What Is The OpinionPanel About?
OpinionPanel, (not to be confused with another site called Online Panel NET) is a paid survey site that has the unique feature of being aimed specifically towards young people – aged from 16-30 in the UK.
Many people are not really sure whether you can make money with sites like this.
Partially because there are people out there that really hype up the earning potential of survey sites in general.
So, maybe you just stumbled across the OpinionPanel community by chance and are wondering….. Is OpinionPanel a scam?
Well, thankfully, OpinionPanel is a legit platform and you really can earn rewards for sharing your opinions.
But how!?!
Stick with me and I will explain exactly how you can go about earning rewards with this website and whether it’s worth your time.
I’m not affiliated with OpinionPanel at all, so all the thoughts I share are my own and you can make up your own mind!
Company: OpinionPanel
Income potential: £1-4 per survey, (100-400 points), focus groups, (£30-£70), and £10 just for signing up.
Overall Rating: LEGIT! OpinionPanel is a legitimate online paid survey company, where you can make a little pocket money for completing surveys and other tasks.
They have a really good sign-up incentive too, (£10!).
A downside to this platform is, you do need to make £25 before you can cash out.
However, you get £10 just for signing up, which will help you on your way.
In addition, you get 1000 points, (£10) every time you redeem a £25 shopping voucher… so, you never actually start on zero!
Tip – if you want to make 100’s or 1000’s of pounds per month, paid surveys won’t work! You can learn to make more here.
How Does OpinionPanel Work?
Below is a quick video explaining what OpinionPanel is about:
In addition to surveys, you also get the opportunity to take part in focus groups – which may pay between £30 and £70.
However, these focus groups will be a rare event for many.
With so many young people being a bit short of cash – survey sites are very popular among them, as a way of possibly generating a bit of extra pocket money.
So, the fact that this site is aimed at young people, seems like a good idea.
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Once you register with opinion panel, you get a £10 bonus for signing up. This is a good way to get started and motivate you to continue.
However, you will have to reach a £25 threshold before you can actually get your cash out.
Unlike many survey related sites, they do also compensate you if you get screened out of a survey, by putting your name in a prize draw for a kindle,
As I previously mentioned, you will also get a 1000 point bonus, (£10) EVERY time you take out a £25 shopping voucher.
How Much Do You Make Per Survey With OpinionPanel?
Once you sign up, you’ll need to wait for surveys to be sent to you.
There has been some criticism that there is a lack of surveys, however the number of surveys OpinionPanel has have gradually been on the increase over the last few years now.
For each survey you complete, you make between 100-400 points per survey, (£1-£4) but surveys should not be longer than 20 minutes tops.
Once you’ve reached the £25 threshold, you are able to exchange your points for a variety of gift cards.
Amazon vouchers tend to be the most popular – and it’s my favourite way to redeem points via reward sites too.
Want a £3 Sign-Up Bonus? Try This Panel!
There isn’t a cash option at this time, so you will need to stick with shopping vouchers.
Many people are just fine with that – Amazon has so much available now, that it can be useful to use vouchers towards things like, Birthday or Christmas presents.
You can also get paid extra, for partaking in longer discussions about products or services.
There is also the chance to win prizes, such as Ipads or Kindles.
Focus Groups With Opinion Panel:
If you’re lucky, you can also get paid more to partake in focus groups.
You can be paid for these via Paypal or shopping vouchers.
Focus groups may be completed online – or rarely, face-to-face.
You can earn up to £70 for partaking in focus groups and this would be the best way to make money with OpinionPanel, if you got accepted.
Focus groups will generally last somewhere between one hour and an hour and a half.
If the group discussion is related to a product, you may be sent the product in the post to try out too – so, that could be an additional freebie.
Rarely, you could also make up to £100 to partake in certain online groups too.
This will normally involve logging into the group and participating in interviews and tasks – relating to a particular product.
These online groups may last from between one week, to one month.
Write For OpinionPanel?
If you are a keen writer, you may want to attempt to write for the opinionPanel blog.
You need to think of something that reflects current issues and that you think would interest Opinion Panel readers.
Your post would need to be under 700 words… but if they pick you, you can make £50! Worth a go?
PROS VS CONS
PROS
- £10 just for signing up.
- £10 EVERY time you redeem a £25 shopping voucher.
- Focus group opportunities for more money.
- Fairly short surveys.
- Prize draw entries if screened out.
- Possibility of writing for them, £50.
- Attractive design and layout.
CONS
- £25 payout threshold is quite high, in comparison to many competitors. It will take you sometime to reach the payout threshold!
- Low earning potential – but that’s the case with all survey sites!
- Regular screening-out/not qualifying, (again, common with ALL survey sites).
- Some people have complained there are not enough surveys, this should be improving.
Online Reviews For OpinionPanel:
This company has a pretty good reputation online, with plenty of positive feedback & reviews.
On Feefo at the time of writing, OpinionPanel has an average of 4.4 stars and over 1200 reviews.
However, there are a few common complaints online about them:
These are: that not enough surveys are sent out, screening out rates are high and that the £25 threshold takes a long time to reach.
“screening out,” means that you start a survey but as some point are thrown off because you don’t qualify.
Screening out is a major problem with a majority of survey sites, so this is no surprise.
While OpinionPanel provide kindle prize draw entries to people that are screened out, it’s not much in the way of compensation when your time has been wasted.
(opinion panel complaint – source)
(opinion panel complaint – source)
As far as lack of surveys, I have been assured that the number of surveys available have been increasing in recent years.
However, whether you will be sent surveys is going to depend on a variety of factors, including whether you are a good match for the survey and fulfill the criteria they’re after.
So, how many surveys one person receives, will vary and won’t be identical from person to person.
So, What Is OpinionPanel – Scam Or Legit?
As I’m sure you’ve already gathered from this post, OpinionPanel is not a scam.
It’s a legit site for young people – who want to earn a small amount of money online.
It’s definitely one of the better sites available in the UK right now.
There is also the possibility of focus groups, that can earn you more than simply taking surveys.
While it’s a nice idea to have sites aimed at students and that the £10 incentive is a good one, ultimately the £25 is still probably going to take you several months to achieve.
At the end of the day, completing paid surveys online, is not going to bring you in anything like a reasonable income on the side.
It may take you a long time to build up enough to withdraw just £25 in shopping vouchers…!!
So, unless you really enjoy completing surveys, (and many people do!) then there are better ways to make money online.
With the added screening out issue, the length of time it takes in reality to complete a survey, can often be even longer than you expect.
Because, you will often have to keep attempting surveys and aren’t always able to complete them.
As I review a lot of ways to make money online, survey sites are always going to be low down on the list in terms of earning potential.
But I appreciate that some people find them an enjoyable way to pass the time.
If you haven’t already, check out some of my top extra income sites here.
The main one I still use daily is Swagbucks, because their free browser extension pops up with cashback offers whenever I’m on a website that offers it.
Plus, you can earn points daily for using their search engine, which is useful.
Beyond Survey Sites – Making More Online?
The reality is, many thousands of people are making both full and part time incomes online.
The best possible time you can start building your income online, is when you’re a student.
By the time you graduate, you could potentially be making a full-time income online.
One of my favourite ways to make money online is via affiliate marketing, as it involves no direct selling, no customer service, no postage and no returns!
It’s also very cheap to get started with it – so, a good gateway online if you’re on a budget. You can learn about it for free here.
Do you have much experience making money online – what have you tried so far?
Let me know in the comments!
All the best,
stefan says
Hi Nat, great opinion panel review! Thanks for that. I started making money online with surveys but I realised this was consuming hours of my day for just a few bucks. The fact that you are screened out too often is really discouraging in the long term.
That’s why I decided to give affiliate marketing a shot and I feel glad for taking a first step to build my website. Almost two year later, my site earns me 5x more in passive income every month. Meaning that if I don’t touch my site for a while, the money will certainly keep coming. This is really powerful stuff.
Best wishes
Stefan
Nat says
Hi Stefan – yep getting screened out of surveys is often a huge problem with a majority of sites and it’s really frustrating. That’s why I still recommend Swagbucks– as you can at least earn in other ways, such as just using their search engine.
Ultimately though, it’s better to build up something long term rather than spending much time on survey related sites. – while the work is very hard at first, later down the road you are rewarded for your efforts.
Harriet says
The most frustrating thing about opinion panel is it just leaves me feeling scammed, because as soon as I’ve reached £24 worth, I haven’t been offered a survey in months! They obviously just want your data without paying up.
Nat says
That’s interesting to know Harriet – thank you very much for your feedback.
I have heard this happening before — not just with this survey site, but many others – unfortunately :(.
Good for people to know! Thanks for your comment, Nat
mark carthy says
I used to receive surveys on the regular. As soon as I became 100 points from the minimum payout the surveys dried up. So far it seems a scam
Nat says
Hi Mark, I do hear people saying that quite regularly about survey sites but OpinionPanel is a legit site, sometimes there are just less surveys – but let me know if you manage to get through it.