Nielsen National Consumer Panel = FREE Cash?!
Wow! Remember the Nielsen National Consumer Panel opportunities that I have mentioned in the past?! Well, check out this email from reader, Darla, to see how she just snagged $30 in FREE cash courtesy of Nielsen…
I got a pack in the mail the other day with 2 $1 bills in it and a quick survey. I thought, “Why not…You just bought me coffee.” So I took the 3 minutes to tell them what I like to watch on tv. A month later, which was yesterday, I got a much larger package from them, with $30 cash inside! They asked me to fill out 2 weekly books of what we watch… which is 90% PBS anyway, as we don’t have cable! I don’t mind doing this, and that certainly was a nice, unexpected $30 to spend on my family today. I plan to keep doing this. Who knows what they will send me next time?
**If you are not familiar with the Nielsen National Consumer Panel, 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 be considered for other programs (i.e the $30 Survey that Darla mentioned)! 😀
I just got my scanner this week. I plan on getting it set up tomorrow so I can get to scanning!
A couple weeks ago I actually participated in a Neilson survey. My family and I had to write down everything we watched on tv for 4 days and I only received 5.00. I don’t think the compensation was really worth the time to complete the surveys, but for 30.00…..that’s great!!
Me too! Got $5 for logging everything for 4 days.
I signed up but was always told there’s nothing available for me, and then they suggest me to sign up with voice panel where I will download something. Yeah right like I will download it even though they say it won’t harm my computer. How will I know for sure. Glad it helps out for others though.
I have downloaded it, I have thankfully never had issues with any of these types of things, but you don’t have to dl it of course, but my comp was and is just fine and I DLed it like 2weeks ago. 🙂 So yup! 😀
God Bless ~Amy
The first time we received something from Nielsen was last year when we lived in CT. The first time it was $5 to fill out a survey. Several months later we received $30 cash with the TV diaries to fill out for 2 weeks. After the 2 weeks we sent them back in and I’m not sure how many months later it was, but they sent us another $30 to do the diaries again! We loved it because it gave my husband and I a couple free dates together!
I am filling the weekly booklet!, they send the money on cash, so I don’t have to go the bank and change a check!
easy 30 dollars
Do you scan things after you are home or while at the store?
I sent back a week after I got it –
You come home and then do not put away any groceries –
A) Take you r scanner and then choose where you went
B) then you go through a horrible process of scanning each item, putting in if you used a coupon, how many coupons based on store or sale or manuf. and you put in the price
takes about a min if you have a short reciept to find that information – keep in mind you have to remember everything you used a coupon on and how much you ended up paying per item. good luck if you used a sale, manf q, store q and RR.
C) you do that with all your groceries and forget it if it doesn’t have a barcode on it the barcode doesnt scan – you have to do it manually
So, if you have about 30 items – plan on spending 30 mins give or take before you get to put away any groceries-
Keep in mind – they want when you eat out etc… and everytime you shop – even if it is just for 5 items real quick –
So, if you use a lot of coupons – add about 15 mins or more to your scan time.
If you can spare that kind of time every time you come home from shopping and send it in once a week – then you may be alright
Oh, you can scan at the store – but you still have to put in all the q etc info – and if you shop with kids – good luck: q shopping already takes a lot of time
I am packing our scanner up tonight to send back as well. We have been scanning our time away for close to a year and it really hasn’t paid off for us. I have gotten a free grocery bag, a can opener and with my earned points, we chose song downloads. I just wanted those out there to know that it isn’t always free money in the mail…. although I’m happy to hear it is working for some!
Same here. Matching up coupons before a trip, clipping/printing/etc, and doing the shopping already takes enough of my time. I’m not going to sit there for an hour after the trip logging it all too. Its not worth it if I *might* get $30 cash sometime in a year lol
I completely agree!! I kept my scanner for about a month trying to figure it out..down loading, reading, entering.. etc. Only to figure out just how difficult it was. What a waste of my time. So not worth it. I tried to send a test submission to them like they asked and I couldn’t get it to work right with all the store cards and coupons and prices that I had to enter..OMG!!!! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…. not worth my time!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry I ever asked to participate.
just went to sign up but it said could not be processed because I have already signed up in the past..I have never heard from them..Guess they don’t need help in my area.? But great for all you get it! I would sooooo keep a diary for 2 weeks for $30!!
It says nothing is in my area right now, then asks me to click on a link to be put on a reserve list. The link doesn’t work. 🙁
same thing happened here
Same here… 🙁
I received $30 with a diary as well!
Opinion Post offered a great deal to download their Nielsen’s app, but I didn’t do it..
I did this for a while. It is a LOT of work. You scan everything you purchase and enter the coupon price and the sale price. I did it for 4 months. I got a reusable bag. Not worth it IMO. The payback prizes were so far out of reach as to be a year or more out with daily scanning and weekly reporting. They don’t even give you a report to track your own spending. You can scan in the store or at home.
I agree! We are a family of 8 and of course I use tons of coupons. The time it took to enter in the purchases, coupons, prices, etc.wasn’t worth it. I’m better off doing online surveys.
I agree, the scanner was a TON of work, no worth it at all, I sent mine back almost immediately.
I sent mine back it was easy to use and took me about 10 minutes per shopping trip but once i realized it would take me about 4 years to save up enough points to get a play kitchen worth about 50 dollars i realized it is not worth the time at all
I agree. When I signed up, they never tell you how little you get for everything they make you do. I signed up thinking I would be fairly reimbursed, and when I got the box and read everything I realized it would take a ton of my time and I would get barely anything worth it. I could spend the time arranging coupons and deals and get more from that on my own, than wasting my time with them for practically NOTHING.
I just sent back the scanner thing. Seems like too much work. Scan every item you buy and enter all the coupons you used. Thanks to hiptosave I use a ton of coupons, it would take me forever. And I didn’t get any cash with the scanner. So it wasn’t for me, but this tv diary sound like it would be worth it.
yep, we did a radio survey last spring and we each received 21.00 dollars for writing it down for a week.
We did that one also. That was worth the time! We all did that one. Everyone was thrilled when the money came.
You scan things at home. I just received my scanner last week. It isn’t hard, it just seems like a lot of work for couponers for very small rewards. You have to enter the price for each item, if you used a coupon you have to enter the coupon amount. Which is annoying for me because I use a lot of coupons and don’t always remember the coupon value. There has been one store that I didn’t have to enter prices for. So it might be easier for others. I will try to keep up with it since I have the free time to do it. Maybe in a few years I will earn a reward! Hope this doesn’t sound to grouchy!!
I’ve been a member for about 10 years and the amount of points you receive per transaction increases the longer you are a member. Yes, i take the scanner with me to the grocery since I too use lots of coupons. It really helps to do this and gets easier the more you do it. I figure if they are going to supply the battery when i need it, I might make it easier for myself. As to the gifts, I have used my points over the years to ‘buy” gifts and things for myself that I really didn’t want to spend my money on. Looked at it as being a treat to myself.
So glad you posted this, I just got something from Nielsen and was about to toss it! There was $ cash $ inside!!
I have done the Neilson TV thing for the last 2 years and always recieved $30. This year only $5, but still nice.
the home scan deal is a joke – you have enter each coupon you use – for a busy mom who has ime when i use a coupon for just about every item ibuy
I just tried to sign up and it said I (or someone in my household) had already signed up. I remember signing up now, but at the time it said that there wasn’t anything available in my area. I guess there still isn’t anything in my area…
My boyfriend and I were a Neilsen family a few months ago. We were chosen to do the TV diary survey which paid $30 in cold hard cash! It was a great and painless experience. The Neilsen company called to remind us to fill out the survey and to return it. Couldn’t have been easier!
Our family has been chosen twice to do the TV recordings. Both times it was $30 cash, and they contacted us out of the blue!
I did this for about 15 years and when my kids got to be pre teens it just got to be too much work for me. But I got lots of nice prizes by saving up my points…a weber bbg grill….a deep fryer….several other things. They have monthly contests too for cash prizes though I never won any. My kids loved doing the scanning when they were little.
It can be time consuming – your to scan everything you buy, regardless of where. During set up you can a list of stores you shop at into the scanner. Than each time you shop you tell the scanner where you shopped, what price you paid, and the value of any coupon you used. This can get particulrly tiresome when your buying at a sale price different than what is marked on the item cause your always having to look at the receipt. Plus remembering the coupon amount. You also are suppose to scan items bought at gas stations, 7-11’s and even vending machines so if your doing it right you end up saving the wrapper from that candy bar your bought at the vending machine at work. It also makes putting things away at home harder cause your scanning and can’t allow anyone to help till you can an item.
So signing up for this needs some thought. It can be well worth it if you have the time to invest in it.
If you’re a couponer, this is sooooo much work. You have to put in the amnt. of each item you buy, the amnt. of the coupon, etc. I got a scanner and didn’t even use it after I realized how much work it would be.
Last year, before I even tried to sign up to be on their panel. I got an envelope from them with some cash, a couple bucks. I was so excited. I did the diary and sent it back. Very easy for us because we do not watch much television. About a month or so later, I got $30.00 in the mail. Literally felt like I won the lottery. I was beyond estactic! Such a super nice surprise!! 🙂
I joined a while back but I have never heard from them. I went to the site and I didnt see any where to sign in. Any advice?
I have the Home Scan and it is easy. Once you have been doing it for 6 months and taking the survey, your points add up for rewards. If you scan each week, your name is enterered into weekly, mothly, quarterly and yearly drawings. It takes a total of an hour or two a week to do. I signed up about 6 months before I was sent anything. So keep trying.
I’m doing this now – been doing it for about 2 months. It is a lot of work at first. After my first few weeks of uploading info, the prices for several stores were no longer required. You do have to enter coupon amounts and I use coupons for most items. I’ve got a pattern going now though, take something out of the bag, scan, move to one side, then put them away. It does seem to take a long time to get enough points for awards, but if I figure I spend an hour a week scanning, and I get a prize after a year, it’s probably worth it.
I received my $2.00 & invitation to participate about 2 weeks ago. I received the larger envelope (just like Darla) yesterday with $30.00 cash inside to participate for 1 week! Wow! $32.00 for that small effort? We don’t even watch tv that much. I love doing things like this, I did a diaper survey a few months ago & received 2 weeks worth of diapers and $10 just for giving my opinions. Thanks for the info Collin!
I have received the same invitation as Farrah and a few others…I got the $2 envelope and then a few weeks later I received the $30 envelope. I have done these in the past and only received a little more than the original $2, so I was pretty happy when I opened up the larger envelope to find $30! WAHOO!!
I agree with all the others who said send it back…I too eagerly signed up and when it got here and I read all the information and setting it up, I realized this was not going to be worth the time and effort involved for as much information as they wanted to know but they were not willing to be fair enough to allow you to earn the points quick enough to make it worth the enormous amount of time that was required to scan and coupons..forget it…definitely not worth wasting precious time!!!! PLEASE believe me I don’t even know why someone would encourage you to try this..IT IS NO FUN!!
COMPLETLY AGREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was just about to e-mail you because I received my Neilsen envelope yesterday with my diary and $30 cash in it!! I had forgotten about signing up for this but, I think it will be worth it! Such a nice surprise!
I am starting the tv diaries tomorrow. They sent me $5 for me to participate and two weeks later I got $30 to fill out the diaries. Easy money!
I have some Gymboree coupons if anyone wants:
30% off regular price online through 11/24 enter promotional code 1103QL16ZF98579
20% OFF ENTIRE PURCHASE INCLUDES SALE ITEM exp 11/24 11vqljhg9698138
20% off entire purchase EXP 11/30 1377B3Q6W389560
I did the 2 week booklet for $30 last year and I am NOT a member of their consumer panel. When I researched it to make sure the offer was legit, I discovered that it is completely random who they send the booklets to.
I’ve been doing the scanning for a little over 6 months. I have accumulated almost 20,000 points. It is a little dissapointing that the point values are so high. It is a lot of work, but once you get into doing it for a while, it’s not so bad. I wish I received surveys that paid cash. That would be awesome! 🙂
For surveys that pay try Opinion Place and Opinion Outpost.
I got my $30 yesterday too! Yippee! Took the kids out for supper as a surprise.
Completed one week diaries and sent them off last week for $30. This was our third time participating in the last 2 years!! Woo Hoo $90 🙂 Have also had the scanner…sending back. Totally not worth the time to input all of the prices and deals used. Couldn’t keep up with it. Love watching TV though!
This was a complete waste of time. I would rather shop with the deals that I find on this site and others than spend hours scanning every item that I bought. This is not worth it.
Ditto to all who said the scanner is a waste of time. I got it, tried it once, boxed it back up the way it came and sent it home. No thanks.
I love this program. It was a pain at first, but once I got the hang of it it is so easy, and another way to contribute to my family.
FYI — you can’t use the scanner system if you are using a Apple Computer/MAC.
I did this a few months back and they only gave me A DOLLAR! Wow, I feel cheated because it was alot of work, I won’t do it again unless they pay upfront a decent compensation for my time.
I sent mine back too. I had too many problems with it and every time I called they told me the same thing, yet what they were telling me did not work. Did not find it was worth all the effort and time.
I did an over the phone survey with them. They sent me $7.00 and some books to fill out on TV. I did that & supposedly they are sending me another $10. We will see.
The website address they give you at the end for the reserve panel is not working. I’d love to get selected to do the TV survey.
I have done the TV tests before. We watch very little tv so it i was easy. Yes, a few bucks the first time for just a day or two, then like $5 or $10 for a longer time period, them $30 for a couple weeks. I was starting to get a little leary after that, wondering what might they send me next & will I have to pay to ship it back if I don’t want to participate, so I called & asked to be removed from the list.