Review of Lightspeed, Ipsos I-Say, NPDOR, Nielsen Homescan, Opinion Central, Toluna, etc

Summary of Post
A review of my year-long experience with these survey sites. I really liked some of them but there were some that I never got anything back for my time. Taking surveys isn't going to pay enough to feed the family - I ended up with less than $50 for my foray into the world of surveys. Survey-taking isn't for everyone, but many people enjoy it (myself included sometimes!). Read on then decide for yourself if you would like it...

What I did
I signed up for a bunch of the more popular survey sites around April last year and was an active participant for a year. Here's a signup call/blurb example: "Your opinion matters! Tell us what you think about the products and services we use every day, and have an impact on the future. Plus, we'll reward you with cash, gift certificates, and other great prizes for completing surveys! Click Here". I responded to all the survey invites that poured into my inbox. As I suggested in a previous post reviewing Mypoints, Inboxdollars etc, it's best to have an email account dedicated solely to survey emails. Expect between 1 to 10 emails a day from each survey site... Now although I responded to all the survey invites, I didn't 'qualify' for all of them. It was a drag sometimes having to fill in the preliminary screening info (e.g. ethnicity, income range) then being informed 'Sorry you did not qualify for this survey'...

What's reviewed
Programs offering cash or points that can be redeemed for gift cards, cash, stuff: Lightspeed Panel, Ipsos (Ipsos I-Say), NPDOR Sweepland, National Consumer Panel (formerly Nielsen Homescan Panel), Opinion Central, Opinion Outpost, Surveyspot, Toluna (formerly Your2Cents) and Zoompanel. For my calculations on 'worthwhiledness', I assumed 10 minutes per survey.

Thumbs up (listed from biggest pay/hr)


Opinion Outpost: So far I've received a check for $20 (there's a $5 minimum) for completing 15 surveys. Between 15-75 pts are awarded for each survey completed, and I found it easy to 'qualify' for the surveys. Pays $8/hr. Join Opinion Outpost

Toluna (Your2Cents): This is probably my favorite site after Opinion Outpost. Between 3000-6000 points are awarded for each survey completed, and I managed 14 surveys for 48,000 points. Cashout is at 60,000 points whereby you request the $$$ to be sent as check or via Paypal. Pays $7/hr. Join Toluna

Lightspeed Consumer Panel: I got paid $20 via Paypal for all my efforts. They have a point system where 5000 points can be redeemed for $5 (the minimum payout). With 100-300 points awarded for every survey completed, that works out to $5 for 12 surveys, or $2.50/hr. Join Lightspeed Consumer Panel

Ipsos: Cashout is 50 points ($5), redeemable for gift cards from Amazon, Macys, etc. With 1-25 points awarded for each survey completed, points added up reasonably quickly. It's also nice that 1 point is awarded just for responding to a survey invite. Unfortunately they are revamping their website at the moment, and members can't check points balances. Pays about $2/hr. Join Ipsos I-Say

Zoompanel: I recently redeemed a book ($3 paperback) for 1000 points. It takes quite a while to get to where you can redeem anything it seems, but it's nice that 5 points are awarded just for responding to a survey invite. No gift cards or cash, but there's a goodly selection of stuff to redeem. I got 70 offers the past year, and qualified for 20. Pays $1/hr. Join Zoompanel

Opinion Central: Despite responding to every survey invite and successfully completing 7 surveys, I haven't accumulated even half the points needed to redeem anything. Considering they award 100 - 300 pts per survey completed, and 3300 pts are needed to redeem a shopping tote, I'm close to giving up on them. No gift cards or cash, just stuff to redeem. Pays about $1/hr. Join Opinion Central


Thumbs down

Nielsen Homescan Consumer Panel: A recent name change to 'National Consumer Panel'. A really cool panel in that you get this nifty scanner to scan your purchases with but then you realize it's uncool to have your time sucked up doing that especially when it would take a whole year of scanning to be able to redeem a set of $10 plastic containers. Scanning purchases takes 15 minutes/week, Nielsen pays $0.70/hr.

NPD Online Research / Sweepland (NPDOR): Awards points for completed surveys, but these points can only be used to enter their Sweepland sweepstakes. The sweepstakes offer a tantalizing selection of prizes ranging from $500 Amex gift cards to holidays in the Bahamas. I completed about 10 surveys and racked up a bunch of points, did the Sweepland thingy, and won... ZILCH. Pays $0/hr (for me at least) :)

Surveyspot: I loved their cute mascot the Surveyspot pooch and I think that's the reason why I continued to respond to their mostly sweepstakes-entry-based survey invites. I got over 10 emails a day from them, and initially did almost all the surveys, but after a couple of months of not winning anything, I lost interest. Hey, even I have my limits!

Click on the links below if you want to join or check out their sites:
Opinion Outpost
Toluna (formerly Your2Cents)
Lightspeed Panel
Ipsos
Zoompanel.
Opinion Central
National Consumer Panel (formerly Nielsen Homescan Panel)
NPDOR Sweepland
Surveyspot
GlobalTestMarket

Bottom line taking surveys is, don't quit your day job. And that's my two cents!

I've also compiled in one handy location (for myself anyways!), links with discounts and coupons to all the places where I shop online. Check out Where Gracie Shops!


xo Gracie

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