The best paid online survey websites

On 11:00 PM by Unknown 3 comments

The best paid online survey websites

We all have a bit of time to kill every now and then, particularly over holiday breaks and in the evenings. Make sure you’re turning it into cash!

Online Surveys

Close the YouTube cat videos down. Instead spend your spare time earning £100s a year filling out online surveys or testing products.

There are a growing number of research companies out there offering rewards for your opinions, however they’re not always as ‘legit’ as they make out. Online Surveys

With this in mind, we’ve created a run-down of the trusted survey sites, personally tested by out users and us. We reveal how much you can realistically make from each site and share some helpful tips to maximise your profit.

Legit online survey websites

Each site has a limited number of surveys each month for each person. If you want to earn serious rewards it’s worth signing up to as many as possible.

Swagbucks SurveysSwagbucks

Very popular with students, thanks to a wide variety of ways to earn rewards. Exclusive signup bonus!

Who are they? Swagbucks are a reliable survey site who also offer rewards for playing games and watching videos.

Rewards: Cash, vouchers and prize draws.

Amount per survey: 70 points called SB (40p).

Min. reward threshold: 1 SB.

Our review:

We love Swagbucks, and we hear positive reviews from our followers about them too. We’ve found that completing surveys and polls every day provides the best return for your time, however you can also complete a much wider range of offers to bump up your earnings.

Surveys take around 10 minutes to complete, meaning you can earn around £2.40 an hour. Swagbucks also offers users the ability to complete surveys from multiple providers and give consolation points when you don’t qualify for a survey.

Use our code StudentsSave for a bonus 70 points when signing up!

Toluna Survey SiteToluna

Test, keep products and earn vouchers.

Who are they? A trusted opinion website working on behalf of leading companies. They want to know what you think about certain products, services and issues. In return, you get rewarded!

Rewards: Free products, Amazon vouchers and prize draws.

Amount per survey: 3,000 – 6,000 points (80,000 points gets you a £15 voucher).

Min. reward threshold: 500 for prizes, 80,000 for vouchers.

Our review:

You won’t be sent products to test all the time, but we have received a couple over the space of a few months. So it’s worth signing up just to get freebies 🙂

You can also answer surveys on the site to earn yourself points which equal vouchers. Each survey takes around 15 minutes to complete, so it’ll take around 4 hours overall to earn a voucher.

Vivatic SurveysVivatic

Frequent surveys.

Who are they? Vivatic is a site that allows you to earn money from not only surveys but a number of other jobs such as writing reviews & data entry.

Rewards: Cash.

Amount per survey: ~£1-2.

Min. reward threshold: £25

Our review:

Vivatic is a great survey site. Surveys take about 15 mins to complete so it could take you a little while to reach the threshold but the good news is that there’s plenty more extra money making opportunities that they have so well worth a sign up.

MySurvey survey siteMySurvey

Make £3-5 per hour.

Who are they? A popular consumer panel who are always looking for new members to participate in market research studies for rewards.

Rewards: PayPal payments, Amazon and high-street vouchers.

Amount per survey: Around 100 points.

Min. reward threshold: 345 points (£3).

Our review:

Another one worth signing up for. We got lots of surveys sent from these guys, and they tend to match your profile and interests as a consumer.

The average survey takes about 15 minutes to complete, and gives you 100 points. So you could earn around £3-£5/hour.

OnepollOnePoll

Exclusive £5 signup bonus.

Who are they? Best known for short, quick surveys about every topic. OnePoll provide surveys to the press and major brands.

Rewards: Cash or PayPal payments.

Amount per survey: 10p – £1.

Min. reward threshold: £40.

Our review:

OnePoll were one of the first survey sites around and they’ve always got quick and fun surveys to answer. Look out for the surveys about celebs.

Surveys take around 3 minutes so at 20p a survey (average) it’ll take around 10 hours to earn £40.

You need to check your account daily for surveys and some users report you get stuck just under the £40

threshold. If this happens you can refer a friend for £4 and then withdraw your earnings.

Use our signup link below for an exclusive £5 signup bonus.

Survey BodsSurvey Bods

£3 upon sign up and profile completion.

Who are they? SurveyBods work with top companies that want your opinion.

Rewards: Cash, Amazon vouchers and prize draws.

Amount per survey: 50p – £3

Min. reward threshold: £15

Our review:

The surveys usually take around 10 minutes and are pretty easy to complete. You have to be as honest as possible as they have a “strike system”. 3 bad surveys and you’re out (we like to see it as a challenge).

They’re a well trusted site that work with top brands and well worth joining through our link for a £3 bonus when signing up. Make sure you complete your profile too. Plus their site is a lot more snazzy than a lot of the others…

Opinion-Panel-CommunityThe OpinionPanel Community

Students get £10 just for signing up.

Who are they? They are the UK’s largest research panel for students & grads. They offer interesting surveys and online focus groups for big brands and universities, with their research often reaching the media spotlight!

Rewards: Amazon and high-street, Bonusbond vouchers.

Amount per survey: £1-2 per survey, £30 – £70 for online focus groups.

Min. reward threshold: £25 for Students only. £1 for others.

Our review:

The OpinionPanel Community are a trusted site and their surveys take around 10 minutes to complete.

There is also mobile compatibility so you can complete surveys on the go.

Yougov SurveysYouGov

Earn 50p per survey.

Who are they? This is a little different to others, focusing more on social issues and general interest topics. YouGov polls include topics such as politics, public affairs and commercial products. Great if you have big opinions!

Rewards: Cash and prize draws.

Amount per survey: 50p – £3.

Min. reward threshold: £50.

Our review:

YouGov is one of the more interesting sites to sign up to because of the kinds of surveys they conduct. Most are on current issues that are in the news and they encourage you to express your views.

Surveys can take up to 30 minutes but are not always that frequent. We received one or two a fortnight, so it can take a few months to hit the threshold. However, you get £1 just for joining and if you get your friends to sign up too you can quickly get lots more points and cash!

IPSOS Survey SitesIpsos

Make £10+ a month.

Who are they? One of the largest (and best paying) survey-based market research companies around, working with trusted brands and research companies worldwide.

Rewards: High-street and Amazon Vouchers, plus prize draws for all members.

Amount per survey: ~£1.

Min. reward threshold: £10.

Our review:

A well-trusted panel. They send you surveys every week to answer by email. The reward threshold is relatively low, and most people will be able to cash out in under 10 surveys.

vopinions-logoValued Opinions

£10 voucher per hour.

Who are they? Valued Opinions are part of a larger market research group. They send out online surveys to members whose profiles match broad demographics and requirements.

Rewards: Vouchers (inc. Amazon, M&S, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis).

Amount per survey: £1 – £5.

Min. reward threshold: £10.

Our review:

First off, signing up with Valued Opinions automatically enters you into a prize draw for an iPad. From there, they use your profile to send you relevant surveys to complete.

The surveys are usually quite interesting, and can take anything from 10-30 minutes each, so within just one hour you could bag yourself a £10 voucher.

Populus-LogoPopulusLive

Earn £1 for every 5 mins.

Who are they? They are a big UK survey site who provide stats to the press and current affairs programmes.

Rewards: Cash.

Amount per survey: ~£2.

Min. reward threshold: 50 points (£50).

Our review:

PopulusLive are a favourite among the survey taking community because of their decent payout. It can take some time to reach the treshold and surveys run out quickly once they have enough respondents.

You have to be very careful with your answers as they have quality checks in place to make sure you aren’t cheating or rushing through. Well worth signing up for though.

Global Test Market Survey SiteGlobal Test Market

Earn £100 per year.

Who are they? This is a well know US survey site but they pay out cheques in £s.

Rewards: Cash, vouchers and prize draws.

Amount per survey: ~£1.20.

Min. reward threshold: 1000 points ($50/£32).

Our review:

Surveys take around 15 minutes each so you could be earning £4.80 an hour. Be aware that cheques do take a while to arrive in the post, and we’d recommend not wasting your time with the ‘prize draw’ surveys (unless you’re feeling very lucky).

Opinion-OutpostOpinion Outpost

One of the lowest payout thresholds.

Who are they? Opinion Outpost have shot up in popularity due to fast payouts and fun surveys.

Rewards: Cash and Amazon Vouchers.

Amount per survey: 50p

Min. reward threshold: £2.50

Our review:

You only need to complete 5 surveys to be due a payout and they take around 10-15 minutes each.

MindmoverMindMover

Interesting surveys on consumer products

Who are they? Mindmover allow you to share your opinions on everything from food to public transport.

Rewards: Cash.

Amount per survey: 50p – £1.50.

Min. reward threshold: £20.

Our review:

MindMover is a decent option but it can take a while to build up the points as surveys are sometime few and far between.

It takes around 15 minutes to complete each survey.

iPolliPoll

Mobile compatibility & multiple payout opportunities.

Who are they? iPoll used to be called Survey Heads and are a US based company.

Rewards: Cash, vouchers & magazine subscriptions.

Amount per survey: 40p – £1.70

Min. reward threshold: £20

Our review:

It will take you around 15 minutes to complete a survey but the range of rewards are decent.

The only downside is that the amount of surveys tends to be quite low.

Hiving-SurveysHiving

Good referral scheme.

Who are they? They run surveys on behalf of leading brands.

Rewards: Cash.

Amount per survey: ~50p

Min. reward threshold: £4

Our review:

Hiving reward you around 50 points per minute when completing surveys and you can withdraw as soon as you reach 4000 points (£4).

They also reward users for referring friends and give you points even if you are declined for a survey.

PanelbasePanelBase

Earn £3 just for signing up!

Who are they? PanelBase aren’t your average survey site. They don’t inundate you with surveys, but the ones they do send are very well paid and relevant to you!

Rewards: Cash, vouchers and prize draws.

Amount per survey: 50p – £10 (avg. ~£1.50).

Min. reward threshold: £10.

Our review:

£3 just for signing up to a site is a bit of a no-brainer… The surveys pay out higher than the industry average too which gives you the opportunity to earn some good dough!

However they do select their survey respondents very carefully so you may be sent slightly less opportunities than other sites. Just make sure you fully complete your profile to give yourself the best chance.

Pinecone research SurveysPinecone Research

£3 per survey, invite only.

Who are they? Pinecone are an exclusive survey and product testing company who are invite only.

Rewards: £3 per completed survey, free products to test and keep.

Amount per survey: £3.

Min. reward threshold: £3.

Our review:

Pinecone is the Holy Grail of survey sites and invites are rare so it’s well worth signing up while we have some invites on offer. The payout is huge and surveys don’t take too long to complete. You sometimes get sent products to test and keep too!

Note: There’s no guarantee that they will be open to new registrations at any one time, but we try to arrange a limited number for our readers each month. Check the link below. If we don’t, join our newsletter for updates.

NewVista Survey SiteNew Vista Live

Earn £100 per year.

Who are they? A leading marketing research company who have chosen to conduct surveys online rather than traditional cold-calling and so on.

Rewards: Cash and prize draws.

Amount per survey: Around £1 a survey.

Min. reward threshold: £50.

Our review:

NewVista offers users cash for completing surveys where 1 point = £1. For some, it can take a while to reach the £50 threshold but the surveys usually take just 15 minutes (so ~£4/hour) and they pay well.

Make sure you answer questions honestly as NewVista are known for chucking in a few red herrings to make sure you’re actually thinking rather than speeding through.

Remember that we’re on your side, we do not promote scam/spam sites. If you have any problems with any of these survey sites then make sure you let us know.

Tips for maximising your online survey profit

Rather than just leaving you with a list of online survey sites we wanted to make sure that you get the most out of all of them.

Here’s a few ways to make sure you get the maximum rewards or profit from each site.

It’s a good idea to sign up to as many as possible. This means that you will always have surveys to answer instead of waiting for one or two to come along every month.

There is no harm in signing up to loads and you can always unsubscribe if you don’t like the service that one of them are providing.

Set up an alias email

email-at-signYou don’t have to do this but we would recommend setting up a separate email for all of your survey site accounts. That way you can log in each day and easily see the surveys on offer (without it clogging up your personal inbox).

You should also check your emails regularly as some surveys are only open for a day (sometimes less).

Be honest

Try and be honest when filling in these online paid surveys as sometimes you can be penalised for contradicting yourself or giving inadequate responses. Also, don’t try to second guess the system by saying that you are a wealthy businessman or woman to get more surveys. It won’t work!

Watch out for scams and fake sites

A number of sites (we won’t call anyone out) advertise dodgy survey sites to students so make sure you avoid them. The ones to watch out for are generally the ones that sound too good to be true!

It’s also worth noting that you aren’t guaranteed to receive products from the product testing site as users are chosen at random so if anyone promises this you should be very wary.

Put it this way, there are 1000s of users on each survey site, do you really think that they can afford to send out 1000s of free Playstations for people to test?

Cash in when you reach the limit

Go for a large overdraftUnless you are looking to build up a big amount and aiming for one of the top rewards for which you have time for, then it’s best to cash in early with these paid survey sites.

Also be aware that some sites will have restrictions on when you can spend the points and how long they are valid for.

Don’t ever pay to join

All of the paid survey sites listed above are free to apply for. You shouldn’t get sucked into paying for a subscription to any online survey websites, whatever they promise you.

The sites listed on this page have been tried and tested and are genuine. If you are already a member of any of these survey sites or any that aren’t listed then please do let us know what you think of them!

Guide to becoming a mystery shopper

On 10:22 PM by Unknown 6 comments

Guide to becoming a mystery shopper

If there’s one thing better than getting paid hard cash, it’s getting paid hard cash to shop at your favourite stores. Sound too good to be true? hidinginclothesBecoming a mystery shopper is a great part-time gig for students: Not only do you get paid for your time and get to choose the hours you work, but you also scoop up freebies in the process.

Most of the big retailers are signed up to some kind of mystery shopping scheme, so there’s plenty of work out there. However, with around 500,000 people registered as mystery shoppers in the UK, competition to land a job is getting increasingly tougher.

So is it really worth it? We’ve done the research and put together this comprehensive guide to ensure you’re armed with all the info you need.

Have you worked as a mystery shopper before? Don’t forget to share your experiences with us in the comments below! We’d love to hear from you…

What’s on this page? hidinginclothes

What is mystery shopping?

How does it work?

How much will I earn?

Which are the best companies to work for?

Mystery shopping do’s and don’ts

Is it worth it?

Don’t forget this article is just one part of our Making Money section, which is filled with quick and easy ideas for a cash injection!

What is mystery shopping?

20080314_sherlock_holmesWhile the clue is in the name, mystery shopping isn’t about getting your Poirot on down the local Primark… but it’s not far off!

Mystery shopping is a job (yes, it really is a form of employment) where you sign up to an agency or independent company that pays ‘mystery shoppers’ to visit businesses anonymously around the country in order to check that specific standards are being met (e.g. cleanliness, good customer service, etc.).

It isn’t just about clothes or groceries either. You could find yourself grabbing a free dinner at a restaurant, having your eyesight tested or even counting trains at a train station – so mystery shopping is also mystery eating, mystery drinking, and…err… mystery train counting?

How does mystery shopping work?

The process involved in mystery shopping tends to vary from job to job, but most commonly will looks like this:

You’ll be given a specific set of instructions to read before venturing into a shop or business. These instructions will include guidelines on what to buy (this part is normally quite flexible), a list of things to ask in store, as well as any details you need to watch out for and remember to take a mental note of.

Once you get home, you’ll usually need to write up a report on your findings and send this to the agency. This can take anything up to two hours to complete, so make sure you leave yourself enough time afterwards to get the paperwork done.

primark

Credit: Georgie Pauwels – Flickr.com

Other forms of mystery shopping include:

Postal monitoring: You sign up to have brochures and catalogues sent to your home address and record how long they take to arrive, what state they arrive in, etc.

Mystery shopping by phone: This one can even mean starting work before getting out of bed! Telephone mystery shopping involves calling up stores with general questions and assessing (and recording!) how these are answered.

Email mystery shopping: Similar to phone mystery shopping, but this method is obviously more for online stores or stores who have a strong online presence.

Online survey: This can entail completing product reviews or simply filling out online surveys related to certain brands.

Like the sound of making money with online surveys? Check out our comprehensive list of the best paid online survey sites if this is more your thing!

How much will I earn?

The pay for mystery shopping jobs tend to vary dramatically, but unfortunately in recent years companies have started offering less money or even no payment at all.

In the past, some full-time mystery shoppers have reported earning between £30-40,000 per year, but it’s worth knowing that this is after spending many years on the job and earning a reputation in the industry. Unfortunately, it seems the days of this sort of mystery shopper salary are over.

Today, you’re more likely to be offered work where you won’t receive payment, but will be given a budget to spend in store, and will be allowed to keep what you buy as a freebie (so make sure you choose something you really want!).

Most companies also offer travel expenses, so make sure you keep hold of any train tickets you use so you can claim the cash back.

Which are the best companies to work for?

There are a whole slog of companies offering mystery shopper work in the UK, but unfortunately this also means the industry is rife with fake companies trying to scam you into paying registration fees to join agencies that don’t exist.

It should always be free to sign up to mystery shopping, so if a site asks for payment, approach with extreme caution.

When in doubt, check out the MSPA website (Mystery Shopping Providers Association) to see if the company is listed. If their name’s not down, run a mile!

Signing up is generally pretty pain free: there’s no need for CVs or references – just fill out an online survey and you’re all set.

Here’s our take on some of the most popular mystery shopper sites in the UK.

Market Force

mf_facebook_logoFormerly known as Retail Eyes, this is one of the UK’s most well-known mystery shopping sites and with 300,000 registered members, it’s certainly one of the biggest.

They host a massive range of jobs – they have everything from visiting opticians to checking out local pubs – so chances are you’ll be able to find something up your street.

Payment: Very low or just in freebies (worth £5-15)

Pros: Variety of assignments

Cons: Bad customer service

Check Out Market Force »

Field AgentFagent-logo

Field Agent is an app that offers a list of mystery shopping tasks according to your location. We really like Field Agent as it’s probably the mystery shopping company most well-suited to young people, as it requires minimum effort and caters to the idea that young people are on the go a lot.

Tasks can vary from taking a quick sneaky pic of a shop display, to submitting feedback on customer service. Payment is processed through Paypal, making it pretty quick and straight forward.

Payment: £2-8 per task

Pros: Easy to use, wide variety of tasks available and payment is simple

Cons: Payment is low, so you’d have to do a few tasks to make some pocket money

Check Out Field Agent »

IMS

logooAnother biggie in the world of mystery shops, IMS pay out more for your time spent sloggin’ and shoppin’.

The catch? That would be their stringent application process. This involves a full interview process as well as taking an e-learning course, but if you can put up with the extra effort, the work could be rewarding. We’d recommend IMS to those looking to take mystery shopping quite seriously rather than for picking up freebies.

Payment: Varies widely but is very reasonable

Pros: Good payment

Cons: Long application process and no guarantee you’ll get work afterwards

Check Out IMS »

The Mystery Dining CompanyMystery_dining

Love eating out but hate having to fork out for it? The Mystery Dining Company offer free meals at designated restaurants to those culinary experts (or near enough!) who are willing to take the time to write a detailed report on their experience afterwards.

To join up you need to first ‘pass’ an application process to see if you’re the right fit. Rejection rates are quite high, so make sure you take the time to do this part properly. Also worth noting that the more you work and the better job you make of it, you’ll be awarded with a reviewer rating badge – go for gold and you could be awarded with a michelin star experience!

Payment: No payment offered, but meal is paid for and sometimes travel expenses covered

Pros: Free meals!

Cons: Reporting process takes longer than mystery shopping as requires more detail

Check Out Mystery Dining Company »

GfK

imagesAnother reputable company, there are a wealth of assignments on GfK covering the whole of the UK and often smaller UK suburbs as well as bigger cities.

You won’t find yourself caught up with lengthy applications here though, all you need to do is complete a survey on their website and you’re good to go. However, one complaint would be that the reporting process for GfK is notoriously time consuming. In this sense, you’re expected to really work for your cash, but GfK do pay generously!

Payment: Generous (but undisclosed)

Pros: Generous payment

Cons: Reporting process is time-consuming

Check Out GfK »

GAPBuster (Now GBW)logo_gapbuster

GAPBuster have recently rebranded themselves as GBW (we’re still not sure why, or what GBW stands for). McDonald’s is their biggest client so this company is a great choice if you fancy some free happy meals!

They have been reported to send out repeat assignments to the same location as well to monitor improvements, so this might not be the best choice if you’re looking for variety.

Payment: Between £5-10 per job

Pros: Paperwork is clear and easy to complete

Cons: Payment is quite low and reimbursement slow

Check Out GBW »

Retail Maximretail_maxim_logo

Retail Maxim is a popular agency with a lot of subscribers, but we have heard complaints that this has resulted in jobs being scooped up a matter of minutes after they are posted online!

This means you’ll have to be quick in order to bag yourself a job, and also be quite flexible with your time. They do send out cheques to cover shopping trips in advance, which is good for those of us who can’t afford to wait for reimbursement later.

Payment: £7-12 per job + travel expenses

Pros: Money for spending in store offered upfront

Cons: Jobs are few and far between

Check Out Retail Maxim »

GrassrootsGrass-Roots-logo

Grassroots are the company to go for if you’re not interested in being bombarded with emails advertising available positions.

The best way to find work with Grassroots is to keep checking their website, as it’s constantly updated throughout each day. Video options are also available which tends to pay more, and payment is normally received around 3-4 weeks after the job.

Payment: £5-10 per job + freebies

Pros: Clear instructions and payment quick

Cons: Jobs can be infrequent and normally only available in the bigger UK cities

Check Out Grassroots »

Ternternlogo

Tern Consultancy is a nice option if you’re looking to try out some of the different varieties of mystery shopping, as they also offer opportunities for video and audio-only shopping (which also tend to pay a bit more).

However, ironically for a company assessing customer service, we’ve heard that theirs is not all that great!

Payment: Around £12 per job

Pros: Payment is the highest we’ve seen

Cons: Bad customer service

Check Out Tern »

Mystery shopping do’s and don’ts

jobhunter

Work regularly: While you can choose your hours, the secret to getting the best jobs is being flexible and offering to work regularly. The more you work, the more your reputation will grow, and the work will start a-rollin’ in.

Memory practice: As you won’t be able to have a notepad handy on the job as this will give the game away, you’ll need to perfect your memory to you can remember details for your report later. Think of it as good practice for exam time!

Keep the tax man happy: It’s unlikely you’ll earn enough to be taxed, but mystery shopping technically does count as self employment, so if you do think you might earn over the tax bracket, make sure you declare it. Check out our students tax facts page to see if this applies to you.

Sign up to multiple companies at once: There are loads of mystery shopper sites out there, but work can be scarce, so signing up to multiple companies simultaneously will increase your chances of finding something that’s a good deal for you.

don't do it

Credit: Markheybo – Flickr.com

DON’T

Be late: You’ll have to submit a report after each visit, and this normally has to be done within a specific time frame. If you hand your report in late, you might not be paid and could be axed from further jobs.

Ever pay to register: No reputable mystery shopper business will ask you to pay to join. However, they probably will ask for your bank and sort code, but this will be in order to pay you for your work.

Forget to ask for details: As we covered – there is a lot of variation involved in the kinds of reimbursements and payments with this kind of work. Make sure you know exactly what you’re signing yourself up to for before taking on a job.

So is mystery shopping really worth the effort?

If you’re looking for a bit of fun and some freebies, give mystery shopping a whirl! Truthfully, you’re not likely to be able to pay off your student loan with your earnings, but it’s good experience and also something interesting to pimp up your CV.

Let us know how you get on by posting in the comments section below.

Not convinced? Head over to our list of quick and easy money-making tips – you’ve got another 39 to try out!

Make money from Matched Betting (full guide)

On 3:30 PM by Unknown 3 comments

Make money from Matched Betting (full guide)

Now, I'm not a gambler by any means. But I have made enough money from bookmakers in just six months to pay for an £860 flight (return) to Australia. And I've got some company too after walking a good friend through this risk-free technique.

The result is this guide, where I'll share the exact steps with you too, including screenshots and a free tool.

Why should I trust this guide?

What I'm teaching you here is a completely legal, tried-and-tested method called 'matched betting'. It basically allows you to turn the tables on the bookmakers to extract their free bet offers.

Matched betting is legal and a spokesperson for William Hill has indicated that the betting industry does not have a problem with this use of free bets – Wikipedia

student thinking

I've used it myself for several years and have never lost any money doing it, but I have taken my time and been very careful to avoid making mistakes. Do not rush this guide – make sure you understand it 100% before depositing any money, and please ask any questions in the comments if unsure of anything.

I'll be taking you through the 'need-to-knows' then showing you how I made £23 in 30 minutes in a full-blown example.

There are websites out there that charge you handsomely for this information, but you don't need to pay here. Put half an hour aside, read this guide carefully, and you'll have made your first matched bet and up to £30 profit. student thinking

Article in the Guardian on matched betting

Piece by The Guardian on making money from free bets

Positive comments

One of many comments on this page by other readers

What is Matched Betting?

Matched betting is a way of squeezing out the many free bets offered by bookmakers. All the bookies promote these offers (especially during big sporting events) to entice new gamblers to place bets with them.

For example, "bet £25 with us and we'll give you a £25 free bet!".

Matched Betting Header

How does it work?

Firstly, you don't need to know all the betting terminology if you follow the steps below, but it's important that you know two types of bet which allow matched betting to work:

A 'back' bet

Betting for a certain outcome to come true. Eg. "I bet England will win" is a backing bet. If it comes true, you win the bet and the winnings. If England lose or draw, you lose your stake. You can place a back bet at any bookmaker, such as Paddy Power, William Hill, Ladbrokes etc.

A 'lay' bet

Betting against a certain outcome to come true. Eg. "I bet England will not win" is a lay bet. If they lose or draw, you win the bet. You can only place a lay bet at a betting exchange such as Betfair.

Matched betting works by cancelling out the risk on the 'back' bet at the online bookies by betting against yourself at the same odds (know as 'laying' a bet) which you can do at a betting exchange. In other words, you are 'matching' your bet.

smiley_faceFollowing your first or 'qualifying' bet, you will then be awarded the free bet by the bookmaker. This is where the profit is made. Quite simply, you repeat the process: bet using the free bet and then lay the bet. Whatever the result you are guaranteed to make a profit (which I'll be demonstrating below).

How much profit can I make?

For each matched bet, you will be left with up to 95% of the free bet amount as profit. This is because betting exchanges usually charge a commission of 5% on winnings. You may also make a very small loss on the qualifying bet due to the minor difference in odds on each website. This is normal, and you will recoup this when you use the free bet.

poundsign_shakyIn the steps below I'll show you how to profit from a £30 free bet using a real life example. Replicate the same steps across the hundreds of free bet offers each year and you can quickly be looking at £1,000s. Personally I have made just over £1,200 in 18 months from matched betting alone.

And it's worth pointing out, earnings from the gambling industry are currently tax-free.

What's the risk?

question_markAnyone can learn how to do matched betting and, in theory, there is no risk involved because you are covering yourself by betting for and against the same event.

However the risk comes when mistakes are made so, once again, you need to double-check everything and follow the steps exactly. On rare occasions free bets do not always come through right away, so just be patient.

Once you've understood the process and been successful by following the steps below, you can then continue matched betting at many other online bookies with free bet offers (see my table at end) which can quite quickly land you a lot of money without risk.

It's also worth knowing that depositing at gambling websites does not affect your credit rating.

I make no apologies for the length of this guide! You'll need some patience and about 30 minutes to spare. Bookmark it if you want to come back later.

Your First Profit in 7 steps

Note: This is literally a step-by-step, hold-your-hand kind of guide. There's lots of fragmented information out there on forums etc, which can often result in costly mistakes for novices. Below I outline exactly the steps I follow, using the practical example of one PaddyPower free bet. So long as you follow word for word, you can't go wrong. I strongly suggest reading through all the steps first before making any bets. Join my free mailing list and leave a comment at the bottom if you need any help.

Betfair logo whiteBetfair is a betting exchange where you can 'lay' bets to cancel out your risk at the bookmakers.

Unlike traditional bookmakers, Betfair is a place where you bet against other people.

They sometimes even offer free bets for new customers too (if you're lucky).

Free bet The best offer by far right now is with Paddy Power who are offering £30 free bets on new sign ups when you bet just £10 (don't worry we'll be matching this too). So we'll be using this 'bookie' in this practical example.

Always check the T&Cs of receiving free bet offers. There may be some restrictions on what you can bet on or an expiry date.

They will also tell you whether or not the free bet is returned with winnings. In this example and generally speaking it is not, but we'll still be making a nice profit.

During registration, you will be prompted to make a deposit. Choose one of the many payment types and deposit just £10 (needed to unlock the free bet).

Use decimal odds

Once you've logged into PaddyPower.com, change your odds display from fractions to decimal for easy comparison with Betfair. You can do this from the selection in the sidebar across the site. This is essential!

Choose Decimal Odds

Found bottom of left sidebar

Find & place your qualifying bet

Ideally you want to find a sporting bet (I recommend football) which has the closest odds on both PaddyPower.com (the bet to back) and Betfair.com (the lay bet).

Lay odds on Betfair are the red boxes, not the blue. If you cannot see any red boxes, you need to go to the exchange by clicking the top left link "Go to Exchange" or "Exchange".

Betfair Exchange

For this free bet offer, PaddyPower's terms state you must pick odds of 1.5 or greater. It's better to choose a bet with low odds for this step, between 1.5 and 4.0 if possible.

See my example below then use the automatcher tool which does everything for you!

My example

I used the automatcher below which suggested a football match between Everton and West Brom. So I put "Everton v West Brom" in the search boxes on PaddyPower and Betfair, then found the "Win-Draw-Win" market on PaddyPower and "Match Odds" on Betfair.

I will back Everton to win at PaddyPower.com with odds of 1.61 and lay that same bet on Betfair.com with odds of 1.60.

Choosing the odds

In my example bet, the difference is 0.01 which the automatcher calculated as giving me a small acceptable loss of 13p on this qualifying bet.

Here are my betting slips on both websites for my qualifying bet:

Matched Bet Betslips

Automatcher tool (Qualifying bet)

Use the automatcher tool below (which replaces my spreadsheet). This will save you a LOT of time and maximise your overall profit.

It fetches live odds from PaddyPower and finds the equivalent lay odds on Betfair for thousands of upcoming football matches.

The hardest part is also done for you, which is to calculate the best matches for your qualifying bet based on the closest possible odds and smallest loss. Feel free to switch between them and the steps and calculations will be updated (below the table).

Just click the blue refresh icon to start and then follow the 4 steps.

Get bonus tips & more free bets

First name

Email address

Claim your free bet

In my Everton v. West Brom game, Everton won 2-1. So my return of £16.16 ended up on my PaddyPower account. Meanwhile I lost the £6.23 (my "Liability") on my Betfair account. The total amount between the accounts is therefore £9.93, which is a loss of 7p (marginally less than the 13p estimate, due to some tiny differences we don't have to worry about).

Now I have placed and seen through the £10 qualifying bet, I now have a £30 free bet!

This gives me a total credit of £46.16 in PaddyPower, but I'm only going to use the £30 free bet and will withdraw the rest later. My Betfair account is down to £3.77 (my initial deposit of £10 – £6.23) and will need topping up for the next bet (see below).

So whatever your outcome, because you matched the bets, you will have close to your £10 back between the 2 websites (minus the small loss we expected).

The free bet of £30 will be credited to your PaddyPower account.

Find & place a new bet

We're basically going to repeat the process in step 4, but using the £30 free bet instead of the £10.

Update: If you receive 3 x £10 free bets, simply place them on the same event but as separate bets.

This time it's worth picking odds greater than 3.0 to maximise your profit, but just bear in mind that the higher they are the more you'll need to have in your Betfair account to lay it (see the "Liability" amount in the tool below).

My example

I used the next step of the automatcher (embedded below) which suggested a football match between Algeria and Ivory Coast. The odds are above 3.0 and have only a 0.1 difference between the websites.

You'll see below that I am backing Algeria to win on PaddyPower (5.0 odds) and then I'm laying that bet (for Algeria not to win) at Betfair (4.9 odds).

Choosing the odds again

On Betfair I already had £3.77 remaining from the first bet, so I deposited £94 to more than cover my calculated Liability (total £97.77).

Here are my bet slips on both websites for my free bet (I actually placed 3 of the same bet on PaddyPower since they split my £30 free bet into 3 x £10 bets):

betting slips using free bet

The automatcher below calculated that I'll make a clear profit of £23.51, whatever happens. Nice :)

Automatcher tool (Free bet)

Just click the blue refresh icon to start and then follow the 3 steps.

Once again, feel free to switch between the matches in the table and the calculations will be updated.

Cash out the profit

Whatever the outcome, you will now be in profit to the amount calculated in the automatcher. Now it's time to cash out!

In my example of the Algeria v. Ivory Coast game, the score ended in a draw at 2-2. This means that I lost my £30 free bet on PaddyPower (because I backed Algeria to win) and the winnings of the matched bet totalling £24.74 ended up in Betfair. Once you deduct Betfair's 5% commission on winnings I'm left with £23.51 profit, which is exactly the amount of profit calculated for me by the automatcher.

My matched betting profit

After both matched bets, I now have £16.16 in my PaddyPower account and £121.28 in Betfair. I withdrew the balances on both accounts back onto my debit card.

My total profit from both matched bets, accounting for all factors such as the 7p loss on my £10 qualifying bet, totals £23.44. I spent just under 30 minutes on the whole process, giving me an hourly rate of £46.88 if I move onto the next of many free bets out there (best listed below). Beats stacking shelves…

Please share with your friends!

If you enjoyed and profited from this guide, sharing it is the best thanks you could give. And I'm sure they'll appreciate it too :)

More Free Bets

chart risingIf you are confident enough with the process of matched betting and eager to make much more profit, work through the free bet offers in the table below (ordered by ease).

The same key steps above still apply, and I've written a mini guide for each one. As always, check the terms of each offer.

Important: Unlock ALL free bets

The table below is just the tip of the iceberg. Lots more free bet offers come and go, never making it to this page. Every day I scout around for any new ones, and share them only with those on my free email list.

Expect to make £400-£600 extra every month from these limited-time offers. Don't miss out, join now for free:

First name

Email address

Current free bet total: £1875

Bookie Deposit Free bet Min. odds Claim offer

William Hill £25 £25 2.00 Claim Now »

Ladbrokes £50 £50 2.00 Claim Now »

Coral £5 £20 2.00 Claim Now »

Sky Bet £5 £20 2.00 Claim Now »

Unibet £50 £50 1.40 Claim Now »

188bet £50 £50 1.75 Claim Now »

NetBet £100 £50 1.60 Claim Now »

Dafabet £30 £30 1.50 Claim Now »

Tote Sport £25 £25 1.01 Claim Now »

Titanbet £50 £50 1.50 Claim Now »

Paddy Power £10 £30 2.00 Claim Now »

BoyleSports £10 £50 2.00 Claim Now »

Stan James £10 £20 1.80 Claim Now »

betway £30 £30 1.75 Claim Now »

Betfair £20 £20 1.20 Claim Now »

bet-at-home £40 £20 1.70 Claim Now »

888sport £10 £NA 1.01 Claim Now »

BETDAQ £100 £25 2.00 Claim Now »

bwin £30 £30 1.70 Claim Now »

Betfred £10 £30 2.00 Claim Now »

bet365 £200 £200 1.50 Claim Now »

Smarkets £10 £10 1.01 Claim Now »

Marathonbet £80 £20 1.80 Claim Now »

10Bet £400 £200 1.60 Claim Now »

ApolloBet £10 £5 2.00 Claim Now »

Betsafe £10 £20 1.80 Claim Now »

32Red £10 £10 2.00 Claim Now »

BetVictor £25 £25 2.00 Claim Now »

BetStars £5 £20 1.50 Claim Now »

BetBright £30 £30 2.00 Claim Now »

Superlenny £25 £25 2.00 Claim Now »

TonyBet £200 £100 1.85 Claim Now »

Winner £200 £200 2.00 Claim Now »

Genting Bet £20 £20 2.00 Claim Now »

138.com £25 £25 2.00 Claim Now »

RealDealBet £25 £25 1.60 Claim Now »

Mobilbet £50 £50 2.00 Claim Now »

Favourit £100 £100 1.80 Claim Now »

Sportingbet £10 £50 1.50 Claim Now »

Click for even more free bets »

Note: Although the greatest care is taken and these free bets are researched regularly it's important that you check the full terms and conditions of each free bet offer after clicking through to the bookmaker's site.

Need help? Got a question?

FAQs

Why does Betfair say my bet has been “Unmatched” or “Partially Matched”?

Can I enter my own figures in the calculator tool?

Do existing users get free bet offers?

How does a bet refund offer work?

How can I keep track of my bets?

Can I register multiple accounts?

How do I find more free bets?

A bookie’s offer is different to what’s in the guide. Help?

I haven’t received my free bet. What do I do?

Will matched betting affect my credit rating?

How do I report incorrect information or bugs?

For anything else, please use the comments below and I'll get back to you.

Disclaimer: Please note that neither the author nor this website accept any liability for how you use the advice given on this page. So read it carefully, and if you decide to follow the steps then you use it at your own risk! Gamble Aware.

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Leave a comment

1,910 Responses to “Make money from Matched Betting (full guide)”

Jay

04. May, 2016

Please can you explain the difference between an Exchange and a Bookmaker?

When you bet at PP you bet say £10 and lose that only, or win as normal, but on BF you “stake” a set amount, say £10, but back it up with a liability, say £10.50 so could lose that whole amount.

I understand how this works with matched betting and why it’s not an issue if you do that, but I’d find it helpful to understand what an Exchange actually is.

Rick

04. May, 2016

🙂

An exchange is essentially an online marketplace where you can bet with others on the outcome of a particular event.

A bookmaker takes bets from customers on particular events at agreed upon odds.

Dave

03. May, 2016

Hi again

I placed a qualifying bet on William Hill and then Betfair. Got a footie match on Sat. I read from another of your questions and answers that you can then place the FREE bet, if it’s possible, before the result of the qualifying match.

I tried to do this with the £20 free bet just to see what profits were being forecast on your calculator and could not believe my eyes. Four or five football matches were each showing approx £13 profits as expected but there was also a boxing match with your calculator showing £41.80 profit (that’s NOT a typo! Yes, forty one pounds profit!).

How can that be on a £20.00 free bet, I did not use a manual calculator, just your tool and free bet. I scrambled to get the required deposit into Betfair but had forgotten my password. It was about 15 mins later when I was ready, so I opened a new tab and the same result with the boxing, plus one or two footie changes. Surely your calculator is wrong? I stand to lose about £13 on Betfair, so nothing too substantial.

I even took separate screen shots of all the main info I was seeing (I’ll send them if you wish) because I was sure nobody would believe me…..

Please tell me this is too good to be true?

Thanks.

Rick

04. May, 2016

Please ignore any boxing suggestions from the automatcher, this is a glitch and we’ve just resolved the issue.

Jade

04. May, 2016

Wish the glitch had been found before I placed my £30 free bet on the fight!

simon

03. May, 2016

hi – looking at your Amir Khan free bet it says to back amir khan at 3.75 (skybet) then it says to lay on the 1.3 – which is his opponent.

is that not the same bet ? backing amir kahn with skybet and betting against his opponent with betfair?

ive placed the bet now as profit seemed good but this does not make sense to me

thanks

Rick

04. May, 2016

Please ignore any boxing suggestions from the automatcher, this is a glitch and we’ve just resolved the issue.

03. May, 2016

Hi,

I initially deposited £100 into Netbet and recieved the £50 free bet. I then rolled over the bet (matching it on Betfair) to meet the requirments several times but kept winning on Netbet (accidentally) therefore ended up with £420 in Netbet.

I was under the impression the requirements were 5 x (deposit + bonus) as I had messaged them a few times checking the amount i still needed to roll over which when i last checked was £360 by the 7th of may. They now tell me i have £660 left to roll over and the requirements have ALWAYS been 6 x (deposit + bonus). They said i was told ‘incorrectly’ before and they will give me an extra 60 days to meet the requirement.

What is the best way to go about this (bet £50-£100 a time and hope to win on Betfair)? Have you noticed their terms and conditions have changed recently?

Rick

04. May, 2016

Nope, as far as I’m aware NetBet have always had a £900 rollover for their sign-up offer and it does say “Players must play through your deposit and bonus six times (6x)” in their terms. If your pockets are deep enough, I would suggest betting £150 at a time keeping your matching loss small each time (around £5 if possible). I would discourage placing bets on selections with high odds as this would typically mean a higher matching loss and if your bet wins with NetBet it could get very uncomfortable.

Alex

03. May, 2016

Hello, I have completed and lost my qualifying bet on coral, now giving me mt £20 free bet. I obviously won the amount on betfair so I have a current balance on there of £24.82. So I have lost the 18p it showed I would on your auto matcher. Now though, choosing the free bet option for coral on the matcher shors odds of 4.33 for a draw but the coral website seems to show odds of 4.5. Am I missing something? Do I need to adjust my lay bet on betfair to compensate for this if it is slightly out.

Rick

04. May, 2016

Looks OK now, but if it happens again please let us know. It’s worth remembering to check the odds on both sides before placing any bets.

If you’re using odds that a different to the ones shown on the automatcher then you can type the back/lay odds in our manual calculator on http://www.savethestudent.org/matched-betting-calculator/ (remember to select free bet if necessary) to work out the needed lay stake to put on in Betfair.

Ellie

02. May, 2016

Hey guys! Need some help please

I used paddy power and put down the qualifying bet. All went smooth. I am now using the free bets which was fine, but when I have completed the other bet on betfair it says part of it is ‘unmatched’.

A little unsure of what this means or what i should do?

Jake Butler

03. May, 2016

Hi Ellie, there is advice on this in the FAQs on this page 🙂

Jack

01. May, 2016

Hi,

Thanks for this guide its really clear and i’m using it to pay off my student overdraft!

I thought I signed up for your mailing list but I haven’t received an email since I signed up (around 1 month ago). Has their been an email to this list in that time (in which case i’ll try and sign up again because it hasn’t worked)?

thanks

Jake Butler

03. May, 2016

Hi Jack, yes there should have been an email within that month. Have you verified your email address and checked your spam/junk folders?

Jack

04. May, 2016

I couldn’t find the email, maybe I entered the wrong email address. I’ve signed up again and it has worked now!

Thanks.

Tom

01. May, 2016

I have been doing the bet365 £200 free bet and have ended up with £820 at bet365 (about £170 profit atm). In order to withdraw, I will need to bet £800 of the £820 and match this on the betfair exchange.

If I were to bet at odds of 1.5ish so I don’t have to deposit a lot of cash at the exchange, making my liability 413.80 and my lay stake 827.59, I believe (as if it were a qualifying bet).

So does this mean that I only need 413.80 in my betfair account, or is it the sum of both?

Thanks

Jake Butler

02. May, 2016

Hi Tom, you should only need enough to cover your liability in Betfair for each bet.

Craig

01. May, 2016

Hi there, I’m interested in starting but I’ve noticed that many bookies have rollover conditions on the free bet before you can actually withdraw them. What would be the best way to complete this assuming your free bet wins?

Jake Butler

02. May, 2016

You can match each rollover bet until you’ve completed the requirements to withdraw.

ant caladine

30. Apr, 2016

Im trying to understand the initial loss of a qualifying bet on matched betting.

In your example you spend £10 at Paddy and £10.39 at Betfair. (So have outlayed £20.39 so far)

If your qualifying bet loses at paddy, you lose your £10 there, and get back around £10.39 from betfair.

To me thats still £10 down on my initial £20 outlay. Not £0.13

If it then evens itself out have the free bet part and then profits, then good days! Is that right?

But if that’s then the case why make a lay bet on your qualifying bet. Save yourself say £10, cos your gonna get the free bet anyway.

Jake Butler

02. May, 2016

Hi Ant, you’ve incorrectly calculated this. If you lose on Paddy you get back your liability amount + the lay stake. This will equal £9.87. This is where the 13p loss comes from. That stage is used to unlock the free bet (where you make the profit).

I would recommend that you please read through the guide a couple more times to get a full understanding before carrying on.

Charlotte

29. Apr, 2016

If you lose at bet fair would you lose that £90 liability that you put in your example of your own money? If you lose in bet fair that amount would you win over £100 at the normal bookies to cancel it out? Is that guaranteed? I’m confused and a bit scared about using my own money for the liability and bets in bet fair in case I lose that bet and the winnings from the other don’t cover what I’m going to lose as the odds aren’t that high?!

Jake Butler

02. May, 2016

That’s correct as that’s how matched betting works. You are covered either way.

It seems you are still a little confused so I would recommend that you please read through the guide a couple more times to get a full understanding before carrying on.

Steve

04. May, 2016

Hi Jake, I think the confusion here could be because the photo for PaddyPower at the end of step 6 only shows the potential winnings of a £10 bet (presumably one of 3 free bets to make up the £30).

As such, at a glance some people might see that as only giving £40 potential winnings (which wouldn’t offset the potential loss at Betfair) – whereas in actual fact you’re looking at a £120 return if the PP bets come through.

Could help to clarify that explicitly after the photo. Otherwise, cracking guide! 🙂

Jake Butler

04. May, 2016

Hi Steve, it is clearly mentioned above the image but I see what you are getting at. Will look into whether we can make any changes to make it clearer.

`Charlotte

28. Apr, 2016

I think I am just figuring this out!

Today i put a £10 bet in paddypower on chelsea v tottenham next week for chelsea to win. then i put in a £20 deposit into betfair by accident but still put a £10.07 bet onto chelsea not winning like it said on here. however on betfair it is a bit confusing.. it says liability 17.92 and my credit balance has gone down to 2.08? did it take more than my £10.07 bet? i really don’t understand how it works but i suppose i will see when the game has happened. i dont know what liability means and also my betfair £30 free bets haven’t appeared?

so basically i’ve put in £10 into paddy power and £20 into betfair, how much should i be getting out after ive done the free bets, roughly? thank you!

Jake Butler

29. Apr, 2016

Hi Charlotte, the £10.07 was your stake but if you lose on Betfair you will lose your liability amount which would leave you with £2.08 (this is why your balance is this much).

The Betfair free bets are in the sportsbook section of the site and not the exchange unfortunately. As you’ve now already used Betfair (to lay this bet) you won’t be able to get the bonus.

After the qualifying bet has completed and you go on to match the free bets you could expect around £15 profit.

Charlott

29. Apr, 2016

Also, when you had a 90 liability, what would happen if you lost that bet on bet fair would you lose that whole 90 of your own money?

Jake Butler

02. May, 2016

Yes that is correct. When you lose the bet on Betfair you lose the liability amount. It will be covered by your winnings on the bookmaker site though.

Charlott

29. Apr, 2016

Does this mean I’ve done it wrong and lost my money? Cause I won’t have free bets on bet fair to get that profit?

Jake Butler

02. May, 2016

No, it’s ok as you only need the free bet on the bookies site in order to make a profit.

Maria

28. Apr, 2016

Ok I have read through the example given above, and I can’t see where the amount of £23.51 comes from, when you had to place £10 on Pddy power, £10 on Betfair (equalling £20 of your own money) and the £30 free bet was also lost. The only money that was recovered was the £94 to top up Betfair. The profit of 23.51 doesn’t take into account the initial £30 put on to the first matched bets. o the profit is only £.51, or am I missing something. Can anyone show me the full calculation of amount put down combined with all profits made?

I have just put £10 on PP plus £14.21 on Betfair. That’s £24.21 to make back along with anything else I pay out. So where is the profit to be made?

Rick

28. Apr, 2016

A lay bet of stake £10 at odds 1.60 was placed on Betfair, meaning only around £6 was needed in your account.

The £30 placed with PP was using free bet tokens so there’s no loss from that.

Your profit will be made from matching the free bets from PP.

Maria

28. Apr, 2016

I have read the guide many times and understand, just about, the paddy power/betfair example. I think. What I don’t get is how to continue making profits from this method. Do I have to keep finding sites to place bets on, like PP, and then using Betfair to match the bets? and the profit comes from the free bets other sites give you? Is there any way of matching bets as an existing user on a reliable site or do I have to keep placing bets on sites that offer free bets?

I just don’t have a brain that understands odds and betting very well, I’m sorry.

Rick

28. Apr, 2016

Looks like you’ve understood it pretty well. 🙂

Yes, yes, and both. You can subscribe to our mailing list for more information about existing customer promotions, as well as working through our sign-up offer table.

Steve

28. Apr, 2016

Firstly this is a great guide, thanks!

With the Smarkets lost bet refund I am right that you have to keep betting £10 (accruing small losses as you go by matched betting!) until you lose

When you lose the £10 is refunded and only then should you proceed to the Free Bet using that £10.

Finally I guess you can withdraw your initial £20 deposit at any time?

Rick

28. Apr, 2016

With Smarkets I would suggest using the bet refund calculator to lock in a profit. If your bet wins with them then keep repeating until it loses.

If you withdraw your deposit before claiming the £10 refund then I think this wall cancel the promotion. But yes, you still can if you really need to.

Paula

27. Apr, 2016

Hello again.

I’m coming across the ‘lost bet refund’ part of the calculator with some bookies.

Do you always leave the refund part at £21 (assuming bet is £30)? Any particular reason for this?

Also, on the dropdown, how do I know if I’m in the qualifying bet part of the lost bet refund or the free bet part as they both refresh and change to ‘lost bet refund’ a second later. Hope that makes sense.

Rick

27. Apr, 2016

For a £30 bet refund offer, a free £30 bet will only be credited if your qualifying bet loses. We’re assuming that you’ll be able to convert the £30 bet token into around £21 via matching it as a SNR bet as you would normally by selecting high odds. Note that the £21 here is an arbitrary value, we’ve pre-filled the refund amount to be £21 as we’re assuming you’ll be able to convert 70% of the bet token value into real funds in one of your account balances.

For the second question, I think you may be referring to the calculator for a particular bookmaker sign-up offer in our instructions. They’re refreshing to that specific calculator as that’s the one that’s relevant for that bookmaker. You can play around with the other calculators manually if you wish on http://www.savethestudent.org/matched-betting-calculator

Paula

27. Apr, 2016

Hello. I do use this calculator often, especially as I use the method with other sports than football.

I am still a bit fuzzy with the ‘lost bet’ thing but I’m sure it will come in time. I noticed that when selecting ‘Unibet’ it defaults to £50 stake and £50 refund amount. Should that be adjusted to 70% of whatever I decide to deposit as a back bet?

Out of curiosity. What happens if you mess with the refund part of the calculator? Does it mean you will likely win less?

Rick

28. Apr, 2016

No with unibet the refund is given as cash, as opposed to a SNR bet.

rachel

26. Apr, 2016

Hi just spotted on ladbrokes – it seems you only need to place a £5 bet to qualify for the £50 bet, not the £50 bet stated in the table?

Not sure if this is an oversight on my part but looks like this may need editing?

Rick

27. Apr, 2016

Ladbrokes will give you a free bet equal to your first bet stake up to £50.

£5 is the minimum deposit needed to qualify for this offer but note you’ll only get a free £5 bet if you do this.

Jody

26. Apr, 2016

I started yesterday with £45 of my own money (all I had) pretty sure I did it wrong…..

Placed first qualifying £5 bet, lost on coral won on betfair £5? Aren’t I suppose to lose money (a few pence) the qualifying bet and not gain anything till my free bet has finished?

I got my free bet offer through and placed another back bet with it and lay bet but the match don’t end till tonight, but think I’m going to be out of pocket with it.

Rick

27. Apr, 2016

No with some bookmakers (such as Coral) the free bet will be credited as soon as you place your qualifying bet.

Steve

26. Apr, 2016

Please confirm that you can never win more than the value of the free bets without risk.

Rick

26. Apr, 2016

Yes that’s true.

Nick

25. Apr, 2016

Quick question – for rollover bets, should we be using the 1. Qualifying Bet or 2. Free Bet setting of the Bet Calculator. Or just find our own bets where the bet and lay odds are as close as possible.

Rick

26. Apr, 2016

Use the qualifying bet calculator, trying to minimise the loss as much as manageable.

richard

25. Apr, 2016

I am totally lost with this! I want to do it but just can’t get my head around it! I want to do it without the free bets because I’m already a member of some of these sites. Will this work if I just use my own money instead of the free offers? Also, betfair exchange totally confuses me! When I select a lay bet I don’t know if I should be selecting Home/Draw or Away/Draw? Does Home/Draw mean that you are betting on The home team to win or draw? Or does it mean that you are betting that the home team don’t win or draw? Cheers.

Jake Butler

26. Apr, 2016

Hi Richard, unfortunately you need the free bets in order to make profit. Using your own money will just mean you end up losing money each time. When you are doing a lay bet you are betting on something NOT to happen (eg. if I lay Man Utd to win then I am betting that they won’t win which equals a draw or loss). In your position I would really suggest reading the guide over and over until you have an understanding.

Chirag

25. Apr, 2016

Is it possible to place more than one matched bet at a time via betfair?

Rick

25. Apr, 2016

Yes you can place several bets on Betfair simultaneously if you wish.

Emily

24. Apr, 2016

Hi I have a question about roll overs and how to make sure you don’t lose any profit as you work through the winnings before being able to withdraw it?

Rick

25. Apr, 2016

For every bet you place with the bookmaker in order to complete the required rollover it’s important you match it with the exchange to ensure there’s no chance of the money being lost. Yes there’ll be a small lost from matching this, so it’s important you keep this as small as you possibly can.

Paul

24. Apr, 2016

I placed the £5 stake on Skybet and my £20 free bet was instantly deposited. So I proceeded to the second ‘free bet’ stage. Does this mean I can cash out my £5 qualifying bet for £4.75 and take a £0.25p loss ?

Rick

25. Apr, 2016

Yes if your qualifying bet with Sky has settled then you can withdraw the funds.

Dave

24. Apr, 2016

My liability on Smarkets is always different to what has been generated when using a calculator.

For example (with a free bet): If I were to stake £30 on back odds of 4.6 and lay odds of 4.9, at commission of 2%, the calculator generates that the backer’s stake is £22.13 and liability will be £86.31.

Bu when I go on Smarkets to make the lay bet, when I enter the backer’s stake of £22.13 at 4.9 odds, the liability is £86.29.

Why is the liability on Smarkets always slightly lower than on a calculator? Is this important at all?

Any help is much appreciated.

Rick

25. Apr, 2016

I wouldn’t pay too much attention to this but I think it’s to do with rounding differences from either the calculator or from Smarkets.

Mandy

24. Apr, 2016

Hi,

I’ve done a few of the first few bets listed and have made abit of money but going further down the list, the requirements for each bookie say that you need to rollover the deposit and/or bonus a certain number of times. What I’m finding is you lose all the profit from the free bet by the small losses you make from the difference in odds combined with the fee the betting exchange/bookie takes if you win.

For example, I have got my bonus from Netbet but need to rollover the deposit and bonus 6 times, however I have lost £10.00 with the first rollover. If I continue with the remaining 5 rollovers, I will have lost approx £10.00 per bet leaving me at no profit.

Is there something I am doing wrong?

Rick

25. Apr, 2016

Not particularly but what I would suggest is trying to lose as little as you can when matching to ensure you’d be in profit after completing this offer. 🙂

Steve

23. Apr, 2016

Betfair are offering a £20 free bet for new members. Can I use this for MB’ing at all, eg as my liability?

Rick

25. Apr, 2016

Yup you can claim this offer when placing a lay bet but it’s important your liability is over £20 with Betfair. So I’d suggest claiming this when you attempt your first sign-up offer – that way you can get two bonuses. 🙂

Chirag

22. Apr, 2016

Would it be possible to place more than one bet on different betting sites while placing lay bets on the betfair site?

Rick

25. Apr, 2016

Yup. 🙂

Paula

22. Apr, 2016

I’m completely lost when it comes to odds and betting. It seems that exchange betting is totally lost on me too. I think having a grasp on odds and gambling might help. Can you point me in the right direction for a guide that explains both? Cheers!

Rick

25. Apr, 2016

We’ve explained in the guide above what the decimal odds represent on the bookmaker sites and how to use the Betfair exchange website – so I’d suggest reading that over a few times and then maybe trying out one of the easier sign-up offers, following our instructions carefully. 🙂

Aloz

15. Apr, 2016

I made the deposit but i dont find the same match from paddy on betfair what can i do ?

Rick

18. Apr, 2016

Do you mean the odds aren’t the same with the bookmaker as that shown on the Automatcher? If this happens then I’d suggest just using the next best match.

Chirag

15. Apr, 2016

i recently signed up to one of the free bet offers by William hill however the odds displayed on the automatcher did not resemble the odds on both william Hill and betfair. On top of that Betfair have seemed to have changed the layout to their website, making it confusing when lay betting. How would you go about this situation?

Rick

18. Apr, 2016

If this happens then I’d suggest using then next best match which would hopefully resemble the same odds as WH and exchange. Are you using the correct section on Betfair? The lay bets are placed on the exchange, not the Sportsbook.

Chirag

20. Apr, 2016

Thanks for the help Rick, appreciate it.

Josh

12. Apr, 2016

How do I make profit on s lost bet refund? If my first back bet wins, happy days, you’ve made profit.

However, if my first back bet loses, I get it back in free bets, but I lose money overall, don’t I? I have say £17 from the exchange win and a £25 free bet, but I’ve put in £46 in total which is more than I’ve got back.

If I got the full amount back from the free bet (which is not possible) I’d still have to lay against it and I’d surely end up in the red?

(This was using a back bet of 13 and a lay of 16 )

This is melting my brain, if you can help at all. The regular free bets are easy though, so I appreciate all your work 🙂

Rick

13. Apr, 2016

Yup you’re right in thinking that the way it works is that if your bet loses, your stake will be returned to you as a free bet. So what we do is lay the bet less than we normally would because if our bet wins with Betfair then that means our bet has lost with bookmaker – which means there’s more to make from another free bet.

Just type the back/lay odds as normal using the refund calculator – http://www.savethestudent.org/matched-betting-calculator?bookieid=rfb

It will work out the required lay stake so that you’ll profit the same amount regardless of whether the bet with the bookmaker wins or loses. If it loses, it assumes you\’ll be able to convert 70% of the free bet into cash.

Josh

13. Apr, 2016

Right, I’m with you now. Sorry for being a bit thick! thank you

11. Apr, 2016

Regarding Bet Victor, according to their terms and conditions, the bonus fund stake is not returned on their deposit £25, get £25 sign up promotion; however, your calculator for part 2 of Bet Victor appears to be including a returned stake in its calculations.

Perhaps it was a cash bonus before, but now it appears to be just a free bet.

Rick

12. Apr, 2016

Sorry that was a mistake on our behalf – yes you’re right it’s a free £25 bet with the stake not returned. Thanks for letting us know, updated steps. 🙂

Jack

11. Apr, 2016

What if you already have an account for a lot of bookies? You won’t be able to get the free bets

Rick

12. Apr, 2016

You should be looking to complete as much of our sign-up table above as possible. You can subscribe to our mailing list above for more free bets (i.e. those for existing customers with bookmaker accounts)

Hugo

10. Apr, 2016

I am having some trouble with this. Can someone please help?

Here is what I have done so far:

Back bet – Leicester City vs Sunderland

Paddypower – I bet £10 that Leicester City will win (odds of 2.25)

Betfair – I placed a lay bet that Leicester City would not win (odds of 2.30) Liability amount = £12.88.

Result = Sunderland 0-2 Leicester City

Paddypower total return – £22.50 plus £10 free bet NOT £30 free bet like the guide says.

Free bet – Deportivo La Coruna v Las Palmas (tommorow – 11/04/16)

Paddypower – I used my £10 free bet to bet that it would be a draw (odds of 3.25)

But according to the guide I should have had a £30 free bet!!

Why is this?

Will it still work?

Should I bet another £20 from my remaining balance to bring it up to £30?

Thank you

P.S. None of this is showing up on my online bank account. Why?

Rick

12. Apr, 2016

No don’t bet from your Paddy Power balance. You should have three separate free £10 bet tokens.

Matt Newman

09. Apr, 2016

Hi,

I’m looking to follow this guide for the first time using PP and Betfair. My question is, if my back bet (Free Bet) wins on PP, but the winnings are less than £30, how can I cash out? Looking at the cash out rules, it says you need to have won more then the original free bet amount before a withdrawal is allowed?

Rick

12. Apr, 2016

Where does it say that?

Davey

08. Apr, 2016

“Promo code not valid”

F20 code for WilliamHill apparently doesn’t work.

Davey

11. Apr, 2016

Ignore that.

It was one of those days where loads of the bookies didn’t have their welcome promotions up (e.g. WilliamHill, SkyBet, etc). Waited a few days and they were back up.

James

06. Apr, 2016

William Hill on the Automatcher will only ever give you the qualifying routine. When I put in the free bet option it does not work, it just reverts back to the qualifying bet.

Jake Butler

06. Apr, 2016

Working for us this end. I would suggest trying another browser and making sure you aren’t using any ad-blocking software.

dom

05. Apr, 2016

I ve already placed 5 bets and it seems to work pretty well 🙂

But I was thinking:

What if, after the qualifying bet, (so in the free bet step) in the Back bet i increase the stake?

Let s say Betvictor gives me 25£ bonus.If instead of betting 25£ i bet 50£ ( basically 25£ comes straight from my pocket),

am I going to increase the profit too?

Of course the SNR is 25£

Rick

06. Apr, 2016

No if you bet more (and presumably lay more) then your profit can’t increase as the value is in the free bet – or in this case bonus. If anything your profit will be slightly less as you’ll have a slightly larger qualifying loss.

Jack

04. Apr, 2016

Hi,

With the offers where you have to roll through a certain amount will you always have to do this or can you hope the lay bet wins and then you can stop? If not what happens if the back bet loses, and is it likely that you’ll need to put in a lot of money before you can withdraw any winnings?

Thanks

Rick

05. Apr, 2016

If enough of your lay bets win so that you’ve got no money in the bookmaker balance then you can stop as most of the money should be in the exchange account.

If the back bet wins you’ll need to keep betting until either you’ve completed the rollover requirements or you’re in a position where all the money is in the exchange as described in the paragraph above.

adam

04. Apr, 2016

but what happens if your bet doesnt become matched at betfair????

Rick

04. Apr, 2016

Please refer to our FAQs above.

Nick

04. Apr, 2016

Hi, this is a great guide, but I’ve struggled with a few basic ideas to matched betting.

First of all, I just don’t understand the liability. If I’m told I have to have £90 in my Betfair account for liability on my free PP bet, and my Backer’s Stake is only £30, how am I liable to lose all of the £90? Does it mean that if I lose on my Betfair I’ll lose the Backer’s Stake AND they’ll deduct extra from my account?

Also, if I win on my back bet, does that mean that what I get back is equal to, or greater than, the liability? I’m nervous about putting my free bets on because you’ve said that they don’t get returned to you, so if I have a £90 liability in my betfair account and my back bet wins, but I don’t get the £30 cash out from my original £30 free bet, only the profit on the bet itself, then I’ve lost a serious amount of money.

Can you help me?

Rick

04. Apr, 2016

I think you may be misunderstanding how a lay bet works. Your backer’s stake is how much you stand to win if your lay bets wins. Your liability is how much you stand to lose if your lay bet loses.

If you win your back bet (I assume you’re talking about the free bet) then yes the amount you’ll win from those winnings will be more than the amount you’ll stand to lose from the liability of the lay bet on Betfair. And vice versa – this is how matched betting works.

Yes it’s true the stake isn’t returned on the free bet but that’s missing the point. You shouldn’t be deducting £30 from your profit because of this.

I advise you play around with a few numbers on the calculator (http://www.savethestudent.org/matched-betting-calculator) so you can see how you’ll profit in other instances.

Lily

04. Apr, 2016

But why the 94 pounds deposit on betfair? What is the liability attached to this

Rick

04. Apr, 2016

As a lay bet of backer’s stake £24.74 was placed with odds of 4.9, the amount that could have been lost (i.e. the liability) is £96.49. As £3.77 was already in the account, a further £93 or so would have been needed to be deposited to cover this liability.

£94 was instead deposited because it’s a nice round number. 🙂

Jacob

03. Apr, 2016

So just to get this straight… There is no shitting way in hell I could lose even 1p?

Mal

26. Apr, 2016

You can not lose anything, unless you make a mistake! I lost a bit at one point as I had apparently forgotten to confirm my lay bet, however that was a mistake by me and not in either the bookies site or the system detailed above. I suggest following the instructions to the letter before “going it alone”.

Rick

04. Apr, 2016

Yes that’s correct.

ben

31. Mar, 2016

Can you place multiple bets with different bookies at the same time? so for instance i use sky bet, ladbrookes and paddy power all at the same time; using betfair to lay these bets

Rick

31. Mar, 2016

Yup. 🙂

28. Mar, 2016

Hey, I’m new to all this so forgive me. I followed all your instructions but when it got to me placing my lay bet on Bet exchange it said I had insufficient funds. I did backers odd of 2.2 and backers stake of 9.77 with a liability of 11.72. I deposited 11.72 into the account (as suggested) so had the exact right amount. Have I missed something? I decreased the amount by a penny so the backers stake is now 9.76 with a liability of 11:71 and had no trouble with that. Is this still right? Also at what point can I withdraw my free bet? As soon as the match is done? Again, major newbie so sorry if I’m being an idiot! Thanks

Rick

29. Mar, 2016

Sorry but I’ll need more information in order to help you: which bookmaker was this and what lay odds were offered? Looks OK from first glances…although note you can’t really withdraw your ‘free bet’, only the potential winnings generated from it. But generally you should be good to withdraw your money as soon as the bet has settled (subject to no rollover requirements).

Stuart

26. Mar, 2016

I used this method with Paddy Power and ended up with around £20 profit. I then went to try it with Betway using the method below:

Qualifying Bet

Netherlands v France

Draw Back – 3.4 – £30 stake

Draw Lay – 3.45 – £30 – Liability £73.50

Expected lose – £1.50

France won so I received £30 from Betfair

Free Bet

Tranmere V Lincoln

Tranmere Back – 1.9 £30 Free Bet

Tranmere Lay – 1.96 – £29.98 Lay – Liability £28.78

Expected Profit – £28.35 with 5% commission

Tranmere won so I received £27.27 back from Betway

When I add it up I get a lose of £3.28, could you look and see what I have done wrong and explain what I’ve done please?

Rick

29. Mar, 2016

I think you forgot to select the ‘free bet’ part on our calculator (i.e. you left it on qualifying bet). From my calculations you should’ve laid off £14.14 rather than £29.98. I suppose there’s not much you can do now, but for future reference keep in mind you want to use your free bet on something with as high as odds as you can find (ideally above 4) to maximise the profit you’ll be getting from the free bet.

Jon

26. Mar, 2016

I’ve used matched betting for a few weeks now and have made some money off a handful of introductory offers. Has been straightforward enough, but I seem to have overlooked something a few days ago.

I made a qualifying bet with Betway (Poland v. Serbia – backed Poland to win) and covered it with Betfair. Poland won and I took my winnings from my Betway account. This gave me my £30 free bet from Betway.

I then backed a draw for the Italy v. Spain game (backing odds 3.10) with my free bet and covered it with Betfair (lay odds 3.30). The game ended in a draw and I won on my Betway account again.

This is the part that confuses me – my total winnings from Betway are virtually the same as my losses from Betfair (i.e. I’m not ~£30 up as expected). I’m not really sure why this has happened.

Any ideas as to why this might be the case? And has this happened to anyone else?

p.s. Big thanks for making this page, it’s massively helpful.

Rick

29. Mar, 2016

How much did you lay off? I suspect you may have laid off the wrong amount by forgetting to click on ‘free bet’ on our calculator for your free bet (i.e. you left it on qualifying bet).

21. Mar, 2016

I thought this is all very interesting. I have never gamble or bet on anything. I tried to register an account with Betfair. They wouldn’t accept my application so I contacted them on livechat. I received an email shortly afterwards that they have declined my application and it is a non negotiable decision. I have good credit rating and apart from mortgage, do not have any loans.

Has anyone experience that problem before? I would appreciate some help.

Jake Butler

22. Mar, 2016

Did they confirm why they denied your application? Are you in the UK?

Matthew

21. Mar, 2016

Hi,

what happens if you place the free bets on the same match as you bet on to qualify for the free bet?

Thanks

Rick

21. Mar, 2016

Nothing, but remember to use the qualifying bet calculator for your qualifying bet and then the free bet calculator for the free bet.

It’s also worth noting that some bookmakers won’t credit you with the free bet until after the qualifying bet has settled – so make sure you read the terms!

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