How to earn extra money by testing products.
Aug. 10, 2010
While testing products for money seems like a great way to earn some extra cash, there really aren’t any true product testing companies out there.
Most products you get to try are from doing online surveys or participating in focus groups. There are a few of these companies that regularly send out products to qualified participants to sample and answer a survey about them.
You’re probably wondering what kind of products get tested. The answer is, just about anything you can thing of like; diapers, food, beverage, razors, shampoo, fragrance, cleaning supplies, clothing items, exercise equipment, pens, detergent, pet food or supplies, etc.
These products are distributed to people from different backgrounds, in different parts of the country to try and get as diverse of responses as possible to gauge their marketability.
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Focus group companies with offices nationwide.
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What's in it for me?
A pretty good bit of money if you're selected and participate.
The average pay for focus group is $75-$125, but can get up to the $400 range.
The highest paying focus groups are usually reserved for very specific and rare sections of the population.
At the end of the project, depending on whether it's an at-home test; you will have a check mailed to you. If you go to an office, you will be paid as soon as you're ready to leave.
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The products, most likely will be sent to your house for use. This is because it’s where they will end up anyway, so it makes sense to test them in real-world situations. Sometimes, though, you may have to sample items in a facility. Either way, once you’re selected to test a product, you will be notified as to where everything will take place.
Product testing is not a get-rich-quick scheme. To the manufacturers who hire market research companies to put together the information on their products, this is serious business and they’re willing to pay for it. Their feeling is if they have to spend $1000.00 to product testers to make sure their product will sell and get an idea of how well it will sell, it’s worth it.
This way they know to either not manufacture a product that won’t sell and lose millions, or to distribute it and make millions. The money they paid you to try it out is a drop in the bucket and won’t be missed. The average pay for using a product at home is anywhere between $5 to $25. This is for short term use, maybe a few days up to a week. For longer term use, the pay can go up to $150 or more. These generally last from a few weeks up to a year.
Most of the time, you will get to keep what you use, but sometimes, depending on if it’s a product that isn’t in the market yet, you’re required to send it back. For each product, though, you have to sign an agreement that you won’t disclose any information about the product you’re testing to anyone outside of your household or you could be subject to a lawsuit. That’s pretty easy to follow and think, you get paid for doing something simple!
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