Everyone could use a little extra money these days. Earning it doesn’t have to mean taking on a second full-time job, though. There are lots of ways to bring in a little more cash doing side hustles that earn passive income.
Some people want to flex their creative muscles, selling digital art or design templates. Others focus on their expertise in a field that’s of interest to others, like AI prompts. Even those items gathering dust in your garage or that vacation home you don’t get to as often as you’d like can give you an income boost.
To start the flow of passive income, though, you’ll need to do a little work, including figuring out how to market what you’re offering and, most importantly, figuring out where to make your money. Here are a few ideas on places to get started.
If you’ve got possessions or property you’re not using, you can rent them out to others to earn passive income via these sites.Â
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Airbnb kicked off the trend of short-term rentals and is still one of the kings of the market. Hosts (property owners) typically get paid a day or two after a guest checks in, minus a 3 percent service fee. Should guests stay 28 nights or longer, you’ll get paid in monthly installments.Â
Rent out parking and storage areas for a price of your choosing. Neighbor will charge a processing fee of 4.9 percent and 30 cents, which is taken out of the rental payout. Payments are made into your bank account or onto a debit card at the end of each rental month.
Whether it’s a stroller or tools, party equipment or an air mattress, you can offer it for rent on this ecommerce site. You’ll keep a percentage of the rental fees paid by the customer. The site does not clarify exactly what that percentage will be, however.
It’s great to have a pool, but even the most avid swimmer doesn’t use it all the time. Swimply lets you rent it out by the hour or the day. Owners set the price – and Swimply offers security with $50,000 in property damage protection. One host says he earns $12,000 a month on the site. (Don’t have a pool? You can also rent out pickleball courts and basketball hoops.)
Not everyone wants to take their dog to a public dog park. Sniffspot allows people to rent out their property for off-leash play. That can be anything from a fenced yard to a dog water park to hiking trails and more. Your unused land can be a safe option for dogs and their owners. Some hosts earn more than $3,000 per month, the site says.
Here are a few sites where you can earn passive income, whether you’re looking to sell design templates, digital art, or AI prompts.
Etsy is the primary destination for most people looking to sell products of their own making. There’s competition, certainly, but there’s also a huge built-in customer base, which saves you some marketing headaches. Listing an item costs 20 cents and there’s a 6.5 percent transaction fee on the sale price. If you’d like, the site can even help advertise your goods beyond its site, for another cut of the sale price.
The online auction site also has a built-in audience, though it also has a much wider spread of items for sale, so it’s not the default destination for people looking for something handmaid or artistic. Fees for listings range upwards to 15 percent of the total, depending on the item sold and the sale price. If you open a full eBay storefront, you’ll also face fees ranging from $8 a month to $350 per month.
The advantage of this online storefront is you’re able to build a tailored website to your product and the Shopify checkout process is one that the company claims converts shoppers to buyers 15 percent better than other platforms. You will pay a monthly fee for that site, though. And you might pay third-party transaction fees, depending on your payment choices.
One of the fastest growing sales portals for entrepreneurs, the TikTok Shop is where many viral items get their start, thanks to the app’s algorithm. You can expect a commission fee of between 4.50 and 10.50 percent on each sale as well as a transaction fee of about 3.5 percent and possibly referral fees, which go to influencers who promote your product through their streams.
Bonanza is a lot like Etsy, but perhaps not so well known. There’s no per item fee on listings, but sellers will pay $15 to set up an account. Expect a minimum fee of 25 cents and 11 percent of your sale (and shipping) price.
Formed with Etsy artists launched a strike in 2022 after that site raised transaction fees, Artisans Cooperative offers sellers a calculator, so they can determine exactly what they’ll pay in fees. There’s no listing fee, no fee to open a shop, and no subscription fees, however.
Know how to write prompts for AI language models that get the desired results? This site can help you sell those skills to people and businesses that are still flummoxed by the burgeoning tech. You’ll keep 80 percent of every sale.
Fiverr provides opportunities to showcase the talents of graphic designers, writers, marketers and more. The site takes a 20 percent service fee of payments (and tips), but you’ll set your own pricing. Note that you won’t receive your funds until two weeks after the job is done, to ensure customers are satisfied. Once you’ve built up a reputation with the site, you might be able to get your money sooner.
Whether you want to earn passive income by writing books, offering educational courses, or doing unboxing videos, here are a few sites where you can earn money for your work.
The OG home of video content creators, you’ll need to build up an audience before you start earning passive income. Once you get to 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours within a 12-month period, YouTube will let you join the Adsense program to earn a portion of the ad revenue on your videos
You’ll access a younger audience, but as with YouTube, you’ll need to build a following first. TikTok creators need at least 100K authentic video views in the last 30 days to be eligible to join the company’s Creator Fund, which allows them to earn money.
Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing is the easiest and most accessible way to get your book in front of readers, with both eBook and hard/soft cover sales options available. Expect a royalty of either 35 percent or 70 percent on eBooks, depending on the sale price. Print books have a 60 percent royalty rate, with the printing costs deducted from the author’s share.
You’ll get a percentage of the sale price when people download your images. That will range from 15 percent to 40 percent on both still images and videos. The site offers six earnings levels. You’ll progress to the next higher level based on your download count.
If you can attract an audience, you can generate some income on this writer-intense site, with pay scales ranging from $10 to $98 per 1,000 views. And if you qualify for Medium’s Partner Program, you can get a portion of member subscription fees for your best content.
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