Not speaking for Iceblink, but I will say that personally I just don't work if it's going to be less than $5.00/hr. I'll go through MTurk and see if there is anything worth doing that will give me a decent wage, and if there is then I do it. If I realize that I'm not going to hit that wage, then I go do something else and check back later. It's really just a matter of principle, I don't work for crap wages... if everyone just decides that they'll take whatever little amount they are given, that negatively impacts the market price that requesters can pay.
That's not quite true. Yes some transcription jobs pay around that amount, but others are higher. I'm still new to transcription so not the fastest at it, but I find that with clear audio it takes me about 4 times the length of the audio to do a transcription. I just saw a speechink one that pays, on average 1.05 for 2 min 44 sec audio. This would take me about 11 minutes to complete, so I could do about 5.5 in an hour, which comes to $5.77/hr.
I wouldn't work, I'd search the HITs until I found something or go away and come back later. Most of the best HITs that pay $15-25 per hour only live for about 10 minutes each if you're lucky so you'd probably end up with more money just surfing the HITs than working on low paying stuff all day anyway..
And this is why I'm disappointed in the people who tout Oscar Smith as a "great" requester. I know that there isn't a lot for the Indian Turkers to work on, but if they'd refuse to do those, then Oscar Smith would be forced to pay better for those HITs.
Yeah Oscar can pretty much go F himself. I just wish people would stop doing his work. He's got some hooked in trying to get to that elusive "Trusted Worker Status" so they can do the hits for... 5 cents. Even at 5 cents you're looking at MAYBE a $2.50/hr rate, and that's only if you can do them super fast.
It depends what you define as on the clock... like I'd consider being on this board, browsing the HIT listings, and taking qualification tests as all part of this 'job' even though I'm technically not working. When I'm doing HIT's I find that I'm usually doing about $5-6 per hour when I'm writing or doing piggybank surveys and about $15-19 per hour when I find a good batch.
See I don't consider this being on the clock, as I usually only come in here before or after my actual turk sessions (that sounds dirty...). The only time I really come here while I'm in the middle of turking is if I want to look for some feedback on a certain requester that I'm considering working for, or if I find a juicy HIT that I feel compelled to share.
I make less than $4/hr with transcription. Sometimes it is less than $2/hr. In the meantime, I'm gaining much-needed experience with the work. I know now what some of my weaknesses are and my strengths. CastingWords has upped some of my qualifications just so I can work on other assignments. Me working on them is not only about the pay, it is gaining knowledge and contacts. I am going to stick with mturk long enough to get some personal things sorted out, but then I'll be ready for the independent contractor circuit. I don't do well in a classroom environment and I blow off online classes. I owe twenty grand in student loans, I have tried traditional routes. If I am learning a marketable skill, getting paid, and thoroughly enjoy the work - it isn't always about the money. Now, if I'm able to get in on batch HIT action with the new laptop, it will be about the hourly wage. Edit: oh i'll stick around even after but mturk is a stepping stone. Once i find a way to make more money, mturk will be filler not primary.
Wow! Well I'm still learning the ropes here, just getting out of my 100 limit/day today. I really don't wanna think about the pathetic wages i've worked for so far. But my totals are $4.36 (with a $7.52 potential earnings). Plebe wages really. but there was a goal I've been working towards, so most of today I've worked penny HITS from Redwood, audio transcript review. I flew through over 400 of them. Anyway, the goal, well, goals, were climbing out of a rejection hole I dug myself into with one requester. About a week ago I was saddled with a 75% or so approval rate; As of right now I'm at 99.3%. My second goal was to hit 1000 HITS. I'm at 893 now with 112 pending. So money-wise it was a loser- so far as I have a few hours to go. But I'm hoping the grinding will lead to bigger payoffs later this week. I mean otherwise, I coulda made more money scrounging around parks, looking for aluminum cans. lol
I just cannot calculate how much I am making per hour. Not that I am unable to do the math, just that I have to start and stop so frequently (4 kids at home), that I cannot keep track. In any case, I try to make $10 a day. I estimate that I spend maybe 2 - 3 hours per day actively turking. This $10/day goal has only been feasible since hitting the 1000 approved mark.
That's a good goal. When the surveys start getting good again you might be able to make more in the same amount of time. Some of the survey requesters are cool, too, and put looooong timers on them. That way if someone needs attention, you're not thinking that you have to return it "just in case."