Prolific Academic Survey Alerts

olliebean

DiamondLil said:

Beware the User Content Generated Video Quality Test... I started it and after five minutes watching it load and still less than 50% loaded, I cancelled it.

I've done this one three times now. The actual study is pretty easy and quick, around 6-7 minutes, although it did take a couple of extra minutes on my fast internet connection to download all the videos at the start.

CliveOfIndia

It's just asked me to enter my full address and date of birth due to some updates they're making in the cash-out process.  Anyone know what this is about?

I'm not worried about providing this information, just wondered what changes are afoot.

DiamondLil

It's just asked me the same; no idea what it's about though. I'm hanging around on here hoping to find some more info.

DaveQ

olliebean said:

DiamondLil said:

Beware the User Content Generated Video Quality Test... I started it and after five minutes watching it load and still less than 50% loaded, I cancelled it.

I've done this one three times now. The actual study is pretty easy and quick, around 6-7 minutes, although it did take a couple of extra minutes on my fast internet connection to download all the videos at the start.

Yes, I did this one 5 times. Easy study to do that takes 10 minutes (including download)

C_J

I assume they are asking for address and date of birth so they can liaise with HMRC (though I am just guessing).

Vectis

CliveOfIndia said:

It's just asked me to enter my full address and date of birth due to some updates they're making in the cash-out process.  Anyone know what this is about?

I'm not worried about providing this information, just wondered what changes are afoot.

Strange considering that it says at the start of every study:

'Stay anonymous at all times'

And then they themselves ask you for your exact home address?

Do you need someone's home address to pay them via PayPal?

Tommo2448

I guess almost certainly tax-related.  Found this official explanation via the Reddit on Prolific

https://participant-help.prolific.com/hc/en-gb/articles/11748058964124

They add :

Hi everyone,
We've just released a help centre article on this process: https://participant-help.prolific.com/hc/en-gb/articles/11748058964124
This should answer most questions in this thread.
In summary: we need your address and date of birth to verify, or re-verify, your payment method so that you can cash out. Without this information we won't be able to verify your account and you won't be able to cash out in the coming weeks.The exciting bit is this will help us to launch US dollar payments and balances for participants, which we plan to do in the not so distant future. No timescale just yet though!We appreciate you're giving us a lot of information about yourself, but we'd like to assure you that your data is secure. If you want to understand how we protect your data, please see our Privacy & Legal handbook.
All the best,JeremyProlific Support Team

Full discussion on Reddit here...

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProlificAc/comments/18i6ahk/to_cashout_you_need_to_finish_setting_up_your/

yupiteru

I think this is definitely tax related and more for U.S. purposes, as the tax threshold over there for reporting to the IRS is much lower than in the UK.  I seem to remember it used to be that if a company gave someone over $600 then the company concerned had to make a declaration to the IRS.

Someone from the US also stated that there were new tax rules coming in soon and this may be related, but not sure what they are.

Not that I claim to be a tax expert of any country so I could be completely wrong. 

 I wish they would introduce direct payment to our bank account and we could give Paypal a miss altogether, other survey companies do it after all.

Tommo2448

Yes I reckon so.  Delcampe, one of the e-commerce sites where I sell, has been tightening up for US tax reasons recently too.  I had to notify them of my HMRC taxpayer reference number.

Vintage67

C_J said:

I assume they are asking for address and date of birth so they can liaise with HMRC (though I am just guessing).

This is the most likely reason. From January, platforms like Prolific will have to share data with HMRC about who they're paying :
https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/hmrc-is-clamping-down-on-side-hustles-what-tax-do-you-need-to-pay-aIykn5m0v5Jj