few bucks while having your opinion count for something. Many market research firms and consumer-related businesses rely on paid surveys to formulate their product development. Your opinion helps decide if they’ll go forward with a product, change it or forget about it altogether.

Some other perks to online surveys include:

• Get paid to surf the Net and give your opinion.

• Receive products to test that aren’t even in stores yet, before anyone else has seen them.

• Many sites offer you points as compensation, which add up to cash and prize rewards.

• Actually make a difference in the consumer market: You have a better idea about what your demographic wants than the marketing firm.

• Many survey sites offer sweepstakes and cash prizes for being members.

• You may be asked to participate in focus groups, which could mean a trip to survey headquarters and more money than typical surveys.

However, with every positive, there is always a negative involved. On the Internet, there are always scams that consumers have to be aware of. There are several survey scams to watch out for.

Look for:

• Sites requesting you to pay a fee before accessing a list of paid surveys. Legitimate sites don’t tend to require payments: their payment is your point of view.

• Sites that sell your answers and cut the survey short before paying you: your information was sold to a marketing firm and you weren’t paid for it.

Still, paid online surveys are a wonderful way to pass time if you’re bored and a fun way to make some money. 6StarReviews.com is a site that compared survey sites, reviewing which ones are worth your try. If you feel like testing out some brand new Pantene Pro-V shampoo or a never-before-seen detergent, online surveys may be the right thing for you.