Make money online with our seven best online money makers. Although you do need to be cautious, there are lots of ways to make money online now. Here’s the Moneymagpie rundown of the best ways to make quick cash online.

1. Survey and panel websites
2. Enter online competitions
3. Cashback websites
4. Sell your stuff
5. Get paid to shop
6. Find lost money
7. Recommend your friends

1. Make money from online surveys

Companies are always looking for user feedback and are willing to pay for your thoughts. Start by signing up to survey sites like Pinecone Research. You’ll earn more if you join three or four survey sites, as you will increase the likelihood of being asked to take part in a survey. Pinecone Research offers £3 per survey.

Sign up to a number of good survey sites to maximise your earnings.

But beware…!

A lot of so-called survey sites are just spammers and they only want your details to spam you and sell on to other dodgy types.

N.B. Only go with the online survey companies we suggest – here are the sites we recommend:

• Digital Trends
• Opinion Outpost
• Pinecone Research
• Survey Downline
• Swagbucks
• Surveys.co.uk
• Paid Surveys
• Toluna
• Valued Opinions
• GlobalTestMarket
• Inbox Pounds
• iPoll

2. Enter online competitions

First of all sign-up to the Prime Prizes free weekly competitions newsletter. You can win hampers, iPads, Argos vouchers and more. It costs nothing and you get opportunities to win prizes every week.

If you get into the habit of entering competitions of all sorts, you’ll soon find prizes landing on your doorstep.

Incredible as it sounds, you’re more likely to win a big, high-value prize than a smaller prize because fewer people bother to enter the big-prize competitions. This is because most people think they haven’t a chance of winning if the prize is a big one so they don’t go in for it! This means that if you do, you have a higher chance of winning that than you would with a smaller prize. Weird but true.

You do have to exercise a bit of of caution when entering online competitions, but going in for a legitimate competition could net you some great prizes.

Fancy your chances? We’ve got a full article packed with advice and the latest competition news here.

3. Cashback websites

These sites do just what their name suggests. Cashback sites like Top Cashback list all the high-street and online shops they’ve deals with (most feature big names like Boots and Debenhams). If you buy something online via a cashback site rather than go direct to the retailer (whether it’s a phone from O2 or a dress from M&S), you get paid!

Why does a cashback site pay me to shop?

Because the cashback site has sent the shop a customer (you!), the cashback site gets paid a commission by the shop – some of which gets passed on to you.

In short, cashback sites can be a great way to get paid money on something you were going to buy anyway!

Some top cashback sites:

• Top Cashback
• Myshoppingrewards
• Free Fivers

Some sites like Free Fivers will even give you money (in this case £5) just for signing up, and another £5 if you refer a friend.

Cashback sites probably won’t make you a fortune, but if you’re going to buy certain things anyway you might as well earn some money back on your purchases.

We’ve got a full article on cashback websites here.

Magpie tip! ….

As well as doing your shopping through a cashback site, you can earn even more by paying for it with a cashback credit card. That way you can get cashback for the same product twice!

We like the American Express Platinum Cashback credit card – you get 5% cashback on all your spending for the first three months, and then up to 1.25% after that.

4. Get selling your things…

There are more ways than ever to turn your trash into cash using the internet.

eBay is probably the best -known site for selling your old stuff (we’ve got a no-nonsense guide to selling on eBay if you’re new to the site) but you might also consider eBid, which has the advantage of letting you list your things for free.

You could also check out Gumtree, which has a strong buy and sell section a little like the ‘Classified’ section in your local freesheet. For old books you could try Amazon to reach book lovers everywhere. You might think that you have nothing worth selling but you could be surprised!

It doesn’t just have to be your things that you sell. If you have extra space – like a driveway, garden or spare room – you could earn a respectable sum from renting your spare space. Just remember that if you have a regular income from renting your space, you will probably have to declare this on your tax return forms.

5. Get paid to shop

Getting paid to shop is surely every Magpie’s dream – and now it’s a reality thanks to Quidco!

Quidco, the UK’s number one cashback and voucher site has launched a brand new free mobile app which you get online here. It uses GPS to let you enjoy vouchers and money-off deals for shops and restaurants nearest to you.

Best of all, the app pays you for walking into a store or restaurant and ‘checking in’ via your smartphone. There’s absolutely no obligation to buy, so you really are getting money for nothing!

Click here and get paid to shop.

6. Find lost money

Rather better than odd pennies hiding down the back of the sofa (although these will add up nicely if you put them in a jar!), you can use Mylostaccount.org.uk to search for any dormant accounts you might have. It sounds strange to talk about ‘lost accounts’ but many people will have had accounts opened for them as children, lost the details of an account after moving home or perhaps even inherited the money in an account as a beneficiary of a will. The service is free so you won’t lose anything for checking it out!

If you’re a low earner, a parent or receiving income from a pension you could also be eligible for benefits ranging from regular payments, like Child Tax Credits, to one-off benefits like the Winter Fuel Allowance. The website Turn2us lets you check out whether you’re eligible for any benefits – just enter a couple of details, such as your council tax band and whether you have any savings, and see if you’re entitled to extra cash.

7. Recommend your friends

Get £6 every time you refer a friend to Groupon.

Each day Groupon offers amazing deals on great things to do, see and eat in cities across the UK. It’s based on ‘group buying power’ – because it can guarantee businesses a minimum number of customers, it can secure amazing discounts for all kinds of things – from restaurants to football match tickets.

Previous deals in London have included £25 for top-price tickets worth £60 to see West End musical Blood Brothers, and £1 to watch films at any Cineworld.

Once you’ve signed up – it’s completely free – you can recommend as many friends as you like, and if any of them go on to sign up, you’ll get £6 for each one who does. Just click the button at the top right-hand corner that says ‘Earn £6 now!’ The money will be credited to your account so you can use it towards your next purchase on the site.

To check out the site and sign up, visit Groupon here.

Plusnet – Earn by referring

Plusnet has consistently low prices for its broadband and they even cut your bills further if you refer your friends. You’ll get a discount off your monthly bill for every person that joins them on your recommendation, for as long as they are a customer. There’s no limit to the number of people that you can recommend – so you could get your broadband for free.

3 Mobile – share up to £90 with a friend

Recommend a friend to 3 Mobile and as a thank you they’ll credit each of your accounts. If your friend goes for a phone you both get £30. If they go for Mobile Broadband you both get £15. If they choose both, that’s £45 each.

Find out lots more ways you can earn by referring here.

Ooh, and…

Don’t forget to sign-up to our newsletter, online, as that is totally FREE and we send you new money-making ideas, links and competitions every week!. Sign up here.

Useful links

• Groupon - get £6 for every friend you refer
• Plusnet
• Mylostaccount.org.uk
• eBay 
• eBid
• Quidco