Win money online. At MoneyMagpie we have a strict no gambling policy – we won’t work with any gambling sites. Therefore, when we write about making money online, it’s strictly not going to be casinos or anything that is a risk to you spending more than you have.

You will be pleased to know that there are however lots of opportunities that we can suggest. So read on to find out our top 5 suggestions to help you win money. (NB. Some do have a small cost).

Sign up to Good Life+

Good Life+ are currently offering a one week trial FOR FREE to be entered into their incredible daily prize draws. Good Life+ also offer a whole host of perks – from monthly free movies, to incredible deals in thousands of restaurants (many of which are 2 for 1) – you not only never need to pay full price for a meal again, but you also get entered into the daily prize draw to win some absolutely amazing prizes. Plus, best of all – a portion of the money you pay for your subscription goes to an array of worthy causes.

To be a member of Good Life + you can get a 35% discount from their  Platinum package at 12.99 per month – but you can make that money back in food deals alone.

Sell competition prizes for cash

Online competitions are an easy way to earn money from home and win free prizes with very little effort. If you don’t want them, they are also a way you can technically “win” some cash – by simply selling them on. 

Entering can be fast and fun and your chances of winning big prizes are much higher than you’d imagine, especially when you subscribe to Good Life+. They offer an amazing array of competition prizes and they run daily giveaways: With prizes from cars to experiences to cash, there is a lot of opportunity to make a bit of money. 

If you do win, but don’t want the prize you win, you could always sell it on, making your prize a cash one. 

To do this, follow the best market for the prize, whether it be eBay, Facebook, private sale or auction – MoneyMagpie offers plenty of ways to help you sell absolutely anything. Obviously always check T&Cs of any competition to double check you are allowed. 

Cashback

Another oldie but a goodie is shopping through cashback sites. Most offer a small sign up fee and then you basically get a bit of money back, every time you spend some. Follow our guide to find out the best ones here.

Do Surveys and Win Cash

We are a big fan of doing surveys online at MoneyMagpie. 

If you have some free time in your lunch break or a spare half an hour in the evenings, why not fill in a few online surveys for money?

Paid surveys are simple, effective ways to make some cash, and some online surveys even let you win prizes.  

Whilst doing online surveys for money won’t provide you with a steady, substantial income, paid surveys are a great way to make cash for very little effort. Lots of our readers find the best paid online surveys are the ones they can put towards the bill for their summer holiday – not bad coming from the odd half an hour in front of a computer.

Many providers also enter you into a rolling prize draw for holidays, amenities or even cash. 

Check out our guide for the best free surveys here.

Charity Raffles

Lots of charities make your donations count. So if you are a fan of doing good and want to give back with your winning then charities often offer raffles and cash prizes for the price of a raffle ticket. Whilst this could be seen as gambling,  it is technically “giving to charity” and not purely about the prize. Two charities that do this regularly are British Heart Foundation and Age UK. 

However for this feel good factor Good Life+ also give back. Every month some of your sponsorship money goes to backing British athletes, so whilst you are doing good, you can also be winning prizes. 

This post is sponsored by Good Life+

You must be over 18 to enter. If you are under 18 your ticket will be void and refunded.

Their prize draws are in no way sponsored or endorsed by Facebook or Instagram.

Draws will be made using independent verification software, all ticket numbers will be entered and the number drawn will be matched with the numbers on the entries to determine the winner of each prize draw. In some draws where stated, an independent verification company will be used.

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.

The post Top Ways to Win Money Online – That ARE NOT Gambling appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Online freelance writing is a great way to earn additional or full-time income, and you don’t even need to leave your home to do it.

There are countless opportunities out there, you can work as little or as much as you want and you can make in excess of £100,000 a year if you develop a good marketing strategy and work hard. The first few years will be tough as you find your feet, but the flexibility of online freelance writing and the higher fees you can charge when you’re established make the work worthwhile.

Here’s everything you need to know to make money online freelance writing.

• What is Freelance Writing?
• What Are Freelancing Platforms?
• What Do You Need to Get Started?
• What Will It Cost Me?
• What Can I Earn?
• Portfolio
• Finding Jobs
• Staying Employed
• Long-Term Clients and Long Term Success
• Alternative Income Streams

What is Freelance Writing?

Simply put, a freelance writer is someone who writes for money but isn’t tied to a single organisation. A freelance writer offers their services to anyone who needs some writing done, and will often work for several companies at a time.

It’s often said that freelancers are their own boss and that no one dictates what they do. This is true, to an extent. But freelancers actually have many different bosses. And they need to meet deadlines and to work to specifications just like any other employee.

Online freelance writing jobs come in a variety of forms. The most common job is content writing. There are are over a billion websites out there and they all need content. A freelance writer is often the one tasked with creating that content.

Other jobs include:

• Novel Writing: Ghost-writing personal memoirs, fiction/non-fiction for publishers.
• Script Writing: Everything from TV pilots and film scripts, to commercials and animations.
• Marketing (also called copywriting): Press releases, brand stories, slogans.
• Academic Writing: Academic non-fiction, peer reviewed study write-ups, essays.
• Technical Writing: Instruction manuals, how-to guides.
• Legal Writing: Terms and Conditions, privacy policies, long-form contract writing.
• Editing/Proofreading: Correcting all of the above.
• Critiquing: Providing advice on personal projects (novels, short stories).
• Consulting: Providing guidance on publishing, writing, SEO and more.

What Are Freelancing Platforms?

When it comes to the concept of online freelance writing, it usually revolves around something known as a “freelancing platform”. This is a service that acts as a bridge between the client and the freelancer. These sites include those like Upwork, Guru and Freelancer, but not all should be judged equally as many are hard work for little reward (and some are downright scams).

You can use a freelancing platform to showcase your abilities like you would on a CV, and you can also use them to find jobs.

Clients post job availabilities, writers apply to these, and the clients interview them. All of this is done through the platform, including the interview itself. And when the writer is hired, the platform continues to act as an intermediary.

If the freelancer and client agree a fee of $100, then the client must pay that $100 upfront. The platform will then hold that money in an escrow account, sitting on it until the job is finished. Upon release, the platform takes a small percentage as their fee and the writer gets the rest.

Watch out for red flags, which include: sites that ask you to write articles in the hope of selling them (ie they only pay you if it sells); sites that require a monthly fee; platforms which have negative reviews on sites such as Glassdoor; very low fees for writers (such as those offering just a couple of dollars for a hundred words).

What Do You Need to Get Started?

There is very little you need to get started as an online writer (apart from talent!). Basically you need:

• Computer: You don’t need anything flash. If it connects to the internet, it’s good enough.
• Word Processor: Clients will usually expect to receive work in .doc or .docx form. However, most word processors can convert, so you don’t need MS Word. There are free alternatives out there, like Google Docs. If you’re sharing a Google Doc with a client, always paste your work into a new document when you send it – that way, the client can’t see your edits and writing process while you work.
• Planner: When the jobs roll in, it’s easy to lose track. So, make sure you stay organised. A wall planner and a paper planner are both useful – carry one with you and keep the wall planner above your workspace at home to quickly refer to for deadlines.
• Bank Account/PayPal: You will need a bank account for clients to pay you, or sometimes a PayPal account to receive payments. Stripe is a useful payment platform if you want to write for international clients, as it gives you an IBAN number to take (for example) US payments as if it’s a US bank, which helps keep transfer and conversion fees down.
• Zoom: Many clients will want to connect with you via Zoom to talk through projects.

You’re also going to need to sign up to online freelance writing job platforms like UpWork. This will take a bit of time, especially as you create your sample articles or upload previous work to show clients your portfolio, so make sure you leave plenty of time for this as it will be what makes a client choose you over someone else.

What Will It Cost Me?

Online freelance writing job platforms like UpWork will take a percentage fee. This might be the same percentage for whatever you’re paid (5% whether you’re paid £5 or £5000) or it can vary by price brackets so the more you earn, the less you give the platform overall.

These platforms aren’t the only way to find work, either. You could invest some money in placing strategic advertisements in trade magazines if you specialise in copywriting for a particular industry, for example. You could also benefit from attending local Chamber of Commerce business networking meetings (or similar – most towns and cities have several business-to-business events you can attend to meet business owners) so set aside some money for these, too.

What Can I Earn?

When you’re starting out, you will find your rates start around £25-30 an hour. With even six months’ experience, you can rapidly increase your rates. The most senior freelance copywriters earn up to £2,000 a day. It is easier to get to these kinds of rates if you already have specialist knowledge in a particular industry, and you target specific niche clients in this area. Specialising is the quickest way to earn more, as people will value your experience and knowledge in the field.

Despite online freelance writing being remote and worked from anywhere in the world, you will have an advantage to increasing your daily rates if you can sometimes travel to meet a client. People who live in London, for example, can charge a higher rate (because London) and visit offices for in-person meetings, which helps clients feel like they’re getting more value from you. If you don’t usually travel to meet a client but one requires you to, make sure you have a stipulation in your contract that they will pay for travel and accommodation expenses on top of your daily rate.

When setting your rates, it’s really important to build in time around your quote. If you think writing a 500-word blog will take you three hours, assume it will take four. This is because, sometimes, you might only take a couple of hours and sometimes it will take you six – so it needs to average out to include the time it takes you over a number of projects rather than a specific one. Building in spare time into a rate quote also covers time you’re not writing – such as back and forths with the client about the project brief, which is easy to forget also counts as work.

Creating Your Freelance Writing Portfolio

Your online portfolio is your CV – it is what will make clients choose you over others, particularly if you’re using an online freelance writing job platform. Use articles, pamphlets, instruction guides or whatever else you’ve written for businesses to date (without including any confidential business information). If you have never written for businesses before, you can write sample articles ‘in the style of’ as examples of how you can change your tone and writing type for each different client.

However, strangely, you will also need to make sure your online portfolio is visual. Photos that represent your work (such as screenshots) can sometimes be required to create a visual portfolio that then leads a client to request your samples to read.

Your portfolio needs to be visual. You’ll be prompted to upload documents and writing samples, but no one pays attention to these. In fact, if a client wants to read a sample they will expect you to send them one during the interview.

Also, see our article on how to make money writing short stories here

Staying Employed

Freelancing will open a lot of doors. It will introduce you to publishers, publicists, web-masters and business owners. If you stay connected to all of these, using social media to keep them close, then a simple job could lead to something massive.

Work will dry up on occasion, but the good thing is that this rarely happens once you have an established profile. Until you get to that point, here’s what you can do to keep the work coming:

• Ask: If a client promised more work that they didn’t deliver on, ask them about it. If a client who gave you a lot of work in the past suddenly stops messaging you, email them. It’s best to give them a friendly nudge in the form of a catch-up message, following it up with a simple, “If you need anything done, you know where to find me”. You’d be surprised at how often this works.
• Focus on one site: It seems counterintuitive, but if you focus on one online freelance writing platform you’ll have more work. The effort you put into a single platform shows, and this is what prospective clients want to see.
• Keep applying: It doesn’t matter how many projects you have right now, you should always find time to send more proposals, apply for more jobs and sit through more interviews. You might be busy now, but soon you’ll meet those deadlines and collect your money, and then you’ll realise you have nothing else to do. Build time into your weekly schedule to do marketing outreach, both keeping in touch with previous clients and also finding new ones.
• Lower Your Rates: If you’re struggling to find work, reduce your rates slightly to get the ball rolling again. It’s better for work at a reduced rate than not to work at all. You can always kick that project to the curb when a better one comes along (just make sure you finish it first).

Long-Term Clients and Long-Term Success

Not only will a good client continue to provide, but they’ll introduce you to other clients and open many doors.

Whether you work on an online freelance writing platform like Upwork, or you do all of the legwork yourself, keep the following in mind:

1. Always go out of your way for a client you respect. Never take liberties and apologise profusely if you make a mistake.
2. Always be prepared to strike a deal. Offer cheaper rates for bulk jobs in the hope they will increase your workload.
3. If you haven’t heard anything for a few weeks, send a message to enquire if they have anything available. In a competitive marketplace, freelancers can be forgotten.
4. Give them advice. You’re the expert here, so if you notice an area of their site that could be improved or added to, tell them. They’ll appreciate it and you’ll get more work.

Alternative Income Streams

The work isn’t always going to be there. It’s important to keep trying, because it’ll get easier. But there are also other ways you can make money.

So, if you have the time but you don’t have the jobs, and if you’ve done all you can in terms of applying and being interviewed, you can try some of the following:

• Search “write for us”: More and more web-masters are turning to online freelance writing platforms to source content, but there are still sites that wait for the content to come to them. These sites typically pay well, and if you Google the phrase “Write for us”, you shouldn’t have an issue finding them.
• Websites/Blogs: If you don’t know anything about SEO now, take your downtime to learn all about it. It will add an extra string to your online writing bow, and help you produce content that delivers trackable results for clients when you get them.
• Flipping Sites: Flippa is basically eBay for websites. You can buy and sell all kinds of blogs, high-profile domains and established online businesses. You can buy poor-quality sites, rewrite the content, do some more and sell them on. It’s just like Homes Under The Hammer—if you have the capital and you can cut costs by doing the work yourself, you’ll turn a profit.
• Contribute: Contributors to sites like Huff Post do not get paid. However, they are allowed to write what they want (within reason) which gives them an opportunity to embed links in their articles. There are countless clients on online freelance writing platforms seeking freelancers who can get a single link on Huff Post. If you’re a contributor to this site, you can get anywhere from $200 to $500 for that link, and you only need to write a short article in order to post it. Forbes pays even more and works in much the same way.

The post Online Freelance Writing: Make £100+ An Hour Writing for a Living appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

With recovery slow after the huge economic impact of the pandemic, and current global upheaval disturbing markets, PLUS the cost of living crisis, it’s easy to see why many people are worried about their jobs, while others know it could be time to change careers to secure their future.

Here are some professions you should consider if you’re looking for a change:

• Adult Social Care
• Architects
• Programmers and Developers
• Plumbers 
• Drivers
• Got a question about employment?

1. Adult Social Care

Adult social care is a bigger employment sector than the NHS – and yet there are around 152,000 open vacancies. This number reduced slightly when the Government introduced the Health and Care Worker Visa, but with strict immigration laws in place now, the number of open vacancies remain open as retirement living centres, residential carers, and those working with adults with learning or physical disabilities in independent living homes cry out for support workers.

You don’t need qualifications to get started in many adult social care professions, as training will be provided. Hours can also be more flexible if you want a part-time job, and others might offer accommodation with the role as a live-in carer. If you’re compassionate and like people, adult social work could be for you. Most jobs will require a DBS check – it is worth registering for the annual check update to ensure your DBS is always up to date which makes moving jobs much easier.

2. Architects

This is one of those long-game professions that will pay off big time. Training to be an architect takes seven years – but the end result can be a healthy salary of £80,000 or more.

You can train solely on a university course, or take an architect apprenticeship which gives you work experience and a salary to learn ‘on the job’. Starting salaries for fully qualified architects are around £30,000 quickly rising to £75,000 or above, particularly in London and other metropolitan areas.

Architects are in demand as the UK tries to keep up with the need for more housing as well as improving city centres with public architecture that is accessible and provides pleasant surroundings. It is the type of job that will always be needed, even as we move into a digital age – computers can do the drawings, perhaps, but the vision and skill required will always be human-focused.

3.Programmers and Developers

Software developers and computer programmers are in increasingly high demand as world digitisation shows no sign of slowing down. Companies that previously had openly spoken against tech developments like AI are now investing in the UK and crying out for staff – such as Microsoft’s new centre for AI, which is opening in London soon.

It might seem that getting a computer job while we’re teaching computers how to run without our input is putting yourself out of a future job, but that won’t be the case. AI is a tool that will always need human input at some stage – and we’re still very early stages in the technology development. A software developer starting salary is around £26,000 but can quickly and easily rise to well into six figures for those who show they can handle complex scripts and have good problem solving skills.

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4. Plumbers, Bricklayers, Construction Workers

Professions that can’t be automated, like plumbers and construction workers, are in dire need of new recruits. A recent study by Checkatrade revealed over a million new recruits are needed in the trades to fill the huge skills gap the industry currently faces.

Some of the problem is recent changes to UK immigration law, which has eliminated a large portion of the potential workforce from qualifying and taking up vacancies. Schools are also not promoting the possibilities of apprenticeships to their students, while parents are worried about the stigma of taking an apprenticeship instead of following a university-based further career path and that it might limit their child’s financial opportunities.

These fears are unfounded: the average salary for a qualified contract plumber in the UK is £31,000 – and self-employed plumbers earn around 8% more. Bricklayers can expect to start on around £20,000 rising quickly to an average £46,000. Carpenters and joiners earn an average of £37,000 a year rising to over £50,000 with experience. These salaries also rise considerably if you take further qualifications and specifications, such as being able to operate heavy machinery.

5. Drivers

Logistics companies and local courier services are crying out for drivers. The pandemic saw so many businesses turn to online ordering and delivery – and most have kept it in the years since. Food delivery, for example, is a popular way for many people to earn some extra money on the side a few nights a week – and there are always vacancies because it’s a service that is in constant demand.

There is a national shortage of bus and coach drivers, which impacts travel infrastructure. Since the pandemic, there has also been a shortage of national and international HGV drivers. In response to this, the Government is considering relaxing the age rules from the current minimum age of 21, to allow for recruiting drivers from a wider age range.

Professions in driving don’t have to be something that takes you away from home for a long time – such as bus and coach drivers working relatively regular shifts in a local area on a salary around £30,000 a year. However, if you are prepared to drive longer distances, the salary can be significantly higher: an HGV driver can earn upwards of £50,000 a year.

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.

The post 5 Professions Desperate for Workers appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Music is everywhere and part of our everyday lives. We listen while we work, play, drive, walk, exercise, clean, cook… you name it! These days, we can access music wherever we are, create and share playlists instantly, discover new artists and book gigs whenever we want.

As the great Jimi Hendrix said, “Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.”

Nicely put, Jimi. But did you know you can earn a little extra money on the side just by listening to music? Yes, really!  There are apps and websites out there that let you do just this. Some take a bit of effort on your part, others take a lot of effort but for a bigger reward.

Read on to find out how you can make money by listening to music…

• Slicethepie
• Playlist Push 
• SubmitHub
• Earnably

Slicethepie

When we say music scout, we don’t mean a boy in shorts with his trusty Swiss army knife, warbling next to a campfire.

It’s what Slicethepie calls a music reviewer. Get paid to share your opinion on new songs before they’re released.

Luckily, you don’t need to know much about music to write a good review! Explaining how it makes you feel and comparing it to the other artists and songs is enough to be useful. If you still feel a bit daunted, you can find some handy tips via this link.

1. To review a piece of music, you need to listen to at least 90 seconds of the track before you can start writing. The more in-depth and specific your opinion, the better. However, you will need a minimum of 45 words in your review
2. Next, rate the track from 1-10
3. Then, fill in a checklist for how you would describe the song if it was a person. For example, is the music funky? Playful? Sexy?

And you’re done! Just click ‘Submit’ to move onto your next review.

Getting Paid…

The tricky bit is getting the maximum amount of money out of your review.

Rather than a flat rate, Slicethepie pays you depending on your star rating. This, in turn, depends on the quality of your reviews. Reviews are judged on the following criteria:

1. How close your rating of the track is to the average score the track has received from other reviewers. For example, you will have a low accuracy if you think a track deserves a 9 when most of the other scouts only gave it a 3.

2. Whether your feedback is detailed and meaningful, and will actually benefit the artist.

3. How active you are as a scout is also a consideration. The more reviews you do, the higher your rating. However, this doesn’t apply if you aren’t taking the time to correctly review the tracks.

Based on our tests, your rating goes up one star for every 30 tracks you review. That’s assuming that you listen to enough of the song and put effort into your reviews.

When you first register with Slicethepie, they’ll ask for your email address. This is important, because you must make sure it’s the same one as your PayPal account, which is how you get paid. (For some reason, despite it being a UK company, Slicethepie pays everyone in US dollars. But not to worry: you can convert it back easily with your PayPal account.)

Although it’ll be a little while before it starts mounting up, as soon as you hit $10, you can make a withdrawal and access your cash. Just remember to keep an eye on that star rating.

To sign up to Slicethepie, click here.

Playlist Push

Spotify is pretty ubiquitous these days. According to Statista, Spotify has over 602 MILLION active subscribers across the world.

You can’t actually earn money listening to music directly via Spotify itself, but for those of you with a big enough following on Spotify or TikTok, there are ways and means to earn money as a music curator by submitting reviews via Playlist Push.

On Spotify you need to meet these criteria:

Minimum of 1000 followers per playlist as well as playlists that are focused on genre or a specific band or artist; playlists with ‘follow me’ in the title; and a minimum of 30 active Monthly Listeners per playlist.

If you meet these criteria Playlist Push give you songs to review and include in your playlist. If they like your review you can earn up to $12 per track, paid weekly via bank transfer.

On TikTok you need to meet these criteria:

Be a TikTok video creator – Playlist Push will give you songs to use in your videos. You must have at least 30,000 followers to qualify as a creator.

This way you can earn up to $10 per TikTok video you make. Earnings have to reach a minimum amount of $20 before payments are made.

We won’t lie, it isn’t easy to earn money this way and it really is for the dedicated music aficionados amongst you – there is some serious effort involved to get set up and maintain your listeners – but once you do there is the chance to make a decent amount.

Click here to find out more.

SubmitHub

SubmitHub connects you directly with performers who want to pay for reviews of their new music. Even better, their Marketplace allows the sharing of skills (to earn money!) to help artists create merchandise, digital content, and even help with the mixing and mastering of their tracks.

You can sign up either as an influencer or curator. Influencers use their Instagram and TikTok accounts to drive popularity of artists’ music by using it on their platforms. SubmitHub is very transparent, so when you go to sign up as an influencer you can see what each of their influencers has earned to date with them – and some are in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Sign up as a curator to create playlists and earn money writing music reviews – so you can make money by listening to music without having a huge online following.

Earnably

Earnably is an established online reward site that pays you to do things like complete surveys, review podcasts, download apps or play games, amongst others. It will also pay you to listen to music (often via radio stations) or watch music videos.

It’s quick and easy (and free!) to sign up to – you just need to fill out a quick demographics survey to get started.

Once you’re in, you can scroll through and select whatever you want to do to earn. You will never make enough to live off, but it’s a nice little earner with payments made in points and then converted into cash either via a Paypal account or gift cards, such as an Amazon voucher.

Have you tried one making money by listening to music? Tell us about your experience in the comments below!

The post Make Money By Listening to Music appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

There are times in our life when we wish we could make money through some of life’s simple pleasures… like walking! Whether it is a passive income, or a main source, there are many ways you can make money walking.

We take a look at some of the ways you can go about this.

• Walking apps
• Task work
• The human sandwich
• Tour guides
• Dog walking
• Walking clubs

Walking Apps

An easy way to earn money by walking is to get one of these free apps – all have some decent rewards. These, you can add to your phone and earn while going about your daily business. Getting to the rewards really takes some mileage mind, so this is in no way a primary income source.

• Charity Miles
• Sweatcoin
• BetterPoints
• Winwalk

The post Get Paid to Walk appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Dez, 43, and a father of four, was frustrated that despite he and his wife having above average salaries, they were still struggling to pay for the occasional meal out or a family holiday so he decided to take on a second job. 

Like many of us who have used Amazon, the world’s biggest shop, he decided to spend his spare time looking for bargains and then sell them for a profit on the site. 

He’s coy about his figures but in an interview last October he admitted that since he started in September 2022, he’s made well over £17,000. 

Calling himself goodbyepoor_hellorich he began charting his success on Tik Tok `and has more than 70,000 followers. Others have gone on to do the same and are calling it the “£200 to £100K challenge”. So how is he doing it and could you do the same? 

Here’s MoneyMagpie’s guide to becoming an e-commerce entrepreneur. 

Dez uses Amazon arbitrage, a selling method where you source products from different market places to sell on the site.  For example finding a t-shirt for £10 in a local store that sells for £20 on Amazon.  You buy the product, sell it on Amazon and keep the difference as profit, this is known as retail arbitrage. 

The other method is online arbitrage, sourcing products from sites like marketplace, ebay and facebook. 

The skill is in analysing demand and finding items for less than the Amazon price.  The advantages, especially if it’s a second job, are that with online you can source products from home in your spare time.  It’s a low cost way to sell.  The items will arrive to you safely packaged and you can then re-use them to sell on to your Amazon buyer. 

There are thousands of online retail stores where you can find profitable inventory and if you find a great deal online you may, if you have enough financial resources, be able to buy in larger quantities and potentially make greater profits. 

You can use Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) to handle packaging, shipping and customer service.

The downside of arbitrage is that there is a lot of competition with more resellers online than shopping at physical retail stores.  It can be time-consuming and it can be hard to calculate profit. 

For retail arbitrage there are Amazon seller scanner apps you can download to your smartphone to help find profitable products to resell.  The Amazon seller app is free if you are a registered seller.  

According to a JungleScout survey, in2021, 52% of sellers reported profit margins of between 16-50% which worked out at between £2000 – £5000, annually.

It is perfectly legal to resell a product as long as it is unchanged and sold in its new condition.  However, some brands may prohibit you from selling their products on Amazon with online arbitrage – Nike and Lego do not allow third party sellers on the platform.  

What other methods are there for retail arbitrage? 

Private Label – this is when you create your own product label or brand, usually by modifying an existing product.  It’s the most common method of selling on amazon and can be incredibly profitable but you need to really know your markets and experts suggest you need to be willing to risk up to £5,000 because you might not get it right first time. 

Wholesale – Buying products in bulk directly from a brand or from distributors to sell on Amazon.  this, like private labelling, requires start up money.  As a business model it is more sustainable because you can replace orders every month and you aren’t searching masses of sites looking for products.  But demand for products can change and you could be left with an investment that you can’t shift.  There is also the matter of storage.  Unless you have masses of spare space at home, you could find yourself over-run with boxes. 

Dropshipping – In 2023, about 23% of all online sales were fulfilled via dropshipping and the figure looks set to grow because it is one of the easiest and quickest ways to start a business, 

You list products on your site or storefront but don’t actually have them in your possession.  You act as the middleman between the buyer and the supplier, which means you don’t have the headache of finding storage space and keeping on top of your inventory management. 

The customer makes a purchase, you process the order and transfer it to a third-party supplier (either a wholesaler or manufacturer).  The third party then prepares and ships the order on your behalf and the customer receives their order. 

It’s easy to run, there are low start up and overhead costs, you have a flexible work location and there are multiple selling opportunities from setting up our own domain to opening a storefront on places like Amazon and Etsy. 

To get started find a few products from an industry you know and position yourself as an expert in a specialised area.  Do plenty of market research to gauge the competition, find a quality supplier with a good reputation, find out where your target audience is and choose your selling platform accordingly. 

You may have to adapt your sales approach and never be afraid to change products that aren’t working.  

It’s also important to remember that with low overheads and costs comes low returns.  Experts suggest a profit margin of 15-20% is the absolute maximum you can achieve with dropshipping.  

Dez admits he tried several things before opting for Amazon arbitrage, and has diversified along the way. 

‘I started making videos about my progress and realised that people were relating to what I was doing.  it isn’t a get rich quick scheme, you have to build it slowly’. 

He also hopes that as he builds his media presence, he will get paid more by platforms like YouTube. 

So if you fancy a side hustle in 2024, give it a go and let us know how you get on. Read our guide to other lucrative side hustles here.

The post Amazon Turn £200 into £100k Challenge appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

If you have some free time in your lunch break or a spare half an hour in the evenings, why not fill in a few online surveys for money?

Paid surveys are simple, effective ways to make some cash, and some online surveys even let you win prizes every now and then.

Use these handy links to skip ahead to the part of the article that interests you. Otherwise, read on…

• Online surveys for money: is it worth the hassle?
• MoneyMagpie’s three online survey golden rules
• Online surveys for money: How to get started
• Online surveys for money: Our recommendations
• Make money from your smartphone or tablet

• We Rate the Top (paid) Online Surveys.

• Branded Surveys
• Swagbucks
• InboxPounds
• Valued Opinions
• Opinion Surveys
• Ipsos i-Say
• Panel Base

The Top Online surveys FOR MONEY

The online surveys that pay are the ones we’re discussing, and that we think are worth your time.

ONLINE SURVEYS FOR MONEY: IS IT WORTH THE HASSLE?

Whilst doing online surveys for money won’t provide you with a steady, substantial income, paid surveys are a great way to make cash for very little effort. Lots of our readers find the best paid online surveys are the ones they can put towards the bill for their summer holiday – not bad coming from the odd half an hour in front of a computer.

Online surveys could be right for you if:

You’d like to make in excess of £50 a month for very little effort

You’d like the chance to win large cash prizes, vouchers and holidays

You spend a lot of time in front of your computer anyway

You’d like a fun and flexible way to make money from home

ONLINE SURVEYS FOR MONEY: How to get started

Step 1: Register with several online survey companies 

You can sign up to as many sites offering online surveys for money as you like. In fact, the more sites that offer paid surveys you sign up to, the more money you’ll make. See our list below of recommended online survey companies.

Step 2: Check your inbox in your free time

Most paid surveys are sent to you via email at random times. If you have online surveys for money waiting for you, keep in mind that some will close by a specified date or when enough people have taken part so get your skates on or you’ll miss out!

Paid surveys can take anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes to complete. When you receive the email it’ll tell you roughly how long the online survey will take and give you a link to a new window where the survey will begin.

Step 3: Trade your points for cash or vouchers 

With most online survey for money companies you earn reward points as you go. Obviously the more active you are, the more points you will earn. Depending on the site, you can convert your points into vouchers or cash. You may also get entered into prize draws as well.

Step 4:  Start enjoying your little pot of extra cash and goodies each month!

ONLINE SURVEYS FOR MONEY: OUR RECOMMENDATIONS

Here are the sites offering online surveys we approve of. They’ve all received a thumbs-up from online survey users, but if for any reason these paid surveys fail to impress you then please do let us know at the bottom of this article. And always remember our number one golden rule: NEVER PAY TO JOIN AN ONLINE SURVEY SITE!

Online survey sites

• Branded Surveys
• Swagbucks
• Nielsen Online Panel
• InboxPounds
• LifePoints

Make money from your smartphone or table

Swagbucks

With online surveys that pay, you can make money from the comfort of your sofa just using a smartphone or tablet. For example, you can download the Swagbucks app and start making money by completing surveys (as well as all the other fun ways Swagbucks lets you make money.)

MobileXpression

MobileXpression provides one of the easiest ways possible to make money. All you have to do is download their software onto your phone/tablet and you’ll immediately start earning points you can redeem for a reward.

The goal of MobileXpression is to get a better idea of how people use the mobile internet and determine the rank of certain websites, much like TV uses ratings.

If you fancy getting easy rewards on top of doing online surveys for money, then sign up for MobileXpression here now.

Paid online surveys reviewed…

1. Branded Surveys
2. Swagbucks
3. InboxPounds
4. Valued Opinions
5. Opinion Surveys
6. Ipsos i-Say
7. Panel Base

Branded Surveys

Facts

• Available to people based in the United States, Canada, and the UK
• Age requirements 16+ years old
• Average earnings of $0.50 to $5 per survey
• Payment method is via either Branded Pay (direct deposit in the United States), PayPal cash, gift cards, prepaid Visa card, or charitable donations
• Need a minimum 1,000 points to cash out

Good

+ It has a 4.5 out of five ‘star rating’ on Trustpilot

+ When you register as a new member, you’ll earn 50 points, then another 50 points will be credited to your account after filling out your profile (a $1 sign up bonus in total)

+ Once your account is created, you can immediately start taking surveys, which can be worth up to $5 each

+ Branded Surveys’ loyalty programme, Branded Elite, offers the opportunity for anyone to earn bonus points on a weekly basis

Bad

– The website design isn’t as straightforward as other survey sites

Sign up with Branded Surveys here.

Swagbucks

Facts

• Points redeemable for gift cards or for cash through PayPal.
• Get five points for signing up
• Earn ‘swagbucks’ (SB) by answering surveys and polls, watching videos, playing games, searching the web with the SB search engine and with cashback shopping
• At 450 SB, you can get a £3 Amazon Voucher; 720 SB gets you a £5 Amazon voucher. You’ll need 800 SB for £5 in cash; top prize of £100 cash will cost you 16,000 SB. To earn a £100 Amazon Voucher = 14,400 SB, while £100 at M&S = 13,600 SB.
• Polls earn you 1 SB
• One-minute surveys earn you 4 SB
• 15-minute surveys earn you 70 SB
• 20-minute surveys earn you 80 SB
• Earn 10 SB for signing up to promotional emails

Good

+ Lots of surveys to take

+ Earn SB by just answering quick questions about your preferences/lifestyle

+ Prize redemption is straight forward and you have the option of getting points converted into cash and not just gift cards

+ Loads of well known brands and shopping sites to earn cashback with, such as eBay, Iceland, Dunelm and Notonthehighstreet.com

+ Didn’t receive any emails (these can be turned on for extra Swagbucks)

Bad

– Sections of the site encourage you to place gambling bets in exchange for high payout swagbucks but you ultimately spend more money placing the bet than you would get for your bucks

– Most of the offers in the “Offers” section cost you money or require you to subscribe to something; most free offers are only worth 1-2 SB each

Visit Swagbucks

Inbox Pounds

Facts

• You’ll receive rewards for activities such as reading emails, taking surveys, playing games and signing up for offers
• You can earn rewards from using the site’s web search facility
• Joining and engaging with other sites can also earn you rewards

Good

+ You earn 40p for completing your profile (took less than two minutes)

+ You earn cash, not points

+ Presented with five surveys to complete on activation of account

+ Received a few emails within the first 15 minutes just telling us how much we’ve earned and encouraging us to go to the site to earn more

Bad

– Layout is a little messy, but not too difficult to navigate

– To earn rewards from joining a game site and taking part in competitions you are required to deposit money first

Visit InboxPounds 

Valued Opinions

Facts

• Allows you to work towards gift card for popular retails (like M&S, Amazon and Argos)

Good

+ Easy to navigate

+ Lets you earn up to £5 per survey

+ A new feature on their website allows people to find a survey for themselves from their dashboard

Bad

– Like all online surveys, you have to wait for a survey that is appropriate for you, which is often luck

Visit Valued Opinions

Opinion Surveys

Facts

• Surveys take anywhere between five and 30 minutes
• You earn an entry into a £1,000 prize draw for each completed survey

Good

+ Easy sign-up with simple personal questions such as age, gender, nationality and education

Bad

– Sometimes you don’t get entered because you weren’t what they were looking for

– Some of the surveys are quite slow to load

– We haven’t been emailed with further survey opportunities since signing up

Visit Opinion Surveys

Ipsos i-Say

Facts

• 280 to 980 i-Say points gets you a £2, £4 or £7 donation to “Help Nepal” charity
• 1,380 i-Say points earn you a £10 leisure voucher (redeemable at Beefeater, Bella Italia, Café Rouge, Pizza Hut, London Eye, Hastings, Marriott, Chessington Park, Legoland, Madame Tussauds, Sea life, London Pass, and many others); a £10 compliments voucher (redeemable at retail stores such as Argos, WHSmith, Topshop, Accor Hotels, Interflora, TGI Friday’s, and many more); or £10 gift vouchers for either John Lewis, Amazon, iTunes or Zalando

Good

+ Short sign-up with very few questions

+ Profile completion takes only a few minutes and includes lots of lifestyle questions

+ Colourful, easy-to-navigate website with clear information

Bad

– We were rejected as “not the right demographic” after completing our first survey. No other surveys were offered.

Visit Ipsos i-Say

Panel Base

Facts

• You have to wait for surveys, and will receive a notification by email when one becomes available
• Rewards range from £0.25 – £10.00 for a successfully completed survey
• Once you have reached the redemption threshold of £10 you will be able to withdraw your rewards
• Rewards can be withdrawn by having them paid directly into your bank account, as vouchers sent to your address, or as charitable donations

Good

+ Easy sign-up with normal personal questions (name, age, location, house details, income, employment)

+ Good rewards with a threshold which isn’t too high

Bad

– Fully completing the profile questions will take a few hours

– After spending several hours on the site we were only offered one survey

Visit Panel Base

Which one are you going to try? Do you agree with our reviews? Have you had a different experience? Let us know in the comments below.

Useful links

If you enjoyed this article we think you’ll also like:

• 10 Easy Ways To Make Quick Cash
• Best Money Making Websites
• How To Sell Your Gold
• How To Make Money In Your Lunch Hour

The post Online surveys: easy cash for paid surveys appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

At this time of year particularly, purse strings are tight and we must all be on the lookout for bargains and money-saving hacks. So anyone that claims you can ‘make money by spending money’ should be approached cautiously, right?

But that’s exactly what Quidco do: they offer cashback on the things you’d be buying anyway, just for going through their site and their preferred retailers. Imagine writing out your Christmas list and then hitting BUY and then getting a high rate of return as cashback on your purchases?

No, it isn’t too good to be true, and Quidco do that thing we all want: make it easy for us to buy items and claim cashback in three easy steps:

1. Browse or search Quidco for great cashback rates, huge discounts and vouchers.
2. Use the Quidco “Get cashback” button to make sure your purchase tracks properly.
3. Cash-out your earnings to PayPal, a direct bank transfer, or a range of gift card options.

Every time you shop the brands on Quidco, they’ll reward you a slice of commission as cashback. If you find a higher applicable cashback rate for your purchase on any other UK cashback site, Quidco will match it and add a little extra on top.

What is Cashback?

Whenever you see advertising online, the brand has paid everyone involved to see that advert, except you. Quidco do a similar thing, except instead of keeping all the money, they pay YOU a generous slice back in the form of cashback.

How Long Does It Take To Get Paid?

Quidco works closely with brands to make sure every purchase is checked and valid. Every brand has an ‘estimated’ time for tracking and confirming purchases, so remember to check that out when you go to buy.

How Can I Trust Quidco?

Quidco has been helping people earn cashback for over 15 years and they pride themselves on being one of the UK’s leading cashback services. They have over 10 million members in the UK and over £1 billion earned in cashback.

What Are Some Examples of Offers?

Amazon, Argos, Boots, Just Eat, ASOS and 5000 more companies are partnered with Quidco, just for starters. While browsing that list, you’re sure to find quite a few brands you already buy from or are thinking of adding to your Christmas list. Well BEFORE you head to their websites, consider looking through the offers from these brands via Quidco.

Quidco’s FREE membership will also help you with the latest offers with the highest cashback, to make your Christmas shopping even easier. Need a new TV? Several electrical brands are offering high percentages off their products, and Quidco will show you which. Need to buy some Kickers for your kids? Currently there’s an 8% cashback deal on selected shoes, PLUS many of these brands offer FREE delivery through Quidco.

Compare, Save and Earn Cashback

You can even earn cashback and save by comparing your insurance, utilities, and broadband. Plus pet insurance, energy bills, travel… the list goes on and on. Quidco gives you multiple services to choose from and find that deal you’re after, and remember: you’ll ALWAYS get cashback for using any of these services! So Quidco means it when they say the more you spend, the more you can save, and on things you perhaps didn’t even consider!

£10 Cashback For New Members

If all of the above already sounds tempting, how about this: new members (remember, it’s FREE) get a further £10 cashback to welcome them in. Again, it’s really simple:

1. Sign-up
2. Browse over 5,000 retailers
3. Complete a purchase of £5 or more with almost any retailer before 31/01/2024 23:59:59 (see terms and conditions for retailer exclusions)
4. Earn a new member bonus of £10 cashback
5. Withdraw to your bank, PayPal or as gift vouchers Use THIS LINK to join and you’re quids in.

Have a Merry Christmas with Quidco’s cashback incentive, and get cash back you didn’t expect to see again.

Sign up now.

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence.

The post Make Money Spending Money with Quidco appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

We have been talking about cashback sites for years. Often a useful way to make some extra money, we are shocked by how many of our readers still don’t use them. One of our team uses them to do her full Christmas shop and the credit she uses to buy gifts. So this is real money.

The idea of a cashback site, is to get cash reward when you click through from them to buy goods or financial products. 

Websites such as HyperJar, Quidco and  Curve offer cashback on a variety of goods and services, from mobile phones to car insurance and bank accounts to broadband. 

You can be paid cash from some websites when you spend with them, and potentially make £100s a year. They work by sending you to the company through a cashback site, which you then get paid for. You can make as little as sums range from pennies for groceries and small purchases to over £100 for some mobile and broadband contracts. 

SOME EXAMPLES OF CASHBACK SITES we can personally vouch for 

Curve are one of the easiest cashback services. Firstly you get £5 simply for joining up and secondly it is so easy to use.

HyperJar are one of our personal favourites as offer Cash-back on any spend made on the card. Whether it is groceries, clothing, housewares, restaurants, travel, DIY, cinema tickets… they have gift cards for just about everything, everytime you purchase one HyperJar will put some cash back into your HyperJar Wallet (up to 20% of the cost of your gift card) instantly after your purchase. You need to very slightly alter how you shop, but the rewards are worth it.

Top Cashback is free to use: it also offers a premium version which, if you sign up, will charge up to £5 of what you earn each year and boasts thousands of high street names as well as smaller online sellers. They say you can earn up to £345 cashback per year, which you can withdraw straight into your bank account, Paypal or load up onto gift cards.  

Quidco is also a free service, this time offering a premium version which costs £1 of your monthly earnings: again, it offers work with thousands of popular and lesser-known retailers. As with Top Cashback, you can withdraw the money into your bank account, Paypal or convert it into gift cards, and the average earning reported is £300 a year. 

Rakuten is a newer cashback site. They have 500 retail partners and offer a free service where you can again transfer your cashback into your bank account. They also offer ‘Rakuten Points’ instead of cash back, which has extra value when buying items on their site. £1 of cashback coverts to £1.20 worth of points which you can spend on gift vouchers, movies, Rakuten TV, eBooks and audiobooks.  

CHOOSE A CASHBACK WEBSITE 

Register with one or more cashback sites. As we’ve detailed above, many sites are free to join but some charge an annual fee, sometimes for a premium version of the account which affords you more opportunities to earn cash back. 

LOOK FOR DEALS 

Search the website to see if your favourite retailers/financial services firms are offering deals on the products and services that would suit you personally. 

CLICK THROUGH 

Click the link provided by the cashback site instead of going direct: this way, you are using the cash back site as the referral source, and can earn cash back from the click. Oh, and if you’ve used the site before, make sure you DELETE YOUR INTERNET COOKIES before clicking through, so the cash back site will see that your click comes from their source. 

COMPLETE PURCHASE 

The retailer will then send the commission to your cashback site and pay a percentage of the money into your bank or PayPal account. With many of these sites, you could need to reach a cashback threshold before you can withdraw funds: each site has their own rules, so check before you use them. 

MAXIMISING CASHBACK SITES 

CASHBACK FREEBIES 

TopCashback and Quidco, as we’ve said, have offers that make you free money for completing surveys, entering prize draws or even obtaining price quotes from comparison websites. 

RECOMMEND A MATE 

A lot of cashback sites offer you a bonus if you recommend a friend by sending an email using the website’s dedicated referrals page. The email will contain a link to the cashback site with a code to confirm it was you who gave the recommendation. Remember, you won’t be rewarded yourself until the referred friend earns a certain amount of cashback themselves, so make sure to let them know they need to shop once they’ve signed up. 

LONGEVITY 

There are long-term benefits of signing up to a cash back site, for services such as internet and car insurance. The following sites for example, offer these rewards: 

• AA car insurance £15-£20 per policy 
• Asos 1.3%-6.8% of purchase’s cost 
• BT broadband £34-£97.75 per package 
• Currys 0.75%-18.75% of purchase’s cost 
• JD Sports 1.3%-17% of purchase’s cost 
• O2 mobile £5-£85 per contract 

Do check whether credit card, mobile phone or insurance providers are registered on cashback sites before entering into a contract with them.   

HOLIDAY CASHBACK 

This is a nice one: you can book your holiday through a cashback site, and there are some great deals available on flights and hotels, and then car hire, travel insurance and airport car parking.  

GIFT CARDS 

If you want to withdraw funds as a gift card with a specific retailer rather than have it put into your bank account, you will get a top-up on your cashback: there is a large list of retailers that offer gift cards. 

HIGH STREET CASHBACK 

Quidco’s ClickSnap app has a wide range of offline cashback deals, which are pretty simple: buy the product first, then upload a photo of the receipt. You can also earn offline cashback via TopCashback’s in-store cashback scheme. The cashback will automatically appear in your account whenever you buy something with the card you registered.  

CASHBACK CREDIT CARDS 

You can earn extra cashback on your online purchases by paying for your goods with a cashback credit card, which pays you back a percentage of what you spend on them. As with all credit cards, do try and pay off your balance in full at the end of the month in order to avoid interest.  

WATCH OUT FOR… 

CASHBACK WEBSITE FEES 

Some sites offer free signup or a premium site and don’t require upfront payment, but some of the lesser-known websites might charge you a fee to sign up, or require you to clock up a certain amount of cashback before you can withdraw your funds 

COOKIES 

Whenever you surf the internet, a cookie (information about the sites you visit) trail begins, so you have to make a new cookie trail between the cashback site and online retailer in order to earn the money: do this by deleting your internet cookies BUT make sure you’ve saved any important information you have stored on your computer that would normally be autofilled for you: passwords and logins, for example. 

SHOP AROUND 

Cashback sites CAN offer you better deals than elsewhere, but make sure before you sign up, because it isn’t always the case. You may get the same or an even better deal from non-cash back sites, so compare prices before you use the service. 

LATE PAYMENTS 

All of the above can mean it takes time for the money to appear in your account: it’s not always instantaneous. So if payment just isn’t turning up when you think it should, use the site’s official cashback claim link.  

A final note: if you’re starting out, Quidco or TopCashback are two of the bigger sites and are a great start if you’re thinking of getting into these cash back sites. Good luck! 

The post Make Money From Cashback Sites This Christmas appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Making money online from the comfort of your home might sound like a dream come true, but it’s easier than you think.

Online competitions are fast, fun and free to enter, and your chances of winning big prizes are much higher than you’d imagine.

Right now there are lots of people out there snapping- up all the prizes and free cash you could be winning. But as the saying goes  – ‘you gotta be in it to win it.’

Read on to find our top tips on how to make money from online competitions. But first, if you sign up to the MoneyMagpie newsletter we have a genuine competition every week. 

We also offer a weekly competition on MoneyMagpie and Jasmine Birtles’ Instagram accounts. Make sure you follow us as the prizes are always fab.

All the competitions are free to enter and very easy. We have fantastic prizes like supermarket vouchers, food hampers, jewellery, hotel stays, kitchen appliances and children’s games. Sign up for free here to be in with a chance of entering.

Oh, and make sure to keep an eye on our online competition section where we have a new competition most days!

In this article you will learn how to:

• How to win online competitions
• How to win competitions in newspapers and magazines
• How to win competitions with slogans
• Warning! Warning! Warning!

how to win Online competitions

Online competitions are easy to enter. Since these are geared towards generating traffic, all they really want is your email address which is easy to provide.

Instagram Competitions

Instagram is a whole world of competition fun. And the prizes can be huge. Even we are in on this with weekly offerings on MoneyMagpie and Jasmine Birtles’ Instagram accounts. Make sure you follow us as the prizes are always fab.

TIPS TO help you win fab prizes in online competitions

Tip 1: Remember you MUST set up a separate email account to enter online competitions, or you’ll find your inbox clogged up with nasty spam.

Tip 2: Concentrate on reputable brands or companies like supermarkets and packets, jars or tins of food you know and regularly use. Also, check out the magazine site Goodtoknow for their regular fun competitions (mostly aimed at women and families).

Tip 3: Never pay to enter an online competition. If you like browsing through competition sites, stick to ones which offer free entry like these ones:

Pick my postcode!

Pick My Postcode (formerly Free Postcode Lottery gives away free cash every day to one of the postcodes on their list.

There’s no catch; the only downside is that you have to check each day to see if your number has come up. This increases the site’s traffic which helps them get advertising on it.

So if you keep checking the site you could win at least £20 – or £100s if it keeps rolling over!

Take a look at our article about how to make money from your postcode here.

gfk

For any television and radio fans, GFK Media Panel is a really easy way to win great prizes online.

Once registered, you simply complete the survey every day and give the television and radio programmes you have watched and listened to a rating.

Your opinions are used by broadcasters to shape future content. So, as well as earning some great prizes, you are also playing an exciting role in developing new content.

By filling completing the surveys, you can earn points to exchange for rewards. The surveys are quick and easy to complete, with at least one available every day.

Click here to find out more about how to win prizes from GFK Media Panel here.

the prize finder

The Prize Finder is the UK’s biggest free competitions website and offers you the chance to win cash and great prizes every day.

When you sign up, you’re automatically entered into a free draw and could win up to £500. It really is that easy.

Every day, The Prize Finder lists more free to enter competitions than anybody else, with daily opportunities to win money, cars, holidays and more. 

Click here to find out more about how to win prizes on The Prize Finder.

Competitions in newspapers and magazines

Newspapers and magazines run lots of competitions with some great prizes and free cash to be won every day.

These are very similar to online competitions. For the most part all you have to do is visit their website and answer a simple question, or fill out a postcard and mail it in to enter.

Again, you’ll need to register your details as the whole point of the competition for them is to generate traffic and boost subscriptions.

Tip! It’s a good idea to grab free postcards whenever you can to enter competitions where you have to send in your answer. These sort of entry-form competitions take a bit more effort – and therefore have far fewer entrants. So if you do come across them, get your answers in as you have a greater chance of winning.

Don’t be put off by the big ticket items – remember, fewer people enter these competitions believing the odds of winning are slimmer. Check out these current competition providers:

Newspapers

• Mirror
• The Guardian
• The Metro
• Daily Mail
• The Telegraph
• The Sun
• The Mirror
• The Independent
• I News

Magazines

• Marie Claire
• Glamour 
• Tesco magazine
• Stylist
• Woman
• Yours
• Cosmopolitan
• Sainsbury’s magazine
• Bella

How to win Slogan competitions

Think you’ve got a bit of creative genius in you? Slogan competitions are terrific for the keen comper who’s ready and willing to put in a little more effort.

Companies love to use slogan competitions as a way to market their products at low costs and encourage consumers to think positively about what they’re selling. With most slogan competitions, the sponsor company will begin by having you answer a few simple questions to determine whether or not you’re fit for the task. You may be asked to complete some part of a phrase in an ‘apt and original’ manner.

Once again, because so few people make an effort to enter, slogan competitions are a dream for the avid comper.

How YOU can create knock-your-socks-off slogans:

• CompersNews monthly newsletter publishes thousands of prize-winning slogans. Have a look at those that have won in the past to help you get an idea of the kinds of slogans that companies look for.
• Winning slogans typically have rhyme, rhythm or a pun. Go out and grab yourself a rhyming dictionary and a dictionary of English idioms at Amazon, which takes all the hassle out of creating history’s next greatest slogan!
• Remember that the point of the slogan is to advertise the product in a positive light. Your slogan should always make the product look good.
• Word limits are key! Slogans that surpass the given word limit will not be considered. Always stick to the competition rules.
• If possible, enter more than once. But be careful – don’t send in several horrible slogans. Instead, come up with two really good ideas that are different in their approach – for example one that’s clever and witty and one that’s more direct and serious. Be careful to check the terms and conditions of each competition as some specify that you can only make one entry.
• Remember – the more obscure or difficult the competition, the fewer the entrants and the better chance you have of winning.
• Join websites like Loquax and CompersNews for free details on upcoming competitions.

So, remember: set up a separate email address for any unwanted junk mail, and enter as many online competitions as you can. The more you enter, the more likely you are to win!

Warning, warning, warning!

scam competitions

Make sure the competition you are entering is genuine before you enter any of your personal details.

In fact, even if it is genuine, be careful how much information you give them. Most genuine competitions won’t ask for your bank details, National Insurance number or date of birth.

If you don’t know where the competition is coming from and you don’t recognise the company running it (like the MoneyMagpie competitions, magazine competitions or newspaper competitions) then err on the side of caution: don’t give them your personal information.

Nationwide found that seven in ten of us will give out all sorts of personal details in competitions where we don’t know the company offering the prize. This can be dangerous as they can use your details to commit ID theft against you.

Nationwide have produced a video on how easy it is to get people to give their personal details away. Take a look here:

cut down on the spam

If you enter an online competition you’ll be asked to include your email address. This generally means that your inbox will soon be flooded with spam – lots and lots of it. To avoid this problem all you have to do is set up a separate email account.

Try Outlook (formerly Hotmail), Yahoo or Gmail for a free email account. This can be your ‘competition account’, where everything competition related gets sent. That way your personal email account gets left alone, and you still get the chance to win big prizes. Don’t let the spam win!

Do also note that for some of these competitions you have to give your phone number. Not all these companies give you the choice of opting out of receiving marketing texts etc, so make sure you check the terms and conditions if you hate receiving them.

For genuine offers and real prizes, take a look at our competition section on the website here to find the latest great competition offers.

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