Can you support yourself online?

[scentednights2002]

I've been thinking about this for a while. Is it possible to support yourself & your family entirely (or almost entirely) online?

I know it's easy enough to get free groceries & HBA stuff but you still need some amount of cash for the mortgage & utilities.

Does anyone know anyone who is really supporting themselves online without someone in their family going out to work outside the home?

I'm thinking eBay, half.com, surveys, paid posts, advertising, affiliate programs, etc.

Is it really possible?

[couponsmakecents]

Well, I don't know about 100% but when my husband was in school from 2000-2004 we replaced his income with ebay. He was making about $1000/month on ebay. He was clearing that amount plus the postage which he either charged or figured into the starting price and then offered free shipping.

I currently do mystery shopping which makes me about $100-$125/month and surveys on line net me about $50ish a month.

HTH.

[scentednights2002]

I do mystery shopping & merchandising. Used to ebay quite a bit but with the economy, I'm not really seeing all that much move on there any more. I just really hate my job & would love to quit entirely & stay home. I do surveys/points programs too. Just wondering if someone out there was really able to rely only on line?

[SouthernBelle5]

Well, I don't know about 100% but when my husband was in school from 2000-2004 we replaced his income with ebay. He was making about $1000/month on ebay. He was clearing that amount plus the postage which he either charged or figured into the starting price and then offered free shipping.

I currently do mystery shopping which makes me about $100-$125/month and surveys on line net me about $50ish a month.

HTH.

What was he selling???

[uummm]

I used to sell on ebay and half.com and did well for several years-but the past few years Ebay has gone way down hill and making a sale outside of christmas time was near impossible the last couple of years.
When I started making money to make up for my missing income we yard saled to find books and tapes to sell on Half.com and we did this for about 2 years exclusive-this is when Dvds were just starting to hit the scene and not eveything was on DVd yet and people wanted kids vhs tapes. Then I started selling on ebay in addition to half.com buying more stuff at yard sale (jeans were really hot!)... Then I started selling Tommy Hilfiger Woman and Ralph Lauren Plus sizes (they were hard to get in 2001-2003) purchased from a department store 30 miles south of me. I also ventured into corelle and pyrex. I found a corelle store 30 miles north of my house and literally purchased my stuff there and sold it on line and did that for about 2.5 years. Corelle fizzled out and I started selling character underwear of all things-purchased from Target (yes Target) and then started buying the Tshirt for jrs then too...That quickly went into Men's T's and boxers-PJ pants (basically anything licensed) that were mostly purchased from Kohls and Target.
The past 2 years my ebay sales had gone down and last year I only sold Shirts at Christmas time. At the end of the season I listed it all in one lot and sold it all off. I went from having several thousands of dollars (probably well over $15,000 retail at my high) of inventory to nothing this past January. I also had a 11x12' room dedicated to my inventory, plus shelves along a wall in my garage and in my office.

I also got into mystry shopping pretty heavily 2 years ago (in the ebay off season). I made over $1200 with one company doing one grocery store that holds the grocery market share in my region. But I stopped doing it. I was also doing McDonalds, Five Guys, Panera, Talbots, and 2 other grocery stores. I spent a lot of money/time driving around and although I got to claim my milage I am pretty sure I was spending as much as I made in most cases. Plus you also have to (in most cases) shell out the money and then you are reimbursed.

I live in a state where no beer or wine must be purchased for any rebate and I make about $2000 +/- doing that and that nearly makes up for my last year on Ebay. There is no way I could make enough to afford the lifestyle we live now-which isn't that 'great' but we live in an expensive house and the COL here isn't cheap. Even if we downsized I don't think we could come up with half of what we need to live.

[Aurianne]

If you have writing talent you can sell articles through places such as Associated Content and Constant Content. If you know skills such as WordPress, PhP, other coding, or even online marketing you can get jobs through places like Odesk or eLance.

I have hired quite a number of such providers throughout the decade I've been making a living online.

Yes, you can definitely earn enough to support a family online, but it depends on what you do and how much effort you are willing to put into doing it to make it successful. All of my online income is derived through affiliate programs ranging from Google Adwords, to Amazon, and from schools that pay per valid student lead, and I've been doing this since 1999.

In a low year I've made as little as $220,000, and in a more average year (such as 2010) I've made in the neighborhood of $750,000 from a single website alone.

While some folks do make a decent income selling things on half.com or ebay I guess, I've never been into selling myself, so I produce intellectual content.

Other folks, like the creator of FW earn several million dollars per year through affiliate programs for a wide variety of stores etc. It CAN be done, but it takes either talent to build a site or a bit of money to invest hiring those who can build it for you, and then a lot of effort into content, marketing, building user bases, and continually working on building back links in an effort to gain a good position in Google search results etc...

Check Commission Junction sometime and look over the wide variety of affiliate programs available from them as a starting point to get ideas that may interest you and give it a try!

[scentednights2002]

Wow those figures are pretty impressive. I've been doing affiliate programs like you mention for about a year and a half including eBay, half.com, writing, selling ad spots on my blog, etc. and IF I have a really good month like October or November, I can clear $1000 a month. IF I have a bad month like December, I'm lucky to get $500. Can I ask what kind of website you have that's bringing in such nigh numbers?

[anaj06]

If you have a masters degree, you can teach for most Community Colleges online as an adjunct instructor. Could be decent money if you taught several classes.

[VivaciousJewelz]

Wow! I'm impressed with even $1000/month!

[ELLE-TN]

If you have writing talent you can sell articles through places such as Associated Content and Constant Content. If you know skills such as WordPress, PhP, other coding, or even online marketing you can get jobs through places like Odesk or eLance.

I have hired quite a number of such providers throughout the decade I've been making a living online.

Yes, you can definitely earn enough to support a family online, but it depends on what you do and how much effort you are willing to put into doing it to make it successful. All of my online income is derived through affiliate programs ranging from Google Adwords, to Amazon, and from schools that pay per valid student lead, and I've been doing this since 1999.

In a low year I've made as little as $220,000, and in a more average year (such as 2010) I've made in the neighborhood of $750,000 from a single website alone.

While some folks do make a decent income selling things on half.com or ebay I guess, I've never been into selling myself, so I produce intellectual content.

Other folks, like the creator of Fatwallet.com earn several million dollars per year through affiliate programs for a wide variety of stores etc. It CAN be done, but it takes either talent to build a site or a bit of money to invest hiring those who can build it for you, and then a lot of effort into content, marketing, building user bases, and continually working on building back links in an effort to gain a good position in Google search results etc...

Check Commission Junction sometime and look over the wide variety of affiliate programs available from them as a starting point to get ideas that may interest you and give it a try!

Seriously? 220-750 K/year! Wow! ELLE-TN seriously needs you to teach her a thing or two hint hint send me a lesson plan.