I was introduced to ChaCha in February by my cyberfriend Gwen (CyberGwen), and although I was skeptical at first, ChaCha has turned out to be a very interesting site and earning opportunity.
Since I was so skeptical I took it slow, and I kept forgetting to send in my account information, so that I could get my earnings transferred directly into my account. When I finally got this done, I saw my first payment of a little more than 100 dollars, and now I'm convinced. The first payment went towards household bills, and the next will go towards savings.
I really enjoyed seing my dollars increase so fast here at Gather during triple points week, so now I'm spending quite a bit of time at ChaCha, as the money grows pretty quickly over there. I can have a tab open while I do other things such as Gather, BT or Club.live.com, and when there is a question to anwer at ChaCha there will be a little pop up in the middle of my screen, where I can accept or decline it.
So what is ChaCha? Well, ChaCha is a search engine powered on humans. When someone have a question such as "what is the address of the movie theater in Orange City, Iowa?", "Can you get me the phone number of Mike's Burgers in Roswell, Ga?", "What is the score in the Russia-Netherlands game?" etc., they can then text their question to 242242. You can read a little bit about ChaCha in this recent New York Times article.
A ChaCha guide will be on the other end searching for an answer. I am a ChaCha guide, and I love it. ChaCha pays 20 cents per answer, and although 20 cents does not sound like much they sure grow fast. The best thing about ChaCha is that I can log into my account and start answering questions, but if one of my kids ask me a question or needs my help, I can change my status from available to away until I'm able to start answering questions again.
In order to become a ChaCha guide you do have to take a few tests and go through some training (all of which is free), before you can become a paid guide.
If you would like to know more about ChaCha, you can send me a gather message.
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Comments: 106 ( 1 removed by j - Frugal Mom - r. )
the other cool thing is that I am learning so much. Many of the questions are a lot like j r describes, but there are also a lot of trivia type questions about people, places and things that I didn't know about. It is like being an archaeologist and the learning and searching part is what makes it fun for me.
There is some leg work that takes a bit of time to get through, but once you are up and running, you are set. Seriously, I have found no other way to make money online that is as immediate as ChaCha. I click on pay me now and within minutes, the money is in my account. No waiting, no paypal, it is just there. This comes in really handy!
Gwen you are so right, I have definitely learned a lot from doing all the questions as well. Just the other day I had to figure out some Microsoft computer stuff that I had no clue about before.
I really need to get up to speed with it. We've had so many house guests and interruptions this spring, but I actually feel like the more questions I answer the easier it gets.
EB I sent you a message, Katie I'll send you one as well.
Amanda, I believe you have to have made 100 dollars by the 1st and then you get paid after the 15th. I could be wrong though and it just have to be by the 15th.
They are pretty quick at entering your info, once you get it faxed in....you just gotta get it faxed it:)
I am amazed at Gwen's earnings, but I know a lot of people do it. It is absolutely possible.
Suze, I have always been pretty good at finding answers on the Internet, but after ChaCha I've become an expert. Whenever I have a question (or my husband) I can find it in a matter of minutes. The questions that I do as a text guide come from text messages from phones, but ChaCha also have guides who take calls and some who take questions from the ChaCha website.
Rose, I will admit I was very skeptical, although I knew that there had to be something to it, since it came from Gwen. I got the first 90 dollars in about a week, then I slacked off:) I think there will always be skepticism until that first payment arrives. I know I am like that with every site.
To get in you do have to take some tests, and with some logic you can get through the first one pretty easily. There is a bit of math at the first test I think, but the rest of the questions are easy and pure logic.
From what I remember you initially have to tell them, when you will be available, but it is not a set time or anything. I think they just want to know that you are able to spend lots of time on the site. Once you get in it is absolutely up to you. I try to have it open once in a while, when I'm doing other stuff online anyway.
Marsha, I know what you mean:) It has taken me a while to figure out, which sites are worth the time. I have cut a few survey sites off, and I have another site I'm cutting off, once I get the next payment. ChaCha will take over the time I used to spend on that site. It all adds up though, when it comes to $.
Email me the info. I'd definately be interested in doing this
I'm going to send you a message.
Basically you log into the account, and they will send you a little pop up, whenever a customer has texted a question to the site. You then search for the answer via the search engine, save it in a little text box and hit send. This will then send your answer back to the person's cell phone. Incredible simple. The service of asking for answers is free and you just have to pay standard text messaging fees.
The person who text in the question pays the standard text message rate for sending the question.
I think it was the typing part. I'm not really very fast and when I hear the words "timed test" I really mess up! And I guess they dpn't give you a second chance.
They sounded like a bunch of snobs anyway.
You do not have to have anyone else signed up under you in order to get paid. When I got paid the first time. I did not have anyone signed up under me.
Thanks for the information and recommendation!
I should have known it was too good to be true. Oh well. Guess I'm too STUPID to make it.
I have failed many tests in my life, believe me....many... and yes the feeling can be horrible, but it never lasts.
It started out great though earning was difficult because so few people used it and there were so many guides. You had to sit at your computer and be ready to hit enter as fast as you could to accept the searches because there was always someone out there hitting the enter button over and over to be the first to get the search. You had to perform practice searches under the guide of other ChaCha guides, even as you advanced and the guide "assisting" you was often rude and spoke down to you. Sometimes they were at the same level as you and talked to you like you were a moron!! Others were very kind and friendly. Others were strictly professional. Never knew who or what you would get!
Searches were paid by the amount of time you spent on it but I cannot remember the exact formula for it. Suddenly they decided that even if you went past 10 minutes you would only be paid for 10 minutes because some guides were cheating the system. Others were really hard works who got kind of screwed by it. If anyone complained about any of it they would be removed as a guide because someone was always watching what you said and would rat you out.
I haven't actually logged into the program in over a year.
I heard that they introduced texting and some other neat features. Reading what you have to say about them it sounds like they have significantly improved both their service and treatment of guides. Maybe I should log in and see if I am still registered! Maybe now it is worth giving a try again! Thanks for sharing such a great review of ChaCha!
Alexandra, I definitely think you should log in and give it a second try. It sounds like things have really changed, and I don't recognize any of the things you are describing. Thank you so much for giving you our input, it is very interesting to hear how the program has evolved. They have really been expanding a lot lately, and there has been a lot of media attention, so there are actually a lot of searchers. I usually gather or something else, while I'm logged in to ChaCha, but most often the searches come right after each other.
Also, when you say that they test on math, do you mean basic mathematics or more advanced math?
What all do they test on?
Hi Heather.
You have to use the Mozilla firefox browser, but it's a pretty good browser, so it's no problem.
I remember something about x an ys and some probability. There are a few math questions, so your best guess might be the best thing to go with. If you are interested in more info, or if you would like to sign up just send me a message, and I will do what I can to get you through the process.
April, I'll send you an email. Thanks for asking.
But I think I would def. like to sign up and try it out.
I will send you a message.
they told me it's $5/hour.
My problem is that I've read through all the materials they give, downloaded the handbook, read through every ounce of preparation stuff they give, including watching all the videos, made sure I'm using Firefox, installed some other things.. and then I'm ready to take the test and it just sits there! It says that questions will start popping up but they never do. Ugh... frustrating for sure. I even emailed them through their online form and then I received the email returned to me as 'undeliverable'.
I'll try again though because I really need the extra cash!