Welcome to October’s series on 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas. In this series, I’m highlighting simple and legitimate ways you can earn extra cash in the next three months for those of you who could use a little extra cash to help you pay for Christmas — or just for your living expenses if you’re in a tight spot right now.
If you’ve found a great way to make extra cash before Christmas that doesn’t require an outlay of cash upfront, please email me your tip. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!
Guest post from Anna of Real Ways to Earn Money Online
If you are interested in earning some extra cash from home, you might consider getting involved with website usability testing. This type of work typically involves the use of a microphone and/or a webcam depending on the company you do it for.
Companies are willing to pay good money to have their websites tested by people like you and me to better understand what improvements could be made.
The wonderful thing about usability testing, besides the fact you can do it remotely from home, is that the pay is usually very generous for the time spent. Most usability tests take no more than 15 to 20 minutes to complete and you will typically be paid anywhere from $8 to $14 per test. The rate of course will vary depending on the company. Most usability testing sites pay within a few days or sooner after each test is completed.
Can you depend on usability testing to pay all of your bills? The short answer is no. Most of the tests will come to you via email and are on a first come, first serve basis — so you have to be quick to grab the tests before someone else does. This is why testing websites is usually no more than extra money for most people.
If testing websites sounds intriguing to you, here is a list of several companies that are often recruiting for testers:
TryMyUI – This company pays $10 per test completed with each test taking around 10 minutes to do.
User Testing – You can earn $10 per test at User Testing, paid via Paypal.
Userlytics – Userlytics will pay you $10 per test. For this site you will need both a webcam and microphone.
What Users Do – This company pays $8 per test, but they are are open worldwide (many of these companies are only open to the US).
YouEye – YouEye pays $12 per test paid via Paypal. You’ll need both a webcam and a microphone to complete the tests.
Even though the work is on a first come, first serve basis, your chances of continually earning extra money through website testing will increase if you are registered with more than one company.
The more companies you’re involved with, the more invitations you should receive!
Anna researches various online money-earning opportunities and work at home jobs. Her findings are published via her website, Real Ways to Earn Money Online.
Wow – this IS an amazing series. I’ve been looking for usability testing opportunities for over 10 years. In college for technical writing, I loved running usability tests & thought how fun it would be to participate and be paid for it to boot. All the other ideas have been much appreciated, and most of them were completely new to me. Thank you so much!
Do you have a referral code for whatusersdo?
Just curious, do we have to keep track of extra cash sources like this and Jingit for income tax purposes?
All earnings you make from any and all sources should be reported on taxes. Typically, places will issue a 1099, though.
There is a minimum (and I can’t remember what it is for sure, but I think it’s $200??) amount you can make without having to report it on your taxes. So you may not receive a 1099. However, if they issue a 1099, regardless, you need to report it. I would recommend calling or researching the IRS’s website to get the updated info.
Megan,
That’s a common misconception. A 1099 is not required to be issued if you make under $600, but Crystal is right — ALL income should be reported on our tax return. If you do go to the irs.gov site, look for pub 17 – it is interesting reading. If you find money on the sidewalk, you are supposed to report it. Same as the value of those hostess gifts if you have home parties. If you have your taxes done by a professional and you happen to mention any of these things they are required to report it. Please forgive any typos — sick baby sleeping on me and my keyboard and glasses are slightly out of reach.
This is great – I had no idea this was out there – looks like a more lucrative route than swagbucks surveys. Thanks for a great series, Crystal!
Thank you for this information.
Forgive my ignorance, but I was curious as to why one would need a webcam and/or microphone.
Again, thanks.
The webcam and microphone are so your reactions to the websites can be recorded. You’re usually asked to speak while you navigate, pointing out things that confuse you and/or things that you like.
All of the companies listed require that you have a microphone for this purpose, but the webcam requirement is definitely not as common.
Hi Anna,
Thanks for this info-I’ve worked in many different freelance/independent contractor fields and have never heard of this 🙂
Do most laptops have a built in microphone or is it something your purchase and plug in? If it’s something separate, is there a type/brand that is recommended?
Thanks again!
Rebecca
Some laptops have it built in, but mine doesn’t. I just use a headset with a microphone attached that I plug into the external jack.
If you end up having to buy one, they are not very expensive at all. There are lots of them on Amazon for around $10-$13 and even cheaper.
One question I had was how often you get a test. Put another way how often can you get paid?
After some research it looks like you can expect to get 2 to 4 surveys a weeks. As one site said, it’s not a full-time nor even a part-time job.
But none-the-less are good way to make a few extra bucks 😉
JP – The majority of these companies pay you within just a few days after you complete your tests, sometimes sooner. Fortunately you typically don’t ever have to wait long on your money, which is one more good reason why it’s a lucrative option for extra cash.
I had not heard of YouEye before! Thanks Anna for sharing!
Thanks for doing this series! With your new ideas, I’ve made about $90 in the last 2 weeks with jingit, ing orange & mturk. I had already completed my garage sale, craigslist & eBay prior to your posts and those brought in close to $600. I’m excited about this new post!!