If you’re looking for a way to earn a little more money while you’re doing rideshare driving you may be wondering, can Uber drivers sell things?
The answer is yes, so you may want to consider selling stuff out of your car!
Those snacks that people love? Charge for them!
Those water bottles you keep on hand for your passengers? Charge for them!
You can make money instead of being overly generous at your own cost.
Making Extra Money Selling Stuff While Rideshare Driving
As rideshare drivers, the most important thing for us is to make as much money as possible while doing the fewest number of rides and expending the lowest amount of mileage.
With the cost of everything going up, and people being tighter and tighter with their wallets, now is the time to diversify how we make money—or even better, make more money for doing the work we are already doing.
While driving, we have an opportunity to do just that. One way is by “upselling” our customers.
- What types of things can we sell?
- How much can we realistically expect to make while doing this?
- What are the best things we can sell to our passengers?
Below, I’ll share some of the potentially most successful items you can sell as a gig worker in your car.
Uber Drivers Selling Merchandise
When you think of selling things, the first thing that comes to mind is, well, things.
- Water bottles
- Bags of chips
- Candy bars
- Charging cables
- Lip gloss
- Umbrellas
…anything that a passenger in your area may “need.”
If you drive the late-night crowd, maybe some Gatorade, hangover packs, or anything else they may have forgotten before they left that night.
The morning commuter crowd may have left their homes late and didn’t have time to make breakfast, so some protein or granola bars, even individually sealed Pop-Tarts, may be the best thing for them.
You can have a small assortment of things in a back seat organizer with prices listed.
Aucovely 2 Pack Car Seat Organizer Backseat
If you wanted to go a step further, you could have a PayPal/Venmo link set up so people could pay through that. You can either just provide your PayPal/Venmo username, or you could print off your QR code for people to easily scan and pay.
The markup doesn’t even have to be that high, either.
You can buy drinks and snacks on sale and then simply sell them for a little bit more than the normal price. Or buy in bulk at places like Sam’s Club or Costco and simply sell at the regular price when people are in your car.
Offering Discounts
If you’re hesitant to sell things to passengers, or you’re a delivery driver only, you may consider upselling discounts.
- If someone is taking an Uber, have a discount for their first Lyft ride.
- If someone gets a delivery through GrubHub, have a discount for their first DoorDash order.
Having cards or postcards that you can easily put in the delivery bags, or have in the backseat for your passengers can help you get them to sign up using your promo code.
You don’t have to just stop there; sites like Rakuten, Ibotta, Upside, and others all have referral codes that can help you make more on each of those apps.
If you’re struggling to find anything you can offer, think of apps and sites you frequent. If you use it all the time, others will find it useful.
Look for “referrals” or “affiliates” and find out what the signup process is. From there, make sure you follow the terms and conditions for promoting, which you likely will, and make some extra money.
Sell Your Plan B
I like to think of gig work as the new serving job. You work your “day job”—in this instance gig work—just enough to pay your bills while you work on your real passion or business.
A big difference, though, is that you can work on both at the same time.
Are you trying to grow your business? Whether that’s a landscaping business, consulting, or content creation, you have people getting in and out of your car every time you drive that are potential clients.
Don’t be pushy, but when someone asks, “what do you do other than this?”—which we get asked all the time—don’t be afraid to tell them, “I’m a writer for small businesses that need content” or whatever else it is you do. They may not know someone that needs exactly what you do, but it’s possible they do.
It’s also a good idea to have a few business cards with you, just in case.
Especially when you’re starting your “Plan B,” taking clients from wherever and whenever you can get them is a must.
Is Selling Stuff As An Uber Driver Worth It?
Would this be worth it? Some may be concerned that it breaks the terms and conditions of different apps, but I’ve done all of these at some point and have never been deactivated.
Others have done seemingly nothing and have been deactivated. You have to decide for yourself if you want to take the risk.
Remember, this is a business, and you are in it to make money, so as long as it isn’t illegal, you should try every strategy to make as much money as possible.
If you find a paying client for your “Plan B” while driving, that could turn into a long-term payout that gets you out of gig work altogether.
Just like you have good days driving and bad days, you’ll have good days of upsells and bad. But putting a little effort in can help you make more money doing the same amount of work you’re already doing.
Driver Takeaways
You don’t have to be an excellent salesperson or load pressure on your riders to sell things while driving for Uber and make some extra cash.
As mentioned, there’s a potential risk—though seemingly small—of getting deactivated for not following the terms of service to the letter.
So, you would have to weigh the pros and cons of the situation to see if it’s worthwhile.
You’d be able to set your own prices, within reason, and chances are if you’re an RSG reader, you were probably already offering gum and/or water bottles anyway to increase tips. Why not now offer a QR code and sell these items to passengers instead?
Keep in mind, not every passenger will want to buy something from you, and that’s ok! Just make sure you make it very clear that you charge for the items. Many will assume it’s free, and they might just help themselves.
