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 experience on Craigslist, although not with CloudCrowd. I think what they try to do is send a lot of responses to people so that we write articles for free. They tell you they like your writing and then you don’t hear from them. Why do they use only first names and no last names? Then you see on Craig’s List, they just posted another ad for “Freelance Writer.” We need to be careful.
Hey guys,
I’m a published author and have edited two anthologies. I also got rejected – for my first assignment which was an editor credential test. The rejection comment? “Missing Middle Paragraph” – which wasn’t missing. They also gave me a credibility score so low I can’t do any of a work listed, so CloudCrowd isn’t something I’ll be trying again (I’ve even tried appealing to no avail).
If you get on, just be prepared for some stupid rejections. There seems to be a whole section of posts about it in the CloudCrowd support area. I’m not saying you can’t make money with the site, I’m sure you can, I am just one person who wasn’t given the chance to even try.
Tina,
Thanks for chiming in. That seems to be a common theme from people that try to give this opportunity a shot. I know some people stuff is passing because I’m receiving commissions from people’s work who has been approved. So some folks are getting through their process. But it does seem crazy that professionals like yourself are getting rejected. Thank goodness there are always other options like Amazon turk. If one company rejects you can always move on. Lord knows I have many times. lol
But thanks for sharing!
hey.. good day to you fellas… im hash from the philippines and ive been wandering the internet just to find a reliable and trusted online money making sites…i had a cloudcrowd account but it seems that they are somehow irrational…they just rejected one of my task and it get my credibility stat went down a mile… too bad.. can u guys refer me to another good one…
hope to hear a lot from you…
thanks & more power…
GOD BLESS
I was glad to see your post Anna. I had pretty much the same thing happen to me (and I write for a couple of big name companies). I didn’t get any worker comments though. So they rejected your work but accepted the work of the person that edited it? Yes… that corrected snippet is not only bad but it’s just plain wrong! It’s scary to think this is a company presenting themselves as professionals and that is their level of expertize.
It seems as though Cloud Crowd has a number of people complaining about rejections of perfectly acceptable work. One even went as far to point out some proofreading and grammer issues on the corporate site. I have been a writer (with an advanced degree), I have been published in various newspapers. You guessed it! They rejected me and the reviewer left the correct version that would not be accepted by any of my current jobs.
“Worker Comments:
-It is one of our greatest joy(‘)s — who really enjoy (watching) their business, grow [up] year by year — As others have done, everybody begins with very small amount of capital, (New businesses often begin with just a small amount of capital)”
Does this seem like something anyone would write here? Maybe they are rejecting people and still using our corrected work?
hi Eddy , I love cloudcrowd for 3 days i earned total 15 usd not bad for 3 days and i love the way they pay me everyday , i hope there will be more task available its so nice and a good way to earn extra, since ive earned 15 $ i upgraded my clixsense :).
Dear eddy can u suugest other online opportunity the same with cloudcrowd who pays eveyrday and use paypal?? thanks..
Hi,
Congrats on taking action and making that money.
You data pays weekly:
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2009/05/11/get-paid-to-view-ads-youdatacom/
My Survey can pay daily if you have enough in your account:
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2010/05/18/work-at-home-updates-mysurvey-com/
Amazon Mturk can pay daily as well provided that you have enough in your account.
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2008/07/29/work-at-home-with-amazoncom/
You may also want to visit my recommendations page where I have an article about fast ways to
make money:
http://www.workathomenoscams.com/recommendations
Either way it’s great to see you taking action. Keep your options open and you’ll make even more money
even if you have to wait for it a bit. Continued success.
Hi
i am a newbie and a big fan now of your site, its really informative, I already joined clixsense a dn cloud crowd and so far from yesterday i have a whopping 0.16 usd earned thru clixsense :p heeh but way to go for cloud crowd i am earning usd 1.25 since yesterday…cloudcrowd is faster than clixsense since i have not paid the premium membership… LET SEE IF CLOUD CROWD WILL PAY ME THRU PAYPAL im anxious 🙂 i loved it
Hi,
I’m glad you like the site and are taking action. Keep in mind with clixsense you’re not required to upgrade. At the end of the day you earned .16 for something you’ve probably been doing for free since getting on the web so you’re already in a better place. CloudCrowd will pay you assuming your work was done properly. I get paid from them regularly so I know they pay.
If you like this company you should also check out the amazon opt I’ve listed on my recommendations page:
http://www.WorkAtHomeNoScams.com/recommendations
It’s a favorite of most people. There are some other great stuff there as well. The more multiple sources of income you have, the better. So good luck.
I’ve never heard of Short Task – I’ll have to check it out ☺
Also going to read Eddy’s info at https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2010/03/03/top-10-free-ways-to-make-money-fast/ !
Sounds good Amelia!
You might want to try a site called Short Task. They’re similar to Mechanical Turk or Cloud Crowd. The pay may be a bit better, though not positive on that, but despite the fact that they’re still in Beta, they seem more organized than Cloud Crowd. I haven’t had the time to put it to the test but maybe someone else does? It could possibly be another addition to that multiple streams of income that Eddy is talking about. 🙂
Hi Kris,
I agree with about short task. We actually recommended them in the following article:
https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2010/03/03/top-10-free-ways-to-make-money-fast/
So thanks for mentioning it.
Eddy,
I’ve been thinking of checking it out. The jobs may be low paying, but there is a real opportunity here, its a chance to explore different kinds of jobs. Kind of like going to a buffet with all kinds of new foods. You won’t know if you like it unless you give it a chance.
Wendy
Amen Wendy!
It’s very much like Amazon Mechanical Turk https://www.workathomenoscams.com/2008/07/29/work-at-home-with-amazoncom/ but not as good quite yet. But I know folks are making money with it and you already know every penny counts and add up. So I applaud how you’re viewing this opportunity. As always this stuff boils down to perception. It’s why there are some of us that are making money with multiple streams of income while others are still out there getting frustrated they can’t find anything.
Yes they do pay, despite the fact that you couldn’t feed a goldfish on what they pay. I think it’s ok if you do it just for enjoyment… sort of like playing online games and getting paid a few cents for it. But their rating/review/editing is a mess. People with perfectly good answers are having their work rejected. Who is making this judgment call and what kind of education or background do they have to grade someone’s work?
I know for 100% certainty that CloudCrowd is NOT a scam. I just got paid by them – 2 payments actually – totaling a whopping 7 cents LOL! Hey, at least they paid! 🙂
I’ve tried out Cloud Crowd and I believe that they are a scam. I’ve seen posts on there that their pay continues to be very low. I tried one of their cred tests and received a no which is fine. Yet, they don’t tell you why you’ve gotten a no. So there is no way to improve to go higher. You spend time doing the work and I didn’t get paid for it. So, be warned. I feel in the end they’ll be very much like microworkers.
Thanks for letting me share with info.
Glad I could be of service! LOL! Your Fan Page is GREAT! ☺♥
LOL
It’s not great yet but it’s getting there. lol
Hey Eddy! I forgot about this opportunity! You just refreshed my memory w/your post over on FB! Thanks! ☺♥
Hey Amelia,
You just demonstrated a great reason why folks should be fan of my fan page:
http://www.facebook.com/workathomenoscams lol
i’m from philippines is this cloud crowd (International??)?/
As stated above:
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
Sorry I’m chiming in so late on this but CloudCroud isn’t a scam… exactly. Their pay is so low most of the projects aren’t worth the bother. I tried it a few times when they first started out and only got a couple rejections. I just went back and saw that they now have editing projects that pays $1.50 to edit 5 paragraphs. I’ve been writing and editing content for a couple of fairly large companies for about 6 years and thought this sounded fun. I took the test to be certified and got a score of poor! My question is who’s behind the scenes making these decisions? I believe it’s basically community run so that members are editing other members’ work. What credentials or level of education do these people have that seem to be rejecting perfectly good work? Makes me wonder if they know what they’re doing.
Hey Kris,
Thanks for sharing. That’s some great questions and observations.
I’ve tried CloudCrowd and have gotten paid. It’s not a scam. Now, I haven’t been paid tons… it’s definitely not going to replace your day job. But you can make some extra spending cash. And the jobs aren’t too difficult. From what I understand, the more experience you gain doing CloudCrowd tasks, the more higher-paying tasks you are offered.
CloudCrowd hasn’t paid its workers large amounts of pending earnings for over a month now claiming “because of a glitch they have to do it one by one by hand”. Many of the workers have been banned for no reason and insulted by the CC staff. There is little communication from them at this time either.
Hey Chris,
I was wondering why I haven’t received a payment in a while. I hope this company isn’t going down the tubes before it even gets started. Anyone else experiencing similar things?
hi i found out about cloudcrowd through facebook, no it isnt a scam, and so far i have been paid through paypal from them, there pays arnt that much but they do pay you.
Hi Sasha,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I agree it’s definitely not a scam and I’ve been paid several times with them.
Hey, don’t be so afraid of Facebook. If you get a message asking you to accept somebody as a “friend,” you can ignore it. You can upload a false profile pic. You can set your profile and search information settings to make yourself invisible to all but your friends — and if you don’t accept any friends, nobody can find you.
OTOH, making yourself visible and accepting friends and posting daily links to these pages gives you another way to direct readers to THIS site, and that is good business.
Those that use this site, what type of work is it that you are doing?
How much time does it take to do each job?
I certainly would love to make a few extra bucks here and there.
Donald,
Visit their site and give it a try. You have nothing to lose and most of the questions are already answered there.
Your right, I spend hours online looking for jobs and doing surveys, why not try this. I just joined, thanks.
Glad you see the logic Blanca! 😉 At the end of the day what do we all have to lose giving opportunities like this a shot?
Here’s another view on low-paying work that really hit home when he mentioned that he hired a woman for $3.00/hour in New Jersey to help with some of his basic SEO work.
He told her that he wouldn’t feel right paying her that much and she pointed out that she would be getting paid to learn parts of an overall skillset that she wants to develop.
Good point Paul!
@Eddy Salomon:
Hi EDDY,
I think I misspelled your name subconsciously because I just read the other day how you jumped on some unfortunate soul for doing the very same thing! LOL So sorry. It must be my passive aggressiveness peeking out of my otherwise sunny nature!
In any event, I joined up and I have spent today advertising the heck out of it. So maybe you will see some $$ from my effort =D
xoxo
Shawna
That Facebook requirement is enough to stop me from checking this out. I’ve been hearing from a lot of people who are using it though, and they’ve all been paid punctually. It seems like a real deal.
Cloud Crowd it is then, “hated with passion” the Facebook obligation though :S
No tasks available, but the idea is awesome and such a simple way to make some extra bucks!
Hi Eddie! I never figured you to be “an anti-social b*stard”- your words, not mine!
I already have a facebook account so I will have to check out this CloudCrowd. I do MTurk when I find something on Amazon I want. Instead of spending the $ to buy it, I work MTurk and pay with my earnings. Don’t feel so guilty that way !! LOL
Thanks again for your work on checking these companies out for us. It sure saves a lot of time and if you say it’s legit, I know I can put effort into it.
Hey Shawna,
Yes I am actually very antisocial despite what my online my persona may reflect. I’m the type of person that prefers to be at home than going out. lol I like how you use MTurk. I sort of do the same thing with mysurvey.
I use the points I earn to redeem gift certificates which I use for purchases of Amazon. In any event, let me know how cloudcrowd goes for you. By the way I can’t believe you mis-spelled my name considering you’ve been a long time
supporter. Tsk, tsk. lol
Barbara,
Let’s hope more tasks start rolling in very soon. Like I said it’s in beta which means they’re probably working out bugs and the best way to make this work for everyone. I’m sure once they’re out of beta they’ll have more tasks.
Aimee,
Thanks for chiming in and sharing what you’ve heard. Hopefully some of our concerns regarding the Facebook requirement will be heard and they’ll make it an optional requirement when they get out of Beta.