On this page you'll find all the best ways
to make money in your spare time whilst
at university based on our own
experience. We'll keep adding new ways
to this page so go ahead and bookmark
it. And please do share your own ideas in
the comments!
1. No-risk matched betting
Hands down the quickest way to make a lot of
money (well, without breaking the law). Lots of
students have genuinely made £100s from this
technique. It's completely legal, risk free, tax free,
and anyone can do it.
It works by taking advantage of free bets regularly
offered by betting sites through 'matching' them at
a betting exchange. Matched betting eliminates the
risk (you are betting both for and against a certain
outcome).
This leaves you being able to squeeze out the free
bet, which can be as much as £200! Multiply this by
how many betting sites there are and you can quite
easily come away with a profit of a few hundred
pounds.
Owen walks you through how to make your first £15
profit (using a real life example) in this gem of a
guide to matched betting . If you know of any better
way to make £30/hr sitting at home, please let us
know!
2. Online surveys
Credit: Julio Marquez – Flickr.com
An increasingly popular way for students to make
money is to fill out online surveys in their spare
time. Research companies are always recruiting
new members to answer surveys and test new
products.
For a few minutes of form filling, you can make a
couple of quid which is paid as cash or rewards.
You can bag up to £3 ($5) for some surveys!
A few good ones to try are: Toluna, YouGov , Vivatic,
MySurvey , Crowdology, Valued Opinions, IPSOS,
Global Test Market, The Opinion Panel , Pinecone ,
OnePoll, SurveyBods, PopulusLive, Hiving ,
PanelBase , MintVine , Opinion Outpost , Harris
Poll , Mind Mover , New Vista , iPoll .
Also sign up for Swagbucks which rewards you for
surveys as well as simply surfing the web, watching
videos and playing games.
Update: See our new full guide to the best paid
online surveys !
3. Paid for searching the web
Interested in earning cash for doing what you
already do online? This has to be one of the easiest
methods of making money online without really any
effort or change in your behavior.
This innovative idea by Qmee.com rewards you for
searching in Google, Bing or Yahoo. You just install
a simple add-on to your browser and when you
conduct a search there may be a few sponsored
results alongside your normal search.
Each Qmee result has a cash reward attached – if
you are interested in it simply click on it and collect
your reward.
The best thing is there is no minimum to cashout –
our first one was just 72p wired to our Paypal
account. You also have the option to donate it to
charity.
Sign up now for free and start earning from your
own searches! Click here to start .
4. Online market trading
The historically hard-to-break world of investing in
stock markets and currencies has been cracked
wide open. Today there is no need to be a fat cat or
fund the yachts of Wolf of Wall Street style stock
brokers. You can do it all yourself with the help of
online market trading platforms.
Having spent many hours researching this new
opportunity, I've been experimenting with the two
biggest platforms: Plus500 and eToro.com.
Both offer free practice accounts, and Plus500 also
give you a free £20 (without depositing, terms
apply) for their CFD service which is worth taking
up. Overall I prefer eToro with over 4.5 million users
worldwide. It was recently featured in the BBC 2
documentary "Traders: Millions by the Minute" and
the Financial Times.
One of the best things on eToro is the CopyTrader
feature. This lets you literally see, follow and copy
the investments of other top performing traders.
Follow George's complete guide to trading on eToro
to learn more. I think $200 is a good amount to get
the most out of the learning curve by trying out a
few different markets. If nothing else you'll learn a
great deal about various investments and
industries.
Disclaimer: CFD trading can be volatile and you can
lose your entire capital, so don't throw your life
savings into it! Trading CFDs may not be suitable for
you. Please ensure you fully understand the risks
involved.
5. Start your own website
Interested in generating passive income ? You need
a website. It's THE way to make money while you
sleep.
Starting a website with Bluehost takes less than 20
minutes , costs hardly anything and can be done by
an 82 year-old . It only takes a bit of plugging on
social media to get your first visitors, and there are
plenty of ways to monetise your site.
Save the Student is just one example of a
successful website, started at university by Owen
Burek in his first year, which has since grown into a
full-time and sizable enterprise.
Read Owen's step-by-step guide on how to start a
website in 20 minutes. It's really one of the best
assets you can have.
6. Review websites & apps for cash
Well it seems like you're pretty nifty with a web
browser, so perhaps it's time to turn pro and browse
websites as a paid and fun job!
Introducing UserTesting.com – a new platform that
pays everyday people to review all kinds of
websites. Each review takes around 20 minutes and
bags you $10 (£6.50) via Paypal.
Simply sign up here , complete a test review and
look forward to receiving websites in your inbox.
7. The 'Disney Vault' secret
To keep demand high across generations, Disney
Studios carefully restrict the supply of some home
release classics. They are locked away in the 'vault'
for 8-10 years before being released for a short
unspecified time.
Buy them in this window at normal retail price and
you can turn a nice profit when they go off sale for
another decade or so.
For example, in 2011 you could buy Beauty and the
Beast on Blu-ray 3D for just £24.99. In just a couple
of years it was on Amazon for a staggering £74.99!
Importantly, not all Disney releases are subject to
the vault and only the true classics will maintain
such demand.
Right now there are just 2 titles out of the vault
which I would recommend snapping up. They are
Bambi Diamond Edition Blu-ray and The Lion King
Diamond Edition Blu-ray .
8. 'Get Paid To' sites
Similar to making money from online surveys, GPT
sites reward you in cash and vouchers for
completing various offers or activities online.
