7 Legit Ways to Earn Free PayPal Money Using Your Smartphone
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I’m always looking to make some extra money. I’m guessing you are, too, since you’re reading this. As you may have already figured, finding ways to make some extra cash can be tough. Sure, there are countless ways to go about it, but we’re talking about money-making options that are legitimate and actually pay off.
Most of the time, you have to spend money or put in lots of effort and time to make money, which can be problematic for people who are already struggling to make ends meet. Luckily, there are several legit ways to earn free PayPal money without making any upfront investment.
This review will walk you through my top seven picks for ways to make money online and have the cash in your PayPal account immediately.
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- It's legit: Best game platform on Google Play, average 4.3/5 Stars for over 100k ratings
- Receive 3,599 coins when you sign up
- Redeem for PayPal or gift cards
- Sign up takes a minute
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What is free PayPal money?
It’s simply money that you get in your PayPal account for completing activities for free. Obviously, no company will just give out money for free, so the money has to come from somewhere. Usually, this money is an incentive for completing offers or performing an activity. This can be as simple as signing up on a mobile app, watching videos, playing games, or even taking online surveys. Other methods will require slightly more effort and time, but the outcome is the same — extra income for you.
Once the money is in your PayPal account, it’s yours to spend as you see fit — save it, make an online purchase, withdraw to your bank account — it’s your money, so you decide.
One important thing to keep in mind is don’t expect huge earnings. At best, these offers might payout just enough to constitute a small source of passive income, not something that can replace your full-time job. Still, any extra cash is welcome, especially if I can get it without doing any actual work.
With that said, check out these simple tasks that can help you earn some free PayPal cash without leaving your house.
- Earn money by testing apps, games, and completing surveys
- Get up to $225 per offer!
- "Excellent" Trustpilot score (4.6/5 stars) with over 54,000 reviews
- Cash out instantly via PayPal with a minimum of just $5.
Ways to Earn Free PayPal Money
1. Join the PayPal referral program
Referring your friends and family to PayPal is the fastest and easiest way to earn free PayPal money. PayPal offers a referral program where users can invite friends to sign up for a free account. Every successful referral earns you and the person you referred $10 each. That means you need to get just 10 of your friends to sign up to make a cool $100.
You have a unique referral link that you can simply share with your friends, so it’s not like you have to do any work. Also, PayPal is a well-known platform so there’s no need to sell its features.
Recently, PayPal has also launched a referral program for its cryptocurrency portal. You simply refer your friends and let them buy at least $5 worth of crypto (BTC, BCH, ETH, and LTC). You will both earn $10 as a result.
Referral bonuses are sent straight to your PayPal account for the payment method. There’s no minimum cash-out threshold or withdrawal limit, so you can access your money as soon as it hits your account.
2. Earn cash and other rewards on Swagbucks
Swagbucks is a popular and legit rewards site that has been around for over a decade. Members get paid to complete simple tasks like watching videos, taking surveys, playing games, discovering deals, shopping online, and more. The company is owned by Prodege, LLC, a leading market research and consumer insights platform.
You can earn rewards on Swagbucks by racking up SB points, which you can redeem for gift cards, cash, coupons, and promo codes that give you cash back when shopping online. It is free to sign up on Swagbucks, plus you get a signup bonus of up to $10 in Visa and Amazon gift cards. To date, the company has paid out over $750M to members.
If you put in the time, you can quickly build up a huge stack of points. You also earn extra rewards by logging in daily and completing daily goals. Keep in mind that you’ll need to accumulate at least $5 worth of points before you can redeem rewards to your PayPal account. It will take around two days to receive the payment.
Other popular platforms to earn cash and PayPal gift cards to complete sponsored activities include MyPoints, InboxDollars, and Points Prizes.
3. Take paid surveys on Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie makes it easy to earn PayPal cash by sharing your opinion on various online surveys. Sign-up is straightforward and involves answering some simple questions about your demographic information and consumer behavior. The aim is to match your preferences and interests with the right paid surveys.
These surveys come from different sources; actual brands use the information you provide to improve their business. Points are awarded for every survey that you successfully qualify for and complete. Usually, the more advanced the survey, the higher the number of points awarded. You can complete surveys in your own time, and there’s no limit to how many surveys you take as long as you are qualified to take them.
The points you earned can be redeemed for cash and gift cards. To withdraw your points to your PayPal account, you’ll need to have racked up at least $10 worth of points.
To increase your chances of success on Survey Junkie, answer the profile questions honestly and comprehensively. This will make it easier for the platform to match you with surveys that you qualify for. You’ll also want to prioritize surveys that don't take too long to complete but pay higher points.
Outside of Survey Junkie, you can also complete surveys on other reputable survey sites like Prolific, PrizeRebel, and Respondent.
Get the Best Android Gift Card rewards with Cash Giraffe
- It's legit: Best game platform on Google Play, average 4.3/5 Stars for over 100k ratings
- Receive 3,599 coins when you sign up
- Redeem for PayPal or gift cards
- Sign up takes a minute
4. Compete in Skillz cash tournaments
Play games for fun and cash rewards by competing against real players in cash tournaments hosted by Skillz. This mobile eSports platform connects over 30 million players worldwide to compete in over 5 million daily tournaments. Monthly prizes can go as high as $100+ million, but keep in mind that most prizes are generated from pools staked by competitors.
Skillz is a free app that is home to thousands of mobile games that you can download directly from your Apple App Store or Google Play Store (for Android users). Choose from various game categories, including card games, board games, casino games, action, arcade, puzzles, etc.
You win money by earning bonus cash and winning multiplayer tournaments. The amount you win depends on the type of game and your skill level. For instance, Bingo Cash, a Skillz-powered classic bingo game app, offers up to $83 per win.
While games are usually free to download, playing in tournaments costs money. You can cash in using a credit card, debit card, or your PayPal account, and you can cash out using the same channels. In addition to cash prizes, you can also win other rewards, including free gift cards and electronic gadgets.
Another popular place to make some cash to top up your PayPal balance is Mistplay. Here, you earn points for each game that you play, as well as for answering questions based on your demographic profile. You can cash out through PayPal once you hit the minimum number of points ($5 worth).
5. Earn cash back rewards from shopping online
Imagine being paid to shop in your favorite stores online. It’s the ultimate flex. Several cashback apps allow you to get free PayPal money by shopping online. The most popular options include Rakuten, Ibotta, Dosh, and TopCashBack. While their internal processes are different, the aim is pretty much the same — to provide cashback rewards for members who shop online through their respective portals.
Rakuten is a well-known cashback app worldwide and was even the kit sponsor for F.C. Barcelona over the last five years. You can shop your favorite retailers and brands, as well as including hundreds of online stores, including Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Target. Ibotta is also quite popular since it allows users to shop in-store and online while offering a robust loyalty programs platform to earn even more rewards.
Another great option is Honey, a cashback rewards program owned by PayPal. It is available as a browser extension and can provide an average cashback return of 2% to 4%.
There’s usually a minimum payout threshold ranging from $5 to $20, depending on the platform. If you don't want to cash out to PayPal, you can exchange your points for gift cards and save money when shopping online.
6. Earn PayPal money testing new products
Did you know that companies pay users to test their products? These include websites, apps, automation tools, software, and more.
Sound like your kind of side hustle? Usertesting.com is a great place to start. Users can log in and provide feedback on digital products. Usually, this involves live video sessions where you test the product and provide real-time verbal feedback. Companies often want users to focus their reviews on the product's utility, user-friendliness, and any features they may want to see.
You get paid for each user test that you perform. The reward amounts vary depending on the test type to perform and how long. Once you’ve signed up fully, your test feed will display how much you can potentially earn for each test. Payments for completed tests are sent a few days later to your PayPal account.
While usertesting.com offers a great way to make some extra cash, keep in mind that you will need to have some knowledge about digital technology and related products. Your English skills should also be up to par so the developers can easily understand your feedback.
- Earn money by testing apps, games, and completing surveys
- Get up to $225 per offer!
- "Excellent" Trustpilot score (4.6/5 stars) with over 54,000 reviews
- Cash out instantly via PayPal with a minimum of just $5.
7. Earn extra moneyby walking
Looking for motivation to get some exercise? How about an app that lets you earn PayPal cash for walking outside? Sweatcoin literally pays you to walk around. This mobile app uses your phone’s built-in geolocator and pedometer to keep track of your steps outside and rewards you with points. You can exchange these points for PayPal money or spend it on various items and rewards.
If you are physically active, you could benefit greatly from using Sweatcoin. All you have to do is accumulate huge numbers of steps and get rewarded. You can sync the app with your Apple Watch or other smartwatch brands to automatically record your data. When you’re ready to cash out, just click the relevant button to initiate the transfer to your PayPal account.
Other great health and wellness apps that pay you to stay fit include HealthyWage and StepBet. Once you hit your goals, you can request a payout via PayPal or check.
Free PayPal money FAQs
Are any of these free PayPal cash methods scams?
While many platforms and games claiming to offer real money rewards turn out to be straight-up scams, the programs mentioned here are very much legit.
How much money can I earn?
Don’t expect a lot, especially since most of these activities don't require much effort. Still, you may be able to make enough for a few cups of coffee, as well as offset some of your costs when shopping online.
How can I earn more PayPal money?
Get a paid gig or part-time job. There are several platforms where you can apply for well-paying jobs that you can do in your free time, such as Fiverr, FlexJobs, and Upwork.
Do I have to pay to participate?
The short answer is no. However, some of the programs, particularly those that involve real money gaming, will require you to make an initial cash investment (as low as $1) in order to participate in higher stakes multiplayer tournaments.
Get the Best Android Gift Card rewards with Cash Giraffe
- It's legit: Best game platform on Google Play, average 4.3/5 Stars for over 100k ratings
- Receive 3,599 coins when you sign up
- Redeem for PayPal or gift cards
- Sign up takes a minute
- Earn money by testing apps, games, and completing surveys
- Get up to $225 per offer!
- "Excellent" Trustpilot score (4.6/5 stars) with over 54,000 reviews
- Cash out instantly via PayPal with a minimum of just $5.
The bottom line
All across the country, people are getting free PayPal money in their free time for doing everyday things, and now you can too. The trick is to determine how much time and effort you want to spend and your skills and capabilities. This way, you can match well with at least one of the programs discussed above.
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Writer
Ezekiel Arifalo is a freelance journalist who specializes in personal finance writing and editing. His work has appeared on sites including Nova Credit and Medium.
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