Consumers could start their 2023 with cash payments by participating in several settlements with companies such as T-Mobile, Procter & Gamble and more. File a claim by the January settlement deadlines to receive cash payments and other benefits.
Experian incorrect residential information $22M class action settlement
Experian agreed to a $22.45 million class action settlement to resolve claims it misreported some consumers as high risk on credit reports.
The settlement benefits consumers for whom Experian sent a credit report with an inaccurate Fraud Shield Indicator to a third party since Sept. 27, 2017. The settlement also includes consumers who contacted Experian about Fraud Shield Indicators between July 1, 2018, and July 31, 2021.
According to the class action lawsuit, Experian wrongfully reported some consumers as having non-residential or high-risk addresses. This credit report information allegedly caused some consumers to be denied financing or other opportunities, despite having a residential address.
To receive a settlement payment, consumers must submit a valid claim form by Jan. 30, 2023.
Keurig ‘recyclable’ K-Cups false advertising $10M class action settlement
Keurig agreed to pay $10 million to resolve claims that its K-Cups are not recyclable as promised on product packaging.
The settlement benefits consumers who purchased “recyclable” K-Cups between June 8, 2016, and Aug. 8, 2022.
Despite the single-use coffee pods being labeled as recyclable, they are allegedly too small to be recycled at most facilities. Instead of being recycled, the plaintiffs contend, the pods end up in landfills. Consumers say they wouldn’t have purchased the products or paid as much for K-Cups if they knew the coffee pods weren’t recyclable.
To receive settlement benefits, K-Cup purchasers must submit a valid claim form by Jan. 9, 2023.
Procter & Gamble benzene aerosol products $8M class action settlement
Procter & Gamble agreed to an $8 million class action settlement to resolve claims that its aerosolized products containing carcinogenic benzene.
The settlement benefits consumers who purchased Secret, Old Spice, Pantene, Waterless, Aussie, Herbal Essences or Hair Food aerosol antiperspirant, deodorant, body spray, dry shampoo or dry conditioner products between Nov. 4, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2021.
Aerosol products under these brands allegedly contain benzene — a known human carcinogen associated with leukemia. Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit claim that they wouldn’t have purchased Procter & Gamble’s products if they knew they could be exposed to a carcinogen. Consumers also argue the company should have tested its aerosolized products for benzene and other contaminants.
Consumers must submit a valid claim form by Jan. 26, 2023, to receive settlement payments.
Adobe Stock
Smashburger ‘double the beef’ false advertising $5.5M class action settlement
Smashburger will pay $5.5 million to resolve claims that its Triple Double hamburgers do not contain “double the beef” as advertised.
The settlement benefits Smashburger customers who purchased Triple Double hamburgers, Bacon Triple Double hamburgers, French Onion Triple Double hamburgers or Pub Triple Double hamburgers between July 1, 2017, and May 31, 2019.
Smashburger allegedly advertised its Triple Double burgers as containing “double the meat.” Despite these promises, Triple Double burgers did not contain twice the meat as typical burgers, the class action lawsuit contends. Instead, the burgers allegedly contain the same amount of meat as a single patty. Consumers say they overpaid for Triple Double burgers based on false advertising claims.
The claim deadline for this settlement is Jan. 17, 2023.
T-Mobile data breach $350M class action settlement
T-Mobile agreed to a $350 million class action settlement to resolve claims that its negligence caused a 2021 data breach that affected 76 million Americans.
The settlement benefits consumers whose personal information was compromised in the T-Mobile data breach announced by the company in August 2021.
A class action lawsuit accused T-Mobile of failing to protect consumer data through reasonable cybersecurity measures. Plaintiffs in the case say T-Mobile is responsible for the fraud, identity theft and financial damages that occurred after hackers stole sensitive information such as Social Security numbers. Affected consumers will allegedly continue to face the risk of future damages resulting from the breach.
To receive a settlement payment, consumers must submit a valid claim form by Jan. 23, 2023.
Abbott Laboratories Similac formula false advertising $19.5M class action settlement
Abbott Laboratories will pay $1.95 million to resolve claims that its Similac infant formula doesn’t make as many servings as promised on product labeling.
The settlement benefits consumers who purchased certain Similac Advance, Sensitive, Total Comfort and Organic infant formula products between June 24, 2016, and Sept. 22, 2022.
Similac infant formula products reportedly promise to make a certain number of servings. According to a false advertising class action lawsuit, Abbott Laboratories inflated the total servings on its product packaging to deceive consumers into paying higher prices for its products. Plaintiffs in the case say they wouldn’t have paid as much if they knew the true number of servings each Similac container made.
Brut, Sure antiperspirant benzene $3.65M class action settlement
Idelle Labs agreed to a $3.65 million settlement to resolve claims that it endangered customers with benzene-contaminated antiperspirants.
The settlement benefits consumers who purchased certain Brut and Sure antiperspirants between Nov. 15, 2015, and Oct. 28, 2022.
Brut and Sure antiperspirants were recalled in February 2022 due to concerns the products were contaminated with carcinogenic benzene. Consumers in a class action lawsuit against Idelle Labs claim that the contaminated products were adulterated and misbranded, making them illegal under federal and state laws. Plaintiffs in the case also argued that, had they known about the contamination, they would not have purchased the products.
To receive settlement benefits, consumers must submit a valid claim form by Jan. 12, 2023.
Adobe Stock
Robinhood data breach class action settlement
Robinhood agreed to pay an unspecified sum to resolve claims that a 2020 data breach caused some customers to have their investment accounts drained by hackers.
The settlement benefits individuals whose Robinhood accounts were accessed by an unauthorized third party between Jan. 1, 2020, and April 27, 2022. Eligible instances of account fraud must have been identified by Robinhood or reported to the company by customers.
Following a 2020 data breach, Robinhood investment customers began to experience account takeovers in which hackers allegedly drained accrued funds. According to plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit, Robinhood promised to cover 100% of the losses resulting from this breach after failing to promptly respond to the breach. However, in reality, the investment platform allegedly denied some reimbursement requests without any explanation — leaving customers to shoulder the burden of stolen funds.
The deadline to file a claim with the settlement is Jan. 17, 2023.
Auto parts antitrust $3.2M class action settlement
The fifth round of payments is available from a $1.2 billion auto parts class action settlement with automotive parts manufacturers. This round, totaling over $3.1 million, covers electronic braking systems, hydraulic braking systems and exhaust systems.
The settlement benefits individuals who purchased or leased an eligible new vehicle between 2002 and 2018 or who paid to replace one or more qualifying vehicle parts.
Plaintiffs in the antitrust class action lawsuit accused Robert Bosch, Bosal, TRW and other parts manufacturers of conspiring to raise and fix the price of auto parts. As a result of this scheme, consumers were allegedly forced to pay a higher price for replacement parts for their vehicles.
To receive settlement benefits, drivers must submit a valid claim form by Jan. 7, 2023.
Barlean’s Organic Oils agreed to a $1.6 million class action settlement to resolve claims that its coconut oil is falsely advertised as “healthy.”
The settlement benefits consumers who purchased Barlean’s Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, Barlean’s Organic Culinary Coconut Oil or Barlean’s Organic Butter Flavored Coconut Oil between Jan. 24, 2015, and Nov. 10, 2022.
Barlean’s reportedly advertises its coconut oil products as “healthy” and able to support the heart and immune systems.
According to a class action lawsuit, this is untrue.
In reality, coconut oil’s high saturated fat content allegedly makes it a health risk. Saturated fat is connected to serious health concerns such as stroke and heart disease.
The deadline to submit a claim with the settlement is Jan. 19, 2023.
Most salespeople get into this unique, fast-paced industry for one reason: They love the thrill of the chase. If you’re in sales, finding a new client or lead, chasing them down, and snagging the sale for a commission is the part of the job you likely love.
Eventually, however, there might come a time when you’ll want to transition out of a sales career, whether it’s because the job no longer scratches your professional itch or you want to pursue other prospects.
This article will discuss how to know when it’s time to step away from sales and how to streamline your transition.
Signs That It’s Time to Step Away From a Sales Career
If you like selling products or services, you might not know when to pivot your career into a different industry or focus. Here are some classic signs that it might be wise to transition from sales into a new sector.
You Have Unrealistic Goals (Self-Set or Otherwise)
You may have unrealistic goals for your current sales metrics. These can be imposed by yourself or by your boss. For example, your manager may want you to meet an unrealistic sales goal by closing a certain number of sales by the end of the fiscal quarter. Unfortunately, this occurrence has become more common in recent years, as companies expect more from their employees without paying them more in return.
You’re Being Micromanaged
Alternatively, you might feel that it’s time to transition out of the sales career if your employer is always micromanaging you. Micromanagement is death to a good salesperson’s personal tactics and exceptional results. If you feel you have to constantly look over your shoulder to see whether your supervisor is watching you, it may be time to jump ship for a new career.
There Aren’t Growth Opportunities
You might have reached a point where you want career opportunities to seek promotions and more money. If your current employer doesn’t offer those growth opportunities, there’s no fault if you decide to move on. However, you may find that there aren’t enough growth opportunities in the sales industry overall, meaning you need to look into a different industry for success.
You’re Underpaid
Of course, if you aren’t paid what you are worth, it’s time to move on and find money elsewhere. Many salespeople are not valued like they were in the past, particularly because large employers like to put stock in algorithms and big data collection rather than the intuitive and personal aspects of person-to-person sales.
Don’t work for less than what you are worth. If you are being underpaid, it’s time to start a new hunt, this time for a new job rather than a new customer.
How to Transition From a Sales Career
You’ve decided you don’t want to work in sales anymore, but now you need to figure out what your new career will be. Fortunately, there are a few smart steps you can take to streamline this process.
Do a Skill and Passion Audit
Take a day or two and do an audit of your skills and passions. If you haven’t done this for a while, it may feel a little strange, but it’s highly important.
You should analyze your current skills and qualifications, as well as what you are passionate about. For instance, you might have gone into sales to get through college, but you might have a deeper drive or ambition in a different industry. Or you could already be in the right industry, and it’s just the job that needs changing. For example, if you love working in the finance sector but not the selling part, you could try a career in trading, investing, or banking.
By auditing your skills and passions, you can figure out where to focus your efforts for your new career.
Identify New Potential Jobs
Of course, you can’t pursue a new career if you don’t know what you’ll spend your time doing after leaving sales. Lots of former salespeople pursue careers in the following areas or industries:
Business ownership and entrepreneurship
Operations management
Marketing
Corporate strategy
Consultant
As you can see, you can put your extensive work experience to use by offering your talents as an advisor, business owner, or manager. You already know the ins and outs of sales. If you learn a little more about marketing and customer psychology, you might be a perfect marketing specialist or manager for another company!
The sky’s the limit once you decide what you want to do and how you wish to apply your current skills.
Revamp Your Resume and Cover Letter
Don’t forget to revamp and revitalize your resume and cover letter for every job you apply to. A good cover letter can make a major difference in whether you will be hired quickly or passed over for a similar, competing candidate.
Your resume should include all the details about your job experience, specialization, and other noteworthy factors that can make you an excellent hire for a new firm. Be sure to bolster your resume by taking a few classes, even if it’s just to acquire some basic certificates or licenses in your new field.
When the time comes for your interview, you’ll be well prepared to wow the recruiting manager!
Start Your Job Hunt
Once you’ve identified new potential jobs and your ambitions, you can begin your job hunt. Reach out to your contacts (you should have cultivated many throughout your time as a salesperson) or use online job boards to find new work.
If needed, consider returning to school and getting a new degree or certificate. In the meantime, you may need to maintain your sales job or work another position to cover your living expenses. If you do decide to quit straight away and live from your savings, create a budget and stick to it. Don’t forget to factor in bills and credit card payments and keep your credit balance at 10% of your credit limit or less — the last thing you need is to start a new job with a lot of debt to pay off.
No matter where you choose to go or what you plan to do, your new career will be successful thanks to the skills and work ethic you picked up as a salesperson. Happy hunting!
New York-based contributor Kiara Taylor specializes in financial literacy and financial technology subjects. She is a corporate financial analyst.
The U.S. economy saw an average of nearly 400,000 new jobs each month in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There’s a total of 10.3 million job openings out there.
While there is a great demand for people to fill these jobs, there are also record numbers of employees changing careers, hopping into a job search and swapping old jobs for better ones.
So if you are hoping to get hired, you need to stand out to hiring managers, polish your resume, think about your transferable skills and, yes, learn how to interview with a robot. Oh, and embrace the idea of remote work if you haven’t already. Though some higher profile companies are bringing employees back to the office, most companies have embraced some type of remote work option.
7 Tips for Landing That Next Job
Decide what’s a good fit for you
Create the best resume
Write a great cover letter
Master an interview with a webcam
Remember to say thank you
Continue following up
Be open to remote work
There are a lot of jobs out there and potential employers continue to lament that they can’t find enough help. So, yes, you can be picky but you still want to be prepared to find a new job you want, not just any job.
Decide What’s a Good Fit for You
Not every job is created equal, and not every job is the right job for you. If you’re not a people person, a sales job might be drudgery for you. Or if you like peace and quiet at work, you probably don’t want to be a bartender.
Think through potential jobs and how they would reflect your personality before you go for an interview. Here’s some examples:
Are you an introvert? What if your day job could feed your introverted energy? There’s quite a few jobs that could do just that. From archivist and medical records technician to accountant and librarian – you can build your career around being an introvert.
Would you love a job that pays you to help save the world? Postings for “green” jobs – positions like arborist, conservation worker, hazardous materials removal worker and wastewater treatment operator – grew by 8% in 2022.
Are you a morning person? There are many jobs out there for people who wake up before the sun. Whether it’s flight attendant, supermarket stocker, barista or personal trainer, morning people have plenty of options when it comes to work.
On the flip side, are you a night owl? You could be a nanny, a mail sorter, a bartender or even a limo driver.
Do you need cash but are not ready for a full-time job? Whether you’re a busy college student or already are locked into a career but need more room in the budget, there are plenty of side gigs out there – rideshare driver, freelance writer, pet sitter, online tutor and more.
Detail oriented? Grab a notepad and make a list of these jobs for Type A personalities. We’ll give you a spoiler, though – some great options include event planner, proofreader, virtual assistant and data entry clerk.
If you’re not sure what job is a good fit for you, consider taking a career assessment test and following these steps for choosing a career path.
2. How to Create the Best Resume
Now that you know what type of job you’re best suited for, it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty. Let’s start with a resume.
There’s a fine line between making your resume stand out and conforming to norms employers expect that simplify the hiring process for them.
Your Resume’s Format
Here are a few basics for a resume format:
Keep it to a page or a page and half max, with a lot of white space.
An online resume can include hyperlinks to your portfolio or other examples of your work.
Always send it as a PDF.
Avoid novelty fonts and stick with Arial, Times Roman or Cambria.
Your Resume’s Content
Along with the basic contact info, educational background and work experience, be sure to include the following:
Use keywords on your resume, typically in the job description within your work experience. But only use words that fit logically. Don’t pepper every possible keyword into your resume.
Academic or professional honors.
Additional software skills, certifications or other training.
Interesting hobbies, volunteer work or organizations.
The final, and most important tip: Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. Get a friend to proofread. Get another friend to proofread. Then proofread again.
For more detailed information on writing a resume, check out this post on how to write a resume.
3. Write a Great Cover Letter
Ugh. You finish the resume and then there’s that dreaded cover letter.
It has to say why you are the best person for the job without sounding like you are full of yourself and spewing all the usual accolades. Here are some basic tips for how to write a cover letter.
Never write “Dear Sir or Madam.” Try to find the name of the hiring manager or open with “Dear human resources team.”
Keep it all to one page — or less.
Offer specifics about what you like about the company and the position. Read up on the employer to find something distinctive.
Tout your experience and skills without sounding like a bragger. This is a fine line but it’s very doable. Instead of, “I know more about X than anyone around,” try, “I know my three years of experience in X give me the background to be an important part of your team.”
Find a value or past experience you have that aligns with this company’s growth or philosophy.
Talk about next steps such as following up with a call or email, scheduling an interview or attending an open house.
4. Master an Interview With a Webcam
In the era of remote work, the interview process is more and more remote, too.
Sometimes a live interviewer doesn’t even enter the process until the second round. Sadly, employers have discovered that they can review 20, 30 or 50 applicants without dedicating a live person to the task.
So you’ll need some video interview tips for your meeting with a robot. Using artificial intelligence, it will assess your body language and eye contact along with responses to written or oral questions.
Make a list beforehand of phrases such as “team player” or skills used in the job posting, and be sure to use them in your responses. Example: If the job requires three years experience, use the phrase “three years” or “more than three years” in your responses.
5. Remember to Say Thank You
It’s not sucking up. It’s a common courtesy that employers not only notice, they pretty much expect. If you meet with an actual person online or in person, be sure to get their email address so you can send a thank you email for their time and consideration.
This is another opportunity to set yourself apart from the others.
Reiterate points you made in your interview that you can tell went over well: “As we discussed, I would add X to your team” or “I have a great interest in and experience with your latest endeavor, X.”
You can also include one or more examples of your work that you hadn’t sent before but realized during the interview would be helpful.
6. Continue Following Up
Yes, you might risk feeling like a stalker, but it’s perfectly acceptable to check in on the hiring process after your thank you email.
Be sure to ask about the hiring timeframe during your interview, so you can reference it when you follow up. Most employers take longer than they expect, so chances are you won’t hear about the job within their projected time. And, sadly, fewer and fewer companies let you know if they’ve filled the job with someone who isn’t you.
So a couple weeks after your interview, it’s fine to send a casual email checking in to see if there are any updates.
When deciding how to follow up after an interview, remember to keep things casual, non-demanding, respectful and self-confident. No one wants to hire a candidate who sounds impatient, desperate or passive-aggressive.
7. Be Open to Remote Work
It’s a new era in the job market with remote work. Only 47% of office space is occupied in 105 markets, according to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research.
It’s also an ever-changing world, with needs for new products and services. Entrepreneurs can launch businesses to meet those demands. Here are 25 jobs that let you work remotely or be your own boss.
And if you want to have set hours and paycheck with a proven company but work from home, check out these 41 employers offering work-from-home jobs.
Veteran journalist Katherine Snow Smith is a former staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She covers ways to make money, save money and other topics. Her work has appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, Charlotte Business Journal and Greenville (S.C.) News. She is the author of “Rules for the Southern Rulebreaker.”
Senior writer Robert Bruce contributed to this report.
As much as those morning people with their 4 A.M. alarm followed by a 60-minute Crossfit routine and a homemade breakfast want to think otherwise, some of us were just designed to function better in the evening.
When it comes to a career, though, functioning to your peak night owl capabilities can be difficult. But if you truly want to find jobs for night owls, you absolutely can. In fact, we have a few ideas to get you started and most don’t require a college degree.
14 of the Best Night Shift Jobs for Night Owls
1. Freelance Writer
While freelance writing can be either a business or a job, it’s an obvious one to include on this list, because you can write whenever your mind functions best. The famous authors Franz Kafka, Vladimir Nabokov and George Orwell were known to write at night.
How much you’ll make as a freelance writer depends on your ability to find good clients and how efficient you are.
You don’t need a college degree to become an air traffic controller, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, although you will have to go to the FAA Academy, which can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 based on where you live.
3. Bartender
Bartending is another job you can do well without a bachelor’s degree, as long as you work in the right place and are assigned to the right shifts. Fortunately for night owls, the night shift produces the best tips. Weekends are usually better than weekdays, so bartending can be a great part-time second job if you already work during the week.
How much do bartenders actually make? That’s a great question, and your answer will depend on who you talk to. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says bartenders, on average, make less than $20,000 a year.
But that’s not even close to being accurate, says The Real Barman, because it doesn’t factor in what bartenders take home (read: cash tips). In his survey, he found that bartenders made somewhere closer to $46,000 per year, and even that seemed conservative.
All that to say, bartending is an excellent job for night owls to make a decent living.
4. Security Guard
Night shift security positions are often relaxing, and some allow free time for various activities that don’t interfere with the work. The downside is the pay.
The BLS reports that the median annual wage for security guards is just $35,830. However, they do note that 10% of security guards make over $50,000, so watch for those better-paying night jobs, or work your way up to them. They are definitely out there.
Perhaps the best positions are in towns where you work long overnight shifts, staying at the station until there is an emergency call. You’re generally allowed to read, exercise or watch television during those long, slow nights.
And, while firefighters don’t take the job to be heroes, they certainly are just that. We love our first responders, no doubt.
Getty Images
6. Nanny
In recent years, becoming a nanny has become more lucrative for adults. Since you’re an independent contractor, you can decide which hours you want to work. In other words, you can take only jobs that start in the evening, or even offer overnight babysitting for other night owls who work night shift jobs of their own.
Care.com says the average national rate for a nanny comes out to just over $17/hour. Night shift nannies will likely make more.
Mail sorting isn’t difficult, doesn’t require any previous experience, and pays a competitive wage. Overnight shifts start at 11 p.m. and end when the mail is sorted, usually between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.
These positions usually provide no benefits. This isn’t a career, but a nice way to make some extra cash working night shifts.
8. Pizza Delivery Driver
Indeed says the average pizza delivery driver makes $17.31 per hour. It’s all about the tips, because most places pay minimum wage, and some may pay only the tipped-employee minimum wage, which is just $2.13 per hour.
Still, being a pizza delivery driver can provide a side income, especially if you work night shifts on the weekends, when tips are best. It also helps if your employer provides a vehicle or pays extra for your car expenses.
Getty Images
9. Registered Nurse
If you love to help people facing difficult health issues, then nursing might be for you. Of course hospitals never close, so a night shift position is always an option.
This isn’t a vocation you want to ease into, as it takes years of commitment and schooling to earn your degree. But if nursing is your passion, it also pays well. The 2022 average annual salary for a registered nurse (RN) was $82,750, according to Nurseslabs.com.
Pro Tip
Not ready for all that school? Nursing assistants can work at night and need only a high school diploma and to complete a job training course.
10. Merchandise Stocker
All grocery stores and big box stores employ these unsung heroes of the retail industry, which means there are plenty of these night shift jobs available. Zip Recruiter currently lists hundreds of merchandise stocker-related jobs, with average pay of about $30,000 per year.
No, you won’t get rich with this night shift job, but it could provide you with some side cash while helping you get your night owl fix.
11. Limo Driver
If you like driving nice cars and don’t mind dressing a little fancy, then limo driving might be the gig for you. You’ll need a good driving record and a flexible schedule – including the night shift in most cases.
And according to Indeed, you can expect to pull in about $22 per hour as a limo driver.
12. Baker
Peace, quiet and the constant smell of freshly baked bread. Does it get any better than that?
Depending on the employer, you may or may not need additional schooling to get a baking job. A nicer restaurant, working as a pastry chef, might require a culinary degree. But you probably won’t need that at a smaller, local place or larger grocery store.
Again, you’re not going to get rich as a baker – but, if it’s a passion, who cares about that anyway, right?
13. Paramedic
Like firefighters, paramedics are there for us at some of our most urgent, vulnerable moments. They travel to patients in emergency situations and provide care while returning them to a hospital.
Paramedics make an average of a little less than $27 per hour.
14. Truck Driver
Truck drivers are the lifeblood of so many industries in the United States.
They transfer every type of cargo imaginable across the country during all hours of the day, making this a potential job option for the night owls among us.
And because the demand for them is so high, truck drivers make an average of around $70,000 per year.
Robert Bruce is a senior writer for The Penny Hoarder.
Shopping usually means spending money — but what if you could use your passion for shopping to make some money?
That’s a real possibility, thanks to the booming world of online clothing reselling.
With platforms like Mercari, Poshmark and eBay, it’s easy to launch your own online clothing resale business. These six steps will help you get started.
1. Select a Platform
Your first step? Pick a platform.
Several online marketplaces are available for you to resell your clothing. Here’s a breakdown of three of the most popular options.
eBay
Everyone knows about eBay. It’s been around since the ‘90s, and you can buy and sell nearly everything, from car parts to cribs to new and used clothing.
What’s good about selling on eBay:
You can promote your items with eBay advertising, which is a simple and affordable way to get more eyes on your item.
You can sell your products around the world.
Once you list your items, you don’t have to do much with your store to make sales
What’s not so good about eBay:
Listing items can be time-consuming due to the amount of detail required.
Your buyers have up to 180 days to make returns, which means you could be required to provide a refund up to six months after making the sale.
Buyers have two days to pay for an item after purchasing it, so you may have to wait a bit to get paid.
Shipping
You can charge a flat shipping rate or let eBay calculate it based on distance, packaging and item’s size. When you purchase your shipping label through PayPal, you’ll pay commercial shipping rates which are less expensive than purchasing a shipping label using another method.
Fees
Ebay’s fees can be a bit confusing. Your final fees will ultimately depend on the final sale price. Learn more about their selling fees.
Poshmark
Poshmark is best known as a marketplace that combines shopping with the interactivity of social media.
What’s good about selling on Poshmark:
The social aspect is great If you like being part of a community.
It’s simple to list your items.
Poshmark calculates exactly how much you’ll receive after your fees are taken out.
What’s not so good about Poshmark:
It can be time-consuming as you have to build followers, share your items, follow other sellers, list regularly and do even more to keep your store relevant.
The shipping fees can be off-putting.
There seems to be more emphasis placed on selling over buying, so there’s more competition.
Shipping
There’s a flat-rate fee of $7.11 for packages weighing 5 lbs. or less.
Fees
You pay a $2.95 fee for sales under $15 and a 20% fee for transactions over $15.
Pro Tip
Want to get started with Poshmark? These five expert tips will set you up for success.
Mercari
Mercari is a simple resale platform that gives users the ability to sell everything, including technology, handmade items, home goods — and clothing.
What’s good about selling on Mercari:
It’s easy to list your items.
The commission you have to pay is lower than some other platforms.
What’s not so good about Mercari:
Shipping
You have three options:
Buy shipping labels through Mercari at up to 60% off retail.
Purchase separate shipping.
Use Mercari’s pack and ship service.
Fees
Mercari requires that you pay a flat 10% commission on each sale. No listing fees or varying percentages.
2. Choose Your Inventory Wisely
After choosing a platform, it’s time for the fun part — shopping!
You have a few different ways to build inventory for your reselling store:
Retail arbitrage: This is when you go to buy items that are on sale at a deep discount and resell them for a profit.
Resell pallets: Retailers like Amazon and ThredUp sell resell pallets featuring customer returns in bulk. This allows you to buy a lot of inventory at a discount. You can purchase a ThredUp Rescue Box on their website. You’ll have to do some research to track down resell pallets from other retailers.
Thrifting: Thrifting is a common way to find inventory. Just visit your local thrift store and look for quality items to resell online.
When looking for inventory, you’ll want to avoid:
Items with damage, stains or holes.
Items with strong odors.
Luxury goods that aren’t authenticated. If an item doesn’t state that it’s authenticated, you’ll want to inquire about whether it is and request an authentication card or certificate.
Items missing brand or size tags.
Tina Russell/The Penny Hoarder
3. Set Your Price
The price you set for your inventory can be the difference between making money and breaking even — or losing money — as a reseller.
When pricing your items, you’ll need to keep the following things in mind:
What prices similar items have sold for.
What you’ll have to pay if you offer free shipping.
The fees charged by your platform.
The costs of packaging.
Don’t forget to include the cost of your time and your overall income goals.
4. Take Pictures That Sell
Pictures are worth a thousand words — so think about what you want your items to say.
Here are some tips to keep in mind:
Lighting: Use natural light when possible or invest in artificial lighting that will accurately showcase your items.
Camera: Most smartphones can take high-quality pictures. Just be sure you use the right settings and angles.
Styling: Decide whether you want to use a mannequin for your items, create a flat lay, or hang them. There’s no right or wrong answer; it often comes down to preference.
Here are some more general tips to help you make the best of your visuals:
Keep your background free of clutter and distractions.
Stage your photos.
Don’t use flash.
Enhance your images with light editing.
Zoom in on the details.
Clearly show any imperfections.
5. List the Details
Your listing information — like your pictures — can make or break a sale.
It’s essential to include both basic information and any additional info to help your potential buyer make a decision.
Here are some things to include in your descriptions
Item measurements.
Color.
What occasion or activity it’s best suited for.
Anything that makes it special.
The material.
Size, including special sizes like petite, wide or big & tall.
Condition of the clothing item.
6. Promote Your Listings
Once your listings are live, you can set it and forget it, or you can promote them to try to sell your items quicker.
Here are a few ways you can promote your listings.
Social media: Set up a social media profile for your reselling business. Add images of new items to your profile listing where they can be purchased and the price. You can also consider sharing behind the scenes of your reselling business to drive traffic to your selling platforms.
Paid advertising: Some platforms like eBay and Mercari allow you to promote your listings, which helps them get seen by more people. They have a simple advertising system, so it’s easy, and you only pay if you sell the item.
Facebook groups: There’s a Facebook group for everything. Connect with other resellers and thrifting lovers to get more eyes on your store and the items you have for sale.
Quiana Darden is a contributor to The Penny Hoarder. Freelancer Kent McDill contributed to this report.
There’s a whole category of job opportunities that often gets overlooked: jobs that provide housing — for free.
They include entry-level jobs and seasonal jobs, and they run the gamut of industries and careers. What they have in common is a significant way to save money by letting you live where you work. That might be private rooms in a home or employee housing in a park or on a cruise ship.
You can find jobs that include housing throughout the U.S. and even internationally, helping you save money on other monthly bills and, in some cases, even get free meals.
What are some examples of jobs that provide housing? We’re glad you asked.
16 Jobs That Include Free Housing
Park ranger
Au pair
Cruise ship employee
Military member
Private chef
Building superintendent
Live-in caregiver
Nanny
Clergy
Faculty in-residence
Oil rig mechanic
Seasonal hotel/resort worker
International English teacher
Ranch hand
International civil engineer
Travel nurse
1. Park Ranger
Love the outdoors? Don’t mind a bit of a rustic way of life? You might be interested in being a park ranger. Your day job will involve giving tours, responding to emergencies and patrolling around the park – all with free accommodations in some of the most beautiful settings that America has to offer.
Estimated Salary: $38,660 per year (Park-Ranger.org). The top 10% make around $85,000 per year.
2. Au Pair
A what? An au pair is a young person — usually a woman — between the ages of 18 and 30 who provides child care for a foreign host family in exchange for free housing, board and cultural exchange. As an au pair, you’ll be expected to do a variety of household tasks such as making meals, doing laundry, transporting kids and light shopping.
Estimated Salary: Depends on the country. Pay in Australia ranges from $580 to $720 per month on the high end, while Spain ranges from $311 to $364 per month on the low end.
Getty Images
3. Cruise Ship Employee
Maybe you like the adventurous nature of the park ranger but prefer the wide open seas over the forests and mountains. If so, you might like to work on a cruise ship. Job opportunities abound on cruise ships, with many industries represented – casino dealers, dancers and singers, as well as restaurant servers, chefs, deckhands, housekeepers, paramedics and so many more.
Estimated Salary: The average cruise ship worker makes $48,891 per year. The range of jobs varies widely, making the salary range wide as well – from $14,000 to $102,000 depending on the position. (ZipRecruiter)
4. Military Member
Joining the military can be a life-changing decision and a years-long commitment. But it also comes with many perks. Free room and board, food, health coverage, paid leave, and great retirement benefits if you make it a career. Plus, you can feel fulfilled in the fact that you are serving your country.
Estimated Salary: Varies greatly by position but the average army private first class (infantry) makes $33,250 per year. On the other hand, an army sergeant major (infantry) will make an average of $87,000 per year. (PayScale)
5. Private Chef
As a personal chef, you’ll perform job duties like preparing daily meals for family members and guests – possibly including some gourmet meals and fancy parties. Chef jobs that include free housing mean you’re never far from the kitchen. Think “Downton Abbey,” but just 100 years later.
Building superintendents live in apartment buildings or condo complexes in exchange for managing the property. They will be residents’ first go-to for complaints and requests. Generally speaking, they’re also in charge of cleaning, garbage collection and other maintenance throughout the building.
For those who really have a heart for helping others, a job as a live-in caregiver could be a fulfilling career choice. You’ll help elderly or special needs people with their daily needs, like dressing, bathing and meals. In return, you’ll have a free room within the house or on the property to live in. This job could also be great for someone who is thinking about a career in nursing but isn’t quite ready to make the schooling commitment.
This is similar to an au pair, but without the overseas commitment. A live-in nanny will take care of the kids, including making sure they get to and from school, helping with homework and providing healthy meals. Full-time live-in nannies will have access to sick/personal days and health care options. If you want to take your babysitting game to the next level, then a full-time nanny job might be for you.
Estimated Salary: The average gross weekly salary for a full-time live-in nanny is $670. Live-out nannies earn $766 per week on average. (Nanny Lane)
9. Clergy
Some church denominations provide free housing on site for their clergy members. Obviously, being a pastor or religious teacher isn’t a job you just apply for overnight, but if you feel a spiritual calling in this area then you might eventually find yourself in a clergy role. You’ll teach and counsel your congregants, and even direct funerals and weddings.
If a career in education is your calling, you could live on campus as a faculty in-residence. These professors teach and work as mentors to the young students who live on campus and, in exchange, they receive free housing. Since they live on site, they become much more visible and accessible for students.
Estimated Salary: The average salary for an associate professor in-residence is $87,098 per year. (Open Payrolls)
11. Oil Rig Mechanic
If you don’t mind some rough and tumble accommodations, working on an oil rig certainly has its perks – including a really nice salary. In fact, it’s one of the highest-paying jobs that provide housing. In addition to mechanics, rigs also hire engineers, scuba divers and general management. Rig workers typically work two weeks on and two weeks off, which might be problematic if you have a family.
Estimated Salary: $151,240 per year (ZipRecruiter)
Getty Images
12. Seasonal Hotel/Resort Worker
Unlike clergy, chef, or mechanic, seasonal jobs don’t often require much, if any, experience – meaning this is a great entry-level job. If you’re looking for a career change, or just getting started and not sure what to do, seasonal jobs are good short-term gigs.
Like a cruise ship, resort jobs run the gamut – from bartender to server to scuba teacher or receptionist. You’ll agree to work for at least several months in exchange for employee housing on site. And, depending on where you are, you could have amazing sites to see – mountainous ski resorts or glamorous hotels in the Caribbean – during your free time.
English teachers are in high demand all across Asia – making this a great option for a young graduate who isn’t tied down and who wants to experience the world while making a difference in young people’s lives. As part of a contract, it’s standard for many schools to provide housing and airfare. The other perks can vary, so make sure you know all the details before signing a contract (that’s just good advice for life in general!).
Estimated Salary: Pay varies wildly by country. See a full list of salary ranges at TEFL.org.
14. Ranch Hand
Love the great outdoors and don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty? A ranch hand has housing provided in exchange for taking care of the animals on the ranch, maintaining the property, and greeting and interacting with guests. These jobs are usually available across the western United States.
Yes, there’s a good bit of schooling that goes with being a civil engineer, but the rewards can be nice. Some countries simply don’t have a lot of civil engineers within their population, so they recruit these positions in all parts of the world. The job pays a solid salary and comes with free housing, and fully paid for round-trip flights back home.
Travel nurses are employed by staffing agencies and take on temporary roles at clinics, hospitals and other health care facilities. These positions became increasingly popular during the COVID pandemic because they helped temporarily relieve staffing shortages. Travel nurses usually have a wealth of benefits, including extremely good compensation – though their pay rate has decreased slightly since the height of the pandemic.
Even if you don’t like to lie, you probably occasionally use the little white variety as a tool to protect other people when the truth would do more harm than good.
It becomes a serious problem when we make a habit of telling lies — especially when we lie to ourselves. But some of us do it all the time when it comes to our finances.
We tend to deceive ourselves when there’s a disconnect between where we really are with our finances and where we’d like to be. So we tell ourselves these common lies:
Lie No. 1: Your Debt Is Under Control
You don’t always just pay the minimum on your credit card. But if you’re being honest with yourself, those occasional chunk payments aren’t really bringing down your average balance.
Honestly, if you’re like most of us, you’re treading water.
And the truth is, your credit card company doesn’t really care. It’s just getting rich by ripping you off with high interest rates — some up to 36%. But a website called AmOne wants to help.
If you owe your credit card companies $50,000 or less, AmOne will match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every single one of your balances.
The benefit? You’ll be left with one bill to pay each month. And because personal loans have lower interest rates (AmOne rates start at 2.49% APR), you’ll get out of debt that much faster. Plus: No credit card payment this month.
You don’t need a perfect credit score to get a loan — and comparing your options won’t affect your score at all. Plus, AmOne keeps your information confidential and secure, which is probably why after 20 years in business, it still has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
It takes less than a minute and just 10 questions to see what loans you qualify for — you don’t even need to enter your Social Security number. You do need to give AmOne a real phone number in order to qualify, but don’t worry — they won’t spam you with phone calls.
Lie No. 2: You Keep a Loose Budget in Your Head, and That’s Good Enough
An integral part of managing your money is creating a budget. Ew, gross. We know. But it’s important to take a good look at what you’re spending and where you can cut back.
If you’re not sure where to even start, we favor the 50/20/30 budgeting method for its simplicity. Here’s how it works:
50% of your income goes toward essentials.
20% goes toward financial goals.
30% goes toward personal spending.
The key is to accept you can’t create the perfect budget in an hour. You’ll have to experiment to find what works best for you.
Lie No. 3: Your Credit Is Good Enough
You’ve got big plans. Maybe you’ve got your eye on a new car. Or you’re hoping to buy a house in the next few years. Or you’d even like to start your own business. But here’s the thing: No matter what your goals are, you might not realize how much your credit score is standing in your way.
The good news? A free website called Credit Sesame makes it easy to put your credit score on track to reach your goals. We even talked to one guy, James Cooper, of Atlanta, who used Credit Sesame to raise his credit score nearly 300 points in six months.*** He says they showed him exactly what to do — he was even able to open his first credit card.
What could adding 300 points to your score mean for your goals? It could easily save you thousands of dollars over the life of a car loan or mortgage.
Within 90 seconds, Credit Sesame will give you access to your credit score, any debt-carrying accounts and a handful of personalized tips to improve your score. You’ll even be able to spot any errors holding you back (one in five reports have one).
Make sure your plans don’t get sidelined by bad credit. Sign up for free (it only takes about 90 seconds) and see how much you could improve your score.
Lie No. 4: You Make Enough Money to Justify Your Spending Habits
Maybe you spent a little too much last month. But that’s OK. You deserved a little treat, right? And besides, you’ve got a steady income. It’ll all come out in the wash.
Gut check: You’re probably not earning enough to support your lifestyle. Here’s a solution we like: Make extra spending money by sharing your opinion online.
It sounds strange, but brands want to hear your opinion. It helps them make business decisions, so they’re willing to pay you for it — up to $140 a month.
A free site called Branded Surveys will pay you up to $5 per survey for sharing your thoughts with their brand partners. Taking three quick surveys a day could earn up to $140 each month.
It takes just a minute to create a free account and start getting paid to speak your mind. Most surveys take five to 15 minutes, and you can check how long they’ll take ahead of time.
And you don’t need to build up tons of money to cash out, either — once you earn $5, you can cash out via PayPal, your bank account, a gift card or Amazon. You’ll get paid within 48 hours of your payout being processed, just for sharing your opinions.
They’ve already paid users more than $20 million since 2012, and the most active users can earn a few hundred dollars a month. Plus, they’ve got an “excellent” rating on Trustpilot.
Lie No. 5: You Don’t Waste That Much Time on Your Phone
Our smartphones are the world’s greatest time-killers. Browse Facebook, Twitter, TikTok or Instagram. Watch a video on YouTube. Play some Minecraft or Roblox.
Oh, and there’s bingo. We found a free iPhone app called Bingo Cash that lets you play for real money. You could get paid up to $83 per win.
You might be thinking: There’s got to be a catch. This is definitely one of those spammy apps, right?
But there really isn’t a catch. Sure, you can pay to play in some higher-stakes tournaments, but there’s no pressure. And, in fact, there aren’t even any annoying ads.
The game is based on a classic Bingo format. You’ll battle it out against other players at your same skill level. Everyone gets the same board and sees the same Bingo balls. The top three players in a game can win real money — anywhere from $1 to $83.
Over on the App Store, it has a 4.7-star rating (out of 5).
To get started, just download the free app and start playing your first game immediately.
Lie No. 6: You Can’t Cut Your Bills Any Further
Here’s the thing: your current car insurance company is probably overcharging you. But don’t waste your time hopping around to different insurance companies looking for a better deal.
EverQuote is the largest online marketplace for insurance in the US, so you’ll get the top options from more than 175 different carriers handed right to you.
Take a couple of minutes to answer some questions about yourself and your driving record. With this information, EverQuote will be able to give you the top recommendations for car insurance. In just a few minutes, you could save up to $610 a year.
Lie No. 7: You Don’t Have Time for a $300/Month Side Gig
If you’re like us, your garage probably isn’t doing much of anything at the moment. Maybe you have some tools in there, or maybe it’s home to your boxes of odds and ends, collecting dust.
But with a website called Neighbor, your extra space — whether it’s a spare room, an empty garage or a parking space — could be earning you an extra $300 a month in totally passive income.
Neighbor works by connecting people who need storage space with hosts who have the room to spare. The average host makes about $300 a month, but some people have earned up to $50,000 a year just by letting people park on their property.
It takes less than 10 minutes to get started. Just answer a few questions about your space, take some pictures and set your asking price. Neighbor will recommend a dollar amount based on your location and type of rental, but the final listing is up to you.
Neighbor even gives you up to $1 million in free protection as a host and offers protection plans for your renters, giving you both peace of mind.
Neighbor is an easy source of passive income, and it’s easier than most side hustles. It’s free to list your space, and you’ll only be charged a 4.9% processing fee from the profit you make each month, so there’s no risk to you.
***Like Cooper, 60% of Credit Sesame members see an increase in their credit score; 50% see at least a 10-point increase, and 20% see at least a 50-point increase after 180 days.
Credit Sesame does not guarantee any of these results, and some may even see a decrease in their credit score. Any score improvement is the result of many factors, including paying bills on time, keeping credit balances low, avoiding unnecessary inquiries, appropriate financial planning and developing better credit habits.
Think you need to work long hours to qualify for company-backed retirement plans, tuition reimbursements and affordable health insurance?
Actually, you don’t have to have to be a full-time employee to get those perks. There are many companies that offer generous benefit packages for their hourly part-time employees.
These 14 companies lead the way in offering part-time jobs with benefits. You could land a flexible role that also allows you to attend school, take care of family or do whatever you please.
14 Companies That Offer Part-Time Jobs With Benefits
If you’re looking for part-time work, start your job hunt with these employers.
1. Costco
Hourly part-time employees, who work at least 24 hours per week, can receive benefits from Costco once they’ve accumulated 450 hours. Healthcare coverage includes medical, vision, prescription drugs and core dental coverage.
All hourly employees working at least 10 hours per week can enroll in voluntary short-term disability insurance, which provides tax-free income replacement in the event of a non-work related accident or illness that prevents work.
2. Lowe’s
Part-time employees at Lowe’s are immediately eligible for medical benefits, including prescription drugs, short-term disability, life insurance and dental and vision coverage..
After one year, Lowe’s offers an employee stock purchase option to its part-time workers, as well as a 401(k) after 180 days. Eligible family members can also opt-in for group medical, dental and vision coverage and dependent life insurance.
3. REI
Part-time employees at REI become eligible for a benefits package if they work an average of 20 hours per week over a 12-month evaluation period.
The company pays the majority of employees’ medical and dental coverage and the full cost for basic life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D), employee assistance program, business travel accident insurance and long-term disability insurance.
REI also provides a generous PTO package, a wide variety of leave options, and “Yay Days” twice a year – a program that allows employees to take part in their favorite outdoor activity, take on something new or participate in a stewardship project.
They also offer a unique public transit benefit which provides a 50% pre-tax subsidy on public transit expenses up to the current IRS limit through payroll deduction.
4. Staples
Staples offers its part-time associates access to dental and vision coverage, life, dependent life, accidental death and short-term disability insurance coverage. They’re also eligible for the company’s 401(k) plan after one year and 1,000 hours of service.
Stick with the company for a year and average 30 hours per week, and you’ll be eligible to enroll in a full-time medical plan. Staples also offers 10% employee discounts on online or retail items, adoption assistance and its own confidential employee counseling program.
Photo courtesy of Starbucks
5. Starbucks
Starbucks is well-known for its benefits program for part-time employees. All you have to do to be eligible is work at least 240 hours over three consecutive months, then continue to average 20 hours per week.
Health coverage offered by Starbucks includes routine visits, hospitalization and more, along with dental, vision and life insurance coverage. Alternative care options, like acupuncture or chiropractic treatment, are covered too. After 90 days, employees can opt-in to Starbucks’ 401(k) plan.
Other employee benefits include up to a $4,000 reimbursement for adoption expenses, confidential counseling, full tuition reimbursement, and one pound of Starbucks coffee or Teavana tea every week!
6. UPS
Part-time employees who work between 225 and 400 hours at UPS within a three month period are eligible for medical and dental coverage, vision insurance, hearing, prescription drugs and an employee assistance program.
Part-time employees who exceed 400 hours over three months are eligible for the same benefits as full-time employees.
Part-time employees can also take advantage of the Earn and Learn tuition assistance program that provides up to $5,250 in assistance per calendar year (with a lifetime maximum of $25,000). Eligibility begins on the day of hire.
7. Trader Joe’s
After three months and working an average of 30 hours per week, Trader Joe’s “crew members” are eligible for medical, dental and vision coverage at a cost as low as $25 per month.
The company also offers a matching 401(k) plan and contributes 10% of a crew member’s salary annually to the plan, according to an employee.
Other employee benefits include a 20% store discount, scholarship programs, store tastings, employee assistance programs and paid relocation and transfers.
8. Aerotek
Aerotek is one of the world’s leading staffing agencies. Part-time employees who work a minimum of 20 hours per week are eligible for contributory medical, dental and vision insurance.
The company also offers a 401(k) and 529 plan, a tuition reimbursement after six months, dependent care flex spending accounts, a free counseling service and an employee discount program with Aerotek’s many retail partners.
9. Chipotle
All hourly crew members at Chipotle are eligible for its robust benefits package that includes medical, vision and dental insurance, as well as a 401(k) match after one year of employment.
Part-time employees also receive a salary percentage-based annual bonus, mental health assistance, education assistance up to $5,250 annually, stock purchase plan, gym membership discounts and one free meal per shift. Free burritos on Chipotle!
10. JPMorgan Chase
The global banking institution offers benefits to its part-time employees, after 90 days, who work between 20 and 40 hours per week.
Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life and accident, disability, before-tax flexible spending accounts and group legal services. JPMorgan Chase also offers a 401(k) match starting at 3% annually and increasing by 1% every year up to a maximum of 5%.
Other offered benefits are an employee stock purchase plan, a comprehensive health and wellness program, parental leave, backup child care options and discounts on banking services.
Letter carriers load mail trucks for deliveries at a U.S. Postal Service facility in McLean, Va., Friday, July 31, 2020. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
11. USPS
The United States Postal Service hires career and non-career (temporary/seasonal) workers. Part-time career workers are eligible for its benefits package which includes the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program – a plan in which the federal government pays two-thirds of the health insurance premiums for employees and retirees.
They also offer federal group life insurance (FGLI), and federally-backed long-term care, dental and vision and a flex spending account.
The USPS retirement system, also available for part-time career workers, offers a fixed annuity based on years of service, a defined contribution 401(k) THRIFT Savings Plan with a 5% employer match and Social Security.
12. Wal-Mart
Part-time and temporary associates at Wal-Mart who work an average of at least 30 hours per week over a 60-day period are eligible for benefits.
After the initial 60 days, associates must wait another 60 days to enroll. Once you enroll you’re eligible for the remainder of the calendar year as well as the year after. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, AD&D, critical illness insurance and accident insurance, as well as a 6% 401(k) match after one year and a 10% in-store discount.
Wal-Mart also offers Resources for Living – a free counseling service that offers unlimited phone support anytime and up to 10 no-cost counseling sessions or 10 free weeks of no-cost, chat-based therapy.
13. American Red Cross
Employees at this major nonprofit are eligible for part-time health benefits if they work 20 hours per week Those who work 30 or more hours per week are eligible for full-time benefits.
The American Red Cross also offers a 401(k) plan with a match up to 4%.
14. Home Depot
Part-time employees at the home improvement retailer are eligible for dental, vision, short-term disability and life insurance.
Robert Bruce is a senior writer for The Penny Hoarder. Former staff writer Lisa Rowan contributed to this post.
There’s never been a better time to turn dishes into cash. Same goes for crystal, silver, and those figurines your grandmother loved. It’s not because they are in high demand, but rather because the demand for formal dinnerware decreases each year.
Unlike other collectibles, Waterford and Wedgwood aren’t gaining value with age.
Still, some folks, mostly older ones, are looking to complete sets of china and crystal or replace broken pieces. And a smaller number of younger entertainers like to have some vintage pieces in their collection.
Depending on the pattern, condition and current supply and demand, you can make a few hundred dollars when you sell Nana’s china plates collection. But, unless you have some of the more rare patterns that can fetch $1,000 a plate, don’t expect to get rich. What was sentimentally valuable china to your family may not be worth thousands of dollars.
You Might Get Lucky and Hit Big
“The question I hear most often when I give somebody a quote for what we’ll pay is ‘is that for all of it?’ ” said Larry Weitkemper, one of the owners of China Finders in St. Petersburg, Florida. “The demand is less. Prices are down.”
Someone with a five-piece place setting (dinner, salad and bread plates with cup and saucer) of Wedgwood may get around $40, Lennox about $25 and Mikasa around $20. Resellers and dealers, however, may pay up to $1,000 for a Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica dinner plate, the golden ticket of pre-owned china.
China Finders, which stocks thousands of pieces of china and crystal in its 4,900-square-foot store, is one of about 50 independent resellers across the country. A decade ago it had 14 employees buying and selling china, crystal and other collectibles. Today, four employees buy in person (by appointment only) then sell on their eBay store. For people on the hunt for rare patterns, an internet search is likely the best way to find valued old dishes.
Pattern Prices at a Glance from Replacements
Maker
Pattern
Item
Sale Price*
Franciscan
Desert Rose
Dinner plate
$39.99
Fiesta
Evergreen 2007
Dinner plate
$79.95
Lenox
Poppies on Blue
Dinner plate
$29.99
Royal Copenhagen
Blue Fluted Plain
9-inch serving bowl
$370
Portmeirion
Botanic Garden
Crescent salad plate
$43.99
Wedgwood
Runnymede Blue
Rim soup bowl
$89.95
Herend
Chinese Bouquet (rust)
Crescent salad plate
$60
Dansk
Christianshavn Blue
Dinner plate (Portugal)
$49.99
Wedgwood
Nantucket Basketweave
Accent luncheon plate
$159.99
Noritake
Rothschild, Ivory
Cup and saucer
$23.99
*These are list prices the public pays to purchase items. Replacements’ payment to sellers depends on supply and demand at the time of transaction and is less than list price.
How to Sell to Replacements
Replacements Ltd., in McLeansville, North Carolina, is the largest buyer and seller of previously owned china, crystal and flatware with 450,000 different patterns listed in its database from antique china with floral patterns to highly valuable dessert plates. It stocks new and preowned products in 500,000 square feet of warehouse space.
Its website offers very clear directions on how to find out what the company will pay for your china, glasswear, silver or other collectibles. If you know your pattern, submit the pattern name and your personal contact information via an electronic form. Replacements will reply with what it’s paying for each piece of a pattern. Depending on the supply it has in the warehouse, it may be buying dinner plates, salt and pepper shakers, butter dishes and bowls in a pattern, for example, but no salad plates, cups and saucers or serving platters.
So a seller can tell exactly what Replacements will buy. Ship your pieces based on its packing instructions, and in a few weeks, a check arrives in your mailbox.
Dish Habits of Modern Newlyweds
Keith Winkler, media relations manager for the 40-year-old company, said while prices fluctuate greatly, fine china and crystal are still popular with a wide range of customers.
Again, many variables go into placing a value on it.
“It’s all about whether we stock that pattern or not and how easy it is to find it,” he said. “Some of it is also how popular it was when the pattern was introduced. Was it successful and continues to be sold in stores or was it extremely popular for a 10-year period of time and now it’s gone?”
He said they are are seeing an increase in business from a younger demographic.
“A lot of them might have received their grandmother’s set and they are building on that for their bridal registry,” Winkler added.
Others are looking for their own china. In fact so many couples getting married were registering on Replacements’ website through Myregistry, came to the china dealer five years ago and asked to join forces on gift registries.
10 Things to Know If You’re Selling Old Dishes
Patterns don’t gain value with age
Know the patterns that are most valuable
Know other popular patterns
Demand varies for extra pieces
Wine glasses are out, goblets are in
Gold trim can kill the sale
Shipping is costly
Country of origin counts
Limitations of Christmas china patterns
To eBay or not to eBay those porcelain dishes
First you need to know if it’s antique and just because it’s old to you, doesn’t mean it’s a legit antique or has a lot of value. Antiques are generally at least 100 years old; newer older items are considered vintage. Look to a professional for help. The market determines the prices so your dream of getting rich off a single item for thousands of dollars is likely just that. Still, there’s money to be had.
Our vintage china and glassware experts have done their research and here is their best advice for those of us surveying Nana’s china cabinet and trying to get past the floral bouquet in the middle of the plates. These 10 tips can help you find the best value hiding on the shelves.
1. Patterns Don’t Gain Value With Age
“We have to buy something people are still using,” Weitkemper said. Now, that doesn’t mean old patterns are necessarily not worth good money as long as they are still popular with current consumers. But they are just not like other collectibles such as coins that gain value as they age.
2. Know the Patterns That Are Most Valuable
Herend
“Most patterns from Herend sell well,” Winkler said. A platter recently sold for $200 on eBay while a salad plate went for $100. Herend originated in Hungary in 1839 and its pieces are typified by fine floral patterns. The history of the manufacturer and the fine craftsmanship overrules the fact that many younger people don’t want fussy porcelain pieces.
Royal Copenhagen Blue Fluted
A cup and saucer recently sold on eBay for $100 and a salad plate fetched the same price.
“It’s a very high quality brand and it’s in high demand. It’s made really well,” according to Larry Weitkemper.
Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica
This is about the most expensive player in the fine china reselling market. Two salad plates sold on eBay recently for $375 while a pickle dish sold for $500.
3. Know Other Popular Patterns
Replacements lists its top selling patterns, which is a good indicator the valuable china is selling well on other sites, with dealers and individually. But that doesn’t mean they will always command top dollar.
“We may have a piece retailing for $50 but have a 10-year supply on hand and therefore we may not be purchasing it at all or would offer a nominal amount for the piece,” said Winkler.
Here are the links for:
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4. Extra Pieces Vary in Demand
Butter dishes and salt and pepper sets are more sought after than spoon rests and coffee pots. The current values reflect modern cooking habits, and the selling price and pattern don’t much matter. Many companies have produced these pieces and they can be found online and in antiques shops in abundance.
“Teapots hold their values better than coffee pots,” said Noah Weitkemper, one of the China Finders partners.
5. Wine Glasses Are Out, Goblets Are In
“Wine glasses are going out of style because they are too small in older patterns. (Consumers) use water goblets for wine,” Noah Weitkemper said.
Even baby boomers are likely to want glasses that can hold a larger pour. These days, a standard wine glass holds about 12 ounces and vintage wine glassware might be half of that. The green-stemmed German wine glasses used for white wine are a good example of smaller capacity bowls, especially the older vintages.
6. Gold Trim Can Kill the Sale
The 20-year-olds and 30-year-olds — heck almost everyone — buying china today want to put their dishes in the microwave or dishwasher. Washing individual pieces by hand isn’t going to fly no matter if the current value is affordable and even if they like the pattern. And reheating ramen in the microwave is standard these days. The dishes have to fit the job, and just being valuable doesn’t cut it.
“Anything with gold trim can’t go in the dishwasher and it can’t go in the microwave. So they don’t want it,” Larry Weitkemper said. Sorry, Nana. The Noritake vintage china is a no-go even though there’s enough old dishes to serve 12. That’s just more washing.
7. Shipping Is Costly
If selling to Replacements, you will pay for packing and shipping your china. That can cancel out or at least heavily cut into whatever profit you expect to make. Consider this if you purchased good-condition china to resell. Always do your research first.
“A person really needs to consider all of that when they are wanting to sell. it’s going to be so expensive to ship,” Winkler said. “It might be better to donate it.” Do some internet research or head to your local library to look for organizations that take donations of dishes, glassware and other pieces.
8. Country of Origin Counts
China and glassware made in America or England is more desirable. China produced after the Civil War often has identifying marks on the back of each piece indicating its country of origin. Bone china made in England usually has a crown stamp on the back. If the pieces are bright in color — lime green or purple even — they are likely not vintage.
In the table above, you can see how Dansk’s Christianshavn Blue is more valuable if it is manufactured in Portugal than when they are made in Thailand.
9. Limitations of Christmas China Patterns
Many manufacturers have lines of Christmas china. It tends to sell well throughout the year, but especially in September and October. Some of the most popular Christmas china patterns are Spode’s Christmas Tree, which was first made in 1928; Lenox’s Holiday holly pattern (beware the gold leaf), and Johnson Brothers’ Merry Christmas, made from 1958 to 1995.
The Johnson pattern has a cozy Christmas scene on the middle of the plate, complete with a roaring fireplace.
If you find a set for 12 of any of these patterns, it’s still not likely you’ll bring in thousands of dollars, though a Johnson Merry Christmas dinner plate is fetching about $70 on Replacements. The current value of a dinner plate of Spode’s Christmas Tree with gold trim is about $40. And Lenox’s Holiday holly plate could get nearly $70 through an antique dealer but Replacements had the dinner plate on sale in January 2022 for $40.
10. To eBay or Not to eBay Those Porcelain Dishes
If you sell on eBay you may get more money for your china or crystal than selling to an antique dealer who is going to resell your King Louis XV antique furniture or valuable china. Obviously, you are then also the one who has to pack it (or pay someone else to pack it) and ship it so it arrives to the buyer in tip-top shape.
Customers buying on eBay have the right to refuse the product and ship it back at the seller’s expense if they say it arrived in worse condition than expected.
China Finders has been burned several times with eBay buyers who say the items they bought arrived chipped.
“We check it completely for chips when we buy it, when we sell it and when we ship it,” Larry Weitkemper said. But they still have to pay the cost to ship it back and refund the buyer’s money. Several times customers have shipped back different china, and once even a box of rocks instead of what they bought.
For China Finders, which sells hundreds of items on eBay each month, if a customer falsely claims the products weren’t in good condition once a month, it’s a cost of doing business.
But if you are selling a whole set of china or box of crystal goblets only once and a customer claims it arrived in poor condition then returns other items, your one shot at profiting off of Nana’s collection is shot.
Katherine Snow Smith is a freelance editor and reporter living in St. Petersburg, Florida. She’s the author of Rules for the Southern Rulebreaker: Missteps & Lessons Learned.
Saving has always been a challenge for me. While I continuously applied the pay-yourself-first principle to my finances, I struggled to stick to my budget.
So when I wanted to start a cake-decorating business, I needed another way to cover my startup costs. I preferred not to take out a loan because of interest charges.
The West African tradition, which is also popular in the Caribbean, requires a group of people to contribute a fixed amount of money either weekly, bi-weekly or monthly to a group account, with one member responsible for collecting the cash.
The group holds a random draw to determine the order in which each person will receive their lump sum payment. However, once each person receives their cash, they still have to contribute until everyone gets paid.
A sou-sou could run for six months or up to a year — it all depends on how many people are in on it. Sou-sous continue until everyone receives a payout at least once.
How I Used a Sou-Sou to Start a Business
Here’s how I started a sou-sou to help me make enough money to get my cake-decorating business off the ground.
Determine How Much Cash You Need to Start Your Business
I created an inventory of supplies I’d need, then calculated the total cost of buying them. This helped me make sure I’d be able to get started once I received my payout.
Next, I shopped around to find the best prices — then asked vendors about a discount for buying in bulk. It never hurts to ask! It helped me save 20% of the original cost when I eventually bought everything.
Find Cash in Your Budget and Earn Extra Money
I needed to free up some money to go toward my sou-sou, so I decided to eliminate one bill from my monthly budget.
I compared my cable and internet bills to see which was costing me more, and then canceled my $50 per month cable service.
To earn extra cash, I sold cakes at community events at a reduced price.
Need a banking service that’s built for gig workers and freelancers, helping you save for taxes and keep track of your expenses? Check out Lili. (It’s free!)
Form a Group
Everyone in my department had previously been involved in a successful sou-sou, and since we were all working toward financial goals, it was easy for the team to get on board.
A total of 10 colleagues joined the sou-sou, but you can start one with any number of people. Ask co-workers, relatives and fellow church or gym members if they want in.
Choose a Cash Collector
We nominated my supervisor as cash collector and placed our money in a locked box in her office. Two people had to be present when money was deposited or paid out.
Since we all earned monthly salaries, we decided on a deadline for everyone to pay up.
My supervisor was also in the sou-sou. If the person collecting the cash isn’t in on it, they’re sometimes paid a percentage by each member. If my supervisor hadn’t been a member, she would have received 5% of our earnings for managing the sou-sou.
Decide on a Reasonable Contribution
We considered our final objectives and unanimously decided on a realistic amount each person would pay.
With 10 members, we decided to each contribute $100 per month — meaning we’d each get a $1,000 payout.
A few members were unable to contribute the full amount, so they joined with another member to each contribute $50 per month. When their payout time came, each person received $500 — a 50% payout.
I decided to double my contributions and pay $200 a month, meaning I’d get two $1,000 payouts to help me fund my business.
Propose Accountability
We suggested each person in the group be accountable to another member to make sure they spent their money on fulfilling their goals.
For example, I chose an accountability partner who would make sure I invested my $1,000 in my business.
If I didn’t, I’d have to pay my partner 20% of my payout — a huge amount we chose to help motivate me.
How My Sou-Sou Worked Out
Our sou-sou began in January and I received my payout in May. Since I doubled my contributions, I received another payout in November, which I also put toward my business.
The group initiative was a huge part of my motivation, and everyone agreed that having the support of other members of the sou-sou was crucial to our success.
My choice to use a sou-sou rather than take out a loan paid off. I didn’t owe the bank any money, and I saved $200 I would have paid in interest charges.
With the assistance of friends or family, saving money to start a business is possible. Making $100 or $200 contributions may not seem like much, but with time, it could be enough to get your business off the ground or help expand it without a loan.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in 2016.
Kerry Mc Donald is a contributor to The Penny Hoarder. Freelancer Kent McDill contributed to this report.
The rapid changes we experienced worldwide to slow the spread of the coronavirus were, to put it lightly, tough on the wallet.
Whether your work hours have been reduced, you’ve been laid off from a full-time job, or you need a break from gigs that don’t allow social distancing (like rideshare or grocery delivery), finding a new source of income without leaving home can be daunting.
Side gigs are a great way to bolster your bank account, and you can find a ton of online gigs that never require you to leave the house.
Side Gigs You Can Do From Home
Here are some completely-at-home gigs for a variety of skill levels and interests.
1. Find Freelance Creative Work
As businesses cut costs in anticipation of a recession, many are outsourcing work to freelancers. If you’ve wanted to break into freelancing, the increased demand makes this a good time to do it.
Here are some common creative tasks companies hire freelancers for:
CopyPress is a good, low-paid place to start if you’re new to freelancing in copywriting, design and development.
Fiverr moved beyond quirky $5 services long ago, and is a legitimate freelance marketplace to list your services.
Freelancer lets you browse online gigs in writing, editing, design, development and more.
Gigster is an on-demand software development site that hires freelance designers, developers and product managers to supplement its in-house team.
Guru lets you bid on gigs based on a wide range of expertise — think, translation to editing to graphic design to ghostwriting.
Need a banking service that’s built for freelancers, helping you save for taxes and keep track of your expenses? Check out Lili. (It’s free!)
2. Be a Virtual Assistant
Don’t have creative experience? You could instead find freelance work as a virtual assistant. These tend to be entry-level jobs offering support for businesses or individuals in things like:
Data entry
Scheduling
Event coordination
Social media and writing
Website or blog production
Client communications
Lots of online business owners employ freelance, part-time virtual assistants. It can be a great way to get your foot in the door with a new business, see the inner workings of a startup or just earn extra cash when you need it.
Look for people or companies hiring virtual assistants via these gig sites:
For very short-term work, you might even be able to contact companies going remote for the first time and offer some assistance. If you’re comfortable with remote-work technology, like messaging apps and video conferencing tools, pitch a training or offer yourself as a consultant to help teams adjust.
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3. Teach English Online
Online English teachers for non-native speakers are in high demand around the world, and requirements to get started are relatively simple.
You’ll teach English to pupils around the world, most often elementary-age kids in China, through companies that facilitate scheduling, video conferencing, lesson planning and payment. Like any tutoring gig, you decide what happens in each session.
You’ll set your own schedule, but some companies require a minimum number of teaching hours per week (usually less than 10), and working with China-based students means you have to be available on U.S. time in early-morning or late-evening hours.
These companies offer online classes where you’ll tutor individuals or groups of kids in English:
Boxfish: Earn $10 per 25-minute class with one to four students. Pre-schedule or offer on-demand classes with individual students as you’re available.
Cambly: Earn 17 cents per minute to teach children and adults around the world. No degree or onboarding process required.
Italki: Set your hourly rate between $4 and $80, and work as many or as few hours as you want.
QKids: Earn $16 to $22 per hour with a minimum commitment of 12 half-hour lessons per week for six months.
Rosetta Stone: Work part-time eight to 15 hours per week, and earn benefits including holiday pay and a 401(k) plan.
VIPKid: Earn $14 to $22 per hour teaching Chinese grade-schoolers with one of the most well-known companies in the space.
English fluency (Some, but not all, require native speakers.)
Interest in working with young children or teenagers
A tablet, smartphone or computer with a web camera
High-speed internet that can facilitate video conferencing
Props for young learners, such as a whiteboard, puppets, posters and musical instruments
Some companies require you to have a bachelor’s degree in any subject, and some only hire residents of the United States or Canada.
With most companies, you’ll fill out an online application, schedule a video interview and possibly teach a practice session before you’re onboarded as a teacher. Cambly and Italki let you simply create a profile and schedule sessions, so you could make money faster with those.
4. Teach Music, Art, Cooking or Anything You Love
As people have picked up forgotten hobbies, lessons are in demand. If you’ve got skills, make money teaching.
You can teach live lessons over Skype in just about any subject. Get some lessons on the calendar quickly by promoting the service to your friends and community on social media.
To grow the business in the long term, start a blog on your subject to attract new customers. Or put your class on a site that can connect you with students looking for your skill, such as:
TakeLessons: Create a free profile to list your skill and let students find you to book live online lessons in things like teaching music, art, language, acting or dance.
Playing video games in all your stay-at-home free time? Online video game tournaments could help you earn money for the skills you’ve honed — as long as it’s allowed in your state.
Professional gamers can win tens of thousands of dollars per tournament and make a living playing video games. For everyday gamers, tons of tournament websites give you the opportunity to win between $1 and $10,000 per match. Check out these sites:
GamerSaloon: Compete for prizes between $9 and $10,000 in games including Apex Legends, Call of Duty, FIFA, Fortnite, NBA, NFL and UFC.
MLG GameBattles: Some tournaments pay in non-cash prizes, like achievements. Cash tournaments pay out well, though, between $100 and $400. Trending games include Apex Legends, Call of Duty, Fortnite and Gears of War.
Players’ Lounge: Challenge other players, and make a wager between $2.50 and $500 in games including Apex Legends, Fortnite, Madden and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
World Gaming: Cash prizes in weekly tournaments for games including Apex Legends, FIFA, Fortnite, Hearthstone, Madden and Super Smash Bros range from $100 to $200.
XY Gaming: Join tournaments in games including Dota 2, League of Legends and Smite to win virtual coins or cash prizes.
Most sites offer both free-to-enter and pay-to-enter tournaments. Paying to enter could be worth your money for a big payout, but keep an eye on your spending to keep this potential money-maker from turning into an expensive new hobby.
7. Work for a Political or Advocacy Campaign
Virtual campaigning and phone banking has grown in popularity in recent election cycles, anyway, but social isolation will make it more important this year than ever. Put your political, social media, marketing or organizing skills to work for a campaign or advocacy group.
Search for political jobs through any job site, such as Indeed, and check out these niche campaign job boards:
Political Job Hunt: This nonpartisan job board by the creator of the Political Wire blog lists jobs in politics and government.
Work For Progress: Find jobs with progressive organizations in The Public Interest Network working on issues including environment and health.
RNC jobs: Work for the Republican National Committee.
DNC jobs: Work for the Democratic National Committee.
Idealist: This site lists jobs, internships and volunteer opportunities with progressive nonprofit organizations.
8. Perform Online
Anyone who makes a living performing — like a musician or comedian — has taken a hit as shows were canceled to keep people at home. But if you’ve got a fan base, you could move your shows online and collect money directly from viewers.
Here are some ideas:
Let fans subscribe through Patreon to receive periodic updates from you, such as recorded videos or live virtual performances.
Stream your performance through Instagram Live, and ask for donations through Venmo or PayPal.
Post videos on YouTube and collect advertising revenue.
9. Help With Bookkeeping, Accounting or Tax Prep
Learning to be a bookkeeper or earning a financial certification to pick up gig work could take some time. But if you already know how to do the work — especially if you have some experience — you can perform any of these jobs online.
You can find virtual bookkeeping or accounting jobs on the same job boards that list their in-person counterparts. Just add “virtual” or “remote” to narrow your search. And don’t be afraid to ask whether remote work is an option, even if it’s not mentioned in the listing.
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10. Get Paid for Online Research
A company called Wonder offers a unique work-from-home gig anyone can do: online researcher.
Companies and individuals tell Wonder what they’re working on — a marketing campaign, business plan or research paper, for example — and Wonder assigns questions to its community of researchers. That’d be you!
Common questions researchers answer are related to business or marketing, such as:
Determining the size of a market for an industry or product.
Explaining a trend.
Competitor analysis.
You’ll accept an assignment, gather information and write an easy-to-digest report. Researchers are paid per project. Wonder says top researchers can earn $15 to $25 per hour, but a former Wonder researcher told The Penny Hoarder you should expect closer to $13.
11. Be a Transcriptionist
Transcription involves listening to audio or video files and typing what you hear. It’s not as easy as it sounds.
You have to have pristine attention to detail and be a pretty adept typist. The work can become repetitive, because you may have to listen to parts of the audio several times to make sure you get the words right. Most companies require a typing test, and some require a grammar quiz or a sample transcription before you can join their roster.
But it’s a flexible gig you can do from home with nothing but a computer, internet connection and probably a good pair of headphones. Many online transcription companies let you claim work as you want, so you can work as much or little as you want.
Here are a few companies that hire inexperienced transcriptionists to help you get your start:
You could also strike out on your own and offer transcription services directly to earn more money. Transcribe Anywhere offers courses to teach you transcription and how to start a freelance transcription business.
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) has been writing and editing since 2011, covering personal finance, careers and digital media. Freelancer Larissa Runkle contributed to this report.
Let’s talk about how to make money by selling your sperm. Like, how this actually works.
Popular media sends a strong message: Selling your sperm is a lucrative and simple way to make money when you’re low on cash.
There’s no need to feel weird about sperm donation, despite the many jokes about the process. Sperm banks support thousands of families who struggle with infertility and parents who want to conceive without a partner.
In a span of 30 years, an estimated 120,000 to 150,000 babies were born of anonymous donor insemination, according to an unpublished study by the American Association of Tissue Banks, reported by Cryogenic Laboratories. That’s 4,000 to 5,000 births per year that happened because of sperm donors.
But the process isn’t nearly as simple or fun as the gags might imply.
Don’t expect to pop into your local sperm bank, make a contribution and walk out with a check that afternoon.
Here’s everything you need to know about the process and requirements to donate sperm to figure out whether it’s the right move for you.
How Much Do You Get Paid to Donate Sperm?
The phrase is a little confusing — sperm donation isn’t a charitable act.
You do, in fact, earn money. (Not nearly as much as its counterpart, egg donation, but it won’t take nearly the toll on your body, either.)
Like everything else about becoming a sperm donor, the amount of money you make varies depending on the sperm bank or donation center you work with.
Here are some examples of compensation models:
Donors through the Seattle Sperm Bank can earn $100 per approved donation.
Donors through the Sperm Bank of California earn $140 per approved sample, with most donors earning between $500 and $700 per month. The bank also offers $500 for completing an exit appointment six months after your final donation.
Donors through the international sperm bank chain Cryos earn $25 and a $10 gift card per ejaculate delivered, plus an additional $30 for each approved ejaculate, plus another $250 for every batch of 10 approved donations.
Sperm banks also offer free fertility test results, physical exams and blood testing as long as you remain a donor, and some even provide a free annual physical after you stop donating.
Some clinics have more complicated contracts that require you to keep up steady visits and provide regular donations if a recipient chooses you as their donor. That arrangement could affect when you’re paid.
A sperm bank might hold your paychecks in escrow until you’ve completed a contract, so you might not get paid immediately.
Many sperm banks pay monthly or per visit, however. Like any other side hustle, get details on compensation before you sign any contracts or make any commitments.
3 Things to Consider Before Selling Your Sperm
Take some time to understand all the information before you set your sights on sperm donation as your next side hustle. You might be surprised by some of these requirements, limitations and choices, including:
Donor qualifications.
Donor offspring limits.
Anonymous versus open identity donation.
Do You Qualify for Sperm Donation?
Each sperm bank has its own list of physical requirements for donors, but they’re all fairly similar.
Most donation centers require donors to be:
At least 5’7” tall and up to 6’6”.
Between 18 and 40 years old (none accept donations from minors).
Height and weight proportional.
In good overall health, based on general physical health screenings and fertility tests.
College graduates, enrolled in college or military veterans. Some banks pay more if you have a doctorate or attended an Ivy League school (because recipients pay more for those donor qualities).
A non-smoker and non–drug user.
Able to provide a biological family medical history.
Even if you meet a clinic’s basic requirements, you’re not guaranteed to be accepted.
Sperm banks are for-profit organizations, and like any business, they aim to provide what the market demands.
That means your sperm might be subject to the same kinds of biases you encounter among people face-to-face. In addition to the explicit requirements listed above, you could be denied because of supply and demand at a clinic based on things like your skin color, hair color and eye color.
Based on FDA regulation, potential donors are denied if they’ve ever had sex with “another man” within five years. (The regulation doesn’t address potential nonbinary or transgender women donors.)
You could also be denied for genetic health issues, such as blood clotting disorders.
Some sperm banks will tell you why your application is denied, but some might not. You might want to know that information before you apply, so you’re not left wondering.
Donor Offspring Limits
Donation centers are regularly updating policies and practices to address ethical questions that come up about sperm donation and assisted reproduction.
Every few years, it seems, a news story reveals another serial sperm donor with hundreds of offspring. Check the details, though — in many of these cases, the donor worked with the recipients privately (a.k.a. a “known donor”), not through a donation center.
Most donation centers set a limit on the number of births or recipients per donor.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates sperm donation (and other organ and tissue donation), doesn’t set a legal offspring limit. Instead, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) sets guidelines for the industry and recommends a limit of 10 births per population of 800,000 (roughly the size of Seattle).
Many donation centers set limits well below the ASRM guideline — around 25 families in the U.S. per donor is a common maximum.
Anonymous vs. Open Identity Donation
The FDA requires clinics to keep some donor information for medical purposes, but it doesn’t regulate anonymity. You’ll make that choice based on the clinic you choose.
Ask the donation center about its policies, and be crystal clear about your options and long-term obligations before you donate. Donor arrangements include:
Anonymous: Neither the donor nor the recipient get identifying information about each other. You likely won’t even know whether a recipient conceived using your sperm.
Semi-open: You and the recipient get some information about each other, but not identifying details or contact information. The clinic is usually a go-between to pass correspondence between you and the recipient. You might learn whether the recipient had a baby using your sperm and even get baby photos. Or you might just stay open to possible contact in the future from the child once they’re an adult.
Open: You and the recipient have each other’s contact information and communicate directly, maybe even meeting in person. Ideally, you and the recipient determine together how much ongoing communication you’ll have and whether or not you’ll have contact with the child. But the child could always decide to contact you on their own sometime in the future.
Here’s the catch: Technology, as it often does without trying, has thrown a bit of a wrench in this situation.
Increasingly accessible family-tree DNA testing has made some curious (or unsuspecting!) donor-conceived children privy to their genetic roots — even when donors and recipients agreed to anonymity.
Many countries, including the U.K., have removed the option for anonymity in recent years by legislating a donor-born child’s right to find their biological father (i.e. the source of their donor sperm) after they turn 18.
COVID Considerations for Sperm Donation
Sperm donation centers are medical facilities and are subject to recommendations and mandates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and state and local health agencies.
Stay up to date with those recommendations so you know what to expect regarding vaccine requirements, capacity restrictions and other measures the centers might take to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Is Vaccination Required to Donate Sperm?
The FDA hasn’t added a vaccine requirement for sperm donation, and it doesn’t require COVID-19 screening, either, because it doesn’t classify COVID as a relevant disease in reproductive tissue donation. That’s because respiratory viruses aren’t transmittable through reproductive tissues like sperm.
As private facilities, some sperm donation centers might have their own requirements in place to protect their staff and participants. Some centers might request or require proof of vaccination, or require COVID screening, for example, from people who enter the clinics.
The CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccination for everyone at least 6 years old, including people who are trying to get pregnant — including those who provide the sperm. It notes there’s no evidence that the vaccine affects fertility, and in the vast majority of cases, antibodies aren’t transmitted to reproductive tissue.
Rumors about Sperm and Vaccinations
Rumors have suggested “unvaccinated sperm” could be worth a lot of money in the near future, but they’re just that: rumors.
Most important to note here is that all sperm is “unvaccinated sperm,” because vaccines don’t affect reproductive tissues, according to the FDA. Because vaccines don’t affect DNA, sperm or fertility, there won’t be a difference between sperm from donors who received a vaccine and those who didn’t, so you probably won’t see a soaring unvaccinated sperm price.
And because potential vaccination requirements would be related to staff health in clinics and not to the screening process for sperm donors, it’s not likely sperm donation centers will even record whether a donor was vaccinated — so recipients won’t have the option to use that as a criteria.
We can’t say how niche perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccine will affect one-to-one sperm donations with known donors. Misinformation about the vaccine’s effects could mean some families will look for unvaccinated sperm donors outside of donation centers.
The Sperm Donation Process
Every donation center dictates its own process for sperm donors, but they’re pretty similar and many parts of the process are regulated by the FDA. After you find a sperm bank, you should expect to be pre-screened, to have a physical exam and share your family medical history, provide a sample and to sign a contract.
Most centers require donors to live within 25 miles or about an hour of the clinic, because if you’re chosen to be a donor, you’ll be visiting the facility regularly.
A legitimate organization will be registered with the FDA. Enter the clinic’s name in this FDA directory to make sure it’s registered.
2. Get Pre-Screened
All applicants start by going through a pre-screening over the phone or through an online application. Here’s an example application for Cryos.
The pre-screening confirms:
Your eligibility to work (and be paid) in the U.S.
Some medical history, including potential sexually transmitted infections, mental illness, allergies and drug use.
Your height, hair color, eye color and ethnicity.
3. Provide Detailed Family History & Get a Physical Exam
If you pass the initial screening, you’ll be invited in for a thorough interview that takes a deep dive into your family tree. Be prepared to provide a detailed medical history for several members of your extended family.
You’ll also get a physical exam that includes a blood test, urine test and DNA analysis, and screening for STIs including HIV. You won’t pay anything for this exam, and most clinics provide regular physicals as long as you’re a donor and possibly after.
4. Provide a Sample
If you pass the first two levels of the screening process, you’ll provide a semen sample for the clinic to test.
It’ll go through a fertility test for the kinds of things you’ve probably heard joked about on TV: sperm count and motility, and the overall health of the sperm.
In other words, what’s the likelihood this sperm can help conceive a baby?
Depending on the company, you might have to wait up to six months to find out whether your sperm passes this test. Semen samples are frozen and tested again after several months to make sure they can hold up in storage waiting for a buyer.
You don’t usually get paid for providing this sample, and the sperm bank won’t save it to sell to a recipient in the future.
You’ll be invited to become a sperm donor once you pass the full screening process, and you have to sign a contract with the donation center.
Depending on the clinic, the contract might include things like:
How often you’re expected to donate. Sperm banks prefer frequent donors, so your contract might require you to donate several times per month or even multiple times per week.
A requirement to abstain from sexual intercourse before donation. Presumably to ensure strong sperm samples, you could be asked not to have sex within a few days before donating sperm.
Payment terms. Your contract should spell out how much you’ll earn, and when and how you’ll be paid, plus any stipulations you have to meet.
6. Donate Regularly
You might be surprised to learn how often you’ll be expected to donate — but the rest of this part of the process is pretty much what all the TV and movies have prepared you to expect.
You can’t collect your semen from home and deliver it to the clinic. You have to visit the clinic and deposit your sample on site, in a private room and with access to pornography.
You’ll deposit the sample itself into a sterile container, and the sperm bank will freeze it until a recipient chooses your profile. Then it’s thawed and used for the artificial insemination process.
Are You Ready to Be a Sperm Donor?
Infertility isn’t an uncommon circumstance in the U.S. About 11% of women and 9% of men of reproductive age have experienced fertility problems, according to the National Institutes of Health. In addition, some people who don’t have fertility issues also use sperm donors to get pregnant.
Sperm donation is one way to help them start the families they want, and the sperm banks all say the need for donors is high and growing.
The onboarding process is quite a bit more involved than most side gigs you’ll encounter, but the payoff is fair. If you’re accepted as a sperm donor, you could earn upward of $1,000 a month for a quick trip to the clinic about once a week.
Dana Miranda is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance® and founder of Healthy Rich, a platform for inclusive, budget-free financial education. She’s written about work and money for publications including Forbes, The New York Times, CNBC, NextAdvisor and a column for Inc. Magazine.
Do you spend hours painstakingly curating the perfect Spotify playlist? We have the perfect side gig for you!
Playlist Push pays music lovers to give new songs a shot. They send over a track, and you listen. If you’re a Spotify user, your next step is to send the artist an honest review of the song. If you’re a TikToker, you make a video featuring the track.
Then, you get paid! How much? A lot. Spotify curators get up to $12 per track, while TikTok users can get up to $250 per video.
So why isn’t everyone getting paid to listen to music? Here’s the catch: the eligibility requirements for this lucrative side hustle are pretty strict. Spotify curators need a playlist with at least 1,000 followers and 30 active listeners; TikTokers need at least 31,000 followers with 3.1k views per video.
Could that be you? Read on.
What Is Playlist Push?
When evaluating a potential side hustle (especially one that sounds too good to be true!) it’s smart to figure out the company’s business model. So why would Playlist Push pay you to listen to music, exactly? Here’s the quick and dirty explanation.
Independent music artists struggle to get their music out there. But sometimes they get lucky: a popular curator adds their music to a playlist, or an influencer makes a video dancing to their song. This can get them a lot of exposure and sweet, sweet streaming money.
Playlist Push makes that lucky break a little more likely. Artists pay Playlist Push to share their work with influential music lovers in the hope that they’ll share it with their followers.
How Do You Apply?
Interested? Not so fast. There are strict requirements to become a Playlist Push curator.
Basically, you need to have a healthy following on Spotify or TikTok.
For Spotify curators, you need a playlist with
1,000 followers
At least 30 active monthly listeners
At least 1% active monthly listeners out of total
No bot followers or listening activity
What’s more, that playlist cannot be:
A movie or television soundtrack
Based on a particular artist, song, or album
From a specific decade
Aimed at gaining followers (i.e. “Sub for Sub” or “Follow me!” in the title)
Here’s an example of a qualifying playlist from a real Playlist Push curator: “Ballet/Contemporary Dance/Modern Dance.” It has more than 9,000 likes, well over the 1,000 threshold. It’s organized around dance music that inspired the curator, not a particular decade, movie, or band. If you have a similar playlist, you’re in good shape to apply!
The requirements for TikTokers to be considered are simpler: at least 31,000 followers with 3,100 views per video to qualify.
Note: At the time of writing, there is a waitlist to be considered for the Playlist Push TikTok network.
How Do You Review Music on Playlist Push?
Once you’ve made it past Playlist Push’s strict eligibility requirements, what do you actually have to do? It depends on whether you’re a Spotify curator or TikTok influencer.
For Spotify curators, a typical day side hustling for Playlist Push might look a little something like this:
Log in to the curator dashboard. If you get approved as a curator, you’ll get access to a private dashboard where you receive tracks for review.
Listen to a track. The number of tracks curators receive per week varies. For instance, if you’re known for hip-hop playlists, and 10 hip-hop artists pay Playlist Push to promote their music one week, you might get 10 tracks for review. If you’re known for classical music, you might have to wait awhile.
Write a high-quality review. Here’s an excerpt from a real Playlist Push review of a hip hop track: “Your voice matched with your flow goes really hard… Really well-made song where your voice is clearly your highlight but also well complimented by your lyrics and your beat.”
Add the track to your playlist (optional). Playlist Push does not pay curators to add songs to their playlists. That would be against Spotify’s terms of service. But there’s always a chance the curator will love the track and add it to their playlist!
For TikTok curators, the process is a little different.
Log in to the curator dashboard.
Pick a sound. TikTokers don’t get access to tracks to review – they get sounds to use in videos. The sounds come from real tracks by up-and-coming artists. According to Playlist Push, TikTokers can expect to see at least 30 new sounds per month.
Make and post a TikTok. If you get inspired, you can use the sound in a TikTok and post it.
Send the link to Playlist Push. Once they see you’ve shared the sound with your followers, you can get paid!
How Much Can You Earn?
Spotify Curators can expect between $1 and $15 per review. Why do some curators get a buck while others get $15? It comes down to a few factors. Curators with more followers and more active listeners are more valuable to artists, so they get higher payment.
TikTokers can expect up to $250 per video. Similarly, a bigger following means bigger payments.
Members of the Playlist Push network get paid via Venmo or direct deposit.
Other Ways to Make Money to Listen to Music
Playlist Push isn’t the only company paying music curators to check out indie artists. Partnered Projects, Indie Music Academy, and SubmitHub have a similar business model. If you get rejected as a curator with Playlist Push, you could give these companies a try.
Love music but hate influencing? There’s more than one way to make money with music. You can teach music classes, perform, or even put your own music on Spotify for extra cash. Read more here.
Contributor Ciara McLaren is a freelance writer with work in HuffPost, MoneyGeek, and The Penny Hoarder. You can find her on Substack (@camclaren).
When you’re looking to start a new career, what are the factors you should take into consideration?
First of all, the career should be something you’re passionate about. Second, it should be able to provide you with the lifestyle you want to live. That could mean work-life balance, career advancement opportunities and, of course, enough money to support your dreams.
That doesn’t mean an entry-level position is going to make you six-figures this year. But you should look at the earning potential of each possible career and what it would take to reach your ideal salary.
We’ll outline some of the highest-paying jobs in 2023, plus how to leverage job sites like ZipRecruiter to find openings.
How to Prepare For a High-Paying Job
The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases a study every year about the highest-paying jobs, including wage estimates, number of job openings, on-the-job training programs and what it takes to land a job in one of these highest-paying occupations.
If you want one of the highest-paying careers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics study shows that many of them require additional schooling and certifications. But not every high-paying career is only available to people with an advanced degree.
For example, the highest paying job in America is a cardiologist — making an average salary of $350,000 per year — but it requires more than a decade of medical school, internships and residencies before you can make that much. Not to mention, you’ll have to pay back those student loans. But with a master’s degree, you can still enter the medical field as a nurse practitioner and make over $100,000.
With only a bachelor’s degree, you could start a career in marketing and work your way up. Marketing managers can make a median salary of $140,000 per year. In the Bureau of Labor Statistics section on how to become a marketing manager, it says that many people currently in these roles were former sales representatives.
Sales representatives, no matter the industry, can start at an entry level position with zero experience. Most companies will offer additional training, giving their sales reps in-depth knowledge about the company’s product and how to best sell it to customers. By gaining experience as a sales representative, people can build their careers into sales managers, marketing managers and even C-level executives.
But not all high-paying jobs require a degree or formal training. Especially these days, self-taught coders and software engineers can land a job working at technology companies without ever stepping foot in a university or completing a formal education. And not only are these positions in high demand for employers, but you can also start off making an average salary of more than $100,000, if you land at the right company and have the skills needed. No need to take the bar exam or step into an operating room.
The Highest-Paying Jobs in the U.S. 2023
Don’t know where to start? These are the highest-paying jobs in America, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
The Highest-Paying Jobs in the U.S. 2023
Job
Average Salary
Degree Required
On the Job Training
Psychiatrists
$208,000
Doctoral
Internship and Residency
Obstetricians and Gynecologist
$208,000
Doctoral
Internship and Residency
Surgeons
$208,000
Doctoral
Internship and Residency
General Internal Medicine Physicians
$208,000
Doctoral
Internship and Residency
Anesthesiologist
$208,000
Doctoral
Internship and Residency
Oral and Maxillofacial surgeon
$208,000
Doctoral
Internship and Residency
Orthodontists
$208,000
Doctoral
Internship and Residency
Prosthodontists
$208,000
Doctoral
Internship and Residency
Family Medicine Physicians
$208,000
Doctoral
Internship and Residency
Chief Executives
$185,000
Usually a Bachelors
No
Nurse Anesthetists
$184,000
Masters
No
Dentists
$183,000
Doctoral
Residency/certifications
Pediatricians
$177,000
Doctoral
Internship and Residency
Airline Pilots, Co-Pilots and Flight Engineers
$161,000
Bachelors
Yes
Computer and Informations System Managers
$150,000
Bachelors/Graduates
No
Architectural and Engineering Managers
$150,000
Bachelors/Graduates
No
Marketing Managers
$140,000
Bachelor’s
No
Petroleum Engineer
$138,000
Bachelor’s
No
Financial Manager
$134,000
Bachelor’s
No
Podiatrist
$134,000
Doctoral
Residency and Fellowship
Sales Manager
$132,000
Bachelor’s
No
Pharmacist
$128,000
Doctoral
No
Lawyers
$127,000
Doctoral
No
Political Scientists
$125,000
Master’s
No
Judges
$124,000
Doctoral
Short-term
Optometrists
$118,000
Doctoral
Clinical Work
Actuaries
$111,000
Masters
No
Business Operations Managers
$103,000
Bachelor’s
No
Financial Advisor
$89,000
Bachelor’s
No
How to Find High-Paying Jobs
There are plenty of ways to find a job, but how can you find the highest-paying jobs? A lot of companies don’t list the average salary range on their job postings, so it can be difficult to know if it’s worth your time. If you need to make at least $75,000 a year, but you don’t find out the pay is $55,000 until you get an offer, you could be wasting weeks or months.
So first things first, do your research. Learn what positions have high earning potential and what industries dole out bigger paychecks. Some industries with the highest-paying jobs include healthcare, engineering, information technology, finance, energy and legal.
Next, use a website like ZipRecruiter to search for high-paying jobs in your area. Not only can you use their search bar to find jobs by keyword or job title, you can also filter by average salary range (and by several other filters, too).
ZipRecruiter makes it easy to find and apply for jobs that will help you reach your earning potential. By using the website for your job search, you’ll have access to real salary data from millions of active job postings. You’ll be able to see real salaries from more than 35,000 job titles — from computer science to human resources— giving you the confidence to negotiate fair pay for yourself.
Transparency about salaries is… not exactly a strong suit for most employers. But with ZipRecruiter’s help, you can find, apply for and negotiate a higher-paying job for yourself. 71% of job seekers earned a higher salary when they found a job on ZipRecruiter.
It’s totally free to use and only takes a minute to sign up for an account.
How to Prepare for a High-Paying Job
In order to increase your value to employers, there are many things you need to do to show off why you’re worth a high salary. It’s not just having education and experience, but also establishing yourself as an expert and making yourself more desirable to companies.
Grow your skill set. This can be done by taking online courses or taking on cross-departmental projects at your current job. The more skills you have, the more desirable you may be to potential high-paying employers.
Set yourself up to be a leader. There’s no doubt that being in a supervisory position will earn you more money, no matter your job or industry. So even if you’re not a manager yet, you could offer to mentor an entry-level employee and attend management training seminars.
Get noticed. Just because you’re not Gary Vaynerchuk doesn’t mean you can’t make a name for yourself. By posting about your expertise often on social media, including LinkedIn and TikTok, you can establish credibility and get noticed. This can set you up to become an expert in your field.
Additionally, if you have some available cash, hiring a career coach can help you land a higher-paying role. The average price is around $75/hour.
If not? Network, network, network. You never know who can introduce you to a hiring manager and give you a glowing reference. Plus, you can connect with higher-ups in your network for free advice (or at least the price of a coffee) to help you navigate your path to a higher paying position.
The Future of High-Paying Jobs
While there will always be high-paying jobs associated with high levels of education — doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. — the future of well-paid employees is seeing a trend toward self-taught skills and social expertise.
Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and a decade in school can help ensure a good salary, but the future of high-paying employment is seeing people ascend the ranks without ever having stepped foot in a masters program. Many are even self-taught or have taken advantage of what the internet has to offer, in terms of training.
So are you ready to change your future and pursue a high-paying career? Start your search for that next high-salary position on ZipRecruiter.
Frequently Asked Questions
What job makes $100,000 a year?
There are many jobs that pay over $100,000 annually, many of which require only a bachelor’s degree. Some of these jobs include lawyers ($127k on average), financial managers ($134k), marketing managers ($140k), sales managers ($132k).
You can find a more expansive list of job payments over $100k, in the table above.
Where can I find high-paying jobs?
You can find high-paying jobs on most online job boards.Some job boards cater to specific industries or certain types of work. But for the most popular job boards, you can find high-paying jobs in almost any industry.
What jobs pay the most without a degree?
Some of the best paying jobs that don’t require a college degree are police detectives, airline pilots, physical therapy assistants and distribution managers.
There are many great-paying jobs that you can obtain with just a year or two of trade school and on-the-job training. Here is how you can find some of the best-paying trade jobs.
Kari Faber is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.
Pull any bill out of your wallet. See the dark green numbers on the top-left and top-right corners? They could mean your bill is worth much more than its face value.
If a serial number’s digits are unique or interesting, collectors might be willing to pay big bucks — hundreds or even thousands of dollars — for your bill. You’ll make the most profit off a $1 bill with a fancy serial number, since its face value is lower than, say, a $20 bill, but it’s worth scrutinizing all your cash. Who knows what your $100 bill could actually be worth?
Knowing what your paper money might be worth is all in the serial number.
What Are Serial Numbers?
Serial numbers are eight-digit-long codes that are unique to each bill. They are accompanied by other identifying letters and numbers that tell us which series year the bill is from and where it was printed. They are found on the front of U.S. currency and are always printed twice.
Series Year
On bills worth $5 and up, each serial number begins with a letter, which tells us the series year of the bill. The years are represented by letters A-P as follows:
A: 1996
B: 1999
C: 2001
D: 2003
E: 2004
F: 2003A
G: 2004A
H: 2006
I: 2006
J: 2009
K: 2006A
L: 2009A
M: 2013
N: 2017
P: 2017A
The series year is also printed separately on the currency, in between the portrait of the historical figure (such as Lincoln on the $5 bill) and the Secretary of the Treasury’s signature in the bottom right part of the bill. You can check on a bill you have at home to see how these match up.
On dollar bills (and $2 bills), the series year only appears in the bottom right quadrant.
U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Identifier
Additionally, each serial number has a letter and number that shows us where the currency was printed. The U.S. Federal Reserve has 12 banks, and each bank has a letter and number combination associated with it. The identifiers are as follows:
A1: Boston
B2: New York City
C3: Philadelphia
D4: Cleveland
E5: Richmond
F6: Atlanta
G7: Chicago
H8: St. Louis
I9: Minneapolis
J10: Kansas City
K11: Dallas
L12: San Francisco
On $5 bills and up, the bank identifier appears separately from the serial number, though the letter also appears next to the series year letter before the actual serial number.
On $1 and $2 bills, the letter preceding the serial number will match the bank where the bill was printed (such as K for Dallas) and the number portion of this identifier appears separately on the currency.
Categories of U.S. Paper Money
There are several different categories of paper currency in the U.S., and some are more collectable than others.
Silver Certificates are bills issued between 1878 and 1964 in denominations ranging from $1 to $1,000. They are typically worth between $2-$20 for $1 bills, $10-$12 for $5 bills, and $30-$5,000 for $10 bills — all depending on the year of issue.
Gold Certificates are bills issued between 1863 and 1933 in denominations ranging from $10 to $10,000. Worn bills could be worth $100 or more for $20 bills, $250 or more for $50 bills, $1,000 or more for $100 bills, $2,500 or more for $500 bills, and $2,000 or more for $1,000 bills.
Confederate Issues are bills issued during the Civil War (1861-1865). They are typically not sought by collectors.
Federal Reserve Notes are bills issued between 1914 and the present in denominations ranging from $1 to $10,000. The worth of a modern bill depends on its serial number and how unusual it is. Collectors look for several different types of fancy serial numbers that stand out from the crowd.
15 Types of Valuable Serial Numbers
Want to see if your paper currency is worth way more than $1 or $5? Here’s what to look for.
1. Low Serial Number
Collectors love bills with low serial numbers, such as those below 1,000 or 100 (eg. 00000100). On eBay, these kinds of bills can sell for anywhere from $10 to $300.
The lower the serial number, the more valuable the currency is considered to be; a bill with the serial number 00000001 could be worth $15,000, according to SavingAdvice.com.
2. High Number
People also enjoy collecting currency with high numbers, and these can be even more valuable than lower numbers since there are fewer in circulation. Bills marked with 99999900 and higher are especially prized.
3. Flippers
A flipper is a note whose number can be read right side up or upside down. Such as, 0069000. On eBay, flippers cost a few bucks up to several hundred dollars.
4. Star Notes
Some bills have a star instead of a letter at the end of their serial number. Known as star notes, these bills are replacements issued when the original bill had a printing error. Because it’s against policy to produce a dollar’s serial number more than once, the mint simply adds a star to the end.
These printing errors aren’t common, so there aren’t many star notes in circulation. You’ll see $1 star notes on eBay for $5 and up.
5. Repeaters and Super Repeaters
Blocks of repeating digits (such as 27527527) are sought after, with $1 repeaters starting around $3 or $4 on eBay.
A two-digit repeating number, like 45454545, is called a super repeater and is even more valuable. Some eBay listings start at a few hundred dollars.
6. Solids and Near Solids
A solid serial number is one where every digit is the same, like 55555555.
Only about one out of every 11 million notes is a solid, and they can be worth $500 or more.
Since these notes are so rare, people also collect near-solids, where only one digit differs, like 55555575. These will usually bring in less money than a solid, but you’re more likely to find one.
7. Binary Bills
Binary bills have serial numbers with only two numbers, such as 29299299. A near solid would count as one of these binary notes, since it only includes two numbers. On eBay, some binary notes can go for more than $800.
8. Trinary Bills
Because of the rarity of binary bills, some collectors even ask for trinary notes, which contain three unique digits in various combinations (e.g. 29329939).
9. Ladders
When the serial number ascends (e.g. 12345678) or descends (e.g. 8765431) in order, collectors call it a ladder. You’ll also find “near ladders,” where one or two digits break up the ladder.
Ladder notes sell for anywhere from $9 on eBay to as much as $6,000.
10. Birthdays
Some collectors want notes with a specific year or date in the serial number, perhaps a famous date or one meaningful to them. For example, 02162006 might be valuable to a collector whose child was born Feb. 16, 2006.
A serial number that just includes the year is also desirable, such as 10901985 or 10002010.
11. Radars and Super Radars
A radar serial number reads the same backwards and forwards, like a palindrome. For example, 06288260. A good condition, uncirculated $1 radar could sell for about $25.
If only the end two digits are different (like 27777772), you’ve got a super radar, which is much more rare and valuable. Even a $1 bill with this type of serial number can sell for $70 and up on eBay.
12. Consecutives
When you have two or more separate notes with consecutive serial numbers, like 25348793 and 25348794, you have one of these series. They’re not uncommon, since you can get consecutive bills at any bank, but can be valuable if they also fit into another category on this list.
13. Doubles
Doubles occur when a serial number includes pairs of numbers, such as 24459387. The most valuable type is called a quad double, when a serial number has four sets of doubles (e.g. 55998833).
14. Double Quads
While technically they’re a version of a quad double, notes whose serial numbers consist of two sets of four of the same number are called double quads. (Confusing, isn’t it?)
For example, 77776666 is a double quad. These bills are rarer and more valuable.
15. Bookends
When the serial number has the same two or three digits on both ends, it’s called a bookend. Three-number bookends, like 36584365, are more valuable than two-digit bookends, like 36829736. Prices start around $8 for a $1 bookend on eBay.
How to Look Up Serial Numbers
If you think you might have possession of a bill that’s worth more than its face value, you can go online to look up the serial number.
To test it out, I looked up the number on a $5 bill I had in my wallet at MyCurrencyCollection.com. Once you type in the bill’s eight-digit number, it’ll assign it a percentage on the “Coolness Index.” This index is created by CoolNumbers.com using a formula that evaluates numbers according to its “interesting properties.”
Our $5 bill was 89.9% cool, or “almost cool,” according to the website. Here are some facts we found out about the note that made it almost (but not quite) cool:
It had a 4-of-a-kind and 1 pair, which only 2.6% of bills reportedly have.
The bill’s digits had a sum of 48, and 8% of eight-digit serial numbers sum to at least 48.
It had four unique digits, and 9.3% of eight-digit serial numbers have four or fewer digits.
It contained two pairs together, which is true for only 10% of serial numbers on paper money.
Unfortunately, “almost cool” is not enough to push the value of the $5 up, so we won’t be making any extra money on this one. And sadly, the dollar bill was ranked as solidly “uncool” with just 18.5% on the Coolness Index.
However, checking online to see if your money is cool (or uncool) doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be able to sell it for more than face value. While you can list your paper money for as much or as little as you want, it’s worth depends on what people are willing to pay for it.
Where to Sell Your Paper Money
If you do find yourself the owner of a unique bank note, there are several places you can cash it in.
The easiest option is to list your note on eBay. Do a search to see what similar notes are listed for, and list yours in the same ballpark. You don’t want to list too low and wonder if you could have made more; nor do you want to list it too high and risk it not selling at all.
If you don’t want to deal with eBay, you can search locally to see if there are any paper money dealers in your area. If there are, you can take your bank notes to them for an appraisal and they will either offer to purchase the note from you or direct you to someone who may be interested.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have questions about your paper money and what it might be worth? These frequently asked questions should help.
Which Dollar Bill Serial Numbers Are Worth Money?
Generally, the more unique the serial number on your dollar bill, the more likely it is to be worth more than face value. Some examples of uniqueness include repeating numbers, numbers with a star after them and sequences (such as 12345678). You can see a full list of potentially valuable serial number types in the “15 Types of Valuable Serial Numbers” section above.
How Do I Know if My Dollar Bill Is Worth Money?
To know whether your dollar bill could be worth more than just $1, you need to examine the serial number. This is an eight-digit number that is printed twice on all paper money, and it has one or two letters as a prefix, depending on the denomination. If the number is unique or has a star after it, it could be valuable. See “15 Types of Valuable Serial Numbers” and “How to Look Up Serial Numbers” above.
How Do You Check Serial Numbers on Money?
You can check your serial numbers online to get an idea of whether they might be worth more than face value. See the “How to Look Up Serial Numbers” section above.
What Is the Value of Paper Money?
Paper money is usually worth the exact amount listed on the face (for example, $1, $5 or $10). However, some bills have unique serial numbers that make them desirable to collectors, and therefore sell for more than their face value. See “15 Types of Valuable Serial Numbers” to learn more about the types of unique numbers that are valuable to collectors.
Maryan Akinboyeway and Catherine Hiles are contributors to The Penny Hoarder. Senior staff writer Robert Bruce also contributed.
No matter where you are, most jobs require a lot of online work. You email clients, promote stuff on social media, process orders through an online system or create reports in Google Docs.
So why chain yourself to a desk… in an office… in the same town… every day?
An online job lets you work from anywhere and, often, anytime you want. You can do tons of jobs online — whether to make a little extra money, kick off a serious side hustle or create a full-blown nomadic career.
Whatever you’re looking for, picking up an online job can help you build the life and career you want. In this guide:
Remote and online jobs are everywhere, so you can probably find something in any field. You just have to know where to look. To discover online job postings, try:
General job search: Search general job sites like Indeed, ZipRecruiter and Monster for your desired job title, plus “remote,” or check “remote” as the preferred location. As remote work has grown in the mainstream, your chances of finding quality and legit online jobs on those sites has also grown.
Work-from-home job sites: You’ll have a smaller selection but will likely find higher quality online jobs through work-from-home job sites. Employers had to be aware of these niche sites to post, so they’re more likely to have a strong understanding of remote work culture and the particular needs of remote workers.
The Penny Hoarder Work-From-Home Jobs Portal: Search our curated work-from-home jobs to find well-paying, entry-level online jobs available around the country.
Best work-from-home companies: Keep an eye on companies that regularly hire online workers. They often hire for hundreds or thousands of positions around the country at once, so you have a good chance of finding something available in your state.
There’s a lot of crossover with online jobs between:
A remote job: You’re an employee for a company.
Freelancing and entrepreneurship: You work for yourself.
A lot of online jobs can go either way — you can be a social media manager within a company, or offer the service as a business owner, for example.
Entrepreneurs, freelancers and gig economy workers enjoy complete autonomy that many employees don’t — you choose your hours, set your rates, accept and decline work on your own standards, and live and work anywhere you want.
Being a remote employee is a great compromise if you want a level of autonomy and freedom over your work, but prefer the security and simplicity of a full-time job. You’ll get to choose where — and, often, when — you work, but you don’t have to take on the burdens of running a business, like finding clients, computing taxes or managing workers.
You could also use one online job to develop skills and experience and to build your network, then transition into freelancing or entrepreneurship in the same field.
Or you can switch back and forth between being an employee and a business owner throughout your career. Once you develop your skill set and get comfortable working online, the transition is pretty easy!
There are so many jobs that you can do from home, it would be impossible to create an exhaustive list. As technology evolves and cultural attitudes shift toward accepting remote work, more work-from-home jobs are created every day.
Here’s a list of some of our favorite virtual careers to give you an idea of the scope of online job opportunities.
Time to let your special skills shine through! Creative online jobs are perfect for anyone who wants to make money doing something they love and avoid the 9-to-5 office atmosphere.
Getty Images
1. Graphic Designer
Pay: $59,970 average salary; $28.83 average hourly rate for freelancers
Graphic designers apply artistic skills through programs like Adobe Photoshop and InDesign to create things like presentation graphics, logos, social media images and infographics for companies.
You’ll need a good eye for visual design — things like color, composition and balance. You’ll also need to be comfortable with design software.
How to Get Started
You can earn a college degree in graphic design, usually as part of a fine arts program. Depending on the program, you may also study professional skills like management and entrepreneurialism.
But you can become a graphic designer with nothing more than a high school diploma. Teach yourself the software and skills you need, then put together a portfolio.
Find full-time, part-time and freelance work through job boards for graphic designers, like Behance.
2. Writer or Editor
Pay: Typically $50+ per article or $33 per hour
Online writing and editing can be lucrative and flexible work. You can find gigs writing about almost anything, so focus on subjects that interest you to do work you enjoy.
Writing and editing jobs could make you a full-time or part-time employee with a company, or a freelancer, depending on what kind of work you want to do. You might specialize in areas like:
Blogging
Content marketing
SEO writing
Magazine writing
News reporting
Translation
How to Get Started
Writing work is abundant online. Your first step to finding online writing jobs is probably pitching story ideas to some publications. That’ll help you get a few pieces published and build a portfolio you can use to get more work.
Check out our articles on where to find work as a freelance writer:
3. Proofreader
Pay: $27 per hour on average
Got an eye for detail? Proofreading is similar to editing and often a good way for writers to make some extra money.
You’ll do the final look through articles, documents, books, graphics, videos and other materials to catch typographical, grammatical or formatting errors in written copy.
How to Get Started
Proofread Anywhere offers a free introductory workshop that tells you what starting a proofreading career is all about.
If it seems like a fit, you can join its general proofreading course, which teaches you everything you need to know to set up a business, find clients and become a successful proofreader.
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4. Niche Blogger
Pay: varies
Don’t believe anyone who says it’s easy to make money blogging — but it certainly is possible.
Your best chance at success is to choose a topic that offers a clear value to readers, based on something specific that people want to learn about, like fixing cars, cooking or starting a business.
Figure out what people want to learn about the topic, write articles that answer those questions, and you can gradually become an authority in your niche — a go-to source of information on the topic.
That authority helps you attract an audience, so you can make money through relevant advertising, affiliate marketing and sponsored posts. The passive income could make a good side hustle at first and maybe even grow into a full-time business.
How to Get Started
Follow these steps to start a blog and start earning money:
Choose your niche. Based on your interests, expertise and demand from an audience, what will you blog about?
Pick a domain name and web host. You can purchase the domain (the website address) and website hosting through the same service.
Connect to a blogging platform. This is the service you’ll use to publish posts and pages on your website. The most popular by far is WordPress.
Build your website. An easy way to start is with a theme or template, which you can find for free or to purchase through blogging and hosting platforms. In most cases, they’ll install with a click, so you don’t have to worry about coding.
Start writing. You’ll need basic pages, like an about page and contact page. And you’ll need some posts! Plan your editorial calendar ahead at least a few weeks, and prep content before officially launching your site.
Promote your blog. Get readers by sharing content on social media, through email, via PR and through guest blogging on related sites.
Monetize your blog. Add display ads and affiliate links for quick and easy monetization. Sponsored posts take more effort, but are still a simple way to make money. You can also produce your own ebooks, courses and other products to sell.
5. PowerPoint Presentation Designer
Pay: Typically $33 per hour
When speakers and business managers don’t have time to create presentations for their meetings or events, put your skills to use to do it for them.
You’ll need some writing, graphic design and communication skills to distill information and ideas into eye-catching and professional-looking slideshows. Brush up on the latest versions of PowerPoint, Google Slides and Apple Keynote to present yourself as an expert to clients.
How to Get Started
Create your own website to attract potential clients through search, or search for gigs through freelance sites like Upwork and Freelancer, and list your services on Fiverr.
6. Website Developer
Pay: $80,407 average salary
A front-end web developer is responsible for how a website looks and functions for visitors (readers or shoppers, for example).
You’ll work with coding languages, like JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS, to set up how websites deliver content. You may need some understanding of design or work closely with a website designer to create the visual aesthetic of the site.
How to Get Started
Don’t be intimidated by computer programming! Like many skills, you can learn to code on your own through free resources, take a quick coding bootcamp or study computer science more in depth in college.
Once you have some skills, build a client base like any other creative freelancer: Network through social media, advertise to family and friends, and build a portfolio to showcase your skills.
Remote-work job boards like Remote.io and We Work Remotely tend to be gold mines for developer and web design jobs.
Turn your knowledge into a moneymaker by teaching and tutoring online. Online teaching jobs let you reach a broader audience and scale your business beyond what you could do in person.
Tami Perkins leads a virtual CrossFit class from the driveway of her home in St. Petersburg, Fla. Chris Zuppa/The Penny Hoarder
7. Online Tutor
Pay: $17 to $29 per hour or more
Set up an online tutoring business to teach college students or K-12 students. You could teach everything from math to fashion — follow your interests!
Elevate K-12: Live-stream classes for groups of students who are in the classroom or remote.
TutorMe: 24/7 online tutoring and ACT and GRE prep. University enrollment or degree required.
8. Online Course Instructor
Pay: Varies; you set your price!
Creating and selling online courses is a fun way to make money from your unique skills, hobbies and expertise. Many people create self-directed online courses — which means you can set them up and earn passive income as students sign up.
How much you can earn this way depends entirely on how much you charge for the course and how many people you get to sign up.
Courses for soft skills or hobbies might reach a wider audience but command a low price, while courses for hard and in-demand skills — like coding, SEO or starting a podcast — can likely command a higher price for a narrower audience.
How to Get Started
You can create an online course to sell through a marketplace like Skillshare, Teachable or Udemy. They take care of the design and functionality, so you don’t have to worry about how to deliver content to your students.
Platforms take a cut when you sell courses, though. If you want to keep 100% of what you charge, consider setting up something simple of your own. You could create a basic website using WordPress or Squarespace, or send an email series through Mailchimp.
9. Online English Teacher
Pay: $10 to $40 per hour depending on experience
Tons of people earn money teaching English online to non-native speakers around the world. You’ll tutor individuals or groups of kids, usually grade-schoolers who live in China.
You should like working with the kids — even though it’s a video chat, you should come prepared with all the songs, puppets, colorful props, funny faces and positive energy that keeps kids engaged.
Lessons are usually in 30- to 60-minute blocks. You can work part-time around a school or work schedule to make extra money. Lessons usually take place early in the morning or late at night, because of the time difference with international students, so it might be tough to make this a full-time gig.
How to Get Started
You can connect with students by signing up with companies for teaching English online. Requirements vary. Many require you to be a student or have a bachelor’s degree. Some require teaching experience, but some require no degree or experience at all.
Enjoy digging into the minutiae others balk at? A job that’s heavy in tech, numbers or research could be a good fit for you.
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10. Software Engineer
Pay: $93,846 average salary
Software development is a fast-growing field — so it typically comes with an impressive payday. Software engineers design the systems and applications that run, well, everything we do.
You’ll work with programming languages like Python, C++ and Java to create the code that runs in the background of programs and apps we use every day. You could work remotely as an employee for a company or as a contractor for specific projects.
How to Get Started
Many software engineers earn a bachelor’s degree in computer science, but you could be successful as a self-taught developer, too.
Pay: Varies, typically $70 to $700 per project or $35 per hour
Family trees are super trendy, and not everyone can afford a DNA test or take the time to scour old family records themselves.
That’s where you come in. If you enjoy putting together a tricky puzzle and answering challenging questions, offer your hand as a genealogist to help people in your area discover their family histories.
How to Get Started
Create a website, like this one for professional genealogist Anthony Adolph, to attract customers through search. You can also advertise your service on your own social media, in local Facebook groups and on freelancing sites like Fiverr.
12. Bookkeeper
Pay: $48,448 median salary
Bookkeeping is a staple job in any business. It’s also a job you can easily do online. You could be a remote employee for a company or start your own virtual bookkeeping business and work for yourself!
Bookkeepers keep track of a company’s transactions, income and expenses. You’ll be responsible for record-keeping, and producing reports and financial statements for other people in a company.
How to Get Started
Although the job is related to accounting, you don’t have to have any certification to be a bookkeeper — just the right tools. Besides a computer and internet connection, you’ll need accounting software like Quickbooks.
The Bookkeeper Launch course shows you the technical skills you need to become a bookkeeper, plus what you need to know to build and grow an online business.
You can also find bookkeeping jobs through general job-search sites or freelancer sites like Upwork.
Some people have a way with people. If you know how to get the right products in front of the right people at the right time, marketing or sales could be for you.
Josh Waldron wears one of the T-shirts he designs and sells while in his home office in Waynesboro, Va. Waldron, a former teacher, sells T-shirts he designs using Merch by Amazon. Chris Zuppa/The Penny Hoarder
13. Amazon Seller
Pay: varies
There are tons of ways you probably haven’t thought of to make money on Amazon working from home — including multiple ways to sell things on the platform.
You could:
Do retail arbitrage: Fulfillment by Amazon lets you buy products from anywhere, then ship them to be stored in an Amazon warehouse and sent to the customer when they buy through Amazon.
Design your own brand: Contact a supplier, and design a label to sell private label products.
Be an affiliate marketer: Join the Amazon Associates program to earn a commission when you recommend products to Amazon shoppers.
Publish an ebook: Use Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform to publish and sell an ebook — no technical know-how or publishing industry connections necessary.
Sell t-shirts: Create designs, and use the Merch by Amazon print-on-demand service to sell t-shirts without wasting money on inventory.
How to Get Started
Start by creating an Amazon account if you don’t already have one. Then, depending on what you want to sell, sign up for the necessary Amazon seller service:
14. Digital Creator
Pay: varies
If you’re interested in a niche like food, fashion, travel or fitness, and have a knack for creating engaging content, you could make money by posting on social media.
A digital media or social media influencer builds an audience on sites like YouTube and Instagram, and makes money through advertising. You could collect royalties from ads that run during videos, or negotiate flat rates with brands and create custom photos or videos to post on your platforms.
The fun part about this gig is that most of your job is just being yourself!
You’ll build a relationship with an audience around your unique personality, ideas and talents. Brands pay to get in front of your audience, because they know your followers trust your recommendations.
How to Get Started
Getting started as a digital creator is easy — just take a photo or create a video, and post it! Building an audience happens slowly, but you can do it by posting new content consistently, tapping into trending topics and hashtags, and interacting with your followers.
Once you have 1,000 subscribers on YouTube, you can apply to join its Partner Program to earn money through ads on your videos.
As your audience grows, brands might reach out to you about sponsored posts and videos. You can seek these connections proactively through influencer marketing platforms like iFluenz,, Chamboost and Amazon Influencer.
15. Sales Consultant
Pay: $50,286 average salary
An online sales consultant job is just like an old-fashioned sales job in an office: You speak with a company’s existing customers or prospective buyers by phone or email, answer their questions, explain products and promotions, and — ideally — make sales.
Online sales jobs are often available with tech and software (SaaS) companies, where your job is to talk with people at other companies to sell products and services that help their business.
Many require previous sales or customer service experience, but if you’ve got the charisma, you could become a sales consultant with no experience.
Direct Sales Companies
If you want the flexibility of working for yourself, consider becoming a consultant with a direct sales company — a.k.a. multi-level marketing (MLM).
You’ll become a seller with these companies and sell things like clothes or beauty products. You can do it entirely online, but product sales often requires demonstration, so you might consider hosting in-person or virtual events to showcase your products.
Direct sales companies can be a good opportunity to strike out on your own with the support of an established brand. But the MLM model lends itself easily to scams, so do your research before signing up and handing over startup money. Before joining an MLM, ask yourself these four questions.
How to Get Started
Find work-from-home sales jobs through general job search boards and startup job boards like Wellfound (formerly AngelList).
Interested in MLM? Check out some of the most popular — and legit — direct sales companies.
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16. Social Media Manager
Pay: $47 to $60 per hour
Managing a company’s social media accounts is a fun way to connect with businesses you love and earn money online.
You’d help the company present itself publicly, promote itself and engage with customers through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and, depending on the company and its target customers, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
The job is part marketing, part customer service, and might require a range of skills, including writing, marketing and graphic design.
How to Get Started
Social media managers might work as an employee or freelancer for a company, or run an agency managing accounts for multiple companies. Job opportunities will show up on general job boards.
If you want to strike out on your own, start with local businesses you love.
Reach out to business owners with a plan to improve their existing social media presence, and propose ways to connect with customers on platforms like Snapchat or TikTok. Small business owners might not have thought of those avenues or don’t have time to pursue them, so they may be willing to pay for your expertise.
Less worried about landing your dream job and more interested in just making money online? Seek out these online jobs that require no previous experience or training.
17. Data Entry Clerk
Pay: $16 to $20 per hour
Data entry jobs are entry-level jobs that don’t require a ton of skills to get started — just a computer and internet connection. Because of that, they also don’t pay as well as some other online job options.
No matter how advanced the algorithm becomes, search engines still are not perfect. They need people to look at search results and evaluate their accuracy and usefulness based on search terms.
How to Get Started
Find search engine evaluator jobs through these sites:
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19. Micro-Freelancer
Pay: $3 to $100 per gig
Micro-gigs are a simple and fun way to earn money online. Individuals and companies need people to complete tons of small odd tasks, like data entry, surveys or proofreading, that you could complete quickly for a few bucks.
Just make sure to value your time wisely — if you only earn $5 an hour, even the easiest tasks are probably not a good way to spend your time.
How to Get Started
List any service you want to offer on Fiverr, or check for gigs on these sites:
20. Virtual Assistant
Pay: Varies with duties and experience: $18 to $35 per hour
Are you super organized and passionate about helping entrepreneurs succeed? Get paid for it!
Like many assistant jobs, virtual assistant gigs vary in pay, hours and even the type of work you’ll do. You’ll be available to help professionals with tasks that help them keep their careers or businesses on track.
Make sure you agree on a scope for your work before starting, so you can be paid properly for the amount of work you do and the skills required. VA work could include:
Data entry
Social media management
Website maintenance
Research
Customer service
Bookkeeping
Writing and proofreading
How to Get Started
Find virtual assistant jobs through these sites:
21. Transcriptionist
Pay: $15 to $25 per hour or more
Transcribing requires little to no prior experience, and offers flexible hours and workloads.
The work sounds easy: Listen to audio and type what you hear. But it can be repetitive and requires a lot of attention to detail.
With that said, the flexible work hours fit well around an academic schedule. And the pay is a pretty good selling point: Earn around $15 to $25 per hour for general transcription, and more if you learn to specialize in the legal or medical fields.
How to Get Started
Find transcriptionist jobs through these sites:
Or, if you want to start your own transcription business and pick and choose your clients, Transcribe Anywhere offers online courses. There’s even a free introductory mini-course that’ll let you take a trial run.
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22. Customer Service Representative
Pay: $15 to $19 per hour
Did you know you could be a customer service agent without working in a call center? Yep! You can work at home and do this popular job.
Customer service representatives answer customer questions and — let’s be real — field complaints. You’ll speak with a company’s customers over the phone, by email, via online chat or through social media.
Many companies also need product specialists or tech support agents. These positions are similar to customer service — your job is to answer customer questions — but may require more training or expertise and pay more.
Find customer service jobs through general job search sites using titles like:
Customer support
Client specialist
Client support
Customer happiness
Customer experience
Client/customer success
23. Product Tester
Pay: Free products, sweepstakes, gift cards
Do you write Yelp reviews people want to read just for fun? You could get paid to do that!
Online product testers receive products for free from companies ahead of a launch and provide feedback.
Companies may use product testers to get direct feedback to develop a marketing strategy, or they’ll ask you to evaluate the product and write a review on Yelp, Amazon, Google, Facebook and other review sites.
Your honest review — even if it’s negative — builds trust with potential buyers, because they can see what real people think and not just rely on sales copy.
Some companies pay you for your time writing the review, but most just offer free products, entry into sweepstakes (for additional free products) and gift cards. This gig pays off best if you sign up to review products you’d otherwise spend money on.
How to Get Started
Some companies post product tester jobs online, so you could find them through general job search sites.
You can also sign up as a tester with sites that connect you with companies looking for reviews, including:
You know how important it is to find the right job for you — so get paid to help others find theirs!
24. Resume Writer or Editor
Pay: $25 to $65 per hour
Helping someone polish their resume, LinkedIn profile and cover letters is fairly easy work, as long as you’ve got some experience evaluating resumes or getting hired yourself.
Often your job is primarily as an editor or proofreader — make sure everything is typo-free and makes sense. But you could go deeper and offer guidance on resume content based on the jobs clients are looking for.
How to Get Started
You can find online resume writing jobs through these freelancing sites, though you’ll face a lot of competition:
For better success, try reaching out to your own network through email and LinkedIn to connect with people hunting for jobs. Include the service on your own LinkedIn profile, or even set up a simple website to promote the service and help people find you through online search.
25. Virtual Recruiter
Pay: $38 per hour on average
Do you have a broad network and a knack for connecting people? Those skills could help you find success as a virtual recruiter.
In this freelance role, you’ll work with companies to shape jobs and find potential new hires. You might write job descriptions, post openings to job sites, evaluate resumes and cover letters, negotiate salaries and even conduct screening interviews.
How to Get Started
Look for virtual recruiter job listings on these sites:
This list just scratches the surface of online jobs. You can turn just about any skill or interest you have into a writing, coaching, consulting, design or teaching job online, so don’t be afraid to get creative.
If you just want to make a little extra money on the side, you can find dozens of even smaller, simpler ways to make money online, including:
Online surveys
Cash back apps and shopping sites
Online games
Micro-investing apps
Market research
These opportunities usually just pay a few cents at a time — or pay in rewards and gift cards, rather than cash. Most people can’t rely on them to pay the rent, but they could be a good way to use your down time to build up your bank account.
You can also find gig apps that help you make money by connecting with people online, but require offline work, like:
Gig apps generally give you the freedom of working for yourself, like freelancing does, and they take care of the work of finding clients or customers. Making a full-time living in the gig economy usually requires putting in a lot of hours, but people are able to do it.
Working online is a great fit for a lot of people, especially anyone who wants a flexible schedule or location independence, faces barriers to landing traditional jobs, or just works better in solace.
Inspired? Use this list of online jobs as a starting point to build the career that’s just right for you.
Online Job FAQs
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Dana Sitar and Larissa Runkle contributed to this article.
Hey Penny Hoarders! As many of you know, we have a Community site that’s a gathering place for folks to discuss all things money. Through the support of fellow Community members, the site has helped people tackle their debt, increase their credit score and even book a dream vacation.
We’re excited to announce our Community site just got a makeover – one in which we feel provides a much more user-friendly experience. We wanted to share some things you can expect when you visit the new Community site.
What to Expect in the New Penny Hoarder Community
First up, The Penny Hoarder Community is still the place to share tips and find support on all-things money. Besides contributions from other Community members, you’ll also find our staff sharing personal stories on topics like frugal finds, money wins and fails, and more.
Earn Badges
So many badges. On the Community site, you can now earn badges for all sorts of things – creating or commenting on a post, or liking someone else’s post. Even just visiting the Community site on a regular basis. Also, the more badges you earn, the more things you’ll unlock on the Community site. Do you have what it takes to be a top contributor? You’ll not only earn the respect of your peers, but also gain access to exclusive opportunities and offers from The Penny Hoarder.
Events, Feedback and More
Badges are just the beginning. Throughout 2023, we’ll be adding more new elements to the Community site. We’ll use it as a spot to post and host regular Penny Hoarder events where we dive into pressing money topics together and let attendees connect with experts from The Penny Hoarder (and elsewhere).
Already a member of The Penny Hoarder Community? Be sure to read our post on logging in to the new site. We hope to see you there!
Will Simons is a community marketing product manager at The Penny Hoarder. Originally from Omaha, Neb., Will loves to help people get talking about bettering their finances.
Any chance you know when you last saw your wide-eyed Furby in your parents’ basement? Does your teenage dresser now double as a time capsule storing Spice Girls posters? Could your old Sega Genesis console still be up in the attic?
If so, now is the time to sell that 90s memorabilia. Members of Gen Z, who were born in the 1990s and early 2000s are fans of the music that was hot in that era and want their kids to play with the same toys they did. These items are on their holiday wish lists and they are paying more than you’d think for them online.
That Furby is worth $16 to $65, the right Spice Girls poster could fetch more than $150 and pre-owned video game consoles are selling for $50 to $150. These values are based on recent “sold items” on eBay.
The Britney Factor
If you have any Britney Spears T-shirts, posters, backpacks or even CDs, you are sitting on cash. The beloved singer rose to fame in the 1990s, hitting the charts with “Baby One More Time” in 1998.
The saga of her conservatorship followed on Instagram by millions of people and her recent $15 million book deal make anything Britney-related valuable.
A Britney “Jive” photo postcard signed by the singer recently sold for $350. A Britney Spears Monopoly game went for $50 while a 2007 Bratz doll honoring Britney sold for $100. Even if you don’t have big ticket items like those, anything Britney brings cash. CDs, posters, magazine covers and T-shirts sell for between $10 and $30 on average.
Sarah Wasserman, a recent graduate of the University of Vermont in Burlington, proudly wears a Britney T-shirt her friends gave her for her birthday. They pooled their money to buy it because it was on the top of her wish list.
“With her being freed from her conservatorship there’s reason to celebrate and enjoy her music even more,” she said. “I grew up in the early 2000s. I remember getting a Barbie keyboard that played a snippet of ‘Oops I Did It Again’ and feeling so cool listening to it.”
For a broader list of hot ‘90s stuff, Self Financial, a company that helps people build good credit, created this searchable research showing some of the top selling items.
Why ‘90s Collectibles Are a Hot Market
“We have people who come to our sales buying that stuff up,” said Brett Kennedy, of Kennedy Brothers Auctions in St. Petersburg, Florida. “They are usually younger kids (high school and college age). Everybody is looking for a side hustle these days.”
Smart customers are buying popular items and reselling them on eBay or other outlets.
“We have buyers who come to our sales (online and in person) looking especially for T-shirts. The kookier the better. They may have been a limited production. You can pick these things up for $2 or $3 (at a yard sale or find them at home) then sell them for $20, $30 or even $100 depending on the subject matter,” Kennedy said.
Concert and movie posters sell well, too. Kennedy Brothers recently sold a batch of movie posters that actually hung at theaters, including a few from Star Wars films, for $850.
“The Gameboys, kids played with them over and over and they got destroyed. So, if you find one that’s actually operable, it’s worth something,” he said. But why would someone want to spend that much money to play a game with ‘90s technology when so many advanced options are available now?
“People buy what they remember. It brings back fond memories of their past,” Kennedy said.
The market for ‘90s collectibles grew during the pandemic because of pent-up demand from collectors and young parents nostalgic for a simpler time, according to Jason Williams, who owns Big Fun vintage toy store in Columbus, Ohio.
“I think the pandemic has brought out a lot of recreational collectors,” he said. “A lot of these toy lines that may not have sold as well before like Polly Pockets now sell pretty well.”
Cashing in on Nostalgia
Along with trying your hand at selling on eBay or Etsy, remember the brick and mortar vintage toy and collectibles stores in your region along with auction houses. Many local outlets sell to local audiences as well as national and international buyers online.
Here’s a list of some of ‘90s collectibles and what they sold for recently on eBay.
An unopened, mint condition Polly Pocket’s Disney Cinderella Castle that cost around $20 in 1995, recently sold for $375. A used version with all the pieces sold for $100 and a castle without any pieces went for $40.
Some of the top selling console games are the Super Nintendo Entertainment System with two controllers, which sold for $159, a Nintendo 64 console sold for $75 and a Sega Nomad Genesis Handheld System Console with three game cartridges went for $250.
Games sold on their own fetch a wide range of prices. A Super Mario Bros. 3 Nintendo game just sold on eBay for $60, while a Donkey Kong Nintendo 64 games went for just $22 And a Looney Tunes Space Race for a Sega game console cost $64.
As for those expensive American Girl dolls that were the final fabulous gift on Christmas mornings in the ‘90s, they haven’t gone up in price like other 90s icons. But, if one is just sitting in the attic it is definitely worth the time to sell it online. An Addie doll just sold for $150, Kirsten went for $95 and one Kit sold for $40 while another for $70. All were pre-owned, pre-played-with and not in their original boxes.
Music posters from the ‘90s are selling well these days. A London Calling poster recently brought $30 while a rare Kurt Cobain Nirvana poster went for $180. A David Bowie poster based on his Diamond Dogs album scored $149. It’s hard to tell what makes a Spice Girls poster what someone wants or what someone really, really wants. They sell for an average of around $20, but a few rare images of the British singers go for $100 to $150. If you have one, load it online and see what happens.
Many T-shirts from the ‘90s are selling for more than they cost back then. A 1993 Lollapalozza shirts just sold for $170 while a shirt from a Pretenders concert in 1994 fetched $55. Several Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon recently sold for $20 to $30. And some happy bidder paid $30 Seinfeld T-shirt from NBC studios.
Contributor Katherine Snow Smith covers ways to make money, save money and other topics. Her work has appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, Charlotte Business Journal and Greenville (S.C.) News. She is the author of” Rules for the Southern Rulebreaker: Missteps & Lessons Learned.”
We all know inflation is draining our bank accounts, but have you wondered just how bad it’s gotten? How much more are you spending right now just to stay alive?
Suddenly we’ve got an answer: $433 a month.
Yes, the number crunchers at the financial firm Moody’s Analytics figure that the average American household is now spending $433 more per month to buy the same food and gasoline and various goods and services that we were all buying a year ago.
Four hundred and thirty-three bucks! No wonder we’re all broke. Basically, if you’re living the same life you were living in late 2021, it’s costing you that much more just to break even.
That’s not sustainable, so everybody’s got to make changes. We got to thinking: What could you do to make up that extra cash you’re parting with each month?
Below we’ve got a list of eight changes — some big, some small — to make up that difference. Some of them might surprise you. By the end of this article, we’ll have tallied up $433 worth of slick moves to help you balance your books.
For context, the combo — which gets you a jumbo dog and a 20-ounce fountain drink (plus free refills!) for $1.50 — should cost well north of $4 by now, adjusted for inflation.
Why so cheap? Here’s an explanation from Costco CEO Craig Jelinek: “I came to (Jim Sinegal, co-founder and former CEO of Costco) once and I said, ‘Jim, we can’t sell this hot dog for a buck fifty. We are losing our rear ends.’ And he said, ‘If you raise the effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out.’ ”
Projected savings: If you’re spending a total of $3 to replace two ordinary restaurant lunches per month, then we’ll say you’re saving $20.
2. Sell Something on eBay
Need cash? There are lots of things in your home that you may look at and say “Can I sell that? Probably not.”
But what if all the “probably not” items could actually have a home? What if even the strangest things — like empty boxes or broken electronics — could earn you a little money?
We’ve put together a list of 20 of the best things to sell on eBay — some of the most bizarre objects we can dream up to show you that they’ll actually sell.
Projected earnings: If you set your mind to it, we bet you can make at least $30 every single month this way.
3. Sell Your Poop
Looking for an easy side hustle? Every time you poop, you might be flushing money down the toilet. Your poop could save lives and make you some cash in the process.
It’s true. Some medical companies will pay healthy donors for their stool. Your precious sample is then used for microbiome studies or in treatment of patients with Clostridium difficile, a bacterium that causes infections in the colon.
The amount you earn with each donation depends on the company. GoodNature offers $25-$75 per visit, up to $1,500 per month. Poop With Purpose pays $50 per donation, up to $1,500 per month. HumanMicrobe pays $500 per stool donation.
Potential donors must be 18-50 years old, at a normal weight, nonsmokers and with no history of gastrointestinal disease or drug or alcohol abuse.
Projected earnings: To be honest, $1,500 per month might be a little optimistic. Let’s be conservative and go with $100 instead.
4. Cancel a Streaming Service
We’d say “Cut the cord,” but if you’re as broke as we are, you’ve probably already canceled cable. (If you still have cable, though, cut the cord.)
The problem is, if you’re anything like us, you’re probably subscribing to more than one streaming service. Maybe you’ve even lost track of how many. After all, there’s Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, HBO Max and Apple TV+, among others.
Projected savings: If you drop a couple of subscriptions (you can get by with fewer), we bet you’ll save at least $20 per month.
5. Inflation-Proof Your Pantry With a $65 Two-Week Meal Plan for Two
Buckle up. Now we’re getting serious — and more ambitious.
Clearly the price of groceries is out of control. Now, if a $33 weekly grocery bill for a couple ($16.50 per person) to afford three square meals a day sounds a little crazy, you’re not wrong. But we did it anyway.
While you could get by eating ramen and peanut butter sandwiches for a while, scrounging like a college student indefinitely doesn’t have much appeal. Instead, we put together a $65 two-week grocery list of nearly 30 items that’ll net two adults fairly well-rounded meals without skimping too much on the good stuff.
This two-week grocery spending plan can be stretched to accommodate a family of four simply by doubling up on ingredients — and cost. Or expand this plan to a month if you prefer to track your family’s budget and compile a shopping list on a monthly basis.
Projected savings: Everybody’s got to eat, but there’s more potential for savings at the supermarket than you might think. If you really commit to lowering your grocery bill, we bet you can save in the ballpark of at least $180 a month.
6. Turn Down the Thermostat
Here’s something that’ll send a shiver down your spine: Heating your home is going to be noticeably more expensive this winter.
In fact, Americans are about to see the largest spike in their heating bills in more than a decade. But we’ve got eight tips to help you lower your heating bill. For example, close off unused rooms, insulate your windows (it’s cheap), add a little weather stripping and block out drafts from the bottoms of exterior doors.
If you take the entire year into account, the cost of cooling, heating and lighting your home is massive. Although it requires a small initial investment, try installing thermal curtains or a programmable thermostat. Or check out these creative energy-saving ways to slash your utility bills.
Projected savings: We think you can save at least $30 a month on heating and cooling your home.
7. Look for Cheaper Car Insurance Every 6 Months
Have you been paying your car insurance bill to the same old company for years and years? You have, haven’t you? In that case, you’re probably paying too much.
Every six months, when it’s time to renew your policy, take a little time to look around for a better deal.
If you want, there are any number of apps that’ll happily do this for you. Options include Everquote.
Projected savings: It’s reasonable to think you can save at least $25 a month this way.
8. Take a Few Simple Steps to Save on Gas
Filling up the gas tank can be a thoroughly miserable experience as you watch the counter flip past $40, then $50, and keep on going.
But you can save money on gas based on where you fill up, how you pay, when you visit the gas station, how you drive and even the condition of your car.
We’ve compiled 20 smart tips to help you spend less on fuel. Most notably, join a fuel rewards program, use apps like GasBuddy to find the cheapest gas, fill up early in the week when prices tend to be lower — or simply ease off the gas pedal and slow down.
Projected savings: We’re going to say you’ll save $28 per month on the dot. Why not?
Make a Habit of Looking for Savings
There we go! Make these eight changes — some big, some small — and bingo, presto, you’ll achieve $433 per month in savings and extra earnings.
You don’t have to stop there, either. If any of these strategies aren’t working for you, here are four others to try:
Pick a cheaper grocery store. You might not be shopping for food at the least expensive option. Compare prices, which you can typically find online.
Get a haircut every eight to 10 weeks instead of every six.
Before you shell out for things like furniture or baby gear, check out Buy Nothing groups on platforms like Facebook and Nextdoor to see if one of your neighbors is looking to get rid of something similar.
Say what you want about credit card companies, but at least you don’t have to see them at family gatherings. And it doesn’t get weird if you stop communicating with them regularly.
Sure, family members probably won’t charge you interest if you borrow money from them. But things can get awkward quickly — and the person you borrow from will probably want their money back soon, rather than letting you pay a minimum payment every month.
Borrowing money from family and friends is never fun. There are other options. Here’s how to get the money you need without having to borrow it from people you know:
1. Add $225 to Your Wallet While Watching the News
If family and money are a volatile mix, politics is an accelerant that could make the whole thing go boom.
Instead of keeping your opinions on the news to yourself, you could make some money and preserve the peace in your family.
You could add up to $225 a month to your pocket by signing up for a free account with Swagbucks. They’ll present you with short surveys to choose from every day, which you can fill out while you watch tonight’s broadcast.
You just have to answer honestly, and Swagbucks will continue to pay you every month. This might sound too good to be true, but it’s already paid its users more than $429 million. We talked to one user in Pennsylvania, 52-year-old Carolinda Hendrickson, who earned $1,200 in a year.
If you play games on your iPhone, but aren’t winning money every time, you’re making a big mistake.
We know of three different apps that can score you up to $83 every time you win a game. Whether you want to play Solitaire, bingo or just pop some bubbles, there’s an app for you to rake in the cash.
Solitaire Cash, Bingo Cash and Bubble Cash are three of our favorite iPhone games that can earn you serious money. Each of them are totally free to download and there’s no risk involved, since you can play for free, too.
Even better? None of the apps have annoying ads to deal with, so you can keep on playing and earning.
Ready to start earning some cash while you have some fun on your phone? Download Solitaire Cash, Bingo Cash and Bubble Cash for free and earn nearly $250 in your spare time.
3. Earn $300+/Month in Passive Income with Your Extra Space
If you’re like us, your garage probably isn’t doing much of anything at the moment. Maybe you have some tools in there, or maybe it’s home to your boxes of odds and ends, collecting dust.
But with a website called Neighbor, your extra space — whether it’s a spare room, an empty garage or a parking space — could be earning you an extra $300 a month in totally passive income.
Neighbor works by connecting people who need storage space with hosts who have the room to spare. The average host makes about $300 a month, but some people have earned up to $50,000 a year just by letting people park on their property.
It takes less than 10 minutes to get started. Just answer a few questions about your space, take some pictures and set your asking price. Neighbor will recommend a dollar amount based on your location and type of rental, but the final listing is up to you.
Neighbor even gives you up to $1 million in free protection as a host and offers protection plans for your renters, giving you both peace of mind.
Neighbor is an easy source of passive income, and it’s easier than most side hustles. It’s free to list your space, and you’ll only be charged a 4.9% processing fee from the profit you make each month, so there’s no risk to you.
4. Let This Free App Save You $50/Month on Dining Out and Groceries
It’s no secret that things are getting more expensive these days — including food.
But an app called Upside can help you save money every time you dine out or buy groceries. They keep it simple: Spend money at a participating grocery store or restaurant and earn an average of 13% cashback on groceries, or 17% at restaurants. Oh, and that’s real cash, not points.
Here’s how it works: Just download the Upside app and create a free account, then browse the map to find participating restaurants and stores in your area and claim an offer.
Pay for your groceries or meal with a card that’s stored in your Upside wallet, then tap “Check In” or take a picture of your grocery receipt — this will confirm you actually bought groceries or food (dine-in or takeout) at a participating location.
Upside will tally up your cashback earnings. And when you’re ready, you can transfer your funds to a bank account, PayPal account or exchange them for a gift card from brands like Starbucks and Amazon. You’ll get your money in two days or less.
People who use the app regularly save an average of $240 a year on groceries and $160 on dining out. Download the Upside app to get started — it’s completely free, and it works at more than 50,000 businesses, including gas stations.
5. Ask This Website to Help Pay Your Credit Card Bills This Month
If you have credit card debt, you know. The anxiety, the interest rates, the fear you’re never going to escape…
And the truth is, your credit card company doesn’t really care. It’s just getting rich by ripping you off with high interest rates — some up to 36%. But a website called AmOne wants to help.
If you owe your credit card companies $50,000 or less, AmOne will match you with a low-interest loan you can use to pay off every single one of your balances.
The benefit? You’ll be left with one bill to pay each month. And because personal loans have lower interest rates (AmOne rates start at 2.49% APR), you’ll get out of debt that much faster. Plus: No credit card payment this month.
AmOne keeps your information confidential and secure, which is probably why after 20 years in business, it still has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
It takes two minutes to see if you qualify for up to $50,000 online. You do need to give AmOne a real phone number in order to qualify, but don’t worry — they won’t spam you with phone calls.
