I have been a turker for nearly two years now. Before, it was just easy for me to withdraw my earnings because I could have it in less than five days after transferring it to my US$ bank account here in the Philippines. Amazon changed their payout system, I think that was on October, so I was at first discouraged to continue on turking.
Now, I'm back on turking but I spend my earnings on shopping because it's the only way international turkers can make use of their earnings. So that, in order for you to be able to withdraw your earnings in cash, you should be a legal US resident with a SSN and a US bank account. Good for Indians because they can receive their earnings through check. For other international turkers, they can only transfer it to Amazon gift certificate or you can use it as Amazon payments for their items ordered. Actually, I have ordered already 4 watches and two pairs of toddler girl's dresses. I chose priority courier international since I want my items shipped fast. Hmmm, I'm excited! I called the wide wide world express for DHL this morning and I was told that my items had arrived already on December 11. My next order is coming today but I choose to have them delivered together tomorrow.
If you are a turker and there's no other way to make use of your earnings than shopping then you sign in to Amazon using your mturk login. You just have to have your own debit/credit card ready because Amazon.com will ask for it esp. if it's your first time to ship to a certain address. You can get them easily and some at a very small fee like the Smartmoney card (visit your nearest Smart Wireless center - but not the electronic one) or you can also use any Visa/Mastercard you have that's still active because Amazon is going to verify them. When shopping also and you have relatives in the US and you want the free shipping items, you can contact your relatives beforehand so they will know when there are items coming to them. And you can ask them to include your items when they send 'balikbayan' boxes to the Philippines. That way, you can save big on shipping. Or if you want your items to be delivered to you then I suggest that you group your items into few shipments so you can save on shipping and handling as well on import fees. And to see if the items you have added into your cart will ship to your chosen shipping address, you try to proceed to checkout and click on the shipping address.
P.S. When choosing a product to buy, check on the customer reviews and ratings first. They're helpful.
