If you've read my review regarding Amazon.com Mechanical Turk work at home program the following review will seem like deja vu.
What is CloudCrowd.com?
It's very much like a freelance site except without the bidding. An employer or company hires CloudCrowd.com to complete a project. CloudCrowd.com breaks this project down into smaller easier tasks. They post these tasks on their site and assign a fee to them. Work at home seekers can log in to their cloudcrowd account to see what projects are available and select the ones of interest to them and get started on them. Once they're completed the tasks they're paid instantly the following day. Pretty cool, huh?
What type of work is on CloudCrowd?
The projects vary. You can get paid for tagging images or videos with descriptive keywords. You can get paid for finding information online. You can get paid for writing or editing paragraphs, articles, etc. Basically whatever someone is willing to pay you for that involves online work, it will probably show up on CloudCrowd.com provided it's not illegal or gross.
What are the requirements to work with CloudCrowd.com?
1. Paypal account – It's free and used to pay you.
2. Facebook account – It's free. Cloudcrowd.com uses a facebook application to post new jobs and manage their workers.
3. Internet Access – All your work is done online, so web access is sort of important.
How much can you get paid?
This all varies on the complexity of the tasks. It can range anywhere from .01 cents and up. Yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking. I'm not doing anything for .01 cent. Like I said it varies. But at the end of the day like Mturk it all adds up when you're doing multiple projects. There are many of you that can attest to this that have tried MTurk.
And besides you'll probably get paid more than you do now for your online activities. I'm guessing if you calculate all the hours you spend online searching for jobs, goofing off on facebook or surfing porn you'll discover you've earned nothing for the trouble. So earning a few cents or dollars should be welcomed instead of looked down on.
How do you get paid?
CloudCrowd pays via paypal. You can transfer the money from your paypal account to your bank account or you can use their paypal debit card to have access to your money.
When do you get paid?
After you complete a project, you get paid the next day via PayPal.
Is this opportunity available to people outside the US?
Yes it is. As long as your country is supported by paypal then you're eligible to work with CloudCrowd.com
Is there a referral program?
Of course there is. Haven't I told you most companies have an affiliate / referral program? In any event, here's what I know about their program:
– It's obviously free to join and participate.
– "When you invite someone to join CloudCrowd and they join, they become part of your Personal Crowd, and you get a commission on all the work they do. The people they invite also become part of your Personal Crowd, at the 2nd level. The invitees of your 2nd level Personal Crowd become your 3rd level Personal Crowd. Each time any of these individuals does work that is paid for, you get a commission.
Referral rates are currently:
– Rates are subject to change on a quarterly basis.
– Best of all, Commissions are paid daily! Joy!!!
So is CloudCrowd.com A Scam?
My initial research hasn't shown a lot of evidence to suggest that CloudCrowd.com is a scam. They don't charge you a fee which is always a good look. There are reports of people getting paid. So at the time of this review, it seems safe to say that CloudCrowd.com is legitimate
Now with that said, they're still in beta so things can change drastically for better or worst either way. But for now you might as well test it out and make some money. Add this opportunity to your arsenal of non traditional work at home opportunities that can make you money now.
The Cons
Although I do recommend trying CloudCrowd.com, please keep the following negatives in mind:
1. You can't support your family with this type of opportunity. It's not a "real" work at home job. But you already know I'm all for multiple streams of income regardless of how small it may be. In this industry making some money is always better than making none. If you don't feel that way yet, it means you haven't been at this long enough and your attitude will change soon enough.
2. Some folks hate paypal with a passion. I've heard the horror stories but I've been using them for years and have never had an issue. But since CloudCrowd.com doesn't offer a check option, this may turn off some people.
3. You need to have a Facebook account. Personally I found this to be annoying. Let's assume you're an anti-social bastard like myself that doesn't want to be found or contacted. lol This requirement sort of puts you in a tough position. Hopefully in time they'll have more of a traditional account process that doesn't require Facebook.
4. There aren't a lot of projects right now. But I suspect it's one of those things where you need to check in several times a day to see if anything new popped up. Furthermore the company is in beta so I imagine as they get more publicity and are out of that phase, it will grow like Amazon MTurk program did.
Conclusion:
In any event, that pretty much sums it up. If you've tried this company, I would love to hear your feedback. I'll probably do a follow up post with a video if I've made some money with the company. You know I'm big on talking the talk and walking the walk. But I figured that I should get this out here as soon as possible to help you folks out. Lord knows my schedule can be wacky which may delay the creation of a video or post. Furthermore the referral money would be nice, so help a brother out. lol
Enjoy either way and let me know what you think.
I’ve passed four of their credential tests now without any issues, however, now that I am reading everyone’s comments, I am honestly very concerned about attempting any of the tasks. It seems completely legitimate based on what I have read from their website. I am wondering if things have improved in the yeas since the last comment.
Things may have changed for the better since these comments were posted. The best thing to do, is try for yourself. Don’t invest too much time, just in case things aren’t good. But at least you’ll know first hand if things changed or not. Let us know your findings. Thanks.
That’s pretty much how all crowd sourcing companies work. It’s a great business model for the companies and for people looking to make a bit of extra money. So there isn’t anything wrong with the business model. If it’s not something that appeals to you then that’s fine. You just don’t have to be involved with crowd sourcing type of opportunities. It doesn’t make it a rip off because you don’t personally like the business model.
There are lots of people earning some great money with sites like Mturk and are very happy with it. I know because I get comments and emails from people I have introduced to it.
The one point I do agree with you is that Mturk definitely seems to be way above CloudCrowd which doesn’t seem to be a favorite with a lot of people because of how they run their business.
This company makes a ton of money breaking down the job into smaller pieces. They pay the individual for effort but not the groups effort, (Adam Smith). Complete rip off. MTurk isn’t good but it is miles above this site.
I’ll say this, people seem to do better with Mturk than they do with CloudCrowd. That being said I don’t think it’s a scam because they do pay people. But from what I understand they are a pain in the ass when it comes to their tasks and don’t pay as well as Mturk. So I’ll give you that.
I think it is a scam. I tried doing a tasks like extracting data from linkedin. They want you to search for companies (most of these companies are pointed at blogs or expired companies) and enter in information and get paid like 3 cents. It took hours but I made like 6 cents from extracting data from linkedin. Then I tried increasing my credit rating by doing Keyword Research – Level 1. I got rejected without explanation. Just stay away form this site. MTurk is way better!!!
Glad you like it!
Very helpful information
I’ve worked for them. It’s actually pretty much of a nightmare. People review each other’s work. One reviewer might reject the whole thing and you wouldn’t get paid at all for your hard work, while another reviewer might correct a couple of similar errors and you’d be docked a small amount but still get paid. You can appeal, but they have lots of rules about how often. The basic pay rate for editing is extremely low compared to what “real” editors make. If they didn’t have the option of total rejection at the reviewer’s whim it would be more reasonable, considering that you’re working from home. Still very low pay, though. They also don’t have a complete style manual, so lots of issues are unclear. You can get rejected for things and, depending on the arbitrator, you may or may not have your rejection overturned. Ultimately the company is getting quite high quality work for peanuts, while charging plenty to their customers. So, in that sense it is a scam.
What makes me laugh about Cloud Crowd is that their “How It Works” page contains simple spelling and grammatical mistakes. Kind of ironic for a site offering writing and editing work.
Two examples: “Obtaining credentials allows your to access …”
“If you’re work is Reviewer Corrected …”
There may be more elsewhere on the site.
Not reassuring.
LOL, Good point.
I’m making extra cash through Cloudcrowd. From August 1 to August 15, I made about $120 editing documents. The key here is to follow the instructions and skip those tasks that are too difficult or ambiguous. I’ve had a few tasks that got rejected but it won’t discourage me. I always make sure that my work is perfect. There are higher paying tasks such as writing health articles but I avoid them since I’m not confident enough that my work will pass their standards, but I’m really good at editing and proofreading that’s why I’m able to make money from this site.
Thanks for sharing your experience. That’s some great advice. The feedback was getting very one sided so I’m happy to hear you’ve had a good experience.
It is a scam, specially for Professional Translators. CloudCrowd gives a different test for each applicant. Think, a test of 600 words more or less multiplied by thousands of applicants that finally fail because they missed a space or something ridiculously unimportant? It is a nice way to get free translations!
Yeah ill provide feedback to this. They are definitely a waste of time, since they love putting people on probation for ONE mistake. Then when you email them and try to get an answer, forget it, they send a automatic email resonse saying they will get back to you in 48 hrs, I still haven’t heard anything and its been days since i wrote. The management team is less than organized or responsive, they have NO customer service what so ever. I think they need to do alot of how can we improve work before having the site open. Its just a big rip off to me.
Well thanks for sharing your experience.
Well said Leo. Thanks for sharing your well thought out insight and experience. It definitely gives folks something to think about it!
I too found the site problematic,two of my credentials tests were rejected for very subjective reasons. However I don’t exactly have the time or patience to argue with them in order to make a very measly pay-rate.
What does strike me as strange, and I’ve seen from the comments here that others have noticed this, is that my work was never marked by an administrator and was instead looked at by another worker. While other people have pointed out that we don’t know who qualifies these workers, I want to raise the point that it’s a conflict of interest. There are a limited number of jobs on the site, and the pay is very small, it seems likely that the workers are looking to fail anyone they can for the slightest of reasons, just to keep all the work to themselves.
The reason this pisses me off is that I wasted my time submitting to a very flawed system. I spent a while carefully writing and editing my work on the tests, when I could have been looking for better work online. Thanks Eddy for providing a list of other options, I’ll be sure to check them out, I just wish I had seen them before I went on Cloud Crowd. So to anyone reading this, make Cloud Crowd your last priority, or better yet, don’t waste your time with them at all.
I like Cloud Crowd pretty well at first, but as others said, I had a few thins rejected for no apparent reason. In spite of all that, the interface is really easy to use – I love that it’s meshed with Facebook – and the near daily pay is also great. I don’t actively participate in it anymore, but I do occasionally get a few cents in my Paypal account from referrals. It’s fairly new, so maybe they’ll get some improved system in place for some of these problems they’re having.
Tina, I know how you feel. I have been a freelance journalist for fifteen years and am a professional proof reader with two books published, yet my test text was rejected. One of the reasons was I had split the piece into two paragraphs as it was on the source site.
So what are the books that you published. Love to know peoples accomplishments…:)
Tried out for this Cloudcrowd. In order to get the decent jobs you have to do a test piece. Did it well only to be told I hadn’t passed so thought maybe I need to work harder. Tried again from another account and got the same result, despite spending 30 minutes on editing they said would take ten. Predictably, not passing the test means you can only go for the jobs that offer 1-2 cents instead of ones that pay a dollar or more. Personally I think the site is a con to get people editing stuff for free or for peanuts. The editorial comments I received when they said I failed the test, were pathetic and written by people who didn’t have a clue.
One to steer well clear of I’m afraid.
Jendo:
I had a similar experi