How to pay money from a virtual Mastercard into your PayPal/bank account.

Online rewards sites have a whole variety of ways in which you can cash-out. Most of them offer payment via PayPal and/or gift vouchers.

But some of them also offer the option to cash-out via virtual Mastercard. The great advantage of this is you can spend the money on any site which accepts Mastercard (which is plenty) and, sometimes, it's more lucrative to cash-out by claiming a virtual Mastercard than doing so via PayPal.

For instance, Swagbucks will currently give you a £10 PayPal reward for 1600 points but they'll give you a £10 virtual Mastercard for just 1440 points. Clearly, it therefore makes sense to cash-out via virtual Mastercard rather than PayPal.

There's only one problem.

And that's that not every business accepts Mastercard payments and you can't pay a virtual Mastercard directly into your bank account. Clearly, a work-around is needed.

Fortunately, there is one. And that's that you can transfer money from a virtual Mastercard into your PayPal account and then pay that money into your bank account.

The way to do it is to log in to your PayPal account and, there, send a payment request to an email address you have that isn't linked to your PayPal account.

That done, log out of PayPal. Open the email account you just sent the payment request to, open the invoice PayPal has just sent to it and, through that, choose the option of paying without a PayPal account. Fill in the details of the virtual Mastercard then submit the payment.

Now, log back in to PayPal and you should find the money's been transferred into your PayPal account. PayPal will help itself to a small percentage of the payment, as a fee, but you'll still be better off than if you'd cashed out directly to PayPal.

By using this method, you squeeze that tiny bit more money out of your Swagbucks activities than you otherwise would have. And, of course, you don't have to use it just for Swagbucks. You can use this method for any site that gives a more generous payout to those cashing-out via virtual Mastercard.

Flash Render Quality changer. When you want to reduce the video strain on your computer.

I've mentioned before that there are various sites, like EarnHoney, Earnably, Perk, Branded Surveys and Swagbucks, which pay you to watch videos.

There can, however, be a problem with that.

And that's that some of the videos on such sites can use Flash, which means they may put a hefty strain on your computer, your browser and your RAM, slowing your machine down and causing it to heat up.

Fortunately, if you use Google Chrome, there's a way to help reduce that problem - and that's to add an extension called FRQc (Flash Render Quality changer) to it. Once that's on there, you can use it to choose the quality level of  any Flash-based videos that are playing in your browser and, therefore, reduce the level of strain they're putting on your machine.

Having had such videos bring my laptop grinding to a near-halt in the past, I know how useful such a feature can be. Therefore, you can find Flash Render Quality changer at the Google Chrome Web Store. This isn't an affiliate link and I won't make any money from you using it.

Curious Cat. The quick-paying survey app.

Curious Cat is a survey app I've just downloaded to my phone and given a quick try-out to.

It offers surveys from sources that'll be familiar to all regular survey takers, such as Samplicio and the somewhat unfortunately named Cint and is a quick, easy and no-nonsense way to do them.

As with all sites that offer such surveys, rewards are variable. Some are clearly generous and some aren't really worth bothering with. It all depends on how much time you're willing to spend earning a particular amount of money.

There's also the familiar problem of getting screened out of surveys, which clearly happens a lot.

Having said that, the ones I tried screened me out almost instantly, so at least not much time was wasted.

But easily the main selling point for Curious Cat is that you only need to earn £1 in order to cash-out, which is done via PayPal, and you receive your money almost instantly.

In the half hour since I downloaded it, I've earned 45 pence, so I've still got a way to go before a cash-out. From reviews I've seen online, it seems there are no problems with Curious Cat stumping up the money it owes you, so I'd see the app as being promising. I'll post more information as I have it.

Curious Cat is available for both IOS and Android. You can find out more and get the app by going to the official Curious Cat site, right here. This isn't a referral link, so I won't make any money if you use it.

Payment method: PayPal. Minimum payout: £1. Time for payouts to be processed: Instant. My rating: Too early to say yet but intriguing. DOWNLOAD CURIOUS CAT.

Prolific Assistant. Make sure you never miss out on a Prolific study again.

As I've mentioned before, by far my favourite, "survey," site is Prolific, which pays you to take part in academic research studies, mostly of less than half an hour in length. The studies are usually interesting and, generally, have a healthy pay rate.

There is, however, one problem with Prolific, and that's that it hardly ever emails you to let you know there are studies available. On top of that, studies are often snapped up within minutes of appearing, meaning you can miss out on them completely.

To get round this problem, you can always have the site's Studies page permanently open, with Super Auto Refresh set to reload the page every minute or so. However, that isn't necessarily the most convenient of things and, if everyone does it, it's in danger of slowing the site down to a halt.

Fortunately, there is a better way. And that's to use Prolific Assistant, an extension to your browser, which alerts you whenever a Prolific study's available. At the moment, Prolific is testing a new Beta version of its site, which isn't yet, it seems, compatible with Prolific Assistant. However, the extension still works fine with the old version of the site and I'd assume the extension will be updated to work with the new version of the site before too long.

If you do use Prolific Assistant, make sure to have it set to listen for changes to Prolific at intervals of more than 60 seconds, so that it doesn't put too much strain on the site's servers, which could cause problems with page loading.

Prolific Assistant is highly recommended and you can get it by going to the Google Chrome Web Store. Rest assured that's not a referral link and I won't make any money from you using it.

This, however, is a referral link. Use it to sign up to Prolific and both you and I could make money from it.

AppTrailers. Make money from ignoring videos.

AppTrailers is an app associated with Perk, a rewards site I've not mentioned before, and it's an app that pays you to watch videos.

Or, at least, it pays you to watch the ads that play between the videos.

The good news is you don't actually have to watch either the videos or the ads because it has no way of knowing whether you're watching or not.

Once you've downloaded AppTrailers to your phone, launched and registered it, you'll be given a choice of video channels to watch and then you can just start them playing. Of its various channels, I'd recommend Rapid Reviews, as its videos are short.

Around every half an hour or so, a message will appear, on-screen, asking if you're still paying attention. You click, "Yes," and the app continues playing.

One of the things you quickly notice is that, as the day progresses, you get paid less and less for each video you watch, until it stops paying at all. Therefore, it's best to check, from time to time, to make sure it's still crediting. If it's not, simply close it down for the day and then resume tomorrow.

You can also earn on AppTrailers by doing its Daily Quiz. The questions are of variable difficulty but are multiple choice. The quiz doesn't pay hugely but it adds a few more points to your daily total.

The amount of money you can make from AppTrailers can vary wildly. Some days, I make 50-70 pence from it. Other days, I'm lucky to make 10-20. It all depends on how many ads are available, and that depends on such factors as the day of the week, time of year and also where you happen to be.

Still, whatever the inconsistency, it's money for doing nothing and, so, I'd say it's well worth trying.

You can get AppTrailers for both Android and IOS by going to the AppTrailers homepage, via this this link. This isn't a referral link, which means I'll make no money from you using it.

Vivatic. It does a bit of everything.

In my nightmarish quest to investigate online money-making opportunities, I've just signed up with a site called Vivatic. It's far too early for me to pass judgement on it but I can at least described what I've experienced so far.

Vivatic seems to be in some ways comparable to the inevitable Swagbucks, in that it offers a variety of ways to make money.

Like Swagbucks, it offers the chance to earn from signing up for various offers. As I've said in the past, I never bother with such offers, as they hardly ever seem to credit and you're often giving unfamiliar companies too much information for comfort.

Vivatic also acts as a survey aggregator. Most of the surveys it offers are from the usual suspects, like Toluna, Survey Sampling International and Speak Up, with pay rates for their surveys looking to be fairly typical of aggregator sites.

Something that is unusual is that it also offers Populus surveys. I don't think I've ever seen Populus surveys offered by an aggregator, so that's certainly something new.

Having said that, as you can join Populus directly, it's hard to see why you'd got through an aggregator who'll, presumably, get a cut of your earnings and, therefore, I assume, pay you less than if you went direct to the original source.

Vivatic also offers surveys by someone called MVF who I've never heard of. Therefore, I've just attempted a two minute survey with them and duly earned 10 pence for it. I shall look further into MVF to find out what they're about and also whether this offer's repeatable.

You can also make money by doing, "Tasks." As far as I can see, these involve some sort of writing micro-task for an outfit called Figure Eight, who I've never heard of. You have to sign-up with them to complete their offers. I haven't done so yet. I'll look into them later and give my opinion when I'm more informed.

It would appear that, once you've completed a certain number of micro-tasks, you qualify for better writing jobs, with £3 being the maximum potential reward for completing such a job.

The features that Vivatic shares with other sites seem fairly standard and there aren't as many of them as with Swagbucks but its few distinctive features seem to hold at least some potential interest for the determined money-maker. Therefore, if you want to join Vivatic, you can do so by using this referral link, from which I could potentially make a modest sum.

Payment method: PayPal. Minimum payout: £20/$20. Time for payouts to be processed: 1-2 months! My earnings today: 10 pence. My rating: Too early to say. JOIN VIVATIC.

SurveyNetwork. The site that does what it says on the tin.

SurveyNetwork is another survey aggregator site, like Branded Surveys, Swagbucks and Qmee.

In my experience, it mostly offers surveys from Global Test Market, Toluna and Survey Sampling International. This means its pay rates tend to be in the mid-range, possibly slightly higher than the three aforementioned aggregators but not by very much.

When it comes to using it, I'd personally say it's a bit pointless trying to use the home page to access surveys. You can do it that way but there's not enough reliable information on there about which surveys are still available. It works better if you click on links for surveys that have been sent to you via emails.

Speaking of which, I note that other SurveyNetwork users have complained that it spams them with hundreds of emails a day. It's not a problem I've had but it's something to keep an eye out for and is a reminder that it's always wise to set up an email account which exists purely for dealing with survey site, so that it doesn't matter if it gets drowned in emails from either them or their partners.

I don't use SurveyNetwork much because it basically duplicates what other sites offer, and that lack of use means my earnings from it have been low. However, it seems clear to me that if I used it more, my earnings from it would be comparable to what I get from those other sites.

If you want to sign up to SurveyNetwork, you can do so by clicking on this referral link, for which I would receive a modest reward.

Payment method: PayPal. Minimum payout: £20. Time for payouts to be processed: They claim it's speedy but I've not yet claimed a payout from them, so I cannot vouch for that. My earnings in the last week: 60 pence. My rating: 6/10. JOIN SURVEYNETWORK.

Super Auto Refresh. The Chrome Extension for when you need to keep up to date.

One of the things I've discovered with a number of the sites I've tried to make money from is that, if you're not quick on the uptake, you can miss out on opportunities.

Content mills are a prime example of this, where job offers can be snapped up by others before you even knew they were ever there.

One way to get round this is to leave that site's job page open, in a separate window, with an auto-refresher extension added to your browser, while you're using your computer for other things,

There are plenty of such extensions and add-ons available but the one I'm currently using on Chrome is Super Auto Refresh. It only take a few moments for you to attach it to your browser and, once it's there, you can set it to auto-refresh any page of your choice at whatever interval you like between 2 seconds and 60 minutes.

For the more active sites, like Textbroker, I have Super Auto Refresh set to do its thing once every 2 minutes.

For sites where jobs hang around for a longer time, like Copify, I have it set to refresh every twenty minutes.

Super Auto Refresh can be found by clicking on this mighty link or you can simply go to the Google Chrome Web Store, where a whole host of auto-refresher extensions can be found.

iWriter. There's plenty of work on offer, but...

I think it's fairly obvious by now that my adventures in the realms of content milldom have been somewhat uneventful. I've made money with Textbroker but Copify, Zerys and Crowd Content have proven to be almost total wash-outs for me.

That means it's time to look at yet another content mill and see if I've had any more luck with that one.

And the answer's no.

This time I'm looking at iWriter which has a pay rate that makes other sites look positively generous. In fairness, you can work your way up the ranks to a place where you'll be able to earn more money and you can also take assignments directly from clients, which should earn you more.

Regardless, entering at Standard level, which you will, provides a rock-bottom earning rate of barely more than 0.5 cents a word.

I've been offered plenty of jobs by iWriter, so it doesn't suffer from the major flaw that Crowd Content and Zerys did. However, the vagueness of the assignments in Copify has tended to be replicated here.

But the main obstacle I've encountered with iWriter has been the extraordinarily high rejection rate by the clients. So far today, iWriter has offered me three jobs. One of them was by a client with a 52% rejection rate, another by a client with a 28% rejection rate - and the third by a client with a walloping great big 80% rejection rate.

Needless to say, I'm not even going to bother trying to write an article if it has that high a chance of being rejected. This is especially true if the brief is so vague that it's anyone's guess what the client even wants you to write about.

Overall, I'd say iWriter isn't totally without some sort of hope. There's certainly plenty of work to be had and it's not generally demanding work. However, the initial low pay rates and the high rejection rate means you have to go into it with the view that you're there to get experience and with a strong eye on getting promoted through the ranks as fast as you can.

If you'd like to sign up with iWriter you can do so via this affiliate link, which will make a modest sum of money for me if you do so.

MySurvey - I'm not sure what it's there for.

MySurvey is a very strange case because I really don't know what the differences is between it and Global Test Market. It looks like it, it acts like it and it seems to carry the same surveys as it.

Unfortunately, it also tends to have all the same problems as Global Test Market. Pages can take an eternity to load, there can be problems logging in and the surveys themselves are frequently stricken with technical errors that mean they don't always credit or complete.

On top of that, like Global Test Market, it uses an arcane points system that seems to be designed to make it not totally clear just how much a survey is paying you.

Also like Global Test Market, there's a fair amount of getting screened-out of surveys involved and it can take a fair amount of work to reach the basic payout threshold.

Although MySurvey has a referrals system, I deleted my account with the site, several months ago, so I definitely won't make any money from it if you sign up for MySurvey by using this link.

Payment method: PayPal and various gift vouchers. Minimum payout: $10. Time for payouts to be processed: Variable. My earnings in the last week: N/A My rating: 3/10. JOIN MYSURVEY.

Zerys - the content mill that's not been a content thrill.

I do sometimes think I'm doing this wrong. I have noticed that other sites dedicated to how to make money online seem to spend all their time enthusing about all the great ways you can make a mint from various things, and I seem to spend most of my time saying I never make any money from anything. Still, at least you can't fault me for my honesty.

Zerys seems to be a perfect case-in-point. In the wake of my Textbroker triumph and my Crowd Content and Copify catastrophes, I signed up with Zerys several months ago, in the hope of landing some low-paid but undemanding writing work but, in the absence of many offers that I could actually tackle, I then sort of forgot the site ever existed.

In an attempt at some sort of online housecleaning, I've been going through my bookmarks and I decided to take a proper look at Zerys before I give up on it completely. However, if anything, matters have actually got worse. I had the site's, "Job Center," page open all day yesterday, with Chrome's Super Auto Refresh extension set to activate once a minute, just to make sure I didn't miss anything that might come up but there was literally not one job appeared in all that time.

Another thing that strikes me is that ,while the Zerys blog is clearly still active, with regular posts about how to make money as a freelance writer, its forum, other than the Introduce Yourself thread, hasn't had a single post made in it for something like nine months, which does give me the impression that other members might be finding it a less than busy site as well.

I can't say anything more about Zerys because the lack of job offers means I've no experience of what it's like to actually write for it. Regardless, if you want to sign up with Zerys, you can do so by clicking on this link, which isn't a referral link and, so, as always with Zerys, I won't make any money out of it.

Payment method: PayPal. Minimum payout: Unclear. Time for payouts to be processed: Usually 3 business days. My earnings in the last week: £0. My rating: 1/10. JOIN ZERYS.

Crowd Content. A source of discontent.

After signing up with Textbroker and making a modest but useful amount of money from it, I decided to try out other content mills and see if they'd prove to be more lucrative.

The second one I signed up with was Crowd Content. After filling out the necessaries, I was accepted as a 2-Star writer and looked forward to a flood of assignments comparable to those that Textbroker had been giving me.

Unfortunately, since then, nearly six months later, Crowd Content has offered me virtually no assignments at all. I think the total must be well below a dozen and what little there has been has always been snapped up before I could even click on the link to accept it. From reading around the Internet, it would appear this shortage of assignments is a common complaint.

As a result, in almost six months of being a member, I've made not a single cent from the site. Although I remain a member, I'm afraid to say that, unless something changes dramatically, I've basically written Crowd Content off as a potential source of income.

It's a shame as, if Crowd Content had even been able to match what Textbroker was offering, I'd have been happy to use it whenever I was free and available.

Should you be interested, below are its listed pay rates for writers:

• Custom Content Orders (pricing per word): 
• 1 Star: 1.2 cents | 1.4 cents 
• 2 Star: 2.0 cents | 2.3 cents 
• 3 Star: 4.4 cents | 5.2 cents 
• 4 Star: 6.6 cents | 7.6 cents 
• 
  
• Tweets (pricing is per unit): 
• Standard: $0.70 | $0.80 
• Professional: $1.05 | $1.20 
• 
  
• Facebook Posts (pricing is per unit): 
• Standard: $1.05 | $1.20 Professional: $1.55 | $1.75.

If you fancy your chances of having more luck than me, you can join Crowd Content by clicking on this link. It's not a referral link, which means I won't even be able to make money from them via the referral route. Crowd Content really is a dead loss for me.

Payment method: PayPal. Minimum payout: $10. Time for payouts to be processed: Not known. My earnings in the last week: £0. My rating: 1/10. JOIN CROWD CONTENT.

Global Test Market. A survey site with some issues.

If you've ever used any survey aggregators like Branded Surveys, Swagbucks or Qmee, you'll know that Global Test Market supplies surveys through those sites. However, it also has a site of its own.

Sadly, it's not one without problems. I've often found it slow to open, difficult to log into and hit by technical issues when it comes to accessing surveys.  Those surveys have also had a high screen-out rate.

Because of all this, I have to say that, for me, it's not been one of the better survey sites. Rewards are middling and it can take a long time to reach the redemption limit.

On top of that, the rewards system is somewhat vague. Global Test Market used to reward you with, "Market Points," which were converted to money when you cashed out. Some months ago, they changed over to giving you, "Life Points," instead, which many users quickly realised are noticeably less valuable than the Market Points had been. Either way, having either system in place, rather than just crediting you with money, has always looked suspiciously like an attempt to obscure just how little you're paid per survey.

Overall, with the technical issues, middling rewards and obfuscational points system, I'd put Global Test Market comfortably in the bottom half of the survey sites I've tried and I abandoned it several months ago, having decided it just wasn't worth the effort.

Despite that, if you want to join Global Test Market, you can do so by clicking on this link. It's not a referral link, what with me no longer being a member, so I won't make a penny out of it if you use it to join.

Payment method: PayPal, Amazon and various other gift cards. Minimum payout: Around £30. It varies. Time for payouts to be processed: Around 10 days. It varies. My earnings in the last week: £0. (My highest-ever weekly earnings: £6.74.) My rating: 3/10. JOIN GLOBAL TEST MARKET.

Copify. My frustration is without bounds.

Possibly the most frustrating money-making site I've ever come across has to be Copify. Like Textbroker, Copify is a content mill. That is, they'll pay you to write articles for their clients.

Why Copify should be great is because they pay noticeably better than Textbroker. You're still not going to get rich with them but you can typically earn £15 for 1,000 words, which is far better than a typical writer will get at the other site.

The problem I have with Copify is that their clients are too undemanding. Mostly, you'll be given instructions like, "Write an article about technology," with no guidance beyond that as to what they actually want. This means that if you accept the assignment, you're committing yourself to write a piece without the slightest idea if it'll be accepted, because you have no way of knowing what the client is actually after.

This, coupled with very tight deadlines (sometimes of just two hours), means I've only ever accepted one assignment from them, which was for an article, "about art." For this, I got £1.50 for one hundred words, which was highly pleasing.

I just wish Copify would get clients to give the level of instruction that most do on Textbroker. If that happened and deadlines were looser, Copify would instantly become a far more attractive site to write for than Textbroker and, I suspect, steal a lot of business away from them. As it is, right now, I just find my occasional visits to it dispiriting

Granted, the fault may just be with me. It may be that I'm simply not positive-minded enough to work without clear instruction and it may be that those with a different mind-set can actually make it work.

If you feel you may succeed where I can't, you can can register with Copify by clicking on this link, which isn't a referral link, so I won't make any money out of you using it.

Payment method: PayPal. Minimum payout: £10. Time for payouts to be processed: One Day. My earnings in the last week: £0. My rating: 2/10. JOIN COPIFY.

Textbroker - get paid to write.

One of the most direct ways to earn money online is to write articles for content mills. Content mills have a fairly terrible reputation for paying as little as they can but they can be useful for earning quick money and for practising your writing skills before you aim for more ambitious projects. The first content mill I ever signed up for was Textbroker and it's definitely worth a look at.

To register, you have to submit a purpose-written sample of your writing. Using this, Textbroker will assess your writing standard (which always seems to be Level 3) and then you'll be offered whatever work is available for writers at that level.

At Level 3, you'll typically be paid around £4 for a 500 word article. If that doesn't seem a lot, the good news is that most of the people submitting orders are not overly demanding, so you don't have to produce literary masterpieces and you can bang articles out without too much care. As long as the piece is about what it's supposed to be about, makes sense, isn't cursed with spelling mistakes and bad grammar and is original, it's likely to be accepted.

Once you've successfully written an article for someone, you can then contact them and offer to write more pieces for them, via Textbroker, setting your own pay-rate. This means you can increase your earnings fairly dramatically. On top of that, you can also ask Textbroker to improve your rating, which will increase your earnings potential.

I have to say that, for a sideline, this site's been a good earner for me and my record earnings from it in one week have been over £100.

Having said that, it can be a case of feast or famine. It's also possible to go through an entire week without making a penny from it. If you have nothing better on your plate, writing-wise, I'd recommend it but bear in mind that, if you can find them, there are far better-paying opportunities out there for writers.

If you want to sign up for Textbroker, you can do so by clicking on this link. Textbroker appears not to have a referrals system, so rest assured that I'll make no money from you using that link.

Payment method: PayPal. Minimum payout: 10 Euros. Time for payouts to be processed: Two days. My earnings in the last week: £28. My rating: 7/10. JOIN TEXTBROKER.

Mingle. They do surveys but their app is more interesting.

My weird fixation with survey sites continues and, so, I find myself looking at yet another one.

This time it's Mingle, an organisation who retain a vague sense of mystery for me, even though I've been using them for over a year.

The surveys they offer are fairly standard, as are the rewards for doing them and, in my experience, there really aren't very many surveys available.

What does make Mingle of interest is that they have an app called Mingle Tracks which they'll pay you to download and install.

I have Mingle Tracks installed on a phone I only use for playing Swagbucks videos on, and I receive £1.60 a month for doing so. You're allowed to install it on multiple phones and will get the £1.60 a month for each one. Sadly, I can't use it on my other spare phone because it makes it disconnect from the Internet when activated.

You'll also receive 80 pence a month for installing Mingle Tracks on your computer but I've not attempted to do that, as I'm paranoid about my security and, therefore, haven't dared risk it. Mingle, it should be pointed out, say the app is perfectly safe and won't store private or confidential information about you.

With its limited number of surveys available, Mingle isn't one of the more vital sites to join up with and it's a slow earner for me. In fact, Mingle Tracks provides me with pretty much the only income I make from the organisation. Because of this, I'd recommend it as a way to make a few pounds a month for basically doing nothing.

If you want to sign up with Mingle, you can do so by clicking this link. It isn't a referral link and I won't make any money from you using it.

Payment method: BACS, various gift vouchers. Minimum payout: 2,000 points (£16). Time for payouts to be processed: Varies. My earnings in the last week: 44 pence. My rating: 6/10. JOIN MINGLE.

One Opinion - the strangely forgettable survey site.

There's really not a lot to say about One Opinion. It offers the same kinds of surveys that the likes of Branded Surveys, Swagbucks and Qmee do. I'd say it pays slightly less than the average for them and I get screened out of nearly all of them. Consequently, I make very little money from the site.

The good news is that you generally get paid 5 pence if you're screened out, so there is, at least some incentive.

With a relatively high minimum cash-out limit of £25, it's another of those sites that takes a long time to reach the redemption stage, so you're likely to need a fair bit of patience. I'd say One Opinion is worth signing up for but there are other sites I'd sign up with first.

If you want to join One Opinion, you can so so by clicking on this link. One Opinion appears to have no referrals system, so, you can sleep easy tonight knowing that I'll not make a penny out of it if you join via this site.

Payment method: Virtual Visa card, PayPal, Amazon vouchers. Minimum payout: £25. Time for payouts to be processed: Usually less than a week. My earnings in the last week: £1.50. My rating: 6/10. JOIN ONE OPINION.

Panelbase. It's not what it used to be.

I'm starting to be astonished by just how many survey sites I'm signed up to. And here's yet another one for me to talk about. Of them all, Panelbase is one of the less dramatic ones. When I first started using it, about a year and a half ago, it was a steady earner for me but, for whatever reason, as I've gone along, my earnings from it have declined markedly. Whether that's a problem only I've had or whether others have found the same thing, I couldn't say.

It's one of those sites that you don't need to check-up on on a regular basis because its surveys seem to hang around forever and Panelbase emails you whenever a new one appears. The surveys generally pay somewhat above average and, personally, I find that I get offered plenty but I get screened out of nearly all of them, meaning Panelbase is a very slow earner for me.

As well as surveys, the site also frequently offers you the chance to join paid market research panels which are noticeably better rewarded than individual surveys. Sadly, I can give no judgement on what it's like to be on one of those panels, as I've never qualified for any of them. I sometimes get the feeling that these companies see me as a demographic catastrophe.

When it comes to cashing-out, you can do so once you've earned £10. That didn't used to take me long to achieve but, nowadays, it takes me around 3 months to get there.

You, however, may have better luck than me, so, if you want to sign up with Panelbase, you can do it by using this link. Panelbase are another of those pesky sites that don't have a referral system, so, as so often, you can rest assured that I won't make any money out of it if you use that link.

Payment method: BACS, gift vouchers. Minimum payout: £10. Time for payouts to be processed: Around one month. My earnings in the last week: 70 pence. My rating: 5/10. JOIN PANELBASE.

One Poll. The slow but reliable survey site.

OnePoll is one of the simplest survey sites you'll ever come across. It offers nothing other than surveys, and the surveys themselves tend to also be straightforward.

Those surveys are, it has to be said, very low-paying, offering you just 10-20 pence each, with the occasional 30 pence one thrown in. At that rate, it really does take weeks or even months to reach your first payout of £25. Once you've cashed out, you then may find yourself having to wait for up to a month for the money to reach you. This is definitely a survey site for people who aren't in a rush.

But it's not all bad news. The good news is that there's a steady stream of surveys available and I usually get through 3 to 5 of them a day. Generally, they're pretty pain-free to complete. I also get screened out of only a minority once I've started and, when I am screened out, it happens early in the process, meaning I don't get my time wasted.

While OnePoll has its faults, in terms of pay, I do recommend it because of the reliable number of surveys available and their simplicity.

If you want to join OnePoll, you can do so by using this link. OnePoll do have a referral system but it uses email, rather than links on websites, which means you can rest assured that I won't make any money if you use the links on this page to join up.

Payment method: BACS & PayPal. Minimum payout: £25. Time for payouts to be processed: Up to 28 days. My earnings in the last week: £1.45. My rating: 7/10. JOIN ONEPOLL.

Opinion Outpost. Don't expect your bank manager to get excited by it.

Some survey sites are better than others and I'm afraid I'd have to put Opinion Outpost in the lower tier of legitimate sites. It definitely is legitimate, I've never had any trouble getting my hands on the money they owe me and they hand it over quickly. On top of that, with a minimum cash-out level of just £2.50, they don't force you to earn ridiculous amounts before you can access your earnings.

The bad news is Opinion Outpost pay very poorly. They offer surveys from the same sources that sites like Branded Surveys, Qmee and Swagbucks do but their rates are awful. It's not uncommon to find yourself getting 25 pence for a twenty minute survey. Also, there's a very high screen-out rate for surveys after you've started them, meaning it can become a time-consuming and frustrating experience. You're also not offered the option of declining surveys that you don't  like the look of. So, the only way to reject overly-long surveys is to close the page, go back to the home page and start all over again.

In my experience, you earn at a far faster rate when you're new to the site than you do once you're established. Therefore, the best way to use Opinion Outpost is arguably to sign up, make your money while you can and then forget about the site once the surveys start to dry up.

If you want to join Opinion Outpost, you can do so by using this link. Opinion Outpost appear to have no referral system, so you can rest assured that I'll make no money from it if you do join them.

Payment method: Paypal, Amazon gift codes, various other gift codes. Minimum payout: £2.50. Time for payouts to be processed: Usually within a couple of days. My earnings in the last week: 25 pence. My rating: 4/10. JOIN OPINION OUTPOST.

NewVista Live. It's like PopulusLive but also isn't.

I've said elsewhere on this site that PopulusLive is one of my favourite survey sites, and that means I should also mention NewVista Live because, at first glance, NewVista Live seems to be a be a direct replica of PopulusLive.

Indeed, the format of its surveys is almost identical to those of the other company. Not only that but they too only pay out when you reach £50 and pay by cheque. None of that fancy new money-transferring technology for them.

There are, however, differences. For a start, they don't pay as well. While Populus are one of the best payers out there, NewVista's pay rates are more in line with the mid-range of survey sites. They also, as well as their own surveys, offer you the chance to do surveys from Toluna and Survey Sampling International, both of whom some of us find to be among the more frustrating survey providers.

Personally, I don't bother with the Toluna and Survey Sampling International offerings and stick to the ones belonging to NewVista itself, which, while not hugely well-rewarded, tend to be more interesting.

So, overall, NewVista isn't as good a site as Populus. I'd say it's worth signing up for because you will slowly make money from it but it's not one of the must-have sites. If you want to join NewVista Live, you can do so by clicking this link. NewVista don't seem to offer a referral system, so I'll make no money from you joining.

Payment method: Cheque. Minimum payout: £50. Time for payouts to be processed: Usually a couple of weeks. My earnings in the last week: 50p. My rating: 6/10. JOIN NEW VISTA LIVE.

YouGov. It's got, "Gov," in the title, so it must be good. Right?

Despite its name, YouGov is not run by the British government, although it does claim that the British and other governments take heed of the results of its polling and market research. It's a very straightforward site which really offers nothing other than surveys and polls, when it comes to money-making possibilities.

Although I don't mind it, it's not one of my favourite survey sites because, in my experience, surveys are rare. They're also not hugely interesting and they don't pay particularly well (usually 25p-50p).

Given that YouGov is such a slow-burner when it comes to making money, it's also a minor annoyance that you can't cash-out until you've amassed £50. You're also paid by cheque, not direct transfer or PayPal, just to drag the process out that bit longer.

I'd say YouGov is worth signing up for, as it's relative straightforward and undemanding but, in terms of earnings potential, it's somewhat below par. On the other hand, you may get to help influence government policy by using it, so perhaps that alone may be sufficient motivation to take part.

Regardless, if you want to sign up to YouGov, you can do so via this referral link. If you do so and complete six surveys with them, I'll receive a £2 bonus from them.

Payment method: Cheque. Minimum payout: £50. Time for payouts to be processed: Unclear. My earnings in the last week: 50 pence. My rating: 6/10. JOIN YOUGUV.

PopulusLive - one of the best survey sites around.

It's not very often that I get to praise survey sites unequivocally. Often, their surveys are tedious, pay poorly or screen you out with annoying regularity. But there's one survey site I can recommend with no equivocation whatsoever.

And that's PopulusLive.

PopulusLive surveys pay well, usually between £1 and £6, they're generally interesting and they rarely screen you out once you've started them. This means it's always good news when one of them pops up in your email inbox. You do need a little patience, however, as they don't offer a huge amount of surveys, so you may have to go for lengthy spells between them.

The one thing that could be improved about PopulusLive is that you can't cash-out until you've earned £50 and, once you have, they pay by cheque, which means you have to wait for it to arrive. Still, it usually only takes a couple of weeks to arrive, so it's not a massive inconvenience. The cash-out process is automatic, so you don't have to do anything to activate it.

PopulusLive is definitely in my top three or four favourite survey sites and I'd see it as one that you have to sign up for if you want to make money from surveys. As far as I can make out, they have no referrals programme, which means I'll get no bonus from PopulusLive if you sign up with them through this link but I'm not going to let that put me off recommending them.

Payment method: Cheque. Minimum payout: £50. Time for payouts to be processed: Usually a couple of weeks. My earnings in the last week: £6. My rating: 9/10. JOIN POPULUSLIVE.

Swagbucks - the ubiquitous rewards site.

Swagbucks is almost some kind of a legend when it comes to sites that pay you to use them. At times, it's hard to know why, as things don't always work as they're meant to but, still, it goes on from year to year.

Swagbucks offers various ways to make money. The easiest is to use its apps which pay you to play videos on them. The good news is that, once you get the videos started, you don't have to do anything until they've all been played. You can earn 10 points a day with each app, meaning that, with 7 apps available, you can make 70 pts a day. Unfortunately, the apps can be demanding on your phone and, therefore freeze, so it can be wise to store them on your memory card, rather than in the phone's own internal memory. Also, to save money, make sure to connect your phone to your wi-fi, rather than burning up your mobile data allowance

The most direct way to earn on Swagbucks is via surveys, and the site offers you lots of them. Generally, they're not great. They don't pay too well and they frequently screen you out - sometimes right at the end of them. Having said that, there are plenty of them and you're told before you start how long they're expected to take and what the reward will be. In my experience, it's wise to be choosy and only tackle the short ones or the ones that reward better than averagely.

The exception to that are the surveys offered through Peanut Labs. Again, they're not well paid and don't tend to be riveting. However, you get 1 pt for being screened out of each one, which means it's worth opening them all simultaneously then get yourself quickly screened out of them to pile up those rejection points.

As with Branded Surveys, there are also Offers pages which feature various cashback deals you can sign up to in exchange for points. As with Branded Surveys, these are not worth bothering with, as they often don't credit and some of them look highly dubious anyway.

You can also make money with a thing called nCrave, which pays you to watch ads. As with the apps, you don't have to pay much attention to them but you will have to click on a button to move on to the next one. You can have them open in a separate window while you do your normal browsing.

A pleasing feature of Swagbucks is one in which you get paid to play video games. The games are incredibly easy - one of them involves simply dropping a T Rex off a cliff - and you're allowed to earn a maximum of 10 points a day by that route.

There's also a Watch page on the site, which rewards you for running videos. This is, however, very poorly rewarded, places heavy demands on your device and is simply not worth bothering with. It's hard to see why Swagbucks persists with it.

More worthwhile is the Adscend Media page which offers Smores.tv and EngageMe.tv, both of which also pay you to watch videos. These can be a decent money earner, although it does depend on how many adverts are available and this can vary from day to day and at different times of year. A note of warning, the previously mentioned Branded Surveys pays you more for watching Smores.tv and EngageMe.tv and, so, is a better option for this particular feature.

Swagbucks also has a Daily Poll, which pays you 1 point to click on it, and there's a daily Code which can be found from various online sources. Pasting that into the appropriate box will normally earn you 2-5 points, although there are occasional special days when numerous codes are released, enabling you to earn more.

A final way to earn is by searching the Internet, using Swagbucks' search engine. By doing this, you can get up to three search wins a day and pick up around 20 points. Occasionally, however, you'll get a bigger win and the biggest I've ever had is 100 points.

You'll notice that I keep mentioning points. That's because you're credited with points, not money. Generally, one point equates to 1 US cent and they're converted to actual money when you cash-out.

Swagbucks can be frustrating, as its features don't always work properly and the ones that you do like can disappear without trace but it's a consistent earner for me and, because of that, I'd say it's a must for those looking to make money from survey and rewards sites. If you want to sign up, you can do so by using this referral link. At the time of writing, Swagbucks will give both you and I a 500 point bonus for signing up through that link, so it's worth a consider.

Payment method: Paypal, a whole multiplicity of gift cards, plus pre-paid Mastercard vouchers. Minimum payout: $5/£5. Time for payouts to be processed: Usually within a week. My earnings in the last week: £6.65. My rating: 7/10. JOIN SWAGBUCKS.

Qmee - the fastest payers in the west.

It's time for me to plug yet another survey site, although this one is slightly different.

Like a lot of other sites, Qmee offers surveys. They're the same kind that you find on the likes of Branded Surveys and various other places. What makes Qmee distinctive is you can also earn money for browsing the Internet.

You do that by adding Qmee's extension to your browser and then, every so often, as you go about your normal Internet searching, you'll get money when you hit upon a lucky search term. The money's modest, usually just 5 or 6 pence at a time but you can get multiple, "Wins," a day. I think my record total for one day is 21 pence.

Be warned, it does take patience, as you won't get a payment every time you search and you never know in advance when you'll hit the, "Jackpot." It may happen quickly or it may take some time. It's best to just search normally and not worry about it. In my experience, though, you get the best results by searching for items on eBay and Amazon.

As already stated, the surveys on Qmee are the kind you'll find on many survey aggregation sites, which means a middling level of reward and not always riveting to do. The good feature about them is that every survey that's available to you is displayed and you can pick and choose which ones you want to do, based on length, subject matter and value. There are also plenty of them, which means it's well worth going back to the site on a regular basis to see what new ones have appeared since you last checked.

However, the thing that really sets Qmee apart from the rest is when it comes to your payout. You see, there's no minimum redemption limit. Even if you only have 1 pence to your credit, you can still cash it out - and payment is instant. There's none of that waiting around for weeks for your money to arrive.

Qmee isn't a site for big earnings but the ability to earn from searching, combined with the constant stream of available surveys and the fast payout makes it one of the more pleasing sites to use. If you fancy signing up with Qmee, you can do so by clicking on this referral link.

Payment method: Paypal. Minimum payout: No minimum necessary. Time for payouts to be processed: Instant. My earnings in the last week: £2.36. My rating: 8/10. JOIN QMEE.

Viewsbank - a hidden gem among pollsters.

I stumbled across Viewsbank completely by accident, having previously heard nothing at all about it.

On the face of it, that might be because it's a very modest payer, but the point is that it pays you for very little work.

Basically, what it does is host single-question opinion polls. Most of these are non-paying but there's one every day that pays 10 pence.

This might not sound a lot but it's 10 pence for answering one question. Bearing in mind there are sites out there which pay that for doing an entire full-blown survey, it's remarkably generous. The paying poll is clearly marked as such and is usually near the top of the homepage, so it's easy to find. Be warned, though, that the 10 pence polls only appear on weekdays and not at weekends.

Viewsbank also pays you 1 pence if you help to make a poll trend by answering it.

On top of this, in return for larger rewards, it hosts occasional short surveys which take a couple of minutes each to complete.

You won't get rich by using Viewsbank but it's a guaranteed 50 pence a week for doing almost literally nothing. I therefore give it a massive great big thumbs up.

Another feature is that you can launch polls of your own and earn £10 if they trend. Personally, not one of the polls I've launched has ever trended, so it clearly takes some doing.

If you want to join Viewsbank - and I'd say you should - you can do so via this referral link, for which I'll receive a bonus from Viewsbank.

Payment method: Paypal. Minimum payout: £12. Time for payouts to be processed: Usually around two weeks. My earnings in the last week: 54 pence. My rating: 9/10. JOIN VIEWSBANK.

SurveyBods.

As the name suggests, SurveyBods is a site that focuses squarely on providing surveys and I'd say it's one of the middling sites for that, paying between 50 pence and £3 for a survey. The rewards for a survey can be decent but there aren't a lot of them, so don't expect to make a fortune from it.

It also occasionally offers the chance to join focus groups, which is a better-paying option. Again, you likely won't get offered the opportunity to join many but such offers do arise from time to time.

Overall, the site's extremely simple, so if you want a slow-burning survey site that does the job, without whistles and bells, it's worth a try.

If you want to sign up for SurveyBods, you can do so by clicking this link.

Payment method: Direct payment into your bank account, or Amazon vouchers. Minimum payout: £15. Time for payouts to be processed: Two to three weeks for payments into your bank. Five business days for Amazon vouchers. My earnings in the last week: £1.25. My rating: 6/10. JOIN SURVEYBODS.

Branded Surveys - the rebranded site.

Branded Surveys used to be called Mintvine but, for some reason, has now changed its name. Apart from that, nothing much has altered. As before, it pays you to do surveys and also, as a sideline, has what it calls, "Offers," which are alternative ways to make income from the site, such as downloading and using apps, signing up for promotional deals and watching videos.

The Offers are mostly not worth bothering with. In my experience, most of the apps don't download and the ones that do take far too much effort to earn you any reward. Also, not all of the promotional deals actually ever get round to crediting.

However, the Offers' Adwall section is useful, as it features EngageMe.tv and Smores.tv which reward you for watching videos. The rewards are small - just 1 cent for watching three shortish videos - however you can leave them running on your machine while you get on with other things and you can have them running all day and night, giving you a modest but passive daily income. I'll probably do a separate post about them at a later date, as they really are worth knowing about.

But the main business of Branded Surveys is, as you might have guessed, surveys. They aren't the highest paying survey site but they do have a lot - and I mean a lot - of surveys available. They also tell you in advance how long a survey will be and how much it'll pay, giving you the option to reject any that don't look worth the effort.

They also often give you a small amount of compensation if you start a survey and are then screened out of it. That compensation ranges from between 1 to 30 cents.

Overall, this is a site that's well worth trying if you're looking to do surveys and I'd put it in my top half of survey sites. If you want to sign up, you can do so by clicking on this referral link.

Payment method: Paypal & a whole bunch of gift card/vouchers, including Amazon, Debenhams, iTunes, Marks and Spencer, New Look, Pizza Express, Starbucks, Tesco and The Great British Pub. Minimum payout: $10. Time for payouts to be processed: Usually one week. My earnings in the last week: £4.26. My rating: 7/10. JOIN BRANDED SURVEYS.

Testable Minds. The other academic research site.

I've  already mentioned on this blog that my favourite, "Survey," site is Prolific which pays you to do studies on behalf of those engaged in academic research.

Well, now it has a rival in the form of Testable Minds, which offers exactly the same sort of studies as Prolific does. It's not as well established as Prolific but, like that site, it has interesting and relatively well-rewarded studies available.

The main problem at the moment is that, being new, it doesn't have anything like as many studies to offer as Prolific does and its software isn't as slick.

However, it's definitely one to watch and, if you like Prolific, I'd definitely recommend it. You can sign up to Testable Minds by clicking on this link.

Payment method: Paypal. Minimum payout: $30. Time for payment to be processed: Unknown. My earnings last week: $1.30. My rating: 8/10. JOIN TESTABLE MINDS.

Prolific. The more than academic research site.

If anyone were to ask me what my favourite survey site is, then I'd have to say, without hesitation, that it's Prolific.

Granted, it could be argued that it's not really a survey site. It's more a research site on which academics and those learning to be academics can conduct various studies as part of their research. The great thing about it is that, because it's not serving the needs of the usual market research companies, the studies it offers are usually far more interesting - and often better paid. It's also not unknown for researchers to pay you bonuses. My best ever day on Prolific saw me pick up £24.

Granted, that total was freakish but it's not unknown to make several pounds in a day and to enjoy it while I'm doing it.

You should be prepared, however. Mysterious droughts, in which you can go for a week or so at a time without being offered a study, are not unknown. When the drought finally ends, you often get a whole bunch of studies in quick succession. It also dies off outside of term time, as the people conducting the studies go off for their holidays.

My one complaint is that studies fill up quickly and it's easy to miss them. Therefore, it's wise to install a browser extension called Prolific Assistant which alerts you whenever a study is available. Set it to check the site every thirty seconds or so, to be on the safe side.

This site is definitely my Number One Tip for survey users and you can sign up to it by clicking on this referral link.

Payment method: Paypal, Circle. Minimum cash-out: £5. Time for payout to be processed: 2-5 days. My earnings last week: £11.25. My rating: 9/10. JOIN PROLIFIC.

PaidViewpoint. A genuinely unique survey site.

I was alerted to the existence of PaidViewpoint by various other sites that all seemed to be highly enthusiastic about it.

I don't know if there's something wrong with my demographic - possibly survey sites have little demand for economic failures - but it's been a total flop for me. While its surveys are extremely simple, easy and undemanding to do, I hardly ever get offered any - and most of the ones I have been offered since I signed up have only paid 3 cents. As a result, it's taken me just over a year to accumulate $11.

As a member, you have a thing called a Trait Score and the claim is that, once it reaches 10,000 points, you receive higher value surveys. I have to say that I hit that mark several months ago and am still getting almost nothing but 3 cent offers. Regardless, I shall stick with it until I finally reach the minimum cash-out level of $15 and then delete my account, happy to trouser the money and move on to better things.

If you fancy that your chances of making money with PaidViewpoint may be higher than mine - because you're a classier person than me - you can sign up for it with this here referral link.

I do have to say that, while the rewards are feeble, actually doing the surveys is a lot less annoying than some other sites I've tried. So, at least that's something it has going for it.

Payment method: Paypal. Minimum cash-out: $15. Claimed time for payout to be processed: 72 hours. My earnings last week: $0.03. My rating: 2/10. JOIN PAIDVIEWPOINT.