Stephanie’s Top Five Survey Panels – October 2011

October was somewhat slow for me like previous months have been, but I did manage to complete a lot of surveys. I received a lot of different product test (including food and personal care products) and completed an Invoke focus group for $20.00 on a new survey panel I’m a member of called OneOpinion.My top earners for October include Opinion Outpost, OneOpinion, Valued Opinions, MySurvey, and Global Test Market. I earned very little from Toluna and SurveyHead last month, so they did not make the list. For the ones in my top five, I think I did pretty well, all things considering. Rankings are based mainly on what I earned for the month from each survey company, as well as the number of survey invites. Here are my current top five earners for October:

1. 1. Opinion Outpost
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $631.00
      • Total Earned in October: $20.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $53.30 check on September 30, 2011/li>
      • Joined: August 12, 2008

Here is screenshot of my last cash request payout for $53.30. I did fairly well with Opinion Outpost in October. I received several surveys a week paying about 10-25 points each and qualified for most of them. I took part in one product test and a breakfast diary survey, which gave me more points than usual. Unfortunately (for me, at least), Opinion Outpost just recently underwent some changes due to their merging with SSI (Survey Sampling International), which also owns Survey Spot (a survey company I don’t think very highly of and have not done well with for about a year). For me and many others, this is bad news. Survey Spot has gone downhill the past few years and now that Opinion Outpost is owned by the same company, this doesn’t give me a very good feeling. As for some of the changes to Opinion Outpost, the website layout has been changed to look very much like Survey Spot (except the colors and logo), there is now a prize draw for every survey you complete, and they now have PayPal with a $10 minimum payout. I really do like the PayPal option (payment is much quicker and I honestly hate dealing with cashing checks), so that is one thing I like. You do have to verify your account, though. Also, they have thankfully kept the Amazon.com reward option, which I have used a lot in the past. I have yet to cash out under the new system, but plan on doing so at the end of November. Also, thankfully, the reward structure is the same, so points are worth the same amount of money. I am very glad they didn’t change this and I hope it stays that way. Only time will tell how Opinion Outpost fairs with these new changes. I am really hoping they do not turn into Survey Spot (with all its low-paying surveys and technical problems), which is what I fear. So far, I’ve noticed a decrease in the number of surveys I’m getting and technical issues (such as the “Take a Survey” tab on the website not working sometimes) seem more prevalent (which is to be expected with the change). I am hoping to have more to report next month as I get more surveys from them and they work out the kinks in the new website. For now, I have updated all my profiles to see if that does any good and I get more surveys because of it.

1. 1. OneOpinion
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $27.00
      • Total Earned in October: $20.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $27.00 through e-mail on October 31, 2011 (pending)
      • Joined: August 19, 2011

OneOpinion is a new survey panel that I recently registered with in late August. Although I don’t get many surveys from them that pay a lot, I did receive an invitation for an Invoke focus group that paid $20.00, so that’s a good sign. The money was credited to my account within a week or so, which was pretty fast. I am in the process of cashing out with them (minimum cash-out is $25.00), but since they are a new panel, they are still working on automatic cash-outs. In the meantime, you have to email them to request a cash-out, which I’m currently waiting on. They seem like a good company and I hope I receive more Invokes from them in the future.

1. 1. MySurvey (merged with Lightspeed)
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $540.00
      • Total Earned in October: $15.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $25.00 Amazon.com gift card on September 20, 2011
      • Joined: October 22, 2008

Here is screenshot of my last payment request for a $25 Amazon Gift card. I’m still receiving a lot of surveys each week from MySurvey. I really do enjoy taking their surveys since they merged with Lightspeed several months ago. I qualify for the majority that I receive and I don’t find them super boring or long to complete. Technical problems are rare, too. I received a couple more product tests from them in October, as well. I’m close to cashing out again, so I will be doing that in November if all goes well.

1. 1. Valued Opinions
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $402.00
      • Total Earned in October: $12.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $20.00 Amazon.com gift card on September 22, 2011
      • Joined: September 5, 2008

Here is screenshot of my last payment request for a $20 Amazon Gift card. I earned several surveys a week from Valued Opinions in October, most of which I qualified for. Payment per survey ranged from $1.50 to $5.00. Most of the topics revolve around food and personal care products for me. Like MySurvey, I tend to enjoy taking their surveys, unlike some other survey panels. I like the layout of most of the surveys and I don’t find them super tedious or long in most cases. I’m very close to cashing out again, which I will be doing in November.

1. 1. GlobalTestMarket
      • Total Earned Since Joining: $368.00
      • Total Earned in October: $10.00
      • Last Payment Requested: $50.00 check on June 20, 2011
      • Joined: September 21, 2008

I received a lot more invitations from Global Test Market in October. Although I still have trouble qualifying for many of them, I did manage to get invited to participate in a few product test surveys and completed a few larger 60-point surveys. I am very close to cashing out, which will hopefully happen in November. I haven’t cashed out with them since June due to their $50.00 minimum payout (which I still greatly dislike), so it will be nice to be able to finally cash out again. Do you have a list of favorite survey panels? Please leave a comment below and let us know some of the survey panels that work best for you.

Want to increase your survey earnings? Join our e-mail list for exclusive tips from our survey experts.