5 Simple Ways to Make Money Christmas Shopping

I hate going Christmas shopping. Heck, I hate shopping altogether, but I’ve accepted that it’s a part of life. It’s just something about fighting the masses to find something of value that gets to me. However, I like to find ways to turn things on their head so I can find value. With that in mind, I like to find ways to make money Christmas shopping.

That’s right – making money Christmas shopping. Some of these ways might require a little more time than others, but if you do it right you can potentially come out of the Christmas season ahead as opposed to regretting the amount you spent.

Ways to Make Money Christmas Shopping

Do you hate to shop or make money doing something you’re already doing? Me too. Below are five simple ways to make money Christmas shopping and put a little extra money in your pocket this season.

1. Personal Shopping

I’ve not done personal shopping before, but have several family members who have done so. It’s an excellent way to make extra money, especially if you’re efficient with your shopping time. You can charge either per hour or by the gig, though I’d tend to go with the per gig option as it could allow you to make more money in the long run.

This can be a nice little way to make money Christmas shopping because I know there are plenty of people like me who hate shopping. There are a variety of ways to get gigs doing this but have found that word of mouth tends to work best.

Don’t want to shop, but have no problem driving people around as they shop or are traveling to visit family and friends? You can drive for Lyft and make extra money in your free time.

DoorDash is a suitable option if you don’t prefer to drive people in your car. You deliver for DoorDash and can get paid $23 per hour while on a delivery, on a flexible schedule.

Lastly, don’t overlook Swagbucks or Ibotta when doing your own shopping online. Both work with hundreds of retailers to provide cash back on your shopping.

They also both offer a bonus after opening an account and making a purchase of over $25: Swagbucks will give you a $10 bonus and with Ibotta you can get $5.

2. Mystery Shopping

If you’ve not done mystery shopping before the basic gist is retailers pay money for you to go to a store undercover and report on your experience. The payout varies from just paying for the specific service to a significant amount so it’s pretty variable.

However, with the season approaching it can be a nice way to make extra money before Christmas. If you can combine it with where you were going to go anyway then even better as you can kill two birds with one stone.

Jobs2Shop is a service that helps you find local mystery shopping opportunities. Each opportunity typically has you do a number of tasks from taking pictures of an item to doing price checks. You can expect to make up to $85 per shop with Jobs2Shop!

Like the idea of shopping, but don’t want to deal with mystery shops? You can also make money Christmas shopping (and year-round) buying groceries for people. The holidays are a busy time for many, making it more difficult to go to the grocery store.

You can make up to $20 per hour buying groceries for people with Instacart Shopper. You need to be at least 18 years old, able to pick up at least 30 pounds, and have a newer smartphone (Android 4.4/iPhone 5 or newer).

To make money with Instacart Shopper you’ll work as an independent contractor and use your own car to pick up and deliver groceries. You also get to set your own schedule in this role.

Read our guide on working for Instacart here to learn more about this opportunity.

If you like working with others and don’t mind shopping, this can be a terrific way to make money year-round and not just during the holidays.

3. Sell Your Old Gift Cards

How many gift cards do you have that you haven’t used? That’s cash you’re literally sitting on if you’ve had them for some time. Instead of letting them sit there and collect dust you can sell them for cash.

With Raise you can sell your old gift cards for cash. Raise also sells discounted gift cards, but we want to make extra money…not spend it. If you have old gift cards lying around, sell them to make a little extra money this Christmas.

4. Taking Surveys

Have you ever noticed that many stores give out receipts that are a mile long? I hate those and they’re just a waste of paper in nearly all cases.

However, buried at the bottom of many of those receipts is a survey they want you to take. In many of those cases they’ll put you in some sort of drawing to win cash or a gift card.

Another option for surveys is taking them online by giving feedback on a shopping experience. You won’t get rich quick on them, but it can be a nice way to make a little extra money during the holidays.

Below are some of the best paid survey sites online:

Survey Junkie: One of the top survey sites in the space and they pay cash directly to your PayPal account, or in the form of free Amazon gift cards.

Pinecone Research: They pay $3 per survey and they pay by Amazon Gift Card, virtual Mastercard, or you can select from a variety of gift cards. However, if you’ve joined Pinecone in the last 30 days, your first redemption must be by bank transfer to verify your rewards account.

InboxDollars: Earn money for taking surveys, watching TV or making purchases online. Get $5 just for signing up.

Don’t like surveys, but like to earn cash back online? You can use a cash-back shopping portal like Ibotta. You can use Ibotta at the grocery store to get cash back, and they also work at over 350 retailers to get cash rebates.

They offer a $5 bonus after uploading your first receipt and you can cash out once you hit $20. Check out our Ibotta review to read an in-depth review of how the app works.

 

5. Selling Items on Ebay

We’ve sold a handful of items on Ebay in the past and made a little money doing so. If you have the time and can spot some deals you can make money Christmas shopping by snapping up the deal and selling the item on Ebay to make a profit. Just remember you do risk not being able to sell such items.

You can also sell items on Amazon. In fact, you can even turn it into a quality side hustle to earn money throughout the year. If you have an eye for a deal, you can make money on Amazon by flipping items.

The Selling Family offers classes and other great resources to help you launch a shop on Amazon and make money.

Bottom Line

The best way to manage Christmas expenses is to plan for them. You may not be able to this year, but starting now for next year can be a great way to avoid debt.

We budget for our Christmas expenses throughout the year in a high yield savings account like the one at CIT Bank as they pay .45 percent on your cash (higher than the national average), when you deposit at least $100 per month and start with a $100 balance.

There are many ways to make extra money on the side, if you put your mind to it. If you need extra money to make ends meet, or simply want a new side hustle, you can make money Christmas shopping to put more money in the bank.

 

What are some other ways you can think of to make money Christmas shopping? Do you set a Christmas shopping budget? Would you ever pay someone to shop for you?

 

*Actual earnings may differ and depend on factors like number of deliveries completed, time of day, location, and expenses. Hourly pay is calculated using average Dasher payouts while on a delivery (from the time you accept an order until the time you drop it off) over a 90 day period and includes compensation from peak pay, tips, and other incentives.

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