19 Best Ways To Get Paid To Shop (High-Paying Gigs!)
For most of us, heading to the grocery store or mall means taking out your credit card and spending your own hard-earned money.
But what if you could turn your next shopping trip into a side hustle instead?
Well the great news is, there are numerous ways to get paid to shop so you can make some quick cash. And many of these ideas are perfect for beginners and let you start earning immediately. Let's dive in!
The Best Ways To Get Paid To Shop
I've tested out plenty of ways to make money shopping over the years, and I still use some of them to this day to make extra money. Time to explore all of these options in more detail:
Table of Contents
1. Instacart Shopper
Instacart is the leading food delivery service in North America, and it's available in over 5,500 cities. And as an Instacart Shopper, you get paid for shopping for groceries and delivering them to people's doors.
Getting started with this gig app is also simple. If you're 18 or older and have a vehicle, there's a good chance you can become an Instacart Shopper in your area.
Instacart sends you orders, known as batches, which you can accept or decline. Once you accept a batch, you shop for different grocery items on the customer's list, check out, and then make the delivery.
Instacart can easily pay $15 to $20+ per hour in many markets, and large batches can also mean large tips, which you keep 100% of. Overall, Instacart weekly pay can be hundreds of dollars or even more if you put in enough time.
Start making money as an Instacart Shopper!
2. Uber Eats
Uber Eats is another one of my favorite shopping gigs since it's a flexible, high-paying side hustle that almost anyone can start.
This food delivery gig pays you to deliver food and everyday essentials to people in your area. You can sign up if you're 18 or older and then deliver with your car, bike, or scooter.
Drivers keep 100% of all tips, and Uber Eats pays you every week for the deliveries you completed the previous week. Overall, it's a pretty reliable weekly pay side hustle that's easy to get started with.
I also like that you can deliver on your own schedule, so you get to work as much or as little as you like.
3. Shopkick
Shopkick is a popular mystery shopping and rewards app that's available in the United States.
Shopkick is actually very versatile and pays you for completing a range of tasks. For example, you can get paid to walk into stores, take photos of products, scan barcodes, shop online, and more.
Tasks pay you with kicks, the platform's point system, and kicks are redeemable for PayPal money and dozens of free gift cards.
Apps like Shopkick don't pay a ton of money. But with some Shopkick cheats and consistency, you can use this app to realistically make $5 to $20+ per month without much work.
And many of the tasks just involve walking into stores or exploring your city, so you're basically getting paid to workout and walk around!
Try out Shopkick today! – Use my promo code ‘TOW' and get a $5 bonus after earning your first kicks!
4. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is one of the most popular get-paid-to websites out there, and it offers a variety of ways to make money.
I've personally earned over $100 by using Swagbucks over the years since my time in college. And it always pays out on time and has plenty of rewards to choose from.
Some of the most popular ways to make money with Swagbucks include:
- Answering surveys that pay gift cards and cash
- Playing games
- Watching ads
- Shopping online
Swagbucks also has loads of cash-back offers if you buy products from partner retailers on its website. And, it also has a new Magic Receipts feature that pays you for uploading shopping receipts with purchases from its partners.
Ultimately, this flexibility means you can use Swagbucks to get paid to shop online or in-person. And since gift card rewards start at just $1, you can realistically get paid the same day when you use Swagbucks.
Start making money with Swagbucks!
5. Rakuten
Another popular way to get paid for online shopping is to shop online through Rakuten.
Rakuten is my favorite cash-back shopping extension, and it pays you for shopping at thousands of retailers.
In fact, I've earned over $7,000 from using Rakuten, and you get paid quarterly through check or with free PayPal cash for all the shopping you've done.
Some of Rakuten's partners that pay cash back for shopping include: Adidas, Best Buy, H&M, Macy's, Shein, Target, Walmart, and Verizon.
Rakuten also has a $30 sign up bonus for new users when you join and spend at least $30 on a shopping offer. So, if you want some easy money and to make money shopping online, Rakuten is certainly worth using.
Get $30 for free with Rakuten!
6. DoorDash
Another popular option to get paid for shopping is to become a DoorDash driver.
DoorDash is the most popular food delivery service in North America, and like Instacart, it's available in thousands of cities.
Now, most DoorDash deliveries just involve picking up fast food and restaurant orders and then dropping them off at people's houses, so there's not too much shopping. However, you can still get Walmart orders on DoorDash or orders where you have to pick up some groceries, so it's still a way to get paid for shopping.
And with DoorDash, you can usually get steadier orders than Instacart, meaning your weekly DoorDash pay can get quite high. In fact, it's one of the highest-paying driving gigs out there.
Overall, learning how to DoorDash isn't very hard. And if you want to make money shopping and for picking up food orders, this is one of the best gig jobs out there.
Start making money with DoorDash!
7. Use Receipt Scanning Apps
Like Fetch Rewards, another easy way to get paid to shop is to use different receipt scanning reward apps.
These apps pay you for uploading pictures of your grocery and regular shopping receipts. In exchange for your receipts, you can normally earn a variety of gift cards or free PayPal money.
Some leading receipt scanning apps you can use to earn money for shopping include:
- Receipt Hog
- Upside (great for earning cash-back rewards on gas)
- Amazon Shopper Panel
- ReceiptPal
- P&G Good Everyday Rewards
- CoinOut
- Checkout 51
These apps don't pay a lot of money, but collectively, earning a quick $20 per month or so is pretty reasonable if you shop regularly. And some of these apps also have nice sign up bonus offers you can take advantage of if you're a new member.
8. Mystery Shopping Gigs
Brands want to hear honest feedback from consumers about their shopping experiences. And this is where there's ample opportunity to make money as a mystery shopper.
As a mystery shopper, you get paid to complete a wide variety of tasks as an undercover shopper. This might look like ordering something from a restaurant and then rating your experience. Other common tasks include taking photos of store displays, confirming the price of items, and rating how organized stores are.
Overall, this type of work is a fun side hustle. There are also plenty of mystery shopping apps out there, including:
Between these apps, it's easy to make money shopping while you explore new stores in your city.
9. Fetch Rewards
Fetch Rewards is a leading shopping app that pays you for buying products from dozens of popular brands.
All you have to do is download the free Fetch Rewards app, buy products from eligible partners, and then snap a picture of your receipt with the app to earn points.
You can exchange your points for free gift cards starting at just 3,000 points, or $3, so it's also a fast way to earn some free money. And one advantage of Fetch Rewards is that it works with plenty of popular brands like Aquafina, Brisk, Gatorade, Huggies, Kraft, and more.
So, as long as you're buying products from partner brands, you're technically getting paid to shop thanks to the cash back you earn from Fetch Rewards.
Apps like Fetch Rewards won't make you rich, but by using the app consistently you can earn a decent amount of rewards.
Start earning rewards with Fetch Rewards!
10. Shipt
Shipt is another popular grocery delivery service that's available in thousands of U.S. cities.
Shipt is almost identical to Instacart. You get paid to shop for groceries for other people and then deliver them, just like Instacart.
Shipt Shoppers can also earn around $15 to $20+ per hour in busy markets, and you keep 100% of all tips as well.
Many gig workers use Instacart and Shipt to maximize how many orders they get alongside apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats. But the bottom line is that a few Shipt orders can be an easy $50 a day or even $100+ depending on how much orders pay.
11. Craigslist Shopping Gigs
Craigslist is one of the most popular classifieds websites out there, and it's a great way to flip stuff for a profit or to find local cash gigs.
However, you can also make money shopping for other people with Craigslist if you look under its “cash jobs” section.
Craigslist always has a list of odd jobs under this section, so you can make fast cash with jobs like cleaning or moving help. But Craigslist also has the occasional personal shopper advertisement where someone is willing to pay for you to do their shopping for them.
My friends and I have made money with Craigslist gigs in the past, and it's a great option if you're willing to hustle for a day.
12. Drop
Drop is another one of my favorite ways to make money shopping, and this rewards app pays you for shopping at your favorite brands.
Once you download the app and connect your bank account, you select brands you want to shop at within the app.
When you shop at those brands with a linked card or complete specific shopping offers, you earn Drop points in exchange. Drop points are redeemable for free gift cards to a variety of companies like Amazon, Best Buy, Macy's, Starbucks, and Sephora.
Drop also lets you make money playing games and by answering short in-app surveys. Overall, it's a very easy-to-use app, and making $5 to $20 per month in gift cards isn't unreasonable if you complete its offers.
And you can use our Drop invite code to earn up to 15,000 free Drop points when you sign up!
Start getting paid to shop with Drop!
13. Capital One Shopping
Capital One Shopping is another leading shopping extension, and it's a way to save more money while earning rewards at the same time.
For starters, Capital One Shopping automatically applies coupon codes at checkout for tens of thousands of U.S. retailers. So, when you're ready to check out, Capital One Shopping's extension gets to work to see if it can snag savings upfront.
Additionally, Capital One Shopping lets you earn shopping credits when you make purchases from eligible partners. You can exchange these credits for free gift cards once you earn $5 in credits, which is possible after a purchase or two.
Overall, this is one of the best ways to save money when shopping online, and earning shopping rewards is the cherry on top.
Try out Capital One Shopping today!
14. Ibotta
Ibotta is one of the most popular apps that pays you to shop out there, and it lets you earn rewards for your in-store and online shopping.
What's nice about Ibotta is that it has so many rebate categories, so you can earn cash back for buying products in categories like:
- Clothing
- Electronics
- Groceries
- Health and beauty
- Home and auto
- Restaurants
- Travel
Ibotta lets you cash out earnings for PayPal cash or dozens of free gift cards, so the reward variety is a perk as well. And if you use some nifty Ibotta cheats like downloading its shopping extension, you can even get paid to shop online with this rewards program.
Overall, if you do most of the shopping for your household, reward apps like Fetch Rewards and Ibotta belong on your smartphone.
15. Pogo
Pogo is another popular rewards app, and if you want to earn passive income, it's one of the best shopping rewards apps out there.
With Pogo, you get paid small amounts of PayPal cash every time you shop. All you have to do is sign up, link your bank account to Pogo, and then shop with linked cards to earn.
What I like about Pogo is that it's completely passive and just pays you for your data. So you can make money on autopilot whenever you have to spend money. This is the same system apps like Dosh use, and it's how the Drop app used to work as well.
Plus, Pogo lets you cash out at 3,000 points, which is worth $3. And you can answer short in-app surveys to earn points even faster.
16. Honey
Like Capital One Shopping, the Honey extension is another way to make money with online shopping and to save money as well.
Honey also applies coupon codes at checkout at thousands of stores, including international ones. And, if you shop at eligible Honey partners, you earn Honey Gold for your online purchases.
Honey Gold is redeemable for a variety of free gift cards to companies like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Sephora. To date, I've earned over $400 worth of gold by having this extension installed.
If you do most of your shopping in the United States, I think Capital One Shopping is a better extension, or even Rakuten. But for getting paid to shop online as an international customer, Honey has the most flexibility.
17. TaskRabbit
TaskRabbit is a gig marketplace where you can offer services to people in your area to get paid.
Now, the most popular TaskRabbit gigs involve things like furniture assembly, cleaning, and landscaping. But you can also offer personal shopping services on TaskRabbit to make money shopping for other people.
What's nice about TaskRabbit is that you set your own availability and hourly rates as well, so you can likely charge $10 to $30 per hour for a lot of gigs.
Ultimately, websites like TaskRabbit aren't great for finding 40 hours a week of work. But for the occasional shopping gig that pays, TaskRabbit is definitely viable.
18. Care.com
Care.com is a leading caregiving website that connects families in need of help with qualified caregivers.
Some of the most popular categories on Care.com include:
- Child care
- Daycare
- Housekeeping
- Pet care
- Senior care
- Tutoring
Many senior care roles involve personal shopping alongside duties like housekeeping and socializing.
So, if you have experience working with seniors, you can get paid to shop for others by working with Care.com. Many gigs also pay $15 to $20+ per hour, so this is definitely a well-compensated side job!
19. Walmart Spark
Like DoorDash and Instacart, another real way to get paid to shop is to become a Walmart Spark driver.
This delivery gig pays you to deliver groceries, everyday essentials, and other packages to Walmart customers. And you can sign up if you're 18 or older and live in the United States.
Drivers earn about $15 per hour on average. But you keep 100% of all tips, and Walmart has numerous driver promotions and surge payments that can increase this amount.
You also get paid weekly like other shopping gigs. Overall, this high-paying app is worth considering if you have regular access to a vehicle and don't mind making deliveries.
Tips For Getting Started
Here are a few tips you should know to maximize how much money you make with this sort of side hustle:
- Set Income Goals: How much money do you want to make per week or per month? Some apps pay more than others, so you need to pick the right platforms that pay what you're looking for.
- Try Multiple Apps: Using multiple apps that pay you for shopping is the best way to discover what you like and to learn which apps pay the most. So, try out Uber Eats or Instacart, upload receipts with Fetch Rewards, and apply to Care.com.
- Look For Offers Early: Many apps that pay you to shop have a limited number of offers, so it's important to check these apps regularly and to claim lucrative offers when you see them.
Extra Reading – The Best Ways To Make $2,000 Dollars Fast.
Final Thoughts
I hope my list of the best ways to get paid to shop helps you turn your next trip to the store or online shopping haul into a money-making endeavor.
There are so many ways you can get paid for shopping thanks to reward apps and the gig economy. So, pick an idea or two, test them out, and see how much money you can make with these different shopping gigs!
Looking for more ways to make extra money? Checkout:
Note: Capital One Shopping compensates us when you sign up with the provided links.
