Move over, TikTok Shop, there’s a new viral shopping app: the Flip app.

The pitch: Flip will pay you to create and watch reviews for your favorite products. 

So, what’s the catch? We’re taking a deep dive into what the new Flip shop is, how it works, and if it’s actually possible to make money on the app.

What is Flip.Shop?

Flip is self-described as a social shopping channel.

The user interface will be immediately familiar to TikTok and IG Reels users: short, vertical videos arranged in an endlessly scrollable feed. The difference is that every video on your feed is a review of a purchasable product—and you can make that purchase right there inside the app.

Flip’s founders envisioned this app as a new way to shop online, leveraging the power of user-generated content. UGC has become increasingly popular both with brands and creators alike. Brands want the consumer trust that comes from content that seems organic, rather than branded. And creators can make good money creating content for brands without first needing huge followings.

A shopping app filled exclusively with UGC is a pretty natural next step.

How to access the Flip app

The Flip mobile app is available in Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store, making it accessible to both iPhone and Android users. 

You can even browse Flip from your desktop by heading to flip.shop. The interface isn’t as addictively scrollable as the mobile experience, but as long as you’re logged in you still earn credit for watching reviews and shopping.

Speaking of earning…

How does the Flip shop work?

There are three different ways you can earn money on the Flip shop.

1. Earn money by watching reviews on Flip

The first and easiest way to earn money on the Flip app is by watching reviews. All you need is a free account to get started.

How much do you earn by watching reviews on Flip?

Flip hasn’t published any official guide to how much you earn for each action you take on the app. We spent some time scrolling and window shopping to see what we could learn. 

At the time of writing this, you can earn anywhere from $0.01 to $0.08 for any of the following actions:

• Watching a video. It doesn’t seem to matter if you watch the whole video or just part of it before you scroll. The little reward counter at the top right corner of the screen will increase when you scroll to the next video.
• Adding an item to your cart. Even if you don’t buy the product, adding it to your cart bumps your Flip rewards total up.
• Commenting on a video. Similar to view duration, the length of your comment doesn’t appear to affect this rate.
• Liking a video. Hitting the like button will increase your rewards and automatically scroll you to the next video, which we found to be a strange UX choice. Liked videos are added to a folder on your account that you can peruse later, but if you want to add that product to your cart in the moment, you’ll have to scroll back up.
• Sharing the video with a friend. You can share a video with friends who are already on the Flip app or share elsewhere by copying the video link or opening in Messages.

We tried to identify any pattern to how many cents are earned for each action, but it appears to be mostly random.

When you do find a product that you want to purchase, your rewards will be automatically applied in your cart. You can only ever apply up to a 30% discount to any purchase made with rewards.

Any remaining rewards will stay in your account to be applied to the next purchase. The exception is coupons earned by inviting friends to join (more on that in a moment). 

Depending on the cost of what’s in your cart, you might be eligible for free products, as well. There are different tiers of free products available for $60 purchases, $100 purchases, and $150 purchases.

2. Earn money by inviting friends to join Flip

Another way to earn money on Flip, and one that no doubt contributed to the app’s high download numbers, is by inviting friends to join. 

When you sign up for Flip and sync your contacts list with your account, you’ll receive a unique coupon code to offer to the friends on your list. If that friend signs up using your link, you’ll both receive up to 95% off your next purchase.

Some of the friends on your list might qualify for Free Cash invites instead, which deposits money directly into your Earnings Dashboard. You can either cash this out as Flip Cash to be used in-app or transfer it to a linked bank account.

There doesn’t seem to be any particular method behind which contacts are eligible for Free Cash invites, at least not that Flip has chosen to disclose at this time.

3. Earn money by creating reviews on Flip

Finally, you can earn money by creating your own product reviews and publishing them on Flip. 

The creation process is similar to making a TikTok or Reel. Reviews should be filmed vertically (9:16 aspect ratio) and be 8-16 seconds long. You can film your reviews in Flip or upload from your camera roll.

There are two ways to earn money from your Flip content:

1. Sales: For the first 12 months after publishing a review, you will earn a 5-15% sales commission on product orders placed from your content. The earnings are released to your account once the order is completed.

This applies to both videos published to the Flip feed as well as any live videos you host.

2. Engagement: You also earn money from how much engagement your content generates. 

For the first 30 days after posting a video, you’ll earn $15-25 for every 1,000 unique views on your video. For the first 60 days after hosting a live, you’ll earn $40-60 for every 1,000 unique views.

For example, I posted a very simple video reviewing some shampoo that I ordered on Flip. Through engagement earnings, I made $1.32 in two months.

Note: Unique views are defined differently for feed videos and live streams. For feed videos, any view longer than 3 seconds is considered a qualifying unique view. For lives, the views need to be longer than 60 seconds. Since your engagement earnings rate is calculated based on the number of unique views received, the more engaging your content, the higher the potential payout will be.

One small caveat: You can only review products that you purchased through the Flip shop. According to Flip, this is to ensure only honest, real reviews are posted on the platform.

Is the Flip app legit?

If you’re wondering if the Flip shop carries real products worth buying, the answer is yes. In just a few minutes of scrolling, we found products from several brands we recognize and love.

So far, you won’t find Amazon drop shippers or dubious fakes of designer bags here. In fact, Flip is deliberate about which brands they let on the app and have a strict verification process.

If you’re wondering if Flip is a valid way to make money… maybe?

Let’s break it down based on how you use the app.

Can you make money as a viewer on Flip?

No, you can only spend it.

Flip visually represents the rewards you’re earning in the top right corner of your screen as a dollar amount. That makes you feel like you’re earning real money. But you can’t ever actually cash it out, because you’re not earning money. You’re earning product discounts. You still have to buy the product. 

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s also not income.

Can you make money as a reviewer on Flip?

Yes, but it’s pay to play.

Because you can only review products you’ve purchased on Flip, you have to spend money on the app to make any money. If your videos earn good views and sales, this might be worth the investment, but it’s no guarantee.

Flip does offer access to a Free Product collection for reviewers, but again you have to first review a free product, which means spending at least $60—the minimum purchase amount eligible to get a free product. 

If you’re looking to earn consistent money from UGC, there might be better platforms out there.

Can brands make money on Flip?

Absolutely.

Flip’s verification process means that brands aren’t competing with resellers and duplicates like they might on other e-commerce platforms. Users are benefitting from this, too, especially as other marketplaces struggle with these issues.

Brands can take advantage of user generated content, letting sales roll in passively or boosting certain high-performing videos to reach even more shoppers. Since users are creating all the content, investment cost is low and potential sales revenue is high.

Is the Flip app the future of social shopping?

The whole premise of Flip is that it’s a better version of online shopping.

Paid reviews are, at the end of the day, advertisements. And because Flip provides financial incentive to anyone posting reviews, this might seem counterintuitive to their claims of only “Honest reviews. Nothing fake.” 

But Flip’s payment structure means reviewers are earning more on average for high engagement than they are for sales. In fact, if a reviewer has too high of a return rate on their sales, their content will be penalized in the algorithm, netting them fewer future sales and less engagement.

You can see this policy of honesty in action while scrolling through the app. We came across several reviews that showed total product fails, which were incredibly refreshing and boosted our trust in the individual reviewers and Flip as a whole.

If used in good faith by reviewers and treated with a dose of healthy skepticism by viewers, Flip could be the next big thing to watch in ecommerce.