An easy side hustle in Australia: $880 from sign-up bonuses, no skills needed

Why sign-up bonuses make a good first side hustle

• No skills. If you can download an app and follow steps, you can do it.
• No equipment. No car, tools or stock. Everything happens on your phone.
• No customers. You don't need to sell anything or find clients. The bank or app pays you.
• Flexible. Each offer takes 5 to 30 minutes, whenever suits you.
• Low starting cost. The first two offers need $1 each, and early bonuses help fund the later ones.

How much time it actually takes

Signing up for all seven offers takes around three hours of hands-on time in total, including the steps you repeat each month for ING and using the Tiger Trade vouchers. Most of the rest is waiting: for verification, for holding periods to end and for bonuses to arrive. That works out to a few hundred dollars per hour of actual work, which is hard to match with any other beginner side hustle.

01Independent ReserveCryptocurrency exchange · $1 deposit$20bonus 02Bitcoin.com.auCryptocurrency exchange · $1 deposit$20bonus 03UBankBank account · $2.50 deposit$30bonus 04CoinByteCryptocurrency exchange · $110 deposit$60bonus 05Tiger TradeShare trading platform · $5 deposit$150bonus 06IG TradingShare trading platform · $100 deposit$200bonus 07INGBank account · $1,000 deposit$400bonus

Total: $880 in bonuses across 7 offers.

A simple week-by-week plan

• Week 1. Independent Reserve and Bitcoin.com.au ($1 each, about 5 minutes each), then UBank ($2.50 and five small card purchases). Three bonuses worth $70 start processing.
• Week 2. CoinByte ($110 purchase, bonus within 24 hours). Open Tiger Trade and IG, buy the small required share amounts and start their 30-day holds.
• Weeks 2 to 12. ING: deposit $1,000, transfer $980 back the same day and make five small purchases, once a month for three months.
• Week 6 onward. Use your Tiger Trade vouchers, collect the IG bonus once the hold ends, then sell and withdraw.

How it compares to other side hustles

Delivery driving and rideshare need a vehicle and pay by the hour. Airtasker and freelancing need skills and customers. Online surveys are easy but pay a few dollars at a time. Reselling needs stock, cash up front and time to list and ship. Sign-up bonuses are the opposite: very little time and no skills, but a fixed amount you can only earn once.

The honest limits

• It's one-off. Each bonus is for new customers, so once you've done an offer it's usually gone. This is a few hundred dollars, not an ongoing income.
• Some offers need money in the account. ING needs $1,000 a month (most of which you transfer straight back), IG needs $100 for 30 days and CoinByte needs a $110 purchase.
• Crypto and shares can move in price. Keep the required holdings small and sell once the bonus is paid.
• ID is required. Every offer needs your driver's licence or passport, and most require you to be 18 or over.
• Bonuses may be taxable. This is general information only, so check with the ATO or a tax adviser.

What to do after the ladder

Once you've finished the seven offers, there are more one-off bonuses in the More offers section, and new promotions appear regularly. The Referral Revenue Discord posts new offers as they launch, so members can keep earning after the ladder is done.