Cinchbucks Review – It’s a Scam. Stay Away!

Updated: October 25, 2018
by Ray Alexander

June 2020 update: It's been a while since I first wrote my Cinchbucks review, but not it's proven to be a scam. See comments from Arindom - based on his experience, you will not get rewarded for any effort that you input. Best to stay away.

Cinchbucks is another 'survey for cash' program. It's alright. I signed up and earned my first 200 points within an hour, that's $2 worth. Nothing technical is required. Just as I thought it was promising, perhaps anyone could earn $10 on the day of signing up with Cinchbucks... Who am I kidding, nothing's straightforward. It's actually pretty rubbish.

Cinchbucks Review

What Cinchbucks Offers

I had a moment of déjà vu when I signed up - the dashboard is almost the same as Swagbucks...including the footer menu, the resemblance is uncanny. Which is good news for existing Swagbucks users or anyone who's tried other survey-for-cash programs. You'll know what's where and it's easy to start. What Cinchbucks is offering is nothing special but looks good;

  • Survey for cash: 20CB (worth $0.20) - over 1,000CB (worth $10!) per survey
  • Cashback: spend money by online shopping and get a percentage back, or get some points by signing up for a free trial (such as Amazon Prime), joining online casino, joining a free/or paid membership, entering a prize competition.
  • Watch a video: 0.7CB (worth $0.007) as you watch a few minutes of video clip
  • Play games: Useless. It doesn't work.
  • Refer & Earn: refer your friends and every time they earn points, you'll receive 10% of it. 

Surveys Are Not Tailored For You

If you've ever tried an online survey, you know exactly what it means... Surveys are provided by third party market research companies. Unfortunately the surveys provided are not tailored for you. Means each and every time before you can start taking a survey, they'll run a qualification test. They'll all ask you similar questions about your living status such as employment, level of income, education, marital status, how many children you have, currently pregnant or not (even you've already answered you are a male). The test could take up to 10 minutes before it shuts you out by saying "sorry, you're not suitable for this survey." 

Waste of time

It means you could waste 1-2 hours (or more if unlucky) before you can even start participating in a survey. Especially if you see a survey provided by www.your-surveys.com, you might as well forget it and close the tab. I tried more than 10 of their surveys because it had advertised high payout rates, but after an hour I couldn't get any of them and quit.

Survey not available

...Which implies how inaccurate online survey results can be, because only people who are extremely patient will get to answer them. If you see a statistic, for example "according to online surveys, 76% of accountants think [XYZ]" - think again. That's 76% of accountants who have nothing better to do than taking online surveys. Majority of 'normal' accountants may have totally different ideas. 

Too Many Bugs

Well, the problem with online survey is not restricted to Cinchbucks, it's always the case with any survey-for-cash sites. The reason I think Cinchbucks is rubbish is there are too many things that don't work. I'm a little surprised because it's been in operation since 2014. Looks like it has taken a major overhaul recently, and is suffering from a lot of system errors and lack of resources, unfortunately. I only signed up 2 days ago, things have been awkward right from the start. Here are some of the problems that I'm experiencing as of October 2018;

CB Launch Code

Bonus Code Was 'Expired'

Before signing up, I was given a promotional code to claim free 50CB. The code was supposed to be valid for 127 days, but didn't work ('expired'). I reported it to the support desk and they revalidated the code a few hours later. Worked the second time.

Help Not Accessible

Support desk ('Submit a request') doesn't work. It requires you to re-log in to your account. You'll be directed to WordPress admin login page (https://help.cinchbucks.com/wp-login.php). It doesn't let you log in using your existing ID and password, it doesn't let you sign up new (obviously) either.

There's also a forum for members, but you can't join the conversation or search the forum unless you've logged in. You can't use your existing email and password and you can't sign up new.

The only way to contact Cinchbucks is to use an enquiry form (https://help.cinchbucks.com/contact-us/). It only takes 100 characters, so you need to tell them your problem briefly. I reported it 2 days ago that I was unable to access to the support nor to the forum but haven't heard from them.

Cookie Consent

Safari Not Supported

When you log on to Cinchbucks for the first time, you'll see a cookie consent form in the middle of the home screen. You need to click to agree in order to access the site fully. I click, nothing happens. Log out and try again, the cookie form is still there and I can't get rid of it. I'm a Safari user and I've never experienced it with any other sites. I logged back on using Chrome browser and it worked fine. 

This problem, I've reported it to Cinchbucks and had a response - they're looking into it.

Play Games For No Points

Click "Play Games" in the menu and a new browser tab opens. It doesn't tell you how many points you can earn by playing each game. I played a couple of them anyway and spent about an hour (!) Received no points.

The game platform is in the new tab with "Sign Up" and "Log In" buttons at the top right corner. It looks like the game browser tab is not linked properly to Cinchbucks account page. So I click "Log In", and it just redirects me to Cinchbucks home screen. I click "Play Games" in the menu again. The game platform opens in a new tab. I'm not logged in... Loop. 

Other Offers May Not Work

Trivia Games

There were a few other offers I took up but never received CB points for. "Join RewardTV for free and play at least two trivia games to receive 54CB (worth $0.54)" was one of them. I signed up with them, played two trivia games, and didn't get my 54CB. The offer status stays 'open' in my dashboard, as if it's waiting for me to complete. 

Again, I reported this to Cinchbucks support over 48 hours ago and haven't heard back.

My Cinchbucks Review - Would I Recommend It?

When (or if!) I hear from the support about each error, I will update this review, but until then I cannot recommend Cinchbucks, unfortunately. It's pointless. Waste of time.

If you want to try survey-for-cash and earn your first $10 online, my first recommendation is Swagbucks as it's well established. Clixsense is popular, and there's Earnably also. 

About the Author

ASD. Recovering alcoholic. LGBTQ+ advocate. Semi-retired. 15+ years of web-designing experience. 10+ years affiliate marketing. Ex-accountant. I'm nice and real. Ask me if you need any help in starting up your home business.

Thank you for your Comments!

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  1. Ray,

    First of all, I hope your jaw gets better. Looking at your profile picture, it appears you have Temporomandibular Disorder. I should know since I was once a dentist. I have now quit my practice to take surveys full time. Boy, what a ride it has been. I wake up at 8 a.m. and take surveys until 5 p.m and make about $2 a day. Cinchbucks is on my radar, but it does not pay enough from my consideration. I thought surveys would replace my dentist salary at $155K a year, but it's not even close. I shouldn't have bought the BS on these sites.

    1. Thanks for your concern Don, my jaw is completely dislocated and irreversible. It’s great to hear that you’ve quit your full-time job for something you really wanted to do though. You only live once, enjoy whatever you’ve chosen to do. Good luck!

  2. I actively participate in maybe 10 survey sites and 4 gpt sites. I signed up on cinchbucks after some hesitation, now my favourite site of all is the cinchbucks. Oh it accrues slowly but the surveys are so easy and you are guaranteed finishing it and earning. Plus they are all like 10 to 15 mins mostly. I just changed my email address 3 months ago to freeze my earnings for 180 days. I do that so that I don’t just withdraw 15 dollars and by the time the 180 days is up I’ll have 60 or 80 dollars and transfer to PayPal is one of the fastest..

  3. Hi I was with using Cinchbucks previously and I can vouch that they are indeed legitimate and i got paid as well three times but unfortunately like all surveys you are relying on them being available and they are just so time consuming. Still the best survey site by far in my opinion. I like how it can be an alternative to make money online. You should not mark it as scam based on one or two individual's opinion.

    Anyways i love your blogs!

    -Jeniffer

    1. Hi, thanks for your comment. I’ve reviewed all the comments left here so far, noticed from the IP addresses that all the positive comments are from India and the negative ones are from other countries. Perhaps it’s good for Indian residents but not others (in terms of availability & payments)? Not enough comments to make such a presumption just yet, I’ve contacted some users in the past, hope to hear from them with better feedback.

  4. Thank you for sharing with us this great review on Cinchbucks. There are many online programs which help people to earn money online.Some are real others are scams.

    I must say that I am very satisfied with your review Ray. Although I heard some people talking about how they can not earn money with Cinchbucks and not getting paid, I actually succeed in that and earned $50 amazon gift card two times. It is definitely legit and trusted platform but hard work is needed. Anyone who expect to earn big cash by just clicking on ads, using proxies to signup is wrong but earning some extra cash is very possible.

    1. Hi Mia, thanks for sharing your experience. You can earn some pocket money with reward programs for sure. Some users have complained about the lack of response from the Cinchbucks admin, so if you have actually received your rewards, that’s great. Thanks for your comment, I wish you all the best!

  5. I have been a member of cinchbucks for about one year. I am satisfied with the surveys they send as they are clear and a reasonable length with no glitches. Rarely have I been disqualified and the compensation of Amazon gift cards is promptly send to me. Yes do have some issues, but i got paid, that is all that matters at the end.

  6. I’d give them a negative score if I could. They let me redeem my money, made me wait weeks to get my money which I never received because they cancelled my redemption order. Support doesn’t respond to you so don’t bother. This is honestly the worst experience I’ve ever had with a survey site.

  7. Over the course of roughly six months CB did *not* provide sufficient incentive to remain a member. Unlike better sites like Clixsense or MOBROG, survey invites from this co. are rare. When they do alert for participation, the inevitable result is DQ *99%* of the time. Survey space is competitive. At CB it’s nearly impossible. Re. comments of their site I concur it’s buggy, as if it were coded by a dev. team of adolescents.

  8. I guess cinchbucks is like any other survey site like prizerebel & clixsense etc, but not a scam i am using it from past 6 months, cashed out 3 times, yea it has some bugs like separate logins for forums and support center etc…and Ray you are right about “the whole system that needs to be changed in my opinion. Offer sites such as Cinchbucks and research companies need to collaborate to find a solution so that that participants don’t have to go through all the qualification tests.”

    1. Hi Maria, thanks for sharing your experience, I’m glad to hear that you’ve cashed out of Cinchbucks 3 times so far. Because from my ‘few days’ of experience, it seemed like never! You prove that the consistency is the key to success. I’m also glad that you agree about the qualification tests! Thanks for your comment!

  9. Cinchbuck is absolute rubbish. Like today I received about 10 x survey invitation with various lengths of time. I chose the shortest one because I might not be qualified anyway, I didn’t want to waste my time. I clicked the link (New Survey Available 5 Min 30CB) answered all the questions, my age, occupation, income, etc etc etc… The end of it, a page came up to say “Survey is available for you 22 minutes”. I clicked ok, then it started the same questions again…my age, occupation…. DO NOT WASTE TIME!!! Cinchbuck is a scam!

    1. Hi Ashley, thanks for sharing your experience. I wouldn’t say Cinchbucks is a ‘scam’ but surveys-for-cash sites generally waste a lot of users’ time. It’s the whole system that needs to be changed in my opinion. Offer sites such as Cinchbucks and research companies need to collaborate to find a solution so that that participants don’t have to go through all the qualification tests. A male participant shouldn’t have to answer whether he’s currently pregnant or not, and a female participant shouldn’t have to confirm she’s never had a testicle cancer. Thanks for your visit Ashley!

  10. I see exactly what you mean. People look at outside the tin and do a math, if they can make 50 cents every 10 minutes they can make a living by answering surveys. The reality is nothing like that. I have my accounts all over swagbucks, Earnably and all that with a few dollars worth of points left. No intention of logging back in, ain’t worth it.

    1. Hi Kay, thanks for our comment. Yes as you say, survey sites allow you to make a pocket money but not much more than that. Some cash-back schemes are great though, especially in this season (Christmas is not far away!)

      1. Hey, I had actually good luck with cinch-bucks ( at least I thought). Within 3 days, and about 9 hours of cruel survey answering , I had gotten to 1000 cbs. I was so exited! Then I redeemed my points for an iTunes and App Store gift card. The process was very hectic, and they even made me put in a phone number for an OTP.

        Then I checked on my redemption status page and it said pending approval. This was a bit confusing as cinchbucks never say anything about processing rewards, and in fact, cinchbucks even displayed the iTunes and App Store giftcard as “redeemable in possibly 1 hour of surveys, you can quickly buy your favorite music or even buy in-app purchases” There was never a mention of a wait time. This had me frustrated, but the best thing I thought I could do was wait.

        Day by day, I was checking my redemption status just to get the old message saying, Your redemption order of 1000 CB’s has been created. We will be processing it shortly. Then I decided to investigate. I checked the forums again, and hidden away, not even under the gift cards category, it asked, how long will it take to process my redemption? I clicked, and it stated how it would take 1 WEEK. This was outrageous. One of the main reasons I signed up for this was for the claim that you could within a day, be able to buy your favorite in-app purchases or whatever.

        Then I waited a week. The forums stated that within the week hour mark, it would be instantly processed. But it also stated how it may be delayed due to high amounts of rewards redeemed. I understood that, sure I can wait another hour if it gets delayed. At least I thought it would only be a couple of hours of delay. The week hour mark hit. It still said processing approval. Then I waited for another hour. Same thing. A couple more hours. Same thing. A day later. Same thing. This was dumb.

        I investigated more to find that trust polite had a comment system for cinchbucks users. Many people were posting bad reviews talking about how their payments were delayed. Some people had said that they hadn’t received their payments within a MONTH. Cinchbucks stated how they had to delay the processing sometimes because people would not use the website correctly and abuse the system to get quick rewards. Are you serious? Anyone with half a brain can tell that we are not bots or website abusers. Just by checking how long we have been participating in surveys for is enough proof. Then, they start replying to comments saying “we have checked through our system and found that your payment has already been processed several times without delay.” That doesn’t make any sense. If they have been processed, then where are the codes for us to receive our gift cards. They are not in our emails, because I thoroughly checked through my primary, all mail, and spam folders each day. There was nothing to be seen.

        And I doubt that people would be abusing your website for free cash. You might as well get a part-time job. It would be far more reliable and payments would be higher and much quicker. People who just want to earn some side money are suffering from cinchbucks behavior and it is a major waste of time. Even if I do get paid, I will not use their services again. I do not recommend cinchbucks, I hope people use other more authentic websites such as swag bucks. Overall a terrible experience. Would not recommend.

        1. Hi Arindom, wow. Thanks for sharing your experience in detail. Not letting you redeem your rewards in time as promised is bad enough, it seems that they don’t have enough resources to follow up the complaints. I hope you’ll get paid soon and close your account. Thank you so much for your comment, appreciate it. I wish you all the best.

          1. Hey, it’s me again. I haughty ok I’ll just wait a little bit longer maybe another week. So I waited a week but it still says pending approval. But what I don’t understand is where i am receiving the code? If I am receiving it in my email, then they should tell me on the site, because a lot of people don’t use email anymore. And I’m getting kind of worried because I’ve heard that it takes 2-3 weeks for it to be processed. It’s been about 2 weeks and 3 days and nothing. Hopefully other people receive their gift cards in the time expected.

            1. Hi Arindom, thanks for the update – yes I agree with you, they should be telling you the status a little more in detail and explain how you’re going to receive your code. Cinchbucks really doesn’t sound user-friendly in that respect. I hope you’ll get yours really soon. Thanks again for your comment!

              1. Not going to make this a long comment just a quick update. It’s been 3 weeks and one day. Haven’t received the giftcard. The redemption status still says pending approval, like it has for the past 22 days.

                    1. Oh no! Thanks for the updates, it proves that Cinchbucks is a scam.
                      I’ll highlight your experience in the post in the next few days – I still hope you’ll get your rewards though. Thank you for your comment!

                  1. it has been a while since i checked back onto my account. i checked the status of my giftcard and it said cancelled. they cancelled my giftcard because apparntly i didnt have enough cinchbucks. i had 1000, the exact amount of the giftcard. cinchbucks is a scam.

                    1. Hi, thanks for the update – your experience proves that Cinchbuck is a scam indeed! I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had to waste so much time. I’ll update the post and let other readers know. Thank you once again for your comment.

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