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Panelbase Review: Is This Paid Survey Site Worth Your While?
By Ian | Negative Reviews
In 2019, the International Telecommunication Union estimated that 87% of individuals in developed countries have access to the internet. This resulted in the expansion of money-making opportunities online, and one of the avenues gaining popularity are paid survey sites.
Paid survey sites are platforms that allow people to get paid for sharing their personal opinions about products or services. Seems easy, right?
Unfortunately, these sites have become breeding grounds for companies seeking to take advantage of hard-working and honest people. That’s why in this review, we’ll be taking a close look at Panelbase — a well-known paid survey site based in the UK.
I’m not an affiliate of Panelbase nor is my review sponsored or influenced in any way possible.
Surveys are the ONLY way of making money with Panelbase, so if you’re part of the unlucky bunch (which includes me) that keeps getting screened out of surveys, don’t expect to make anything significant.
That’s why I prefer paid survey sites like Swagbucks, where surveys are not the only way to earn points. Swagbucks rewards you by doing things that you’re probably already doing, like shopping online and surfing the web.
Another great thing about them is that they’re available in different countries. Join Swagbucks now and see the overwhelming number of options they have to earn points for yourself.
If you don’t have enough time to read the whole review, read this short version in order to know if Panelbase is right for you.
Panelbase might seem to be an okay platform at first but, don’t be fooled. Joining Panelbase comes with several disadvantages. Here are a few of them:
All in all, if you’re in the UK, Panelbase should be at the bottom of your list of viable paid survey sites. Panelbase offers very little potential for an income and your time is much better invested somewhere your earnings would equate the time and effort spent.
Panelbase is an online research panel that was launched in 2005 and presents members with surveys from a number of service providers and companies willing to pay people for their thoughts on their services and products. Panelbase is under a market research agency based in the UK called Dipsticks Research Limited.
To be a member of Panelbase, you must be from the UK.
I immediately noticed something before joining Panelbase: the website design is horrible! It seems dated and the effort put into it was very minimal. It’s obvious that no focus was given to this aspect at all.
While Panelbase is free to join, it’s difficult to qualify for surveys once in the members’ area. There’s a £3 incentive for signing up, which was pretty neat. However, the £3 were useless to me because I couldn’t cash them out without first hitting Panelbase’s payout threshold of £10.
Your profile must be completed to be eligible to start answering surveys. Panelbase claims that once all of the profile categories are completed, qualifying for a survey will be much easier.
There was a long list of categories to cover and each was divided into multiple questionnaires. It took me about 45 minutes to answer 13 out of the 18 profile categories, and the process was not only boring, it was tedious. These categories are only intended to qualify members to take surveys and there are no rewards for completing them all.
It’s also worth noting that some of the questions were severely outdated. Take a look at the example for a question here. MySpace? Who the hell still uses that in 2020?
Panelbase requires pre-screener questions to be answered every time you click a survey invite. This can get frustrating because you’ll be answering the same screener questions over and over again. What was the point of the tedious process to complete the profile categories then?
The day after I completed my profile, I received a survey invite in my inbox. It claimed that I’d be rewarded £2 for a 38-minute survey, excluding pre-screener questions.
After clicking the survey invite, I was taken to the Ipsos interactive website to answer the survey. However, before I was able to do anything, I was screened out immediately.
Of course I was disappointed since £2 for 38 minutes seems like a decent rate, but it seems like it was too good to be true. The only compensation you receive for screening out is a single entry to a monthly draw (which is as good as nothing).
Panelbase has a referral program that may look like a good alternative to answering surveys, but it isn’t. You receive £0.02 for referring a friend and you won’t be able to receive a portion of their earnings, which is the common practice among referral programs for paid survey sites.
This “reward” isn’t motivating at all and I can’t see it being a viable alternative to answering surveys.
Panelbase requires members to accumulate £10 to qualify for a payout and offers two main methods for said payout:
a. Payout via BACS. Have your money transferred through a direct bank transfer you’ll receive within 7 days. This option involves less fees.
b. Payout via vouchers. The vouchers Panelbase offers are for Love2shop and Compliments, both of which can be used in over 70 high-street retail outlets in the UK.
Panelbase isn’t for anyone who can’t afford to waste time and energy, especially since you’ll be put through a boring lengthy profile-completing process that doesn’t reward you with anything. You’ll also have to answer pre-screener questions over and over again, even after you’ve completed your profile.
You might make something that barely resembles a decent earning with Panelbase after a long while, but the amount you earn from taking surveys won’t be worth the time you invest. If you’re bent on building a significant side income to support your family with Panelbase, you’re in for a serious let.
Please share your experience with Panelbase in the comments area. We’ll be glad to hear your side of the Panelbase story.
I've been in internet marketing for over 10 years, and I've purchased dozens of illegitimate products for the sole purpose of evaluating them and exposing the truth about these products to anyone who's thinking about purchasing it. I never let money influence my rating of a product and your success/safety is my absolute highest priority. Don't want to buy a product? Register for one of my 100% free internet marketing training courses>>
