I Tried Shepper, A Seriously Underrated Side Hustle App
Here’s how much I earned and whether I’ll keep using it
Most apps that pay you for doing manual tasks suck.
Grinding through surveys or tedious phone games at home for a £10 Amazon voucher has never been my idea of a good time.
So, I was intrigued when I came across Shepper; an app that pays you to take photos and perform product checks in the real world.
It sounded like a great concept, yet after looking around, I couldn’t find many stories of people who’d actually used it. That, and their rating on the Google Play store is 2.0 out of 5. What’s the catch?
I decided to find out.
Here’s my unaffiliated, honest review of Shepper.
What is Shepper?
Shepper is an app that has workers conduct in-store checks and similar jobs in exchange for cash.
The content of these checks varies. Workers (or Shepherds, as the app calls them) might be asked to take photos of promotional displays in stores, find certain billboards or adverts in set locations, or covertly ask staff about products in “mystery shopping” tasks.
All this happens through the Shepper app, where workers can sign up for jobs, answer questions and take photos during checks. Once a check is complete, the responses and photos go off to Shepper’s review team.
If there are major discrepancies in a worker’s responses or photos, then the job is rejected and placed back on the market for others to retry. If all is well, the check is accepted and the worker gets paid. It’s pretty straightforward.
My experience using Shepper
I first tried Shepper three months ago and have since completed nearly 20 jobs. I’ve mainly stuck to basic jobs that involve taking photos of in-store displays, and occasionally asking follow up questions to store employees.
My experience with the app itself has been positive, and the instructions for checks are clear and easy to follow. If you follow these instructions and take clear photos, your checks are unlikely to get rejected, too. I get the impression that the review team try to fix small errors and only reject checks if bigger mistakes happen.
Most of my interactions with store employees on Shepper checks have been smooth. Once you explain what you’re doing, most staff allow you to go right ahead, although I’ve had some react more cautiously and check my permission documents and ID on the app before allowing me to proceed. Some of these conversations can be a bit awkward, but you learn to roll with it after a few jobs.
For braver Shepherds, “mystery shop” jobs task you with having extended conversations with staff and then secretly reporting their responses later. I haven’t tried any yet — I’m too introverted for that.
Overall, working on Shepper has been a good experience.
I see Shepper jobs as a real-life equivalent of minor side quests in a video game. They’re not always tons of fun, but they’re varied and quick enough to be interesting.
How much money can you make with Shepper?
The Shepper website will tell you that jobs will pay anywhere from £2 to £20, depending on how many tasks they involve.
This sounds simple, but in practice, there’s more to choosing good jobs than just the money.
Some jobs will inevitably be further away, requiring longer travel times to reach. Shepper might pay you £6 for a 10-minute job, but if you’re travelling 20 minutes each way to get there and back, that becomes £6 for 50 minutes of total effort. Not worth it, right?
That said, finding jobs that are close together can help boost your hourly pay. I’ve earned £20 for 30 minutes of work (travel included) by taking well-priced jobs that were close together near my location. That’s not a bad rate.
As shown below, I’ve earned £101 in total on Shepper.
Although that reflects slightly below average earnings according to Shepper (the average worker earns £54 a month, apparently), I’m still happy with it. I haven’t put much time into the app and have been selective with the jobs I’ve taken, so it makes sense that I haven’t earned loads of money.
Top Shepherds can make several thousand pounds per year, so there’s certainly scope for good earnings.
Are there any downsides to working on Shepper?
Although I’ve enjoyed working on Shepper, I can see some potential downsides to it.
- Right now, Shepper only operates inside UK territory. This means that if you don’t live there, you can’t take on jobs with them
- If you live in a rural area with fewer stores, you’ll likely have fewer jobs available nearby. This could reduce your earnings
- Shepper isn’t scalable like some other side hustles. The highest earning Shepherd made £7k in 2020. While that’s a lot, it’s lower than the top earnings for something like creating an online course
It’s also important to realise there aren’t always lots of jobs available. While this isn’t necessarily a downside — Shepper is only a side hustle, after all — it’s good to manage your expectations. If you’re looking for a constant stream of jobs available all week, you’ll be disappointed.
From my perspective, this is app’s biggest limitation. Hopefully the team at Shepper can release more regular checks in the future to improve on this.
Is Shepper a good side hustle?
Yes. I think Shepper is a worthwhile side hustle for those looking to bring in some extra money.
While it won’t make you rich, it’s a legitimate way to bring in some cash that’ll add up over time. There are plenty of positives to working on the app.
- You can accept as many or as few jobs as you like, whenever you want
- Hourly rates can be high, depending on the pay rates and locations of available jobs
- It’s not likely to be made obsolete by AI any time soon because it relies on workers physically travelling to locations
Right now, Shepper seems underrated. I see many areas on the map where decent jobs hang around uncompleted for days. If you join and find you’re in one of these “quiet” areas, you could be able to earn good money with little competition.
I like Shepper. I doubt that I’ll become a high earner on the app any time soon. But, it gets me outside, makes a change from the rest of my daily work, and gives me some extra cash.
If you live in the UK and need some spare cash, don’t be put off by the Google reviews and give it a go.
That is unless you live near me and want to take all the local jobs. In that case, it’s not for you, and you should definitely try something else.
