Let's talk about our pricing

[HappyPaws]

I am not a fan of the current method. I used to be able to know my cost of acquisition for a new client. It's very hard to predict the value of a client in our first conversation. As dog walkers/pet sitters, our engagement could be a single time with a charge of $20 to $95 or it could be for on-going services 5 days a week indefinitely at $85 per week. In most quotes, I'm guessing at what the client is looking for, and I'm willing to risk a short service because I knew over time that my average cost of acquisition would be low. Now I just don't have any clue what I'm paying for what. Not able to predict costs at all. That's tough for a very small business owner. About the same time this pricing change occurred, the geographic area that you send requests for seemed to change dramatically. I'm getting fewer from my close in area, and way more from place far too remote to make it worthwhile to drive for a $20 dog walk. And how you would ever be able to instant match with your poor geographic predictions and lack of knowledge of how we customize our quotes is just beyond me. I know this went beyond the scope of your question, but I was initially so happy with Thumbtack, and am now looking at other alternatives.

[electricaljdg]

Confusion on pricing for me comes down to the amount of other competitive qoutes Why is it i pay the same amount if there are 3 bidders as when there are 15 bidders if you make the chances of winning a job change on each lead then why doninpay the same no matter what If i was competiting against 4 others bidders i have a 20% chance of winning (obvoiusly i know based on my price whether winning percentage goes up or down) compared when there are 9 other bidders and a 10% chance I understand this is a business and money is everyones focus but i still i never know how many other bidders i am competiting with until after the time has been expired on the contract

[PaintingSmiles]

Hi there,

I use Thumbtack quite a bit - I'd say daily and the main thing I don't agree with or like about having to pay dependant on a potential client contacting you, is that the associated fees are not consistent with the quoted amount. How can this be fair? I'm looking at my payment history right now and for 3 differnt quotes of the same $150 price, I have 3 different fees I paid - $19.07, $20.03 and $24.70. Fees should be the same percentage of the quotes price - it doesn't make sense that I had ot pay different fees for the same potential earnings. I also have observed instances where I've had to pay MORE for quotes that were less than others, i.e. for a $200 quote I paid $18.02 and for a $150 quote I had to pay up to $24.70.

Again, this doesn't make sense, is inconsistent and not fair. I'd appreciate if this changed. You can't charge someone arbitrarily or higher for less.

Thanks for reading,

Painting Smiles by Melissa

[CN]

The first time I took a lead I had no idea how much I would be paying for that lead.  I paid for the lead and didn't even get a response back.  I have not accepted another lead that I was unsure how much I would be charged because I could not tell if 1) it was a quality lead and 2) how much I'd be billed for that lead.  Recently I was offered a lead that I could pay $5 for.  I still wasn't sure if I was wasting 5 bucks or not, but I figured I would try it.  Honestly, paying for leads without knowing in advance what the lead will cost is like handing someone a credit card and letting them go shopping on it.  I'm not into that.  So... I will only accept leads if I know how much they are in advance.

[Lmhi]

Well! Thumbtack is raising prices very quickly. I paid $3. 87 first contact about 9 months ago then it went up to $8.00 then $11 something and finally a week ago it went to almost $15 per lead for the same type of the job which is just repairs not new a construction. I am not talking about bigger jobs, you guys charge from $25 to $70 per contact. Contractors are struggling to keep going and you guys are making it harder because you only put the wight on one side (us). I am sending quotes for customers who will reply once,enough to spend my money, then they disappear. I have had one job with thumbtack so far out of hundred quotes. I spend money but I am not making money. Plus, your rates are hight, very high compared to the job type, $18.00 to repair a little hole in a concrete slab is a very high rate. I have received a reply from the customer about a job then he canceled right away,same day and he texted me saying no thanks! You still charged me for that. I will have to call to figure this out. I think it should be mandatory for a customer to provide a valid phone number or email address to get hold of them, in case they respond once and they disappear. Plus, it is as important to have the client aware of the fact that contractors are paying to get them, not for free. They should know,that will make them understand the process.
Finally, thumbtack as is raising prices like 500 % in 9 months, should think seriously about the consequences of losing these contractors.
Valuable and not valuable that will be determined when the contractor takes a look at the job. Sometimes customers are not exactly talking about what they listed on thumbtack..
I am saying this out of a solid ground, dealing with customers every day. Make it easier and fair thumbtack!

[gigilee]

Hi! I just wish I got a notification saying, “ Hey Bob responded to your quote, your quote charge is $17.56 “
Just as a reminder, so I don’t have to go search for the quote amount or look at my bank statement.

[dano3276]

I read through 10 or so responses and I feel the same. When I started using Thumbtack a couple years ago I loved it. Now, I don't care for it much at all. The pricing went through the roof and I get fewer jobs. It's definitely not cost effective. I do not like Instant Match at all. I would much rather send my own quotes. I used to run my small business completely off of Thumbtack. In the last 3 months I've went back to Craigslist and social media and now do most of my jobs that way and only about 10-20% from Thumbtack. Craigslist is only $5 a month with no lead charge and social media is free. What I liked most about Thumbtack was knowing the details of the job before showing up for an estimate. But with the high cost and low return, I've gone back to taking "cold calls". Thumbtack used to be great. 2 years ago I raved about it and would give it 100% satisfaction. Today I give it about 20% satisfaction. My wife complains every time she looks at our bank account and sees Thumbtack charges and asks how many of those turned into jobs and it's usually only about 2 out of 10. It has really went down hill and I will probably close my account soon.

[Joespin]

The prices have increased dramatically, my jobs are only 3 to 5 hours and your charging me almost an hours pay , sometimes the customer is just looking for ideas or information and go elsewhere and I get charged, don't mind paying a fee for a lead but your rates are to high. Charge the pro that gets the job the higher rate and a small fee to other pros that respond if they get a response (a few dollars ) . My cost went from an average of about 20.00 to 40.00 per month to 99.00 , not cool

[Doug1]

I stopped replying to many leads because the pricing fluctuates and it doesn't make sense. I was getting a bunch of free leads because there were no pros in my area for certain jobs and that went away. I feel that this service is not really useful anymore

[Doug1]

Unfortunately, the feedback we are all giving will probably just fall on deaf ears