Online surveys: easy cash for your opinion | Moneymagpie - Free tips on Debt, Shopping, Credit Cards and more!

Paid online surveys can help you make quick cash while you’re in front of the computer. If you have some free time in your lunch break or a spare half an hour in the evenings, why not fill in a few online surveys and make quick money? It’s simple, effective and you could win cash prizes every now and then.

How to get started with paid online surveys

Step 1: Register with several online survey companies

You can sign up to as many online survey companies as you like, in fact the more you sign up to the more money you can potentially make (NEVER pay to join an online survey site – see our list of genuine companies below).

Once you get an idea of how each company works – how often they send you emails, how much you make from them or even how visually easy they are to complete – it is a good idea to focus on the one or two companies that appeal to you.

Remember: You won’t qualify for every paid survey. Online survey companies are after a “sample group”, which means they only look for a particular number of people within a specific age range or area, or who use a certain product. This means you will get sent surveys that you cannot complete because you don’t fit the required profile. It’s also called being “screened out”.

On a good note, if you are selected to take part the rewards can be very enticing. One of our Moneymagpie readers says that while surveys can’t replace a full time income, they can certainly add a small but steady extra income, particularly if you fit the right demographics. She earns about £50 a month plus a regular supply of products to test. Not bad hey?!

Step 2: Check your inbox in your free time

Most online surveys are sent to you via email at random times. If you have surveys waiting for you keep in mind that some will close by a specified date or when enough people have taken part so get your skates on or you’ll miss out!

Paid surveys can take anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes to complete. When you receive the email it will tell you roughly how long the survey will take and give you a link to a new window where the survey will begin.

Genuine online survey companies

With most online survey companies you earn reward points as you go and obviously the more active you are the more points you earn. Depending on which site you use you can convert your points into vouchers or cash and you also have the chance to enter prize draws.

NEVER pay to join an online survey site, and if any ask you to please let us know at the bottom of this article.

Here are the online survey sites we approve of – get yourself signed up and started making money!

Moneymagpie’s top online survey tip

There are a lot of sharks in the business and you have to be careful what you sign up for. Some even have the cheek to try to get you to pay to join – ignore these companies. As a rule of thumb, the more lucrative or tempting it sounds,the more likely it is to be a waste of time. You certainly shouldn’t have to pay to join.

Once you’ve signed up to a paid survey company, some might also send you marketing emails – a lot of them! If you don’t fancy receiving these we recommend that you set up a seperate email account just for your online surveys. This way your personal account will be left alone, and all your survey-related emails will be kept in one place.

Useful Links

Don’t forget to sign-up to our favourite online survey sites:

Have you found other online survey companies that you would recommend? Tell us about it by adding a comment below.

28 Responses to “Online surveys: easy cash for paid surveys”

Sharon Re says:

December 11, 2011 at 1:29 am

There is nothing known as easy money. It does not exist. I can understand if one falls for something like this out of sheer desperation. Most of the country is living well below the poverty line. You need any statistics for that. You just need to leave the house.

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neelam says:

November 24, 2011 at 9:16 am

i would like to participate in online surveys

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- dave says:
  
  January 31, 2012 at 11:30 am
  
  Hi,
  
  I am a member of Toluna and Valued Opinions, which are good websites, but there is no mention of
  
  PanelOpinion.co.uk
  yougov.co.uk
  surveyfriends.co.uk
  
  I would definitely recommend these three sites as well for genuine websites which pay good money!!
  
  Good Luck
  
  Dave
  
  Reply
Ilona Acors says:

June 20, 2011 at 10:23 pm

Hey Jason, thanks for including Twitter Image in your list.

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kreepy krauly says:

June 6, 2011 at 1:36 am

Hi there. Certainly loved perusing your article. It was very educational and helpful. I hope you do not mind me writing concerning this post on my personal website. I will also be linking back to this. Nice site theme! Salamat.

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craig says:

May 12, 2011 at 2:45 pm

hello al try it

Reply
- Palal says:
  
  June 1, 2011 at 2:05 am
  
  What is it that you said, Craig?
  craig says:
  May 12, 2011 at 2:45 pm
  hello al try it
  
  What are you trying to say?
  
  Reply
Ray says:

May 5, 2011 at 11:19 am

I completed several surveys for mysurveys.eu for someone called Emma. I saved quite a few ‘points’ which can be used for a variety of things. In my case I completed these surveys to earn points to be transferred to my Nectar points account. Well after several emails to this Emma about the transfer, all I got was “they will be transferred soon”…….they never were transferred after all and I am talking about several emails in a period of several months.
So for all out there looking for a decent ‘Earn points/cash for surveys, beware of this useless Emma and her attitude which stinks!

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Bev says:

May 3, 2011 at 4:37 pm

Hi guys. I’ve read all your comments with great interest. All very informative, thanks. Personally, I would rate MySurvey.co.uk and Panelbase, since I started “surveying” as a boost to my income, 4 months ago. Both were quick to pay out and it didn’t take too long to reach their £10 and £15 min payout targets.
Not sure why anyone recommends Toluna or Ciao… I found them to be rubbish so I cancelled. I agree also that Lightspeed seems to be pretty good. Ok, so we’re never gonna get rich on this, but not a bad little earner if you have some “online” time to spare when at home in front of the TV!

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Chris says:

April 16, 2011 at 8:45 pm

Very out of date. Can’t believe New Vista and Pinecone aren’t mentioned. These are easily the best sites out there. Certainly Globaltestmarket should be a must too.

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sam says:

January 30, 2011 at 10:33 am

true

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Emmanuel says:

January 1, 2011 at 10:51 pm

As its said ‘different folks different strokes’ its seems there are no genuine survey site that pay cash, because so far i have read all the comments and some are saying this survey site is good while on the otherhand some are condeming it. I ve not seen/read of any site everyone is applauding and i’m getting confused. Pls can someone tell me of an online survey site dat is really good and pays cash. I’m new to survey business and ì dont live in UK

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Alan says:

December 6, 2010 at 11:08 pm

FREE MONEY (SORT OF)….YES!
BIG MONEY……………….. NEVER!
I have tried this online survey stuff for a few months now & have reached this conclusion:
There are companies out there who will pay for online surveys but don’t be fooled by what most blogs are SELLING (…or being paid to refer you on to survey companies = same thing!)
In order to get a reasonable amount of surveys you have to join lots & lots (& lots & lots!) of sites. Most will pay out when you hit a minimum target of between $20 – 50. In reality this means you will be completing a lot of surveys on a lot of survey sites but it will take months before you recieve any payment from any of them. Inspite of what they will all tell you at the registration stage, most surveys pay less than $1 & often you will spend time & effort completing a survey to then, & only then be told you have been entered into a prize draw as payment! Surveys paying $30 – $50 do not exist. You can get this sort of money if you “take advantage” of an offer that all survey sites are riddled with like signing up to a credit card or subscribing to a trail offer which will involve you paying a discounted rate for the first months services & even if you cancel the subscription within the first month you may (& often will!) find that they will still take $30 from your account for the next month by “mistake” & then you have to battle it out with the refunds department!!
Like many UK residents I also joined CashCrate, completed dozens of surveys, got sucked into taking quite a few offers only to find my account was not credited with a significant proportion of my work & I never recieved payment even when I, eventually, hit their payout target!!
To conclude; if you have lots of time & are in no hurry whatsoever to receive small payments for your efforts you will not be disappointed but if you are looking for a decent spare time money earner pop down to yor local Tesco’s, get a job filling shelves at 6.50 per hour for a few hours per week & enjoy their staff discount on your groceries. I appreciate this concept may interfere with the state benefits that most online surveyers are claiming & if this applies to anyone who may be reading this why not go out there, earn your keep & make a real contribution like the rest of us!!

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- Steve says:
  
  December 7, 2010 at 1:30 pm
  
  Well said Alan.
  I know exactly what you mean. I would just like to add that in my experience once you have found a survey site that actually does pay money & not “reward” you with trial offers at a discounted rate or an entry to a prize draw you will find that, if you are lucky, you may get a couple of £1.50 surveys a month & will have to wait a year or longer for a payout by which time you will have unsubscribed, recieved nothing & the survay site will have got a dozen surveys from you for free which they will have been payed for & what they are hoping you will do.
  Also AVOID the survey sites that tell you you can make $100′s a day by paying them a subscription. All you get is a list of survey sites which you have to join, for which they recieve a commission & you will find yourself in the same scenario that you have expained; completing a lot of survays for a lot of survey sites for peanuts & waiting 18 months for a £20 payout! Lets be honest if anyone hit on an idea that genuinely did payout +$2000 a month would they really be willing to cut you in for “one off payment of $49?” or would they keep it to themselves & earn a fortune!
  
  Reply
  - Steve says:
    
    December 7, 2010 at 1:37 pm
    
    PS. I was also ripped off by cashcrate!
    
    Reply
    - Steve says:
      
      December 9, 2010 at 11:29 am
      
      PPS. ALSO you will often find that on survey sites tha actually do pay something for your efforts when you get close to your payout target paid surveys will dry up or you will be told that “your details do not currently match their search criterea” OR you will find yourself only being sent surveys that offer “rewards” other than cash………………….need I say more!!!!
      
      Reply
Michael says:

November 27, 2010 at 11:02 am

waste of time, would be fine if you got several surveys a day, but with most you’re lucky to get more than 1 or 2 a month, takes far to long to earn any money.

Just not worth it IMO.

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Marta says:

November 18, 2010 at 3:24 pm

Good list,

I use some of them + more
Surveyfriends for vouchers: surveyfriends.co.uk
PanelOpinion for cash: panelopinion.co.uk

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MISS KAPOW says:

September 20, 2010 at 9:44 pm

I joined Valued Opinions a couple of months ago and have already got myself £20 of Argos vouchers and well on my way to getting my next £10 voucher! Had some surveys that have paid £2.50 for about 15 mins work! plus, the surveys 99% of the time are fun to do on subjects such as new sweets, stella! lottery, etc! very varied and interesting… even got my mum wanting to join to start earning some pocket money!!!

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50 side businesses to set up from home | BBCNewsRoom.com says:

September 6, 2010 at 6:52 am

[...] Opinions are all pukka,” she says. “You make between 50p and £5 per survey. Click here for more information and a list of genuine survey [...]

Reply
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July 23, 2010 at 11:21 am

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Reply
Dino says:

July 14, 2010 at 11:02 am

Seriously? You guys prefer to waste your time filling out survey for a pitiful 30-40-50 bucks? In the space of a year? Really?
With all the hype i thought people would be earning like minimum a couple of hundred dollars a month as a ‘suplement’ to their already existing salary.

This is a scam pure and simple. Anyway you look at it they are giving you peanuts in order for them to make millions.

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lisamfc says:

June 22, 2010 at 2:55 pm

I am a serial surveyer!! I have made over £300 in the last 14 months plus had products to test and redeemed points on ipoints(now maximiles) for a ds game. Although Toluna is slow in paying out the vouchers they do eventually arrive (usually about 8 weeks after ordering them), also would recommend Valued opinions and lightspeed.

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Robin Kingston says:

June 3, 2010 at 11:18 am

Been with valued opinions for 12 months.
no problems,have been paid regularly when requested
earned £55 so far.

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smile says:

May 7, 2010 at 8:18 pm

Sorry! but I want to know if these kinds of surveys are also available for other countries like Thailand. If can then I would like to apply for these surveys.

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- Jasmine Birtles says:
  
  January 3, 2012 at 2:47 pm
  
  Well they have their own local versions but we don’t have the links I’m afraid. Best to contact the different companies directly.
  
  Reply
shasha says:

May 1, 2010 at 7:26 am

Great information, helpful

The easiest and fastest way for people to start making money are paid online surveys.The good thing is that you don’t need any skills.You can start work now and to make your first $30 in several hours.

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Kessenich says:

April 6, 2010 at 3:15 pm

Making money online isn`t so simple as everyone thinks. CPA is one of the most often choices, but not the easiest ones . One of the easiest ways, maybe not so profitable as CPA is Google AdSense websites, there are a thousands of great website themes optimized for this , promotion of niche keywords in Google is very simple.

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