Experience with Amazon Mechanical Turk?

**sweetsinger912** · 12-28-2011, 05:16 PM

Wondering if anyone has tried Mturk? I've done research and it looks legit, but wondering if it is worth the time. Basically, I want to hear from anyone who's tried it to see what their experience was and if they actually got paid. I'm on maternity leave and returning in Feb 2 days a week instead of 5 so I'm looking to see what I can do to supplement my income while at home with a newborn. Have big life changes coming (moving, DH going back to school for his masters, me applying for my doctorate) and want to have all our debt paid off by this summer and save as much as we can to offset moving costs.

TIA

**nodmicks** · 12-28-2011, 05:29 PM

I did it when it first cam out and made about 220 in around 3 months. However I have now not done it in ages. It seemed to many of the jobs had become scams or asked for way too much personal info. However I haven't looked at it in ages and it could e different again.

**mystypooh** · 12-29-2011, 08:04 PM

I do it occasionally but I'm very picky about which ones I'll do. You have to do a lot to make some money. I usually use the money for books or toys around Christmas time. It's very tedious and can get quite boring. You want to watch out for scams and stick to the requesters that are always on there. For instance, Delores Labs, Oscar Smith, Code of Web apps. There are a lot that are legit but you do have your bad apples. You usually get paid within 1-3 days. So far (I've been doing this for over a year) I haven't had anything bad happen....knocking on wood right now :-)

**josantoro** · 01-27-2012, 06:40 PM

I have made about $500 over the past 10 months. Basically enough to pay for my DSL. I do it about an hour a day.
My experience is, definitely get Turkopticon (add-on) - it lets you see how other users review the requesters. Weed out the bad ones.
Second, start with surveys, they usually pay the most per hour. I sort my "newest first" and do several a day.

**mombottoo** · 01-28-2012, 08:00 AM

I've never used it but, after reading your thread I googled it & went & checked it out. Seems to me one would have to do an awful lot in order to really make anything. The examples they gave .02 cents for approx. 10 min. and $4.95 for approx. 4 hrs. turned me off immediately. My time is worth more than either of those figures

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**josantoro** · 01-28-2012, 08:15 AM

the ones I do are more on the order of $.10 for a few minutes, or $.50 for 10-15 minutes (surveys). SOme are much better than that. Once in a while you happen on to a batch that you can do in about a minute each and they pay $.15 each. But not very often.

I agree, I leave the 1 and 2 cent HITS for the nice folks in India.

And it is something you can do while you are watching TV.

**jsabatini7310** · 01-28-2012, 09:47 AM

If you can get into the transcription or translation, its much better pay wise. Also, writers are paid more. My cousin has made $2500 plus since september (i've seen proof) by getting in with a few good requesters. I've made over $50 by only doing a few hours worth of work. Compared to hourly wages, it sucks, but if you have nothing else, need to stay at home, and are otherwise just watching tv, its a great way to add a few dollars. Or, like the one posted said, does it to get some books or toys around the holidays.