Today I bring you yet another resource in the “get free stuff” quest, but this one is a little different from my last posts about Influenster and BzzAgent – this one rewards you with MONEY! Today we’re talking about Pinecone Research.
(Edit from the future: you can click here to see all my similar posts about saving money and getting free stuff!)
Overview
This one’s very different than other sites I’ve written about, but I love it in a different way! Pinecone Research is solely for up and coming products. Rather than showing you items that are already on the market, you might be asked questions about items that are being tested or not yet for sale. Because of this, any items you review or answer surveys about are strictly confidential and cannot be reviewed outside of the website. I’ll explain more below!
Format
Pinecone Research will send out surveys every so often about various products and items. For every survey, you’re rewarded “points” that can be redeemed for rewards, or straight up cash. Each survey is usually 300 points, or $3. You can save them up for rewards like gift cards or physical products, or just cash out and be sent a check. To put it bluntly: it’s literally FREE MONEY. I’ve been on the site for about 6 months I think? And I just redeemed my points for a $50 Sephora gift card. Just for doing surveys!
However. As I mentioned in the overview, there is one MAJOR difference between Pinecone Research and the others. Periodically they may send you some products to try from the surveys you filled out, but it’s the complete opposite of Influenster or BzzAgent – because these products sent out to try are brand new and not yet public, you absolutely CANNOT tell others about them. In fact, the site states that you can’t tell anyone under the threat of legal action. The items sent to you are completely confidential and you can’t tell anyone outside your household about them. So…that’s a bit different haha. Not bad, just different. You’ll also get a follow up survey to fill out after trying the product, which you also get points for!! You can read more about the confidentiality thing on the membership agreement page, here.
The Pinecone Research homepage – which you can find here!
Types of Products
Like I said, I can’t say what products I have received or been surveyed about because they’re top secret!!!!!!!! *zipped lips emoji*
Amount of Work Required
Very little. Each survey takes about 15 minutes and even if you do them a few times a week, it doesn’t add up to much. Occasionally they may ask for more in-depth answers or surveys (especially if you are sent a product) but all in all it’s a very minimal amount of work.
The benefits of Pinecone Research, as stated on their home page!
Pros
The fact that Pinecone Research rewards you with money is honestly a huge pro for me. I do surveys 3-5 times a week and I honestly wish I got them more, because I find them really fun! It’s cool to see what new products are coming out and give feedback on them. I don’t really see the confidentiality thing as a pro or a con – I don’t really mind either way. It would be fun to write reviews of the stuff I get, but it’s also not a big deal and I’m not gonna bite the hand that feeds me free things haha
Cons
The biggest con for Pinecone Research is that it can be hard to get into. They’re kind of selective when it comes to allowing people to sign up…sometimes they might be looking only for certain demographics or people from certain areas. Because of this, there’s an “application” where they ask for some simple demographic info. The link I put up there is directly to the sign up page – it’s worth trying to see if they’ll let you in!
For what it’s worth, I’ll also mention the confidentiality thing here too as a possible con – it’s not a drawback for me, but for some people it might be.
My Opinion
Honestly, I LOVE Pinecone Research, and I find myself using it just as often if not more than Influenster or BzzAgent. I will admit that I get a little excited when I see a survey pop up in my inbox – it’s just fun!! The surveys are easy to complete and if you do a lot of them, you’ll start to see the results add up quickly. I’d recommend Pinecone Research to get some extra money, and maybe even some stuff every once in a while too! It’s not a ton of money or anything obviously…but free money is free money 🙂
If you’d like to try signing up, click here! This isn’t an affiliate link or anything – PR doesn’t take referrals like Influenster or BzzAgent!
I hope you enjoyed reading a little about this site, even if I couldn’t disclose a lot of information. This is the last of the major sites I use for surveys and free stuff like this, but hopefully I’ll find more in the future and be able to share those with you too. If you haven’t already be sure to check out my previous similar posts on Influenster and BzzAgent and sign up for those! And if you know someone who loves free stuff – be sure to share this post with them too 🙂
Thanks for reading as always!! <3 Kaela
