Early ChatGPT Gold Rush Revisited: WeChat GPT Bots Charged up to 900 RMB/Year per User
gefei55 · x · 2026-10-13
Chinese indie-maker community figure "Gefei" looks back at the early ChatGPT monetization wave and launches a new essay contest: 43 participants, 552 "investors," and a 58,500 coffee-bean prize pool, with rewards scaling by orders (100 RMB for 1 order, 2,000 RMB for 20+).
- He found ChatGPT on Dec 3, 2022, and posted "15 ways to monetize ChatGPT" three days later.
- Friends plugged GPT APIs into WeChat official accounts, charging per message with plans up to 900 RMB/year; they dominated WeChat search results for ChatGPT/GPT.
- They later built mini-programs, H5 pages and customer-service-message bots; his rapid-fire posting grew his following from 2K to 20K in half a year.
Related event: GeiFei Reflects on Three Years of ChatGPT Monetization(2 posts)→
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