Ebates

What is Ebates?

Ebates is an awesome site that earns you cashback on your online purchases. You can earn up to 25% cashback on purchases, although it's more typical to earn 2% to 4%. The online store you shop at pays Ebates a fee when you shop, and that fee is shared with you. There is no membership fee and it is completely free to participate. No strings attached!

How Do I Make Money?

Once you have created your account, all you have to do is login through their website, select the retailer you want to shop at and note the percentage of cashback you will earn, and Ebates creates a tracking ticket for your shopping trip. When you make a purchase at that retailer during your session, the percentage amount is credited to your Ebates account, typically within 48 hours. They send out payments every 3 months, and you can choose to have a check mailed to you, or you can have the money deposited into your Paypal account. The amount in your account must be over $5.01, or the money gets rolled into the next pay period. You can also choose to have your cashback money donated to your favorite charity.

Fancy Hands

What is Fancy Hands?
Fancy Hands is a virtual assisting website. You sign up as a virtual assistant ("VA") and take a test to qualify. This is one of my personal favorites, because the tasks involve about 15 to 20 minutes of time, they pay via Dwolla every two weeks, and the money adds up quickly! In October 2013 I made nearly $80 in my spare time. They usually hire in waves, so if they aren't currently accepting new VA applications, keep checking back. It's worth it!

Chat About

What is Chat About?

Chat About is a website where, every time you leave a comment, answer a question, refer your friends, or participate in their online community, you are awarded points. You can cash those points in for a range of prizes, and shipping is free.

How Do I Make Money?

You can convert your points to prizes, giftcards, or cash via Paypal. Beware, some of the prizes are kinda dinky, so I would suggest cashing out your points for cold hard cash or giftcards.

There is a Bonus Points area which acts at lot like Swagbucks, Fusion Cash or Inbox Dollars, in that you can complete special offers to earn more points.

TryMyUI.com

What is TryMyUI.com?

TryMyUI enables website developers to learn about their users' experience with their website through usability testing. TryMyUI pays users a nominal fee to interact with their clients' websites and give feedback about their thoughts and impressions.

Plink

What is Plink?

Plink is a registered card program that allows you to earn points for dining out and shopping offline. You select where you want to eat or shop, and Plink activates those offers on your credit or debit card. Plink was co-founded by Peter Vogel, one of the executives behind Memolink - one of the first online rewards programs - and recently picked up $3 million in funding. Plink has an A- rating with the Better Business Bureau and is a member of the National Restaurant Association. I really like Plink because I can use my AMEX (I get cash back when I use my card) and get rewarded twice for things I'm going to do anyway. I currently have 1830 points which is enough to get a $15 Walmart or Amazon.com giftcard, but I like to save my points up and cashout big!

How Do I Make Money? 
Once you create your free account with Plink, select the debit or credit card you use the most often and register it (they use bank-level encryption, so you can be sure it's safe!). When you use your card at participating restaurants and retailers (some of which include Burger King, Taco Bell, 7-Eleven, Dunkin Donuts, Arby's, Edwards Cinemas, United Artists Cinemas, Regal Cinemas, to name a few) your purchases are tracked and points are automatically deposited into your Plink account. 

ClickWorker

What is ClickWorker?

ClickWorker provides digital tasks to registered Internet workers, who may choose which tasks they want to work on. The idea is similar to that of Amazon Mechanical Turk, oDesk, and Minute Workers. Depending on your profile and qualifications, you may be offered some projects or excluded from others. Since many of the tasks can be completed in just seconds you can stop and start at anytime which means you can work anytime, anywhere.

Minds Pay

What is Minds Pay?

MindsPay is an internet site that pays its members to test products, services and give feedback on those tested via surveys. Your opinions are reported to advertisers, who alter their campaigns based on your feedback! You can also elect to receive surveys via e-mail during sign up. 

How Do I Make Money?

Earn your first $3 just for activating your registration - it's easy and takes about 2 minutes! Once you have completed your MindsPay registration, you will be taken to your 'My Surveys' page where you can choose the surveys you want to participate in. Surveys take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to complete. Your surveys must be approved or validated in order to receive payment (to ensure you completed it properly and according to the advertiser's requirements). Some surveys are approved instantly, while others may take up to one week to be approved.

CrowdTap

What is CrowdTap?

CrowdTap is a website where you can go to earn points, a portion of which can be redeemed for Amazon.com giftcards, other giftcards, or a charity of your choice, and win free products (by testing them). You move from one level to another by increasing your points earnings - the higher your level (status), the more likely you are to get invitations for exclusive product tests, promotions, etc. 

With CrowdTap you essentially have 2 accounts - Lifetime Points (which reflects your status) and Current Points (which you can redeem for rewards). Your greatest advantage in using this site is earning free products by receiving invitations from big-name brands. 

Instant Cash Sweepstakes (ICS)

What is Instant Cash Sweepstakes?

Instant Cash Sweepstakes  is a market research company that wants your opinion on a variety of topics. By completing very short surveys you are rewarded in coins and "lottery tickets" that you can redeem for chances to win daily prizes. One important thing to note about this opportunity is that you must login once every 30 days or you forfeit any funds in your account.

American Family

What is American Family?

American Family is a website where you can find new recipes, printable coupons, take quizzes, and play games. 

How Do I Make Money?
While this site isn't really a money-making opportunity, you can earn points and redeem them for entries into prize drawings. Personally, I prefer to earn points only when I know they will result in a payoff. In other words, I don't care to earn points and redeem them for a "chance to win"- I want something tangible for my time. For this reason, I realize many people will probably only want to participate in this opportunity if they are more interested in the actual offering of the site - recipes, coupons, and playing games. 

The way you earn points is by printing recipes, playing games, taking short quizzes, accepting special offers, completing featured surveys and other activities.

American Consumer Opinion Panel (ACOP)

What is ACOP?

ACOP is a market research company that has been in business for over 15 years.  They send out online survey invitations and have products for their members to test. According to their website, some of their recent survey topics have asked panelists:

• To evaluate new advertising for a retailer.
• About how and why they purchase and the use of gifts cards.
• Their opinions about the current economy.
• Their thoughts about tanning products and how often tanning products are used.
• To review an idea for a new fuel additive product for an automotive company.
• To taste test a new snack food for a food manufacturer.
• How happy they were with customer service from their local utility. 

To the right is a screenshot of my ACOP account - it looks like I have a good running balance in there. I think I'll let the funds continue to accumulate. :)

Crowd Cloud

What is Crowd Cloud?

CrowdCloud is another crowdsourcing website where companies and creatives come together to solve problems. According to their website, "We bring together companies that need work done with people who want to work and get paid. When a company gives us a project, we break it down into a smaller set of tasks that you complete using our Facebook work application. You select the tasks you'd like to work on, and are typically paid [the next business day] via PayPal for each approved task." Tasks can be anything from translation, online research, data entry, writing and editing.

How Do I Make Money?

For this opportunity, you must have a Paypal account,  because that is the only method of payment at the time of this post. Once you signup, search for and complete tasks that are of interest to you. Of course, you can always sign up for your own referral link and receive a commission for everyone who signs up underneath you! You will need to have a Facebook account in order to participate in the referral program.

Earning Potential

You can earn anywhere from $.01 to $30.00 or more per task using CrowdCloud. Like most other task-oriented opportunities, the company determines the price for the task based on the time and effort involved.

Signup now for CrowdCloud!

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BzzAgent

What is BzzAgent?
BzzAgent is a company that brings on "agents" to review products for free. They operate by word of mouth, so that you can test their products and "buzz" around and spread the word. 

How Do I Make Money?

Although this isn't really a money-making opportunity, you sure can save a lot of money by getting free stuff! If you're anything like me, you consider saving money the same as making money!

Also, you can get additional coupons to pass out to friends so they can test out the product too! It doesn't get any better than this :)

Once you register, fill out as many short surveys (yes, they are very short!) as you can to increase your chances of getting to review a product for free!

Earning Potential
Potentially several free products to sample and review!

Signup now for BzzAgent!

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Thred Up

What is ThredUp?
If you haven't heard of or tried using ThredUp, you are SOOOO missing out! ThredUp is a site where you can buy and sell gently used kids clothes.

How Do I Make Money?

To sell your kids' clothes, simply order a shipping bag, put down a $4.95 deposit and ThredUp covers the cost of the shipping. The deposit is fully refunded when ThredUp receives your bag full of clothes. They price and list your kids' clothes and when the item sells, you get cash through paypal, or a webstore credit. The bag is 24" by 28", so you can fit a lot of clothes into it! When sending your clothes, be sure they are in good shape, freshly laundered, and are free of rips, stains, odors, pilling and other signs of wear. According to their website, you can earn even more money for brand names such as Oilily, Mini Boden, Tea Collection, Hanna Andersson, Guess, Ralph Lauren, Janie & Jack, Gymboree, Gap, Naartjie, Zutano, Jacadi, Hanna Banana, Baby Lulu and Baby Nay; items that are new with tags, and items that are currently in season. You can also participate in their referral program and for every friend that you refer and who makes a purchase, you both get a $10 credit. It doesn't get any better than that!

Earning Potential

ThredUp has a calculator where you can get an idea of how much you can earn for your kids' outgrown clothing. As with most resale stores, your earnings potential depends on the condition, brand, and demand of the clothing. According to my calculations based off what some of their sellers have listed and sold, the earnings potential seems to be right around 5% of what they list your clothing for.

Signup now for ThredUp!

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Jingit

What is Jingit?

Jingit is a company that pays members to watch online advertisements. When registering, you should know that they require your mobile number to 'verify that you are a real person.' Also, the only way to register or login is through your Facebook account. For some people, these features can be a real turn-off, but if this doesn't bother you, this could be a good opportunity. Once you enter your mobile number, they will send you a text with a verification code that must be entered on the screen. After you enter the verification code, you are all set to start earning money. At the bottom of your screen, a few advertisements are available to watch. Similar to Beezag.com (see my post here) only a few videos per day are available to watch.

Ipsos i-Say

What is Ipsos i-Say?

First off, an explanation of the strange name: Ipsos is a global market research company, founded in 1975. i-Say is the online survey panel aspect of the company. In short, Ipsos i-Say is a survey company that pays panelists to take surveys, which helps their clients shape their market and product research based on consumers' opinions. 

How Do I Make Money?

Ipsos i-Say awards points for each survey completed. Points can be converted to cash (check or Paypal), donations, or American Express giftcards. What's nice about this survey company is that if you don't qualify for a survey after starting it, they will try to find another survey for you to take.

Fusion Cash

What is Fusion Cash?

FusionCash is a GPT (Get Paid to Try) offer website. So, you earn cash for completing free and risk-free trial offers. "Why would a company pay me to try their products?" you ask. Well, instead of wasting their marketing dollars trying to reach audiences that ignore their advertising anyway, advertisers pay companies like Fusion Cash to get people to sign up for their products and services. FusionCash recruits members to sign up for these offers and in turn, pays their members with the money they earn from their advertisers. Advertisers have a captive audience and, as a consumer, you get to try out products that you were probably already thinking about buying, but now you have a financial incentive to do so.

oDesk

What is oDesk?

oDesk is an online marketplace where small businesses and managers can find contract workers to perform work for an hourly fee or fixed price. Although they say there are over 75 job categories, the most popular categories include: Web Development, Software Development, Networking & Information Systems, Writing & Translation, Administrative Support, Design & Multimedia, Customer Service, Sales & Marketing, and Business Services. Here's how to get started with oDesk:

MindField Online Internet Panels

Surveys are one of those types of opportunities that you love or hate. I happen to love them, but that doesn't mean I do each and every survey that is delivered to my inbox. I pick and choose the surveys I do, based on the topic and incentive. While each survey in itself doesn't pay a whole lot, they do add up! When deciding if a particular survey and incentive is worth my time, I think of it in terms of hourly pay. So, for example: if a survey says it will take 20 minutes to complete and it pays $1.00, the hourly pay would be $3.00/hour. Each person is different and each person must decide which opportunities are worth their time.

Inbox Dollars

I don't know about you, but I love easy money. And how much easier does it get to open an email and be paid a few pennies to do so? Before you complain about the skimpy payout, consider the last time you were paid just to open an email and click the link. It literally takes 5 seconds or less to do this easy activity and the earnings add up - especially if you engage in other activities on Inboxdollars.com.

What is InboxDollars.com?

Inboxdollars.com is one of those opportunities that pays you to open emails, complete offers, play games, watch videos, perform online searches, and complete surveys. Just between you and me though, the one thing I don't bother with is doing their surveys. The rewards tend to be really low compared to what Surveyhead.com and other paid survey websites pay. What IS nice is that you get $5 in your account for free just for signing up!