Give your opinion on new ideas and get paid for it. What could be better? Well, getting the products to test, hearing about new products before anyone else, seeing new blockbuster film trailers before anyone else even knows about them... but hey, you get all those benefits too.
I've been using these for a couple of years, so I've grasped a good idea of what are the best and worst sites out there. Because I'm from the UK, these are mostly UK-based.
GLOBAL TEST MARKETEarn: 50 marketpoints per survey, sometimes 75 or 100
Redeem: 1000 marketpoints, which is approx. £25 received by cheque
Website: http://www.globaltestmarket.com
Have you actually received anything from them? Over £100
LIGHTSPEED PANELEarn: Typically, 110 points per survey
Redeem: A whole shop of redeemable products (or PayPal payments), I always get a £5 Amazon voucher for 550 points
Website: http://gb.lightspeedpanel.com
Have you actually received anything from them? Several £5 Amazon vouchers.
TOLUNAEarn: It really varies, it can be 2,500 points, or could be 10,000 points per survey. They also have quick votes for 15 points each, and you get a lot of chances to test out products.
Redeem: 60,000 points gets you an HMV voucher.
Website: http://www.toluna.com
Have you actually received anything from them? A couple of £12 HMV vouchers.
Those are my top three, but I also use the following sites.
VALUED OPINIONSEarn: On average, £1-2 per survey
Redeem: £10 in vouchers, you can choose between Amazon, HMV, Boots, Tesco, charity and many more.
Website: http://www.valuedopinions.co.uk
Why it's not in my top 3: It's definitely up there, but I just prefer the other three, ha.
Have you actually received anything from them? Yes, about £50 of vouchers
MYSURVEYEarn: Usually between 100 and 200 points
Redeem: You can automatically have your points transferred onto your Nectar card, but if you don't have one, you can redeem 1000 points for various things
Website: http://uk.mysurvey.com
Why it's not in my top 3: They're good, I don't get as many surveys from them as from other sites.
Have you actually received anything from them? Lots and lots of Nectar card points.
HOME OF RESEARCHEarn: Usually 100 points per survey, plus you get 50 points for each of the 6 sign-up sections you complete, plus a 50 point registration bonus.
Redeem: 2,000 points gets you a £20 cheque.
Website: http://www.homeofresearch.com
Why it's not in my top 3: I don't know enough about them yet, however I do get a lot of surveys from them.
Have you actually received anything from them? Not yet, I've not been with them for very long
IT'S YOUR VIEWEarn: Typically £1 (or 1 point) for every 5 minutes, it depends on the survey. Some can give you £4 when you complete a survey.
Redeem: Once you get 50 points, they send you a £50 cheque
Website: http://www.itsyourview.com
Why it's not in my top 3: I don't know enough about them yet, their website hasn't got the best interface in the world, the lowest payout is £50 which takes AGES to get...
Have you actually received anything from them? Not yet, I'm nowhere near £50!
CIAO SURVEYSEarn: It seems totally random. Like you can get 20 minute surveys worth 10p or £5. Sometimes it can be really good.
Redeem: Once you have something like £10, you can request a direct bank transfer of the money.
Website: http://www.ciao-surveys.co.uk
Why it's not in my top 3: Loads of the surveys have a shit incentive, so always look at what you're earning and only bother with the decent ones. They also seem to direct their surveys towards people who work in IT, so I rarely qualify for them any more. I'm considering resigning next time I receive money from them.
Have you actually received anything from them? About £20 or something
There are a whole load more out there, but these are the ones I know are decent. Others that I've tried but decided weren't very good (either because of incentives, limited qualification of surveys, not many surveys, etc) are Zoompanel, In Your Opinion, Online Opinions and Opinion People.
I'm also checking out Ipsos Panel and Just The Answer, I'll update with my verdicts if they're good...