u/WorkerSome7813

My friend has a 3D printing shop on Etsy and makes lots of money. But I think he is hiding a secret from me.

I saw him talking to big internet friends to help sell his toys. I think he pays them to get buyers, and Etsy's search doesn't help him at all.

It makes me feel sad and stuck. I want to make my own shop but I don't want to waste my time if it's too hard now.

Do you think Etsy is still good for new people, or do we have to pay extra money just to get one sale?

Tell me what you think! If you don't have any idea about it please pass this to those who know it.

My friend has a 3D printing shop on Etsy and makes lots of money. But I think he is hiding a secret from me.

I saw him talking to big internet friends to help sell his toys. I think he pays them to get buyers, and Etsy's search doesn't help him at all.

It makes me feel sad and stuck. I want to make my own shop but I don't want to waste my time if it's too hard now.

Do you think Etsy is still good for new people, or do we have to pay extra money just to get one sale?

Tell me what you think! If you don't have any idea about it please pass this to those who know it.

Is anyone actually making money on Etsy anymore, or is it a dead end? Between all the high fees and the huge flood of dropshippers and AI junk, it feels impossible for a new shop to get noticed.

If you run a store right now, are you getting real views from Etsy's search, or do you have to push your own traffic from TikTok just to get a sale? Honestly, if you started fresh today..

would you even bother with Etsy or just make your own website?

Let me know your thoughts below.

Umm yeah, so my younger brother finally told me today about how he got scammed a few months back while looking for some side income.

He wanted some passive income or a flexible part-time gig to balance his classes, so he found a clean, professional looking ad on LinkedIn for a data entry job and applied.

The agency told him he had to pay a $29 fee to take a simple screening exam, but swore it was 100% refundable if he didn't get the job.

It's just the price of a takeout meal, so he thought, ahh, why not just take a chance, and paid them in cash at their temporary office.

They told him his exam papers would arrive by mail in two weeks, which gave them a perfect buffer of absolute silence. Umm, yeah, the papers never came, and by then, the office was completely cleaned out.

He was too embarrassed to say anything when it happened, but he finally brought it up today because he ran into some old classmates and realized a massive network of local student groups all got hit by the exact same agency during that same week.

People in these student group chats started sharing how they got ripped off too, and when we tallied up the numbers from the local chats, we found out at least 1,800 people fell for it.

When you look at the bigger picture, that is $52,200 in pure cash stolen from broke people looking for work in just one week. These guys aren't looking to rob one big rich person, they are harvesting thousands of people looking for a side hustle for pocket change, turning a tiny twenty nine dollar trick into a massive heist.

The whole thing works because nobody is gonna go to the police over thirty bucks. People ask why we didn't report it, but if you lose $29, you feel a bit stupid, look at the absolute nightmare of trying to file a report over such a small amount, and just decide it's not worth the mess.

The scammers know this, so they fly right under the radar, pack up, and move to a different city to do the exact same thing. Seriously, if you are looking for easy passive income or a part-time job and they ask you to pay money to get hired, no matter how small or refundable it is, it's a scam. Just walk away.

Drop your thoughts and share anything if you faced anything like this..

Threads here always talk about $1k or $5k a month, but nobody breaks down how brutal it is just to cross that first $100 milestone.

How many months did it take you to see that first $100 clear your account? Was it dividends, a digital product, a niche site, or something else?

Let me know your model and if you’d still recommend it today. Just trying to get a realistic timeline from absolute zero.

I’ve started teaching my 11-year-old nephew the basics of video editing, SEO, and YouTube optimization for 20–30 minutes every day this summer for his Minecraft channel. He’s incredibly motivated and learning fast.

My goal is to use this summer project to teach him digital skills while building a channel that can eventually generate passive income through YouTube AdSense and potential affiliate links down the road.

For those who run successful faceless or gaming channels, what is the best roadmap to transition a highly engaged, niche gaming hobby into a consistent monthly revenue stream?

Any pitfalls we should avoid with a younger creator?

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Back in 2016–2018, while I was in college and broke, I got into one of those PTC (paid-to-click) sites called Ojooo WAD. You’d watch ads, click links, and earn tiny amounts like $0.001–$0.005 per view.

At first, it was painfully slow. After about 10–15 days of clicking ads, I had made around $7 total. That’s when I realized you couldn’t really earn anything meaningful just doing the basic tasks.

Then I discovered the referral system.

I started inviting classmates, and it snowballed. They referred others, and those people referred more. Eventually, I had a downline of over 7,000 people across multiple levels.

That’s when things changed.

I started earning around $300–$400/month just from referral activity. My biggest single payout was about $175 (January 2018). By mid-2017, I had earned roughly $5,500 total on the platform.

But actually withdrawing the money was a different story.

At first, withdrawals were weekly. Then bi-weekly. Then only a couple of windows per month. Eventually, each withdrawal request could take 30–40+ days.

Here’s how my earnings ended up:

~$2,100 → Successfully withdrawn (but in small chunks over ~18 months)

~$2,000 → Put into their internal “crypto coin”

~$1,300 → Left in account balance and never withdrawn

By 2018, things were clearly slowing down. People on forums were reporting long delays and missed payments. I saw the warning signs but kept going because I had already invested so much time building the network.

Then on November 20, 2018, I logged in and found my account suspended with no warning.

I later found out many high-earning accounts were banned around the same time. After that, the platform continued declining and eventually disappeared entirely.

I never recovered the remaining ~$3,300 (coin + balance).

Looking back, here are the red flags I ignored:

Withdrawal delays kept increasing over time

Payment terms kept changing

Support was basically non-existent

Heavy focus on referrals over actual activity

Introduction of a platform-specific coin/token

What I think was happening (in hindsight):

The earnings from ads alone didn’t seem sustainable. Most of the real money appeared to come from new users joining, upgrading accounts, or participating in internal systems like the coin.

Once growth slowed, withdrawals slowed… and eventually stopped.

Takeaways:

If withdrawals start getting delayed consistently, that’s a major warning sign

If a platform pushes referrals heavily, be cautious

If they introduce their own token/coin, understand the risks before putting money in

Just because something pays for a while doesn’t mean it’s sustainable

To be fair, I did walk away with about $2,100 during college, which helped at the time. But the ending definitely changed how I view these kinds of platforms.

Sharing this in case it helps someone avoid a similar situation.

Hey everyone! I'm u/WorkerSome7813, a founding moderator of r/Passive_Income_Post.

This is our new home for all things related to building real passive income streams online and offline. Whether you're just starting out or already earning, we're excited to have you here!

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Introduce yourself in the comments below.

Post something today questions are welcome!

Invite others who would benefit from this community.

Want to help grow this space? Reach out if you're interested in becoming a moderator.

Thanks for being part of the first wave. Let’s build something valuable together!

I spent the last 8 days grinding on a captcha-solving site. I treated it like a full-time job, and my dashboard balance finally hit $500. I thought I’d found a legit side hustle.

The Shock: When I hit "Withdraw," a pop-up appeared: "To release your earnings, pay a $135 subscription fee."

The Reality Check: This is a classic "Sunk Cost" scam.

They make you work for free for a week, hoping you'll be so desperate to "save" your 8 days of labor that you’ll actually pay them the $135.

The Lesson: If a site asks you for money to "unlock" money you’ve already earned, run. I’m out 8 days of work, but I’m glad I didn't lose my actual cash too. Don’t fall for the "pay-to-get-paid" trap. Stay safe.

I am 29 years old struggling with my job and trying many passive income platforms but mostly are failed, guys I am seeking advice that what can i do for this? Anyone facing the same situation? Here to seek advice please i hope people will share their point of view.