The Basics of Working for Amazon Mechanical Turk
Have you ever needed a few extra dollars? Have you ever wished that you could spread your paycheck just a little bit farther? If so, you may want to know about an online workplace called Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). You will not become rich from this site, but it can help out with the bills.The concept of Mturk is an online workplace where thousands of people are waiting to do a company's work. This concept is called crowd-sourcing. Using MTurk, companies are able to post work and have it done fast and cheap. The work normally entails doing data entry, data mining, or even just writing for people. Since companies have access to people all over the world, they don't have to pay that much to get things done. This is where you, the turker come in; you are part of this online work force.To start, you need to sign up at the Mturk website. You can either withdraw your earnings to your bank account or use them as a credit to buy things on Amazon. If you do choose to deposit into a bank account, there are a few rules to follow as outlined below.First you will need to have a US Bank account as Mturk only accepts banks that are based or within the United States. You also must have a Social Security Number. This is because Mturk follows IRS rules and makes you pay taxes on your earnings. This isn't your normal tax; it is self employment tax which is taxed at a higher level.A quick word of advice before you spend all of your earnings; put about 15-25 percent of it away. This is so that at the end of the year when taxes are due, you are not in the hole with the IRS. With that being said let's get started on working.Working for Mturk is like any other employer, except that you get paid a lot less. Once you accept a HIT, you have a deadline and a degree of correctness that is required of you. If you cannot finish things on time or follow instructions, you will not be making any money.How does it differ from normal employment? Normally isn't a second chance. Once your turn in your work, it is final. If you messed up on something that the requester doesn't like, they can reject your work and you get nothing. So before you decide to turn in garbage and get paid, think again. Some requesters will email you and ask you to fix it, but that is only about 1% of them. If you are writing anything, double check it before you turn it in.These are some simple tips to help you on your way to earning money with MTurk. Above all else, remember to be careful about the HITs that you accept. Some requesters will try to take advantage of workers. Only work for a wage that you find acceptable and follow the guidelines closely. If you do so, you may even find that a requester contacts you for regular work!
