I’ve decided to post about the ways I either save money, make extra money, or get products for free. There are so many different ways I do this, that I will be spreading them out over a few different Fridays. I will only be posting about websites or companies that I have actually tried myself and can say with certainty that I trust and recommend. I most definitely will not be writing about anything I have not tried out myself.
This week I am going to be writing a review for Opinion Outpost. Opinion Outpost is a place where I take online surveys and get paid for it. You register for free, participate in online surveys, and earn points that can be redeemed for either cash (via a Paypal account), or rewards. You earn points for each survey you complete but you also earn a “prize draw” into their quarterly $10,000 giveaway. You can also redeem your points to give to charities as well.
To sign up click here.
I thought I would take some screen caps to really show how the process works and give you my honest feedback about the process.
This is your “dashboard”. It will give you a snapshot of how many points you currently have, how many entries you have into the quarterly prize draw, and how many points you have already redeemed for cash or prizes. You can see here I have already redeemed 1200 points since I began using Opinion Outpost about 2 months ago. 100 points= $10 so I have already earned $120 from the site.
Once you click on the “Take a Survey” button it will bring you to a “pre-qualifying” survey. This is usually questions like, what magazines you’ve read, your purchasing habits, food/drink habits or even medical conditions. They use your answers here to determine which surveys they want to give you.
Then they choose a survey for you and it pops up with how long it will take and how many points it is worth. I like this feature because if you don’t want to spend the next 30 minutes on the computer you can decline it. If you are ok with it then you click on “Start Survey”
Then you are taken to a survey which is usually given by an outside survey provider. The backgrounds will look different for each survey you take. They ask you more “pre-qualifying” questions. Be prepared to answers these types of questions every time you take a survey. You will get questions like your gender, age, marital status, highest level of education, race/ethnicity etc.
Then they ask you a few basic questions about they survey. For example, if the survey is about energy drinks, they will ask you when the last time you purchased an energy drink was, how often you drink them, the different brands you purchase etc. Then if those answers align with what they are looking for, you will continue to take the survey.
After the survey is over you are taken to this screen which has you rank the survey itself. Yes a survey about the survey you just took. (If you are still reading by the way, I commend you)
Then this screen pops up letting you know the survey is complete and you have been awarded the points. From there you can click on “Take another Survey” if you have time or “No thanks” if you want to exit.
Here is another example of how many points you can receive for one survey/how long it takes.
Sometimes after you answer some of the pre-qualifying questions you won’t actually qualify for the survey. For example, maybe you don’t buy energy drinks as often as they would like, or maybe they already have enough 30-year-old males who have taken that survey. If that is the case this screen will pop up letting you know you have been awarded a prize draw entry, but they won’t need you to take the survey after all.
This will happen A LOT. Don’t be frustrated with it though. Just know you weren’t right for that survey and there will be another one that you will qualify for soon.
Then once you have accumulated at least 100 points you can redeem the points for cash or rewards. I have only used the Paypal option to get cash for my points. I usually wait until I have about 200 or 300 points and cash out all at once for $20-$30 dollars. It sends it to my Paypal account almost instantly. From Paypal, I can transfer the money to my bank. Every transaction has always gone completely smooth and I have never had any kind of problem with cashing out. You can also redeem for amazon.com credit, iTunes credit, etc.
Occasionally they also do take-home product testing. Just a few week ago I was sent two samples of chocolate cake mixes to bake at home and then jump back online to evaluate. This week I was sent popchips to try. The products are completely free, including shipping, and all they want in return is your opinion. The take-home product testings are little bonuses added in that make you feel as if you have won something!
Basically, I love doing a survey here and there to get some extra cash, but this is not something you can quit your job for. If you compared how many points you can get in an hour vs minimum wage, they obviously don’t come close. But it’s easy, convenient, and I can do it when I have time. If I have a really busy day, I don’t even think about it. Otherwise a take a couple surveys a day and make some extra cash doing it.
If you are interested in joining you can join by clicking here.
And if you read all the way through this post you deserve a virtual hug!