Tuesday, 14 June 2016

Surveys

I had a lovely letter in the post yesterday.  It contained a cheque for £50.  At the moment I’m watching the pennies extra carefully so it was truly lovely.  It was from one of the companies whose on-line surveys I complete on a boringly regular basis.

I am registered with a lot of survey companies and each day I get seemingly dozens of invitations to complete surveys.   I get screened out of 95% of surveys even when I have been invited which is a bit disheartening.  Surveys can take up to forty minutes to complete and are normally paid in points which have to be collected (the value of points varies between companies) and when one has reached the payment threshold payment is made often by PayPal or in Amazon gift cards.  Some send BACs payments, others various gift cards.  That £50 cheque represented two years of filling in mindless questions for the company concerned although I reach most payment thresholds quicker than that.

If I were still working I don’t think I would bother with surveys as the rewards are too small and the time required too great but my earning potential in retirement is very limited and I do like to earn a little.  I reckon I earn about a pound an hour but I can do the job whilst watching TV or having a cuppa between other activities.  I occasionally get asked to test products like laundry detergent, face creams and “butter” spreads and have also done one on line focus group and I’ve been to a company’s head office to test their website as a user and those opportunities come through the survey companies. 


I reckon I average about £60 a month, enough to pay for an annual holiday.  And if there is WiFi available I still do surveys whilst on holiday!

7 comments:

  1. Well done. It all helps, if you don't mind the laborious surveys. It may be something I consider in the future.

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  2. I haven't found a lot over here (and I tend to get disqualified from a lot of them too) although I know they're out there. But the fact that you can fill out the surveys while watching TV, lounging, ect; I think it's a worthwhile thing to do. 60 a month is awesome because its 60 a month you wouldn't have had otherwise. Well done!

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  3. After my rant and your words of advice I think I'll not be perusing them for a while. Though 60 a month is nothing to ignore-I like that its holiday money for you.

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  4. I think it sounds like fun! I have tried but I am usually not picked -- my age I think. But, the money is nothing to sneeze at for sure.

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  5. I've tried but had very little success, the odd Amazon token but never £60!

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  6. Hi, I just came across you via 'Our Quiet Life in Suffolk' and was reading through a few of your older posts and came across this one. Would you mind if I ask you the name of a few of the sites you use for surveys? I'm always wary that I'm giving information to spammers or worse. Thanks for your help and I like your blog, will put you in my favourites now! x

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    Replies
    1. I've e mailed you privately and have just done a post to start to answer your query. Thanks for reading my blog.

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