One fan discovered the hard way that the donation box is not worth the effort, despite earning 101k bells back from selling it when it was a hot item.
Some players might've missed this item before, hidden away in the Nook Stop ATM as a DIY recipe that can be crafted. When others interact with the finished item, they're able to leave a donation of 1,000 bells to whoever owns it, allowing others to thank those they have visited in a fun and cute way.
There's a little more to the donation box though, as the player Afraid_Tiger_4798 learned when selling a donation box as a «hot item of the day» at Nook's Cranny.
Allowing players to double their money when selling an item selected on these days, players that get lucky with it as one of the options will look to fill the donation box fully with 99k bells as to make a return of 200k bells.
But this gamer underestimated just how long of a task this would be, as the game forces players to deposit only 1,000 bells at a time: Earning 101k bells sounds like it would be worth the effort in especially just for selling a «hot item» and essentially getting free money back in return.