Is American Consumer Opinion Worth It?
Went I came across this website, I presumed this would be a platform solely for Americans – but turns out that’s not the case.
If you’ve been wondering whether this place is worth your time, or whether it’s even legitimate…. I decided to check it out and will give you my frank opinion about it.
If you’ve had some experience with this site that you’d like to share, please let me know in the comments.
American Consumer Opinion Review – Key Info:
What is it? An online paid survey panel.
What does it cost? It’s free.
Who is it for? People who enjoy doing online surveys & can make a small amount of money in the process.
Is it worth it? I’m unsure about this one right now! It looks like there has been an increase in negative feedback in the last couple of years, which I will explain further down.
If you’re looking for a money making opportunity, you won’t make very much at all using survey panels.
And I’m even talking about the ones that I do recommend.
But if you just enjoy doing online surveys & are happy to get a small amount of money in return, then you may still enjoy them.
However, in this particular case, some negative feedback I’ve seen makes me have some doubts about how reliable this survey panel is.
Want to make $100’s or $1000’s per month online? Survey panels won’t get you there. This training helped me to make my first $1000+ online per month.
What Is American Consumer Opinion?
This website is a long-standing survey panel, that happens to be available Worldwide.
Although, as with most websites of this sort, it has got some mixed reviews over the last several years now – seemingly with a peak in 2018.
Some people have also complained that there are a lack of reviews and that the amount you actually make, just isn’t worth the time that you invest into it.
Some have also complained about it taking too long these days to actually get paid; that the customer service has been lacking; or that they haven’t been credited for surveys they’ve completed.
How Do Survey Panels Work?
If you’ve never taken a paid survey before – each one just consists of simple questions, where you share your experience or opinions on particular topics.
The topics you’re asked about are going to depend on what company is wanting the info.
Many businesses get a lot of value out of conducting research like this, because it’s a low-cost way for them to get feedback from the public.
By doing so, they can potentially increase their profits. By getting the right information, from the right people.
This is why you’re never going to get accepted for every single survey that comes up.
You may even get rejected from more surveys than you get accepted for.
This is because companies are often looking for a narrow demographic.
For example; a company may be looking for feedback from women in their 20’s that earn under 20,0000 per year and work in a particular industry!
So, the companies pay the survey companies, (like this one) to find people like you to help conduct their research and the survey panel pays you a fraction of the commission that they make for the sale.
So, it’s pretty much a win-win situation for all involved… when it works!
If you want a panel that never chucks you off a survey, try Prolific.
When Did American Consumer Opinion Start?
I was surprised to discover that this is actually one of the longest standing panels around.
It was around before they even HAD online surveys, it was originally done by mail in the 80’s.
They actually initially started in 1986.
It was also originally in the US, so you’d be forgiven for thinking it was solely a US opportunity when you consider the name.
However, over time they have branched out and made it available from people all over.
According to their stats, they have over seven million panelists on their books at this time and have paid out over 30 million dollars.
Although, also take note that 20 million surveys have successfully been taken – making each survey worth around $1.50 if they were all valued equal.
How Do You Get Started With American Consumer Opinion?
If you’d like to check it out for yourself, thankfully it is free to do so and also quick to do as well.
You first need your name and email address.
The next step is to answer some general questions relating to your age/employment/education and so on.
They also ask for your full address, which I think is pretty unnecessary, (many panels let you sign up without all these details).
However, the other profiling questions are pretty standard.
Once you’ve filled out your basic info, you are a member.
You may be disappointed that there are no surveys upon sign up unfortunately.
From this stage you need to wait and you will be emailed opportunities directly via email.
Are There Other Ways To Make Money From American Consumer Opinion?
Of course the standard way is going to be to take surveys, but there seems to be some other ways you can potentially make money as well.
However, there are a couple of variants on this platform:
1) is your regular surveys, or the others are smaller mini surveys.
With your regular survey, they shouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes and you earn points for completing the survey, which you can exchange for rewards later on.
You can expect to make around 50-500 points a survey, (the lower amount being more realistic) and you’ll need 1000 points to redeem any gift card or payment – the minimum being $10.
Points wise 100 points = $1.
The screener surveys, on the other hand, are the quick ones!
Each screener will have a small amount of questions and you can get through them far more quickly.
You can get up to 50 points for these, or as low as 5 points.
Alternatively, there may be some other reward instead – like an entry into a draw.
2) Review Banner Ads:
This is something I’ve not seen before.
But here you actually can give your feedback about banner Ads.
Obviously you will have come across them on various websites and blogs, (including this one!)…
But here, you get to share your opinion about it and this will help advertisers to improve their Ads and get more click-throughs.
3) Product Testing:
This one is going to be really rare and it’s another unusual feature of a survey panel like this.
Actually, a lot of “product testing,” type offers are usually scams, fishing for your information.
But that’s not always the case and isn’t here. This is where you could potentially be sent an item to give feedback on and review.
I actually did this before for another company.
I had to try out a kitchen appliance and then throw a mini home party with it and take photos and so on…
However, after the event, I was allowed to keep the item!!
Often these things are quite expensive, so you could get to keep something that’s worth several hundred dollars to buy.
You won’t always be able to keep the product though and could just be rewarded for your time.
4) Affiliate/Referral Program:
This isn’t your standard survey referral program that you can just hop on to, by the looks of it.
However, that’s quite good because with most survey referral reward schemes, you’re paid a percentage of your referrals earnings.
But since most referrals never actually take action, or take limited action, you could get hundreds of referrals and make hardly anything money wise.
In this particular case though, to become an affiliate you need to sign up via the affiliate network Shareasale.
Once you’re accepted, you can earn $1 for every person that fills out their profile and apparently their conversion rate is 20-25%
Shareasale is an affiliate network that I’m a member of, that houses multiple affiliate programs and it’s a decent one to join.
Affiliate marketing is one way I make money with my own blog and it is one of the key ways that bloggers, website owners and social media influencers earn money.
How Much Do You Need To Cash Out?
it’s a $10 cash-out threshold and you can get a pay out via many different ways – including PayPal and check.
You can also get Sweepstake entries – you can also donate to charity, which seems like a popular new way to cashing out these days.
But what about some of the good vs bad points about this place?
Pros & Cons
PROS:
- FREE to Join,
- Been around for many years,
- Worldwide membership available,
- Only $10 cash-out,
- Various pay-out methods,
- A few different ways to make money.
- PayPal payment available.
Cons:
- Many complaints regarding the length of time it takes to get paid,
- Minimum surveys,
- You’re not going to make much,
- limited product testing opportunities,
- Some people have complained payout takes a long time.
Other Feedback Online For American Consumer Panel:
I was surprised to see such a large amount of negative reviews on Surveypolice.com – check out the image below.
As you can see above – 58% of the reviews and close to 200 reviews, are only one star!!
That’s a pretty shocking percentage.
Some of the complaints included….
- not being awarded points,
- negative customer service experiences,
- payments pending for months,
- apparently it take 8-12 weeks to get paid via PayPal, (why?),
Most of the most recent negative reviews, involve not being paid.
One Sitejabber.com there are only a small number of reviews and an average of three stars – although a majority are actually one star.
Many people seem to say that the survey panel used to be a good company years ago, but has changed in more recent years.
Much of the negative feedback seems to have been in 2018 and less feedback overall in 2019.
Looking for paid surveys? Try this 10!
Unfortunately, this doesn’t look like a panel I’d like to recommend at this time, despite it’s longevity.
I think a lot of the older survey panels are going to get left behind, as other more exciting platforms emerge over time.
With many survey panels incorporating many ways to make and save money, such as Swagbucks – it makes many panels look old fashioned.
One of the most surprising things I found about this panel was, they say on their homepage that you may only participate in a several surveys….. per YEAR! (See below).
The idea of signing up to a panel – where you may only be sent a survey once in a blue moon, just seems crazy to me at this time, when there are an abundance of surveys elsewhere online.
No wonder people don’t feel it’s worthwhile to them.
Beyond Survey Panels:
If you want to make $10, $20, or perhaps even $50 every month or so, then it’s feasible that you could do it with a combo of survey panels online.
However, the reason you look for legit survey panels, is probably for the same reason I first did!
I was looking to make extra money for my family online and I also knew some other people doing it….
To me, even $50 a month seemed like a reasonable goal that could help me!!
But I didn’t understand initially quite just how much work it would take to make any money from survey panels!!!
Anyway, now I’ve tried various side hustles and am sticking to some of the things I enjoy the most.
My highest paying side hustle right now is still my blog/website and I make money via Ads that you can see on my site & affiliate marketing.
If you want to learn how – I got started from scratch right here.
I hope you found this American Consumer Opinion review useful – please leave a comment below if you’d like to share your experience!
Many thanks!
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