Market research from home....does anyone do this and how much can it pay?

[pepsi]

My children are both now in full time school so I thought Id try and do something from home to earn a few £'s. I dont want to become a card/boo/virgin vie seller or anything but wondered if it was a good idea to test out products for companies, Ive heard in the past of people doing shampoo and crisps and biscuits. Can anyone fill give me more info on this and perhaps direct me on who to contact. Would love to hear pros and cons of doing such work too. Thanks

hi, there are companies that do this i.e. test and vote for instance where you complete online surveys and earn points and then sometimes get to test products at home and keep the products.

Generally these types of things are not well paid i.e. you have to earn 25000 points to get a fiver type thing, and often you will be ineligible for the surveys so won't earn as many points as the survey initially told you you would iyswim.

They are very time consuming, and once you start signing up your inbox will be flooded with more spam than you could ever wish for.

I signed up to some of these companies last year and very soon regretted it.

hth

I wasnt thinking of doing anything that was online for that reason. I was hoping there was something where products are delivered to your door, you test and write your comments and send them back. Does this exist?

I think Which? use testers like you describe, but I don't know how you become one. Maybe worth contacting them?

secret shopper is good my friend does this plus you get to have your dinner out

How much does being a secret shopper pay?

I have asked this a few times but no-one knows....????

Anyone have a rough idea???

Hi I have been a secret shopper for a few years but to be honest the money is rubbish usually £6-10 a job so after tax even less, then you have to either fill a report online or by hand and that can take anything from 15-60 minutes. So therefore you have had to go to the shop do the visit then the report and it could take up to an hour so most jobs aren't worth doing.

Pinecone Research are good, but if I remember correctly you have to respond to one of their adverts to join them, you can't just contact them directly. I responded to an advert on another baby website. They pay £4 in luncheon vouchers for a survey lasting 20-30 mins. I've also tested 2 shampoos and toilet cleaner for them. But the surveys only come up once a month or so,so it's just a little bonus, obviously not a second income.

Test and vote are one of the better survey sites (they give Amazon points) but despite applying for their product tests I've never been selected for any of them.

I test samples for a couple of companies, but generally you don't get paid, you just get to keep the freebies instead.

Thanks christabel - I already do online surveys, and again that pays next to nothing - 25p or 50p etc, added to my account each time.

Never mind, one day I shall be rich!!!

Have you ever thought of chatline work? I was with a company for a while that paid up to £12 per hour (You only get paid though for the calls you actually take, not just for being logged on). You have to be pretty open minded though!!!

Ciao are quite good for online surveys, they pay anything from 50p - £5 and they send sometimes a few a month.

YouGov pay 50p per survey but they are fairly long and you can't get a cheque until you have got to £50 (so could take a couple of years!!!)

Anyone else know any good online survey companies that pay well.

Why open minded?

The other things that's good if you can spare the time is focus group work - you need to get in with somebody who recruits for market research companies. That type of work pays £30-40 for a 1 1/2 - 2 hour session. But it's usually evenings.

You need to be open minded as the calls are usually (not always though), of a sexual nature. There are however strict guidelines any anything illegal will not be tolerated.

I do mystery shopping. I get paid between £10 and £25.00. This month I made £60 which is great but you it is not regular.

I'm nearly ready to receive my £50 cheque from www.yougov.co.uk, only been doing that 6months. The surveys aren't very taxing, unlike some very boring ones I've had elsewhere.
Here's my Refer-a-friend link if anyone's feeling generous and wants to bump me up to it.
And Pineconeresearch give me about £4 a month (sometimes longer.)

I'm nearly ready to receive my £50 cheque from www.yougov.co.uk, only been doing that 6months. The surveys aren't very taxing, unlike some very boring ones I've had elsewhere.
Here's my Refer-a-friend link if anyone's feeling generous and wants to bump me up to it.
And Pineconeresearch give me about £4 a month (sometimes longer.)

On focus grp work (as mentioned by AllBuggiedOut) - many companies ideally don't want people who do this sort of thing regularly, so you sholdn't usually be doing this sort of thing more than a couple of times a year (with some exceptions...)