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MTurk -- totally lost!


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I'd never heard of MTurk until a few days ago, here on this site. I thought I'd check it out. I signed up, got my account going, and then....felt utterly, completely lost!

I spent about 40 minutes yesterday entering data from photos of invoices. Each item consisted of 11 fields (such as product number, quantity, price per unit, description), and there were about 40 items altogether. Each invoice (of about 7 pages) had to be enlarged to be readable, then had to be scrolled horizontally and vertically in order to read. When I chose this task, I KNEW that it said $0.08, but being new to MT I did not know [for sure] what that meant. I worked in data processing for many years (I was the programmer at a major data processing company), and I remember how we priced our jobs. A simple name/address/city/state/ZIP data entry project would cost far less than a complex, heavy-programming required, mathematical project, like payroll. So when I saw $0.08 I was thinking per line, or per page, or per....something....but not the ENTIRE project that took 40 minutes.

Now I know better. I won't be accepting any more tasks like that.

But I want to find tasks that are data entry-oriented, as I'm really good at that. (I was a data entry operator when I was in college. FAST and accurate!) I want to make decent money, too. 8 cents for 40 minutes of work isn't going to cut it. Had it been 8 cents per line, that would be a different story--still not up to what I'd expect (for the amount of data per line), but at least acceptable.

I feel completely lost on MTurk. I'll start looking at a task and by the time I want to submit it, I'm told "no more hits like this exist" or something like that. I've tried sorting and filtering my display of tasks, but I still feel utterly lost. I only want tasks I qualify for, and that's how I've filtered it. Can anyone clue me in on how to actually make decent money on MTurk? I'm what's known as a "heads-down data entry operator"--in other words, really fast and accurate--and I'd like to put those skills back to work. If not at MT, then somewhere else.

Just for comparison, until OO booted me a few days ago, I was cashing out $10 every two days, working on surveys for about two hours a day. On other sites, including Branded and ThriftyPig, I cash out $25+ once a month or more, working on their sites a few days a month. I'm not naive or stupid, I know I'm not going to make 6-figures like I did when I was working, but I want to at least feel like what I'm making is fair for the effort exerted.

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The person that recommended M Turk I think only does surveys on there.  The problem with sites like that that pay a ridiculously low amount, is that they can find people in places like India that will work for $1 an hour.    

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47 minutes ago, NFriday said:

The person that recommended M Turk I think only does surveys on there.  The problem with sites like that that pay a ridiculously low amount, is that they can find people in places like India that will work for $1 an hour.    

Even that's way more than the 8 CENTS I got for 40 minutes of work! :shock: :-)

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The pay on this site is abysmal, but you learn to filter out the most worthless jobs after a while, and a few are ok. I prefer Clickworker, which pays a little better, including 15 Euros for a 30 minute survey on one occasion, but there are very few jobs available. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

MTurk is great, if you use them just for surveys. Pay is low, but goes directly into your checking account depending on how you set up auto pay.  I thought there was a waiting list to join them, so I am glad you were able to join right away. 

Under the search bar, type in "surveys". That should help filter out the other garbage on there. 

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On 11/16/2021 at 7:27 AM, Njsurveyman said:

MTurk is great, if you use them just for surveys. Pay is low, but goes directly into your checking account depending on how you set up auto pay.  I thought there was a waiting list to join them, so I am glad you were able to join right away. 

Under the search bar, type in "surveys". That should help filter out the other garbage on there. 

Thanks. I had already tried that, and it has resulted in a few decent surveys, but nothing to write home about!

What I CANNOT understand is how a job, as outlined in my OP, that takes FORTY SOLID minutes of data entry can pay EIGHT cents!! Back in the mid-'80s, when I was working as a data entry operator while in college, I was making $9/hour. That was almost forty years ago! 8 cents per 40 minutes = 12 cents per hour. Ugh.

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MTurk low on my list of survey sites, but I dabble there when nothing better. I find the whole interface there awkward for me. But on a good month I might cash out $5! :lol:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I made $620 lifetime with MTurk. They are my oldest running survey-like company that I stuck with for about 20 years. However, due to its annoying cut/paste interface, I am not on it much anymore. I now average about $5/month to $8/month. It is basically a guaranteed place where you will always find surveys and always paid on time too. 

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