Opinion Outpost Review: Legit or Scam?

Earning money through survey websites is one of the most common ways to make some extra cash online. With some of the survey websites having millions of registered users, there is no other online money-making method that comes close in popularity.

But with the tremendous popularity of such websites in the last few years along with few other similar ways to make money online, the internet has also become the breeding ground for scam websites. This is exactly why you need to learn about the authenticity of websites making such claims before trying them out.

In this Opinion Outpost review, we will find the answers to similar questions. Is Opinion Post a legit source of income? Is it a scam? Is it a good way to earn some extra cash in 2017 just like MySurvey and CashCrate? Is it better than other survey websites? We will explore each and every question and find the true answers, so keep reading…

The History

Opinion Outpost is an online survey panel that allows subscribed members to provide their opinions to surveys for points that can be redeemed for cash and other rewards. The website is owned by Survey Sampling International (SSI) which is a global sampling and survey company. The head office of the company is situated in Shelton, Connecticut, United States.

With more than a decade of working in the same industry, Opinion Survey is considered among the pioneers of online survey websites.

Free to Sign-up

Just like most of the other similar websites, signing up for Opinion Outpost is free. It is also easy to subscribe to them as you only have to provide your name and email or you can join using your social media accounts (Facebook, Google+, Linkedin).

No unnecessary personal information to sign up with them and no need to provide your credit card details, so there is absolutely no issue signing up with them. Scam websites often use the sign-up process to get the details of users during the sign-up process, so not a scam.

How it Works?

It works like every other survey website work, no complications there. If you are their registered member, you are presented with tons of surveys to provide your feedback. All you need is to provide your true details to qualify for some of the surveys, you cannot qualify for all surveys, but again this is how survey industry works, nothing different.

Then, you will be presented with a so-called “screener” – a basic questionnaire to determine your education level, marital status, household income, race and ethnicity, number of household members, the type of company you work in, as well as your role within it. Your answers will provide basic information about you, so they could tailor their surveys to your particular user profile.

Just for completing my profile and finishing up the screener, I earned 5 points. It took me about 10 minutes to do it. The moment you submit your information, you will be able to start taking surveys. Each is preceded by a short pre-qualifying questionnaire that is supposed to determine if you’re the right match.

However, even if it lets you proceed to the survey itself, it’s still no guarantee that you won’t get kicked out after 10 or 15 minutes because the algorithm deems you non-eligible. It’s really frustrating, but it happens with other paid survey sites too. At least there is some kind of compensation here – every time you get disqualified, your info will automatically be submitted for a $10,000 sweepstakes held once every four months.

You will get emails multiple times a day, but you can also find surveys on the simple and intuitive dashboard. You won’t know in advance how much points a survey is worth, but at least they are accurate in estimating its duration.

What Are the Rewards?

This is one of the things I like about Opinion Post, their rewards that are specific and something that users are always looking for.

• To begin with, you can always redeem your points to earn cash. You can also use PayPal redemption method to get your money into your account. It is safe, secure and mostly quicker than getting a check.

The one thing that sets apart Opinion Outpost from many other survey websites is the lowest cash limit in the industry to redeem your cash which is just $10 equivalent to 100 points.

• Gift Cards. Opinion Outpost users also have the option to redeem their points to get Amazon.com and iTunes gift cards, the ones that are most popular among online users.

Again, all you need is 50 points equal to $5 to request Amazon e-gift code or iTunes gift cards. You can also donate your points to American Red Cross as Opinion Outpost works in partnership with American Red Cross.

• Earn More. Opinion Outpost also offers $10,000 every quarter to a lucky winner. It allows users to enter their name into the quarterly prize draw every time they complete a survey. So more the surveys you complete, the better is your chance to earn $10,000.  

The Good

• It is rewarding as users can select surveys based on the points they offer in return which ranges from 5 to 50 points.

1 Point = 0.10 cents

10 points = $1.0

100 points = $10

Here is the best thing that I like the most about Opinion Outpost. If you have completed a survey that offers 50 points, you can immediately redeem it for the Amazon and iTune gift cards or if you have completed just two of 50 points each, you can redeem cash using PayPal. Now this is quick, I don’t think you can redeem your points anywhere else by completing just 1 or 2 surveys, or are there? If you know any of such website, please let us know in the comment section. I would love to know any other website that does the same.

• Even though you get regular emails with a list of surveys, but you are not dependent on only emails to do surveys. You can access your account on the website anytime and can choose from the available listed surveys. This makes it possible for users to do surveys without any break and earn more.

• Options to earn through multiple options which include online surveys, mobile surveys and referring a friend.

• It is one of the fastest survey websites to in terms of rewards delivery. Not only you need only $10 in your account to redeem which is the lowest and much less than the industry norm of $50, it is also quick to process the rewards once requested. In most cases, the rewards are transferred instantly or you have to wait for only a few hours in some rare cases (The industry standard is 4 to 6 weeks).

• Other options if you are bored like games and sweepstakes.

• Refer a Friend to earn $1.00 when the referred friend or family do at least one survey.

The Bad

• The primary mean of sending surveys to users is email, so be prepared to get emails after every couple of hours. This may feel like spam for those who like to do surveys through website dashboard once or twice a day.

• Even though there are multiple rewards options, but if compared to few other survey websites you may find the rewards options limited.

• The website layout is not modern. Well, I don’t know if anyone from the upper management visits Opinion Outpost website, but seriously, you can do a better job with a free template. They certainly need a better website with a better color scheme. Their current website looks very ordinary and not something we can call a great first impression. Improve it please – Hello! Anyone from Opinion Outpost reading this?

Possible Issues

If you ever hear about an ideal and idyllic paid survey system, you should know that such a thing doesn’t exist. Every single option comes with its ups and downs, and Opinion Outpost is no different.

Here are some issues that you may encounter:

• Getting disqualified after spending significant time on a survey. It’s a common problem with this type of platforms, but it’s still fair to mention it.
• Location-sensitive. You have to be a US citizen otherwise, they won’t let you join. Or even worse, they will let you, but all your effort will be for nothing.
• Account issues. Some users report that their accounts got frozen all of a sudden – and that’s after they had been active and earned money for quite some time. If it should happen to you, contact their customer service and you may get your account reactivated.
• Technical issues. Sometimes, you will successfully complete a survey just to see that your balance didn’t change. It’s probably a glitch on their end. But it could seriously affect their reputation in the long run, if they fail to improve the system.

Opinion Outpost Reviews and Online Feedback

The number of reviews available on the internet is always a good indicator of the website’s popularity. In terms of this, Opinion Outpost is doing great as there are literally thousands of reviews spread over different review websites, so a check there.

The problem starts when you start reading those feedbacks as many are just outright complaints. Even though the feedback is a mix of positive and negative, but there is a growing number of complaints which is alarming.

As mentioned, the overall feedback ranges from below average to above average. For example, at one survey review website, Opinion Outpost received more than 1000 reviews and scored almost 3.5 out of 5 which is by any standard is good for a survey website.

Readers need to understand that it is natural for a survey website to receive at least some negative reviews. There are a lot of reasons for this. First, survey websites usually have thousands and in some cases millions of users, you cannot simply keep everyone happy. Second, survey websites work on one basic principle, surveys connected to users based on their qualifications.

If the users have tempered their profiles to get more surveys, the website will shut them out, resulting in poor feedback from users. And honestly, sometimes valid profiles also become the victim for some reason. Another reason when users get offended is when they were told they do not qualify for the survey after an initial questionnaire but again, this is how the survey industry works.

Some people just join with wrong expectations, that these survey websites will make them richer within a month, and gets disappointed very quickly. They are not! They can only add some extra cash to your regular income.

Do you get my point? This is why I said, 3.5 out of 5 feedback score is a good one for a survey website but not for any other industry.

Common Praised Features

• With their speedy payment options and low limit to redeem points, users are happy that they can redeem their points within days of joining their website. In some cases, within 2 to 3 days.

• The rewards system is rated as outstanding.

• Fastest payment processing in the industry. Some users were amazed that they can see the amount in their PayPal account within minutes of redeeming their points.

• There are enough surveys to keep you busy for hours.

• Easy to earn $100 or even more by spending only 1 hour or less every day.

• Many users on different forums and review websites rated them as the “best”, “most rewarding” and their “favorite” survey website.

Common Complaints

• Just like many other survey websites, users are not happy when there are told in the middle of the survey that they do not qualify for the particular survey.

• In some rare cases, users claimed that the points were not transferred to their accounts even when they successfully completed the survey.

• Complaints that accounts were suspended as soon as users tried to cash out their points.

• Customer service acts like robots when reached by users with suspended accounts. Some also complain that customer service is not willing to help.

Recent Traffic Rankings

According to Alexa, the website is ranked among the top 28 thousand most visited websites in the world. The website is also ranked among the top 7 thousand most visited websites in the United States.

As the following graph indicates, the website was once among the top 20 thousand most visited websites in the world a year ago which shows a significant drop in rankings as well as in traffic which is alarming. Are they doing something wrong for which people are leaving them for other alternatives?

According to another source of online traffic, SimilarWeb, Opinion Outpost is visited by 1.6 million visitors in June 2017 which is almost the same number that visited the website in January 2017. This reflects that the survey website is not gaining any popularity but also enjoys a loyal user base. Almost 82% of the total traffic comes from the United States.

So is it Yes or No?

Opinion Outpost is a legit online source to earn some extra cash by filling out surveys, there is no doubt about it, so YES. It is working in the industry for more than a decade now with a loyal user base and hundreds of success stories spread all over the internet.

But here is a catch and something I find very alarming, almost all the recent user feedback mentioned one thing, “it was once the best survey website on the internet but not anymore”. For most users, it is going down in quality after it was bought by Survey Spot, another survey website. The trend is also highlighted by their recent traffic rankings. Their traffic has dropped over the last year as it becomes evident that not many new users are joining them. Simply no growth in traffic.

In the end, we learn one thing in this Opinion Outpost review, the company is legit, pays money but it is not as great anymore as it was a few years ago. There are few complaints and issues and customers are getting frustrated, but it is still counted among the top survey websites, so you can try it, they are still better than many other survey websites when it comes to overall user feedback.

Why Try It?

There are some good reasons to try it.

• First, it is one of the fastest paying survey websites. You can redeem your first cash payment after doing only two 50 points surveys, so why not?
• It is FREE to join.
• It is among the very few survey websites with a respectable online rating by users.

So Try It! We also did a comprehensive review on Swagbucks, which is another legit site where you can earn some extra money.

You can join Opinion Outpost here!

Alternatives to Opinion Outpost

• OpinionWorld
• Branded Surveys