How to Make The Most Money With Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk)

Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a site where hundreds of tasks are put up for anyone to work on. A task is called a "HIT," meaning "Human Intelligence Task," which most often consists of organizing a few pieces of data or looking up some information. The tasks are easy, but the pay is very low. Find out how to maximize your earnings with MTurk.

Things You'll Need

• MTurk worker account
• Amazon Payments account

Instructions

1. If you haven't signed up yet, go to MTurk.com (see resources below), and get a worker account and Amazon Payments account. You'll be paid either via bank account or through an Amazon.com gift certificate.

2. Find a HIT. Look for one that has a minimal learning curve and is relatively mindless--one you can automate within a short time of working on it. Work on this task for 10 minutes and see how much money you made. Multiply this amount by 6 to get how much you're making an hour. Most HITs figure to less than $1/hour, but check back frequently for higher-paying ones. These go fast, and can figure out to anywhere from $2 to $3/hour, and in rare cases as much as $3 to $6/hour. Not much, but if there's nothing better to do, why not?

3. Try transcription. CastingWords is a podcast transcription company that submits their transcription requests to MTurk. To become a transcriber, you'll need to read through their style manual and work your way up by starting with their low-paying HITs. The more high-quality transcriptions you submit, the higher your qualification rating will go. If your rating gets high enough, you'll be able to work on their highest-paying HITs. If you're fast and accurate at transcription, it might turn out to be worth it.

4. Once you get a feel for which HITs pay well and which don't, alternate between working at MTurk and working on other projects, like writing for passive income. Work on MTurk when the high-paying HITs are in, and work on something else when MTurk's not worth it.

Tips & Warnings

• Check MTurk often for new HITs.

• MTurk pays cash only to the U.S. and India. You can also transfer your earnings to your Amazon gift certificate balance.

• If you're able to make minimum wage on MTurk, it would be a miracle, and half of minimum wage--incredible. But for a little extra money or to just kill time, it might have something to offer.

Resources

• Amazon Mechanical Turk