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One largest factor in what makes a Batch worth taking on Instacart are tips, so it is important to understand how the tipping system works before claiming a batch on the app.
So in this article, We are talking about:
EVERYTHING You MUST Know about Tipping on the Instacart Platform
What they tell you vs how it ACTUALLY is
Everything in between!
Disclaimer: The content of this article does not contain and is never intended to be legal, business, financial, tax, or health advice of any kind, This article is for entertainment purposes only. It is advised that you conduct your own research and consult with qualified professionals before applying anything you find online.
I also want to be clear that everything we are going to go over is very market dependent, and what applies to me and my market may not apply to you.
Tips are 1 way customers can show their appreciation for full-service shoppers. Providing excellent customer service may improve your earnings through increased tips. 100% of the tip goes directly to the shopper or shoppers fulfilling the order. If 2 shoppers fulfill an order, they split the tip evenly between them.
First off, I have never seen a Batch that was split, or if it was, I was not aware. Second, I think this first sentence proves a vital point on how vital #NoTipNoTrip is.
“Tips are the 1 way customers can show their appreciation for shoppers”, which means if they don’t tip, they don’t appreciate you and they aren’t worth your time. Doesn’t matter what their obviously bad excuse is, #NoTipNoTrip.
How Customer Tips Work
Customers have 2 opportunities to set a tip–
When they first place an order at checkout
Once the order delivers
Customers can either tip a set dollar amount or a percentage of the overall order amount. A percentage tip automatically changes based on the final order value.
First and foremost, if they didn’t put a tip upfront, it is so unlikely that they tip after that, that it isn’t worth the time. Never assume they will tip cash after.
After delivery, the Instacart app and website invite customers to rate their experience and increase or decrease a tip. Customers have up to 2 hours to decrease the tip and up to 14 days to increase the tip after the order has been delivered.
Increasing tip is nice but the fact that it can go down is a HUGE issue, and shouldn’t be permitted on the platform, or any platform for that matter.
If they are comfortable with messing with your finances, then you shouldn’t work with them. Instacart can help not get paired with them again if it helps, but I think you can recognize certain customers by their orders after a while.
Viewing Your Earned Tips
Tap the Earnings tab at the bottom of the Instacart Shopper app.
Tap a date range under Weekly Earnings for the earnings breakdown of a previous week.
Tap Daily Earnings for specific order earnings.
You can also see the total amount you can earn on a particular batch, including the tip, on the Batch Acceptance screen.
Which means if you accept a no tip order, or a batched order, that is your own decision. You get as much information on these orders as possible.
Receiving Tips
You can cash out your tips as early as 2 hours after the batch completes. If a customer adds a tip after the following pay date or after you cash out, it shows up under Pending Tips the following week.
Which makes sense, if a tip gets reduced within those first 2 hours, they shouldn’t send you the money. Why they wouldn’t just remove tip baiting to begin with is beyond me, but more on that later.
Tip Protection
Instacart covers the tip on qualifying orders where the tip is reduced to zero after delivery and there are no reported order issues. If an order qualifies, Instacart pays you up to $10 per qualifying order—up to $100 annually—with notification of this payment. The payment appears on the order’s Earnings page under Adjustments. It may take up to 24 hours for the payment to appear.
Personally for this app, I only work with customers who tip below this threshold, not that I don’t appreciate solid tips, I just find with how the Instacart system works and the shop and pay system in general, I wouldn’t take them for this risk as well.
Imagine spending over an hour shopping and delivering someone's order, only for them to only protect up to $100 a YEAR. This isn’t even like in general, they will only protect $100 worth of Tip baiting bitches a year.
This is why you need to report and remove customers of this nature, they aren’t worth the time and energy.
This isn’t to not treat customers right because you are not being tipped more than $10, but because more money is usually associated with more work, especially with shopping orders with more items.
Default Tip Settings
So on most apps the tipping default is about 15-25% and some people have their own personal standards, but for most customers who are really only trying to place an order, they will tip whatever the default is and trust it.
That said, the tipping system on Instacart defaults to 5% on many orders. Which is why the tipping amount ends up being so small in a lot of cases, that said, they can adjust it beforehand, so do what you will with that info.
Types of Gig Workers
There are a few different types of gig workers out there in the gig economy, but each of them are affected by tips differently than the rest.
To the Priority Shoppers who find that the ROT is better, or Return on Time is better with shopping orders, Large Order tips are going to be HUGE, but it is also going to hurt more when tip baiting occurs.
There are a couple of other companies that allow for tip baiting, but not all orders on those companies are “shop and deliver” orders. UberEats allows for tip baiting, but it doesn’t change how much time you commit to an order if they order more, assuming everything is ready when you get there.
People that primarily work with food delivery and just have this as one of the apps they work on are going to feel this a lot less than that though.
Most orders that properly fit the necessary acceptance amount in my area, have less than $10 in tip but enough to accept, low item counts which make it hard to miss, and will have less problems in general.
Then again it is going to depend on what you experience and what you are willing to tolerate from the customers you accept and claim are your responsibility.
This is a cardinal rule for Gig Work in general, if they choose not to tip their drivers and shoppers, they do not get service.
Don't get it twisted either, this is a choice on their end. When the order is put through, and they are asked about how much they would like to tip, a pop up is presented, explaining that it makes a difference in speed of getting the order claimed.
So they were warned and they chose to ignore it and follow through with their actions anyway.
It’s No tip, no trip. Not No tip, do the order anyway because nothing else is coming up, not no tip expect a tip after, not no tip get all uppity on TikTok about it, no tip no trip, it’s that simple.
Doubles and triples are harder to tell if all parties tipped, which is why I normally don’t take them.
Refunds Lower Tips
So if your customer orders and leaves a 5% tip, and you have to refund an order for any reason, the tip will go down. This might be one of the more nonsensical things on the platform in my opinion but yes, if a store doesn’t have an item, you are punished for it.
That said, if you replace an item and the cost is higher, your tip can go up, so don’t forget that the reverse is also true.
But Joe, what if they won’t answer me about replacing items?
Then I would refund and move on, wasting your time trying to get a customer on the phone is not going to help anyone. It would cost you more to wait for an answer than to refund and move on.
No Tips on Shop Only Orders
This only applies to orders that have a shop only order attached to it or have shop only orders in the area, but Shop Only orders are exempt from tips. It is BS, I know. The bulk of the work is literally shopping and we can’t get tipped for it AND you're gonna pay pocket change? Yeah no.
Risk of Accepting No-Tip Customers
One of the things I have learned while being in this industry is that the less they tip the more of the risk they are as a customer.
No-tip customers are naturally lying scum, they cause the most poor ratings, have high and unreasonable expectations, scam the system and even cause wrongful deactivations and violations, which can put your financial safety at even more risk than it needs to be.
However, customers who tip more are grateful, tip even more after at times, easier to work with in general.
If you would like to add some other perspective to how tipping system works on Instacart, feel free to email me: drivenwyld@gmail.com and who knows? Maybe your email or perspective and be featured in a post as well!
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