We’re not overstating when we say that the internet has conjured up unimaginable ways to earn revenue online.
From playing games, watching videos and ads, reading emails to renting out your car or completing surveys, online apps never cease to bring up bizarre ways to earn money.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you must’ve tried out some of these ways to earn some passive income already. In that case, you won’t be surprised to hear you can even make money by shopping online.
As if shopping wasn’t already therapeutic by itself, now you can eliminate your shopper’s guilt by saving up and making some extra money while you’re at it.
We know what you’re thinking. What about scams?
Getting stuck in an online scam can cost you your precious time and money. To avoid such situations, you should know some legit ways to get paid to shop online.
Here Are Our Favorite Six Tried And Tested Ways You Can Go For To Make Money Shopping Online:
Use money-making Apps for shopping
This is perhaps the simplest way to make money while you’re shopping online. Just download some reputed and legit online shopping apps that pay you when you shop through them.
These apps are connected to retailers and popular brands where you usually shop. They track your shopping activity from your phone, including your receipts and payments. Using the data, they give you benefits according to their terms.
Some apps offer their benefits in the form of gift cards or redeemable points. Whereas, some of them also provide hard cash for every shopping transaction you make.
Here are some famous examples of apps that make you money where you can shop online and earn rewards:
- Swagbucks: Swagbucks is the most popular online money-making app. It has a long list of partner brands, including Amazon, Walmart, and Macy’s. This means you can earn while shopping for anything online. They offer out benefits in the form of SBs. You can redeem these SBs as gift cards to avail great offers on brands and restaurants. Other than that, you can get hard cash through PayPal as well.
- Ibotta: Ibotta is another app that helps you earn some cash just by shopping. What you have to do is scan the barcodes of the products you purchase. You can also take a picture of the receipt to verify your transaction. When you do that, the app will process the information and you’ll get some cashback amount.
- Drop: You can shop and earn rewards using the Drop app as well. This app connects directly to your credit card to track your shopping history. For each purchase, you’ll get a certain number of points. You can later redeem these points for gift cards, discounts, and cash. Besides these popular cashback apps, you can check out other online shopping sites such as Shopkick, Dosh, FetchRewards, and Receipt Hog, where you can get paid to shop online.
Get cashback on your credit card
Another great way to get paid to shop is by getting cashback on your credit card. Most credit cards offer price protection deals to help you save money in the long run.
Price protection means that once you pay for something from your credit card, you get a refund. This refund depends on the price difference if the price drops during a specific period.
Also, some credit card companies and banks provide cashback to their customers if they shop from their partner brands and retailers.
Cashback credit cards: The first thing you should do to get paid as you shop online is getting a credit card that offers cashback. This way, you can easily make substantial money on your monthly expenses. Also, you’ll notice a drop in your credit card bill amount when you pay it off every month. There are many cashback credit cards you can go for.These include the Chase Freedom card.
This card offers up to 3% cashback on purchases worth $20,000. Similarly, the Capital One Savor Card gives you 2% cashback on grocery shops. Besides that, you can even get 5% cashback on your Savor Card at restaurants and entertainment-related expenses. So apart from shopping online, you can get cashback benefits on your recreational trips as well.
Cashback sites for online shopping: Secondly, you can earn cashback on your credit card by downloading some great cashback apps. Cashback apps are the reason online shopping is becoming a better option than actually roaming around a mall in person.
Shopping through cashback websites or apps allow you to get the best deals on your everyday products. This way, you can avail cashback opportunities even if you don’t use a cashback credit card. Just connect any credit card to the app so that the site can track all your online purchases.
By connecting your online shopping information to the app, you can save money on all your transactions. However, whenever you sign up for such websites or apps, make sure they’re legit and not a scam. Popular cashback apps include Rakuten, Swagbucks, Ibotta, and Drop. Each one has different terms and price protection policies. You can earn anywhere up to 2% to 25% cashback when you shop using these apps.
Shop for someone else
Another exciting way to earn money by shopping through online platforms is doing it for someone else. There are many individuals out there who don’t have spare time to buy essential products.
That’s why shopping apps like Shipt, Burby, Instacart, and Care.com give you a chance to help them out and earn some money yourself.
You can find a variety of shopping jobs online through these platforms. This includes delivery, grocery shopping, and running errands. You won’t shop online but you’ll end up using an app to go into a store to find someone else’s groceries. You’ll end up making money along the way.
Moreover, you can look for jobs in your area, or run an errand on your way home from work to earn money with minimum effort.
Nail a mystery shopping gig
Mystery shopping is another part-time job opportunity for those who love a great shopping experience. In this job, online apps connect you with brands and retailers that hire you to shop at their outlets.
During your visit, you’ll need to observe and collect information on certain aspects that the brands require from you. It can be anything from their customer service to general retail operations.
Famous companies like Bestmark, Field Agent and Intelli-Shop pay you to shop at retail stores, dine at local restaurants, and stay at hotels and resorts for paid feedback. These small gig jobs won’t break the bank but small income wins like these can add up quickly.
Make money through referrals
Furthermore, you can shop online and earn rewards by giving out referrals as well. There are many online shops and retailers that give special discounts and offers to customers who refer their sites to friends and families.
For example, apps like ThredUp provide a platform for their users to buy and sell used garments and other products.
When you shop on this app, you get a unique referral code that you can share with your friends and loved ones. Anyone who uses this code will get an initial balance of $10 to use on the site, and you’ll get the same amount as well.
Similarly, the app Stitch Fix, which delivers all your choices to your doorstep and allows you to try them on before paying, pays you for referrals too. After you’re done trying on the clothes and choosing the ones that fit you best, you’ll be eligible to refer Stitch Fix to your friends.
For each of your friends who sign up for the app, you’ll get $25 credit on the app. You can use the credit for future shopping on the app.
Give out paid reviews
Let’s face it. No matter how common online shopping becomes, users will always be skeptical before trusting a new online shopping website or brand. If you shop from a site or an online brand, you can write detailed reviews and earn rewards.
Many brands give out free trial products, discounts, gift cards, and even cash in return for good reviews. Some offer money for social media publicity for their products.
You can quickly post reviews about a brand regarding their products’ quality and overall shopping experience.
For this, you can use online survey sites like Survey Junkie and Swagbucks. Besides that, you can post pictures and tutorials of the products on your personal blog to earn some extra money while helping other online shoppers as well.
Final words
Wrapping it up, this was our list for the ways you can get paid to shop online. Now you know that online shopping is not all about clicking away your money for things you don’t really need.
There are many ways you can make your online shopping experience beneficial. In fact, you can earn some extra cash for your future shopping endeavors.
Making money while shopping online doesn’t require much effort. However, make sure that the website claiming to pay you is genuine and trustworthy. If the site looks shady from the first look, don’t go for it, as you can end up wasting your time and money.
If you wish to earn some money while shopping online, go through the user reviews and terms regarding the website or the retailer. This way, you can be sure that you’ll get the ultimate value for your time and investment.
