How To Sell Your Poop And Make $180,000 A Year

Today, I have an interesting way to make money to share with you. Did you know that you can make $180,000 a year by selling your poop? Yes, this is a real way to make extra money and you can actually get paid to sell your poop (and actually get paid to poop!). To learn…

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Last Updated: May 19, 2024

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure for more info.

Today, I have an interesting way to make money to share with you. Did you know that you can make $180,000 a year by selling your poop?

Yes, this is a real way to make extra money and you can actually get paid to sell your poop (and actually get paid to poop!).

To learn more about how to make extra income and get paid to poop, I interviewed Michael Harrop, as he is an expert on this topic and answered many of the questions that you probably have.

Michael founded Human Microbes, which is a stool donor network currently serving the USA and Canada.

Below, I ask him questions such as:

  • Why stool donors are needed;
  • The qualifications that are needed to become a stool donor;
  • The steps to take to get started donating stool and making money;
  • How much money you can make donating stool;

And more!

You will learn all about stool donation for money in today’s article.

Plus, you can get a $300 sign up bonus if you use my referral link for the donor screening questionnaire and list “makingsenseofcents” under “How did you hear about us.”

Related content:

How to make money selling your poop.

Can you introduce yourself and talk about how to sell your poop?

My name is Michael Harrop. I’ve been on disability for multiple chronic illnesses for over a decade. I spent much of that time learning and experimenting with health, trying to recover mine.

Around 2014 I started following a newly budding area of research – the microbiome. This seemed like the obvious missing link. In the past I had questioned “why aren’t the doctors looking at my gut microbes?”, and while following the scientific literature I discovered that it was because the technology and knowledge wasn’t advanced enough yet.

During this time I also learned about many significant shortcomings in the medical system, much of which is covered in this excellent talk given by a group of doctors at the European Parliament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcnd3usdNxo

I was observing that many doctors and researchers were not keeping up to date with the latest research, so I started cataloging and summarizing it at http://HumanMicrobiome.info in order to have a place where both professionals and laypeople could go to find the most up to date information.

One of the primary methods used in scientific studies on the microbiome is Fecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT), which is the easiest way to transfer the gut microbes from one person or animal to another. FMT allows researchers to test what impact the microbiome has on many conditions, diseases, illnesses, treatments, and more.

For quite a few years now, FMT has been proven highly (~90%) effective for treating the deadly gut infection called C. diff (also known as Clostridioides difficile or C. difficile). For other conditions, the results have been promising but variable.

Having been closely following the research, it was clear to me that donor quality was the most important variable that researchers were overlooking. A major issue is the fact that high-quality stool donors are rare, and the effort has not been made to locate them. The result of this collective laziness and willful blindness is that huge amounts of time and money have been wasted.

Watching all of this from the sidelines, I – and many people I know who have been living with chronic illnesses for many years – can tell you that frustration is an understatement.

Around 2018 I started writing to hundreds of doctors, researchers, the FDA, news outlets, etc., trying to raise the standard of donors, because to me it seemed obvious that FMT had the potential to be a curative treatment for numerous conditions.

Unfortunately, it seemed my efforts were largely ineffective, and thus I established HumanMicrobes.org for the purpose of addressing this major deficiency.

Our goal is to find the fewer than 0.1% of people who qualify and connect them with doctors, researchers, and individuals who need FMT.

How can high quality donors help with stool research? Why do places buy poop?

Over the past few years it’s been established that the gut microbiome interacts with, and regulates the entire body. Everything from digestion of nutrients, to genetic expression, to the immune system and inflammation, production of hormones and neurotransmitters, signaling to the nervous system, including the enteric nervous system and vagus nerve, bones, obesity, etc.

A 2018 review said:

“It is now clear that the gut microbiota contributes significantly to the traits of humans as much as our genes, especially in the case of atherosclerosis, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), gastrointestinal tract malignancies, hepatic encephalopathy, allergies, behavior, intelligence, autism, neurological diseases, and psychological diseases. It has also been found that alteration of the composition of the gut microbiota in its host affects the behavior, intelligence, mood, autism, psychology, and migraines of its host through the gut-brain axis.” 

The current evidence strongly suggests that correcting gut dysbiosis could not only cure numerous illnesses, but could also raise the overall function of a person. To me, that last part is similarly as important, because I believe that on a daily basis we are seeing the consequences of the majority of people being poorly functioning due to poor health & development.

But in order to fully determine the capabilities of FMT, we need to be able to find the few people who qualify as high-quality donors, and get them to sign up for clinical trials.

What is HumanMicrobes?

HumanMicrobes is a stool donor network currently serving the USA and Canada.

Our primary goal is to increase the quality and availability of stool donors, for we believe that donor quality is by far the most important factor when it comes to the safety and effectiveness of FMT.

Most sources of FMT have neither the knowledge, insight, nor motivation to acquire truly high-quality donors. Worse is, many operations have a primary financial motivation. A natural consequence of this is there is currently no correlation between how much FMT costs and the quality of the procedure & donor.

We, however, believe that it is possible to have both high quality and affordability.

What are the qualifications for donating stool? What disqualifies you from donating poop?

We are looking for people in exceptional physical and mental health, with unperturbed, disease-resistant gut microbiomes.

And since gut dysbiosis increases with age and is associated with all the diseases of old age, we’re also looking for donors under 30 years old.

Parents of donors ages 1-14 would have to be screened as well since the gut microbiome is largely heritable, and it can be difficult to gauge the health and development of a person until they reach their late teens.

Finding someone that meets all the requirements is unfortunately a very difficult task due to a variety of modern perturbations, such as widespread antibiotic use, poor diets, lack of breastfeeding, etc.

The screening for becoming a stool donor is probably one of the most extensive screenings that exist, due to the fact that the gut microbiome impacts and regulates the entire body.

The target demographic is mostly top young athletes.

How difficult is it to become a stool donor and sell your poop?

Overall it’s one of the hardest things to qualify for.

It’s looking like fewer than 1 in 1000 people would qualify.

The factors that determine whether someone qualifies are largely based on luck.

There are many highly accomplished professional athletes who would not qualify, and there are unaccomplished amateur athletes and even non-athletes, who would qualify.

cash on green background for article how to make money selling your poop

Where does a person go to donate stool? Is it from home? Can you sell your poop online?

In most cases a person can collect their stool at home and ship it on dry ice. But donors can choose if they would like to only do local donations.

Collecting the stool is as simple as pooping into a zip lock bag.

If a person is expecting to have their bowel movements away from home they can use a simple collection kit described below.

What are the steps needed to take to get started? If you could go over the steps from the very beginning (such as signing up and qualifying) to actually getting the $300 sign up bonus and receiving payments for each donation. 

The first step is completing the screening questionnaire. You can get a $300 sign up bonus if you use this referral link for the donor screening questionnaire and list “makingsenseofcents” under “How did you hear about us.”

We would then verify stool type and physical fitness before proceeding to blood and stool tests. We of course will cover the cost of these tests. The stool test is mailed to you and collected at home, and the blood tests are done at your local lab. Donors will likely be re-screened every 6 months to a year.

Once a donor passes the initial screening we will reach out to potential recipients to let them know.

The donor may then begin the stool collection and donation process, which consists of:

  1. Collect your stool directly in a ziplock bag. We recommend squatting on the floor so you’re not trying to put the bag in the toilet.
  2. Ship on dry ice, or if there is a local recipient you may agree on a local pickup/dropoff routine. Whatever you choose is up to you.

Most orders will likely be from other states and would be shipped on dry ice. To protect your privacy we can provide you with an alternative return address you can list on the packages.

Currently, for a single stool sample we’re paying $500. 

Stool can be collected and processed at home. But if a donor is typically having bowel movements while away from home a simple collection kit can be used which consists of:

You can store the ice pack and ziplock bag inside the insulated lunch bag. You can leave the kit in the freezer overnight and then take it with you during the day.

Our preferred payment method is Zelle.

How much money can a person make donating their stool?

The worldwide standard is $40 per stool sample, but we’ve increased that to $500 due to the difficulty of finding the quality of donor we need. If you’re donating one sample each day it totals to $180,000 a year. The whole process — including shipping — should take less than 30 minutes.

Also, you can get a $300 sign up bonus if you use this link for the donor screening questionnaire and list “makingsenseofcents” under “How did you hear about us.”

How does a personal know if this is legit or not?

For donors, luckily there’s really nothing to lose besides something they’re already flushing down the toilet every day. We provide all the supplies the donor needs. We also cover all the costs of screening.

For recipients, one of the things I’ve been stressing for years is to ask tough questions, and demand proof, instead of assuming that their stool provider is giving them high-quality stool.

Here are some questions you should ask your stool provider (i.e., your hospital, stool bank, clinical trial, doctor, etc.):

  • What is the age of the donor?
  • Can I see the full results of the screening questionnaire that was used to screen the donor?
  • Can I see the test results of the donor screening?
  • Can I see what their stool looks like prior to being processed?
  • Are there videos or pictures of the donor? Can I see evidence of their health and physical fitness? If not, what information can you provide to assure me of such?
  • What is the cure rate and/or positive response rate of people with [your condition] who performed an FMT with this donor’s stool?
  • How are you tracking and reporting those results?
  • How is the stool processed? With anti-freeze? With a blender?

We are proud of the fact that we screen our donors at the highest standards known.

We strive to be the most transparent provider of FMT, and we welcome your questions. We will share as much proof of donor quality as possible, while keeping the donor as anonymous as they’d like to be.

Is there anything else that you would like to share about how to get paid to poop?

Stop flushing lifesaving medicine down the toilet! Sell it to people in need. Make money, save lives.

Don’t forget, you can get a $300 sign up bonus if you use this referral link for the donor screening questionnaire and list “makingsenseofcents” under “How did you hear about us.”

How much can I make selling poop? – Summary

I hope you all enjoyed today’s interview on how to make money selling your poop.

As you read above, you can possibly make $180,000 a year selling your poop. A quick recap on how to sell your poop for extra cash:

How do I become a poop donor? – I recommend reading the section above “What are the steps needed to take to get started?” The first step is completing the screening questionnaire. You can get a $300 sign up bonus if you use this referral link for the donor screening questionnaire and list “makingsenseofcents” under “How did you hear about us.”

Where can I sell my poop for money? – Human Microbes makes this possible. There are other companies that do this as well so that you can get paid to poop in a bag.

What disqualifies you from donating poop? – Fecal matter donors need to be very healthy, which means no drug use.

How much do fecal donors get paid? – If you donate one sample a day, you could earn up to $180,000 a year. Right now, you can sell your poop for $500 per sample to Human Microbes.

How hard is it to become a poop donor? – It is very hard. They are looking for extremely healthy people.

How long does it take to hear back from Human Microbes? – It takes a couple of months for them to get to your application.

What is the poop used for? – The poop that you sell is used by companies for microbiome research. It can also be used for Clostridium difficile infections treatment in patients, which is a bacterium that causes infections in people.

What sites pay you to poop? – There are other companies that may pay you to poop as well, such as the Goodnature stool donation program or to OpenBiome. Different stool donor programs may have different requirements for their qualified donors, such as needing a specific Bristol Stool type, age ranges (such as 18-50 years old), different types of clinical interviews or health questionnaires, mass index, and more.

Now, the screening process and health questionnaire can be quite difficult for most of these companies, as they are looking for athletes, those who are at a healthy weight, and people who fit other criteria for stool screening.

The types of people that are typically accepted into programs and meet eligibility requirements where you can get paid to poop are health individuals of normal weight with regular bowel movements. Typically, companies that allow you to get paid to poop are looking for donors who have no history of gastrointestinal disease, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, or minimal antibiotic use.

So, what do you think? Are you interested in learning how to sell your poop and how to become a poop donor?


Filed under:

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Author: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Hey! I’m Michelle Schroeder-Gardner and I am the founder of Making Sense of Cents. I’m passionate about all things personal finance, side hustles, making extra money, and online businesses. I have been featured in major publications such as Forbes, CNBC, Time, and Business Insider. Learn more here.

Like this article?

Join the Conversation

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Interesting!

    Helping people out of a crappy situation and being compensated for it seems like a great side hustle to me!

  2. That’s one side hustle I’ll gladly pass up! lol

  3. Dan Waterman

    I’ve heard it all now!

    Insightful post, not sure if it’s something I’d try and start though.

  4. Haha… Hilarious! Desperate times, call for desperate measures! This is definitely one shitty job!

    1. Sam

      Best comment i ever read… ever! 😂

  5. Bryan

    I believe Michael Harrop’s Human Microbes Org. poop selling operation is not registered, nor approved by FDA. Mr. Harrop has no lab, nor facilities to properly evaluate the product. Mr. Harrop’s Human Microbes Org. operates from a mail box rented at a mail box rental store in Riverside, CA. The poop is of uncertain origin, it is not lab tested and people buying it should discuss it with their physicians first. If they have any doubts, questions, or adverse product reaction they should check it with the FDA, or with their local Health Department.

  6. Marta

    Not approved by the FDA? No one is consuming it. What they do with the poop is their prerogative. But alas, I’m over 30. Isnt that the s@#$%?

  7. Michael Kiebler

    How do I sign up

  8. Mike

    Have you all heard about CRISPR? No, then google it

  9. Mark

    can it be shipped

  10. Banni

    believe Michael Harrop’s Human Microbes Org. poop selling operation is not registered, nor approved by FDA. Mr. Harrop has no lab, nor facilities to properly evaluate the product. Mr. Harrop’s Human Microbes Org. operates from a mail box rented at a mail box rental store in Riverside, CA. The poop is of uncertain origin, it is not lab tested and people buying it should discuss it with their physicians first. If they have any doubts, questions, or adverse product reaction they should check it with the FDA, or with their local Health Department.

  11. Anet

    How exactly can you receive the 300$ sign up bonus after using the link to sign up?

  12. Anet

    How exactly can you receive the 300$ sign up bonus after using the link to sign up?

  13. Danna Jennings

    Great ‘passive’ income!