Rep Present Prolific Academic

[electrolyte]

Do you use Prolific Academic? Discuss it here!

http://prolific.ac/

 

[Yatagarasu]

They never answered me about the sms issue with verifying :oops:

 

[electrolyte]

They never answered me about the sms issue with verifying :oops:

Aww, really? They're usually super responsive to questions. Did you use the contact form the site? Also, if you're on Twitter, they answer questions on Twitter, too. https://twitter.com/prolificac

 

[Yatagarasu]

Aww, really? They're usually super responsive to questions. Did you use the contact form the site? Also, if you're on Twitter, they answer questions on Twitter, too. https://twitter.com/prolificac

Yep, I used the contact form. Thanks for the Twitter link. I'll try that.

 

[Vanyanka]

I don't love that they want to verify my facebook account...

 

[electrolyte]

I don't love that they want to verify my facebook account...

You can skip that. I said no thanks to that and opted for SMS verification only and that was fine.

 

[Vanyanka]

You can skip that. I said no thanks to that and opted for SMS verification only and that was fine.

Good to know. Anyone had any luck making money with these guys?

 

[electrolyte]

Good to know. Anyone had any luck making money with these guys?

It really seems to vary based on your demographics. Some people get a lot of surveys and others don't. Some of them also seem to go really fast so you won't catch them without a quickly refreshing Page Monitor. I've made enough so far to transfer to my bank account twice. It's nothing amazing but the pay on the surveys is usually pretty good (better than most of MTurk). I just wish there was more that I qualified for.

 

[Bootsie]

I like Prolific Academic as a backup for some extra change. I check them a few times a day or they'll email me sometimes when I qualify for something. I've earned $34 there so far and I've already moved $20 over w/out any problems.

 

[Lenna15]

Hooray for Prolific! I just wish there were more work, but maybe that will change as they get more established. Anyway, some info to add:

There's been a bit of confusion about their PayPal fees in the past. Apparently fees can't be avoided if you're outside the UK, though it was also known that cashing out below 20 pounds incurs an extra fee, and some had to pay fees even if they waited till they were over 20 pounds. My experience was that I cashed out the first time for 60 pounds or so, and had no fee. The second time I cashed out a few months later, It was for about 120 pounds. I just wasn't in a hurry and knew that I only had to wait till I was over 20, not expecting that there would be a fee for being over a certain amount. Well, this time I got hit with a PayPal fee. I asked Prolific about it, and here's what they said:

"Happy New Year from the Prolific Team! I understand your confusion and I'm very sorry about this. Basically, the payment of fees is determined by whether or not we process payments automatically or manually. We tend to process payments that are unusually high manually rather than automatically. Automatic processing does not incur any fees for participants, however manual processing (unfortunately) does. In other words, when a payment is higher than £60, then we are extra-cautious and don't just process this high payment along with other payments in bulk.

I appreciate that this is not quite the best solution we've got here, and we will be working on implementing a more appropriate payment system. Thanks for your patience in the meantime!"

"I realize that my last email may have been confusing. May the technicalities be as they are, we've decided to pay you the currency conversion fee as a bonus payment. Can you please tell me the exact amount of the fee you've paid so I can credit your Prolific account with it? Unfortunately, PayPal doesn't display this information to us (I can roughly estimate it, but I don't know the exact amount).

Also, we've decided for now that participants shouldn't be paying any currency conversion fees, so feel free to accumulate the money on your Prolific account in the future. You won't be penalized anymore for saving up your Prolific earnings and for cashing out with high amounts."

And they did indeed pay me the fee via a bonus. I love 'em! :sparklingheart:

 

[clickhappier]

Hooray for Prolific! I just wish there were more work, but maybe that will change as they get more established. Anyway, some info to add:

There's been a bit of confusion about their PayPal fees in the past. Apparently fees can't be avoided if you're outside the UK, though it was also known that cashing out below 20 pounds incurs an extra fee, and some had to pay fees even if they waited till they were over 20 pounds. My experience was that I cashed out the first time for 60 pounds or so, and had no fee. The second time I cashed out a few months later, It was for about 120 pounds. I just wasn't in a hurry and knew that I only had to wait till I was over 20, not expecting that there would be a fee for being over a certain amount. Well, this time I got hit with a PayPal fee. I asked Prolific about it, and here's what they said:

"Happy New Year from the Prolific Team! I understand your confusion and I'm very sorry about this. Basically, the payment of fees is determined by whether or not we process payments automatically or manually. We tend to process payments that are unusually high manually rather than automatically. Automatic processing does not incur any fees for participants, however manual processing (unfortunately) does. In other words, when a payment is higher than £60, then we are extra-cautious and don't just process this high payment along with other payments in bulk.

I appreciate that this is not quite the best solution we've got here, and we will be working on implementing a more appropriate payment system. Thanks for your patience in the meantime!"

"I realize that my last email may have been confusing. May the technicalities be as they are, we've decided to pay you the currency conversion fee as a bonus payment. Can you please tell me the exact amount of the fee you've paid so I can credit your Prolific account with it? Unfortunately, PayPal doesn't display this information to us (I can roughly estimate it, but I don't know the exact amount).

Also, we've decided for now that participants shouldn't be paying any currency conversion fees, so feel free to accumulate the money on your Prolific account in the future. You won't be penalized anymore for saving up your Prolific earnings and for cashing out with high amounts."

And they did indeed pay me the fee via a bonus. I love 'em! :sparklingheart:

So it sounds like the 'sweet spot' for cashing out from Prolific is more than £20 but less than £60.

Currently 1 GBP = $1.42 USD, so 20 GBP = ~$28 USD, and 60 GBP = ~$85 USD. (Minus whatever cut I'm guessing Paypal quietly takes - in addition to explicit fees, most exchanges like this tend to be done at a slightly less-favorable-to-you rate than the 'wholesale' rate.)

 

[Bootsie]

Hmmm, I moved over 16 pounds and ended up receiving $21.71 at my bank. If I calculated correctly, I should have received $22.66 so Paypal took $0.95. Does anyone know if this is the same amount each time?

 

[Yatagarasu]

Aww, really? They're usually super responsive to questions. Did you use the contact form the site? Also, if you're on Twitter, they answer questions on Twitter, too. https://twitter.com/prolificac

After eight days, they finally responded. Did a couple of back and forth emails. That was two days ago. I tried +1 and +01 for the country code but still nothing.

 

[electrolyte]

After eight days, they finally responded. Did a couple of back and forth emails. That was two days ago. I tried +1 and +01 for the country code but still nothing.

Bummer. They were so responsive when they first started up. I wonder if they've gotten overwhelmed or if the people managing that stuff there has changed.

 

[clickhappier]

After eight days, they finally responded. Did a couple of back and forth emails. That was two days ago. I tried +1 and +01 for the country code but still nothing.

Eh? 1 is the US's country code. If you're trying to call the UK from the US, apparently you need to start with 011 44.
How to Call the UK from the US | UK Country Code
Country Calling Codes - How to call the UK (United Kingdom) from United States
How to Call the UK from the United States: 6 Steps

 

[Yatagarasu]

Eh? 1 is the US's country code. If you're trying to call the UK from the US, apparently you need to start with 011 44.
How to Call the UK from the US | UK Country Code
Country Calling Codes - How to call the UK (United Kingdom) from United States
How to Call the UK from the United States: 6 Steps

I'm referring to verification of my account via sms with my phone #.

 

[clickhappier]

I'm referring to verification of my account via sms.

Oh, you mean when entering your phone number on the Prolific site? Yeah, I heard some people were having trouble with not getting the SMS lately. I keep idly thinking about signing up, but no way am I messing with Facebook.

In the opposite direction, the code would be 00 1 apparently:
Country Calling Codes - How to call the US (United States) from United Kingdom

 

[Yatagarasu]

Oh, you mean when entering your phone number on the Prolific site? Yeah, I heard some people were having trouble with not getting the SMS lately. I keep idly thinking about signing up, but no way am I messing with Facebook.

In the opposite direction, the code would be 00 1 apparently:
Country Calling Codes - How to call the US (United States) from United Kingdom

Yep, that. I could have sworn I tried 001 as well but I'll try that again. I have a facebook account but didn't really want to use that method.

EDIT: Bleh, now it tells me I've tried too many times and to contact an admin. I guess I'll just have to wait for them to respond to my last email.

EDIT2: @electrolyte @clickhappier They went ahead and verified manually for me, hooray.

 

[Phelim (ProlificAc)]

Hi all,

Sorry for the hassle with getting you sorted with your phone verification @clickhappier. We have occasional problems due to international texts. I think we've resolved the issue for you but if not please ping us again at support@prolific.ac and we'll make sure to sort it.

Just so you know there's no "sweet spot" for cashing out. If it's over £20 the only fee is PayPal's currency conversion this is a little annoying (for us too) but you get a pretty good bang for your buck when converting from £ to $. The issue @Lenna15 mentioned was caused by a mistake by us.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

 

[clickhappier]

Hi all,

Sorry for the hassle with getting you sorted with your phone verification @clickhappier. We have occasional problems due to international texts. I think we've resolved the issue for you but if not please ping us again at support@prolific.ac and we'll make sure to sort it.

Just so you know there's no "sweet spot" for cashing out. If it's over £20 the only fee is PayPal's currency conversion this is a little annoying (for us too) but you get a pretty good bang for your buck when converting from £ to $. The issue @Lenna15 mentioned was caused by a mistake by us.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Good to know, I'll give it a try soon. Thanks for joining MTC and responding! Hope to continue seeing you around.

PS: What is the preferred format to enter a US phone number into your site, for clarification?