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Student News

Dream job: Get PAID to spend £50,000 online on clothes, tech and more

Spending money to shop is so 2019. This year, you could find yourself in a job that literally pays you to buy things online. Here's how.

happy woman with phone and bank card with smiling money emoji

Credit: Dean Drobot – Shutterstock

Essential skills for your CV: attention to detail, communication skills and... shopping? If this sounds like you, we might just have found your ideal job.

As an Online Shopoholic (yep, that's the actual job title), you'll be paid a very generous salary to spend £50,000 a year.

Read on for more info about the role, the deets on how to apply, plus a whole host of similar jobs that we've got an inkling you'll also like.

If you haven't already, check out these top fashion retailers for students.

Get paid to shop online as a mystery shopper

Confessions of a Shopoholic

Credit: Touchstone Pictures

OnBuy.com, an online marketplace, is looking to hire two people with "a proven interest in shopping and extensive experience with shopping online". Erm... 🙋‍♀️.

Just note, however, that this is advertised as a full-time job. So, while it's ideal for anyone who's out of uni and on the hunt for a job (a degree isn't required), if you're a student looking for similar roles with fewer hours, you might want to check out our guide to becoming a mystery shopper.

What is a mystery shopper?

This is a mystery shopping job, which means you'll need to act as a genuine buyer to see how sellers respond to queries and handle the selling process, and to identify any aspects of the site that should be changed to improve customers' shopping experiences.

Along with the spending budget of £50,000 a year, you'll also receive an annual salary of around £35,000 (could vary depending on experience). It's a remote job so you can work from home and, although it's full-time, you can work flexible hours.

Day-to-day responsibilities

  • Buy things from the site's sellers (you can keep the products!)
  • Take paid online surveys or quizzes
  • Highlight any issues you find with sellers and the site
  • Review services and products like TVs, guitars, make-up and jewellery etc.
  • Get in touch with sellers to ask questions and "wreak havoc" (i.e. be a shitty customer and see how sellers handle it)
  • Write feedback reports.

Key skills and qualities in an ideal candidate

  • An interest in shopping and basically being an ASOS veteran
  • Attention to detail
  • Communication skills
  • Fluency in English.

How to apply for this role

Man looking happy at laptop

Credit: bbernard – Shutterstock

NOTE: This job is no longer open for applications. To find out how to do similar roles, see our guide to becoming a mystery shopper.

To apply for this role, all that's required is an email with your CV.

That said, we'd still recommend including a brief, convincing summary in your email to explain why you're right for the job – just as you would if they'd asked for a cover letter.

OnBuy.com's managing director, Cas Paton, said:

We decided to create this position in order to discover any flaws in our processes, sellers or website to ensure the best possible user experience for our shoppers.

We've supplied a large budget in order to help candidates shop across our ranges in a bid to have more visibility of buyer experiences across our platform.

You can see more details about the role and info on where to send your application here.

More ways to make money from shopping

man with money

Credit: Linda Bestwick (background), Cookie Studio (foreground) – Shutterstock

If you're on the lookout for more ways to live the dream and get paid to shop, you're in luck – we know of plenty.

There are heaps of sites that offer mystery shopping roles. Our guide has all the info you need on how to find jobs that fit around your studies, as well as the top sites to apply through.

Similarly to the role at OnBuy.com, you could become a product tester for a number of other companies.

Or, maybe you want to get paid to buy beer? There's an organisation that's looking for young people to test pubs, shops and more to make sure servers are asking for ID when appropriate.

These jobs might sound too good to be true, but we assure you they're very much real and ideal for the student lifestyle.

If all else fails, try out this long list of easy ways to make money quickly.

Laura Brown

WRITTEN BY Laura Brown

Laura Brown, Head of Editorial at Save the Student, is an award-winning writer with expertise in student money. She project manages influential national student surveys and has presented findings to MPs in Westminster. As an expert on student issues, Laura has been quoted by the BBC, the Guardian, Metro and more.
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