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Make at least £300 simply by using the internet

John Fitzsimons
by Lovemoney Staff John Fitzsimons on 23 January 2010  |  Comments 17 comments

If you are desperate to make some cash, without having to put in too much effort, the internet is your friend! Here are six ways to make at least £300, using only your internet connection...

January is a long old month, waiting for your pay to appear in your account. I know I'm not alone when I say that my finances are beginning to feel a tad stretched.

Thankfully there are loads of clever ways you can use the internet to make a bit of cash, all with very minimal effort!

1) Cashback deals!

One of the main reasons my bank balance doesn't look too bad at the moment is because I got a very nice payment from the cashback website I use a lot, GreasyPalm, at the start of the month!

There are some truly eye-popping deals on cashback websites if you look hard enough, which actually effectively offer free money!

These tend to be on the gambling or casino websites, so you'll need to show some discipline and not end up throwing more money at the sites, but you can't argue with free cash.

From GreasyPalm for example, if you open a new account with Mecca Games, deposit and play with £10, you'll get £20 cashback!

Alternatively, head over to lovemoney.com readers' favourite cashback website, Quidco, and there's an even better deal - register a new account with Paddy Power and place a single bet of £10 and you'll get £30 in cashback!

Free money - Up to £20

2) Cash for your current account!

Dead easy one this - there are a couple of current account providers that will actually pay you for opening an account with them!

Alliance & Leicester for example will give you £100 cashback if you take up their Premier current account, so long as you switch all your direct debits over and pay £500 in each month.

Similarly, first direct will give you £100 if you open their 1st Account, and will even pay you an extra £100 if you aren't happy after six months and want to move elsewhere!

Free money - Up to £200

3) Flog your mobile

This is one I keep meaning to do but end up putting it off. Not any more though, as it really is free cash!

If like me you have an old mobile you don't use anymore, you'd be nuts not to head over to a site like Envirofone, Mazuma, Mopay or Mobile2Cash that will pay you a decent amount of cash for it.

My old phone is the Nokia 6300 (that probably means about as much to you as it does to me), and I can get about £33 for it from a couple of the sites I've listed above.

Free money - £33

4) Flog your old iPod

It's not just old phones you might not use anymore - if you have an old mp3 player that is gathering dust, why not make a few bob selling it on?

Previously, this would have been limited to listing it on sites like eBay and hoping somebody liked the look of your old iPod enough to shell out for it.

However, Mopay- yes, the same Mopay which will buy your old mobile - has recently launched a specialist service offering cold, hard cash for your unwanted iPod.

You don't necessarily get a huge return - for a second generation 4GB Nano (my own current model) you'll get a whopping £9.10 - but at least you'll know you'll definitely get some cash, compared to the gamble of an auction.

Free money - £9.10

5) Do some surveys

Rarely a day goes by when I don't get an email from YouGov asking me to take part in a survey. Ok, most of the time it's the naff 'brand awareness' one which you don't get cash for, but are entered into a prize draw, but now and again I will have the option of making a few pennies from doing a slightly more interesting one.

And it's not like they take ages to do.

It takes a while to build up sufficient cash to qualify for a voucher, but it's a lovely bonus when the cheque arrives through the post!

Free money - £50

6) Sell your junk

If all else fails, the one sure-fire way to make money on the internet is to sell stuff you no longer need or use.

When I got home from University, I sold a host of the books I never wanted to set eyes on again on Amazon and made a tidy little sum.

The main alternative of course is eBay, and here at lovemoney.com, we've previously written about our preference for the latter in Why eBay is better than Amazon. Either way, both sites offer a decent vehicle for raising some cash.

However, if you have an old heirloom that you reckon might be worth a few bob, rather than taking a gamble with an auction site or a car boot sale, it might be worth checking out Valuemystuffnow.com, a site offering professional online valuations of antiques and collectibles.

Basically you upload photographs and a description of the item, and you'll get a valuation back within two days (you'll have to pay £3.99 a time though).

Free money - Could be anything!

So there you have it - six easy tips, which if I followed right now could net me well over £300 even before I have a root around for some priceless antiques in the attic!

Get help from lovemoney.com

If your finances could do with a spruce, then there are lots of ways lovemoney.com can help

For starters, try some of the hints and tips in our goal: Manage on a small budget

Next up, watch this video: Slash your credit card debt in four easy steps

And finally, if you have a specific question that needs answering why not see if one of your fellow lovemoney.com users can help in our Q&A section?

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Comments (17)

  • aleese
    Love rating 0
    aleese said

    another option, sell all your old cd,dvds and games on www.musicmagpie.co.uk

    not the best deal per item but a lot less hassle

    they send you a crate if you submit a list of 100 items or more i think it was

    Report on 23 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • BASSCHASER
    Love rating 1
    BASSCHASER said

    Overuse of uppercase will be tamed (you can edit your comment to prevent this):

    dont use the mobile buying websites as they pay only a pittance . sell your mobile on ebay you will get twice or three times as much as these sites give. i view them as no better than cheap gold sites! you gov are a waste of time registering with as all their surveys now enter you for a prize draw instead of paying , and guess what? you never hear who won (if anyone did!) smacks of the old readers digest or damart underwear ploy from the eighties! apologies for caps as my case button is playing up.

    And now here are some pictures to help lighten the mood

    Report on 23 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Mike10613
    Love rating 599
    Mike10613 said

    Surveys tend to pay poorly new VistaLive isn't too bad and they sent me a cheque for £50 this week. MutualPoints is good for cash back and you can refer friends and make points for searches. I have 14,000 points when I hot 15,000 I can cash them in for £100; every little helps... I think YouGov pays at £50 too and I have about £10 to go to get that payout. Adsense pays at £60 and again need another £10 for that payout. You can also email stories and stuff in to magazines and make a little cash. My niece won a wedding! 

    Report on 23 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • DP130132
    Love rating 20
    DP130132 said

    You do not need to live in UK to do many - and many more - of these things!! anyone with a bit of "savvy" can live in a climate of "eternal Spring", (no VAT, no council tax, no TV licence fee, petrol half UK price, etc.,), and boost income A friend buys from charity organisation the free CD's from newspapers, handed in to their charity shops by the thousand, at 10 pounds per 100, and sells them in the "Rastro" (Car boot sale every Saturday) at 1Euro each!! Buy an English newspaper here, and the free CD is not included.

    Report on 23 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • SarahJay
    Love rating 0
    SarahJay said

    the thing about Greasy Palm? cos I was sensible and didn't buy stuff I didn't need, it took the best part of 3 years to earn enough to qualify for a payout... except the last few transactions (over a year ago now) never 'validated' so I never got the cheque.

    Good to hear they do actually pay out; I was beginning to wonder if they were legit. Looks like I'll never get mine though.

    Think of all the loyalty points I could've earned from other sources...!

    Report on 23 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • jondale
    Love rating 0
    jondale said

    Where is this place with a "climate of eternal Spring and no VAT, no council tax, no TV licence fee, petrol half UK price, etc"....??

    Report on 23 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • leah AKA global leah
    Love rating 21
    leah AKA global leah said

    There are a lot of sites that are legit, as I am one of the people that does do surveys... the ones that I am a member has paid out with absolutely no problems, I know it can be frustrating when you don't know whether these "draws" actually exists, but again, I have won amazon vouchers as well as cash from various sites, so I can vouch that some sites Do do draws.

    YouGov can be frustrating, as you do have to accumulate 5000 points to get the £50, but again, I'm pretty close to getting there, Mutual points, again, could take a while, but they do pay out. I've had several £20 from them...

    Toluna, springboard, nectar, valued your opinions are just the few sites that I am a member of, and I cannot say any of them hadn't pay me what I'd earned by doing surveys. 

    I think at the end of the day, if you are working, then it seems a lot more "hard work" doing these surveys to earn the points, but if you aren't, then sitting in front of the computer throughout the day to do the surveys, then it is worth doing. 

    Report on 23 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • DP130132
    Love rating 20
    DP130132 said

    On the "balcony" of the Oratava Valley, North coast, Tenerife, Canary Islands. 25C in the shade today!!!

    Report on 24 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • ayeitis
    Love rating 7
    ayeitis said

    Are Greasy Palm legit? I suppose they are but I've had too much money go missing from them to ever use them again. Recommended GP to my sister too and they didn't pay her the £37 she earned. The cheque they issued became invalid whilst she was away on holiday and they wouldn't re-issue another one! They also told me one of my £20 transactions hadn't tracked and I checked with the retailer who told me it showed on their system that I'd come from GP and I should take it up with them! They still denied that it had tracked. Not content with keeping 50% of your cashback it seems.

    I only use Quidco now, and in the last 2 years they've been excellent. Efficient and honest. 100% cashback comes to me and all for £5 a year.

    I've had £150 from YouGov so far, (that's about 3 years!) but nothing from the others. Most of them are a waste of time. Ciao want you to fill in a 30 minute survey for 10p, they also impose a time-limit on when you can take the money, which means I never actually get a payout. So where does the money go? In their pocket.

    Report on 24 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • leah AKA global leah
    Love rating 21
    leah AKA global leah said

    Another site that I remember and dare say I've had good feedback is GFK

    If you watch a lot of television, then this might be good for you, as each day you do a survey, commenting on what you've watched, you get a "ticket", and at the end of the month, they put a draw, you don't win every time, but I've won quite a few e-vouchers as well as a couple of bigger prizes, so it is a good site to join.

    GP.. I found it annoying as I tend to forget to let them know about my purchases, and Ciao?? totally waste of time, as ayeitis says, you only earn rubbish money when you have to spend over half an hour to do a survey? what is the point in that, when you probably have done over 10 with the amount of time you spent doing just one of theirs?

    Report on 24 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • ajj100
    Love rating 0
    ajj100 said

    I can vouch that Greasy Palm do pay out - I have received several payments from them.  I will admit however that some cashback does appear to go mysteriously missing and they don't appear to be very helpful in recovering it!

    Report on 25 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Mike10613
    Love rating 599
    Mike10613 said

    I have £90 cashback and other rewards with Mutualpoints.com but I'm holding out for the £100! I had a cheque for £50 a couple of weeks ago from NewVistaLive. Their web pages load slow and so it's frustrating. YouGov is OK, but slow to make money. I shall have £50 sometimes this year and every little helps. Adsense is good and they will pay next month with a little luck. 

    It is a good idea to look at magazines that want letters and pay £50 or something for a letter that is emailed in. They quite often want pictures too. If you have a good story, write it and get the grammar and spelling perfect and offer it as a feature and refuse any silly offers. Magazines pay good money, but will cheat you if they can get away with it. 

    I just had an email from an executive in the States who runs a consultancy. He is working on a identity and name for a publishing company. I'm helping with the name for free and it's like a loss leader. I need contacts in publishing houses because i have a novel I want published and he is struggling for ideas. I did the research and supplied the ideas in about 30 minutes, it's a risk, it may make money in the long term; it may not. My reputation as a writer is going extremely well though and I have a long list of executives around the world in my address book.

    Report on 27 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • weenie
    Love rating 0
    weenie said

    Valued Opinions for surveys definitely pays out - the Amazon vouchers I get are handy when buying Christmas presents.

    Report on 28 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • McLeodC
    Love rating 13
    McLeodC said

    Remember, too, that if you have a Nectar card, you can collect points by shopping at numerous online retailers - but you have to enter the retailer's site via the link from Nectar. See www.nectar.com for details.

    Report on 28 January 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • Liony
    Love rating 15
    Liony said

    I signed up for paid surveys and wish I had never bothered. I have never had anything from any of the companies offering surveys which I have done. Often I find that I am offered surveys which are not relevant. I paid $39.95 for it. What a waste of money. Steer clear of paid surveys - they don't work.

    I even do Valued Opinion surveys and have never got anything from them either. Best of luck with surveys if they work for you. Go for it.

    As for the sites which offer you loads for your old phone - I have a Nokia 6500 slide phone in great condition and when I put the details in I would only get something like 30.00 for it. I was appalled. Unless you have a really up-to-date phone, I don't think you will get much from selling your mobile. If you do sell it, try selling it privately or on ebay, or craigslist.

    Report on 01 February 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • kittykat2007
    Love rating 0
    kittykat2007 said

    Little word on Greasy Palm - they do a feedback feature on their retailers, but unfortunately, you are only allowed to leave positive feedback! So be warned, the feedback on there may be very biased and will not give you a realistic view of the retailer themselves!

    Report on 10 February 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • leah AKA global leah
    Love rating 21
    leah AKA global leah said

    Liony... sorry to say this, but why would you pay to join any survey sites when there are so many that you can join for free? As far as I can vouch for all the sites that's been mentioned on this thread, they are all free to join, some will pay out, some will mysteriously loses money/points, but it certainly doesn't cost to join.

    Idea of doing surveys mostly are for people to earn a bit of cash, and if you pay to join anything that supposingly have to pay first, then you don't.. it is as easy as that...

    If there are two stands with the exact same catalogue in each, but one cost £1, and the other is free, you wouldn't pay the £1..

    Report on 13 April 2010  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

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