Banned from Reddit 6 times, he built a tool for it — and sold it on X: $360 in month one
- $360
- Revenue, month 1
- $760
- Revenue, month 2
- Not disclosed
- Budget
- Not disclosed
- Duration
Arthur Yuzbashev's first two products died on Reddit: six bans, one BuildFast sale. He tracked what had triggered each ban, turned that into MediaFast — a tool for marketing on Reddit without getting banned — and sold it by sharing the story on X. Month one: $360; by January 2026: $5,400.
01The problem
He could build products, but every attempt to tell people about them on Reddit got him banned.
02The hypothesis
Being helpful in threads that ask for exactly your product is enough permission to mention it.
03The experiment
Product 1, an online library tool: banned twice, one user. Product 2, BuildFast (copy-paste React and Next.js animations): people were asking for exactly this in threads, but it made one sale and promoting it got him banned again. In total: six bans over about four months.
He then tracked every ban in a spreadsheet — subreddit, post, pacing, account age — and found patterns: smaller subreddits were more forgiving, each subreddit had its own tone, and commenting too much in a day triggered spam filters. That became MediaFast.
MediaFast's first sale came from someone he'd met on X, who bought the unfinished product. He kept sharing the story and his revenue on X.
04Results
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Revenue, month 1 | $360 |
| Revenue, month 2 | $760 |
| Reddit bansover about four months, previous products | 6 |
| BuildFast sales | 1 |
| Revenue, month 3 | $1,200 |
| Revenue, Jan 2026 | $5,400 |
| Spend | Not disclosed |
“Not disclosed” means the source doesn't say. We never estimate or fill in missing numbers.
05What worked — and what didn't
What worked
- Selling the lesson from the bans instead of fighting the bans
- Building in public on X — first sale from someone he'd met there
- Smaller subreddits, matching each one's tone, and slower pacing (what his tracking showed)
What didn't work
- Linking his products in Reddit threads that asked for them: banned
- Posting the same content in many subreddits: banned in 4 in one day
- Paying someone on Upwork to post for him: banned
- BuildFast: 1 sale
“Reddit was supposed to be free organic growth.”
06Source & evidence
- View original
Originally shared on Indie Hackers · Feb 3, 2026
After Reddit banned me 6 times — now that tool makes $5k/month
Public source. Extracted from publicly available content by the founder.
Want to try this?
Copy this experiment
A checklist built from what Arthur Yuzbashev actually did. Their numbers are a reference, not a promise.
- 1
Pick the channel and tactic
X (Twitter) — Sharing the ban story and revenue on X.
- 2
Set a budget cap
Arthur Yuzbashev didn't say what it cost. Decide your cap before you start.
- 3
Set an end date
Arthur Yuzbashev didn't say how long it ran. Pick a review date before you start.
- 4
Copy what worked
From Arthur Yuzbashev's experience:
- ☐Selling the lesson from the bans instead of fighting the bans
- ☐Building in public on X — first sale from someone he'd met there
- ☐Smaller subreddits, matching each one's tone, and slower pacing (what his tracking showed)
- 5
Avoid what didn't
Where it went wrong:
- ☐Linking his products in Reddit threads that asked for them: banned
- ☐Posting the same content in many subreddits: banned in 4 in one day
- ☐Paying someone on Upwork to post for him: banned
- ☐BuildFast: 1 sale
- 6
Track the same numbers
So you can compare like for like:
- ☐Revenue, month 1
- ☐Revenue, month 2
- ☐Reddit bans
- ☐BuildFast sales
- ☐Revenue, month 3
- ☐Revenue, Jan 2026
- 7
Compare, then share what happened
Arthur Yuzbashev's headline result: $360 revenue, month 1. Yours will differ — that's the point. Win or flop, the result is worth sharing.
Was this experiment useful?
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Arthur Yuzbashev hasn't published a step-by-step playbook. If enough readers ask, we'll ask Arthur Yuzbashev for one.
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