Are paid survey websites worth it?

I think the dream for many of us out there involves a way to make a lot of money by doing very little. Many websites promise such a thing by offering cash in return for filling in surveys, but can you actually make any money that way, or is it just a waste of time?

The answer to that will depend on how much effort you're willing to put into making a few extra pounds a month and whether you have enough spare time to dedicate to it. It'll never be an alternative to employment so you do need some realistic expectations, but it is possible to make a bit of money. With that said - before signing up to any kind of online survey I'd strongly recommend setting up a dedicated email address as it'll stop survey invitations from clogging your main inbox and make everything a bit easier to keep on top of.

There are many different websites to try - some of the more popular ones are Toluna and YouGov. The amount of surveys that you will be eligible for will depend on many things, but in my experience living independently (having control over things like household bills, food shopping etc) generally helps. Younger students probably won't have as many options, although it pays to keep an eye out, as there were a couple of sites that were specifically catered to that age group while I was at uni (studentbeans was one of them, but they don't seem to have their panel anymore). Lecturers and PhD students also occasionally run experiments that offer money for taking part, so remember to check your student email regularly.

The issue with surveys is that they can quickly become boring; I think a lot of sites must depend on people getting tired of spending 40 minutes filling in surveys so that they don't have to pay out. A good way to counteract boredom would be to only fill in a couple per week, but then it'll take a lot, lot longer to see any kind of benefit. The best compromise I've found is Swagbucks. Yes, it has a terrible name, but it offers various different ways to get rewards. You can get a point per day for answering the daily poll and two for looking at their offers. You can get points for playing games, watching videos, doing 'tasks' (such as transcribing documents), and yes, surveys too. I went on Swagbucks obsessively for a few weeks and almost made enough to exchange my points for a £5 amazon gift card. Honestly, I don't have the patience to use it regularly, but if you do then you could easily make a bit of extra pocket money per month.

Another alternative to surveys is Qmee. It's an application that monitors your searches online and will occasionally pay you around 6p to click on one of their links. If I were to search for 'headphones' on Amazon, a little sidebar might appear with a few links (some might be worth more than others) to a place where I could buy something similar. All I would have to do is click on the link, and then go back to my original search. You still get paid even if you don't buy anything from the affiliated link. Even if you were very clever with your searches I doubt you could make much quickly, but I've made £9.91 after about a year of linking the odd link once in a while, which is the most passive way I've ever made a tenner!

I hope that this has been informative in some way if you weren't already aware of these kinds of sites and applications, or just wanted to know a bit more about what was out there. If anyone knows of any other ways to make a little extra money online, please share in the comments!