My friend Kelly let me know National Consumer Panel is accepting applications again, this time it is open to more areas. I know some of you have tried to get into the panel in the past and were unable to. Your zip code may be open, you can find out by trying here.
As a panel member, the National Consumer Panel 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. You’ll earn gift points that are redeemable for name-brand merchandise, including electronics equipment, jewelr
Now, some of you love this program and others didn’t think it was worth your time. The nice thing is you can return the scanner for free if you are not into the program. I have never qualified, so I am not sure what I would think about the program, I keep trying each time so I can give you my opinion.
If you are looking for another option to make a few dollars, you can try Pinecone Research as well.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I signed up months ago, and just today received a call saying I was accepted and they are sending a scanner. I’m kind of excited, because it seems fun, but kind of nervous because of some of the feedback I’ve seen.
Ugh. I did a review on this about a year and a half ago. This was such a waste of time for me. I shop once a week if not more and they want you to scan EVERYTHING you purchase. The diapers, the spur-of-the-moment sodas and check out, everything. So before you put your groceries away you have to scan everything you purchased if your store reciept doesn’t scan, enter the price of each item, any coupons used, store cards, discounts etc. Then you only get a few “cents” and it takes forever to collect. And you get “prizes” not cash.
Sorry for the negativity but I was super excited about joining this too, and I was greatly disappointed.
I agree with Mikki! It takes forever to get points and who has time to just stand there and scan items…I have to send mine back. They are sending me hate mail & emails that I’m not scanning all my purchases!
uggg i got one of these about a month ago it’s is soo not worth it it is suppose to link up and get the prices of your items from the stores in your area it does not i tried to scan in my first grocery store visit after i got it i gave up after 30 plus minutes and i was not even half way through it looks fun but trust me it is not!!
I agree 100% with Mikki. I had the same experience.
I did this to for about 8 months, its so not worth it. The prizes you redeem for your points are not worth the time it takes to scan EVERYTHING, I sent the scanner back and cancelled my acct with them.
I’m a member and it does seem to be a lot of extra work for not much reward. However, we do enjoy the surveys that are sent out (I love taking surveys!) and I like the fact that my shopping habits can influence future products or marketing promotions. We have been doing it for about 6 months now and have not saved up enough points for any prizes, though.
I was really excited about this too, but went along with it for over a year. It was a pain to scan all my groceries every week, but figured if I hung in there I would get enough points for something nice. They also email you surveys to take for extra points, so I did that alot too. After a year I decided to cash in my points for something but was only at the lowest amount of points for a gift, so I got a stupid card game that was worth 5.00 and said forget this, what a waste of time. I would literally have to be at it for years before I got something decent. It just wasn’t worth my time.
I just got it and so far so good, i currently don’t work and we only have one kid so i guess I may have more time then others; it really doesn’t seem to bother me too much to put in all my groceries. So far im up to 2500 points and I just started it 2 weeks ago. We’ll see how it goes over the next 6 months or so.