Okay, so, this is basically a "where do I go from here?" post.

[atomicminotaur]

A little about me: 30something guy who's been selling antiques/collectibles for almost 20 years, and specifically on eBay for the last 15 but the market there has been dying a slow death and it's near the end, so I'm supplementing my income with online work. Also, it makes it easier for me. I had a kidney out in January (f*ck cancer) and I've been taking it easy on myself in terms of finding a "real job."

By the end of today I will have 1500+ submissions. I have 1 rejection.

I've been on mturk since 2011, but was never serious about it until very recently. I currently have some extensions (TO, Panda, Turkmaster, HIT Scraper, Projected Earnings). I basically use this forum, /r/hitsworthturkingfor, and HIT Scraper to find surveys and do what looks good and what I'm qualified for...

And the amount of times I click a link and the HIT is unavailable or I'm not qualified is... Staggering. I've done my basic quals, and I know in many cases the HITs just vanish quicker than I can get to them, even if HIT Scraper has just spit it out.

At this point I'm only doing surveys. My high day is $40, my average is around $20 for 3-4 hours work (not all at once, just randomly through the day). I want to learn how to find and do batches, but I'm assuming I need to get my numbers up in case of rejections? I also want to maximize time/effort.

So... Should I be getting up at a certain time in the morning to have the best chance at meeting and exceeding my money goals? Like, 6AM EST and work til noon? Or is it just random and I shouldn't change my life around turking?

What extensions should I be focusing on and learning to get me to my goals?

Is batch work something I need to look at now to increase my earnings, or do I need to keep up with surveys until 5000 submissions or so?

Are their quals I'm missing or is the low income 30something single white male with no kids and college educated bracket just that full? Which I can understand.

My goal, right now, is to hit $30 a day in as little time as I can do it (because I do have other things I need to do). I know some people do FAR better than that, and I'm envious, but I'm sure you've been turking longer and harder than I have. I know it's a journey.

Thank you for your time!

 

[ElleWoods]

If you haven't, install MTurk Suite, an extension made by Kadauchi. I use hit finder, I have found it to be better than scraper. If you're relying on the forums to find work, you're behind the ball. By the time something has made it's way here it's usually gone. My best advice I can give is read through the threads. Look for requester names that continually pop up or are said to be good. Then go to Turkopticion, look up their requester ID and set up an alarm for them on Overwatch. That way you're notified when they post and you aren't waiting for it to show up on the forum or scraper.

 

[ElleWoods]

Also I would say, do safe batches like Customer Interest, ben peterson or Picsfromabove. That way you'll get your numbers up without having to worry about rejections. If you have no other commitments and are able to work it like a full time job, you should be able to make more than $20 or $30 a day. There is a huge learning curve, but you'll get the hang. Always feel free to ask questions. I would say get to work by 7 am ET M-F. That's when new surveys usually pop up, but be flexible. Turk is so fluid. Requesters come and go as they please, there really is no schedule to it.

 

[atomicminotaur]

MTurk Suite installed. Something new to play with! I don't rely on the forums except for "I've been AFK for 2 hours, what did I miss and are any of these still active" type thing. I've mainly gotten my work through Scraper.

I'll check out those batches. As it stands now, I already make $20 a day with 3-4 hours work, so anything beyond that is gravy. I like gravy.

Okay, yeah 7AM is better than my usual 9-10. I can do that. And, yeah, I check it throughout the day. Flexible I can do.

Thank you for these tips!

 

[sweetie1018]

@atomicminotaur Thanks for posting, because I have similar questions. @ElleWoods Thanks for answering so well! Like @atomicminotaur I am sure I can do better with my time, but I'm not looking for crazy high earnings - my highest day so far was around $12, and that took a while. If I can learn to be more efficient with the time I do have, hit a reasonable goal, then I'm done for the day, I'm happy with that.

 

[Achilles2357]

Also I would say, do safe batches like Customer Interest, ben peterson or Picsfromabove. That way you'll get your numbers up without having to worry about rejections. If you have no other commitments and are able to work it like a full time job, you should be able to make more than $20 or $30 a day. There is a huge learning curve, but you'll get the hang. Always feel free to ask questions. I would say get to work by 7 am ET M-F. That's when new surveys usually pop up, but be flexible. Turk is so fluid. Requesters come and go as they please, there really is no schedule to it.

That is some interesting advice, and I am willing to take it seriously. Right now, 7am EST is pretty close to the hour when I am LEAST likely to be awake. If I could reasonably pound out $20, $30, $40 and then get on to other stuff, I'd definitely consider it. Obviously time of day is not the only key to mturk, which does fluctuate considerably, but if 7am EST is really the BEST way to make $20 quickly.... I am willing to consider changing my sleep patterns for now. So how much of a difference does this really make? I am perfectly willing to believe that a vast amount of surveys post at that time, and also that many mturkers are not working then. How true is this? (I've probably posted in this forum around 6am EST, but that is because I've been still awake....)

 

[Achilles2357]

A little about me: 30something guy who's been selling antiques/collectibles for almost 20 years, and specifically on eBay for the last 15 but the market there has been dying a slow death and it's near the end, so I'm supplementing my income with online work. Also, it makes it easier for me. I had a kidney out in January (f*ck cancer) and I've been taking it easy on myself in terms of finding a "real job."

By the end of today I will have 1500+ submissions. I have 1 rejection.

I've been on mturk since 2011, but was never serious about it until very recently. I currently have some extensions (TO, Panda, Turkmaster, HIT Scraper, Projected Earnings). I basically use this forum, /r/hitsworthturkingfor, and HIT Scraper to find surveys and do what looks good and what I'm qualified for...

And the amount of times I click a link and the HIT is unavailable or I'm not qualified is... Staggering. I've done my basic quals, and I know in many cases the HITs just vanish quicker than I can get to them, even if HIT Scraper has just spit it out.

At this point I'm only doing surveys. My high day is $40, my average is around $20 for 3-4 hours work (not all at once, just randomly through the day). I want to learn how to find and do batches, but I'm assuming I need to get my numbers up in case of rejections? I also want to maximize time/effort.

So... Should I be getting up at a certain time in the morning to have the best chance at meeting and exceeding my money goals? Like, 6AM EST and work til noon? Or is it just random and I shouldn't change my life around turking?

What extensions should I be focusing on and learning to get me to my goals?

Is batch work something I need to look at now to increase my earnings, or do I need to keep up with surveys until 5000 submissions or so?

Are their quals I'm missing or is the low income 30something single white male with no kids and college educated bracket just that full? Which I can understand.

My goal, right now, is to hit $30 a day in as little time as I can do it (because I do have other things I need to do). I know some people do FAR better than that, and I'm envious, but I'm sure you've been turking longer and harder than I have. I know it's a journey.

Thank you for your time!

Sorry to hear about your cancer! I fear this myself, in time.... Fight the good fight.
As far as online selling, I am curious about the dying market you describe. I am a 40ish guy, extremely underemployed as far as education goes, with some interest in earning some money from online selling. What are the problems as you see them? Is it just ebay? Is it collectibles/antiques? Is it just the mega-corporations screwing all small-time sellers? So far as I can tell, Amazon is also making it harder for small time sellers, but Amazon seems to be also making it harder for mturkers.

 

[ElleWoods]

That is some interesting advice, and I am willing to take it seriously. Right now, 7am EST is pretty close to the hour when I am LEAST likely to be awake. If I could reasonably pound out $20, $30, $40 and then get on to other stuff, I'd definitely consider it. Obviously time of day is not the only key to mturk, which does fluctuate considerably, but if 7am EST is really the BEST way to make $20 quickly.... I am willing to consider changing my sleep patterns for now. So how much of a difference does this really make? I am perfectly willing to believe that a vast amount of surveys post at that time, and also that many mturkers are not working then. How true is this? (I've probably posted in this forum around 6am EST, but that is because I've been still awake....)

It's not the end all be all time to be up. Not the best, but works for me. I'm usually able to get between $10 and $15 between 7 am ET in an hour until my kids wake up.

 

[atomicminotaur]

Sorry to hear about your cancer! I fear this myself, in time.... Fight the good fight.
As far as online selling, I am curious about the dying market you describe. I am a 40ish guy, extremely underemployed as far as education goes, with some interest in earning some money from online selling. What are the problems as you see them? Is it just ebay? Is it collectibles/antiques? Is it just the mega-corporations screwing all small-time sellers? So far as I can tell, Amazon is also making it harder for small time sellers, but Amazon seems to be also making it harder for mturkers.

eBay made it possible for the collectible/antique market to boom. Anyone who wanted to collect anything in the last 20 years can find it on eBay. The odds are that, anymore, those collectors have found their item. eBay is now full of stock from various sellers. It's hard to compete with so much competition and sales are slim. My sales are down 56% from last year.

 

[Melchiorus]

I set up Mturk Suite, but I'm getting 0 on all the TOs. Any ideas for what I'm doing wrong?

 

[ElleWoods]

I set up Mturk Suite, but I'm getting 0 on all the TOs. Any ideas for what I'm doing wrong?

Can you post a screen shot of your page?

 

[Melchiorus]

 

[santorom]

Mine looks like that too and I can't figure out why! Did you ever figure this out?

 

[SweetiePuff]

@Kadauchi ... two grey TO questions up there Any ideas?

 

[Kadauchi]

@Kadauchi ... two grey TO questions up there Any ideas?

Since TO is shit, it has been breaking on MTS. Monday's update fixes it for actual mturk pages. The subsequent Monday the beta rolls out for the new HF and that will be using the new TO method.

Just keep running HF and it will try TO again in 2 hours.