# Money, money, money **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 21, 2002, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193 "2002-12-21T06:10:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SmileyDeath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@SmileyDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmileyDeath)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/1 "2002-12-21T06:10:32Z")
1. What are ways I can make money online/offline without being employed? 2. How feasible is the option? Ie the service wanting money. 3. How reliable is it? 4. How much money would I make with this? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/2 "2002-12-21T06:28:50Z")
1. Hook up a cheap web-cam and allow people to pay to see you naked. 2. Well, you have to buy the web-cam, and get a good ISP, and maybe a domain name. 3. As reliable as your favorite Microsoft software titles! 4. Depends how good-lookin’ you are, or if you are willing to perform bizarre sexual acts. ---
**Author:** ![SmileyDeath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@SmileyDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmileyDeath)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/3 "2002-12-21T06:37:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*1. Hook up a cheap web-cam and allow people to pay to see you naked. > > 1. Well, you have to buy the web-cam, and get a good ISP, and maybe a domain name. > > 2. As reliable as your favorite Microsoft software titles! > > 3. Depends how good-lookin’ you are, or if you are willing to perform bizarre sexual acts. \*\* Uh, no. I’m underage. ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/4 "2002-12-21T07:20:13Z")
Paper route …do you mean without being employed at a 40-hour regular job? ---
**Author:** ![SmileyDeath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@SmileyDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmileyDeath)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/5 "2002-12-21T07:39:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MaryEFoo \* > \*\*Paper route > > …do you mean without being employed at a 40-hour regular job? \*\* Like Ebay. But I dunno if Ebay is reliable, so that’s what I need to know. And any other similar money making things… ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/6 "2002-12-21T12:35:19Z")
> [@](#): > > But I dunno if Ebay is reliable I’m not sure what you mean by “reliable”. Do you mean is it an honorable site, which won’t rip you off? (It is). Or do you mean can you reliably make money on it? The answer to that question is tougher. You certainly can make money on ebay (hubby’s made a bit), but you have to have something to sell that people want to buy, at a price they want to pay. If you don’t have anything good to sell, or if you’re charging what Wal-Mart would charge for the same item, you ain’t gonna make it on ebay. Hubby’s made pretty good money on walkman stereos and cordless telephones. Of course, he had to have some investment capital to buy the stuff in the first place, because to get a good enough price on this type of thing to resell it, you usually have to buy quite a few at one time. I believe he had something like $150.00 invested in the walkmans and over $1,000 invested in the phones. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/7 "2002-12-21T19:02:54Z")
There’s some company which will pay you to use your extra hard drive space. Drawbacks: 1) you must leave your PC on 24/7; 2) the backdoor may be attractive to hackers. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/8 "2002-12-21T19:28:54Z")
If you like writing, take a look at [www.epinions.com](http://www.epinions.com). You can write reviews for which you will get paid depending on how widely they are read and how well they are rated. I doubt you could earn a living this way, but the rate of return can be OK. You should concentrate on reviewing items that are of wide interest to get maximum readership. I wrote a few on relatively obscure books and made about $15/hr that way (but the money only trickles in). I’d have though by being more careful what you review, you would do better than that (as long as you can write reasonably well and quickly). ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/9 "2002-12-21T19:30:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SmileyDeath \* > \*\*1) What are ways I can make money online/offline without being employed? > 2) How feasible is the option? Ie the service wanting money. > 3) How reliable is it? > 4) How much money would I make with this? \*\* You could steal/sell drugs/be a hitman… ---
**Author:** ![SmileyDeath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@SmileyDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmileyDeath)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/10 "2002-12-21T23:51:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NinetyWt \* > \*\*There’s some company which will pay you to use your extra hard drive space. Drawbacks: 1) you must leave your PC on 24/7; 2) the backdoor may be attractive to hackers. \*\* I’m breaking what I said in my goodbye thread, but which company? How much? ---
**Author:** ![SmileyDeath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@SmileyDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmileyDeath)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/11 "2002-12-21T23:52:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amarone \* > \*\*If you like writing, take a look at [www.epinions.com](http://www.epinions.com). You can write reviews for which you will get paid depending on how widely they are read and how well they are rated. > > I doubt you could earn a living this way, but the rate of return can be OK. You should concentrate on reviewing items that are of wide interest to get maximum readership. I wrote a few on relatively obscure books and made about $15/hr that way (but the money only trickles in). I’d have though by being more careful what you review, you would do better than that (as long as you can write reasonably well and quickly). \*\* How would that work? ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/12 "2002-12-22T00:29:02Z")
SmileyDeath, you said you wouldn’t reply to anything other than your Goodbye thread! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![SmileyDeath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@SmileyDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmileyDeath)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/13 "2002-12-22T03:07:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blackeyes \* > \*\*SmileyDeath, you said you wouldn’t reply to anything other than your Goodbye thread! :eek: \*\* I’m back to posting now. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/16 "2013-04-23T12:28:14Z")
Reported. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-money-money/144193/17 "2013-04-23T12:28:19Z")
Reported.