Starter Money for New Players

How new DonutSMP players make their first money from nothing, and which old beginner methods stopped working.

Starting balance

According to the fan-run Donutpedia wiki, new players start with "zero balance and limited resources" [1]. Its money guide says auction house flipping needs you to "have the money to initially buy the assets", so it is not a way to start from nothing [1]. A Minecraft Forum guide, written after the June 2026 update, ranks money methods "by what you start with" [2]. In it, /sell needs no capital and orders need "A farm and no capital". The auction house and flipping need capital [2].

Sell what you gather

The Minecraft Forum guide says: "As a broke player you start on /sell. Real money is made on Orders and the AH" [2]. It says /sell "works from zero" [2]. Its plan for a new player's first two hours is: "check /bal, gather a big chunk of something you can sell, /sell it, and look at /orders before you touch the AH" [2]. The author says bulk farmable items such as kelp, fungus and pink petals are what they sell "when I need cash today" [2].

What /sell pays changed in June 2026. According to the fan-run donutsmp.wiki, the June 9, 2026 update connected orders with /sell, and "A higher-paying compatible order can receive items submitted through /sell" [3]. DonutOrders, a fan price tracker, wrote on November 12, 2026 that "/sell and /orders are the same market". Sold items go to the buy orders for them, and "Anything nobody buys comes back to your inventory" [4]. Its "still wanted" numbers show how many items are wanted near the top price; past that, orders pay less, so check the page right before a big sale [4]. Live order prices for common starter items: kelp, sand, cobblestone.

Under the 2% tax announced on November 11, 2026, the seller pays no tax on /sell and gets the full order price, according to an in-game test by DonutOrders [5].

Filling orders

The Minecraft Forum guide says "Whoever fills the order gets paid", but warns that "Someone else can fill that order first" [2]. In a February 2026 player blog, the author's money tip was "Sell sand using /order!!" [6]. Today, filling orders goes through /sell: you put items in the sell window, and closing it sells them to the buy orders for them [4]. How orders work is explained on Economy and in DonutOrders' orders guide.

Using /rtp

When you use /rtp, you can choose the Overworld, the Nether or the End [6]. Since June 2026, random teleports are instant, with a 15-second cooldown [7][2]. A February 2026 player blog warns that "there are traps that drop you to bedrock when you randomly teleport" [6].

Donutpedia's money guide, built on June 3, 2026, says "Buckets of lava and water sell for more than the bucket itself" and suggests using /rtp to go to the Nether, where lava is plentiful [1]. The guide's costs start from iron ingots, which buckets are made from [1]. Live prices: lava bucket, water bucket.

Lucky finds

In a February 2, 2026 blog post, a player wrote: "At the beginning you start with $0". They spawned right next to a pillager outpost, killed the raid captain for an ominous bottle, sold it on the auction house "and got going" [8]. The same author tried a wool farm with sheep and said it "turned out to be a big waste of time" [8]. Live price: ominous bottle. Under the November 2026 tax, the auction house buyer pays the 2% and the seller gets their full listing price [5].

First farms

DonutOrders' farm ranking (November 11, 2026, updated November 12) lists dried kelp, nether wart and white wool among farms that "won't make you rich fast, but they run while you're away" [9]. It calls dried kelp "Fully AFK", nether wart "Cheap to set up" and wool an "Easy sheep farm" [9]. It says "a farm is only as good as the orders waiting for its items" and advises checking the item's page before a big build [9]. Live prices: dried kelp block, nether wart, white wool. The full list is in The best money farms on DonutSMP.

On the community schematic site donut.build, which says it is "Not affiliated with the DonutSMP", the two most-downloaded schematics are a Small Fast Kelp Farm and a Beginner Bonemeal Farm [10].

The Minecraft Forum guide says spawners are not suitable for new players because "their entry price is determined by their scarcity", and that "the only way to trade spawners is player-to-player" [2]. See Spawners FAQ.

Once you have some materials, DonutOrders' money guides compare crafting, smelting, stonecutting, composting and other conversions, recalculated "from live /orders prices" [11].

What no longer works

The June 2–3, 2026 update removed several things older beginner guides rely on [7][2]:

  • AFK shards. Before the update, players earned 1 shard per minute in the AFK zone [12][6] and 10 shards per kill [12]. Donutpedia's update page says: "Shards can no longer be collected through AFK, and the AFK servers have been removed as a whole" [7]. Sources disagree on what replaced it. Donutpedia says shards "can only be obtained through purchase with real currency" [7]. The Minecraft Forum guide says every player gets 1 shard per 10 minutes of playing time [2].
  • Shard Shop spawners. In February 2026, every spawner cost 1,500 shards [12]. The Shard Shop no longer sells them [2].
  • /shop and the sell multiplier. /shop was removed [2], and so were the sell multiplier [7] and the /sellmulti command [7][2]. Before that, a February 2026 guide described a personal multiplier that "starts at 1.0x and climbs to 3.0x" as total sales grow [12].
  • Crates. Crates were removed [7][2].

See Gameplay features and History.

Rules to know

The official rules, last updated November 11, 2026, list using macros to "Automatically sell items" and "Using Macros to collect or do anything in spawners" as not allowed [13]. Auto-clickers, such as auto-clicking spawners, are also covered [13]. "Exchanging in-game items or services for real-world money, goods, services, or rewards is forbidden" [13]. Players are limited to "a maximum of 5 accounts per person" [13]. See Rules and Making money FAQ.

Money-Making Meta Over TimeHow the best ways to make money on DonutSMP changed from 2024 to the June 2026 update and the November 2026 tax.Farms That Make MoneyFarms DonutSMP players use to make money - kelp, cobblestone, gold, spawners and more - and where they sell the output.Making Money With SpawnersHow spawners make money on DonutSMP, how to get them after the June 2026 update, and what players reported earning.Where to Sell: /sell, Orders or Auction HouseWhen to use /sell, buy orders or the auction house on DonutSMP, how they are linked, and how the 2% tax affects each.

Sources

  1. Guide:Making money - Donutpedia (fan-run wiki, built June 3, 2026) - donutsmp-wiki.pages.dev
  2. DonutSMP Economy After the June Update: How I Make Money - Minecraft Forum - minecraftforum.net
  3. Orders - donutsmp.wiki (fan-run) - donutsmp.wiki
  4. How /orders works on DonutSMP: buy orders and /sell - DonutOrders (fan price tracker, November 12, 2026) - donutorders.com
  5. In-game test of the 2% tax, November 2026 - DonutOrders - donutorders.com
  6. I tried playing on Donutsmp!! (player blog, February 25, 2026) - note.com
  7. Shop removal update - Donutpedia source (GitHub, June 3, 2026) - github.com
  8. From $0 to $100 million in DonutSMP over the weekend (blog post, 2026-02-02) - blog.vjeux.com
  9. The best money farms on DonutSMP right now - DonutOrders (November 11, 2026, updated November 12, 2026) - donutorders.com
  10. donut.build - community DonutSMP schematic site (not affiliated) - donut.build
  11. DonutSMP money guides (live) - DonutOrders - donutorders.com
  12. DonutSMP and the Real-Money Economy (SoulFire blog, Feb 24, 2026, refreshed Apr 2026) - 15867255-soulfire-website.alexprogrammerde.workers.dev
  13. DonutSMP Rules (official, last updated November 11, 2026) - rules.donutsmp.net

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