I sell feet pics. It's easy money, and I get lots of requests — from oily toes to visiting Walmart barefoot.

A mirror selfie of Riley, who has strawberry blonde hair and pale skin. Her face is obscured by her phone. — Courtesy of Riley

Riley, a 21-year-old college student, sells feet pics online. She uses a "stage name" for anonymity.
She didn't have time to get a second job, and she said feet pics are "pretty easy money."
This is her story, as told to writer Fortesa Latifi.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Riley, a 21-year-old college student who sells pictures of her feet on the internet. Insider is only using her first name to protect her identity, but we've verified her sales and income. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm about to start my senior year of college. Along with juggling my social life, academics, and working at a lab on campus, I also sell feet pictures (more commonly known as "feet pics") online.

I always knew people sold feet pics online because the idea of it has been part of the cultural zeitgeist for years. I thought about taking the plunge and decided that, between academics and my campus job, I didn't have much time for a second job, so maybe this would be one I could manage.

Through my feet pics hustle, I make a couple of hundred dollars each month, which I use as spending money. I usually use it to go clothes shopping. I started doing it as a freshman in college, and now I'm going into my senior year.

A lot of sellers use websites meant to facilitate sales of feet pictures, but I just post on Twitter and Reddit

I use specific hashtags, and it works really well for me. Usually, when I post, I get a bunch of direct messages from people who are interested in buying pictures. I know people say you can make even more money through OnlyFans, but I like to keep my business more private. Twitter and Reddit help me accomplish that.

I'm not super shy about telling people I know in real life about it. My friends know that I do it, and I've even helped people who've come up to me and asked how to get into the business.

I haven't explicitly told my parents, although once I did say to my dad, "Hey, hypothetically, if I had money from selling feet pictures online, would you help me do my taxes?" I think it's more of a situation where they know but they don't want to know.

It's pretty easy money

When I have a couple of hours free, I'll post online and then spend time going through direct messages, interacting with people, and taking the pictures and videos they want. I don't even have to make sure I have a pedicure, because some people don't want that and some people will pay for you to go get one.

Sometimes people have specific requests, like they want a video of me taking my socks off really slowly or rubbing baby oil on my feet. It's weird, but it's not sexual to me. It's sexual for the person who's asking for it. Once, someone even asked for a video of me walking around barefoot in a Walmart. (I did it at the local Dollar General instead.)

I think many people who respond to my posts feel a lot of shame about their addiction to foot fetish content, so there's a lot of customer turnover. Sometimes I'll go back to someone's account and it'll be deleted or I'll be blocked.

I use a 'stage name' online, not my real one

Even if I don't use my real name, I do post selfies and pictures of my face. If they really wanted to, people could figure out who I am.

I haven't had any dangerous situations happen that I know of, but I would say to anyone who's considering doing work like this to think about using a pseudonym. It makes the work safer, and it allows you to retain some privacy on the internet — especially because these things are searchable, and you may not always want them to be. I'm not doing anything that scandalous in my opinion, but I can't expect everyone — including future employers — to feel the same way.

I've been with my boyfriend for more than three years, and we even live together. He knows that I sell feet pics, and it doesn't bother him. I think I'll keep doing it until I feel like I don't need the extra spending money.

I'm going into my final year of college, but I don't have a full-time job lined up. I don't know what my life will look like when I do, so it's still all "to be continued" at the moment.

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