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

Teacher2

In a word, no. The time and effort of filling in the questionnaires is not justified by the rewards. In most cases you will spend 5 - 10 minutes filling in the demographic profile only to be told you are not suitable for the survey which is, frankly, a high handed insult and a waste of your time. Try selling things on E-bay instead. my daughter has made about a hundred pounds since Christmas selling off unused and unwanted items. I have sold a couple of items for cash in the local paper's free online ads.

woodmally1979

Not_Another_Username wrote: »

A quick intro:

My wife and I have a small amount of debt but we are generally managing things well enough. A little extra money is always a good thing, so we decided to give the Paid Survey thing a go and have also put in for a spot of Mystery Shopping. We don't expect to make a lot of money but we wondered if these things were really worth the effort.

Personally, I have registered with Ipsos i-Say, Swagbucks, Crowdology and Panel Opinion. I haven't been successful with pinecone so far, as expected. I don't expect these companies to throw money at us and I am sure I will need to fill in a lot of surveys before payents start to appear. As a target figure I wondered if the form fillng might bring in a few £100 in a year. I expect that will take a fair few 100s of surveys but I expect there will be a fair amount of repetition of survey topics if so. I expect we will need to throw in a few other money-making/point-scoring tasks to make it pay.

What we don't want to be doing is living on our computers and finding out we've earned only a few £s.

If it's fun and worth doing then we'll probably stick at it. Hopefully we'll find some good tips and tricks here and will happily return the same should we discover any ourselves which are worth sharing.

Thanks and best wishes!

John

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Firstly I do it as a part time hobby and have been for a few years now. I earn an average of about £3 per day minimum. Some days I earn more however most survey companies dont pay out straight away. So I record how much I earn daily on a spreadsheet.

Sounds like your on the right track however there are some survey companies that I use that are good

https://www.yougov.co.uk is really good if you like to express opinions about politics and they earn between 25p and 50p even a £1 sometimes and there is no screenout.

https://www.globaltestmarket.com is good there is a screen out but you can earn £0.90 per survey.

Also for small amount of work and short earnings

https://www.onepoll.com and https://www.yoursaypays.co.uk short surveys but they earn 10p and 20p (they are really quick surveys too not too consuming).

I also do competitions too you can earn some good prizes you can either sell or keep.

I use https://www.prizefinder.co.uk and the forum on here is good.

Dont let it rule your life but it can earn you some money.

Not_Another_Username

Thanks for the additional comments and advice. All appreciated.

After giving the surveys a fair crack I have decided to pull out of them. In my personal experience I found the money was not coming in as quickly as I would have liked. I know it's regarded by some as well below the minimum wage, etc., but I had expected to see a better return.

After filling in quite a few surveys for Crowdology and Ipsos-Mori, the amounts just weren't increasing at all sometimes, then I realised that some of the surveys were offering prize draws as an incentive, rather than points, which of course you can turn into cash or Amazon Gift Vouchers, etc.

The final straw was when I was nearing completion of a rather complicated and lengthy survey in which I was singing the praises of our internet provider, when the connection dropped! Irony?

There was also an ever-increasing number of 'unsuitable' surveys, where I did not meet the criteria.

As for the Mystery Shopping, I still haven't received a response from any of them.

So that's the concluding post on the matter from me. I gave it a try and it sort of worked at times, but not very well. After filling in quite a few surveys and spending hours on the computer doing so, I have amassed a grand total of £2.40, which I can't claim.

Goodbye surveys!

bargainbetty

Slightly off the wall suggestion, but what did you do before you became a carer? Is there anything you can do from home?
http://www.fivesquid.com/ is a site where you can offer a service (check it out, as there are some quite random ones) for a fiver a time. I think there are £10 and £20 versions as well.

You could also look into proof-reading or virtual support services - widen the range, depending on your previous skills.

Not_Another_Username

Hello bargainbetty.

I used to be an international linguist operator for a well-known telecomms company, then I spent 11 years working as a producer in the music industry.

Thank you for the proof-reading suggestion. That sounds like a really good idea. Although I am no higher than 'O' level grade regarding English studies, my spelling is good and my grammar, well, hopefully acceptable. Definitely worth investigating.

I haven't heard of the fivesquids website, so thanks again. I am taking a close look now.

Thank you again!

John

GaleSF63

I started doing surveys a few years ago when I had more time than money; Ipsos, Mysurvey, YouGov and another I can't remember.

Although YouGov took a long time to build up points, it's the only one I still do as I got fed-up of being slung off the others after I'd spent time on them.
YouGov never do this. As someone said, they can be repetitive (if there was a general election tomorrow who would you vote for? is a favourite) but it does mean you can become very quick at them. I get through them at a much faster rate now than the time they suggest it will take.

Also I think I am unsuitable for a lot of their surveys so I don't get as many as other people do so you might be luckier.

If you sign up for ones that give alternative rewards - vouchers for different shops, or money, compare them carefully because the value can be different. When I was doing them, Amazon vouchers were the best value.

YouGov only pay out when you get to £50. It may take a while but if you don't spend too much time on them when it comes it's £50 you wouldn't otherwise have had.

sourcrates

I remember signing up to a couple of survey sites, can't remember there names now, I found I spent hours filling in the same old repetitive rubbish only to be told at the end of everyone, that I was the wrong demographic.

I then realised I had a very important, recently painted wall, I just had to watch dry !!

Never did another survey, took up decorating as a hobby instead !!!!

ellesbellesxxx

I do Valued Opinions and have worked out I get a 10 pound payout every other month... so averages 1.25 a week! I don't always get to all surveys on time though if I am at work.
I did onepoll but took 2 years for the 40 payout so haven't done that again.
I am a teacher so get surveys/focus groups from www.schoolzone.co.uk from time to time too - they pay a lot better and if you are sent a survey you are guaranteed the 2 pound pay out - they pay when you get to 26 pounds in your account.

zenshi

Not the huge money spinner people hope for for me worth the effort. I'm eating out 6 times in the next fortnight.....all free.

psionicman2000

I get £50 a month and a few £10 amazon vouchers a month doing all the surveys listed on the site