In this Smart Crowd Virtual Bee review, we’ll take a look at the company, and see if you really can use it to complete tasks and earn some extra fast cash.
The problem is that there are a lot of these websites online, and most of the workers on them are based in third-world countries where the cost for living is extremely low, especially when compared to Western countries.
So, the point is that you can’t expect to make a lot of money from these websites because most of the workers on them are willing to work for incredibly low wages (when compared to Western standards).
Still, that doesn’t mean websites like Smart Crowd Virtual Bee are completely useless, let’s take a closer look and find out.
I signed up (so that you don’t have to) and here’s what I discovered:
Let’s take a look at the details.
Smart Crowd, Virtual Bee, Lion Bridge Review
Product Name: Smart Crowd, Virtual Bee, now called Lion Bridge
Product Type: Paid Online Tasks
Website: thesmartcrowd.lionbridge.com
Price: Free
Best For: Nobody.
Rating: 40/100
Summary: Smart Crowd Virtual Bee/Lion Bridge is another online paid task based website. It’s a legit way to make a little pocket change online.
Recommended: No
Why? Lack of jobs/tasks and low pay make this one’s a NO for me.
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What is Smart Crowd Virtual Bee:
This opportunity goes by a few different names, and the company has switched owners a few times too, it used to be called Virtual Bee, then Smart Crowd, and now it’s Lion Bridge.
The idea is simple; pay members to complete simple tasks, and these tasks range from small translation jobs, to data entry, and everything in between.
Smart Crowd Virtual Bee’s jobs fall under three categories:
- Data Services
- Global Testing
- Language Services
The Sign-up Process:
Creating an account is free, and relatively easy, once you type in your name, email address, and password, details will be sent to your inbox for further account creation steps.
These next steps are all about your profile, education, work experience, skills, and what not.
Once you fill in all those details, it’s time to take some tests. These tests are mandatory and will allow you to access the jobs.
The first evaluation, Data Entry Numbers, took me almost 40 minutes to complete!
Once I completed that evaluation, I was able to see some data entry jobs, but there doesn’t seem to be enough for full-time (or even part time) work.
You’re lucky to grab one job every week or so, and from the looks of it, the work is drying up too.
Some people say that you can earn $10 an hour from this website, but from my experience, that doesn’t seem possible at all.
I guess now the member base is so large that any new job that’s posted gets snatched up in a matter of seconds.
You’ll need to complete at least one evaluation before you can see the job board, and the jobs that you will see will be related to the evaluation you completed.
Smart Crowd, Virtual Bee, Lion Bridge Cons:
Right off the bat, I noticed a few things that I did not like about this company!
For starters, the sign-up process was a little too complicated. Creating an account is easy but all the tests are difficult to pass (and they take a long time to complete!).
I think if the sign-up process and evaluation process was a little faster, it would really improve everyone’s experience with the company.
Secondly, the lack of jobs: There’s really not much to choose from, the evaluations take up most of your time, and if you fail you have to re-do the test, thus taking even longer to access the job board.
There just are not enough jobs to make this opportunity a worthwhile source of income. If you want to learn how I make money online, here’s my online business blueprint.
Third, the pay is just too low:
There are plenty of freelancer websites that let you create a profile and bid on the same work, where the clients are willing to pay double, even triple, the rates that can be found on Virtual Bee.
It doesn’t make sense to sell yourself cheap!
Let’s also not forget that there are similar websites that pay much better, especially for translation services.
In fact, if you’re an experienced translator, offering translating services to businesses directly can be an excellent business idea for you (and you can charge premium rates too!).
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Conclusion on Smart Crowd, Virtual Bee, Lion Bridge Cons:
To summarize this Smart Crowd Virtual Bee Review, if you want to make money from home, completing tasks for businesses online is a good way to make some cash.
But that doesn’t mean Virtual Bee is the right company for you.
In my opinion, I think it would be much more profitable for you to find an American based company that offers the same work.
American companies will pay a lot more than companies that outsource everything to third world countries for a fraction of the cost.
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Got a question or experience working with the Smart Crowd Virtual Bee/Lion Bridge? Leave it below!
Great tips on Virtual Bee! I have not heard of Lionbridge before. I used to do Amazon TURK a very very long time ago. Tedious but I managed to pay for my fishing hobby.
I am not sure I want to reinvest myself in this right now, but it can make some pocket change. VPAs are very common and I think I would like to USE them more than BE them.
Great to know about these services though. Thanks for the post.
You bet Marc, happy to help. And yes, better to be the business than work for the business. Cheers, Todd
I was always surprised at the fact that these sites pay so low and I never understood why. I hadn’t even considered the fact that it’s because they are catering to other countries to provide cheaper labor on tasks.
I agree also that we shouldn’t sell ourselves so low and invest our time in something that will continue to pay dividends in the future – like an online business.
The question isn’t if Virtual Bee is legit, it’s a matter of if you want a low paying job or be the boss of your own online company.
Thanks Alec for your feedback and advice as well. There are a good amount of companies like Virtual Bee, but I can’t seem to see why anyone would want to do task based work once they got a taste for online business.
Imagine where one could be after spending 6 months to a year dedicated to working their own online biz, give it one more year and you’ll me making more money in one month than you can with Virtual Bee in one year.
And you’re right, an online business can grow into a great passive income source.
The signup process for Virtual Bee is definitely too lengthy, especially considering the lack of work at the end of the tunnel. It’d be one thing if all that time and effort resulted in boundless opportunities, but one or two tasks per week just isn’t going to cut it. A few dollars per week just isn’t worth it. Do you have any recommendations for similar platforms that have much higher income potential?
You certainly can take your skills to places like Fiverr, Freelancer dot com, etc.. I’m just more of a fan of creating niche based affiliate websites that generate money 24/7.
Remember the internet never stops, once you learn how to build targeted traffic for free, your site can have people on it all the time. The coolest thing for me is to wake up in the morning and check last nights sales – It’s so cool and much more lucritive than task based sites like Virtual Bee.
Thanks,
Todd
Great review on virtual bee. By the looks of it I don’t think I will be signing up for virtual bee any time soon.
There are so many websites out there that offer low paid work and I always wonder why on earth people would bother! (suppose your right in saying people from other countries it is high wage for them)
Think I will stick to wealthy affiliate training and build my own online business rather than working for someone else. Thanks for the information
Thanks for your feedback on our Virtual Bee review. There is so many programs out there that it gets confusing as to what is of high value, what’s a scam, and what’s legit.
You’ll do great with Wealthy Affiliate, I’ve found their training easy to follow and if you get stuck, just ask for help. The Wealthy Affiliate Community is a big reason why so many people have found success working with these guys.
Best,
Todd
I also found the review of Virtual Bee to be very helpful. As a mother of three I don’t want to waste my time looking into something unless it will be worth my time.
Thank you very much for taking the time to create all your reviews, I have found them very helpful. I’m sure a lot of people appreciate your service.
I have signed up to your Wealthy Affiliate recommendation and have found this program to be exceptional. It’s easy to understand and I’ve learned more in 2 weeks at WA than any other online training program I have taken.
Thanks for your feedback on my site and this review of Smart Crowd Virtual Bee. There’s a ton of scams and poor training programs out there that waste peoples time. I know cause I’ve used a couple and it’s just better to go straight to the source to get the right information the first time.
I don’t use any other training sources besides Wealthy Affiliate and I’ve used them for over 2 years. Just stick to the training and take a weekly webinar if you can fit it in your schedule and you’ll have everything you need to create a successful online business.
Thanks,
Todd
The Smart Crowd Virtual Bee sounds as if it is not for me. I love exploring ways to make money online but of course every one and everything should have a limit and a price.
This sounds like the wrong opportunity so thanks for bringing it to my attention. I followed one of your links to making money and was happy to see Wealthy Affiliate. I can attest that these guys are the real deal and can make your online financial dreams a reality.
Thanks Ben for your feedback on Virtual Bee, it’s not for me either. I prefer to create things that help me build my online business, not just create more busy work for myself.
A job is a job, an exchange for service for time. I prefer my online businesses that bring in money passively. That way I get paid for the work I did once over and over again, even when I’m sleeping.
Also, thanks for your testimony to Wealthy Affiliate, they’re nothing but winners.
Great review Todd, I remember back in the day I used to work for a content farm and thought it was super useful and an awesome way to make cash.
Turns out what I thought was a good rate was actually close to slave-wages! That’s the thing with these kind of websites, they’ll outsource the work for pennies while keeping like 90% of the cash. It’s not really fair.
Awesome article, shared it on Twitter!
Thanks Tim, I really appreciate the social share and your feedback on our Virtual Bee Legit/Scam Review.
Agreed, those that want to make money online should really look into the Wealthy Affiliate training center and learn how they can create a real substancial online business before selling themselves short.
You won’t believe the income that can be created with a niche website/blog. It takes a bit of time (How Much? Click Here), but once you have it established and bringing in natural traffic, it converts a ton of online sales.
Click Here to learn how I got started, anyone can do it by following a proven path.
Cheers,
Todd