Can you really earn vouchers by doing surveys?

If you searched for free gift cards, you have probably met two kinds of website. One asks you to do surveys. The other promises a code if you click a button. Only the first can ever pay you, and even then it pays less than the headlines suggest.

First, a note on what we mean by voucher. On Mocash these are South African vouchers and payouts, paid for in rands. We do not offer US gift cards such as Amazon, Walmart or Steam.

How surveys turn into a voucher

There is no direct swap of survey for voucher. It happens in stages:

1. You finish a survey or offer from a partner network, which pays a reward in rands.
2. The amount shown on the task is the amount that lands in your balance.
3. The reward sits as pending for 30 days while the partner checks the task.
4. Once it settles, it joins your spendable balance.
5. You choose how to take that balance on the withdraw page, which can be a voucher.

Pending money cannot be converted, so the 30 days apply to everything you earn this way. Our post on why your reward says pending explains the wait.

The honest arithmetic

Here is roughly what a few voucher amounts take. They are illustrations, not promises about the tasks you will see.

• R 20 is a handful of short surveys.
• R 50 is a few evenings of them.
• R 100 is a few weeks of chipping away.

If a short survey pays about R 1.50, a R 50 voucher is more than thirty of them, and that is before you count the ones that screen you out. It can be done, but it is a matter of weeks of saving up, not an evening.

Look at the offers page and do the sum with the real numbers there. For more on what a task actually pays, read how much you can actually earn.

Why free gift card code generators are scams

A code generator claims to produce working voucher codes. It cannot. A valid voucher is created and paid for by the company that issues it, and it exists in their system with a value that someone has already paid. A website cannot invent one. At best it shows you a random string of digits that was never worth anything.

The same goes for pages that say they have "leaked" codes, lists of "unused" PINs and anything that says to share the page with ten friends to unlock a code.

What they are really after

• Your details. A form asks for your name, number and email, which are then sold or used for spam and phishing.
• Your OTP. A code sent to your phone is requested to "verify" you. Giving it away can let someone take over your accounts.
• Your clicks. You are sent through endless surveys and app installs, and the site earns commission on each one while you earn nothing.
• Your money. A small "processing fee" is asked for, and then the code never arrives.

The rule is simple: you never pay to receive a voucher, and you never hand over an OTP. Our list of red flags of a fake earning app covers more warning signs.

Which vouchers are realistic in South Africa

The options include:

• 1Voucher, a PIN that works like digital cash. See free 1Voucher.
• Shoprite and Checkers vouchers for groceries. See free Shoprite voucher.
• Takealot vouchers for online shopping. See free Takealot voucher.
• Airtime, data and prepaid electricity, which go to your number or meter.
• A bank or eWallet payout, if you would rather have cash.

What is open on a given day shows on the withdraw page. The hub page on free gift cards and vouchers pulls these together.

Before you ask for one

A person approves every withdrawal, so we cannot give you a time. Identity verification is required before a first withdrawal, and the account must be at least 24 hours old. Our pre-withdrawal checklist lists the rest.

So can you really earn vouchers by doing surveys? Yes, in small amounts, over weeks, if offers are available for you. It is not fast and it is not guaranteed. But a voucher you earned this way is real, which is more than a generator can say.