You, as a consumer of goods and services, are empowered through the internet to influence decision-makers before they put something on the market only for it to fail. Political parties need to know what you think of their policies and personalities, McDonalds need to know what you want for breakfast, mobile phone makers want to know how much you use the internet on your cellphone, film studios want to know which cinema poster you think is cooler, and so on. Until the internet, you were in no position to have your say at the pre-production stage.
Best of all, these people will pay for you for your opinion. Survey companies are commissioned to sample all of our opinion, return the information back, and pass payment down to you. This payment will usually take the form of hard cash, gift vouchers (often for amazon), prize draw entries or freebies. We have never been let down by a survey company in terms of receiving payment or them selling on our email addresses for spammers. You can also close down your account with them at anytime, no questions asked.
We have divided this page into three sections: International surveys, for survey sites more widely available; limited country surveys, for those which allow five or less countries to join; and pay surveys, where you have to pay to join but should receive more and higher-paid surveys in return. The first two categories come with no risk, and its well worth signing up for one to gain a little extra income or test the water to see if you want to sign up for more. The final category is a little more controversial, you may want to read it before you hand over any money.
International
Toluna
Fantastic site, extremely popular. Sends out more surveys than any other free site, you can also earn points for quick votes and for all written opinions over 100 words. Some people spend all day on there, just voting and writing. Exchange points for vouchers for a number of companies, or tickets to a £1000 draw. As an added bonus, you can also test products which they let you keep. We ourselves have tested a memory stick, some cereal and mouthwash.
Ipsos Global ePanel
Earn iPoints and win prizes. A well established name in the business, very reliable and a good way to earn.
SpiderMetrix
Excellent young Aussie site. Earn Spiderpoints according to your status in the spider-community, exchange them for vouchers or cash, become a Spider today.
Permission Research
Become a member to help improve the internet, and get free screensavers, games and software in return.
YouGov
Usually pays around 50p for a short survey, but sometimes more. Lots of quality, sends you a cheque the moment you reach £50. The really great thing about this site is that it includes questions on politics, and is often used by the people in Parliament to find out what ordinary people think. To let them know how annoyed you are, sign up here.
SurveySavvy
Their members think they are the best out there. Very generous with payouts, but they are in US Dollars. Definitely one you should sign for, do it here.
PureProfile
Bills itself as the world's first reversed search engine, this website is incredibly slick and attractive. They don't send you emails, instead you click on your 'next button' (a fantastic innovation) whenever you want to earn some money. This will grow very quickly, sign up today.
Lightspeed International
Very popular with internet survey takers, mainly large cash prizes from sweepstake wins, you can sign up today for free.
American Consumer Opinion Panel
Please ignore the name, they are one of the most internationally-accessible survey companies. Paid straight in cash for your opinion, you'll earn some good extra side money from ACOP, click on the banner to sign up if you're interested.
Nielsen Netratings
Drive the future of the internet by reviewing websites. Lots of prizes to be won for doing so.
Limited Countries
Unique Rewards
Not just a survey site, you can also earn in lots of other ways, but the surveys are the best. USA only.
1 UK Survey
Change offers frequently, also a mix of survey and competition. Very simple, and a good chance of winning.
ECN Research
Win all sorts of very unique prizes by signing up with ECN Research. USA/Canada only
Free DVD Club
Complete a very quick two page survey and receive a free top-quality DVD of your choosing. A UK site
The Great UK Survey
Complete a 5 minute survey and get the chance to win £5000. Lot more to it though, they also give away lesser weekly prizes. Earn more entries for completing more surveys, it really is that simple.
Survey4profit
American company, but open to Brits. Very quick surveys, usually quite interesting, pay good money.
Centre for Consumer Interest
Loads of different prizes. Get £5 for completing their opening survey. The UK's leading consumer research company, taking in information from over 30,000,000 Britons already. Sign up to become one of their leading consultants.
Whatdoyouthink.com.au
The leading free Australia - only survey site.
Pay Surveys
We haven't personally signed up for any pay survey databases. We do know its a sector usually thought of negatively and many people who experiment with it end up feeling scammed. You won't make as much money as they advertise as you have to get through their demographic net first, not always easy if you are outside the US. Other complaints include are that they don't have as many paying customers as advertised, are slow to update their databases to ensure valid companies and working links. Some also demand additional fees and have poor customer service.
Yet they remain popular with many people. This is because they do pay you, they often offer you generous bonuses to sign up and usually have a moneyback guarantee. They are also, unlike free survey sites, more a way to make a full-time living than some extra money on the side. Additionally, some run schemes where you could get paid to drive and shop. They also offer more variety in the ways to earn, like phone surveys, watching film trailers, and focus groups ($75-$150, apparently). Its free to browse from the list of what we believe to be the best available below, but be vigilant.
The best we could recommend are highestpaysurveys.com, Surveyhawk (UK-based), Surveycity.net, Paid-Surveys-at-home and PaidSurveysOnline.
Just to reiterate, we do not have personal experience of these sites, but of the pay survey opportunities, after researching thoroughly and consulting their members, these are probably the top five. You can probably match or even better earnings from these sites by signing up for all the free sites.
PaidSurvey.com.au
An Australian - only pay survey site.
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