Earn money shopping duty-free on a flight you're already taking
Publish a flight you've already booked, accept requests from people in your own network, buy their duty-free items at the airport, and hand them over in person.
On iPhone? Join the beta on TestFlight.
How earning works
Verify once
A passport photo and a selfie, before your first trip. It confirms your nationality, which sets the duty-free allowance that applies to you.
Add your flight
Sync your Outlook inbox, forward your confirmation email, scan your boarding pass, or type in your flight details. We check it against the airline's published schedule.
Set your bag capacity
Carry-on only, one checked bag, or two. You can lower it category by category if you'd rather carry less.
Accept requests
They come only from people in your network: direct contacts and friends-of-friends.
Buy and photograph
Buy from a whitelisted retailer, photograph each item and the receipt, and mark the order purchased before you fly.
Hand over and get paid
At the handoff the shopper inspects each item and enters the PIN, which releases the item cost and your cut together.
How much you can earn
Your cut grows with what you carry. These examples use a flat 8% so they're easy to compare; on a live request it lands between 5% and 8%.
Why a range, and not a bigger cut? The person asking should still get a good deal. Your cut comes out of the gap between the duty-free price and what the same item costs back home, so it's kept modest to leave them better off than buying it locally. That also leaves some room for customs duty on bigger orders.
The full worked examples, with the actual products, are in How much can you earn as a Smugglbear?
Customs and duty
Know before you fly
Your trip dashboard has a running gauge, so you can see how much duty-free room is left on your route.
If duty is due
Declare it at customs and pay it. Smuggl adds an estimated customs amount to the shopper's held payment, so you're repaid for the duty you paid.
Check the numbers
Allowances differ by country. For India, see our duty-free allowance guide.
What you need to start
A booked flight
From your confirmation email or boarding pass, or typed in. Checked against the airline's schedule.
Identity verification
Passport photo and selfie, once.
Bank or UPI details
Where your payout lands.
A tax ID
A PAN if you're a resident Indian, or your own country's tax ID otherwise.
Your own card or cash
For the counter purchase. It comes back at handoff.
Room in your bag
Carry-on only, one checked bag, or two. You declare it for each trip.
Tax is withheld from your payout only if you're a non-resident and the delivery is going to India. A resident Indian's withholding only applies above an annual threshold. Details are in the Payout Details & Taxes help section.
Rules for every order
- Buy only from whitelisted, verified retailers.
- Stay within the bag capacity you declared, and mark items purchased before you fly.
- Stay within the per-item limits shown in the app.
- Nothing banned or restricted, and nothing you can't clear through customs.
- Cabin crew can take part only on personal travel, never while on duty.
- Missing a deadline or skipping a handoff counts as a strike on your Smuggl score.
What you'll never carry for a duty-free order
Off the list
Weapons, ammunition and explosives. Illegal drugs. Counterfeit or pirated goods. Anything that needs a permit or licence the shopper doesn't hold. Prescription medicines and other regulated items need the right paperwork and have to stay within the limits shown in the app.
You buy every item yourself
You never carry something someone else packed. You buy each item at the duty-free counter or from an approved retailer, so you always know what's in your bag. At handover, the shopper checks each item before sharing their PIN.
Questions about earning
How can I earn money with my baggage allowance?
On Smuggl you publish a flight you've already booked, accept requests from people in your own network, buy their items at the duty-free counter, and hand them over in person. You keep a cut of the order value, typically 5-8%, on top of getting the item cost back.
Do I have to spend my own money?
Yes, briefly. You pay at the counter with your own card or cash, and the item cost comes back to you at handoff along with your cut. The shopper's payment is already collected and held before you buy anything.
When do I get paid?
Confirming the handoff triggers your payout: the item cost and your cut are released together, by bank transfer to your registered bank or UPI. How quickly it shows up depends on your bank.
Do I need to verify my identity?
Yes, once before your first trip. It's a passport photo and a selfie, and it usually takes about a minute. It confirms your nationality, which sets the duty-free allowance that applies to you.
Does my bag size limit how much I can earn?
Yes. You declare carry-on only, one checked bag, or two checked bags, and that sets how much you can be asked to carry per category on that trip. You can also lower it category by category.
Got a flight already booked?
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