Contrary to appearances suggested by the name, American Consumer Opinion™ is made up of consumers worldwide who have agreed to participate in surveys over the Internet. Occasionally, these consumers are asked to participate in mail surveys or telephone surveys, but generally the surveys are all conducted over the Internet.

As a panel member, you will participate in several surveys a year, typically. The average survey will take 10 minutes or so to complete, and the questions are usually easy to answer.

Panel members can expect to receive a "screener" (a short questionnaire) every six weeks or so.

All registered members participate in a monthly drawing to win cash awards, just for being a member.

If you answer a screener (a short questionnaire), you will be entered into a drawing for cash awards and when you participate in a survey (a longer questionnaire), you will always receive some type of incentive in the form of a free product to test, cash, a check, or a gift.

Incentives typically range in value from £3 to £25, per survey, depending upon the length of the questionnaire and the time it takes to complete it. If a survey is extra long, then the award could be £25 or more. Participants in online focus groups generally receive more than £25.

I've received many payments from this company

Crowdology is an online research community, which rewards members for participating in online market research Surveys paying you for your opinion. Their clients are leading consumer brands, media, advertising, Public relations and publishing companies, who want to measure opinions on a wide range of subjects.

Crowdology surveys are varied and often focus on current issues or fun ideas with most of the surveys ranging from 2 minutes to 15 minutes. Examples of recent polls include, spending and saving patterns in the credit crunch, knowledge of cooking, wasting food, accidental landlords, mid life crisis, things you cant live without on holiday, the pains of looking good, celebrities who wear glasses, the stresses of getting married, frustrations of online shopping, and using plastic bags to save the environment. The amount of money you receive depends on the length and type of survey, from £0.40 for a two minute survey up to £10 or more.

Nielsen Online is a global leader in Internet media and market research. NetRatings, Inc., part of the Nielsen family, has long been considered the industry's global standard for Internet and digital media measurement and analysis. Whilst Nielsen family members have been influential in determining the popularity of television programs for over 50 years, they are currently looking for internet users to participate in Nielsen's panel for the Internet. Today, they are asking a select group of people to join the Nielsen Online Internet Panel to help them chart the course of the world wide web of tomorrow. It's free, it's easy to signup and everyone over the age of 18 years can participate. Panel members are asked to fill out a short profile and download software to receive surveys that will most interest them. Your actions and personal data are 100% confidential and the software does not interfere or affect your computer in any way. UK

Once you become a member you will automatically be entered into a monthly £1,000 prize draw. Stay active on the panel and enter a £2,500 quarterly or £5,000 annual Prize Draw.

GlobalTestMarket has a very active survey division and requires participants worldwide over the age of 14. If you've got children under 14, you may receive requests for their opinion but the invitation will go to the parent for the child to complete, rather than to the child direct.

You earn "marketpoints" each time you respond to a survey request - the closer you fit the demographics for the survey, the higher the points earned but you'll always earn 2 or 3 even if you don't qualify at all. A typical survey of 30 questions that takes approximately 12 minutes to complete will earn 60 to 80 MarketPoints. You can also earn extra points when you refer others. Each point is worth $0.05 and you need 1000 points to qualify for payment by cheque.

They seem to be fairly active. I'm receiving 2 or 3 survey invitations nearly every day at present and have received several payouts. For full details and registration form, visit GlobalTestMarket

PineCone Research doesn't allow you to sign up directly through their site but do occasionally place banner ads around the Internet from time to time inviting new members. This is one of my favourite panels so I'd strongly recommend grabbing the chance whenever you find a banner such as the one above. If there's no banner visible just keep checking back periodically.

Panel currently recruiting Females age 18-35 only

GratisPoints knows the power of your opinion. By joining their exclusive GratisPoints panel and providing your feedback on products and services, you have the ability to shape the way companies interact with you in the future. Once you register on the site and tell them a little bit about yourself, your preferences and expertise will be matched to unique survey opportunities. Take as many or as few surveys as you'd like and earn rewards for your input. The more survey opportunities you participate in, the more rewards you earn!

You get 500 points just for signing up with a further 150+ for completion your profile questionnaires. Cash out from just 1000 points. Incentives include cash, via Paypal, Amazon vouchers, facebook credits and Skype vouchers.

GfK have just reopened their media panel and would like to invite you to take part in a study to give your opinions of programmes shown on television and radio, and the websites you visit.

The answers that you give are important in deciding what TV and radio programmes are made and what websites are produced. It doesn't matter how much TV you watch, how much radio you listen to or how often you access the internet, it's what you think and feel about the TV programmes, radio and internet that's important in this survey.

The survey is available every day. It only takes a few minutes to complete, and it's your chance to share your thoughts and feelings with the programme producers themselves.

Sign up now and you will be able to start giving your opinions from tomorrow. If you complete a questionnaire at least 10 times per month you will be entered into a monthly prize draw with over 4,000 cash prizes totalling almost £15,000 to be won and a top prize of £1,500. Every three months you will be entered into a loyal lottery draw, with a total prize fund of £8,500 per quarter and a top prize of £4,000.

Unlike other sites offering prize draws instead of guaranteed payment, this one has enough prizes to stand a real chance of winning on a regular basis. I tend to get a few wins every year and I only tend to complete 3 surveys a week. With more discipline I'm sure I'd win more often.

Before you can participate you'll need to fill out a short survey about you and your household. Fill this in and you will receive 5 tickets towards your entry into this month's prize draw.

GfK only open their panels to new participants a few times a year so if you're interested you do need to act quickly. Get started by visiting GfK

GfK have just launched an Irish TV panel. Like the UK panel, it doesn't matter how much TV you watch, or radio you listen to. They would like to invite you to take part in a study to give your opinions of the programmes shown on television and radio. The answers you give are important in deciding which programmes are produced.

Sign up now, and you will be able to start from tomorrow. If you complete a questionnaire at least 10 times per month you will be entered into a monthly prize draw with over 400 cash prizes totalling almost €3,000 to be won and a top prize of €1,000.

IPSOS Interactive Services is one of the world's leading market research agencies. By joining their research panel, you'll earn points that can be exchanged for High Street vouchers. One of the more active panels - I receive survey requests most weeks from this agency. They are also one of the best for sending out new products to test. Your rewards can build up surprisingly quickly. I recently looked at my account and was delighted to discover I'd built up a balance of points worth £60 which was prompty converted to Amazon vouchers.

Available to UK residents over 18 plus US and Canadian residents plus much of Europe (see European page for current European requirements).

For every survey you complete at Just The Answer, you'll receive between 50 and 500 answerpoints which you can convert into Amazon vouchers or into a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support (charity subject to change). You'll also be entered into the current prize draw (one extra entry for each survey you complete)or can exchange your points for extra entries with the chance to win fabulous prizes.

By completing the simple registration survey you'll get your first 50 answerpoints immediately plus an entry into the monthly prize draw to win an iPod Shuffle.

Open to UK residents 16+.

Maximiles (formerly ipoints) is a well established incentive scheme where you earn points from your own on-line shopping plus points for visiting sites, completing surveys and reading e-mails. Earn from purchases of computer products, books, CDs, videos, insurance, flowers, electrical goods and more and choose from a list of products including high street and online gift vouchers, flight vouchers, and vouchers or products from the associate companies including music systems and games consoles or even an iPad.

They have recently greatly increased activity their survey department and I am now getting invitations daily, generally worth in the region of 200 points a time (worth around £1, depending on gift chosen) and they always have quick surveys on the site for 5 points or more.

There are always loads of free points available. I've earned myself DVD's, CD's, a £50 Amazon voucher and a music system so far almost without buying anything.

As a member of Springboard, you will have the chance to make your opinion count in boardrooms, government and the media. You earn Survey Dollars redeemable for cash or charity donations and will be entered into the £1000 Prize Draw just for joining. Most of their surveys award between 50p and £2.50 if you qualify and complete them. Open to UK residents over the age of 16.

They are particularly in need of females aged 55 and over plus males both under 35 and 35 and over.

Long established respected US market research company Opinion Outpost has just launched in the UK so the company are currently recruiting UK residents from a wide range of demographics.

You will always earn Opinion Points for each survey that you qualify to complete. 20 Opinion Points = £1 and you need only accumulate 50 Opinion Points (£2.50) before redeeming. The cash amount is paid to you using Paypal. In addition, some surveys may offer other payments, such as a sweepstakes or other prizes.

In general, Opinion Points will appear in your account within just a few minutes of completing a survey. As long as you are an active member of OpinionOutpost your Opinion Points will not expire. To be an active member simply means that you attempt to take at least one survey every three months.

Their Refer-A-Friend option allows you to invite friends and family not living in your household to join the research panel at OpinionOutpost.co.uk. They will award you Opinion Points for each person you refer who subsequently joins the panel and completes at least one survey.

Open to all UK resident over the age of 18. Limited to one account per household.

Opinion People is an international online access panel, inviting you to participate in online studies covering current issues and get involved in the development of future products and services. You get paid for your input and also get the chance to win great prizes.

After registering with opinion people and filling in a few personal details in the basic profile, you will receive your own electronic account which will be credited with your first 7 bonus points. You will then receive a further 10 bonus points for the special profiles (Household, Internet & Technology, Job & Career, Cars & Motorbikes, Travelling, Health & Wellness, Finance, Media Use, Interests & Hobbies). 1 bonus point is equivalent to 10p. When you have accumulated a total of 150 bonus points, you will receive a pay-out of £15 direct to your bank account.

• Registration earns you 1,500 points
• Quick votes, each time you take part earns you 15 points (there are always loads of these on the site so visit regularly. They take a matter of seconds to complete.)
• Product testing, registering for each trial earns you 75 points even if you're not selected to take part
• Surveys earn you between 3,000 and 30,000 points
• Referring a friend, for each person who joins Test&Vote because of you, you will earn 500 points
• Subject panels - complete these to get 500 points per subject.

You can either exchange your points for gift vouchers or use them to buy tickets in the monthly lottery.

Visit Toluna UK to get further details and register for the UK site or Toluna Ireland for Irish residents.

MySurvey.com (formerly MyTNS.com) offers you the chance to participate in online research and earn Nectar points or MySurvey points exchangeable for Amazon vouchers or charitable donations. I receive regular surveys to complete and even when you don't qualify you still earn a few Nectar points (usually at least 35). They are one of the best sites when it comes to longer duration surveys (eg a few minutes once a week for a month or every day for a week) which pay pretty well and for product trials.

Available to UK residents and 70 other countries including Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, USA and Canada, although different rewards apply for each country.

Open to UK residents, 16 and over.

Valued Opinions, (formerly The Mobile Channel) pay you for every survey that you complete, (typically with between £1 and £2). The value of the reward can vary from 25p for taking part in a text poll, to £50 or more for attending a focus group. When your account balance reaches £10, you can exchange it with a gift voucher for one of a range of well-known high street and Internet shops, including Amazon, HMV, Tesco and WH Smith. I receive several surveys ever week from this company, earning enough for a payout nearly every month as well as test products.

Open to residents 16 and over. Also available in Ireland

Whilst not available to everyone, if you're an IT or Business professional in any business sector (includes most people running their own business) one site I'd strongly recommend is QNA. Once you join QNA, every survey you take earns a financial reward. You can either collect it personally in the form of Amazon or Virgin vouchers or donate it to one of their partner charities. Unlike other sites where you might wait weeks for payments, you can expect to receive your Amazon vouchers within an hour of completion (working hours only) with Virgin vouchers being posted out to you the next day! The one I completed yesterday has already paid me £5 and took no more than a couple of minutes to complete.

An online survey will carry an incentive of £5 or £10 (the typical online survey will be worth £10) with telephone surveys paying £5 to £10 and face-to-face interviews or focus groups offering a reward of £25 to £75

As a member your name is placed in the QNA Monthly Draw - whether you have completed a survey in that month or not. The prize is usually a typical "must-have" techno-gadget such as the latest iPod.

Find out more from QNA Surveys

Talk Panel need your views on a whole range of products, services and issues that impact on all of us. They will invite you to take part in surveys on a wide variety of topics that are of interest to you. Depending on your profile, you could receive anything up to 4 invitations per month, lasting on average 5 to 15 minutes.

The company run monthly prize draws ranging from Amazon vouchers to iPods. The value of the prize draw on offer may vary from survey to survey but you will be informed of the prizes on offer and the terms and conditions when you are invited to take part in the survey.

To say thank you for joining, you are automatically entered into a monthly prize draw for a 160GB iPod!

They are currently particularly in need of UK gamblers and lottery players aged 18+.

Palm Research
Join the Palm Research panel and get paid to take surveys, participate in focus groups or test and review different products and services on the internet. You are entered into a $50,000 drawing for every survey taken and can take a survey every day.

In addition to specific higher paying surveys, every day they send you e-mails inviting you to 2 surveys paying $1 each and from my experience I tend to qualify for at least one of these most days so $20 a month from this site alone is easily achievable.

Open worldwide

In return for giving your opinions on the TickBox panel you could win prizes such as vouchers, weekend breaks or gadgets for the home. Your views and ideas are then collated and used in a variety of ways including media coverage across press, radio and TV.

Opinion Surveys is a unique offer that invites you to participate in daily surveys in areas that are of importance to you. With a wide range of studies about entertainment, travel, health and many more services and products, simply select the ones that appeals to you. For your participation UK residents are entered into a quarterly prize draw for £25,000 whilst Irish residents qualify for entries into a monthly €1000 draw.

Simply return to the site every day to complete the daily surveys and earn additional prize draw entries.

Currently recruiting in both United Kingdom and Ireland plus several countries in Europe. See our European page for a full list.

Opinionworld UK - Become a member of OpinionWorld and receive regular invitations to take part in interesting surveys and opinion polls. Each time that you take part you have the chance of winning instant prizes, entries into the monthly prize draw, and the opportunity to support charities. Cash payments are also made on many surveys with payment made individually by Paypal rather than having to reach a minimum payment, even if you only earn £1!

Male participants urgently required.

Irish panel also available.

Also available in Spain, Finland, Netherlands Denmark, Sweden and Norway

Europinions is an Irish market research company that rewards you for every survey you complete. You can choose from a wide selection of vouchers including Amazon, HMV, Giftvoucher.ie and mobile phone credits. Alternatively you can donate your earnings to the charity of your choice.

You need to be an Irish resident over the age of 14 to participate.

Synovate is a world-leading provider of market research, information and analysis, with over 50 years of experience. By joining their panel you not only make your opinions count and improve products and services used by millions of people every day but you earn rewards each time you participate - In just the past year, Synovate has awarded panelists over £630,000 in cash and prizes. They typically offer several surveys every month. Participation for all surveys is voluntary and most surveys take less than 15 minutes to complete.

Plugged-in People is an exclusive online community made up of people who are interested in consumer electronics and are excited to share their opinions about them. You'll get the chance to take part in shaping the future of consumer electronics, get sneak peaks at new product concepts and enter drawings for chances to win free stuff.

Everyone who registers will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win one of two prizes of £250 or the Grand Prize of £500. Once accepted you can expect your first survey within a few days.

Open to computer owners in the UK aged 18 to 65.