Is it just me or does the information in that article contridict itself.  Would also be nice if there was some way to know up front what I am going to pay. I can't think of any other place where you agree to pay for advertising (or anything else really) and are notified after you've committed how much it will cost. ... View more

Attempting to clarify the costs of promotion. According to this article: https://help.thumbtack.com/article/promote-my-profile "You’ll only pay for these leads if you accept or express interest in the job. If you decline, you won’t pay a cent!" but  "You pay automatically for leads that match your preferences, whether you reply or not" Which is it? ... View more

Interesting, I just turned on promoted profile and within seconds I'm at the top of the results.  Still not sure how this works though. I'm only paying if someone contacts me and I respond correct? And I'm paying at a discounted rate correct? Am I paying for views or click through to my profile?   ... View more

@TinaBFoto TinaBfoto is spot on regarding specifying niche. I am also a phtographer and rely on niche photography to seperate myself from others. $30 on a $300 project is a lot to spend for opportunity to further clarify the project only to learn that they need something outside of your services.  ... View more

So should I take my questions to that discussion? Looking through it, I appear to have pretty much everything he says is needed for a high ranking profile.  Also not sure what good the "top pro" designation does other than the badge. If anything, I've seen a drop in good job leads since receiving the designation. That may be more due to slow season though. I will look into promotion. Other than that, I'm at a loss for what can be done to improve ranking. Especially when the top spot is a basement/bargain priced business with only one review, a one sentence introduction to his business and three answered FAQs.  Thanks for your help.  ... View more

From everything I see on Thumbtack, my profile should be optomized as well as can be - top pro, great value tag, more reviews than competition (some above me with only one review), pricing listed, and a fully developed profile. So with a rank of 5 out of 10, that means at least four are promoting their business (#2 has many more reviews than anyone else in the top ten)? So how does the ranking work when many promot their business. Does it come down to bidding like with Google Adwords? Does not responding vs. passing have any affect? I do see very few jobs coming through Thumbtack. I do have a few categories that I don't really do but leave open for the right opportunity. Of course, they seem to produce the most job leads (not direct contacts but requests for bids). Many of these jobs I just don't respond. I'm afraid if I pass on jobs, I won't get simular leads in the future. There are many I pass by as they do not appear to be a good fit and I don't want to pay to explore further only to find out it really isn't a good fit. The cost per lead tends to run at more than 10% of the job price wich is very high for a high risk opportunity (ie. not enough info in the lead). In my time on Thumbtack, I think that I've maybe had 2-3 direct requests if that. Maybe only one which converted to a job.  Is there any way we can see analytics (ie. how many inquiries for different services) so that we can better analyze the value of Thumbtack and how to better optimize our profiles? Thanks again.    ... View more

Is there any way to tell if when someone is promoting their business? Looking at the search results (as a potential client) I am the only "top pro" in the list of 10 that come up with the google "Top Ten" link and I have more reviews than all but one ahead of me yet I am ranked yet I come up #5 on the list. The person below me has one more review than I do. I also have the "Great Value" tag as does one other business ahead of mine. the others don't have any tags.  The top return only has one review but a very low price so maybe price is the reason for the high ranking? However, there is another with only two review and no price listed so that doesn't make sense. Any way to tell if it's the promotions that are moving them to the top?  I'm interested in promoting my business but I'm concerned as the quality of leads that I get now are all over the place. Some are in regions where I can't work due to local laws, others are very vague as to what they need. Thanks for any help. ... View more

This news is so frustrating. I am now paying around 6x to talk to a customer than what I did prior to the change in how fees were assessed. Worse, I don't know what I will pay until after the customer responds and then only if I log in and track down the charges.  Now we are being told that client budgets will not be visable. Thumbtack owns the search engine rankings with a deceptive heading reading "Top Ten _ in [your city]" Follow the link and next thing you know you've submitted a request for services--no top ten list to be found. This results in many requests from people who are just testing the waters not near ready to buy.  Bid requests are very limited in detail as it is. With the new system, you are making it evern worse and if the person responde with a follow up quote, we get charged $20? $30? (Who knows?). Without seeing the budget and with very limited descriptions of the details of the project, it is becoming almost impossible to determine if the client is a serious buyer or not.  No question requests have decreased since the pricing changes and I am much more reluctant to bid on the one's that do come through as it is such an expensive gamble. Add in the fact that as a drone photographer, my services are highly regulated by geographical location and there are specific areas I can't serve and Thumbtack bids are no longer in my best intersests. In another thread, "Marco" refers to people making bid requests as their customer. Your customers are the pros who pay for your service and without them your service dies.  Hope these changes are recognized as they failed attempt they are and you go back to serving your "customers" first.     ... View more