I came across American Consumer Opinion and it seemed a little different to most of the paid survey sites I've seen so far, so I decided to take a closer look.

I've been reviewing a lot of surveys sites like Survey Squad and Opinion Miles Club lately to help you guys make money online.

But is American Consumer Opinion a scam?

I love the idea of earning money by giving your opinion. It sounds easy enough, is something you can do in your own time wherever you want and it's a decent way to whittle down the time if you find yourself with not much to do.

So far Swagbucks is the best paying site I've seen, but even they have their shortcomings…

While I like the idea of taking paid surveys, in reality, they just don't pay enough to make it worthwhile.

But as always, I remain steadfast and hopeful that maybe one day I find a survey site that's worth my time.

American Consumer Opinion seemed a little different to the conventional survey sites and I like the fact they've been around for so long, this can only be a good sign.

With my curiosity peaked, I decided to do a bit of digging to find out more…

What Is American Consumer Opinion?

American Consumer Opinion (or ACOP for short) was launched way back in 1996 by Decision Analyst, Inc. when they sent surveys out by post.

They're a free to join survey site also available as a mobile app from the iTunes store.

They're an American-based company right out of Fort Worth, Dallas, though membership is open to most countries.

They've grown to 7 million+ members and have paid out more than $30 million. American Consumer Opinion is also a voluntary member of the Council of American Survey Research Organizations which can only be a good thing.

They also have nearly 30,000 likes on Facebook and they're quite active on Twitter:

ACOP uses a points-based system where you accumulate points for each survey successfully completed:

1 point = $0.01
10 points = $0.10
100 points  =$1.00
1,000 points = $10.00 

You'll need to save 1,000 points before you can withdraw your funds, but the great thing here is they pay directly into your PayPal account. That's a big plus.

I found the signup process itself easy enough, you just answer a few simple questions and confirm your email address. This is important because instead of having a list of surveys on ACOP.com, they send you email invites for surveys they think you could qualify for based on the information you give them at sign up.

There are 3 ways you can earn some extra money at American Consumer Opinion:

1. Earn Points By Taking Surveys

It looks like answering consumer surveys is the main way to earn money. They payout quite well compared to most survey sites out there. Typically you can expect $4-$12 per survey which could take you 30 minutes to an hour to complete.

Occasionally they have longer, more detailed research projects you can take part in and earn up to $50 but these are very few and far between.

2. Earn Points By Evaluating New Products

Similar to Product Testing USA and BzzAgent, a company sends you out a new product and you answer questions about the packaging, design and branding.

You will have the opportunity to evaluate new products and new product ideas as well as optimize existing products and packaging designs.

3. Earn Points By Reviewing New Ads

Sometimes you might get an email inviting you to watch a short commercial and share your thoughts about it. There doesn't seem to be too many of these from what I've heard but are fun and easy to do if you can get them.

It doesn't look like you can earn points for referring your friends at the moment, but they do have an affiliate program where you earn $1 for each person that signs up under link, as long as they're from the UK, US, Canada, Germany or France.

Here's a quick video I thought you might find helpful. It runs through some of the basics of the site and how to get the most out of your membership:

The American Consumer Opinion website looks good, easy to navigate and signing up was easy. As I say, you can't see any surveys on there so you just have to hold tight and wait for the email invites.

They've got a really good FAQs page and a contact form.

But this is pretty much where the downsides began to show up…

It Could Take Up To 6 Months To Get Paid

If you're expecting to receive payments quickly you'll be disappointed with ACOP.

On their website it says:

“Please allow for 8-12 weeks before you receive your payment from the time of cash out. We are currently processing your payment. Thank you for your patience.”

I've found tons of complaints on Survey Police from members who've had to wait more than 6 months to get paid, and this was only after sending several emails to chase them up.

I don't get why they can't speed up the payments process, I mean they are paying via PayPal after all, shouldn't it be almost instantaneous?

Maybe they're waiting to get payment from the company hiring them to do consumer feedback before they pass the payment to you?

For me this is quite a turnoff. 3-6 months is a ridiculously long time to have to wait.

Not Enough Surveys

Unlike Swagbucks that always seem to have hundreds of surveys available, with American Consumer Opinion you can only really expect to get a survey invite maybe once every 4 months or even less often if you're outside the US.

To be fair though, they do say to only expect ‘several survey invitations a year‘.

So there's not much potential here then in terms of making a lot of extra cash. The huge lack of surveys means the amount you can earn is severely limited.

How Much Money Can You Really Make?

I'd say at best, you could make $8 from a survey once every 3 months. Keeping in mind the minimum cashout limit is $10 and payments take at least 3 months to process, you could be waiting an entire year before getting your $10!

It's clear there's no way you can do this full-time, which is a real shame because the payment per survey is relatively high.

Whether you're looking to earn some money part-time or full-time this really doesn't seem to be a viable option.

Here's a review from a happy American Consumer Opinion member who's celebrating the fact it only took him 3 months to earn $10:

On what planet is earning $10 every 3 months a great thing?!

There are 1000's of people earning more than enough income to replace their day job online and here we are scraping around to try and find a few dollars here and there.

What I Like

• Been around in some form or other since 1996
• They do payout… eventually!

What I Don't Like So much…

• Minimum 3 months of processing time for payments
• You can only expect a few survey invites per year

Is American Consumer Opinion A Scam?

American Consumer Opinion is definitely not a scam, but that doesn't mean I can recommend them as a legit way of earning extra money online.

I score this site a 55 out of 100, not because they're a scam but for someone looking to make serious money online it's just not possible.

Maybe if you don't mind making a few bucks every now and then and you're not in a rush to get paid then sure, why not give them a go.

But to be completely honest, taking surveys will never earn you more than minimum wage. In fact, most people rarely earn more than $1-$3 per hour at best, and this is assuming you have a steady and consistent flow of surveys to take.

We've all got bills to pay and things we're saving for, but surveys just aren't going to help you get where you want to be; they're too time-consuming and low-paying.

If you want a legit way of making money online then you'd be better off investing your time into building an online business you can earn monthly revenue from.

Wealthy Affiliate has a really good course on this and you can get started for free.

Creating an internet business takes a little longer to accomplish, but the rewards are far greater and last longer.

Read the full Wealthy Affiliate review to find out how you can get instant access to the right know-how and support.

What's Your Take?

I hope this American Consumer Opinion review helped you out. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below and I'll get right back to you.

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