As Sally Struthers used to say, would you like to earn more money? Sure we all would.
Fortunately in the “gig economy,” there are plenty of ways you can earn a little extra cash for your time. Whether it’s market research surveys or focus groups or donating your plasma, there are a lot of places that will pay.
I’ve spent nearly a hundred hours on this post to give you the most comprehensive list of sites that will pay you for something. In some cases, it’s your time – doing tasks. In other cases, it’s your stuff – selling your used goods and turning clutter into cash.
If you’ve ever said to yourself – “I need money?” This post is for you.
When I say I spent a hundred hours, it’s because I’ve vetted these sites. A lot of places that purport to let you make money fast aren’t real. You have to watch out for scams too and much of my time was researching the company, checking BBB listings, and making sure you aren’t going to get ripped off.
I’ve separated the list into two main categories – sites that will pay you for “stuff” and sites that will pay you for your “work.”
Did you know you can win money playing games?
Blackout Bingo is a free bingo game that you play on your phone against other players. If you’re familiar with bingo, you know exactly how to play this fun and fast paced game.
You can compete in two-minute games to earn tickets redeemable for gift cards and merchandise. You can also play for real money, competing in tournaments, and more.
(if bingo isn’t for you, Solitaire Cash is another popular game!)
$100 isn’t enough? Here’s 19 ways to make $500 fast.
Table of Contents
- Sites that Pay You For Work
- Sites that Pay You For Stuff
- Try Their Service
- Fill Out Surveys
- Drive
- Start a Blog
- Go Shopping
- Write/Illustrate Greeting Cards
- Listen/Rate Music
- Tutoring
- Mock Juror
- Play Games
- Data Entry
- Test Websites & Usability
- Test Products
- Mystery Shop
- Freelance Writing
- Freelance Work
- Watch TV
- Search/Surf the Web
- Write Reviews
- Miscellaneous
- Used Books
- Junk Mail
- Stock Photos
- Old Electronics
- Make Videos
- Unused Computer Resources
- Luxury Goods
Sites that Pay You For Work
These are sites where you get paid to do something. If you want sites where you can turn your stuff into cash, go to Sites that Pay You For Stuff.
Sites that will pay you to…
- Try Their Service
- Fill Out Surveys
- Drive
- Go Shopping
- Write/Illustrate Greeting Cards
- Listen/Rate Music
- Tutoring
- Mock Juror
- Play Games
- Data Entry
- Test Websites & Usability
- Test Products
- Mystery Shop
- Freelance Writing
- Freelance Work
- Watch TV
- Search the Web
- Write Reviews
- Miscellaneous
Sites that Pay You For Stuff
These are sites where you can turn things that you currently own into cash. If you want sites that will pay you to do something, those will be under Sites that Pay You For Work.
Sites that will pay you for…
- Used Books
- Junk Mail
- Stock Photos
- Old Electronics
- Make Videos
- Unused Computer Resources
- Luxury Goods
OK, get ready… the ride is about to start! 🙂
Try Their Service
Companies are always trying to get you to try their new service and sometimes there are switching costs, such as with a cashback app (or it’s a pain to switch), so these companies will give you a little extra:
- TopCashback – $15 sign-up bonus after you earn $10 in cash back
- HoneyGain – $5 sign-up bonus (read our HoneyGain review)
- NetSpend – $40 bonus when you deposit $40
- Robinhood – free stock (valued $5 - $200)
- Webull – up to 12 free stocks
- Moomoo – Get up to 5 shares of stock worth up to $3,500 each
Fill Out Surveys
Surveys are great! Market research is a huge business and they always need people to fill out their rosters.
All of these companies are legitimate, according to my research, and I use the rules outlined in my post on how to tell if a survey company is legit.
Sign up for more than one!
United States:
- Pinecone Research
- MyPoints Surveys
- Swagbucks – $5 BONUS!
- InboxDollars
- PrizeRebel
- Opinion Outpost
- Toluna (read our full review)
Canada:
Drive
If you have a car, you can start earning money as a driver!
You can earn hundreds of dollars a month working a flexible schedule and that’s before bonuses. If you are lucky enough to live in a hot city, there are promotional bonuses (some cities it’s as much as $1,000) that can boost your earnings even more.
Each of the rideshare companies has different rules but nothing prevents you from driving for multiple companies.
- DoorDash – Similar to uberEATS, you get paid to deliver food and you can use your car or a bicycle. Check out your guide to maximizing your DoorDash driver earnings from a driver with nearly 6,000 deliveries!
- Instacart – Shop groceries for other folks and get paid to deliver it to them.
- AmazonFlex – You don’t drive people, you deliver packages.
- Lyft – You can rent a car to drive if you don’t have one!
- UberEATS – Instead of driving people, you deliver food. You can do this by car, scooter, or even bicycle.
Start a Blog
You won’t be paid immediately but one of the best side hustles you can start is your own blog. In just ten minutes, you can have your own little corner of the Internet. If you play your cards right, as many have done, you could turn that little parcel into a burgeoning metropolis… one that could generate a nice side income for you.
If you’ve been tempted by the income reports, here’s my guide to starting a blog in just 10 minutes.
Go Shopping
When you shop online, you should buy through a cashback portal. A cashback portal will give you a small percentage of your purchase back to you, usually as points and sometimes as straight cash, which is nice since you’ll be spending the money anyway! Oftentimes the cashback portal will also include coupons that will help you save too.
- Swagbucks
- MyPoints – Get $10 gift card after $20 purchase
- TopCashback – Get $15 added to your first cashout
- Rakuten – Get $10 after first purchase of $25+ within 90 days
- InboxDollars
Write/Illustrate Greeting Cards
I bet you didn’t know you could make money writing greeting cards right? If you’ve ever considered yourself a wordsmith in the ultra-short form, consider looking at one of these:
Hallmark– Hallmark no longer accepts unsolicited submissions. 🙁- American Greetings
- Blue Mountain Arts – Longer form prose or poetry, not for rhymed poetry, religious verse, one-liners or humor.
- Ephemera – Not greeting cards but novelty buttons, magnets and stickers.
- Gallant Greetings – Not accepting verse submissions right now but I kept them on the list in case they change.
- It Takes Two – Illustrators
- Oatmeal Studios – Accepting artists and writers
- Smart Alex – “Funny, edgy & risque” and looking for artists, photographers and writers.
Listen/Rate Music
Do you like music? Do you like rating?
Do you like making money listening and rating music? Get paid a few cents to up to $1 for reviewing music.
- Slicethepie – Listen to 90 second tracks and leave your 50-word+ review on it. You start off by getting paid just a few cents a song but as you progress you’re paid more per review. $10 minimum required to withdraw via Paypal.
- Music Xray – Another review site with a ranking system that pays you more as you do more, you can get up to $1 per review which is the highest of any we’ve seen. $20 minimum payout though.
Tutoring
If you are knowledgeable about something, there will always be places for you to teach that knowledge to others. The following sites are for tutoring, rather than building your educational courses and selling them online, and unless it’s noted they are based in the United States.
- VIPKID – Part-time online English as a Second Language to children, $14-$22/hour
- HappyTutors
- TutorVista
- Tutorhub (UK)
- Tutor.com
Mock Juror
Going to jury duty is terrible, but being a mock juror is great!
A mock juror doesn’t have to go to a mock courtroom, hear a mock case, and render a mock opinion. A mock juror just gets a bunch of documents in the comfort of his or her home and get paid for your opinion and feedback. Legal teams need this as a trial run for their big cases and you can get paid to read interesting stories and see fascinating evidence… all without a trip anywhere!
Play Games
If you enjoy games like slots, bingo, and wheel of fortune, you’ll love getting paid to play games. This list contains legitimate places where you can get paid to play various games, usually after watching some commercials or other promotional videos.
They’re fun if you’re into that sort of thing, you earn a few points here or there, and can convert them into gift cards or sometimes cash.
- Blackout Bingo (check out our Blackout Bingo review fore more)
- Swagbucks
- Solitaire Cube
- Pool Payday
- Bingozone
- GSN Cash Games
Data Entry
Data entry falls into one of two major categories – micro-tasks and transcriptions. Most micro-task sites, like Amazon mTurk, will have transcription jobs in addition to other jobs. Others, such as Testerup, pay you to play games, download apps, etc.
If you are a relatively fast typer, this is a great way to earn some cash in your spare time.
Transcription
Translation
Micro-tasks
Test Websites & Usability
Website owners always want to know how users are seeing their websites and you can get paid to do the testing!
How much do you get paid? For example, UserTesting pays out $10 via Paypal for every 20-minute video you complete. That’s $30 an hour! All it takes is a computer, a microphone (you will give your feedback verbally), and an internet connection so you can view the website in question.
Here’s a list of places that will pay you to test websites:
Test Products
If there is mystery shopping to test the user experience in a store and there is website testing to test a website, it would make sense that companies would pay you for your opinion of an actual product right?
That’s this category.
- National Consumer Panel
- Nielsen Homescan Panel
- Contract Testing Inc. (Open to U.S. & Canada Residents)
- Product Testing Services
- Loreal Product Testing Panel
- Software Judge
- Tragon
- Good Housekeeping Product Tester Panel
- Brillo Consumer Advisory Panel
- BzzAgent – Word of mouth marketing agency that will send you products from time to time.
- Influenster
- Vogue Insiders
- Redbook Team Red
- Stylehunters Trendsetters
- Swaggable
- All You Reality Checker from All You Magazine
- MomSelect
- VocalPoint
- SheSpeaks
- HouseParty.com
- Brooks Shoes and Sports Wear
- Nike Product Tester
- New Balance
- McCormick Consumer Testing
- Smile.ly
Mystery Shop
Mystery shopping can be a great gig – you get paid to shop!
It’s a little more involved. Companies, especially those with stores, will want to get the opinion of the customer as they go through a transaction. For a bank, it might be opening up an account. For a retail clothing store, it might be trying on a shirt and checking out. Sometimes it’s just calling up their customer service line with a problem and seeing how the representative treats you.
They just want to “test” their customer experience and mystery shopping is the best way to do that.
Below is a huge list of companies (over 90!) that do mystery shopping, remote call monitoring, or some other “customer engagement research.” We did not vet the companies on this list, we only checked that their websites loaded and that they appear to still be in business. I wish we could’ve researched this more but that just wasn’t feasible. Before you sign up for anything, please review my post about how to spot a mystery shopping scam plus the Federal Trade Commission’s tips.
- Mystery Shopper Providers Association Member Companies
- A&A Merchandising
- A Closer Look
- A Customer’s Point of View
- ABA Quality Merchandising (UK)
- Alta360 Research
- Ann Michaels & Assoc
- Anonymous Insights
- Apartment Shoppe
- Associate Consumer Evaluations, LLC
- At Random Communications
- Ath Power Consulting Corporation
- Bare Associates International Inc
- Barry Leads & Associates Inc.
- BestMark
- BMA Mystery Shopping
- Business Evaluation Services
- Capstone Research
- Certified Reports
- Cirrus Marketing Consultants
- Confero Inc.
- Comsumer Critique
- Consumer Impressions
- Consumer Research Group
- Coyle Hospitality Group
- Cross Financial Group
- Customer Perspectives
- Customer Service Experts, Inc
- Data Quest Ltd.
- David Sparks & Associates
- Devon Hill Associates
- Douglas Stafford North America, Inc.
- DSG Associates
- Ellis Property Management Services
- Evaluation Systems for Personnel (ESP)
- Graymark Security Group
- Hilli Dunlap Enterprises, Inc.
- Instant Reply Inc
- IntelliShop
- J.M. Ridgway Co. Inc.
- Jancyn
- Kinesis
- LeBlanc & Associates
- Marketforce
- Market Viewpoint, LLC
- Mars Research
- Melinda Brody & Company
- Merchandise Concepts
- Michelson & Associates, Inc.
- Mintel International Group Ltd
- Mystery Shoppers
- National Shopping Service Network, LLC
- Northwest Mystery Shopping Service
- Pacific Research Group
- Patron Edge
- Person To Person Quality
- Premier Service Consulting
- Promotional Network, Inc.
- Quality Assessments Mystery Shoppers, LLC
- QSI Specialists
- The Quest for Best Mystery Shoppers
- Reality Check Mystery Shoppers
- Satisfaction Services, Inc.
- Second To None, Inc.
- Secret Shopper
- Sensors Quality Management Inc.
- See Level
- Service Alliance, Inc
- Service Evaluation Concepts
- Service Impressions
- Service Performance Group Inc.
- ServiceSense
- The Shadow Agency
- Shoppers’ Critique International, LLC
- Shoppers, Inc
- Shoppers’ View
- Sinclair Service Assessments
Freelance Writing
Do you enjoy writing? You could be paid to do it.
This list contains places where you can get a freelance job directly as well as marketplaces specifically for freelance writers. We avoided specific sites (with a few exceptions for very large, very stable companies like Cracked and College Humor) because these can change all the time.
- Constant Content
- College Humor – $35 for single articles, $50 for multi-page articles
- Textbroker – Earn anywhere from 0.7 cents to 5 cents a work.
- WritingJobz – A writing job marketplace.
- Cracked
- Listverse – $100 a post if accepted, 1,500 word minimum
- KnowledgeNuts – Get $10 per knowledge nut!
- SeekingAlpha – $500 the best ideas and a chance at two $2,500 weekly performance awards.
- About.com – With a ton of different subject areas, becoming an editor means you take ownership and earning capacity of that category.
- FreelanceWriting – Huge freelance writer job board
- Freelance Writing Jobs – Another massive freelance writer job board
- Writers Department – Freelance writing job for academic and business experts
- Writer Access
Freelance Work
Outside of smaller or more specific jobs, like transcription or tutoring, you can find freelance work online as well. Many people earn supplemental income as a virtual assistant or performing other non-specific administrative work.
Below are popular marketplaces for freelancers:
- FlexJobs – The largest remote, part-time to full-time freelance job board with thousands of jobs – use promo code FLEXLIFE for 30% off – see our full FlexJobs review for more information.
- Upwork – Formerly oDesk and eLance, this is one of the biggest marketplaces for folks looking for freelance work. They claim 4+ million clients on the platform and you can find anything from design and creative work to IT jobs to customer service, legal, and administrative support.
- Guru – Smaller client base, 1.5 million, but also a place where you can post a job for free.
- Fiverr – Fiverr is a huge marketplace where you can sell all kinds of work. From products, like drawings and videos, to services, like a review of your website or resume. Fiverr’s differentiator is everything costs just $5 at a baseline, though you can sell add-ons like faster delivery, etc; for more. The marketplace is huge and there’s a lot of fun and creative things you can do.
- Freelancer – Can’t beat the name right? Focused entirely on freelancers, their search functionality and qualifications system seems to be the most robust.
- People Per Hour – Primarily for designers (everything from logos, banners, and websites) People Per Hour is a big marketplace for services related to the digital world. The marketplace also has SEO, copywriting, video and apps but the strength is clearly in design.
- 99designs – Primarily for visual design, whether it’s logos or a t-shirt, and one of the best known places for it.
- The Creative Group
- Krop – Creative jobs
- Aquent – Marketing, Creative and Digital Staffing
Watch TV
Yes, you can get paid to watch television. This is not a joke!
You won’t get paid a LOT but you can get paid a little for something you’re already doing.
Perk.tv– Now completely gone.RewardTV– After 14 years, RewardTV has been shut down.
Search/Surf the Web
Web search engines constantly compete for your business and some of them have resorted to paying you.
- HoneyGain – You install an app and it uses your internet to perform market research. It doesn’t track your behavior, it just uses your internet connection. A common use case seems to be for search engine research – checking what results are on Google based on your internet connection – but it doesn’t involve your behavior. You can read more in our HoneyGain review.
- Bing Rewards – One of the big search engines will pay you to search??? That’s amazing! Bing Rewards is Bing’s program that awards you points each time you search. The rate changes and right now it’s 1 credit per 2 searches, up to 15 credits a day on a computer. You get 1 credit for 2 searches up to 10 credits on mobile. You can get an Amazon.com gift card for every 475 points.
- Swagbucks – Swagbucks does EVERYTHING, including search.
- Zoombucks
Write Reviews
Years ago, I joined Epinions and wrote reviews of products I liked. The model was simple – write a review, get paid a little for every page view and every commissionable sale the review generated. It was a fun little foray into the Internet and getting paid to write about a product seemed fun. Epinions was later acquired by eBay and shuttered in 2014.
That has not stopped a whole new set of companies to appear offering similar things. Sometimes you get free stuff, sometimes you get paid.
- ReviewStream – Write a review, get paid if it meets their quality guidelines (get paid 1/5th if it doesn’t), plus bonuses for votes.
- SoftwareJudge – Write reviews for software products
- Ciao! (UK)
- Gen.video – Video based reviews and you earn a revenue share.
Miscellaneous
If the site didn’t fit any other category, it’s here!
- Radio Loyalty – Listen to the radio through their app, get points. Boom.
- Naming Force – Business name contests, you get paid if your name is picked.
- Certified Field Associate – Mystery shop movie theaters!
Used Books
Below is a list of places where you can sell your books but we also maintain a list of the best places to donate your used books too.
Decluttr
Decluttr lets you sell everything from books to CDS to DVDs to electronics and even LEGO! It’s my best recommendation for decluttering (hence the name!) by selling stuff you no longer want or need. With books, you just enter in the barcode or ISBN and they’ll give you a value. It takes minutes to find out how much your stuff is worth and you don’t have to register or anything to price things.
Bookscouter
Another site worth checking out is BookScouter, which will check the selling price on 55 different vendors. The list will include the offer price, how they pay (Paypal, check, etc.) as well as whether they pay for shipping and under what terms. If you have a lot of books to sell, they can search up to 3000 ISBNs in a single request if you upgrade to BookScouter Pro. There are also historical prices too in case you want to review trends.
Amazon.com
Bookscouter will give you Amazon.com’s trade-in value, where you mail Amazon the book and get a gift card, they will not give you the used selling price because it’s hard to compare apples to oranges. You may be able to get more for your book by selling it as a used book on Amazon, so be sure to double-check that price. As an example, the trade-in value of a book I looked up was $7.87 but used copies were on sale for $19.87.
If you’re a fan of Amazon, you might want to see our Amazon hacks, including how to get $5 for using their app!
Junk Mail
I hate junk mail but did you know you can sell it? These are companies that will, in some way, turn your mail into money.
- The Hauser Group – They are a marketing company that will mail you letters and ask you to report on them, like when they arrived. You are paid per item reported. They have pretty wide coverage already but you might get lucky if you sign up as an agent. This is often known as a “mail decoy” job.
- Quotas – Another postal quality survey company based out of Germany.
- Small Business Knowledge Center – They will pay you to send them your junk mail if you qualify.
- US Monitor – Another test mail service where you get paid per item reported.
Stock Photos
Fancy yourself a photographer? You could get paid for your photos!
Stock photography has become a big business and you can list your work on a lot of sites, earning a nice little income for yourself. Some sites will take all contributions, others will require you to apply, submit samples, and be accepted.
For example, iStockPhoto.com, owned by Getty Images, requires you to apply to be a contributor. You can submit Photos, Illustrations, Video, and Audio but you will need three samples of your work. If accepted, you’ll be paid a 15% commission for each file downloaded and if you agree to be exclusive. If you make iStock your exclusive royalty-free agent, you can earn up to 45% with additional attention.
Shutterstock, on the other hand, doesn’t have a formal application process and anyone can create a contributor account. You retain the copyright for your work and are paid each time your photo is downloaded based on a schedule.
Here’s a list of popular stock photography sites:
- iStockPhoto.com
- StockUnlimited
- Dreamstime
- Crestock.com
- Fotolia.com
- Veer.com
- Shutterstock.com
- PhotoStockPlus.com
- Shutterpoint.com
- BigStockPhoto.com
- 123RoyaltyFree.com
Old Electronics
Do you have an old phone, tablet, or other pieces of electronic equipment you aren’t using? See if you can turn it into cash! There are a lot of services online that will let you instantly see how much your old electronics are worth and many are easy to use.
- Gazelle
- Decluttr
- Amazon Trade-In
- Best Buy Trade-In
- eBay Valet you can sell it yourself for standard eBay fees or pay 20-40% for the Valet service.
- GreenBuyback
- Swappa
Make Videos
Have you heard about PewDiePie? Jenna Marbles? How about EvanTubeHD? They all make hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars a year through Youtube. MILLIONS. It’s insane.
EvanTubeHD, by the way, is an 8-year-old (Evan) and his dad (Jared) and has 2.7 million subscribers. He’s eight! And he reviews toys and other kids love it. It’s amazing, good for them!
If you want to make money with videos, we all know about Youtube, but there are a litany of sites that will turn your videos into cash.
- Youtube – Share of advertising
- Dailymotion – Share of advertising
- Metacafe – Share of advertising
- Brightcove – instead of advertising, you sell video and get 70% of sales
Unused Computer Resources
Years ago, I remember installing SETI@Home to donate my computer’s unused time towards finding extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI stands for SEarch for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). SETI@home still exists but a new set of companies have cropped up and they will pay you to run an application on your computer – don’t do them.
You’ll see lists of sites and companies elsewhere, they’re usually out of date. Many of the companies (Gomez, Slicify, CoinBeez, etc.) are out of business. Gomez BBB listing states that they are believed to be out of business (you can’t even find it on BBB now), though the website is up and taking registrations.
The ones that are left pay out very poorly, which explains why the other guys went out of business! I kept this listing here in case I find anything good but I suspect it’s a fool’s errand.
Luxury Goods
If you have luxury goods, like high-end clothes or accessories, and you aren’t using them anymore, why not sell them? Rather than turn to sites like eBay, which everyone already knows about, you can try one of several high end online consignment stores.
The two popular ones are Poshmark and TheRealReal. Both make it dead simple to sell (and buy!) luxury items. The RealReal will pay you 60% of the sale price (more if you sell a lot) and Poshmark has a tiered commission structure. Sale prices under $15 pay a $2.95 flat fee and everything else is just 20%. Tradesy is another company and they take just 9%.
Lastly, you could always become a professional video game player!
I haven’t used every site on this list so if you have and want to share your experience (good and bad), leave a comment below.
Believe Fire says
This is an awesome list! Thank you for providing all of this useful information in one convenient place.
We’re traveling the world this year to test out early retirement and might use some of these options to generate a few extra bucks. These ideas are very helpful for folks that are on the move or are just trying to hustle to earn some more money.
Jim says
Thanks! I wanted to add a little curation to it too, making sure the services were legit and whatnot, otherwise this list could be much bigger. 🙂
Catherine Alford says
Dang! Now this is a resource. Great work Jim!
Jim says
Thanks!
Expat Warrior says
Thanks for the list. This is sure to keep a lot of us busy.
Just as a side note, swagbucks does not allow users living overseas or with a foreign IP address to use their site. Unfortunately, it’s against their terms of use.
Jim says
Booo that stinks!
Financial Slacker says
This is amazing. Thank you so much for pulling together.
Honestly, after 20 years working the corporate day job, I have found the freelance world a little challenging. I have enjoyed it, but still haven’t reached my comfort zone. Of course, I had 20 plus years of work and 20 plus years of school to get comfortable in the corporate world. Might take a little time.
This list will be very helpful.
Rachel says
I’ve been reading several articles with similar content, and this is by far the best! There is so much here, and I am glad to know it’s all been tested. Thanks for your hard work!
Nate @ Hacking Your Budget says
Love the list, Jim! Thanks for compiling everything. Most of these I haven’t tried before, although I’ve spent some time attempting to use User Testing. I’ll have to spend some time picking and choosing which ones might work for me. Is there a freelancing site you’ve personally used and would recommend?
Jim says
I haven’t used any from the service provider side, but I have used Upwork, Fiverr, and 99designs as a buyer of services and the three are good. Upwork is the most sophisticated with Fiverr being more transactional and 99designs was mainly design work.
Anne says
Great list! I’ve used Poshmark to sell clothes/accessories. You take up to 4 photos, add a description, and set a size, color, and brand. I’ve sold 3 items so far (two dresses and a pair of shoes) and it’s easy. The buyer can purchase at listing price or make you an offer, to which you can counter-offer. At all times, you can see what your profit will be from your listed price. Once the transaction is accepted, you are emailed a prepaid shipping label to print. You package your item up in a brown box and ship, and when the seller receives it your funds are released. You can cash out as a direct deposit to a bank account at any time or use the funds to shop. I’ve also purchased a pair of jeans on the site and they arrived as expected. For like-new and designer labels it’s a great way to clear your closet and make a little cash all at once.
Jim says
I love the idea and that they make it so easy because the retail world is due for this type of disruption. This doesn’t happen as much with jeans and other daily wear items but those things you wear less than half a dozen times, like more formal dresses or accessories, just collect dust. You might as well recapture some of the value by selling it. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Sylvetta says
I LOVE poshmark! I have a thing for messenger bags and bookbags. I found a really nice baggalini messenger bag for a great price (they retail at $70). I refuse to pay full price anymore.
Jennifer says
Thanks, Jim. This is the most comprehensive list I have ever seen. Thank you for putting in the time and getting it all together. As an At-Home Mom I am always looking for gigs. My kids love to make a little cash, too, but are too young for “real” jobs so we will be putting these ideas to use this summer.
Jim says
You’re so welcome, I hope you found a few new ones for you!
Jack says
Interesting. I hadn’t considered being in a mock jury before.
Great list!
Jim says
If you try it, let me know how it goes!
Rob @ Money Nomad says
Great list! I just created an article of 100 ways to make money online (and also had it translated into Spanish, lol) – but it looks like I’ve got a few more to check out thanks to your list! I appreciate the share.
John Wedding says
Holy cow, man. Exceptional resource!
Elliot says
Hi Jim,
Thanks for this comprehensive listing. I definitely want to try one or few but I want to know if I still can because I live overseas in Africa, precisely Ghana?
Jim says
Many of the places will send gift cards and whatnot, so if you can convert those into something you can use in Ghana, then I’d say go for it. Some places, like User Testing, will pay via Paypal – which presumably you could convert into local currency?
Sylvetta says
This list has given me hope that I can, with my busy schedule, have multiple viable side gigs. Ive already started racking up points with swagbucks and actually bought TP from amazon with a gift card I earned doing surveys.
Jim Wang says
That’s fantastic!
Erika Garcia says
Thanks for all the info.
Helps when you need extra cash and don’t know where to look.
Becky Wolfe says
Jim this list is awesome! I pinned this and I will share on FB. Thanks for the great resource!
Jim Wang says
Thank you Becky!
Meri says
https://www.tlextranet.com/trialjuries/ Trial Juries is no longer available and should be removed from the list.
Jim Wang says
Thank you — I will update the post.
Tyler DeBroux says
Wow! This had to of taken you awhile to put together. Awesome tips and ideas for making extra money!
Sheryl says
Jim thanks for this list it covers everything.I can’t wait to try some of them.
Jim Wang says
You’re welcome!
Debra Maslowski says
I’ve done mystery shopping for about 10 years now. I started with Shadow Shopper…what a joke. I quickly learned…never pay anyone to get jobs. There are plenty of legit companies willing to pay YOU! I’ve been with Confero from the beginning and pretty much do one store for them, with over 100 locations in my area. I’ve made over $200 in a month, but most times around $50. I also belong to A Closer Look, ALTA360, Bestmark, Intellishop and Market Force. A Closer Look has very few shops, but they pay more, like $40 for a flooring shop. Do your research and you’ll be fine.
Katherine says
FYI – Reward.tv is out of business
Jim Wang says
Thanks! I’ll update the post.
rebecca says
really awesome list. Just wondering, I am moving to mexico. What I can do over there to generate some money. I assume all these websites are just for USA? Thanks in advance
Mandi says
Wow! This is a great resource and I’m so glad to have stumbled across your site, looks like you have a lot of great resources here! Thanks!
In the freelance writing gigs, it appears about.com is gone (gasp!) it links to a site called dotdash.com. I tried going to about.com myself to make sure it wasn’t a bad link and sure enough it took me to dotdash.com. In their careers section they are currently hiring some freelance (contract) tech writers but that was the only “freelance”/contract position(s) they have. Thought you’d like to know.
And again thanks for all you’re doing here!
Steve M. says
I just started using Survey Value Inc. It starts with them mailing me a cashiers check for $2900.42. I then had to buy $2500 worth of Google Play Gift cards from multiple retail stores.
Jim Wang says
That sounds fishy – check this post out – https://wallethacks.com/mystery-shopping-work-at-home-fake-check-scams/
A Girl Has No Name says
I’m glad I found your list. I have started with *Survey junkie* and it’s the best. (Swagbucks 👎)
I wanted to test it first to see if they really will offer to pay cash and not gift cards.
I earned the minimum amount to request payment (1000 points or $10) and submitted it and literally in no more than 15-20 SECONDS I had it in my PayPal account!
The only drawback I would say is you have to be quick to click because they fill up FAST! They only take a certain number of people and you don’t know if it’s full or not. You can see a survey for 250 points and when you click it will say SORRY this one is full. They go from 40 points up to 950. That’s the highest I have seen. Of course that gets filled quickly (it’s worth $9.50) because it’s basically earning one percent of, so for the 40 points you get .40 etc.
You can take them on your cell phone but most will bump you because you have to take it on a desktop, laptop or tablet. The times for each ranges from 7 minutes to 25 minutes. It just depends on the points. I take a lot of 40 points for 15-17 minutes. Sometimes you luck up on a 20 point for 4 minutes. I’m usually able to do those on my phone.
80 pts or higher I can only do on my computer or tablet.
All in all it’s an easy way to make a little extra money. I’m thankful for the list.
Florie Barry says
Aloha Jim, thank you very much for the awesome research to share. This year was challenging. Who knows what next year will bring. Every little bit helps. Happy Holidays and have a great 2021.
Jim Wang says
Thanks Florie!
Linda Mohar says
Would you please tell me if health care cost research is legit? They want me to send them a copy of an insurance Explanation of Benefit from an xray I had taken and say they will pay $50.
You can attach the EOB to this email or fax it to 888.808.1415. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Market Research Specialist
Healthcare Cost Research Group I Phone and Fax: 888.808.1415
We are committed to safeguarding all personal information entrusted to us and continually implement practices to protect your privacy. For more information about our privacy practices, please visit: https://healthcostresearch.com/privacy-notice/.
Jim Wang says
Hi Linda – I’m afraid I don’t feel comfortable giving you any guidance on that – personally I wouldn’t send them anything that personal identifying information.