I’ve mentioned the Nielson Home Scanner Consumer Panel before. If you apply and are accepted you will receive a scanner which you use to scan all the bar codes of everything you purchase. You will send in your scans once a week to Nielsen, and will earn points to redeem for prizes/rewards.
I’ve heard mixed feedback regarding this program, so I would love to hear from those of you that have done this. If you would like to check it out and apply, you can do so HERE. It seems to me like a great way to earn some extra freebies!
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I signed up and recently returned the home scanner – If you are into having your opinion count then I’d think this program would be good for you, but the “prize” point costs are very high – If you scanned and submitted your purchases every week and earned all bonuses for reporting your point value vs prize cost works out to about $1/month. There are also surveys that would come out to about $1 value/month as well, but with as many coupons as I use it just wasn’t worth it.
Scanning all of my products wasn’t so much the problem as was imputing all coupon values and at Walmart all prices as well as coupon values. There wasn’t a long load time between items, but there is between “trips” and when I coupon/rebate 4 stores in an outing and have to answer the store set up questions and input all promotions/coupons/rebates and then verify that “yes” my total was $1.46 for $40 of product, and yes I’m sure and then input 3 more stores, telling them which store and who was with me, and heaven forbid I had more than one transaction in the store (which they ask you to input separately) it was just way too time consuming for the $1-$2 value payout per month.
It did feel good to “show off” my steal deals, but I’m sure it wasn’t nearly as rewarding as blogging would be and I’m pretty sure it was more time consuming!
Thanks for the info, Lea. I recently applied. I was accepted, but they said there are no scanners currently available. The communications were vague about what kind of payoff you would receive for your efforts. I can’t imagine why anyone would be willing to go through so much trouble for so little. Hmm. Too bad.
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I am a panel member, and I haven’t minded the program! I also use many many coupons, and shop at various places, with multiple transactions. I don’t know how Lea broke into $1/month, but I think for my family, it works. My husband and I just scan things as we put them away. It doesn’t take that much extra time, and we are earning points that can be used on all kinds of things. I’ve always liked surveys, and I’ve enjoyed the ones they have sent. I get quite a few, and some are worth a good number of points. Also, there are numerous drawings in which you are entered. I have only been doing this for about 4 months now, but I know someone else who does it that won either $100 or $500. The way I see it is that it doesn’t take much time or effort, and we will be rewarded at some point with the points we are accumulating, so I don’t mind doing it!
I too am a member and plan on returning the scanner. I agree with Lea in that the points take forever to accumulate. You only get 150 pts a week and the smallest prize reward is 35,000 pts. (according to the booklet they sent me). I shop at Wal mart most of the time because they price match and I can get everything done in one stop. The scanner always asks for you to enter prices for Wal mart. It very annoying (to me) to scan an item (which by the way, my scanner stinks so it hardly scans and I usually have to type in the UPC) then search the reicept for scanned item for the cost. At this rate it would take a loooong time to get enough pts to earn something worth while. The 35,000 pt prize is a rattle for a toddler, so you can gage from there what the nicer prizes would be.
Hi! I am new to the blog and when I saw the post for this I was very excited. I am a panel member of Neilson! I love scanning my products when I get home. Like Celia, my fiancee and I scan as we take things from the bag and put them away. I do admit that it can be a pain with tons of coupons, especially when I shop at places like Walmart…they do not pair the coupon with the item you saved on, it just lists them at the bottom of the receipt, so I am usually guessing what coupon amount to type into my scanner after I scan a product I had a coupon for. I love shopping at Wegmans though…they pair the coupon and item together on your receipt to it is easy to find, and when scanning products from Wegmans the scanner does not require you to put in the prices of the items. I have been doing it for about a year now. At first I was not very good about scanning and at one point they wanted the scanner back because I hadn’t made a transmission to them for a month. But I promised them that I would do better and I have. Occasionally, I go away and won’t be able to scan stuff…and they have a solution for that…before you leave, scan a sheet of paper that they send with your scanner that lets them know you will not be scanning. They are easy to work with. The surveys and quick panel points are fun. Sometimes they can be long and monotonous…but the more you do, the more they send, the more points you get. They also have sweepstakes from the middle of December to the next December…you scan and transmit every week and are automatically entered into various sweepstakes! They prizes are great and I am hoping to win one or more! And yes, it does take a while to get enough points to get something from the rewards catalog…but it will be worth it if you are committed!
I am a member as well and have had to send the scanner back twice for maintenance.
I do the surveys for points, but it looks like I am getting nowhere fast. Since I can’t transmit it doesn’t appear worth the hassle.
I recently returned my scanner because it was so incredibly time consuming for almost no reward. I was part of the panel for a year and one of the best things I could earn was a $10 doll for my daughter. For all the time it took me I could have made a lot more money. It’s especially more work if you shop with a lot of coupons because you have to enter all those as well. I definitely would not recommend it.
I was a member and I’m returning my scanner this week. What a terrible waste of time with terrible rewards.
I recently started participating and using the scanner. It does take quite a bit of time, especially with coupons and sales, and I was beginning to question the return for my efforts. After reading the other comments, I think I will return my scanner, too, and let someone else give it a try.
Now, everyone has me questioning my panel participation!! I think I will stick with it, though. Unlike everyone else, I do not feel it takes that long to scan everything. There is more to do when you have coupons and/or shop at store where you have to enter your price. (I have to this for my CVS trips.) But, it is still only 5 minutes or so. I guess my thought is, for 5 min, why not?
I became a panelist after applying when I saw it on this site (Love your site btw!).I am also a “couponer” and at first it was a bit of a pain but once I became familiar with the process, it now goes much more quickly. Points are earned for every survey and transmission and the longer you are on the panel, the more points you earn per transmission. There are also monthly, quarterly and yearly drawings for various prizes (money, cars and even trips I believe) which entry is based upon if you transmit and follow “the rules”.I’ve been on the panel since September of this year and have accumulated 5000 points but to me, having a voice and opinion is what counts and the points are only a bonus. (I have missed a couple of transmissions also.) The surveys don’t take that long to answer and you do earn points for every one completed. I hope this helped…have a great day and happy couponing!
Don’t do it. It takes FOREVER to earn rewards and look out if you forget to or can’t scan. I got a nasty gram from them after I failed to scan for several weeks (little baby). They said I had to return my scanner ASAP and they threatened to turn me into collections if they did not get their scanner back ASAP. Very rude–very very rude.
I received the scanner at home and was excited to use it. Come to find out, the outlets in my home are old and the scanner wouldnt work with them. Now I have to fedx them back and they will send me a new one. Too much stuff I have to do some im just gonna send it back and not do it. This takes a lot of time to do and not enough rewards for me to keep it up. So if you have the time, go for it. If you have 4 kids like me, its too much time.
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The scanner was super hard to use, and most of the time I had to type in the UPC by hand. The transmission is also manual (I have to dial a toll-free number every week and it keeps telling me bad transmission so I have to call back multiple times). I now participate in another program that is so much better. Everything’s automatic. It’s called Shoppers Hotline, and they are still accepting, but only by referral from existing members.