Do you like snapping photos with your smartphone as you go about your daily activities? Believe it or not, you can make money from this hobby of yours.
There are several apps available where you can upload photos taken with your smartphone's camera. Advertisers from all over the world are constantly looking for good-quality, genuine photos not necessarily posed or taken by professionals, and these apps are the perfect venue to connect between them and amateur photographers around the world. While this probably won't make you lots of money, it's a great incentive to hone your photography hobby while making a little something on the side out of it.
If you're like the average Anglo-Israeli, you probably have plenty of stuff hanging around your house that you don't really need and takes up space in your closet or shed. Stuff that other people might enjoy and use.
Of course, you always have the option of donating your stuff to charity, giving it away (e.g., via Agora or Freecycle) or selling it on eBay, but this isn't always the best solution for heavy, fragile or very expensive items. Try sending, say, a large crystal vase abroad, and you'll end up either with a huge shipping bill because of the weight of the padding, or a broken vase and one very dissatisfied customer. Your best bet is probably to attempt to sell it to someone nearby, preferably someone who'll pick it up from your house or an agreed-upon meeting place.
To this end, you have several options online. You can also help others get rid of their unwanted stuff , and help the planet as a bonus, by buying secondhand and helping others recycle their unwanted goods.
Until now, the online money-making opportunities I've mentioned involve a relatively small amount of time investment for commensurately small rewards - and I'll continue to do so in future posts, as in my opinion, every little bit counts and adds up. This opportunity, however, is a real job with a relatively large time commitment (on the scale of 10-20 hours/week, though flexible) and while you probably won't get rich from it, you can probably make a significant amount of income if you're the conscientious, meticulous type. In fact, you might want to read up about becoming a self-employed individual in Israel and all that entails, with regard to the tax authorities and Bituach Leumi.
A while back I was telling you how you can make money online (or its equivalent in the form of vouchers) by filling out online surveys. If you go to the post mentioned - here - you'll notice all the survey sites mentioned are Israeli ones. This is no coincidence. While there are American and British survey sites which claim to be open to participants from all countries, in practice, you'll get a survey from them once in a blue moon (if that; one company I belonged to for several years was very meticulous about congratulating me every year on my birthday, but other than that yearly email, I received no other communication from them) and will find it very hard to cash out. There is, however, one exception I know of: an international survey site that might actually contact you more often, and as they pay you (to your Paypal account, in $) after every survey, there's no need to accumulate points or reach a limit in order to cash out.
One of the easiest ways to make money in your spare time, if you speak/read passable Hebrew, is participating in paid surveys. This is far from a get-rich-quick (or even a get-rich-slow!) scheme, but everyone can use a little extra money for those small luxuries in life. In addition, you ensure your voice is heard on a variety of subjects, from consumerism to politics.
Luckily for us Israelis, there are several reliable local survey sites to choose from. Or rather, there is no need to choose - you can sign up to them all! The ones listed below are all ones I have personal experience with and have received either cash-equivalent vouchers or checks from, once I reached the points limit specified. Some of the survey sites allow answering surveys via smartphones or tablets as well, so you can make money while waiting on line at the post office or on the way to work, as a passenger of course. You'll be notified you have a survey waiting for you via email; don't wait too long, as an email is usually sent to all registrants at a given panel, and surveys can close fast.
So you're an Anglo-Israeli like me, loving the weather and the people here in Israel, but hating the high cost of living and the lack of access to cheap, quality products like you were used to back in the old country. Maybe (also like me) you have a bit of the shopaholic in you, or even just need to put food on the table and keep your kids in decent clothing, but don't feel like going into debt for the privilege. You may have heard about all these fantastic ways of making a little extra money online, but when you try to sign up for the programs, find they aren't open to Israelis. Or they *say* they're open to people from all countries, but in practice, you'll rarely if ever hear from them again.
I'm not rich by any means. Both my husband and I have day jobs, but over the years I've been online (over 15) I've looked into various ways of saving and making money online from Israel, and have gained some experience doing so. I'm happy to share that experience with you. It may not make you rich (or it may, and if so I'd like to hear about it!), but a little extra for the small luxuries in life never hurts.
To start saving and earning online, I suggest you do the following 3 things:
1) Open a new free email account. Unless you want your primary email address at risk of being swamped with spam or promotional offers, I strongly recommend you open a new account just for your money matters at Gmail, Hotmail or a similar free email host. You can forward the address to your primary email if you like, but at least have the option of detaching it if the account is compromised in some way.
2) Open a Paypal account. Paypal is a reliable, safe method of paying and getting paid online without revealing your credit card details. It's supported by thousands of online businesses, in Israel and internationally. An added bonus is their arbitration system - if you don't receive your item or it's not in the condition you expected, you have a good chance of getting your money back (though you may be expected to return the item and pay return shipping. We'll go into how we can make this cheaper in a future post).
Registration is easy and entirely free, so go and register for a Paypal account ASAP if you haven't done so already. Here's a video detailing how to open a Paypal account even if you don't have a credit or debit card:
3) Open a Facebook account. Many coupons, free samples and online contests are available on Facebook, so you definitely don't want to miss out.
Are you anti-social and don't want to be found online? While Facebook doesn't allow you to create a profile under a false name, there is no rule that says you can't use an uncommon nickname of yours, your maiden name only, or an alternate spelling of your name. They don't ask for ID, and you don't have to post your status every day, or even at all. So if you have yet to create a Facebook presence, do it right here . Then go to the Facebook pages of companies you like and "Like" them to receive regular updates.
Now that you've done those 3 things, you're in a position to save and make money online. Best of luck!
