Online competitions….are they worth it?

[Lovemusic82]

Money is tight, I have disabled dd home for the next 11 weeks (no placement sorted) and I am unable to work. I have seen people mention entering online competitions to win items and vouchers. Does anyone actually win anything and how many competitions are you entering?

I don't do competitions as such. I do the following when watching TV in the evenings:

1. Pick my postcode. A free version of the peoples lottery. I've been on it 3yrs, check it daily and never won a thing! A friend joined and her postcode came up within weeks and she won £100.
2. Pureprofile and mingle are survey sites. I joined both maybe 5yrs ago. I was able to join with minimal, personal info. Pureprofile in particular constantly send questionnaires asking more details about your family, finances, home, food etc. I don't bother answering those, because even if they pay for this info, its extremely minimal. They say its to target surveys to you, but its just a guise to gather more info! For completely actual surveys, I 'might' make £20 every few months.

        You might get half way through a survey and you suddenly get screened out, or you might not qualify in the 1st place.  NEVER say at the beginning that you work in market research!

I have done surveys in the past and found it frustrating for very little money. I am signed up to Zest fieldwork but haven’t actually done anything with them yet.

Another thing I've done is be a mystery shopper- but for restaurants. You choose which time and restaurant you go to and they give you a list of what you can have - 1x entree, 1x main and a non-alcoholic drink etc. Some places require a photo of the meal and often you write a brief about any issue etc. From memory, you don't generally make money, but get reimbursed the meal cost.

Join lucky learners on Facebook. There are some serious compers on there. They average 200 entries per day. I’m a casual comper and haven’t been that lucky this year. Just won £20 voucher this morning so hopefully the second part of the year will be better!

I’ve never done comps but opened an HSBC zing bank account on Saturday and made £20 from being referred by a friend. I also referred my partner so we’ve both made another £20 each. You can refer on 20 people so have chance to make £420 in total (all paid within 30 days) Feel free to message if you’re interested or I have posted my link in the promo codes threads. Thanks.

Yes people do win - I used to do them lots and won quite a few cool things (holidays, vouchers, tech) but that was with spending my lunch hour at work entering, plus even more time on my laptop at home every day too. I just don’t have the time to do it properly anymore, but will still have the odd splurge if I’m off work.

It’s important to know that you can go for months without winning anything, so don’t expect much, but then one day a random email will appear with something to cheer you up!

The absolute best comping site/communìty is free at https://www.loquax.co.uk if you want to get started that’s the best place. Check out the prize directory section if there are certain things you want to win.

Anything I buy I go through a cash back site. It might only be 10p on a take away but it adds up.

I do some surveys but they, again only pay pennies.

You are likely to be spammed as most competitions are just harvesting data to sell. So use a new email address and new mobile number if you can ( a PAYG sim in and old phone would work) just for the spam texts. Your address is the only thing you would have to divulge and PO Boxes are expensive.

link to HSBC zing app in case anyone wants to make an easy £20 or up to £420. Need to open the account and spend £5 on the digital card - I bought myself an Amazon gift voucher but could spend it anywhere provided you use the digital card. Opened the account on Saturday and already successfully referred my partner so £60 between us.
You’re invited to join Zing – the worry-free international money app – and get £20. Eligible for 18+ UK Residents only. T&Cs apply. zing.me/referrals?referralCode=NjM3NDVkZjEtNzYzZi0zZDc0LWEzYjQtNjU2ZTZjYTQ5Mzg3

Not sure about online competitions. But I like a bit of free cash - current account switching pays well for little hassle (particularly if you switch a "spare" account instead of your main one). Surveys aren't really worth the bother, but referrals can be.

Cashback sites (quidco, topcashback) sometimes have a good deal with eg a high cashback for a low cost insurance policy putting you in profit, even if you didn't want the policy. Airtime rewards is good to use in conjunction with a cashback site (thus doubling your cashback). The monthly challenges can be achieved by buying gift vouchers (eg 10 transactions of £5). The gift vouchers selection often includes supermarkets, so I can get the cashback/challenge bonuses for my usual shopping. (My referral code is TB4QEDAP and gives us both a bonus).

Having a clearout and selling old clothes etc. is probably more lucrative than surveys.

I know people who have won the odd thing via entering online competitions but on the whole I'm not convinced they're worth it.

A lot of the free to enter competitions will have so many folk entering that that actual chance of winning something in miniscule.

Then you're also up against those who know what they're doing so all in all a tough gig.

You definitely can win ... but you need to enter loads and you get lots of spam.

For guaranteed returns, you can't beat matched betting. You could easily earn a few £k but you need to follow beginner guides and have a methodical approach.

Not every site spams though. The ones on Good Housekeeping, they are horrendous for Spam. It's not GH's fault as such, in that they're just hosting the comps for other people. Agree that Loquax is hands down the best place to find them.

I went through a phase of entering lots of competitions, and I won loads, including a top of the range Miele washing machine and drier, a 5 star trip to Sydney (I am in Australia), and loads of smaller prizes like a box full of Easter eggs, festival tickets, $500 off my gas bill, a go-pro, loads of cinema tickets etc. I probably spent an hour a day on it and seemed to win best on comps that needed a little effort, 25 words or less was my specialty. It was great fun, sometimes I wouldn't win for months then I'd get three prizes in a week! Actually I really should get into it again, it certainly made opening the mail-box fun.