Updated September 21, 2017

Amazon Mechanical Turk (AKA MTurk) is probably the best site for micro jobs. What are micro jobs? Micro jobs are very short tasks done by a worker via the internet. For example, with MTurk, there are certain tasks that computers just can’t do. Mturk refers to these tasks at Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs). Each HIT is a short task that a worker does for a small pay. Do a lot of these small tasks and the earnings may add up. (I am going to use the word HIT in the article in order to prevent confusion, but remember when I say job or task, I am referring to HIT)

Is Amazon Mechanical Turk Legit?

The answer is, Yes. It is called Amazon Mechanical Turk because it is owned by that multi-billion dollar corporation, Amazon. Just that knowledge alone should give you confidence that making extra income with Amazon Mechanical Turk is a legit way to earn some extra income. There are a great range of jobs available, and a nice supply of work. Supply seems to be a giant problem for many micro job sites. Fortunately for Amazon Turk it probably has the largest supply in the micro job space.

How to make money with MTurk

When I first applied to MTurk, I was denied.  I have no idea why I was denied, and I have spoken with people in forums and around the internet who are privy to Amazon Turk, and it seems that a lot of applicants are being denied due to a surplus of workers. Some are denied and later down the road they are accepted; I would highly suggest doing Amazon Turk’s application ASAP in case that happens to you. I am writing this article after doing extensive research about Amazon Mechanical Turk, but I have not been able to personally work on the site.

You should head to MTurk now and apply.  You can click here to go to MTurk.

I wrote this article about being denied by MTurk then invited to join a few months later – What to Do If You Have Been Denied by Amazon Mechanical Turk

Take the tests

Certain jobs require workers to complete tests in order to qualify.  When initially starting with MTurk, you may want to wait to do the tests to try and qualify for better paying jobs.  However, you may want to get to 1,000 hits before doing this (more on that below).

For example, this video shows how a woman made almost $100 in one day just drawing boxes around people’s faces in pictures:

In order for this job to be done, she had to take a qualification test and receive a certain grade on the test.  So it is worth taking some time to do the tests.

Better paying jobs

Better paying jobs with MTurk open up after a worker completes certain thresholds of jobs. For example, certain requesters (employers) will require a minimum amount of work already done on MTurk by a worker.

For this reason, you may want to immediately try to get to 1,000 jobs immediately.  Just take the quickest jobs even though they don’t pay much.  As you work more you can unlock better paying jobs.

Get a toolbar to help you find better jobs

It is highly suggested that you download the Turkopticon toolbar (for Chrome and Firefox).

You can access it here for Chrome:  Turkopticon for Chrome

Here for Firefox:  Turkopticon for Firefox

This toolbar shows you information about jobs. It will allow you to discover if a job is worth the work or if it a scam. The toolbar is one of the best ways to maximize your ability to find the best jobs available to you.

Use the forums

You can use the Turker Nation forum and the MTurk forum to help increase your efficiency.  In these forums, you can view some of the best jobs of the day so that you can try and get in on those jobs to maximize your income.  This is an essential tool successful MTurk workers use.

Amazon Mechanical Turk used with Clickworker will work well.

If you missed my Clickworker review you can read it here:  Clickworker – Is it a legitimate work from home job?

I would suggest getting on UHRS via Clickworker and using it along with Amazon Turk. If you have both Clickworker and MTurk to make extra income, this can increase your efficiency.

You should log into Clickworker first and check the UHRS work and see how the jobs are looking. If you don’t see anything with a high enough payout, then proceed to MTurk. This way you can maximize your hourly pay as much as you can by only doing the best jobs available to you.

This is my referral link if you want to signup for Clickworker: Clickworker Signup

Earning potential

If you have read this blog before, you know we always talk about the 60/40 life. This is the idea of trying to make a minimum $60 extra per week 40 weeks out of the year. Here at Stock Street you will never hear us say you can make large amounts of income with very little work. That just doesn’t happen. What you CAN do, is make a little extra income during the week, and over time that income will compound into something significant if it is invested. Or, you can try to attain larger amounts of money with more work, for example you can try and start a blog: Blogging is Dreaming – Starting a Blog

If you do MTurk inefficiently, you should be able to make a minimum of $5 per hour. If you maximize your efficiency with MTurk, and also incorporate Clickworker, you should be able to make upwards of $8-$10 in total income per hour between the two. You may even have some days with a higher than $10 hourly income potential.

Remember, the whole idea of something like MTurk or Clickwoker, is that they are extremely flexible, and you can work from home whenever you want to. Comparing MTurk and Clickworker to something like an Uber, you will realize that Uber is more time consuming due to commuting, but you can potentially make a little more money: see my Uber Hack Article: Uber Hack – Get Paid for Your Commute to Work

Either way, MTurk is a viable and flexible way to bring in some extra income to your household.

Other ways to make extra income

You may want to read my earning extra income category or my recommendations tab.  You will find all of the articles I have written on the subject of earning extra income, as well as companies I have personally tried and done extensive research into.

You can click here to search all of my earning extra income articles.

You can click here to read my recommended companies.

Other reviews of MTurk

If you don’t want to take my word for it, here are some other reviews about MTurk:

• This YouTube video from GuyGirlGaming shows how he made $194.64 his first month of MTurk working around an hour a day. So a little over $6 per hour.

Remember, when you start off on MTurk you will start slowly since some higher paying requesters limit the minimum amount of jobs someone working with MTurk has done to 100, 200 or even up to 500+. The more you do, the higher income potential you will likely have.  Plus you may not have taken many tests to qualify for better jobs yet.

• This is a great personal review on Side Hustle Nation how Mike Naab uses MTurk and has generated $21,000 so far:  Side Hustle Nation Review
• Here is an article by Trent Hamm on The Simple Dollar showing his task log of his first day signing up and making $7.11 an hour with MTurk.  The Simple Dollar review

I hope you found this useful and perhaps a new way to earn a little extra income. If you have used MTurk before and have had either a positive or negative experience, comment below and let us know about it!