How to Make Money on Maternity Leave: The 2026 Reality

How to make money on maternity leave comes down to one filter: the work has to fit into short, unpredictable gaps and never need you somewhere at a fixed hour. That rules out most jobs. What's left is selling what you already own, small freelance projects, a few low-paying extras, and building a small online store you can work on in short sessions. This guide covers what each option pays, what to check before you earn a dollar, and which one can still be earning when your leave ends.

Quick answer: For income you build and keep after leave ends, our pick is an eBay dropshipping store run with Ecomli (Ecomli is our product). You list products from Amazon or AliExpress suppliers, buy from the supplier only after your buyer pays, and let the software handle most of the product research, listing and stock checks, plus supplier ordering on the Pro and Scale plans. It has no set timeline and no guaranteed earnings. For cash in the first weeks, start by selling the baby gear and household items you no longer need.

On this page

• Check this before you earn anything on leave
• Ways to make money on maternity leave, compared
• Why an eBay store run with Ecomli is our pick
• How to do this in Ecomli, in short sessions
• A realistic first 12 weeks around a newborn
• The money math, without the hype
• Frequently asked questions

Check this before you earn anything on leave

Most income guides skip this part, so start here. In the US, the Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period for the birth of a child and to care for the newborn. You qualify if you've worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours of service in the 12 months before your leave starts, and work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles. The leave itself is unpaid, which is why so many parents look for income during it.

Any pay you do receive comes from somewhere with its own rules: your employer's paid leave policy, a short-term disability policy, or a state paid family leave program where you live. Some of these reduce or stop payments if you have other earnings while you claim. Before you take paid work, ask your HR team or the program how outside income is treated.

Three more checks take a few minutes:

• Your employment contract. Some employers restrict outside work, especially work that competes with them. Read the policy before you freelance for a client in your own industry.
• Tax. Side income is taxable. In the US, if your net earnings from self-employment are $400 or more in a year, you file Schedule SE and pay self-employment tax, which is 15.3%. Set part of every payment aside, and ask your tax authority or an accountant how the rules apply to you.
• Records. Keep a simple log of what you sell, what you paid for it and what each platform paid you. Reporting rules differ between clearing out personal items and running a business, and a log makes either one easy.

Outside the US, statutory maternity pay and parental benefits come with their own rules about working while you claim, so check yours before you start. Readers in the UK can use our guide to making money from home in the UK and the UK side hustle starter guide, and Australian readers our roundup of real ways to make money from home in Australia.

Ways to make money on maternity leave, compared

Ecomli is our product, and an eBay store run with it is our pick for income that can outlast your leave. The other rows describe how each option actually pays, so you can choose a mix. A sensible mix pairs one fast option with one that builds.

Prices and fees in this guide are as of Sep 2026.

Run an eBay dropshipping store with Ecomli

Dropshipping means you list a product, the buyer pays you, and only then do you buy it from your supplier, who ships it to the buyer. You don't buy stock upfront, you don't pack parcels, and eBay brings the buyers. Done by hand, though, it's a real job: finding products, writing listings, watching supplier prices and placing every order can take hours a day.

That repetitive part is what Ecomli handles. It's a non-API browser extension for eBay dropshippers that works through the eBay seller account already signed in to your desktop Chrome browser, so there's no API connection to authorize. It finds products with Product Hunting, creates listings from Amazon and AliExpress with your own pricing rules, keeps them in line with supplier stock and prices, and places supplier orders within your buying limits. Plan on check-ins, though. Listings keep selling while you're feeding the baby or asleep, but orders outside your buying limits, starting Auto Ordering batches on Starter, buyer questions and the tasks that run only while your browser is open all need you. Our guide to starting a business with no money covers the low-cost side of this in more detail.

Sell baby gear and household clutter

This is the fastest route to cash, and it deserves its place near the top of every list. Babies outgrow clothes, bouncers and play mats fast, and a new-baby house usually has duplicate gifts nobody will use. On eBay, most categories carry a final value fee of 13.6% of the total sale (item, shipping and sales tax) plus a per-order fee of $0.30 on orders of $10 or less and $0.40 above that. You also get up to 250 listings a month with no insertion fee, per eBay's selling fees page.

Two things to know first. New private sellers can have their funds held until 2 days after delivery confirmation when they use an eBay shipping label, or 7 days with another label, until they have at least 10 completed sales worth $150 or more in total, per eBay's payments on hold page. And some baby items can't be resold at all. eBay's product safety policy bans recalled items, used cribs, used car seats and several infant sleep products such as inclined sleepers and crib bumpers, so check before you list.

The limit is obvious: once the cupboards are empty, the income stops. Treat it as practice, because it teaches you photos, pricing and shipping for free. Our guides to what to sell for quick cash, making money selling stuff and selling on Facebook Marketplace cover the details, and what you can sell to make money works through specific categories.

Freelance a skill from your job

If you can write, design, keep books, edit or handle admin, freelancing usually pays the best hourly rate on this list. Sell small, fixed-scope projects rather than open-ended retainers, and tell clients upfront that replies may take a day. Marketplaces take a cut: Upwork's freelancer service fee ranges from 0% to 15% per contract and is fixed once the contract begins. The catch is that clients have deadlines, revisions and calls, and a newborn doesn't care about any of them. Some parents make it work with one or two steady clients. Many find the back-and-forth costs more energy than the work itself.

Paid research studies and surveys

These fit the time problem well: one hand, a phone and ten spare minutes. The rate is the trade-off. On Prolific, researchers must pay participants at least $8 an hour and are advised to pay $12, per its payment model, and you only earn when you qualify for a study. Use it for a small, specific target. It won't grow. Our guide to making money from your phone compares the app-based options.

Pet sitting and dog walking

Pet care apps connect you with owners who need walks, drop-in visits or overnight sitting, and you choose when you're available. Rover, for example, applies a 20% service fee per booking for most US providers, so sitters keep 80% of their earnings. Bookings happen at set times, though, so this suits a baby who naps in a stroller or a partner who can take over for an hour. Pay stops when you stop.

Rent out a room, parking space or gear

A spare room, a driveway, a second car you barely use while on leave, or camera gear can earn through rental marketplaces with little of your time. You need the asset first, and you accept cleaning, wear and the occasional difficult renter. If the baby is sleeping in the spare room, this one can wait.

Sell crafts or printables

If you already make things, a marketplace shop can turn that into some income, and digital downloads such as printables sell without any shipping. Making takes time you may not have, and marketplaces charge listing and transaction fees. Our guide to hobbies that make money covers which ones tend to sell, and making extra money from home covers more ideas.

Why an eBay store run with Ecomli is our pick

Judge each option against three questions that matter with a newborn:

1. Can you stop mid-task at no cost? Client calls and bookings can't wait. A half-finished listing can.
2. Does it earn when you aren't touching it? Survey pay stops the moment you do. A live listing can sell while you sleep.
3. Will it still exist in six months? A clear-out ends when the cupboards are empty. A store can keep adding listings.

The store passes all three, though only partly on the second: listings sell while you're away, but exceptions and buyer questions wait for you. Renting out an asset or selling printables can pass them too, if you have a spare room or a design that sells. The store is the one you can grow without owning stock or a spare asset, and it keeps the starting risk small. You pay for a plan and eBay's fees, not a garage full of stock, and you buy each item only after a buyer has paid. If you want the wider menu beyond this season, our guide to ways to make money at home covers it.

Be clear about the limits. A new store has no set timeline to steady sales, margins on dropshipped products are thin, and a supplier running out of stock can cost you a sale.

You can compare what Starter, Pro and Scale include on the Ecomli pricing page before you put any time into it.

How to do this in Ecomli, in short sessions

Every step below can be split across several sittings, and nothing breaks if you stop halfway because the baby wakes up.

1. Start with your own things. List a few items you own on eBay first. You'll learn eBay's listing form, fees and shipping with nothing at stake.
2. Connect Ecomli. Install the extension, sign in to your Ecomli account and keep your eBay seller account signed in to the same desktop Chrome browser. There's no API connection to approve.
3. Find products that have already sold. Product Hunting researches a competitor eBay seller's sold history and matches the products to Amazon or AliExpress suppliers, or searches Amazon keywords and Best Sellers. You can save a hunt and resume it later, which suits a day made of ten-minute gaps. A match shows an item sold for someone else, not that it will pay for you, so check the margin.
4. Create listings in batches. Create Listings prices each product with your markup, can write AI titles and descriptions from the supplier facts for you to check, applies your description template and fills eBay's listing form in your seller session, up to 10 listings at a time. Safety Shield screens products, AI copy and the eBay draft for flagged brands and restricted items before anything publishes. It's a checkpoint, not a guarantee.
5. Turn on Stock Monitoring. Stock Monitoring checks supplier stock and prices for your Ecomli listings and updates the eBay price and quantity, or ends out-of-stock items, using your rules. If a supplier read fails, the listing is held unchanged.
6. Choose how orders get placed. Starter runs Auto Ordering batches in your browser. On Pro, Auto Ordering means you click Auto Order and Ecomli places the supplier order in your own browser. On Scale, you can also turn on optional server ordering, so Auto Ordering places the supplier order from Ecomli's servers, as long as each order is within your buying limits (a maximum purchase price and a maximum loss).
7. Get tracking onto eBay. Tracking Conversions turns supported AliExpress and Amazon TBA tracking numbers into eBay-compatible tracking and adds it to the eBay order after its automatic checks, so your buyer can follow the delivery. Conversions through Aquiline use add-on credits.
8. Review from the couch. The Overview dashboard shows eBay sales, fees, Promoted Listings costs, refunds and recorded supplier costs, so you can see what the store actually makes. Ecomli's iOS and Android companion app lets you check the dashboard, orders and alerts from your phone during a feed. Creating listings, billing and connecting eBay stay on the desktop.

For the bigger picture, see how Ecomli's automation fits together on our homepage. Our step-by-step guide to starting an eBay dropshipping store covers the first listings in more depth.

A realistic first 12 weeks around a newborn

This plan assumes short gaps, not long evenings. Results vary, and there's no set timeline for a store's first steady sales.

• Weeks 1 and 2: Rest. If you want a small project, photograph and list 10 to 20 things you already own. The point is learning, not money.
• Weeks 3 and 4: Choose two or three product categories rather than a general store. A narrow catalog is easier to price and easier to keep track of when you're tired.
• Weeks 5 to 8: Build the catalog. Run hunts, check margins and publish listings in batches whenever you get a gap. This is the phase that needs the most focus.
• Weeks 9 to 12: Watch what sells, add more like it and end what hasn't moved. From here, the routine is short check-ins on orders, exceptions and buyer messages.

Our guide for stay-at-home moms covers the same system over a longer stretch once leave ends.

The money math, without the hype

Plenty of maternity leave income stories lead with a big monthly number. We don't publish typical earnings for Ecomli stores, because results depend on your categories, your prices and how many products you keep adding. What you can work out in advance is your costs and your break-even point.

Take one example. Say an item sells for $30 with free shipping. eBay's fee for most categories is 13.6% of $30 plus $0.40, which comes to $4.48. If your supplier charges $20 with delivery, you keep $5.52 before Promoted Listings, returns and any sales tax, which eBay's percentage also applies to. At that margin, 6 sales a month cover the $29 Starter plan, and every sale after that adds to profit on paper. Move the supplier price by a couple of dollars and the picture changes fast, so check the margin before you list. Our breakdown of the margin math behind eBay dropshipping goes further.

For comparison, earning $1,000 in a month from research studies at Prolific's recommended $12 an hour would take about 83 hours of studies, assuming you could qualify for that many. Hourly options have a ceiling set by your hours. That ceiling is the main reason we'd start a store early in your leave rather than late.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best way to make money on maternity leave?

For income that can outlast your leave, our pick is an eBay dropshipping store run with Ecomli (we make it). It works in short sessions, needs no stock upfront, and listings can sell while you're with the baby. It has no set timeline, so for cash in the first weeks, sell the baby gear and household items you no longer need.

How do you survive financially while on maternity leave?

Most families lean on three levers. Cut fixed costs and build a savings cushion before leave starts. Find out exactly what pay you'll get, from whom and for how long, including any unpaid weeks. Then add one small income source that survives an unpredictable day, such as selling things you own or a store you work on in short sessions. Check how any side income affects your leave pay before you start.

What are some good side hustles to do while on maternity leave?

The ones that fit a newborn can be paused mid-task and don't need fixed hours: selling things you own, paid research studies, small fixed-scope freelance projects, renting out a room or gear, and an eBay store run in short sessions. Tutoring, client calls and shift-based gigs are harder, because they need you at a set time.

How can a stay-at-home mom make $2,000 a month?

No method guarantees it. The most direct route is freelancing a skill clients pay well for, because your rate times your hours sets the income. Selling things you own can bring in a lump sum, but it stops. A store can build toward a figure like that over months, with no guarantee, and anyone who promises $2,000 a month in exchange for an upfront fee is selling the promise.

How can I make $1,000 a month as a stay-at-home mom?

Freelancing a skill or regular pet sitting bookings are the likeliest routes, and both depend on the hours you can give. Research studies rarely get there: at $12 an hour, $1,000 means about 83 hours of studies a month. A store can add to it over time, with no set timeline and no guaranteed amount.

Will side income affect my maternity leave pay?

It can. Family and Medical Leave Act leave in the US is unpaid, so the question is about whatever pays you during leave: an employer policy, short-term disability or a state paid leave program. Some of these reduce or stop payments if you earn while claiming. Ask your HR team or the program before you start, and read your contract for rules on outside work.

Do I have to ship parcels myself with a baby at home?

Not with dropshipping. When an order comes in, the supplier ships straight to your buyer, so there's no packing and no post office trip with a stroller. You still own the buyer's experience, because eBay holds you responsible for delivery within the time frame in your listing.

Can I keep it going after I go back to work?

Yes, and that's the reason to start during leave. A store built around nap-time gaps fits around a workday for the same reason. The check-ins move to evenings or lunch breaks, and on Scale, optional server ordering lets Ecomli place supplier orders from its servers, as long as each order is within your buying limits.

The verdict

Nothing here produces money without effort, and a page that promises otherwise is selling something. For income that can still be running when your leave ends, our pick is an eBay store run with Ecomli: start it early, keep the catalog narrow, and let the software take the repetitive work so your share is decisions and check-ins. For money this month, sell what the baby has outgrown. Research studies cover a small, specific target, and freelancing pays best per hour if your days allow it.

Sources

• eBay: Selling fees
• eBay: Payments on hold
• eBay: Product safety policy
• Prolific: Prolific's payment model

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