How to Get Paid to Shop For Others

Getting paid to shop sounds too good to be true, right?! 

Believe it or not, many companies offer flexible and remote job opportunities where you can get paid to shop! From grocery shopping to clothes shopping and mystery shopping, there are a variety of gigs available.

Ready to get started?

Here are 18 different ways to get paid to shop for others, both online and in-person!

Get Paid to Shop at Grocery Stores

Do you have a knack for picking out the freshest produce? Do you enjoy being out and about? If so, you can make money shopping for groceries (and, in some cases, delivering them too).

1. Burpy

Burpy is a grocery delivery service that is constantly looking for people to join their shopping team. As a shopper, you’re responsible for picking up and delivering groceries to customers. The company provides a business credit card to use for purchases, so you never need to use your personal credit card. Burpy Shoppers earn around $25 per hour plus tips, and you can create your own schedule.

2. Care.com 

Care.com is an online marketplace known for helping families find childcare, but they also offer other caretaking positions, such as grocery helpers. Depending on your location, the average grocery helper through Care.com earns $10-$20 per hour. 

As a grocery helper, you also have the opportunity to branch out into other related services (and earn even more money). Popular positions include personal assistants and errand runners. To start searching for jobs, all you need to do is create a free online account at Care.com, upload a photo and create a profile. Once this is all set up, you’re ready to get going and apply. 

3. Favor

The delivery service site Favor seeks team members who are passionate about quality customer service. Favor delivery drivers (better known as “runners”) consider themselves more than delivery drivers — they’re also personal assistants. At Favor, you never know what kind of stuff you might deliver. From groceries to tacos or maybe even dry cleaning, as a runner — each day will be different.

Favor runners keep 100% of the tips they earn and they earn an average of $10-$18 per hour. To work at Favor, you’ll need an iPhone or Android device, a clean driving record, and of course, reliable transportation. 

4. Instacart Shopper

As a shopper for Instacart, you choose to work as either a full-service shopper or an in-store shopper. A full-service shopper does the shopping and then delivers the groceries straight to the customer’s door. In-store employees are part-time and don’t require transportation as they stick to just shopping. Instacart offers flexible hours, competitive pay, and the chance to help make someone’s life a little bit easier. Curious about Instacart? Check out our full review of the grocery shopping opportunity here. 

5. Shipt Shopper

Shipt is a grocery delivery service that the Target Corporation owns. And you guessed it, Shipt hires grocery shoppers to shop and deliver groceries. According to their website, Shipt shoppers earn $22 per hour and are paid weekly. If you have a reliable vehicle, a smartphone, and a strong understanding of what qualifies as great produce, then becoming a Shipt shopper may be your calling. 

6. TaskRabbit

With TaskRabbit, you can find on-demand gigs for cleaning, furniture assembly, and of course, shopping. Personal shoppers and helpers who are part of the TaskRabbit family are known as “taskers.” If you want to become a tasker, go online to register, attend an info session, and then get started. Taskers set their own rates, but on average, shoppers earn $22 per hour. 

7. Amazon Grocery Shopper

One of the nice things about the Amazon Grocery Shopper program is you’ll be working as an employee, not an independent contractor. In this paid shopping role, you’ll shop at Whole Foods for customers and prepare their orders for delivery. You can work full- or part-time hours, have a flexible schedule, earn a competitive weekly wage, and in some cases, you’ll get benefits too. According to their website, the pay is up to $15 per hour. 

Earn Money Shopping for Clothes

Do you love picking out clothes for other people? Have a passion for fashion? If so, there are lots of great ways to work from home and get paid to shop for clothing, jewelry, accessories, and shoes.

8. Style Alert by Material World

Style Alert is a new concept on the traditional subscription box service. Each customer gets a personal virtual stylist who finds pre-owned designer brand items based on the client’s fashion profile. When the stylist finds something they think the customer will like, they message them to see if they want to purchase it. According to this report on the Fashionista, virtual stylists earn $15 per hour. 

9. Dia&Co

Remote stylist positions for Dia&Co are in high demand and not always available. But if you keep an eye out and continue to check their website, occasional part-time remote stylist positions pop up. Stylists for Dia&Co curate fashion boxes for clients based on their personal preferences, budget, and lifestyle. Based on my findings at FlexJobs, it looks like you need to live in NYC, Dallas, Atlanta, or Indianapolis for this work-from-home position (I’m guessing for on-site training).

10. Amazon Personal Shopper

Yes, Amazon offers personal shopping services too! In this position, you’ll handpick clothing items for customers based on their personal preferences. Customers can preview items before they ship, and then they can send back any items they don’t want to purchase. According to this job posting I found on LinkedIn, you must live in AL, AZ, AR, DE, FL, GA, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MI, MS, MO, NE, NJ, NM, NC, ND, OH, OK, PA, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WV, WI, or WY to apply. Amazon stylists who work full-time earn an average of $56,908 annually.

10. Chico’s Virtual Stylist

In this commission-based role, you’ll provide in-home styling services for Chicos, Soma, and White House Black Market. For this sales position, you’ll need a high school diploma, two years of customer service experience, and excellent communication skills. I dug around for reviews and the income potential for this role, but I could not find any information, so be sure to do your due diligence if you decide to apply.

12. Stitch Fix

Don’t quote me on this, but I think Stitch Fix was one of the first, if not the first, clothing subscription box services. Remote stylists for Stitch Fix hand-select five pieces of clothing/shoes/accessories/jewelry for their clients; they now offer styling services for women, men, and children. For this part-time position, you must live in Austin, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, San Diego, or San Francisco, as you’ll need to attend the in-person training. For more info about this opportunity, check out the video below.

Related Content: A HUGE List of Home-Based Business Ideas for Fashion Lovers

Make Money Shopping for Home Décor

Do you have a creative flair? Do you have a bachelor’s degree in interior design, art history, architecture, or the like? Then see how you can work-from-home shopping for furniture and interior decor.

13. Modsy

Modsy is a virtual interior design business that hires US-based full- and part-time remote interior designers to assist customers with purchasing items and redesigning their spaces. According to their website, this role is excellent for new designers who have experience with Auto-CAD, SketchUp, Photoshop, and have relevant interior design knowledge. In this role, you work as an independent contractor, and pay is $17 per hour plus merchandise sales bonuses.

14. Havenly

Havenly is a remote interior design firm that hires remote home stylists and interior designers from the US, Canada, Mexico, and South America. In these roles, you’ll work as an independent contractor earning project-based pay and commission and bonuses based on your performance. To apply, you’ll need prior customer service experience, comfortable creating 1D mood boards, and using Photoshop.

Related Content: The Best Home Decor Direct Sales Businesses

Get Paid to Be a Mystery Shopper

Many retailers, restaurants, and businesses hire mystery shoppers to evaluate the quality of their establishments. While there are many reputable market research companies out there who hire mystery shoppers, it’s important to be aware of scams that often take place in this industry. Mystery shopping opportunities that seem too good to be true often are. And you’ll need to watch out for scam companies impersonating reputable companies!

According to the Federal Trade Commission, the main way to avoid a scam is to remember that no company should charge you money to serve as a mystery shopper. Before you sign up, do plenty of research using review sites, and ask lots of questions.

If you’re looking for legitimate mystery shopping companies, check out the following:

15. BestMark

BestMark uses independent contractors for mystery shopping trips, incept interviews, compliance audits, and focus group panels. To apply for assignments, you must be at least 18 years old with excellent communication skills. With these gigs, you earn free meals, products, and sometimes payment. BestMark has been in business since 1986 and has a B- rating with the Better Business Bureau.

16. Mobee

Mobee is a secret shopping app that allows you to be an on-demand mystery shopper. To start, download the app, find a mission, find a mission, head out on your shopping trip, and answer a few questions. Once your mission is complete, you’ll earn points towards the purchase of gift cards from stores like Starbucks, Target, Amazon, Walmart, Visa gift cards, and many others. Mobee is available for Android and ios devices, and it has a four-star rating on iTunes.

17. IntelliShop

IntelliShop hires independent contractors for mystery shopping trips. To become a mystery shopper, register for an account, answer some preliminary questions and wait for invites to gigs. For each assignment you successfully complete, you earn a stipend via PayPal. IntelliShop has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

Start Your Own Personal Concierge Business   

18. Become a Personal Concierge

As you can see, there’s a real need for personal assistants and helpers to conduct a wide variety of shopping tasks. The truth is, most people need help with everyday tasks that they don’t have time to carry out. If becoming your own boss is appealing, consider starting your own personal concierge business to assist individuals with their overflow of chores and errands. Working from home will give you the flexibility to take on plenty of different tasks and earn money shopping for others.  

So Many Great Ways to Work From Home and Get Paid to Shop!

There are many ways to earn money from home, but who knew shopping was one of them?! If you have a passion for customer service, choosing the perfect products, and helping others, then becoming a paid shopper may be your dream work-from-home career.

While this post covered shopping for other people, if you’re interested in making money while you shop, using cashback apps and programs like Shopkick, Ibotta, Dosh, Rakuten (formerly Ebates), and Swagbucks, check out this post with a bunch of ways to make money while you’re shopping!

Originally published September 24, 2018. Content updated October 2021.