National Consumer Panel Reviews and Features

National Consumer Panel

6800 Jericho Turnpike Suite 102E, Syosset, NY  11791 US
Tel: 1-800-962-6700   Contact: [email protected]
Operated by: Nielsen and IRI

Jump to: National Consumer Panel Reviews | Rewards | National Consumer Panel Sign up

KEY FEATURES:

The National Consumer Panel is an established company backed by two research powers, NielsenIQ and IRI. The NCP is a "mini-USA", representing millions of Americans. Since 1987 (originally as Nielsen Homescan, then in 2010 as National Consumer Panel), the NCP has been gathering panel member's opinions and shopping data to help manufacturers and retailers make informed decisions on what products to develop, improve or sell in the market.

The NCP panel gives panelists the opportunity to earn rewards from a fun and simple process, simply by scanning barcodes of the items they buy every week! You could change the face of your favorite brands or improve your shopping experience by becoming a member.

Sign Up for Your Spot

Being immediately accepted into the program is not guaranteed because acceptance is based upon if/when there is an opening or a need for specific household demographics, so availability does vary. To sign up for NCP, simply click the green 'join now' buttons on this page to apply for a position.

Rewards for Participating

Earn points for sending your shopping data each week and for answering surveys. NCPMobile participants can redeem their points towards gift cards including: AMC, Amazon, Apple, Delta, Fandango, Google Play, Groupon, Spotify, Uber as well as for Vanilla Visa cards.

Participants with hand-held scanners can access NCP's online gift catalog that contains a wide variety of name-brand merchandise including electronics, home appliances, sporting goods, toys and more!

Earn More Rewards

New NCP panel members earn reward points for registration and reporting their first shopping trip. In addition, panel members earn 250 reward points for birthdays, 1,000 bonus points on their 6-month anniversary and 1,000 bonus points on their 1-year anniversary (and each year after that). Other seasonal and ad-hoc promotions can earn panel members additional reward points depending on their participation.

Scan Your Purchases with the National Consumer Panel App

As a new member of NCP, you will receive access to NCPMobile, their exclusive mobile app for scanning and reporting your shopping trip details (available in iOS and Android). Use the app to scan the barcodes on your weekly purchases and earn rewards for your participation. You can also provide information on non-barcoded items you purchase (such as fruit and vegetables, baked goods, gas, prescriptions, etc.) using the app. You may be asked to provide additional information on a shopping trip, including the store you went to, if you used a club card, etc. Sharing this level of detail will help the product makers and retailers that are responsible for the products you love to purchase and is easily done so using the interface.

Earn Reward Points!

Points are largely earned by scanning your weekly purchases. You'll start by getting 150 points each week NCP receives your shopping data. The weekly amount of points increases the longer you are on the panel. With opportunities to earn additional points by answering surveys, special NCP promotions, specialty panels, etc., points can add up quickly. Gift offerings begin at 5,000 points.

Automatic Sweepstakes Entries

Regular participation in the program means automatic entries into NCP's sweepstakes that are held monthly and quarterly. Sweepstakes include:

• $100 Monthly Sweepstakes (20 winners each month)
• $500 Super Scanner Quarterly Sweepstakes (5 winners each quarter)
• $5,000 Cash Giveaway Quarterly Sweepstakes (1 winner each quarter)

The Longer You're a Member, the More You'll Earn

The longer you are an active participant of NCP, the more points you will get credited to your account each time you participate. The program has been around for over a decade, so it's not uncommon for participants to be members for this long!

Special Member Perks

Being a member also entitles you to the NCPRewards+ program where you can get special discounts at AT&T (some users report receiving 25% off their phone bill), as well as receiving discounts with other major retailers.

Is National Consumer Panel Legit?

There's no reason to think that National Consumer Panel is anything but legitimate. It is not a scam, and it is run by NielsenIQ - a highly respected market research firm. Although people may have different experiences being a member of the panel, the NCP program is legitimate.

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National Consumer Panel Reviews (103)

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August 3, 2017 by Deborah from United States

My complaints encompass what Kimberly shared as cut & pasted below. We have been an NCP household since around 2006. We joined thinking it might be interesting and thought it would be a nice chance to get some 'goodies' here and there too. Sadly, in all those years we have accumulated under 130,000 points and note their catalog to redeem the points carries what we think are 'average' vs 'great' products. For example, at one time they carried the KitchenAid mixer (a great quality brand and product) and discontinued it and in their sewing section they continue to feature a very inexpensive sewing machine that retails for around $120 and they want around 121000 points. Reviews of the sewing machine reveal that it is the typical plastic parts that break made in china junk that cause so many new at sewing enough trouble to cause them to give up! Why not a nice Bernina, Viking or other more serious machine or appliance when big brands should have no problem making them available through NCP's survey setup? It would be a great way to introduce those who choose their item using their points to get a great product, spread the word about it (great word of mouth advertising) resulting in more customers for the better brands! 'Am seriously considering quitting NCP because their points 'pricing' and catalog products are unacceptable (since the majority of them are 'average' to 'lower end' quality brands (ie:stuff typically affordable for low to average income households if they want to buy 'cheap' and don't know the difference in quality between for example a well made heavy duty mixer made by a brand such as KitchenAid or Viking vs. one by a less expensive brand that is made with inferior materials that make it break within a third of the time a well made one would) and are a bit insulting overall for such a prestigious survey company and well, guess what? Alot of people really do need extra income that they can earn anytime, anywhere so they might need consider a compensation plan with earnings minimum of something like $100 per week for 10 surveys of 20 questions including written answers to questions as a component too.
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"Legit, But A Waste of Time"
May 18, 2017 by Kimberly from United States
I've been a member for 3 years. I'm at the second highest points level based on their new scoring system. Recently they had a data breach which means they aren't offering the option to redeem your points for e-cards anymore. This was honestly the only useful function of this program. It takes me a little over 6 months to earn 20,000 points (a $20 Amazon gift card) and that's with filling out EVERY survey and spending no less than 3 hours a week scanning in my purchases. It's a lot longer than that if you shop at Target or one of the stores that they don't maintain a price index for. Then you have to manually input the price of EVERYTHING you bought.

I thought this would be a way to offset a small amount of our grocery bill. Earn points, maybe get a $50 gc about once a month. That's how they made it sound. I've been a member for 3 years and have NOT ONCE one a single drawing for even a measly $25 card. NCP is making money hand over fist selling this data they collect. The least they could do is compensate people for the time they spend. The gift catalog is complete crap too. It's like a low-budget version of Sky Mall. I'm going to finish out this year and then write a long letter to tell them to stick it. My hope is that enough people read this and don't get suckered in like I did. Complete and utter waste of time.

July 13, 2017 by Nancy from United States

After religiously sending in weekly data to NCP, I received an e-mail telling me that they have not heard from me for a week. I found this hard to believe because every time I sent in the grocery items, I always was told "Transmission Successful." But for some reason, even though they told me "Transmission Successful" for one week, they now are saying they never got the information. They are blaming it on the Internet....since you know "it is not 100% reliable"...Now, I am out of the running to make $500.00 at the end of the year if I transmit every week. There was no use in talking to a "higher up", since they said "There is nothing we can do about it since we never received your transmission for that week." So, I am now out of the running for the guaranteed $500.00 since they never received my transmission for that one week. (Even though when I transmitted the information it stated "Transmission Successful"). Something inside me thinks that because they have too many members who have religiously transmitted each week and are in the running to receive $500.00 at the end of the year, they will have to cull the numbers down since they don't want to pay all those many members $500.00 each. Starting next year, I will double check with NCP to make sure they get my transmission and they don't take me out of the running for $500.00. If they say they got my transmission, then fine, if they say they did not, I will re-send it until they say they received it. Fool me once....

May 18, 2017 by Kimberly from United States

I've been a member for 3 years. I'm at the second highest points level based on their new scoring system. Recently they had a data breach which means they aren't offering the option to redeem your points for e-cards anymore. This was honestly the only useful function of this program. It takes me a little over 6 months to earn 20,000 points (a $20 Amazon gift card) and that's with filling out EVERY survey and spending no less than 3 hours a week scanning in my purchases. It's a lot longer than that if you shop at Target or one of the stores that they don't maintain a price index for. Then you have to manually input the price of EVERYTHING you bought.

I thought this would be a way to offset a small amount of our grocery bill. Earn points, maybe get a $50 gc about once a month. That's how they made it sound. I've been a member for 3 years and have NOT ONCE one a single drawing for even a measly $25 card. NCP is making money hand over fist selling this data they collect. The least they could do is compensate people for the time they spend. The gift catalog is complete crap too. It's like a low-budget version of Sky Mall. I'm going to finish out this year and then write a long letter to tell them to stick it. My hope is that enough people read this and don't get suckered in like I did. Complete and utter waste of time.

May 5, 2017 by Derrick from United States

Interesting concept of taking pic of the barcode on products you bought. The app needs some work but it does work. You maintain your weekly points by sending in pics every week or your score goes down. I haven't worked up to a payout yet, that part of the app seems to be under construction. I will stick with them for the time being.

February 19, 2017 by Abby from United States

I love this panel. It can be time consuming but I am now in a great routine and it is easy. Our family has come up with a system to keep us on track. I get lots of opportunities to complete surveys for extra points. I love this opportunity!

Once you're signed up you can use an app on cell phone instead of the scanner they send you to make it even easier.