Skills and expertise are what allow us to make a living.Whether you’re a Lawyer, Doctor, Mechanic, Construction worker, or even a Blogger, you’re using your skills and knowledge to do your job so you can have a paycheck.
But what if you wanted to earn some extra money on the side without having to earn a degree of some kind?
Well, there are some very easy and fun ways to make money online. And the good news is that you probably are doing most of these already in your everyday life – searching, watching videos, playing games, taking surveys, and more.
Earn Free Cash
Try Swagbucks, the famous rewards program that pays you for watching videos, taking surveys, shopping and more.
There are even sites that give you cash back at places you already shop!These sites allow anyone to earn extra cash while watching the kids, flipping through commercials, or doing homework!
Here’s a short list to help you get started:
1. BookScouter
Here’s one perfect for students or avid readers!Bookscouter is a website that allows you to sell your used books and textbooks to the highest paying site.
Simply enter the ISBN number of any book and you’ll instantly be shown a list of different prices from about 40 book buyback sites. Choose the one that pays the most, and sell your book to them.
Textbooks and school related books often cost a ton of money and you only use them a couple times in your entire life! Why not sell them to pad your pocket a little bit?
While there are tons of website available to sell used books, personally I think Book Scouter is the best. All you have to do is locate the ISBN number of the book, and the website will search over 40 different buyer sites to locate the ones that will pay the best price for your used book.
2. Ebates
You might have seen this one in a TV commercial!It is slowly becoming the biggest cash back site. Basically, you earn a certain percentage cash back if you shop through them.
So if you shop online, I think it’d be crazy not to use a cash back shopping site like Ebates. It’s like getting free money for buying something you were going to buy anyway.
Don’t forget to check out their Double Store for double cashback on purchases made through qualifying stores.
3. Bing Rewards
You search online, don’t you?We all do. Perhaps even multiple times a day.
Well now, you can earn a free gift card once in a while just for doing that!
Need Extra Cash for Free?
If you like getting paid for surveys, and are going to join only one
site, I would recommend you choose Ipsos-iSay. Ipsos is the most fun and
well-paying panel. Give it a try to see how you like it. It is free
anyway!
Sign up with BingRewards for free, then search as you normally would.
For every search you perform, you earn a certain number of points. Once
you have enough points, you can redeem for gift cards, meal discounts,
and even airline points.I’d venture to say an average searcher could easily earn an extra $100 a year using BingRewards.
3. FatWallet
FatWallet is one of the oldest cashback sites offering some of the highest cashback percentages on some of these stores.For example, you can earn up to 4% cash back for shopping through eBay, up to 6% through Groupon, or even as much as 27% through Angie’s List!
4. InboxDollars
InboxDollars is what you would call a total rewards site where you earn rewards for pretty much everything you can do online, anything from shopping and visiting websites, to taking surveys, playing games, watching videos, and more.They even give you $5 just for joining!
Here are some of the kind of offers you can complete to get some quick cash:
Playing games: You can earn up to 10% back when you purchase token packs and boosters for some of your favorite games. Play for free!
Taking surveys: You will also have the chance to play BillyÕs Spin and Win which lets you earn survey tokens and sweepstakes entries!
Using search engines: Earn cash by using InboxDollars’ custom search engine.
Watching videos: Or completing fun interactive activities.
Shopping: Earn cash back on all sorts of purchases when you shop online through InboxDollars’ partners!
5. UserTesting
What could be easier than visiting a website and then telling the site owner what you think of their site!And the amazing part is that the site owner will pay you for it!
They do this so they can test the functionality and user-friendliness of their website.
How much money can you make, you ask?
Different user testing sites have varying rates, but UserTesting.com pays a flat rate of $10 for every site you test.
6. Swagbucks
Who hasn’t heard of Swagbucks by now!Just in case you haven’t, SB is one of the most famous online rewards sites. So famous that they have even been featured on many media outlets such as ABC’s Good Morning America show, and even Forbes.
Like InboxDollars, SB will pay you to visit the website of their sponsors and participate in activities like shopping, surveys, and more!
They use their own form of currency, called Swag bucks, which can be converted into real cash.
You can even download their app for your Android or Apple devices.
Here are some of the ways you can generate some extra earnings with Swagbucks:
Signing up for the website: You’ll earn a certain number (this number changes from time to time) of Swag Bucks just for joining.
Swagbucks VISA Rewards Credit Card: Earn 1.25 Swag Bucks per Dollar on every purchase. You’ll earn an additional 1,000 Swag Bucks after your first purchase (within the first 3 billing cycles). Plus, if you spend $1,000 or more within the first 6 billing cycles, you’ll get another 2,500 Swag Bucks!
Watch videos: Choose from a variety of different video topics and you could earn up to 150 Swag Bucks a day.
Search: Instead of using your regular search engine, use Swagbucks’ to generate a small profit.
Play games: Earn Swag Bucks for playing cash games.
Shop online: Use their portal to earn Swag Bucks per every dollar you spend at popular online retailers like Amazon or Travelocity. Plus, you’ll get awesome discounts, like 15% off any order at JCPenny on top of the Swag Bucks you earn!
Take Surveys: Earn up to 60 Swag Bucks per day!
And that’s not all. The site adds new ways to earn more SB’s all the time.
And as far as getting paid goes, you have good options. You can redeem your earnings for cash (PayPal) or gift cards from almost any online and real brick & mortar store you can imagine.
7. Mr. Rebates
Another cashback site. This one gives you $5 just for signing up, which is free of course.They have a low $10 minim threshold for cashing out. Thy send you a check every time you hit that $10 mark.
You can also refer your friends and family to the site and earn from their earnings as well. You get 20% of your referral’s earnings.
8. Ibotta
Not all purchases are made at department stores or auction sites. In fact, the majority of our shopping is related to food and grocery items.This is where Ibotta shines; it gives you cashback for your everyday purchases, like when you buy eggs or bread!
Not to mention it gives you $5 for every friend you refer to the site who redeems any rebate.
9. Upromise
This is perfect for new moms, or parents who are trying to save for their children’s college fund!You can earn cash back through over 850 popular online shopping partners, and then the money generated is deposited into a college savings service!
You can earn 5-10% cash back by shopping with Sears, Groupon, Staples, Macy’s, and more! Up to 8% can be earned at over 10,000 participating restaurants. You can even earn 5% cash back when booking travel through an approved sponsor!
They also offer the Upromise MasterCard, which gives you an extra 5% cash back at online shops, restaurants, and approved travel agencies plus an extra 2% on department store purchases and up to 1% on everything else!
College is expensive, but with Upromise, you can put money away for a college fund while shopping at all your favorite online retailers!
10. Gomez PEER
This one is as easy as it gets, although some of us may take issue with the privacy situation.Here is how it works…
Installtheir free app on your computer and go about your day!
That really is it!
It basically leverages your system’s idle resources (such as unused processing power, RAM, and bandwidth) to test the performance of many of the world’s most popular websites.
What’s in it for you?
For every month you keep the app installed, you earn cash which is paid to you via PayPal.
And just how much you earn depends on how much idle resources were used from your PC.
It’s not much money, probably a few dollars a month or even less. But then again, you are not really doing anything. You’re just letting them use your PC’s unused resources.
Takeaway
As you can see, it doesn’t take any special skill or know-how to make some side money with these sites. Sure, none of these are going to help you quit your day job, but they allow you to earn a few extra dollars mostly for things that you already do online.And best of all, none of these money making options require any special skills!
