Opinion Outpost will require you to take several profile surveys before you start receiving survey invitations via e-mail. Their surveys pay in points that can be redeemed as cash, Citi virtual or actual gift cards, and Amazon.com virtual gift card codes. Payout for virtual Amazon.com gift card codes is almost instantaneous. Payment by check usually takes a week or two. They say to allow from 4 to 8 weeks, but I've never had it take that long. Minimum cash out for all methods is $5.00 or 50 points. I've made over $50.00 with them this year.
Your mileage may vary, but I go through spurts with Opinion Outpost, getting no surveys for a few weeks, and then suddenly getting three or four invitations each day for a few weeks. Opinion Outpost survey invitations tell you the number of points available, estimated time for completing the survey, and what company is hosting the survey. If you feel the payout is not going to be worth the time involved, you can always skip the survey. If there are certain survey hosts you'd rather not fool with, you can skip the survey. OTX (Online Daily Survey Exchange) surveys are terrible, but Opinion Outpost lets you opt out of receiving survey invitations from OTX. If you forget to opt out of receiving OTX surveys, Opinion Outpost is one of only three survey companies I know of that warn you when a survey is from OTX, so you can know to skip it.
Pros:
- Low minimum cash out ($5.00)
- Quick cash out: virtual Amazon.com gift codes are almost instantaneous; checks are also relatively fast. I have not tried the Citi card option, but presumably it is fast also.
- Easy points conversion: 10 points equals $1.00.
- All surveys pay in points that can be converted to cash or gift cards. No wasting your time on doing surveys for dubious sweepstakes entries, prize draws, an opportunity to select "special gifts" that you don't want, etc.
- Site is easy to navigate. You can easily find how many points you have, what surveys are available to you, update your profile surveys, etc.
- Survey invitations tell you what company is hosting the survey, how many points are available, and the estimated time to complete the survey.
- Good customer service: I've had questions on occasion, and they've always responded within a day.
- A variety of surveys, including multi-day diaries, instant Invokes (online focus groups that take place instantly, meaning you don't have to sign up ahead of time), and occasional product tests.
- You can opt out of receiving OTX survey invitations.
Cons:
- Opinion Outpost can seem spammy at times, because you may get a ton of survey invitations for a few weeks. The good thing is, you will usually get a lot of survey invitations for a short duration, then nothing for a few weeks.
- You need to respond to their survey invitations quickly. People know that Opinion Outpost is a good survey company, so their surveys tend to fill up fast. If at all possible, try to do their surveys on the same day that you receive the invitation.
