Is it all worth the effort? Mystery Shopping, Survey Filling, etc.?

thefrugalflirter

I'm a member of Ipsos, Onepoll & Swagbucks in particular, which seem to work best for me.
Definitely agree that it isn't a big money-spinner, but I like to do a few surveys / searches when I'm sat watching tv or having my breakfast - it's wasted time anyway, so I may as well get something out of it! I'm hoping to cover the cost of birthday presents / Christmas with my payouts from these this year, so to me it's worth it.

I don't do mystery shopping anymore, but when I did it definitely earned more than online surveys for the time it took - I would do a couple a month at fast food restaurants on my way to work = free breakfast and about £10 for my trouble, not bad for 15 minutes work!

Not_Another_Username

Thanks for this. I have already registered with a mystery shopping company. Not heard anything so far, but it might be early days.

I will post back as and when I can share anything useful about the surveys and/or the mystery shopping.

regards

John

Not_Another_Username

Just wanted to post a friendly word of warning regarding the online surveys:

When I registered with them, I was aware I needed to give details of our address, phone numbers, etc. I went to the trouble of opening a dedicated email account and the use of a second phone as I expected to receive a lot of spam.

While the spam hasn't really materialised (so far), our phones have been going crazy with calls requesting more surveys, offers of debt management, mobile phone companies selling phones, etc. In fact, the usual spammy type of calls we all know and love (not!).

I expected this would happen and it did. I was happy to accept this as, so far, the surveys appear to be going very well with a reasonable amount of money made and regular surveys, so it's kind of worth it, but do be aware that if you involve yourself with any of these online money-making schemes, you WILL have to EXPECT to receive some spam: We received five calls and texts from so-called debt management companies between 9am and 11am this morning alone, but the phones have been quiet for a few days. I am just hoping this doesn't lead to a constant bombardment of spammy calls. It's been quiet on the whole until this morning.

jules888

Ive done surveys for years now and am a member of lots of sites.
My fave is pinecone.As an early member i get £4 a survey .Cant beat that.
Use Valued opinions for Cineworld tickets.get to £8 quite quickly.
Like Ipsos and onepoll too.
Also your say pays but like onepoll you have to check these yourself,you dont get emails very much.
The advantage of being a member of many sites is you"re never far away from you"re next payout!

tallyhoh

I have been doing surveys for years with no problem. However a few weeks ago I applied for a cheque from mutual points. When it didn't arrive a raised a query with the. I now find I am unable to log in to the site & still no cheque or reply to my query. Looks like its happened to more people according to their facebook page

legogingerninja

I tried mystery shopping for a while and it was ok, if a bit of a faff. I've also tried survey sites, and neither YouGov nor Swagbucks seemed worth the huge amount of time and effort required to get enough for a payout.

I have had better results with competitions, cashback websites and used CD sites like Music Magpie and Zapper, in terms of earning a few quid. (eBay not so much - selling fees seemed to eclipse any profit I made on there)

Although it's only really pocket money, and economising on my spending seems to be a much easier way of sorting my income-outgoings ratio!

I agree with the person who suggested an extra part-time job, for those who are able. Much easier than spending forever clicking through most of a survey, only to be told at the end that you don't fit the demographic so your efforts won't be recorded!!!

robin58

DO NOT bother signing up with Crowdology.

Too many times I was offered a survey and then was rejected.

It is also very painful in time to effort ratio to be able to get to the level that you can withdraw the money.

Strange thing is the best survey company I have signed up to is Nectar Canvas.

You get paid in Nectar points onto one of their cards.

psouth

I use Toluna and get very frustrated when the points are removed as they have "expired". To make anything, you must do surveys regularly. I also get frustrated when I have completed 80% of a survey and they tell me I don't fit the criteria - cheeky B*****s, they have all the info they need!
Mystery shopping makes a contribution to an activity you would be doing anyway. Meals out are not fully covered but it does save a little. Bowling? If you're going anyway why not get a contribution? That sort of thing. I have obviously been "clocked" by a local eatery as their mystery shopper as whenever we go in there now we get outstanding service - even when I'm not spying :rotfl::rotfl:

sugarbaby125

I was with Toluna who paid me in Debenhams vouchers. Originally it was £15 vouchers, but then it was £30 vouchers. I made over £300 in one year, when I was desperate for an honest way to make extra money. For once in my life being a single mother with a young and older teenager paid off big time. I also was chosen to test so many products via the Surveys, that it felt like I was getting a delivery of free products every 2 weeks. Factor in all of the free products and I did very, very well in that year. But the downside, was that I had to keep meticulous records of my own to prove I had completed my Surveys, especially the really high points Surveys, as Toluna was always trying to dispute that I had completed the highest earner Surveys. Sometimes they tried to make out they had sent my vouchers to me, when I made a request for them, when they blatantly had not sent them out to me. After my last battle to get my last £30 Debenhams voucher, I never did another Survey again for Toluna. I sold my Debenhams vouchers in December on eBay and did very well on them. I hope my circumstances will never force me to make money in this way again as it was so mind numbing filling in Surveys, even the interesting ones on the up and coming films in the cinemas. I also know from online forums, that many, many people had a totally negative experience with Toluna, so in all conscience I do not feel I could recommend Toluna to you or anyone else, even though it worked extremely well for me for a year.

Thriftyknickers

I'm afraid this is all very sad but I kept a record of my 'extra income' in 2014 and its detailed below. It only shows what I was paid out in the year - so if I got to just under the payout for example, its listed as 0. I started doing this when I was on maternity leave and was worried about money and I've sort of kept it up - but I don't do as many surveys as I used to - or log on to MSE so much - I really do need to update my signature! Anyway I read this in the newsletter and thought this might help. So the ones I would particularly recommend are Topcashback (but no surveys); Quidco, Valued Opinions, My Surveys, Global Test Market and YouGov. And my favourite is Shop&Scan. Hope this helps!


Post Office Cashback £50.00; Topcashback £120.88; Powerpoints £10.00; Nectar Adpoints £2.80; Ipsos £20.00; Quidco £70.30; Valued Opinions £30.00; My surveys £51.00; Daily Mail £175.00; Shop&Scan £100.00; Amex Rebate £228.21; Metal Recycling £16.00; One Poll £40.00; Pure Profile £25.70; Rewarded Opinion, £0; OISE, £195.00; GlobalTestMarket, £60.00; Ebay, £31.85; Medical Leaflet, £15.00; Yougov, £50.00; One Poll +, £0; DBS Research, £15.68; Viewsbank, £6.32; Overtime, £937.56; Nectar Canvas, £0.70; Maximiles, £25.00; Visa Reward, £62.77; Total £2,339.77