Signed up for this site from a link off the major grocery company I use. I thought it looked interesting and I would try it. If I could earn a little money to get credit or gift card to save on groceries all the better. The first few surveys I took I went through I would finish to be told, "You're not a fit for this survey" or "We've already meet the number of responses for this survey". It would have been nice to know that before I spent time answering the questions. Finally, after a couple of months I had earned enough credits to have $30 in currency. This equates to a $10 gift card, an interesting exchange rate. I decided to cash out, redeem my reward and be done with the site. This is when it got interesting. First you are required to verify your account. They text you a PIN number which you enter into the site to verify your identity. No problem, I passed that test. Then you fill out a form with name, address, phone number and they ask you to upload a picture of your Drivers license and a selfie. Wait, what? This is for a $10 gift card, not a mortgage or auto loan. Why on earth would I need to enter sensitive information like that? Big red flags were flying at this point and I decided this wasn't acceptable. I emailed the customer service desk at e-Rewards with my concerns and advised them I felt like the request for this information presented a risk for identity theft and fraud. I received this response back: " In order to provide an additional protection to your account, we have partnered with Veriff. This process will allow you to redeem securely and protect your data. Rest assured that your information is confidential." I investigated Veriff. It only gets worse. They are a global company located in Estonia that uses AI for facial recognition. The have tons of negative reviews, especially in the US from people who have tried to upload their information and were told they could not verify their identity and then lost their money or reward or whatever they were trying to verify their identity for. What is more concerning to me is what is done with the information they upload. There is no way to delete it and there is no customer service you can contact. The concerns with AI have been documented extensively. In the right circumstances it can be beneficial, but there are many dangerous scenarios that can come from it. I intend to write the grocery company where I found the link to e-Rewards and strongly urge them to stop participating in this program.

Prior to this month, I would have given a much better review of this company. But recent changes have negatively impacted my review.

#1- Previously if you did not complete a survey, you received $0.25 in partial compensation. This was for all surveys that were not completed. Today, you receive $0.20 in compensation if a survey is not completed, on only 5 surveys per day. So any surveys that are not completed after the initial 5, you get zero compensation. Even if you spend 5, 10, 15 minutes on the survey. Trust me, you will spend this amount of time on a survey only to find out "it has closed" or "you do not qualify". So take into consideration the unpaid time you will be giving away before deciding whether or not to start taking these surveys.

#2 - The "e-currency" you receive is worth about 33% in real dollars. So, when you complete a suvey for 3 e-currency dollars, when you get ready to redeem it, it will be worth $1.00. So, to get that $25 gift card you will need 75 e-currency dollars.

#3 - If you end up earning more than $600 in real dollars between January 1st and December 31st, this will be reported to the IRS. When filing federal taxes, as no deductions have previously been taken out, you will end up paying both federal taxes based on your tax rate, PLUS, you will be assessed social security taxes. In my case, earning $600 real dollars, resulted in a $200 tax bill. Figure losing about 1/3 of your "real" dollars.

4 - Many times your account will be shut down for "infractions" and this will result in not being able to redeem your e-currency. I have had this happen numerous times over the past 3 years. But my account has always been reactivated...until this month. I noticed that when I redeemed e-dollars for gift cards, I did not receive the email containing the codes. I have emailed customer service numerous times asking why I am not receiving my codes. At first I received a response indicating that my concern had been "elevated" and I would receive a reply. I have never received an answer and now, when I contact customer service, I hear nothing from them. Other reviews indicate this problem also, so I am not alone. You provide your valuable time taking surveys, with the promise of gift cards, only to end up with nothing. Keep this in mind, your account can be shut down at any time and you receive no notification or explanation. At that point, you are unable to redeem your e-currency.

So, if after reading my review, you want to take surveys for gift cards, I wish you well. Over the 3 years, I received over $7,000 in gift cards. But it takes a lot of time and effort. Remember, I had to accumulate over 21,000 e-currency dollars for this $7,000 and it took nearly 3 years. Also, I have to reduce this amount by 1/3 due to taxes being paid, which I did not initially take into account. Plus, if this survey site believes you have rushed through the surveys or provide incorrect information, your account will be suspended with no notification and your accumulated e-currency dollars become worthless.

Mostly good? That enough

Great E reward experience...? /////////mmmmm
Taking too long to do this