Wallet Savvy founder Jason takes a look at the Amazon Shopper Panel. Never heard of it? Here’s all you need to know, and how it could earn you money for almost nothing…
The Amazon Shopper Panel is another way that you can earn small amounts of money from sharing some of your information and opinions regarding your usual shopping habits. There are many different programs like this one, and so we thought that it would be a good idea to put the Amazon Shopper Panel under the microscope to determine whether it is worthwhile signing up to, and what you can expect to get in return.
So in order to do this, we are going to be taking a close look at exactly what the Amazon Shopper Panel is and how you can sign up, before checking out the pros and cons and then delivering our final verdict on whether the Amazon Shopper Panel is worth it. Let’s get straight into it.
What is the Amazon Shopper Panel?
The Amazon Shopper Panel is a program through which the participants can earn rewards by disclosing their information and opinions on various purchases that they have made.
There are three main ways in which you could earn money through the Amazon Shopper Panel, and they are by sharing receipts from purchases made away from Amazon, completing surveys through the Amazon Shopper Panel app, and by enabling Ad Verification through the app. We’ll look at each of these in more detail further down the article.
The Amazon Shopper Panel UK was launched in March 2022, having proven to be popular and successful in America prior to that. What makes it interesting is that it is invitation only ─ you have to wait until you have been ‘selected’ by Amazon, and then you can sign up. Before then, you are able to download the app and join a waiting list, which is basically just like registering your interest.
You can pick which reward you want ─ you can either have your Amazon balance credited with what is essentially a voucher, or you can opt to donate your earnings to a charitable organisation which you can select from a list.
What’s in it for Amazon?
This is an important question, and one we should always ask when it appears that a company is offering something for basically nothing. Why do Amazon care what you’ve bought from other shops?
The answer, as ever, is data. They want more information, which they can then use to work out which adverts to display to you, and other people that they think might be quite similar to you. Companies like Amazon spend billions every year collecting data and creating demographics to fit their customers in ─ this is just another tool in their arsenal.
Like with any program like this, you need to be comfortable with sharing your information. Do you mind that Amazon knows how many bananas you eat every week? Or that you occasionally buy a can of pop from the local shop? There is plenty of information available on their site to tell you exactly how your information gets used (your receipts will be retained for 13 months, and any sensitive information such as prescriptions on pharmacy receipts etc. will be deleted).
If you have major concerns about sharing this kind of data, this is not the program for you.
How does the Amazon Shopper Panel work?
Once you have been invited to take part in the Amazon Shopper Panel (for which you will obviously need to have an Amazon account), you just need to download the app and sign in using your Amazon login details. It’s a very quick process, and then you are up and running.
Now it’s time to start earning! Let’s take a closer look at how you can do this:
Sharing Receipts
The main way you can earn rewards is by sharing receipts that you have received after making a purchase. Most receipts are eligible for rewards, specifically if they are from retailers (like supermarkets, convenience shops, pharmacies, etc.) or entertainment establishments (like cinemas, restaurants, bars, pubs, etc.). The main criteria is that they need to have been issued within 30 days of the upload.
There are some receipts that are not eligible for upload, and these include receipts for childcare, gambling, legal or financial services, rent or transport. Also handwritten receipts and receipts from outside the UK are not eligible.
Plenty of options there though. As long as the receipts are clear and legible on the photo you take, they will most likely be accepted.
In order to earn your monthly reward of £5, you need to upload 10 receipts. As long as they fit the criteria listed above, they will be accepted. The hardest part for me was remembering to take the receipt as I had got into such a habit of refusing one every time I made a purchase!
Completing surveys
A great way to top up your earnings on the Amazon Shopping Panel app is to complete surveys. Now, you may have come across surveys from other schemes before and been a little bit put off by them. Many other surveys that you can sign up for are often quite a long-winded process, taking around 15 to 20 minutes for a reward of about £1, and unless you really are doing nothing else, they just aren’t worth our time.
The Amazon Shopping Panel surveys aren’t like that at all though. They usually take less than a minute to complete, with very straightforward, easy-to-enter answers. You won’t be required to write paragraphs about why you selected that answer, or anything like that ─ just a short survey with a few questions and you’re done. The earnings for this will be relatively small ─ between 20p to 50p usually ─ but they don’t take any time or real concentration, and they will quickly add up to pounds.
The amount you will receive will vary from month to month, and if you enable push notifications on the app, you will receive a notification every time a new survey becomes available.
Ad Verification
This is a slightly different feature that I haven’t seen from any other scheme before. Basically, if you enable Ad Verification, Amazon will be able to see which Amazon ads you are getting on your phone. These might not be specifically ads for Amazon, just any ads that are advertised through their own program, Amazon Ads.
As a panellist, you don’t need to do anything else other than agree to let them see this information, and you will receive £2 a month for every month that you have it enabled. You can remove it at any time, but if you have it turned off for more than 48 hours, you won’t be eligible for your reward that month.
How much can you earn from the Amazon Shopper Panel?
So, with the three different ways to earn money, what could we be looking at in total? If you do your 10 receipts a month, plus sign up to the Ad Verification feature, that’s £7 a month. Throw in a few surveys and you are probably looking to average around £8 a month, which would come to around £96 a year.
My advice would be this: take one product that you regularly buy (ideally once a month) and that you really enjoy or is essential. Perhaps it’s a favourite hair product, a protein powder, or your pet’s favourite treat.
Whatever it is you need or want regularly from Amazon, sign up to one of their ‘Subscribe and save’ payments for that product, and then every month your rewards can go towards paying for it. You’ll be driven to ask for that receipt, take a quick snap and upload, and know that it’s going towards that favourite or essential item of yours.
Amazon Shopper Panel – Verdict
The Amazon Shopper Panel is a great way to save a little bit of money on your Amazon purchases. The best thing about it is that it really doesn’t require you to do very much at all. Uploading 10 receipts won’t take up much time, the surveys are very quick to complete, and for the ad verification, you don’t need to actually do anything at all, once you have signed up to it.
So from that point of view, this is basically free money. It’s not money that will change your life, of course, and if you are expecting these rewards to have a big impact on what you can buy then I think you will be disappointed. You need to look at this as a little top-up, a contribution towards your monthly spending, or a bit of cash to give yourself a little treat every now and then. Maybe see it as cashback on your spending ─ “If I upload this receipt, I will save 50p on my shop”.
Ultimately, the Amazon Shopper Panel is a decent scheme that can help you earn a small amount of money each month for doing very little. I found it to be worth it, and I’m sure that many of you reading this will too.