National Consumer Panel: Earn Cash & More
Wow! Remember the Nielsen National Consumer Panel opportunities that I have mentioned in the past?! Well, check out these emails (and picture above) that I recently received from readers, Chrissie and Aimee…
I got a phone call from Nielson TV Ratings, they are sending me a TV watching diaries to fill out for one week and in return, I get $30!
I joined the Nielsen panel a while back and got an envelope from them today with a tv viewing diary to fill out and 5 bucks in cash 🙂 Yay! Getting paid to watch TV? I can handle that!
*If you are not familiar with the Nielsen National Consumer Panel (NCP), it focuses on measuring consumer attitudes and behavior. As a panel member, Homescan will provide you with a hand-held scanner. Every time you or members of your household shop, you’ll use the scanner to scan the barcodes on all of your purchases. Then, once a week, you’ll send them your purchase information. As a reward for doing so, you’ll earn gift points that are redeemable for name-brand merchandise, including electronics equipment, jewelry, household items, toys, and more!
If you’re interested in becoming part of the Consumer Panel, then you’ll want to go on over here to sign up. Not all areas need Panel Members at this time, but it is still worth signing up as you may have opportunities to earn cash like Chrissie and Aimee.
I LOVE Nielson Consumer Panel, I was a member years ago and they always compensated very fairly for my time. However, do not confuse this with the Nielson Home Scan program. I tried that recently and after just 3 months I sent the scanner back. It was an enormous amount of work to scan each and every item that I bought and they compensate with points that accumulated weekly. After I checked out their prizes page I realized that it would take me about a year to accumulate enough points to cash in for a $10 wallet. : (
I agree, I tried the Nielson Home Scan program as well and it was A LOT more work than anticipated. I ended up sending my scanner back too.
I was just going to say the same thing. The scanner program does take a lot of time, especially if you use coupons. And the equipment is so 1980s. After scanning the UPCs, entering price and whether you used a coupon or a special sale, you had to call on an analog phone and press the scanner up to the mouthpiece while it transmitted the information. To me it wasn’t worth the effort. I was a member for about a year and received $5.00, a tote bag, and some other cheap swag. I ended up returning the scanner.
http://www.allthosethingsilove.com
I also did the Home Scan program and it was a lot of work but I did ok with it until I started couponing, then stacking coupons. It is impossible to do correctly without extreme effort and a list of all coupons used and in what combinations if you are couponing. After nearly 3 years I sent mine back too. The points given are also ridiculously low for the work involved.
Ditto here too! I wanted to try Home Scan just so I could be educated on it. Not very “rewarding” for the effort. I agree it is more time consuming for couponers and I shop regularly at a regional store which means I have to enter each price also. I will be sending mine back too! Def there are other more “rewarding” ways to spend my time! (if you are looking for a new rewards/opinion program, check out EXPO- LOVE IT! More info on my site)
I just got a email from them and this one was for the the scanner panel (or at least that’s the one I got picked for). I don’t think I want to do it now. I would love to have been picked for the TV survey!
We got a phone call in Feb from them and I said we would do their tv survey and they mailed me a tv diary and $30 cash. It was awesome! I didn’t even know I would get paid until the end of my phone convo/survey. So glad I didn’t hang up on them 🙂
that happened to me too!!! All I had to do was fill out what I watched for the week, send it back to them and I got $30! easy!
They are not recruiting from my area at this time 🙁
I thought it was a very long survey and had to write down a ton of stuff for an entire week. Was not worth the 5.00 for me they did not offer the 30 but I did it anyways but will only do it again for the 30.00 that would be worth it.
Congrats to all that got compensated so well. We did this last year and I’m not sure that I would do it again. It was ALOT of work (hubby and I are on different viewing schedule and I had to document that difference) and we only received $1!! I guess this is a buyer beware issue!
unfortunately they dont need people here in Colorado…
I am on the waiting list for my area.
OMG look at those crisp dollars lol 😉
They send you cash?
I went to their website and answered a bunch of questions, then it said they will email me to confirm my info…do this mean I have a chance at being accepted?
I was told that too. Ive been waiting on the email for a while now and nothing. So idk.
Same here. I wonder what it means…
I did this before about six months ago and received both the initial $5 and the $30 following once the survey was sent in. Worth it!
I have tried to sign up for this for over a year. They are NEVER accepting applicants from the Asheville, NC area. Boooo
I did the Nielsen tv diary thing about a year ago now. I got called and asked to do the diary. Turns out the dates of my survey were RIGHT after I got home from having my second child. I enjoyed the $20 cash and they had a hay-day seeing all the constant tv non-sense that was on during my house for the week!!!!!
On another note I received a call from Arquest regarding the diaper study. I received a box of diapers from UPS the other day. Upon completion they will send you a $10 check. Nice. Diapers are junky IMO. Definitely NOT Pampers but worth the try.
i LOVE doing diaper studies through Arquest. To date I have probably done about 6 total. They are super easy to do, when they call it literally takes 5-7 mins(if that) to answer the ?s…I have never had bad diapers from them.(never had leaks, and Im partial to my sams club brand diapers!) I have had alot of huggies, kirkland(cotsco brand),store brands and even pampers. They are super nice too, you receive them the exact day the say and they call the exact time they say! About 3 weeks after completion they send out the 10 check! Have fun! 🙂
Its been a while but my husband and I have both done TV and radio diaries for them through the years. I love it! 🙂
I sent my scanner back. The amount of time it took was not worth the rewards that were offered.
i just applied and said to wait for an email… but i’m confused is the application only for the scanner panel or another? cause when you read on the home page “how it works” its only about the scanner…
when i got the letter it said the only thing i would get was the joy of knowing i made a difference in my community.
I got mine too but the envelope was opened and only $2 remained…someone got a bonus at the post office 🙂
I actually just got a call the other day to fill out a TV diary of what we watch. Right now it’ll be easy because we don’t have very many channels. I’m just waiting for it to show up in the mail…easy way to earn $30!
I’m part of Nielsen’s Mobile Panel and love the rewards!
I signed up to use the scanner as well. I originally thought you were only supposed to scan food. OK, I can do that. Then as I was waiting for the scanner to come after I was accepted I found out you also had to scan fast food purchases and gas. I figured it’d still be worth it. THEN I get the scanner, excitedly read the manual, and am flabbergasted. Not only do I have to scan food, gas and fast food, but EVERYTHING I buy. Vending machine purchases, clothes, flowers, even scan in when I take my dog to the vet. Ohhhh heck no. They totally misrepresented the entire program. I wasn’t told any of that when I signed up. So I sent it back.
Can you do the tv survey and things like that rather than the scanner part of it when you join?
Yah..I did that tv rating, they contacted me to do it and then sent me $1. All that work. What an insult.
WOW I’m glad to know I’m not the only one that felt that home scan program was time consuming with no rewards – it was awful. Then when I tried to return the scanner I didn’t have the box and it took over a month for them to send me a box to return it in. During the entire time I kept getting nasty emails and phone calls from them saying they were going to turn me into a collection agency for failure to return the equipment – even on the day their box was delivered I got three phone calls. It was a total hassle and definitely not worth losing my credit rating over their delay in sending me the return box. Never again do I want to deal with this company.
i got the scanner and havent set it up after reading these reviewsim sending it back today. i would like to be on the other panel that watches tv . heheh
BEWARE TO ANYONE WANTING TO JOIN NCP! I joined last year after reading how great it was from Colin…after a few months, my scanner stopped working properly. Although I repeatedly tried to contact the company did everything they told me to, I got a very nasty letter asking for their scanner back within a few days or they’d call collectors. NOT NICE AT ALL. I do not recommend joining this program.
Ouch, I’m tempted to join but it seems like you don’t get much for all your work, even if you decide not to do the scanner. I’m kind of on the fence now.
I am waiting to get the scanner. Thanks everyone, I am sending it back right away.
Not Cool! i was all excited having just got the phone call saying i was accepted into the ncp. after reading all this- NO thanks!