Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk)

Here's a screenshot of my current Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk) earnings to date:

This total was accumulated from approximately 4 months of dedicated hard work on Mturk. I don't actively go on Mturk now, but you see how you could make Mturk a substantial part time income online.

Introduction to Mturk Video Tutorial:



Let's start by saying what Mturk is and what it isn't.

Mturk IS...

A service provided Amazon starting in 2005 as a work marketplace where requesters (the boss) posts tasks to complete called HITS (human intelligence tasks). You get paid either by dollars deposited into your bank account using an Amazon Payment Service (no fee, minimum deposit $10) or by Amazon Gift Card. They pay a specified rate ie. $.05/HIT and have a specified timeframe they must be completed in after accepting ie. 30 minutes.

The rate/hit is based on the perceived difficulty and what the requester is willing to pay. There's a limit to the number of hits that can be accepted at one time and you must complete each hit before the allotted time runs out or it will be returned without pay.

For example, you'll find some smaller rate hits ie $.07/hit that you might not think is worth your time, but if you can complete 1 every 30 seconds accurately and get paid you'll make a nice hourly rate of $8.40 per hour. A good rule of thumb I used to use is if you can't average over $5.00/hour doing it, find something else, it's not worth your time. Remember that everyone is different and what works for me won't necessarily work for you.

Granted, at that fast pace your wrist will likely be hurting after several hours of constant clicking. On the contrary, you could find article writing hits for example that pay $0.50/hit and take you approximately 5 minutes to write accurately. That would net you $6.00/hour and would probably be easier on your wrists. Another thing to keep in mind is that you will get some of your work rejected. Trust me, some requesters are perfectionists and few workers results will be good enough for them. Don't worry when this happens, and if you need to avoid that requester.

You may pay taxes. This is real income that is reported to the IRS, so keep that in mind before you get to the tax threshold for the year (the amount you need before it's reported) which I believe is $300 but don't quote me on that. It's always good to check with a tax advisor before getting the 1099 that Amazon sends you to make sure you're reporting everything correctly for your particular situation.


Mturk is NOT...

A get rich quick scheme. You won't get rich and the money you make won't come fast. You have to work many hours diligently to make a few dollars. I used to work up to 8 hours/day on Mturk and would average about $50 in that period.

It's not easy. It's difficult to complete long hours of Mturking and you can sometimes feel like you're wasting your time, especially when your work is rejected. Some have even called Mturk a "virtual sweatshop" because of the long hours people put in getting paid less than minimum wage.

This is not a real job. You don't really have much recourse if you don't like what your getting paid. It is what it is, coining an old phrase, and you can take it or leave it.


With All That Said...

Amazon Mturk is a wonderful way to make a few extra dollars online to supplement your existing online or traditional 9-5 income and can even be fun. I mean, what other way can average people make up to $5-10 per hour sitting on their couch or in bed even!


Learn more at Amazon's Mechanical Turk Website: Mturk.com







 
© 2009 Justin Mohs Design