Linda R. Animal Rescuer/Thrift Store...
Traffic exchanges are an advantage in my opinion and I do check them with the better business bureaus just to make sure there is no negative feed back, and after exploring the site for a bit and looking through their rules and instructions if it does not look like a very active site or if they try to get money from you right away it is probably not really a good site to trust. 
Most of the sites I am a member of now about say thirty or more, I did not have to pay anything and also I have not been paid although I have earned some money but I use it for credits for my sites and my banners of affiliate sites I am part of. I think it is a great idea. I have a game site I visit daily and posted it there and there were maybe 3000 give or take members and I then posted a banner and information on a couple sites and one site alone had already had 260 hits and we average about 20 new members a day give or take. we are now over 4000 members for that game and getting members everyday. 
Yes some are scams and others are real you have to check them out. If unsure do some research and if you are not comfortable with a traffic exchange site don't use it. You can message members on some of them and ask them what they think about the site as well. I will try to make a list of the sites I use and a little information on them and upon request people can get a copy of my list.
Apr 4th 2011 18:04