Tag: calculator

Everything Announced at WWDC 2024: Apple Intelligence and a Smarter Siri

At WWDC 2024, Apple unleashed a blitzkrieg of software updates to put AI, or “Apple Intelligence,” front and center in your iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
After Samsung and Google pushed AI on phones, it’s now Apple’s turn to try and flip the script to make smartphones, tablets, and laptops “smarter” by introducing an AI of its own.

Apple Unveils Its iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9

If you woke up this morning hoping for some big hardware announcement, or hell, even a hint or teaser for a new phone or Mac design, it’s best you return to your comfortable cave and hibernate until the next big Apple showcase. Regarding software, Apple Intelligence will be available in most user-end apps with automatic summarizations and AI-enhanced photo editing. ChatGPT is coming to the latest iPhones as the Cupertino, California tech giant is set to make the chatbot accessible anywhere on the phone without needing the app.

WWDC 2024 — June 10 | Apple

If you have no interest in AI, there are a few new updates to get excited about. iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 are incoming, promising some long-awaited features. One is the iPhone lock screen update, which allows users to place their widgets and icons where they want. Another is the update to Messenger that will finally enable it to use the RCS protocol. Say goodbye to those green bubbles forever.

Meanwhile, iPads and Macs are getting a few new, unexpected features, like a full-on Calculator app that supports scribbling and iPhone mirroring on macOS Sequoia. Many of these updates are slated for fall of this year, though the betas should start rolling out in the next few months.

What’s Up With ‘Apple Intelligence’

Apple Intelligence is Apple’s Big AI Product for All of its Ecosystem

Screenshot: Apple

First on the list is “Apple Intelligence.” The Cupertino company’s AI is just what it says on the tin: an entire ecosystem for navigating users’ lives. There’s a lot going into it, but—eventually—the software should be able to include multimodal AI vision capabilities and work within all the apps on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The only problem is that we still don’t know exactly when any or parts of these features should be available.

Apple Intelligence can Rewrite or Proofread Text

Apple promises the new AI writing tools can summarize your text and add an easy “TLDR” to the top of emails. Like Google’s Gemini, the rewriting feature could include different text styles to make it sound more “Friendly” or “Concise.” You also have the option to add tables, lists, or summaries to the text. This should work in pretty much all Apple apps and some third-party apps.

Apple’s Emails Will Summarize Important Points Before You Open them

The Priority feature in the Mail app will show you your most important emails or messages for when you have a lot of them coming in at once. These condensed notifications will show this right on the lock screen of your iPhone. This works with a new Focus that cuts down on the number of notifications and only shows the most important ones.

Apple Will Let You Create AI Images, Including ‘Genmojis’

Screenshot: Apple

Of course, Apple wouldn’t stay its hand from the AI image generation game. The new Image Playground is built into Pages, Messages, Freeform, and several other apps.

You have three styles on offer: animation, illustration, or sketch, but you have the regular prompt bar to make it create whatever (somewhat disturbing) images you desire. There are also new AI-generated emojis called ‘Genmoji,’ which will come out as a sticker or Tapback. You can also create one of your friends if you trust it enough. Apple promises all its images are generated on-device.

There’s also a new Magic Eraser-like tool in Photos to remove unwanted elements from an image before filling in those missing pixels.

The Apple Intelligence Can Pull Up Your Files and Photos

There’s a lot of big promises coming about thanks to AI. Apple claims their new AI system will eventually let the AI perform rather complex actions, like pulling up photos and files from any of your apps. It should be able to work between apps so that it will know when your meetings are and what your plans are for that day when you ask it to send a text that helps you work around your schedule.

Apple Promises Its AI Won’t Save Your Data

Some of the AI running on Apple’s devices are on-device, but those are supposed to run through Private Cloud Compute. Apple promises to maintain your privacy by determining if a request needs any off-device AI. Then, it will only send parts of the request to the cloud. Apple promises outside agencies will be able to look at Apple’s servers to verify the big privacy claims.

Siri Has a New Look and a Whole Lot More Capabilities

Screenshot: Apple

Poor, beleaguered Siri is finally receiving those long-rumored AI upgrades, but we may need to wait a long time to see them in action. The Siri updates will allow the assistant to interact with iPhone and iPad apps far more than it currently can.

For one, Siri now has a new logo and look, making the borders of the screen wavy whenever the assistant gets called up. Siri will maintain conversational context and will be able to work off your previous requests. Now you can type to chat to Siri as well. Double tapping on the bottom of the screen allows you to communicate with Siri directly.

Siri can also take actions happening on-screen. It can also take actions across apps, like adding a photo from the Photos app to the Notes app. Eventually, the idea is that Siri can take specific actions in more apps over time.

The digital assistant should also become more engrained with users’ “Personal Context.” Siri should know your emails, plans, calendar events, and texts to find all the necessary information.

Siri Will Be Your Best How-To Machine for Apple Products

Siri should be able to send you a how-to guide for anything related to your Apple products. This comes baked into Siri and will work with all the most commonly asked questions about Apple products.

Siri Can Use ChatGPT ‘Seamlessly’

Screenshot: Apple

While we don’t have a good idea when Siri will receive its most important updates, we know that the current stopgap will be ChatGPT integration directly on users’ devices. The app will be accessible straight from Siri and the new compose feature. You can use the chatbot to generate DALL-E images as well. Apple promises this integration will be powered by GPT-4o for free without paying for an account.

Apple promises your activities won’t be logged, and you can access the ChatGPT paid features if you link your account. ChatGPT integration will be coming to all the Apple ecosystem’s new updates later this year.

iOS 18 is Promising some Long-Awaited Customization Features

iOS Now Supports RCS

Screenshot: Apple

As a last-minute note to end its talk about iOS 18, Apple confirmed that the next version of iOS will support RCS protocol. There’s no word yet exactly what form this will take, though Android Authority first recognized that it could be RCS Universal Profile 2.4. This could be the true end to green bubble tyranny, but we’ll learn more as we get close to release.

iOS 18 Lets You Finally Rearrange Your Home Screen Apps

Screenshot: Apple

iOS 18 will be a big one for folks who have long demanded Android-like customizability on the iPhone. Now, you can rearrange all your apps and widgets on the home screen however you like, so you can finally frame your background wallpaper without having an app covering up your kids’ faces. Apple goes further by allowing users to set the tint and tone of the app’s icons themselves.

You Can Soon “Lock” Any App in iOS 18

The next iPhone update will allow users to lock and hide apps so anyone using your phone won’t have immediate access without biometric scanning or a PIN. Similarly, you can now hide away apps into a select hidden folder if you don’t want visitors to your iPhone to get into some of your more sensitive apps without a passcode.

Messenger Includes Full Emoji Tapbacks

Screenshot: Apple

Are you annoyed you can’t do full emoji reactions to texts like you can on Android? The iOS Talkback feature is receiving full emoji support, so you can respond to your friend’s queries with as many poop emojis as their messages require.

Messenger Text Effects Will Let You Emphasize Certain Words

The Messenger app in iOS 18 is expanding the ability to emphasize words. Now, instead of just emphasizing the names of people or other words, users can use Text Effects to make certain words blow up or jiggle. The app will automatically suggest specific effects for certain words. There are new effects, and you can add them to any text you want.

Messages are also gaining the ability to use text formatting, allowing you to underline, bold, or italicize words or phrases.

Game Mode on iPhone

Mac’s Game Mode is getting a version on iPhone. The mode should automatically kick in while in a game. This minimizes background tasks to put as much processing power into the game. It should improve latency with controllers or AirPods.

Messages Via Satellite

If you find yourself without cellphone service, Apple will let you use your iPhone to text friends and family when off the grid on Messages. You can still send emojis and Tapbacks, and Apple claims its E2E encrypted. This will only be available with the iPhone 14 or later, which comes with satellite support.

Apple Maps Now Allows You to Get Hiking Trail Info

Screenshot: Apple

Apple Maps now has access to topographic trail maps, allowing hiking loops on your phone. This will show the overall length and elevation gain of the trail or loop and the various entry points on the app.

Tap to Cash Allows You to Pay Your Friends With Your Phone

Those iPhone users keen on Apple Cash will soon be able to send money to each other using the same action you can use to send folks your contact information. Hovering both phones with the active cash app will send and receive money from your wallet. Additionally, event tickets are being redesigned to show you details about the venue and other essential information.

Photos App is Gonna Look a Hell of a Lot Different

The Photos app now has a new design that shows all your photos in a single grid. You can find different photos based on months or years and filter your photos to eschew screenshots.

The new Collections will let you section different photos into topics like People & Pets or Recent Days. This will let you see your photos in a collage. In selections like Trips, you can find your vacations or travels by date. You can also pin different collections.

The Favorites carousel now shows you a slideshow of photos from various favorite collections.

iPadOS 18 Promises Some New and Unique Features for Apple’s Tablets

Floating Tab Bar on iPad Might Make it Far Easier to Use

Screenshot: Apple

Apple is introducing a new floating tab bar for iPadOS 18. It essentially works as an easy-to-access menu that can morph into a sidebar for even more fine-tuned controls. It should work with most Apple apps on the iPad. There are also new animations to accompany this update. Apple added it’s working to make browsing through documents easier on Apple’s tablets.

SharePlay Tap and Draw Will Let You Remote Control Another iPad

The new SharePlay update will let you make annotations on a foreign device and act as a remote control for another person’s iPad. So, if you’re trying to describe to your mom how to access her iPad photos, you can use SharePlay and draw an arrow straight to them. Once you get frustrated enough, you can take control.

Calculator on iPad (‘Yay’)

Screenshot: Apple

Finally, the iPad is getting a calculator app, but it’s far more interesting than that. It may look like It also works with Apple Pencil. Math Notes comes up from the calculator button, and if you write out an equal sign, it solves it for you, updating it live depending on your different functions. It also works with lists that let you tabulate numbers rather quickly. Notes also have the same math capabilities as Calculator.

Notes’ Smart Script Will Fix Your Chicken Scratch as You Write

The AI will make your writing more legible as you go. The on-board AI should be able to take your loose handwriting and make it a bit more legible while keeping your writing “style.” You can paste it directly into the Notes app, which should mimic your handwriting style.

So, What’s New in macOS Sequoia?

macOS Sequoia Will Allow You to Mirror Your iPhone on Your MacBook

Screenshot: Apple

macOS Sequoia is getting a lot of the features you can find on Apple’s other products. Continuity will let you access universal apps on the rest of the Apple ecosystem. More importantly, it will let you mirror your iPhone on a Mac. Users can then select and work on any of the iPhone’s apps. The audio also comes through Mac.

The iPhone stays locked while you mirror it and works with Standby mode. When your phone is connected to the laptop, iPhone notifications will also appear on Mac, and when you click on them, your iPhone mirror will open up.

You Can Place Your Mac Windows into Tiles, Like Windows 11

Screenshot: Apple

macOS Sequoia is adding a few new tiling features to make organizing your desktop more seamless. Bringing a window to a corner of the screen should automatically reorient and morph to fit a clean style.

You Can Preview Your Camera When Doing a Facetime

Before hopping into a video meeting, Macs will let you preview what you look like on camera. It is better to help you fix your makeup or remember to put on a shirt. There’s also a built-in background replacer if you can’t access one in whatever app you use.

Passwords App Will Show All Your Stuff

There’s now an all-new Passwords app to act as your one-stop shop for your keychains and important, sensitive information. It should be present across the entire Apple ecosystem. This should contain everything from WiFi passwords to verification codes to Passkeys.

Safari Reader Function Summarizes Text

Screenshot: Apple

The new updates to Safari introduce several new AI functions. At the top of the list are AI-generated summaries for the content on web pages. The Reader mode changes the website’s look and brings up a table of contents. There’s no look whether it also removes ads while it’s at it.

Game Porting Toolkit 2 Adds Better Windows Compatibility

Apple first announced its Game Porting Toolkit last WWDC, and now there’s a sequel that promises to make porting more hardcore titles easier to Apple’s framework. The company detailed several new games coming to Mac, including Frostpunk 2 and Control. Assassins Creed: Shadows is also coming to iPad, and Prince of Persia: Shattered Crown is coming to Mac.

How About watchOS 11 and AirPods?

AirPods Can Sense Your Head Nods For Saying Yes to Siri

Screenshot: Apple

If you’d rather not be that asshole in the elevator talking on your Bluetooth headset, AirPods will soon get a feature that should track your head movements. If there’s an incoming call, you can nod or shake your head to respond yes or no to taking it. After it rolls out to AirPods, we’ll have to see what other uses this gesture has.

Apple Watch’s watchOS 11 Gets Training Mode

There are a few new features on the Apple Watch for those fitness fans. With Training Mode, an AI algorithm tells you what kind of effort you made during your recent exercise. This might tell you if you were going too soft or too hard on your recent workout. Plus, you can customize your Fitness app to see what kind of data you want to see at a glance.

The Next watchOS Update Includes a Vitals App

Screenshot: Apple

The Vitals app will look at your entire health data to check all your health metrics and even tell you whether your drinking has impacted your health. This might show your heart rate and tell you whether that’s in your typical range. If it’s not within normal levels, the app should give you a rundown of what’s happening and what could be causing the issue.

Apple Watch Will Open Up Different Widgets Depending on Context

Apple’s smart stacks will automatically add weather or translation widgets to your main screen if it thinks you need them. This might come up when it looks like it’s about to rain or if you’re traveling around a foreign country.

The Apple Watch Will Determine Which Photos Work Best for Your Home Screen

Screenshot: Apple

Like its new TV update, Apple Watches will look through your photos and select those with enough blank space to fit the time. It should also be able to stick the time in front or behind certain photo elements, making it look far more like the photo belongs on the home screen.

If you’d rather not be that asshole in the elevator talking on your Bluetooth headset, AirPods will soon get a feature that should track your head movements. If there’s an incoming call, you can nod or shake your head to respond yes or no to taking it. After it rolls out to AirPods, we’ll have to see what other uses this gesture has.

AirPods Pro Now Have Voice Isolation and Spatial Audio in Gaming

AirPods Pro is getting an update that will add voice isolation to remove background noise for the sake of whoever’s on the other end. Additionally, developers can access an API to add spatial audio for games. This will add a surround-sound type experience to the game, first coming to Need for Speed Mobile.

Is There Anything New Coming to Apple TV+ and Vision Pro?

AppleVision OS 2, the Squeekquel, Will Let You Project Your Mac Screen Into nearly 180 Degrees

Screenshot: Apple

Apple released Vision Pro in February, and its first major update of the year is a sequel to the first visionOS coming down the pike just a few months later.

The big new update includes several new spatial photo updates. The Vision Pro can turn 2D images into 3D-ish Spatial photos. You can share those spatial photos with SharePlay. Apple is adding a few new gestures to tap to open the home view or open the control center by turning your wrist. Later this year, Apple plans to update the OS to add better Mac screen integration. This will expand the total view of your projected Mac screen, and with dynamic foveation, it can create a wraparound screen that travels nearly 180 degrees.

InSight on Apple tvOS Will Offer a Few Details on What You’re Watching

Apple’s new InSight feature on Apple TV+ is essentially Amazon’s X-Ray. It lets you get a quick summary of the content you’re watching, plus information about the actors on screen and perhaps a little trivia about the scene as it plays. Plus, there are a few new screensaver animations, like one from Peanuts’ Snoopy, but your photos will now reframed to fit with a timestamp and look like they belong on-screen.

Kyle Barr

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June 10, 2024
Tears of the Kingdom Fans Are Building Computers Now

I mean, it was only a matter of time, right? Nintendo’s hit open-world game Tears of the Kingdom features a surprisingly robust and dynamic physics system you can build with, so it stands to reason that if you create a few “if this then that” scenarios, then bam, you basically have the working fundamentals of a computer system. And that’s exactly what players are doing now. Go ahead and get the “can it run Doom?” joke out of your system. I’ll wait.

SEASON: A letter to the future – Story Trailer

Tears of the Kingdom doesn’t just repeat the same expansive open world formula of its predecessor, Breath of the Wild. With the ability to manipulate various objects, glue them together, and have them interact with a remarkably fluid and realistic physics simulation, players have found interesting ways to traverse the map, build incredible death contraptions, or do silly things like build a pilotable T-rex or, um, Metal Gear Ray. But now, Hyrulian engineers are turning their attention to programming logic, using the game’s building systems to now make more complex contraptions and even rudimentary computational processes. Think of it as Zelda’s version of redstone from Minecraft. And it’s working.

Tears of the Kingdom player builds a basic calculator in the game

The first example of such a device is this one-bit calculator built with rotating panels and lights.

Nintendo / c7fab

Now it may not be entirely obvious what’s going on here, so let’s try to break this down. As software developer Zenni told Kotaku, calculators are essentially “made out of inputs of 1 or 0 and go through logic gates which can determine an output.” She continues:

Instead of gates, [this example uses] mirrors to act as logic gates and a physical gate to determine which inputs to switch between. The example [in the original video] is 1 bit, so adding 1 + 0 which equals 1, or 1 + 1 = 0 with a carry of 1. If you could bypass the drop limit of TotK, you could actually make a working calculator, which is really cool.

As some in the comments of the original video have stated, this is an “Adder,” which, as you might’ve guessed, adds things together. It’s the most fundamental function of how a computer works.

Image: Nintendo / c7fab / Kotaku

Here’s a more basic example illustrating how rotating devices and light objects can be used to create scenarios that control different inputs and outputs:

Nintendo / c7fab

After building this, user c7fab was able to make a slightly less advanced version of the video above with a half adder:

Nintendo / c7fab

Now before you go any further in referencing that darn ‘90s shooter everyone seems bent to get running on just about everything, there is a limit as to how complex this is thanks to Tears of the Kingdom’s 21-object build limit. In theory, if you took multiples of these Hyrulian adders and had them function in concert, you could get more complex computations, leading all the way up to what we’d expect from a fully functioning calculator. But given the game’s limit, it’s unlikely that we’ll see anything beyond simple base two computations.

Other feats of Hyrulian engineering

But, basic calculators ain’t all. As you may well know, Tears of the Kingdom also features physics by way of electricity. That means that creating circuits isn’t just limited to lights and mirrors. Check out this video showing off how with a bit of electricity and moving objects, you can have some interesting interactions.

Another example is a functioning diode, which allows electricity to flow in a specific direction, built using various Zonai devices.

Here’s another feat of engineering from user lyouke on Reddit, this time a transistor that doesn’t need Zonai power to function (Tears of the Kingdom uses two types of power, electricity and mystical Zonai power).

While these examples are very basic compared to what kinds of devices and computational processes we use every day, it’s kind of stunning that this at all works and, when you get right down to it, how simple many modern day feats of technology are at their core.

Claire Jackson

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June 14, 2023

If You’re Not Looking at These 7 Home Buying Apps, You’re Losing Out

As rent prices continue to soar all over the country, you may be finding yourself entering your first real estate search.

You’re not alone. According to the National Association of Realtors, millennials are ending their leases and buying homes in large numbers. Those in their late 20’s to early 30’s now make up the fastest-growing segment of buyers today. But how to even shop for a home these days?

First-time buyers might remember being dragged to Sunday open houses with their looky-loo parents, but those days are gone. Everything is online, and many real estate apps have sprung up to help buyers find their dream homes.

The 7 Best Home Buying Apps

Zillow: Best for overall use
Trulia: Best for community insight
Homesnap: Best for convenience
Redfin: Best for multilevel support
Rocket Homes: Best for one-stop shop
Realtor.com: Best for reliability
Homes.com: Best for quicking listing updates

Best Home Buying Apps at a Glance

App	Best For	Details	Key Feature
Zillow	Overall usability	Virtual tours	Push notifications	SEE DETAILS
Realtor.com	Reliability	3D tours	Detailed descriptions	SEE DETAILS
Trulia	Community insight	34 map overlays	30M neighborhood reviews	SEE DETAILS
Rocket Homes	One-stop shop	Agents/lenders links	Area trend reports	SEE DETAILS
Homesnap	Convenience	High-definition photos	Optimized for mobile	SEE DETAILS
Redfin	Multilevel support	User-friendly interface	Calculates mortgage/fees	SEE DETAILS
Homes.com	Quick listing updates	Home showings via Zoom	Mortgage calculator	SEE DETAILS

Zillow

Pro

Between for-sale-by-owner and official properties, it provides users access to over 135 million property listings.

Con

The “Zestimate” algorithm uses tax records to produce home value estimates, which sometimes are inaccurate.

The Zillow house-hunting app app is the most downloaded real estate app on the Apple store and Google Play — and for good reason. Its database constantly updates and has 36 million users monthly. You can set up push notifications for new real estate listings that meet your search criteria so you’ll never miss out on your potential dream home.

The app allows you to filter real estate listings by price, ZIP code, square footage, must-have features and more. You can even coordinate your search with a partner or roommate by tagging home features and sharing your favorites.

Zillow provides 3-D tours and a scheduling feature to set up an in-person tour. One of its best features is self tours of Zillow-owned homes, a feature available in some markets that allows house hunters to stop by the property at their convenience and simply unlock the house with the app.

Newly added to the Zillow app is a “natural-language search” tool, which responds to user questions in direct fashion, rather than requiring users to type multiple search questions to get to where they want to go.

Realtor.com

Pro

It’s the official search portal for the National Association of Realtors, meaning its updates are the most accurate.

Con

Clicking on “contact agent” will not go to the listing agent, but instead to a local real estate agent who has paid for this lead service.

Realtor.com is one of the best home buying apps out there for on-market listings. Being the official search portal for the National Association of Realtors means you can trust the home listings that pop up in your search. The data is directly mined from the MLS (multiple listing service) and refreshes every 15 minutes.

The search features include a wide variety of filters and provides the most detailed real estate listing descriptions, which include things like crime rates, school ratings, property tax and history of home value estimates — even things like the neighborhood noise levels or whether a home is in a FEMA flood zone.

Because the app updates so often, setting up push notifications means you’ll quickly know when a new property hits the local market. You’ll also have the power of the “Sign Snap” tool in your pocket the next time you drive by a “for sale” sign. All you have to do is take a photo and Realtor.com pulls all of the home’s details instantly.

Trulia

Pro

Shows names and contact information for listing agents, so users know who they would be working with for each listing.

Con

You’re prompted to call or email the listing agent on any property you view, which can get in the way of casual browsing.

Acquired by Zillow in 2015, Trulia has access to most of Zillow’s database of over 135 million active listings and has become one of the best real estate apps. What sets it apart is the focus on community insight provided by those who are located in the area you are searching. You’ll not only get details on the property, but information on what it’s like to live in that specific neighborhood.

You’ll be alerted about price reductions and upcoming open houses, and the app will recommend new listings. Insights sourced straight from locals and 34 neighborhood map overlays offer details on commute times, nearby businesses, crime rates, nearby schools, and more.

Two other features added in 2018 distinguishes the Trulia app from others. “What locals say” and “local legal protections,” combine local feedback and public data to provide information about what a neighborhood is like, from level of dog-friendliness, day-in-the-life details, and even how folks decorate for the holidays.

You’ll also be able to see whether there is legislation in the area to protect against discrimination for gender identity or sexual orientation in employment, housing or public accommodations.

Rocket Homes

Pro

Lets you access your TransUnion credit report, which is updated every week.

Con

Does not provide a home value estimate.

Similar to Trulia, Rocket Homes puts an emphasis on getting to know your soon-to-be neighborhood, but from a market statistics perspective.

This real estate knowledge will come in handy when searching for a home. You can compare properties in the area, seeing how long they’ve been on the market and what they sold for. If you’re not planning on living in your first home forever, this will help give you an idea of what kind of return on investment you can expect from your purchase in the future.

Rocket Homes is a product of Quicken Loans, giving you the opportunity to shop for homes from new and updated listings and have access to lending services all in one place.

This real estate app also helps you stay on track when it comes to some of the more boring parts of purchasing a home, like tracking your credit score. Rocket Homes gives you access to a free TransUnion credit report that is updated frequently, so you know exactly where you stand before starting the mortgage application process.

Homesnap

Pro

Get extensive details on a home just by snapping a photo of it.

Con

Lack of coverage in some areas; Homesnap must partner with individual multiple listing services.

The Homesnap real estate app is perfect for the on-the-go house hunter. You can simply snap a photo of a home and get all of the data available. This feature means you have real-time connection to your local multiple listing service from the road.

If you choose to search from the comfort of your home instead, the Homesnap app allows you to search for open houses by date, and even provides live-broadcast, virtual showings if you want to avoid mingling with other buyers in person.

You can collaborate with your real estate agent through a built-in private messaging function that automatically saves your listings for quick reference. Like most real estate apps, you have a ton of customizable filters for efficient searching, and will be provided with up to date information about the home and neighborhood like commute times, satellite photos and more.

Redfin

Pro

Updates every five minutes so you never miss a new listing.

Con

If you don’t live in one of the 90 U.S. and Canada markets where Redfin has agents, you won’t be able to connect with one.

Redfin’s out-of-the-box-business model combines the convenience of a high-performance app and the expertise you can only get by working with a real estate agent directly. Because Redfin is also a brokerage firm, you’ll have access to their top-quality real estate agents.

Working with a real estate agent gives you more in-depth market insights so you can make smart home buying decisions. And through the “Hot Homes” feature you’ll know which homes are more likely to sell fast so you don’t miss your chance of putting in an offer while house hunting.

Redfin also recently updated its data on climate risk, school ratings and neighborhood amenities.

Homes.com

Pro

Most of 2020 was spent updating the speed and user-friendliness of the app.

Con

Limited information on neighborhood and demographic data.

The Homes.com app is partnered with the MLS to bring you quality leads on your home buying search. The app offers a plethora of filter criteria like the other apps, such as square footage, ZIP code, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, but has an emphasis on lifestyle. Not only will you find the best house, but in the neighborhood that’s right for you.

The exclamation icon makes it easy to spot new real estate listings when scrolling through your search results. You also have the option to “favorite” or “block” certain properties in your feed so you can revisit the ones you love and eliminate the ones you don’t.

The mortgage calculator on Homes.com includes specific financing options like FHA (Federal Housing Administration) loans and special rates for active military members or retired veterans.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Home Buying Apps

There’s a lot of home buying apps to pick from when you are seriously or even casually looking for a home. We’ve rounded up answers to some of the most common questions about home buying apps.

Which App is Best for Buying a House?

The best app for buying a house is the one that fits your needs. But Zillow is the most popular because it does a lot of things right, including allowing users to filter information by price, ZIP code, square footage, must-have features and more. Zillow also lists for-sale-by-owner homes. Zillow is the most downloaded real estate app on the Apple store and Google Play. It gets a 4.7 rating out of 5 from 475K reviews on Google Play. In the Apple App store, more than 6 million reviews get Zillow a 4.8 rating.

What are Home Buying Apps?

Home buying apps are mobile tools accessible on various digital devices that let users see listings to buy, sell or rent a property. Different apps have unique features but all of them include multiple photos of properties, prices, property tax and loan information and the ability to connect with real estate professionals.

Home buying apps provide many benefits to users because of their national coverage and even global offerings. Users can see maps and learn about neighborhoods, too. Best of all, they are free.

How Accurate are Home Buying Apps?

Because home buying apps take information from various sources, there will always be a margin of error in valuations. Estimated values are made from information gathered from county and tax assessor records, multiple listing services and real estate companies.

For properties on the market, the apps should have accurate asking prices or rental amounts. Where there is more variation is on property estimates, including for properties not on the market. You should consider these ballpark figures and not 100% accurate especially in a hot market when prices are jumping seemingly daily.. The apps are a good place to start but most people follow that information with a call to a real estate professional.

What is the Best House Hunting Site?

Zillow is the best overall site with its massive listing bank while Realtor.com is tops for reliable information. Trulia is excellent if you want more information about the community around a home. Homesnap is tops for photos and it is optimized well for mobile. If you want to connect with a Realtor, check out Redfin and if you want a direct line to a lending service, Rocket Homes may be the right pick for you.

Which App is Better: Zillow or Redfin?

Zillow edges out Redfin because of its massive reach. Redfin is not available in every market. However, Redfin is a brokerage which connects directly to the massive database of real estate listings commonly called MLS. Zillow does not do that. Zillow allows for sale by owner listings and Redfin does not.

What is the Most Popular Real Estate Website?

Zillow is the leading real estate website with more than 36 million unique visitors a month and about 135 million live listings. Trulia, which Zillow has owned since 2015, comes in second with 23 million unique visitors. Zillow was founded in Seattle in 2006 and claims to be the most accurate at price estimates, called ‘Zestimates” though there are lots of claims otherwise.

The Bottom Line About Home-Buying Apps

As you can see, if you’re ready to break up with your landlord, calculate what down payment you can afford and start your journey to home ownership, you have plenty of house-hunting apps to take advantage of.

Along with all the other details involved in this adventure, it may take some trial and error to find the app that hones in on your specific house-hunting search criteria. But it’s worth spending the time if it helps you get everything you want in your first home.

Contributor Tiffany Beyer is a social media coordinator and marketer specializing based in St. Petersburg, Florida. She specializes in real estate and lifestyle issues stories. Freelancer Kent McDill contributed to this post.

tiffany.k.beyer@gmail.com (Tiffany Beyer)

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February 6, 2023

The $5 Challenge Is a Low-Effort Way to Build Your Savings

Here at The Penny Hoarder, we kind of have a thing for Abe Lincoln.

His face is profiled on our favorite coin after all.

But as much as we love our pennies, we also like seeing Lincoln’s bearded mug on the front of the $5 bill. And saving $5 bills is much more lucrative than hoarding pennies.

How to Save Money With the 5 Dollar Challenge

The five dollar challenge is a simple way of saving money— one that doesn’t involve much thought or effort. You don’t have to do any math. You don’t have to cut back on spending. You don’t have to put aside an obscene amount of money each month.

All this challenge requires is for you to stash away every $5 bill you get as change. That’s it.

If you’re paying for something and the cashier hands you back a bill with Lincoln’s solemn face, don’t use it to buy coffee or a cheap lunch from the drive thru. Commit that $5 bill to your savings account.

Depending on how long you participate in the savings challenge, you could end up banking a lot of cash. Five dollar bills can add up quickly. Just putting aside two $5 bills a week will give you $520 in savings after a year. And since the amount is fairly nominal, your savings can grow without even missing your $5 bills.

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Where to Keep Your Money

Separating all your $5 bills from the rest of your spending money is key to succeeding in this challenge. Many folks who participate in the $5 challenge stash their cash in jars, envelopes or even shoe boxes. Think of it as your adult piggy bank!

You can keep a running count of your balance or just wait until the end of your challenge to be surprised by the total.

If you don’t feel like keeping all that extra money at home though, make weekly deposits into a savings account. Your savings will be insured, you’ll distance yourself from your stash and you can even earn interest — especially if you have a high-yield savings account.

Participating in the Challenge When You Don’t Use Cash

If you’re used to swiping your debit card everywhere you go, that doesn’t mean the five dollar challenge isn’t for you. You’ll just have to do a little extra work.

When you make a purchase, think about what change you would have received if you paid in cash. For example, if your Target run totals to $84.25 and you would have paid with a $100 bill, you’d likely get a $5 bill, a $10 bill and 75 cents back as change. Before you pull out of the parking lot, log onto your online banking account to transfer $5 to your savings.

To make it simpler, you could resolve to transfer $5 to your savings account every time you swipe your card. Or you could be more selective and only add $5 to your account when you make a specific purchase, like filling up your gas tank.

Another option is to, well, make the switch to using cash — but do it just for your fun money expenditures. Stick with swiping your card to get groceries or stock up on toiletries, but pay with cash when you go shoe shopping or out to eat. Any $5 bill you receive in change goes — you guessed it — straight to your savings.

The cash envelope system is a good budgeting method for those who use physical cash. If you don’t, here’s how to hack the cash envelope system to make it work for you.

Customizing the Five Dollar Challenge

If squirreling away $5 bills doesn’t work for you, you can modify your money-saving endeavor while still sticking to the basic premise of the challenge.

Save all the coins you get as change. (Piggy banks aren’t just for kids, you know.) Or you could put aside all the $1 bills you receive.

Going with a smaller denomination of money doesn’t automatically mean you’ll be saving less. For example, if you frequently receive more $1 bills as change than $5 bills, you could end up saving more.

Have a Goal for Your Savings

Whether you plan to stick with this savings challenge for a couple months or the whole year, it’s good to have a plan for what you’ll do with the money you save.

You could afford something nice for yourself, like taking a much-needed vacation or buying something on your personal wish list. Or you could use the money for something that reflects your financial goals, like making a nice dent in your student loan or credit card balance.

However you decide to use your savings, having an end-goal in mind can keep you motivated to stay consistent — and to not dig into your stockpile before the challenge ends.

Nicole Dow is a former senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. Senior writer Robert Bruce updated this post for 2023.

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January 26, 2023
The Negotiation Explained: What Happens After You Make an Offer on a House

When you walk into the house of your dreams, it should feel comfortable and peaceful. It should feel like home.

We want every step of the home-buying process to feel like that — intuitive. After all, so many people do it; In 2021 alone, 6.1 million home transactions occurred. Yet the fact remains: It’s a burdensome process that so frequently goes unexplained until you’re in the middle of it.

Once the offer on your dream home has been accepted, you might think the hard work is done. But that’s just when the hard work begins.

What’s next? We’re here to give you a primer before you find yourself immersed in a world you don’t understand.

How Long Does it Take to Close on a House?

The time it takes from when you make an offer and close on the home can vary quite a bit depending on where you live and the seller you’re working with. Here’s a typical timeline.

Sellers Take up to Three Days to Respond to Your Offer

“Buyers typically make an offer to the seller through a real estate agent in a document called a letter of intent,” said real estate attorney Rajeh A. Saadeh. “Most offers have an expiration date within the letter, but either way, buyers usually receive responses from sellers within one to three days.”

Since responding quickly is seen as a common courtesy, you should expect to hear back from your seller (or their agent) with an acceptance, counter-offer, or rejection by the third day. There are some situations in which a seller may take longer to respond, which we’ll explain.

What Happens After Your Offer is Accepted?

Once your offer is accepted, you’ll typically have three days to make what’s called an earnest money deposit, which acts as proof to the seller of your intent to buy the home. This usually ranges from 1-3% of the sales price but can go up to as much as 10% in a competitive market or a bidding war. The money is generally applied to the total down payment or closing costs.

What follows is a series of formalities that can bring forth their own set of complications: the home inspection, receiving loan approval and — the final step — closing on the home.

You’ll Need an Inspection

Real estate contracts are generally contingent on passing certain hurdles, so a hiccup in one of those can affect whether you close on the home. For example, many real estate contracts are dependent on a home inspection. If the inspection turns up unexpected problems that make the buyer wary, they generally have a certain amount of time to vacate the contract. Contracts can also have contingencies on a title search, ensuring that the seller is the rightful owner, and on mortgage approval, among other factors.

While real estate agents are supposed to shepherd the buyer through the process, it’s still important to understand what each step entails. When it comes to a home inspection, it’s a good idea to enlist a trusted third party home inspector even if the seller has provided you with a prior inspection report. Home inspections usually take several hours and range from about $300 to $500, according to Fixr. Before choosing an inspector, it’s important to research the various types of home inspections available, including a standard inspection, roof inspection, plumbing inspection, structural inspection and pest inspection. Based on common problems in your area or any issues in your home’s past, it may be a good idea to tack on a few specific home inspections in addition to a general report.

Get Your Loan Approved

Once the inspection is finished, your next step will be to ensure your loan is approved. Before purchasing a home, buyers can submit a pre-approval letter from a lender showing how much the buyer is qualified to borrow. But this does not mean that the loan is in hand. Instead, the lender now needs to review in full the buyer’s information—along with the underwriting team—and ensure that the loan can still go through as planned. The home appraisal is an important part of this process: lenders will require that an unbiased appraiser determine the home’s value and ensure it is in line with the sales price. Just like an inspection, an appraisal costs money—in fact, it can cost between $300 and $450, usually paid by the buyer. If the appraisal comes in lower than the sales price, the price will either have to be lowered or the buyer will have to pay more upfront.

One thing is certain: the process moves fast. Almost every week brings with it a new challenge.

“If your offer is accepted, the sale process begins, a deposit is made within three days, and inspections and appraisal are typically completed within 17 days,” says broker Brandon Brown. “Loan approval is then completed before 21 days, with the closing of the property happening around day 30.”

But that is the low end of the timeline. Closings usually range from 30 to 45 days after going under contract. The average time to close a house purchase was actually 50 days, according to September 2021 numbers.

What Happens at Closing?

Once your lender has given the final loan approval (and produced the corresponding documents), they’ll be ready for your signature. Before COVID-19, signing typically happened with all parties (buyers, sellers, real estate agents and notaries) present. But with more transactions happening remotely and mobile notaries becoming more common, getting everything signed and notarized might take a little longer.

When all of the required documents are finally signed, they’ll be sent back to your lender for one more review, at which point the funds to purchase your new home will be released and a title will be generated. This title officially transfers ownership of the property from the seller to the buyer, and once it’s in place, the home is legally yours.

Somewhere between getting all your paperwork in order and ready to be signed, you may decide to do a final walkthrough. This step is usually more of a formality, but it also guarantees that the home is in the same condition as the day the offer was made — and it’s worth doing, especially if you have any outlying concerns.

Haven’t Heard Back on Your Offer?

Sometimes, sellers can go much longer than three days before responding to an offer. There are a few reasons for this.

Sellers May Get — or Want — Multiple Offers

If a seller receives a lot of offers, this can delay their response time.

Saadeh pointed to an offer made on a Friday during a weekend with an open house. In that case, the seller may want to wait.

“Sometimes a seller may want to hold off on responding to the offer to see if other offers may come in,” he said.

The same could be true if the seller has upcoming tours that they think might result in a competing offer.

So while it isn’t considered good practice to leave buyers hanging indefinitely, a seller may not get back to you ASAP.

In a competitive market, it’s a good idea to make sure your offer has an expiration date, ensuring that the seller must respond within a certain amount of time or the offer no longer stands.

What to Do if Your Offer is Rejected or Countered

If your offer is countered or rejected, you have a few options.

“If the seller counters, then the buyers have to decide whether to accept the seller’s new terms, or counter back and continue the negotiation until an agreement is made,” Brown said.

In the case of a rejected offer, you’ll likely want to start hunting around for a new house. But if you really love this home in particular, you can talk with your real estate agent about making another offer on it.

“If the offer is rejected, usually the conversation ends,” Saadeh said. “But the buyer can make another offer if they so choose.”

At this point, the seller will again either accept, reject or counter your offer. Since sellers aren’t under any obligation to respond to offers at all, it’s possible they even ignore your offer — especially if it’s an unappealing one. If that happens, chances are you just didn’t make a compelling enough bid.

Here are a few ways to avoid having your offer ignored.

How to Make a Competitive Offer

Since you’ll rarely find yourself in a situation where you’re the only interested buyer, it’s important to know how to make a competitive offer. One of the most common reasons offers are rejected or ignored is when they’re perceived as shockingly low. But there are other reasons a seller might disregard or reject your offer.

“Even a higher offer may be less likely to be accepted by the seller if the buyer is asking for too many concessions or for the seller to pay for things that aren’t typically seller-paid in the contract,” says Scott Trench, CEO of Bigger Pockets. This might include things like getting the home surveyed and appraised, which are usually considered buyer expenses.

“Closing cost concessions requested by the buyer can pose an issue because they cut into the seller’s net profits,” Trench said. “Asking the seller to pay for things they normally wouldn’t may result in the seller choosing someone else’s offer over yours.”

Another reason sellers might say no thanks? If it doesn’t seem like you’re a serious candidate.

“Sellers want to know that you can close,” Trench said.=. “Include a copy of your pre-approval letter, or go one step further and have your lending officer call the seller’s agent and let them know how qualified you are.”

Find out what matters most to your seller, and you’ll be one step closer to making an offer they’re willing to accept.

Home-Buying FAQs

How long should a response to your offer take?

You can expect to receive a response to an offer within one to three days, but it’s best to include an expiration date with your offer. This ensures that sellers realize they have to respond within a certain amount of time or the offer is no longer valid.

How do I make my offer stand out?

Remember that there is a lot more that goes into an appealing offer than just the sale price. Sellers may want a quick closing, cash versus a loan or a waived home inspection. Having a solid rapport between the seller and the buyer’s real estate agent will make a difference.

How long does the closing process take?

So you’ve gotten your offer accepted. Congratulations. Now is the hard part. The closing process on average tends to take between 30 and 45 days, but it can take as much as 50 days or more. Be prepared for the unexpected.

What should I know about the home inspection?

First, budget accordingly. Home inspections on average run between $300 and $500, but they can be even higher depending on how many you elect to have. This is an important distinction: depending on where your home is located, what previous problems it had and what your insurance requires, you may need to pay for inspections with a specific focus. This could include a roof inspection, a pest inspection or a structural inspection. While these inspections can save you money in the long run, they can be expensive in the moment.

How does the appraisal work?

If you plan to pay for your home purchase using a loan, then you’ll have to have an appraisal, required by the lender. The appraisal generally runs between $300 and $450 and is paid for by the buyer. The appraisal is meant to prove to the lender that the house is actually worth its listing price. But if an appraisal comes back with a number lower than the sales price, the seller will either have to lower the price or the buyer will have to make up the difference in their down payment.

I’ve reached closing day. Now what?

Closing day largely means signing documents and ensuring that your down payment and closing costs have been transferred to the seller or their appropriate source. Shortly before the closing, you’ll receive a closing disclosure that will go over the final totals. It’s important to review that document before closing day in case anything is different from initial tabulations.

Contributor Larissa Runkle frequently writes on finance, real estate, and lifestyle topics for The Penny Hoarder.

Writer Elizabeth Djinis is a contributor to The Penny Hoarder, often writing about selling goods online through social platforms. Her work has appeared in Teen Vogue, Smithsonian Magazine and the Tampa Bay Times.

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December 2, 2022

Sell Used Clothes: 21 Places to Sell Your Threads Online and In Person

If it’s time to clean out your closet, then it might also be time for you to make some money. Yes, selling your used clothes could be the solution to all of your problems — or at least some of them.

There’s no need to wait until spring to do an overhaul of your wardrobe. In fact, we recommend you do it at least once a season.

Here’s a great place to start: Make a giant pile of all the clothes you don’t wear anymore. Yes, that means going to the hall closet and looking through your winter gear, your swimsuit collection and, yes, all the shorts and shirts you said you would keep in case someone in the family had a child. You can buy them new clothes with the money you make on your old items.

As you examine each piece, ask yourself some key questions: Does this fit? Do I still like it? When’s the last time I wore it?

If your answer is no, no and it’s been years, then it’s time to sell. The next question you might be asking yourself is: but where do I actually do it? Don’t worry—we’ve rounded up the best stores in person and online to take the items you no longer want.

Where to Sell Used Clothes Online

1. Depop

Depop is fast becoming the top app for fashion-minded Zoomers. It’s as much of a lifestyle and social media app as it is a clothing marketplace, and that means high-quality photos with unique staging are a must.

The app is user friendly, and you can set up an account, sync it to your PayPal and start listing clothes in just a few minutes. Depop doesn’t charge you to create a listing. Instead, it takes a 10% cut when your item sells.
You can also choose your shipping method. You can either ship through Depop using the U.S. Postal Service or arrange your own shipping. You can choose to provide free shipping or charge your buyer for shipping.

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2. Ebay

Compared to other websites and apps, eBay may seem like a relic of the past. But the site, after more than 25 years, remains a solid option for selling just about anything online — used clothes included.

So long as you create fewer than 250 listings each month, making a listing won’t cost you a dime. Like most e-commerce sites, eBay does charge seller fees. For most clothing, eBay charges 15% of the total amount of the sale if the item is sold for $2,000 or less. If the item is over $2,000, eBay takes 9% of the total amount of the sale. For select clothing, like men’s or women’s athletic shoes, those numbers are lower — 8% of a sale of $150 or more and 12.9% of a sale that is less than $150.

EBay provides a variety of shipment methods, and the price is based on the dimensions and weight of your package. And if the buyer is local, you can forgo shipping altogether by allowing for pickup.

Website: www.ebay.com

Download the app: App Store, Google Play

Good for: All types of clothing and accessories for primarily national buyers

Payout: Direct deposit

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3. Facebook Marketplace

In recent years, Facebook has invested a lot into fine-tuning its Marketplace feature, which is built into the regular Facebook app. There is no standalone version, meaning you must have a Facebook profile to use it.

Creating a free listing is almost as easy as creating a status update. Look for the storefront icon along your menu bar, click or tap “create a new listing,” follow the prompts, add some well-lit pictures and thorough descriptions, and you’re good to go.

A word of advice: In general, Facebook Marketplace caters mostly to local sales. Oh, and get ready to haggle.

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4. Poshmark

As a “social marketplace,” Poshmark really encourages you to attend buying and selling events, interact with its community and share fashion tips. But if you just want a quick way to get rid of your whopping wardrobe, you can skirt all the bells and whistles and make a listing relatively easily.

For sales under $15, Poshmark charges a flat fee of $2.95. For sales above $15, Poshmark takes 20%. So for items straddling that cut-off point, you’ll want to think carefully about how much to charge. $15 for that vintage tank top and you’ll have to fork over $2.95. $20 for the same tank, and the fee would drop to $2.

What’s nice about Poshmark is that, for each order, the company provides a prepaid shipping label.

Website: www.poshmark.com

Download the app: App Store, Google Play

Good for: Popular mid- to high-end brands for men, women and children

Payout: Direct deposit, check (via USPS) or store credit

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5. Swap.com

Unlike most other places to sell used clothes online, Swap.com does almost all of the work for you. But that convenience comes at a price.

When you sell with Swap.com, you pay $19.99 for a shipping label, load up the high-quality clothes you want to sell, and they do the rest. They’ll inspect them, photograph them, list them and sell them for you.

For items with a sales price of $8 and under, you will receive only 15%. For items that sell for more than $8, you receive 70% of the sales price but are also subject to a flat $4.95 processing charge.

Given these steep fees, you’ll want to be sure your clothes meet (and exceed!) the Swap.com’s acceptance criteria.

Website: www.swap.com

Download the app: Google Play

Good for: Well-known, higher-end brands for men, women and children

Payout: Store credit or cash (via PayPal)

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6. ThredUP

ThredUP’s mission is to reduce fashion waste. And it does this by allowing you to sell your used clothes easily. Quickly? Now that’s another story. The entire process, from shipping to payout, could take months.

To sell with thredUP, you simply choose a “clean out kit,” which they mail to you with a provided shipping label. You fill up the bag and send it back. Then you wait for them to inspect your clothes and list them. Once they’re ready to be listed, you have a window of time to choose how much you want to charge for them. (Alternatively, you can use a suggested price.)

For the clothes that are accepted and sold, you receive a portion of the profits depending on the sales price of the item. For items that aren’t accepted, consider them donated. Otherwise, you’ll need to pay to have them returned to you.

The payout system for thredUP is more complicated than most other comparable marketplaces. Check out this chart or click here to read more.

ThredUP Payout System

Sales Price Payout Percentage

$5 to $19.99 3% to 15%

$20 to $49.99 15% to 30%

$50 to $99.99 30% to 60%

$100 to $199.99 60% to 80%

$200 or more 80%

Website: www.thredup.com

Download the app: App Store, Google Play

Good for: Mall- and designer-brand clothes that you’re okay with donating if they don’t get accepted

Payout: PayPal, prepaid Visa or store credit

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7. Tradesy

think again. The company boasts millions of people who use its marketplace to sell gently used designer brands for women.

Items that sell for $50 or less incur a flat $7.50 seller fee. For items above $50, Tradesy takes a 19.8% commission. All of your profits are kept in a Tradesy wallet, available for withdrawal to your PayPal, debit card or checking account for a 2.9% transaction fee. You can skirt the fee by spending your earnings on Tradesy.

The good news is that the buyer pays the shipping fees, and Tradesy provides you, as the seller, a prepaid shipping label and box to load up your finest fashion.

Website: www.tradesy.com

Download the app: App Store

Good for: High-end women’s fashion

Payout: PayPal, direct deposit or store credit

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8. The RealReal

The RealReal is a great place to sell online if you want to get top dollar for your clothes and they’re luxury or high-end. The online marketplace sells everything from fine jewelry to kids clothing. Some recent sales include a $3,000 Chanel vintage quilted bag, a $645 Versace silk mini dress and $5,650 Rolex. If you think you have things that fit into this category, why not try your hand at this?

The process is simple: either schedule a pickup, ship or even drop off in a limited number of locations. The RealReal has authentication experts that will review each item to see its value. Once your items have been accepted, the site does all the work for you — photography, listing, pricing.

And if your item does sell, you’ll make more money percentage-wise based on how much it sells for and what sort of item you’re selling. Percentage-wise, collectibles, watches, handbags and outdoor equipment tend to do best. Your annual sales also impact your commission: if you make $1,500 a year or even $5,000 or $10,000, these can put you at higher tiers with The RealReal and earn you more money.

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9. Mercari

Mercari brands itself as a site for people to declutter, and what’s great about it is, in their own words, “you can list almost anything.” Unlike more authentication-driven sites, Mercari puts the onus in the seller’s hands — take photos, describe your item and price it.

You can ship on your own dime, purchase a prepaid label or have UPS pack and ship the purchase for you. After the item is delivered, the buyer has three days to review it and rate the transaction. Sellers will receive their money either through instant pay or direct deposit.

If you want to get rid of a few things around the house with little additional effort, Mercari may be the way to go.

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10. ASOS Marketplace

ASOS Marketplace aims to be a trendier option for all the vintage lovers out there. The brand benefits from its association with ASOS, already a popular online store. But it’s intended more for the vintage entrepreneur than for someone who wants to sell one-off articles of clothing. After all, there’s a 15-piece minimum to start.

The good news is that there are no listing fees. Sellers are considered to have their own boutique and pay a 20% commission fee to ASOS. In general, customers pay for the shipping and sellers have two days to ship an item after payment clears. You’ll receive your money through PayPal or Stripe.

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11. Vestiaire Collective

Much like The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective has a reputation for being the marketplace for luxury items. They purport to have a community of more than 23 million fashion lovers worldwide, so it’s worth trying to sell on the platform.

But sellers should know that they will have to do most of the work themselves. Create a listing, wait for someone to bite and Vestiaire Collective will send you a prepaid shipping label. They will also take at least 12% of your sales for items between $100 and $16,500, while an item less than $100 has an established fee of $12. Each transaction also comes with a 3% payment processing fee, so make sure to factor this in when calculating what you might earn. Like many other platforms, sellers get paid through PayPal.

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12. Vinted

Like Poshmark or ThredUp, Vinted is a more casual site for the person who wants to sell off a few of their preloved items. You sell by listing your items of choice on the app. This is yet another service that requires you to do the work yourself. When your item is sold, you print your prepaid shipping label and you’ll get paid through direct deposit.

What sets Vinted apart from other sites is the fact that sellers don’t actually pay to list their items or pay a commission. It’s the buyers who pay a buyer protection fee of 5% of the item’s price plus $0.70.

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13. Kidizen

If you’ve gone through your kids’ closets and found far too many pieces of clothing that no longer fit or you no longer want, then Kidizen is the site for you. The resale platform is devoted to children’s items — and some things for Mom.

Selling works in two ways: go with the site’s personal sellers, who will tell you what to sell and list it for you, or list yourself. Brands like Patagonia, Kate Quinn Organics and Tula tend to be Kidizen favorites, according to the site, but check out all their best-selling brand names here.

Once your item sells, expect to deduct 12% as a marketplace fee for Kidizen if you’re selling yourself. According to the site, “sellers are responsible for shipping costs” but they can purchase a shipping label through Kidizen. Once your item has been processed by the buyer, you receive your cash as Kidizen credit or through PayPal or direct deposit.

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Where to Sell Used Clothes In Person

While there are many options to sell your clothes online, maybe you don’t have the technical know-how (or the patience) to do it yourself. Don’t fret.

There are several national brick-and-mortar places to pawn off your used clothes, shoes, handbags, accessories — even baby clothes, toys and supplies — to get cash in your pocket by the end of the day.

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14. Buffalo Exchange

Founded in 1974, Buffalo Exchange has remained family owned as it has expanded. The company is a firm believer in reusing and recycling clothes to reduce waste and pollution (and save cash). Each store also partners with local charities.

Buffalo Exchange accepts a wide array of clothes for both men and women — vintage, activewear, plus sizes and more. Contrary to its name, it does not accept livestock at this time. Sorry in advance.

Website: www.buffaloexchange.com

Located in: 15 states

Good for: Everyday staples in popular brands, including plus sizes and menswear

Payout: Cash or store credit

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15. Clothes Mentor

Clothes Mentor is a one-stop shop for fashionable women’s clothing size 0 to 26 and maternity wear. It’s a hub for those who want designer brands without designer price tags.

Clothes that sell well include Anthropologie, Banana Republic,White House Black Market and others. Shoes, accessories, jewelry and handbags are also accepted. Clothes Mentor has a number of stores in the U.S. — click here to see them all.

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16. Once Upon a Child

It’s no surprise that child care expenses are a budget buster, but Once Upon a Child can help keep costs down when it comes to baby clothes, supplies and even furniture.

In addition to children’s clothes in sizes preemie to youth 20, Once Upon a Child will buy used cribs, cradles, strollers, baby electronics, Halloween costumes and toys. Even more good news for parents: You won’t have to look very far. Once Upon a Child has more than 400 stores across the U.S. and Canada.

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17. Plato’s Closet

Ah, the ole standby, Plato’s Closet. You may not have known this was a clothing exchange store, but it’s likely that you’ve caught a glimpse of one of its more than 480 locations in North America—likely tucked in an unassuming spot.

Plato’s is Winmark Corp.’s most successful clothing exchange franchise, and it’s aimed at teens and young adults. Everyday styles from Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, H&M, Nike and Obey are typically in demand.

Plato’s Closet also buys athleticwear, shoes and accessories.

To see if your wardrobe surplus is a good fit for Plato’s, browse its website for other brands and styles that sell well.

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18. Style Encore

Another solid option from Winmark Corp. is Style Encore. It’s like Plato’s sibling, only slightly older and more sophisticated.

Style Encore accepts women’s clothing from brands like Banana Republic, Calvin Klein, Coach and Kate Spade. Like Clothes Mentor, Style Encore has personal stylists to help you look like a million bucks (without spending a million).

It’s Winmark’s newest clothing exchange brand, so there aren’t as many locations as its other stores.

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19. Uptown Cheapskate

Want to show off some labels? Uptown Cheapskate is your place. It’s a cross between a trendy boutique and a thrift store for young adults. You can sell or trade in men’s and women’s clothes at any of its more than 100 locations nationwide. Sellers either get 25-35% of the item’s price in cash or around 50% of the item’s value in store credit. High-end items like Chanel and Louis Vuitton can get as much as 60% in cash for the seller.

Brands that do well at Uptown Cheapskate include Lululemon, Free People and Zara. If you’re unsure if your clothes will fit in style-wise, visit the store’s website for more info on trending brands and styles.

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20. Crossroads Training

Crossroads Trading is like a trendier version of Plato’s Closet or Buffalo Exchange. With locations scattered throughout the country, you have a good chance of finding one within a relatively small radius of where you live.

Crossroads stores focus on trendier items — they currently list homestead chic, underground edge and sporty wear among the items they’re looking for on their site. Name-brands are particularly desirable.

When sellers bring their clothes to Crossroads, they either get 50% of the store price in store credit or 30% in instant cash.

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21. Bonus: Local Consignment Shops

If none of the above stores fit the bill, you can always try your nearest consignment shop.

These shops work a little differently than clothing-exchange stores, because consignment stores may not pay you until your item sells. That means it’s unlikely you’ll walk out with a pocketful of cash. It’s also difficult to predict what brands they will buy, because most local stores don’t have databases and metrics off of which to go. Sales are often based on personal taste or season.

But hey, anything is better than leaving unused clothes tucked away in the furthest corner of your shelf for years to come.

Quick Tips on Getting the Most Cash From Your Clothes

Some things are guesswork when trying to sell your clothes. Stock at brick-and-mortars are constantly in flux and styles change, so it’s hard to say for sure which brand or outfit will sell. However, there are a few things you should always take into consideration, no matter the item or the store.

Following these few guidelines will ensure you get the most money for your clothes.

Clean and Fold Your Clothes

Almost every store and online marketplace recommends washing your clothes before taking them in or shipping them off. At in-person clothing exchanges especially, your payout is based on an associate’s quote. After they carefully check each item, you don’t want dirt or food caked to your shirt. It’ll definitely go in the “no” pile.

Pro Tip

In general, to keep colors bright, you can soak your clothes in salt. Only wash them as needed — inside out and in cool water to avoid fading.

Likewise, super wrinkly clothes come across as unwashed, and you don’t want to give that impression. So be sure to fold them neatly before taking them in or pack them neatly if you’re shipping.

Use a Nice Basket or Hamper to Carry Your Clothes (if You’re Selling In Person)

Quick! What do you think of when you see trash bags?

Trash, right? Not clothes.

Again, presentation matters. The appraisers checking your clothes don’t want to sift through trash bags. So after you’ve washed all the clothes you want to sell, fold them and place them in a basket, hamper or box that you can take to the store.

The Penny Hoarder Shop is always stocked with great deals, including technology, subscriptions, courses, kitchenware and more. Check it out today!

Check for Damage or Pit Stains

If you were a shopper, would you buy a shirt that had pit stains or a missing pocket? Didn’t think so. No one wants damaged, stained or heavily faded clothing.

Before you take your clothes in or list them online, examine them under a bright light to check for tears or discoloration. Certain online stores will ship your clothes back to you if you send them low-quality clothes they’re unable to sell.

Sell Your Clothes Often

Buffalo Exchange’s biggest tip is to buy or sell your clothes every three months. That way, your clothes cache will always be in style, which means more money in your pocket when you sell.

Since most clothing exchanges buy with seasons in mind, it may be best to wait till spring or summer before purging your bathing suits.

But if you live in warm winter places, such as Florida, Arizona or Southern California, then January’s probably fine.

Adam Hardy is a former staff writer for The Penny Hoarder who specializes in stories on the gig economy. Elizabeth Djinis is a contributor to The Penny Hoarder, often writing about selling goods online through social platforms.

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November 2, 2022

Here’s How to Become a Transcriptionist and Work Your Way Up the Pay Scale

Remote jobs providing customer service or making dozens of sales calls aren’t for everyone.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a flexible work-from-home job that requires little to no prior experience and doesn’t force you to be on the phone all day?

If that sounds like a better fit for you, consider becoming a transcriptionist. This job lets you make money while having the freedom to set your own hours. In many cases, you can work as much or as little as you want each week.

The Role of a Transcriptionist

Transcription work involves converting a video or audio file to a written document. You need stellar listening skills and an excellent command of the English language to be able to take what you hear and turn it into written words.

Transcriptionists produce written records of conversations, interviews, programs, lectures and more. They also help provide accessibility for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Transcriptionists work in a variety of settings including courtrooms and doctors’ offices, but there’s a lot of flexibility in this profession to work from home — and at your own pace.

Many transcription jobs from home don’t require strict set hours. You can find contract gigs that pay by the amount of work you’re able to transcribe rather than being on a payroll and earning an hourly or annual salary.

As a freelance transcriptionist, you can choose to work when you desire. You could work part time or full time, during normal business hours or at night while everyone else in your household is sleeping. Transcribing from home can be an ideal option for stay-at-home parents to earn money while juggling child care duties.

Besides the flexibility, other perks of working remotely as a transcriptionist are that you have the autonomy of working alone, and you don’t have to deal with inbound calls or the complaints of frustrated customers. Depending on what you’re transcribing, you can also learn new and interesting things.

Types of Transcriptionists

There are several different types of transcriptionists. Typically, the transcription industry is broken into three categories: General, medical and legal.

If you’re a beginner, start by looking into general transcription jobs. This career path has a much lower barrier to entry — often requiring no formal education or training and little prior experience.

Working as a transcriptionist who specializes in medical transcription or legal transcription will likely require a state license or completion of a certification program. You’ll also need to understand potentially complex medical or legal terminology. These specialized fields often pay better than general transcription work.

General Transcription

General transcriptionists are hired to provide text for a variety of video or audio files. You might transcribe podcasts for a blogger or interviews for a writer. You could transcribe business meetings, college lectures, speeches at conferences or discussions during marketing focus groups.

There are also broadcast captioners who create closed captions for movies and television programs. Speedy transcribing is important in these jobs, but employers often hire people with a lot of general knowledge about news, sports, entertainment, and world events. This means people have a better understanding of broadcasts.

Real-time captioning for live events or broadcasts is in high demand and generally pays more than creating captions in post-production. Simultaneous captioners work quickly and need good spelling skills.

A specialized segment of captioning work is CART captioning. CART stands for “Communication Access Real-time Translation” and is for audiences who are hard of hearing or deaf. In addition to transcribing all spoken words in real time, CART captioners also make note of audible sounds like laughter or applause.

Experienced transcriptionists, which you will be after a while, can become transcriptionist reviewers, proofreaders, and quality control transcriptionists.

Medical Transcription

Medical transcriptionists listen to audio recordings from doctors and other healthcare professionals and convert them into written reports. While they may work from home, medical transcriptionists also work in hospitals, labs, operating rooms and other medical settings.

Working as a medical transcriptionist may require a license, certification or prior work experience depending the company you work with and the role you take on. You’ll need a robust understanding of medical terminology, anatomy, medical procedures and healthcare documentation.

While a medical transcription career often pays better than having a general online transcription job, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects there will be a 7% decline in jobs in this field over the next decade. Technological advancements — such as the use of speech recognition software — and outsourcing overseas is leading to this decline.

However, some medical professionals use speech recognition software to create a first draft of the audio they’d like transcribed, and then hire a medical transcriptionist to go over the work and edit for accuracy.

Legal Transcription

Legal transcribers provide written records of depositions, trials and other legal proceedings. A court reporter is a common type of legal transcriptionist.

Legal transcriptionists may also be hired to transcribe police interrogations, victim interviews and undercover law enforcement recordings. The written documents they produce are often used to help lawyers prepare for trials and may be used in court.

This type of transcription career usually requires a certification or license. You need to be familiar with legal terminology, procedures and systems in this line of work.

Some legal transcriptionists can work remotely, but others work on-site in courtrooms, in legislative sessions, at law offices and in other legal settings.

The BLS expects court reporter job growth will be flat in this decade, with about 2,000 jobs a year opening up.

How Much do Transcriptionists Get Paid?

Compensation for transcription services varies based on a variety of factors, including the type of work you take on, your speed and skill level, your experience and the company you work for.

According to Payscale, the average hourly rate for a transcriptionist is $16.59. Spanish and other bilingual translation and transcription services pay slightly better, averaging $17 an hour. Beginners who do general online transcription may only earn about $10 an hour or less, but there’s potential to earn over $25 an hour as you gain experience and enter into higher-paid specialties.

Companies may also pay you more to transcribe a more difficult audio file — such as one with multiple speakers or speakers with heavy accents — or for work requiring extras, such as timestamps, or a very short turnaround time.

It’s important to note that many companies pay freelance transcribers by the audio hour (or the audio minute). This means that you’ll earn money based on transcribing an hour’s worth of audio, which could take a beginner between four to six hours to complete, depending on the complexity.

Experienced transcriptionists often consider rates below $45 to $50 per audio hour too low. If it takes you five hours to transcribe one audio hour at those rates, you’d be making $9 to $10 an hour.

However, if you’re brand new to the industry, you may find it’s worth working at those lower rates to get started. As you gain experience and improve upon your skill set, you could land a better-paying transcription job later on.

Pro Tip

Keep in mind: The faster you can accurately complete the work, the better your compensation will be.

Other companies may pay contract transcriptionists per project or per page of transcribed work. Factor in the time it takes you to complete each project or page to determine if the job is right for you. Generally, anything less than $1 per page is low.

As you’re evaluating pay, make sure you’re considering the costs you’ll encounter as a freelancer, especially if you’re new to working for yourself. As a 1099 worker, you’ll need to pay quarterly estimated taxes. If you aren’t covered under an employer’s health insurance plan, your healthcare costs will be coming out of your own pocket.

Do you need better tech for your work-from-home office? Will you have to upgrade your internet? Include all these extra expenses into the equation as you’re assessing a company’s offered rate.

Need a banking service that’s built for freelancers, helping you save for taxes and keep track of your expenses? Check out Lili. (It’s free!)

What You Need to Get Started as a Transcriptionist

You’ll need a combination of technical skills, soft skills and equipment to become a transcriptionist. It may seem fairly simple to listen to a recording and type out what you hear, but it’s more challenging than you might think.

If you want to level up in your career and get paid better, seek out transcription training in a specialized field. As you move up the ladder, you’ll probably want to upgrade to better equipment, too.

Here are some of the skills, equipment and training you’ll need to build a career as a transcriptionist.

Skills

To work as a transcriptionist, you’ll need to have stellar listening skills, including the ability to decipher audio with heavy accents, background noises and multiple speakers. You’ll need to be able to concentrate on a task for an extended period of time. Having a quiet, dedicated workspace at home helps.

Another important skill is the ability to type fast. If you’re just starting out, a typing speed of 65 words per minute (wpm) is fine, but eventually you’ll want to aim for between 75 to 90 wpm. The more you practice, the better your speed will get.

You should have an excellent command of the English language, including grammar, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary. You’ll want the written copy you turn in to be free of errors, so you should have good proofreading skills as well.

Having great time-management skills will help you stay on top of deadlines. It’s also essential that you’re detail-oriented and patient in this line of work. You might be listening to the same audio over and over to transcribe audio files verbatim.

Additionally, you should be a tech savvy individual who’s able to work with the necessary software and equipment.

Equipment

The equipment you’ll need to work from home as a transcriptionist will vary based on what type of work you do and the company you work for.

Some companies that hire newbies don’t require you to have much beyond a good-working computer, high-speed internet and a pair of earbuds or a headset.

Your computer or laptop should have sufficient RAM and storage space and should be able to run basic programs, such as Microsoft Word. The company you work for might require you to download specific software. Google Chrome is a helpful internet browser to use.

Your internet connection should have download and upload speeds of at least 10 mbps. Your company may have specific requirements.

Pro Tip

As with other online jobs where you’re working from home, make sure you have a distraction-free, private workspace with a comfortable desk and office chair.

If you want a career in online transcription instead of just pursuing this as a side gig for extra money, you’ll benefit from investing in noise-cancelling headphones, a mechanical keyboard, dual monitors and a foot pedal for controlling audio playback.

Downloading transcription software, such as Express Scribe, will make your work easier and help you cut down on your transcription time. There’s a free version of Express Scribe, but you can also upgrade to a professional version for less than $100. If you plan to use a foot pedal, most are compatible with this software.

You may also want to get text expander software to help you type common words and phrases faster.

If you’re a court reporter or legal transcriptionist, you’ll probably need to use stenography equipment.

Transcription Training and Certifications

Working as a transcriptionist doesn’t require a college degree. If you are new to the field and are providing general transcription services, you likely won’t need any certification.

If you aim to specialize as a medical or legal transcriptionist, however, you will need advanced training. Many community colleges and vocational schools offer certification programs, which can last from one to three years.

Aspiring medical transcriptionists can get certified as a Registered Healthcare Documentation Specialist (RHDS) or a Certified Healthcare Documentation Specialist (CHDS) through the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity.

The National Court Reporters Association offers certification as a Registered Professional Reporter (RPR). Another option is to earn the Certified Electronic Reporter (CER) designation or Certified Electronic Transcriber (CET) designation through the American Association of Electronic Reporters and Transcribers. The National Verbatim Reporters Association also offers a variety of professional certifications.

If you’re a general transcriptionist, you can also take courses to improve your skills and, hopefully, advance to better paying jobs. Transcribe Anywhere has a course in general transcription — and also a free mini-course. Udemy also has various courses on how to become a transcriptionist (like this one, this one on subtitling and captioning and these practices).

When evaluating whether a course is right for you, check the reviews or, if possible, speak to program graduates to gauge whether the course increases people’s employment prospects.

If you’re going to work in the United States, it is recommended that you take courses from a U.S.-based company.

How to Become a Transcriptionist in 8 Steps

Wondering how to become a transcriptionist? Follow these steps to launch a career — or profitable side gig — while working from home.

1. Decide What Types of Transcription Jobs You’re Interested In

Are you looking for general transcription work where you might create transcripts of podcasts for a blogger or make a written record of a company’s business meeting? Or would you like to specialize as a medical or legal transcriptionist?

Consider the amount of hours you plan to dedicate to this work. Are you looking for something full-time or part-time?

Would you like to work for a company that’ll give you transcription work or would you rather be a freelance contractor who finds your own gigs? Your answers will guide you to the right path for you.

Pro Tip

If you’re planning to establish yourself as a freelance transcriber, here’s what you need to know about running a freelance business.

2. Practice Your Typing Skills or Pursue Advanced Training

The more you practice your typing and transcription skills, the quicker you’ll be able to take an audio file and convert it into written copy. And the faster you’re able to turn around work, the more you’ll earn per hour.

Express Scribe has practice files for you to test your skills. So does GoTranscript.

If you want to become a medical or legal transcriptionist, check your local community college for certification programs or see the section above for accreditations you might want to pursue.

3. Prepare Your Resume

After completing training or earning a certification or license, make sure you update your resume.

Even if you choose not to pursue formal training, you should revamp your resume to highlight transferable skills that will help you succeed in a transcriptionist role, like the ability to listen attentively or being a fast typist.

4. Apply to Transcription Jobs

If you’re just starting out, it may be easier to get work through a transcription outsource company than trying to establish yourself as a freelancer.

Below you’ll find a list of companies that hire people with little to no transcription experience.

5. Get Familiar with the Company’s Style Guide

Each company will have its own style guide outlining its preferences for transcribed work.

Some companies may ask you to transcribe verbatim, while others will say it’s okay to correct mispronunciations or incorrect grammar. The style guide might also lay out how the company wants you to identify multiple speakers in an audio file.

Take time to study the style guide so you turn in work that adheres to the company’s guidelines.

6. Take a Typing Test

During the application process, transcription companies will have you take a typing test to access your speed and accuracy. You might be asked to listen to a few minutes of dialogue and transcribe what you hear.

The tests for lower-paying companies that hire beginners will be easier than the test for companies seeking experienced pros.

7. Make Sure You Have the Required Tech

At the very least, you’ll need a working computer or laptop, high-speed internet, quality earbuds or headphones and a quiet home office space.

Additional equipment, like a foot pedal and transcription software, may not be required by the company you work for, but it could help you do your job better.

8. Move Up to Better-Paying Companies With More Experience

After you have some experience under your belt and you’ve improved your typing speed and turnaround time, you should seek out gigs that pay more money.

Ditto Transcripts and Allegis Transcription are two companies that hire experienced transcriptionists. You could also use platforms like Freelancer.com or Upwork to find work-from-home transcription gigs.

Another strategy for finding higher paying work is to create a webpage for your independent transcription business and advertise your services. Reach out to potential clients, like law firms or podcasters, directly to solicit work.

Where to Find Transcription Jobs as a Beginner

If you’re looking to earn a little extra money online, try with one of these transcription companies to get started. You won’t get rich, but you will get paid to learn how to transcribe audio files — and this could open the door to more lucrative transcription opportunities in the future.

The following transcription companies regularly hire newbies. You’ll need to take short assessments before getting assigned work, and you can work as much or as little as you’d like. In most cases, you won’t need any special equipment like a foot pedal or transcription software.

Crowdsurf

Crowdsurf specializes in providing transcribed media files to the hearing impaired. You’ll have to create an account with Work Market — an online marketplace for freelancers — where Crowdsurf houses their transcription tasks.

You can earn up to 20 cents per media minute (which comes out to $12 an audio hour), plus bonus rates. Most transcription tasks will be less than 10 minutes long.

Go Transcript

To work for GoTranscript, you’ll first need to register and take a transcription test. Once approved, you can choose from a variety of projects to work on.

The average payment rate is 60 cents per audio minute, which equates to $36 an audio hour. The average earnings per month is $150, however, top workers earn up to $1,215 per month. GoTranscript pays on a weekly basis via PayPal or Payoneer.

Quicktate

Quicktate hires independent contractors to transcribe short voicemail messages, as well as memos, conference calls and more.

After you have done transcription for Quicktate for some time, you may be promoted to iDictate — a sister company that pays slightly more to transcribe an audio file. Quicktate pays approximately one cent for every four words transcribed, while iDictate pays two cents for every four words transcribed.

Quicktate pays its freelancers weekly by PayPal.

Rev

Rev pays transcriptionists between 30 cents up to $1.10 for each audio minute, which works out to $18 to $66 per audio hour. The average earnings per month is $245, but top earners make up to $1,495 per month.

Rev pays weekly via PayPal and doesn’t require any special equipment apart from a computer with reliable internet.

Scribie

Scribie’s site mentions that they work with new transcriptionists and experienced ones. You have to take a test to get certified. Scribie is interesting in that instead of being assigned work, you can choose your files. They also provide an automated transcript that helps the process.

Scribie starts at $5-20 per audio hour. They pay daily by depositing money into your Paypal account.

TranscribeMe

Before you can take on projects with TranscribeMe, you have to register and take its training course and exam.

TranscribeMe starts you off transcribing short audio clips less than five minutes long. The company pays $15 per audio hour. You’ll be paid weekly via PayPal for the work you complete.

You don’t need any special equipment to start working beyond a computer or laptop that has Google Chrome and a stable internet connection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Trying to decide whether you want to become a transcriptionist? Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions.

How Long Does it Take to Become a Transcriptionist?

The time it takes to become a transcriptionist can vary widely, depending on factors such as your skill level and whether you want to specialize.

If you’re already a fast typist with an excellent command of the English language and stellar listening skills, you might be able to apply to work for a transcription company that hires inexperienced transcriptionists. Depending on how long it takes to get through the application and hiring process, you could start working in a matter of days or a couple of weeks.

However, if you choose a specialized field of work and enroll in a two-year certification program to become a legal transcriptionist, it would take at least a couple of years to begin your career.

How Do I Start to Become a Transcriptionist?

For those new to the profession, it’s often recommended to start in general transcription, taking work for outsourcing companies.

Take practice tests before applying so you can improve your typing speed and accuracy. After working entry-level transcription jobs for a while, you’ll be able to take on higher-paying work.

How Much Can You Make as a Transcriptionist?

The average hourly rate for a transcriptionist is just over $16, according to Payscale. However, factors such as your experience level, the business you work for, the type of work you do and your turnaround rate will impact how much money you make.

As a beginner, you could earn $10 an hour or less. More experienced transcriptionists who work in specialized fields can command over $25 an hour.

Is it Hard to Become a Transcriptionist?

Becoming a transcriptionist doesn’t require a college education or formal training, and there are companies that hire workers with little or no experience. This doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easy to become a transcriptionist.

Just like any other job, what’s easy for one person won’t be for another. Passing a company’s typing test, for example, may not be as simple as you’d imagine.

The files you listen to might be very poor quality, making it difficult to understand what’s being said. And other times, you might find yourself trying to interpret unclear dialogue spoken with a thick accent.

The work is also quite repetitive. You will have to listen to the same audio over and over again to be sure you have transcribed it perfectly. If you don’t like repetition, transcription might not be the line of work for you.

Nicole Dow is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. Anna Thurman is a contributor to The Penny Hoarder.

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October 7, 2022
A Helpful Guide on How to Sell Used Books Online and In Person

There’s something about a full bookshelf that screams “I’m educated and I’m not afraid to show it!” But let’s face it — a lot of your books are just collecting dust.

Whether you’ve got a pile of novels you read once and have no intention of reading again or a stack you’ve never read in the first place, it’s time to look at how you can make money by selling your books.

Where to Sell Used Books Online and In Person

We’ve found five platforms for selling books online and provided the scoop on each, including how much it will cost you to make money with them and a few tips on how to get started. And we’ve rounded up another handful of ideas for selling used books in person, plus places that take book donations.

They are:

Where to Sell Used Books Online

We know it’s not easy to part with books. If you have trouble doing this, enlist a trusted friend or relative to help you go through the shelves. Be merciless and realistic. Once you’ve got your stacks of books and are ready to start selling, consider these online options:

Amazon

The obvious choice for many is Amazon, but using this platform is also more complicated than the other options on this list.

How to Sell Books on Amazon

Open an Amazon seller account and choose which countries you want to sell in. You’ll need to provide personal info about your country of citizenship, country of birth, and a form of ID such as a passport or driver’s license number, as well as info about your bank account (for Amazon to pay you for your sales) and your credit card (for Amazon to deduct the selling fees). Then, you’ll select one of Amazon’s two fulfillment methods:

Merchant Fulfilled Network (MFN): You pack and ship every book that someone orders from you.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA): You ship all your books to Amazon, and Amazon handles the packaging and shipping on orders.

MFN requires more work on your part, but you’ll also have the freedom to choose your own shipping service, which could save you money.

Once you’ve set up your account and listed the books you want to sell, customers can find them using Amazon’s search bar.

How Much It Costs to Sell Books on Amazon

An Amazon seller account offers two selling plans:

The Individual Plan: This costs 99 cents per unit sold, and it’s best for people who sell fewer than 40 books a month.

The Professional Plan This costs $39.99 per month and is best for people selling more than 40 books a month who also want to advertise. The fee will be charged every month that you have active listings on Amazon.

For every item sold, Amazon sellers pay the company a referral fee, which is a percentage of the total price. For books, the referral fee is 15% in addition to a $1.80 closing fee. You’ll pay that in addition to the selling plan fees.

Fulfillment Fees depend on which fulfillment method you choose:

Amazon FBA: The monthly fee for storing goods at an Amazon Fulfillment Center depends on how much inventory you’re sending them. More information here.

Amazon MFN: Shipping costs are charged upfront, but Amazon will also charge a fee based on the product category and shipping method, which will then be passed on to you as a credit. More information here.

In addition, you may end up with refund fees, high-volume listing fees or a rental book service fee. A full breakdown of the other costs can be found here.

What You Need to Know Before You Start

Follow listing guidelines. Be as specific as possible about the condition of your item so customers know what they’re buying.

Be honest. If you list a book incorrectly on your seller account (for example, by saying it is in like-new condition when it shows signs of wear), you’re more likely to get negative feedback, which can lead to your removal from the platform.

Figure out your prices. Many sellers recommend adding up all of your costs and comparing that total to the book’s original value.

Who Should Sell Used Books on Amazon?

If you have a lot of new or gently used novels, children’s books or nonfiction books to sell, Amazon may work for you. However, if you only have a handful to unload, you may want to look elsewhere, as Amazon can end up costing you more in fees than you’d make from sales.

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AbeBooks

Sellers who use AbeBooks are responsible for setting up their own listings, storing their inventory and shipping their own items.

How to Sell Books on AbeBooks

First, you’ll need to decide if you want to pay for a professional account or just sell a few items through the website’s Book Buyback section.

To do the latter, you then have to choose between Ziffit or TextbookRush as your partner. Unless you want to sell textbooks, your best bet is Ziffit.

You can search Ziffit’s database through its website or using its free app. You’ll either type in the 13-digit ISBN or scan the barcode with your smartphone.

Once you find the book in the database, the service will display an offer.

How Much It Costs to Sell Books on AbeBooks

If you want a professional AbeBooks account, you’ll have to apply for it and then pay $25 or more a month.

The free option is to sell your books through TextbookRush or Ziffit. Neither TextbookRush or Ziffit require you to pay for your shipping label — every book buyback gets a free trackable FedEx mailing label — but you’ll have to provide your own box.

What You Need to Know Before You Start

Keep your shipping label receipt. This is proof of shipping so you can use the free drop-off service at your nearest FedEx.

Sell frequently. Those who choose Ziffit get paid weekly either via PayPal or direct deposit, so selling more will get you a higher weekly payment.

Use the app. If you want to quickly scan barcodes rather than type in the entire ISBN, the Ziffit app is available on Google Play or the Apple App Store.

Who Should Sell Used Books on AbeBooks?

AbeBooks itself is known for selling rare or collectible books, so if you have any of those in your collection it’s worth considering this service. TextbookRush is ideal for selling textbooks (shocker!), while Ziffit is a good option for books that don’t fall into either of the aforementioned categories. Since Ziffit and TextbookRush are free to use, listing your books or opting for textbook buyback here is a good money-saving option if you don’t want to pay fees to sell books.

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Etsy

You already use it to shop cute hand-made goods, but you probably didn’t know there’s a whole community of people selling books on Etsy.

How to Sell Used Books on Etsy

Use your Facebook, Google or Apple login to create an account, or set one up using your email address.

Set up your shop by choosing a name, the currency you’ll accept, and what items you want to list (including photos and descriptions).

You can choose to offer free shipping or to have buyers pay for it. If you pick the latter, you can choose a rate or have Etsy calculate it for you.

The Seller Handbook has hundreds of informational articles to help anyone who is starting out.

How Much It Costs to Sell Books on Etsy

There are a few costs associated with selling items on Etsy.

Listing fees: You’ll be charged 20 cents for each item you list for sale.

Transaction fees: When you make a sale, you’ll pay 6% of the price you display for each listing.

Advertising and promotional fees: You can purchase paid advertising on Etsy. Learn more about those fees here.

Shipping fees: Etsy lets sellers in certain areas buy shipping labels to fulfill their orders. If you are outside these areas you’ll have to pay for your own shipping label.

Etsy Plus: Sellers who are in good standing can sign up for Etsy Plus for $10 per month. Etsy Plus provides a variety of tools to help sellers grow their brands, as well as offering customization options and discounts on items like shipping materials and business cards.

What You Need to Know Before You Start

If you opt for free shipping, you’ll take the brunt of that cost yourself. But if you make buyers pay for shipping they may choose a different vendor that offers it for free. It’s important to weigh both options to see which makes the most sense for your situation.

Who Should Sell Used Books on Etsy?

As with Amazon, using Etsy to sell second-hand requires more of a time investment, so it’s a good option for people who have a room full of titles rather than a shelf’s worth to list.

It’s also worth considering Etsy if you’re offering rare titles that are also in great condition.

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Decluttr

Decluttr uses both an app and a website to sell books and other used goods.

How to Sell Books on Decluttr

Either download the app or go to Decluttr’s website and click the “Sell Books” tab.

Next, enter your book’s ISBN and click “Add” to get an instant price that the website will offer you for your item. To complete your order, your basket must contain at least $5 worth of items and include at least 10 media items or one tech item.

After you’ve met the criteria, you’ll pick one of three options to get paid: direct deposit, PayPal or donate to charity.

Finally, print your free UPS shipping label, pack the items in a box, label it, and drop it off at a UPS Store, Customer Center or Authorized Retail Outlet.

How Much It Costs to Sell Books on Decluttr

Decluttr is one of the cheapest platforms on this list because it’s nearly free to use, including shipping. You just need to supply the box.

What You Need to Know Before You Start

With Decluttr, you can only make money if you have a lot of books to sell, so consider another platform if you only have a few to purge.

Who Should Sell Used Books on Decluttr?

Use Decluttr to do what the name suggests — to declutter your house — but don’t expect to make much more than a few bucks.

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BookScouter

Unlike the other sites listed in this article, BookScouter will scout several book-buying websites and let you know how much each is willing to pay for your titles.

How to Sell Books on BookScouter

Simply go to the website and enter the ISBN of each book you’re selling, then click “Scout.” The website will then show you a list of book-buyers along with the price they are offering for that specific title.

Once you’ve reviewed the offers, you can click “Sell” next to your chosen buyer and you’ll be directed to that buyer’s website to complete the process.

How Much It Costs to Sell Books on BookScouter

You can search BookScouter offers for free, but depending on the offer you choose there may be some associated fees.

What You Need to Know Before You Start

BookScouter only shows you offers for your books from third parties. Before completing a sale, make sure you check the seller out to confirm that they are legitimate.

Who Should Sell Books on BookScouter?

BookScouter is a good option if you have a small collection of books to sell. If your collection is larger, it might be a better option to go with a bigger platform like Amazon or Etsy.

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Getty Images

Where to Sell Used Books in Person

If selling online isn’t an option, you can find places to sell your books locally and in person. Here are some common places you may be able to make some money on your pre-loved books (or, failing that, where you can donate your books to give them a second chance at life, even if they have a few missing pages).

Used Book Stores

Depending on where you live, you may have several choices of second-hand or indie bookstores. Places like Half Price Books (or some Books-A-Million stores) will value your books and make an offer based on how much they think they can get for them.

You could make a bunch of money or just a few bucks. You can usually opt for store credit rather than cash if you prefer.

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Garage Sales

A garage sale is a good place to try and sell any books you couldn’t sell online or at a second-hand bookstore. You probably won’t make a ton of money; most shoppers at yard sale and estate sales want a quick bargain.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to join a citywide garage sale to catch as many potential buyers as possible.
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Second-Hand or Indie Bookstores

If you don’t have a Half Price Books physical location in your area, you can ask around at your local second-hand or indie bookstores to see whether they have any book-buying programs. If nothing else, they might have some good advice on where to sell your used books that you hadn’t thought of before.

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Ideas for Places to Donate

If you didn’t get any bites online, at a second-hand bookstore or at a garage sale, you can donate your books at the following places. Yes, even books that aren’t worth selling given their condition.

Libraries

Libraries are always looking for book donations. They will either add the books to their collection or sell them at a Friends of the Library sale to raise money to help run the library.

Your neighborhood may also have a “little free library” system where you can drop off your books. These typically have both children’s and adult books that you can take or leave as you please.

Children’s Hospitals

If you have used children’s books you want to get rid of, consider your local children’s hospital. Reading is a great way for kids to spend time when they are hospitalized.

Local Charities

You can donate your pre-owned books to a charity like Goodwill and to churches that have thrift shops. Many local charities have thrift stores that partially fund their programs through sales. Books in good shape are welcome.

Prison Libraries

The Books to Prisoners website allows you to donate books to local correctional facilities to help prisoners learn and pass time while incarcerated.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Selling Used Books

Here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions asked about selling used books.

What is the Best Way to Sell Used Books?

If you want to get into the second-hand bookselling business, you’ll probably make more money with an online platform like Amazon or Etsy. But if you only have a few books to sell, a second-hand bookstore or an online platform like Decluttr might be a better option. Finally, if you want to sell old textbooks, the best option may be TextbookRush through AbeRush.

Where Can I Sell My Books for the Most Money?

If you have a large collection of good-quality books and want to try being a professional seller, you can make a decent amount of money using a platform like AbeBooks or Amazon. But if you’re just trying to sell a few dog-eared paperbacks, you’ll need to reset your earning expectations. You can take them to a second-hand bookstore to see how much they will pay, but it’s unlikely you’ll make any serious money.

How Much Does Books-A-Million Pay for Used Books?

Some Books-A-Million locations buy pre-owned books through the BAM! Used Buyback program. Books-A-Million pays out based on book condition and demand, so your offer will vary based on these factors. If your books are obscure and don’t have much of a market, they may return them to you with no offer. Selling books online or in person is a great way to give new life to your well-loved books while making a few bucks on the side.

Contributor Catherine Hiles is a British writer and editor living and working in the U.S. She writes about finance, cars, pet ownership and parenting. Niki Kottmann is a contributor to The Penny Hoarder.

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October 4, 2022
101 Places That Will Give You Free Stuff on Your Birthday

Hooray! It’s your birthday!

The last thing you should do is pay for stuff. So we’ve put together a list of 100 places where you can get birthday freebies, updated for 2022.

Most of these places require you to sign up for their email list or join their rewards club at least seven days before your birthday.

So get busy now and enjoy the free birthday stuff as it rolls in on your big day.

101 Places to Get Birthday Freebies

These restaurants and retailers will provide you with free treats for your birthday. Be sure to sign up in advance.

Food & Drink

1. A&W All American Food

Get a free root beer float on your birthday by joining the Mug Club.

2. ABC Liquor

Sign up for ABC Liquor Access to get a “birthday gift.”

3. Abuelo’s

When you join the Mi Abuelo’s Rewards program, you’ll receive “special offers” on your birthday. You’ll also receive a special offer upon joining.

4. Acapulco

Sign up for the Acapulco eClub and get a free entree on your birthday. Plus, you’ll get free chips and guac just for signing up.

Photo courtesy of Arby’s

5. Arby’s

Sign up for Arby’s emails and get a free small milkshake and curly fries on your birthday when you buy any sandwich. You’ll also get a free classic roast beef when you sign up.

6. Au Bon Pain

Join the Eclub, and get a free coffee and pastry on your birthday. You’ll also get a free coffee and bakery item just for signing up..

7. Auntie Anne’s

Download the Pretzel Perks app, and get a free pretzel after your first purchase of $1 or more. Plus, you’ll get ‘something extra special’ on your birthday.

8. Baja Fresh

Sign up for Club Baja to get a “special offer” on your birthday.

9. Baskin Robbins

Create an account, join the Birthday Club, and get a free scoop of ice cream on your birthday.

10. bd’s Mongolian Grill

Get a free bowl on your birthday with the purchase of another bowl when you join the bd’s Rewards eClub. Plus, get a free starter or dessert just for signing up. After you claim your initial freebie, you’ll be issued a $10 off coupon for your next visit.

11. Benihana’s

Register for the Chef’s Table, and you’ll get a $30 birthday certificate.

12. Big Boy

Joining the I Love Big Boy email club gets you a free dessert on your birthday and on your anniversary.

13. BJ’s Brewhouse

Join Premier Rewards Plus and get a free Pizookie for your birthday. What’s that? It’s a big, warm cookie smothered in ice cream… yum. What’s even better is you don’t have to wait for your birthday – you’ll also get a free Pizookie just for signing up.

14. Black Angus Steakhouse

Join the Prime Club to get a free steak dinner on your first birthday as a member. Plus, you’ll get a free dessert just for joining.

15. Bojangles

Get a free Bo-Berry Biscuit with a purchase on your birthday as a member of the Bojangles’ eClub. You’ll also get a free ½ gallon of Legendary Ice Tea with purchase when you sign up.

16. Bruegger’s Bagels

Members of the Bruegger’s Bagels Inner Circle will enjoy a free bagel and cream cheese on their birthday, and another free bagel and cream cheese just for signing up.

17. Buca di Beppo

You’ll receive a free pasta after signing up, as well as a $20 birthday gift for joining the eClub.

Tina Russell/ The Penny Hoarder

18. Buffalo Wild Wings

Sign up for Blazin’ Rewards to get free birthday wings during your birth month.

19. Carvel

Join Fudgie Fanatics to receive a free treat for your birthday. You can get a small soft serve birthday cone, take $2 off any cake (except for a small square) or take $3 off any sheet cake.

20. Chevys Fresh Mex

Members of the eClub get a free entree on their birthday. You can also get a free guac and chips just for signing up.

21. Chick-fil-A

Join Chick-fil-A One to get a “birthday reward.”

22. Chili’s

Get a free dessert for your birthday when you join My Chili’s Rewards Club. Plus, as long as you spend $5, you get free chips and salsa or a non-alcoholic beverage with every visit!

23. Chipotle

Join the Chipotle rewards program to get free chips and guacamole on your birthday when you make a purchase of $5 or more. When you sign up and make your first purchase, you’ll also get a free beverage.

24. Cinnabon

Subscribe to Club Cinnabon to get a free iced coffee on your birthday and a free order of BonBites for signing up.

25. Cold Stone Creamery

Get a BOGO coupon for your birthday by signing up for the My Cold Stone Club. You’ll also get a BOGO coupon just for signing up!

Photo courtesy of Culver’s

26. Culver’s

Enjoy a free “birthday treat” when you sign up for MyCulver’s.

27. Del Taco

If you join Del Yeah! Rewards, you can enjoy a regular-size premium shake for your birthday. If you’ve racked up more than 1,500 points, you’ll get your choice of a shake or any dessert — except for Caramel Cheesecake Bites.

Plus you’ll get two free The Del tacos when you sign up.

28. Denny’s

Sign up for Denny’s Rewards program online or via the mobile app. You’ll get 20% off your next visit, plus during your birthday month you’ll get “a delicious birthday gift.”

29. Dippin’ Dots

Get free Dippin’ Dots for your birthday when you join the Dot Crazy! Email Club.

30. Dunkin’ Donuts

Get a free beverage on your birthday by signing up for the DD Perks Rewards Program. Giving your birthday isn’t required to join the program, but you’ll need to offer it up if you want your free coffee!

31. Edible Arrangements

Join Edible Rewards and receive a free 12-count chocolate dipped fruit box (valued at $29.99) during your birthday month as long as you’ve spent at least $29 in the past calendar year. You’ll also get a $5 coupon for signing up (valid for 30 days).

32. Einstein Bros. Bagels

Get a free egg sandwich with a purchase on your birthday when you join the Shmear Society — not totally free, but hey, you’ll need something to help wash that sandwich down. You’ll have 14 days to claim your reward.

33. Firehouse Subs

Sign up for Firehouse Rewards for a free medium sub on your birthday or in the six days that follow it.

34. First Watch

Get a BOGO breakfast, brunch or lunch for your birthday when you sign up for email updates.

35. Friendly’s

When you become a BFF Club member, you’ll receive a free birthday sundae and another free sundae just for signing up.

36. Godiva

As a member of the Godiva Rewards Club, you’ll get a free birthday chocolate offer every year.

37. Habit Burger Grill

Be sure to join Habit Burger Grill’s CharClub to enjoy a free Charburger on your birthday. You can sign up via the app on Android and iOS devices.

38. Hooters

Get 10 free boneless birthday wings when you sign up for Hootclub. You’ll also get a free appetizer of $8.99 or less when you sign up — and after every eighth visit..

39. Houlihan’s Restaurant and Bar

Email club members get a free birthday entree, plus $10 off just for joining.

40. IHOP

Sign up for MyHop and get a free shortstack of pancakes on your birthday.

Robin Hartill scored a free birthday sub she got from Jersey Mike’s Sub in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Tina Russell/ The Penny Hoarder

41. Jersey Mike’s Subs

Get a free birthday sub when you sign up for the email club.

42. Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme Rewards members receive a free Original Glazed Dozen on their birthday. You’ll also get a free doughnut when you sign up.

43. Longhorn Steakhouse

As a member of the Longhorn Steakhouse’s eClub, you’ll get “special offers and coupons” on your birthday. You’ll also get a free appetizer with the purchase of an entree when you sign up.

44. Marie Callender’s

Join the eClub, and get ‘exclusive email offers’ for your birthday and wedding anniversary. You’ll also get a special dine-in offer for signing up. The company also allows you to add family members so they can get birthday rewards.

45. Moe’s Southwest Grill

Sign up for Moe Rewards and get a coupon for a free birthday burrito, plus a free cup of queso just for signing up.

46. Nothing Bundt Cakes

Join the Nothing Bundt Cakes eClub and get a free Bundtlet on your birthday.

47. Olive Garden

Get a complimentary dessert on your birthday. No signup necessary.

48. On the Border

Join Border Rewards and get a “special surprise” on your birthday. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a free guacamole appetizer, dessert or non-alcoholic beverage.

49. Pei Wei

Sign up for My Wei Rewards and choose from these birthday freebies: crab wontons, traditional edamame, vegetable spring rolls or pork egg roll. The reward will automatically appear in your app seven days prior to your birthday.

50. Perkins

Members of the MyPerkins Club receive a “special gift” on their birthdays. Plus you’ll get a 20% off coupon for signing up. You will also be able to add your children ages 12 and under so they can get birthday rewards, too.

51. Pinkberry

Sign up for a Pinkcard or download the app, and receive a free yogurt on your birthday.

52. Pita Pit

Sign up for the Pita Pit Rewards Club and receive a free pita on your birthday.

Photo courtesy of Pizza Hut

53. Pizza Hut

Join the Hut Rewards program to get a “birthday reward.”

54. Planet Smoothie

Join Planet VIP and receive a $6 coupon for your birthday.

55. Red Lobster

Enjoy a “birthday reward” when you sign up for the My Red Lobster Rewards program.

56. Red Robin

Register for the Red Robin Royalty Program, and get a free birthday burger.

57. Rita’s

Get a free Italian ice on your birthday when you download Rita’s Ice App.

58. Ruby Tuesday

As a member of So Connected, you’ll get a choice of a free burger or a free garden bar entree on your birthday. You’ll also get a $5 off coupon for signing up.

59. Sbarro

Become a member of the Slice Society to get a birthday surprise. You’ll also get a free New York slice when you buy a beverage after signing up.

60. Sonny’s BBQ

Get a free Big Deal Combo meal on your big day by joining the ‘Q Crew, plus a $5 off $25 coupon just for joining.

61. Sprinkles

Receive a free cupcake (make that a baker’s dozen if you’re a Red Velvet tier member) for your birthday when you join Sprinkles Perks.

Hartill sips an iced coffee she got for free on her birthday at Starbucks in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Tina Russell/ The Penny Hoarder

62. Starbucks

Get a birthday beverage or food item as a member of Starbucks Rewards.

63. TCBY

Sign up for TCBY emails, and receive your first 3 ounces free on your birthday — as long as you’ve spent $100 at TCBY over the past year.

64. Texas Roadhouse

Sign up for the email club and you’ll get a free appetizer or a sidekick of ribs on your birthday.

65. The Melting Pot

Members of Club Fondue will get a “birthday voucher.”

66. The Spaghetti Warehouse

Join the Warehouse Club, and get a free meal on your birthday, plus a free appetizer with an entree purchase for becoming a member of the club.

67. Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Download the Tropical Smoothie Cafe app to be eligible for a “birthday surprise.” What you get depends on your loyalty tier, but it ranges from a $2 reward to a free menu item.

68. Uno Pizzeria & Grill

Join the Uno Extras program, and receive a birthday coupon, as well as a free individual pizza.

69. Waffle House

Make sure you’re a member of the Waffle House Regulars Club to receive a free waffle on your birthday. You’ll also get free hashbrowns when you sign up. Additionally, Regulars receive an Anniversary Bacon Coupon, seasonal coupons, and other offers throughout the year.

70. Wahlburgers

You’ll get a free non-alcoholic shake on your birthday as a member of the Wahlclub. You’ll also get $5 off your first order just for signing up.

71. Wienerschnitzel

Join the Wiener Lovers’ Club, and get “free food” each year on your birthday, plus a free chili dog for joining.

72. Zaxby’s

Sign up for the Zax Club and get a free “birthday surprise” , plus a free Big Zax Snak for signing up.

Entertainment

73. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

Join Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s Victory program and get a free movie ticket on your birthday every year. If you visit Alamo Drafthouse Cinema more than 50 times per year, you’ll get two free tickets for your birthday.

Getty Images

74. AMC Theatres

Become an AMC Stubs Insider to get a free large popcorn during your birthday month. If you’re a Premiere or A-List member, you’ll also get a free large fountain drink.

75. Harkins Theatres

Sign up for My Harkins Rewards and receive a $5 birthday coupon to use at the concessions.

76. Hard Rock

Sign up for Unity by Hard Rock to get a free dessert from the cafe on your birthday.

77. Redbox

Sign up for Redbox Perks and receive a free birthday rental (it must be used within 60 days). If you have made 50 purchases or rentals, you’ll get two free birthday rentals.You’ll also get a free one-night rental for signing up (that offer is valid for two weeks).

Clothes & Shoes

78. Anthropologie

As a member of the Anthro Loyalty program, you will get a “special treat to celebrate your birthday.”

79. Banana Republic

When you sign up for Banana Republic Rewards, you’ll get “extra perks” for your birthday.

Penny Hoarder senior writer Robin Hartill knows how to score the freebies on her birthday. Check out her haul.

80. Columbia

Members of the Greater Rewards program get a “birthday gift” in addition to a welcome gift from the sportswear and outdoor gear retailer.

81. Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW)

Join the free DSW VIP Club to get a $5 birthday reward. You’ll also get $5 on your birthday if you spend $200 annually as a VIP Gold member, and you’ll get $10 if you spend $500 annually as a VIP Elite member.

82. Famous Footwear

Famously You Rewards members get a $5 birthday cash reward. You’ll also earn double points on all of your purchases during your birthday month.

83. JCPenney

Receive a birthday gift when you sign up for JCPenney Rewards. If you are not a JCPenney credit card member, you must have earned points within the last 12 months. If you are a credit card member, you must have made a purchase with your JCPenney Credit Card within the past 12 months.

Getty Images

84. Kohl’s

Members of the Kohl’s Rewards program get a “special birthday gift.”

85. Old Navy

When you join Navyist Rewards, you’re eligible for one free “birthday surprise.”

86. Target

As a Target Circle member, you’ll have access to exclusive deals and get 1% rewards on every single purchase. You’ll also get a 5% off coupon on your birthday, valid for 30 days.

87. Tilly’s

Joining Tilly’s Rewards gives you the opportunity to earn Tilly’s Cash. It also gets you a free “birthday surprise.”

88. Torrid

Sign up for Torrid Rewards and get a “special birthday gift” during your birthday month.

89. Uniqlo

Download the Uniqlo app to get a birthday coupon during your birthday month.

90. Victoria’s Secret

If you have a Victoria’s Secret or PINK credit card, you’ll get $10 in birthday rewards. If you’ve spent $500 in the past year, the birthday reward bumps up to $15.

You’ll also get a $15 reward during your half birthday month at this spending level. If you spend between $250 and $499 in the past year, the half birthday reward is $10. There is no half birthday reward if you spent less than $250 over the past year.

Here are even more discounts and free stuff for anyone who has served our country: Check out this list of 160 military discounts.

Beauty & Jewelry

91. Aveda

You need to pay $10 to join Aveda’s loyalty rewards program, but you’ll receive a birthday gift, as well as double points on your Aveda purchase.

92. bareMinerals

Sign up for the Good Rewards loyalty program to get “birthday gifts.”

93. Kendra Scott

Kendra Scott offers a 50% birthday discount on one fashion jewelry or color bar item. It also offers a 25% discount on fine jewelry, sterling silver jewelry or gold vermeil jewelry. You can also get 25% off a home goods item. Find out more information here.

94. Pandora

Members of the Pandora Club get a 15% discount during their birthday month. This offer can only be used one time and is valid on regular-priced jewelry only.

95. Sephora

Beauty Insiders are eligible to choose a free makeup or skin care gift for their birthday.

96. Ulta Beauty

As an Ultamate Rewards member, you’ll get a free gift. If you’ve spent enough money to be a Platinum ($500) or Diamond ($1,200) member, you get an additional $10 coupon.

During your birthday month, you’ll earn double points on all of your purchases.

Miscellaneous

97. Ace Hardware

Ace Rewards members get $5 off for their birthday at participating locations. If you’ve spent $750 at Ace Hardware over a 12-month period, your birthday rewards get bumped up to $10 off, regardless of location.

98. Container Store

Join the Organized Insider program to get a birthday discount. The discount is 15% off if you have spent less than $300 in the past year, 20% off if you’ve spent between $300 and $999, and 25% off if you’ve spent $1,000 or more.

Tina Russell/The Penny Hoarder

99. CVS Pharmacy

As a member of the ExtraCare program, you’ll get a free, $3 Extrabucks reward on your birthday, as well as 2% back every time you shop.

100. Swagbucks

As a birthday reward, “you’ll receive a Swag Up for a 55 SB credit when you redeem your next gift card.”

101. World Market

Members of World Market Rewards get a “surprise offer” on their birthday, plus a 15% coupon for signing up.

Pittsburgh-based writer Brynne Conroy is the founder of the Femme Frugality blog and the author of “The Feminist Financial Handbook.” She is a regular contributor to The Penny Hoarder. The Penny Hoarder staff also contributed to this post.

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September 29, 2022

Sales Price	Payout Percentage
$5 to $19.99	3% to 15%
$20 to $49.99	15% to 30%
$50 to $99.99	30% to 60%
$100 to $199.99	60% to 80%
$200 or more	80%

Tag: calculator

What’s Up With ‘Apple Intelligence’

Apple Intelligence is Apple’s Big AI Product for All of its Ecosystem

Apple Intelligence can Rewrite or Proofread Text

Apple’s Emails Will Summarize Important Points Before You Open them

Apple Will Let You Create AI Images, Including ‘Genmojis’

The Apple Intelligence Can Pull Up Your Files and Photos

Apple Promises Its AI Won’t Save Your Data

Siri Has a New Look and a Whole Lot More Capabilities

Siri Will Be Your Best How-To Machine for Apple Products

Siri Can Use ChatGPT ‘Seamlessly’

iOS 18 is Promising some Long-Awaited Customization Features

iOS Now Supports RCS

iOS 18 Lets You Finally Rearrange Your Home Screen Apps

You Can Soon “Lock” Any App in iOS 18

Messenger Includes Full Emoji Tapbacks

Messenger Text Effects Will Let You Emphasize Certain Words

Game Mode on iPhone

Messages Via Satellite

Apple Maps Now Allows You to Get Hiking Trail Info

Tap to Cash Allows You to Pay Your Friends With Your Phone

Photos App is Gonna Look a Hell of a Lot Different

iPadOS 18 Promises Some New and Unique Features for Apple’s Tablets

Floating Tab Bar on iPad Might Make it Far Easier to Use

SharePlay Tap and Draw Will Let You Remote Control Another iPad

Calculator on iPad (‘Yay’)

Notes’ Smart Script Will Fix Your Chicken Scratch as You Write

So, What’s New in macOS Sequoia?

macOS Sequoia Will Allow You to Mirror Your iPhone on Your MacBook

You Can Place Your Mac Windows into Tiles, Like Windows 11

You Can Preview Your Camera When Doing a Facetime

Passwords App Will Show All Your Stuff

Safari Reader Function Summarizes Text

Game Porting Toolkit 2 Adds Better Windows Compatibility

How About watchOS 11 and AirPods?

AirPods Can Sense Your Head Nods For Saying Yes to Siri

Apple Watch’s watchOS 11 Gets Training Mode

The Next watchOS Update Includes a Vitals App

Apple Watch Will Open Up Different Widgets Depending on Context

The Apple Watch Will Determine Which Photos Work Best for Your Home Screen

AirPods Pro Now Have Voice Isolation and Spatial Audio in Gaming

Is There Anything New Coming to Apple TV+ and Vision Pro?

AppleVision OS 2, the Squeekquel, Will Let You Project Your Mac Screen Into nearly 180 Degrees

InSight on Apple tvOS Will Offer a Few Details on What You’re Watching

Tears of the Kingdom player builds a basic calculator in the game

Other feats of Hyrulian engineering

The 7 Best Home Buying Apps

Zillow

Realtor.com

Trulia

Rocket Homes

Homesnap

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Homes.com

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Home Buying Apps

The Bottom Line About Home-Buying Apps

How to Save Money With the 5 Dollar Challenge

Where to Keep Your Money

Participating in the Challenge When You Don’t Use Cash

Customizing the Five Dollar Challenge

Have a Goal for Your Savings

How Long Does it Take to Close on a House?

Sellers Take up to Three Days to Respond to Your Offer

What Happens After Your Offer is Accepted?

You’ll Need an Inspection

Get Your Loan Approved

What Happens at Closing?

Haven’t Heard Back on Your Offer?

Sellers May Get — or Want — Multiple Offers

What to Do if Your Offer is Rejected or Countered

How to Make a Competitive Offer

Home-Buying FAQs

Where to Sell Used Clothes Online

1. Depop

2. Ebay

3. Facebook Marketplace

4. Poshmark

5. Swap.com

6. ThredUP

7. Tradesy