Welcome to the Amazon Mechanical Turk review!
This program you can make some money but not as much as you might think. You start out getting tasks to do for very little amounts of money. If you spend enough time doing the low paying tasks you will get opportunities to do higher-paying tasks.
Mechanical Turk is a good program to make a few dollars here and there but not a sustainable way to make money online.
I introduce you to Amazon Mechanical Turk!
Before we get started I would like to commend you on taking the time to do your due diligence so you don't get taken by all of the scams and rip-offs that are found everywhere on the internet.
That's how you find the legit way to make money online!
I would like you to know that I'm not in any way paid by or associated with Amazon Mechanical Turk. This is an honest review for the purposes of providing you, the consumer the information necessary so that you can make an informed decision on whether or not Mechanical Turk is for you!
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Mechanical Turk Review Summary
Product Name: Amazon Mechanical Turk
Founder: Conceived by Venky Harinarayan in 2001. Concept by Jeff Bezos.
Product Type: Crowdsourcing Marketplace
Price: Mechanical Turk Fee for Requesters, 20% fee on the reward you pay workers. The minimum fee is $0.01 per assignment or bonus payment.
Best For: No one
Summary: Does Amazon Mechanical Turk Work? Amazon Mechanical Turk definitely works. If you’re a large company looking for a cost-efficient place to distribute microtasks, MTurk is a great choice. Or, if you’re a home-based worker looking for a place to get a few bucks in minutes, it could also be an option.
Rating: 60/100
Recommended: No
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Looking for a legitimate way you can earn dollars for just an hour or so? Could Amazon Mechanical Turk jobs be the answer?
There are tons of platforms offering an easy way you can acquire money for just a couple of hours. The progressing technology has given us vast opportunities to have the comfort of working from home and I for one took a chance on that.
Unfortunately, this may have led a few to take advantage of people that are freelancing, giving jobs but never paying for it.
Usually working online has no guarantee that I’d be paid for the job I’ve done. There were a couple of times I didn’t receive any amount I was due. We all don’t want to waste our time doing something that’s not worth it.
Like anyone else, I wanted a legit way of earning bucks whenever and wherever, but the question is… Can MTurk be the best alternative?
What exactly is Amazon Mechanical Turk?
Also known as MTurk, it is a legitimate crowdsourcing marketplace where companies or businesses distribute Human Intelligence Tasks (HIT's). Employers who give out these HIT's are called requesters while the ones who complete it are called workers.
Tasks are as easy as completing surveys, transcribing audio, data entry, and more. There are different HIT's you can choose from and the amount of each varies depending on its difficulty. Every HIT includes specific details of the job, how long it will take, and how much you can get paid for.
Is MTurk Legit?
Yes. Besides the obvious fact that MTurk is associated with Amazon, and had to be legit in that sense, it really works.
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Even though it is true that some things are better done with the help of AI’s, but there’s still no doubt about humans doing a more effective and thorough job than computers.
There are tons of jobs at MTurk that you can choose from and get paid for. One thing is for sure, it is not a scam and earnings can be transferred via Amazon Payments Account or exchanged for an Amazon Gift Card.
Advantages of MTurk And How You Can Make Full Use of It
Earning is just clicks away with MTurk and it sure is a great way of making the most of my free time. I can work with the tasks offered at any time I want and wherever I am.
Each task completed has an equivalent rate depending on its difficulty. Even though most jobs offered costs only a few cents, it can be completed in a few seconds and I can earn up to 2-5 dollars in an hour.
I also need to make sure that every offer I do would be of great quality. The feedback from Requesters is important because that will be the basis of my quality score. The higher the score, the better the chance of guarantee I get that Requesters will accept my work. This will also allow me to unlock more high-paying HIT's.
Gladly, there are MTurk workers on Reddit that share their tips and tricks that I can surely learn from. You can join different forums available that can help you increase your earnings. Also, I wanted to know if an offer I’d work on is worth it and Turkopticon Beta 2 can help me decide on that.
Take note that the best HIT's are listed on business hours and on weekdays.
Is Amazon Mechanical Turk Worth It?
A few of the tasks only pay lower than a dollar and can be time-consuming as well. If you think that little amount works for you, then giving it a try won’t hurt.
Also, once tasks are completed there’s no guarantee you’ll be paid for it. A Requester can pay within 30 days after a task is done but they can reject your work if they didn’t like the quality of it.
Unfortunately. there is no fixed hourly rate and what you earn depends on all the HIT's accepted by the Requester. Moreover, there is a probationary period that lasts up to 10 days for new workers limiting you to only 100 HIT's per day. Your focus would be hitting that milestone in order to unlock high-paying HIT's.
Considering Pros and Cons for MTurk Workers
Pros
- A legit way to make money online.
- It is an advantage to work directly from home or anywhere and MTurk can be a convenient way to do that.
- Tens of thousands of jobs you can choose from and all are easy to complete.
- Earnings can be directly deposited to bank accounts or exchanged for Amazon Gift Cards.
Cons
- There’s a milestone to reach in order to unlock the better-paying HIT's and a quality score to maintain.
- Work can be rejected by Requesters and won’t pay for it.
- Most tasks are worth a few cents each and a few can be time-consuming as well.
- There were some worker complaints regarding the occasional malfunction of Amazon’s payment system.
Would I recommend MTurk?
To people like me that are looking for a great way to earn with an assurance that my time is not wasted, I don’t think MTurk can be my alternative. There are tons of other platforms like Amazon Mechanical Turk that can pay me more of what I can earn from there.
Being self-employed and having the comfort of working at home there’s still a need for assurance that I make the most of my time. Also, we all wanted that guarantee that every job we do will be paid for and with the rightful amount.
Amazon Mechanical Turk
Free
Pros
- A legit way to make money online
- Work From Anywhere
- Tens of Thousands of Opportunities
- Direct Deposti
- Jobs are easy to complete
Cons
- Work can be rejected by Requesters and won’t pay for it
- Most tasks are worth a few cents each and a few can be time-consuming as well
- There’s a milestone to reach in order to unlock the better-paying HIT's and a quality score to maintain
- There were some worker complaints regarding the occasional malfunction of Amazon’s payment system
I hadn’t heard about Amazon Mechanical Turk before so this post is really interesting and helpful. This looks like a pretty decent product for those who are looking to make a little money here and there, but otherwise I will heed your recommendation in no. You’ve provided a solid alternative in Wealthy Affiliate, which is a tried and true platform for those who want to make a bigger splash in the affiliate marketing world.
From a business aspect, MTurk works well. Being the Requester in MTurk is excellent if you need products or services tested or if you’re a company that requires a lot of surveys done. From a making money aspect, I wouldn’t quit my day job because Mechanical Turk will not replace it and you definitely won’t get rich.
On the other hand, Wealthy Affiliate provides an opportunity that you could eventually replace your day job!
This is an interesting article. I didn’t know this service existed. It appears from the article that the payments are quite low unfortunately. For people who work from home, it is critically important that they make maximum use of there time. Being paid a low wage for any endeavor is not a sustainable way to make a decent income. Your pros and cons readily point out that this is not a good opportunity for most stay at home entrepreneurs.
Thank you for sharing this information. Very unique.
If you want to replace your “Day Job” MTurk is not the right option. There are many other money-making opportunities to help you do that. Like I said in the article if you want to make a few dollars then you could give MTurk a try.
Hi there,
Thanks for your detailed evaluation of Mechanical Turk. I know people that are always looking for ways to side hustle and have picked up odd jobs in their spare time. I will mention this service to them and refer them to your article. I agree with you though – it does seem like it is more of a time suck than it is worth and other contracted jobs would probably compensate better.
Thanks again!
Janani
You’re welcome, Janani. And yeah I don’t think it is worth the time and effort for the little amount you get compensated for.
If you’re using it to be a requester on the business end, MTurk would be well worth looking into.