Thumbtack.com

I just signed up on this site - looks like a good, free way to find some leads...

http://www.thumbtack.com/welcome?refer=mQ8IhcmyOY:dQg

Thumbtack isn't free, they charge you if you want to follow a lead. They used to be free, and will sometimes throw you a bone if you're the first to reply to a lead. However, I've found that even if I reply within a minute of the original email (when I catch them), somehow I'm not the first or second respondent, so they charge. YMMV.

Oh gee, I didn't see that. Thanks for the heads-up.

Gig salad free, thumbtack, party pop, and gig masters = not free.

That being said, I find gig masters and party pop give me nice leads

I might do Gig Masters (have yet to check the price on Party Pop). Not too impressed with Thumbtack. They do have a price per bid option but it's a little expensive and I think the inquiries get sent to multiple people. I've paid for a few leads on Thumbtack and so far... nothing. They also have a "less than one hour" option for the client to click and sorry, but I've got a one hour minimum.

I deleted my account on Thumbtack. It's not very ethical of them to advertise themselves as free when they aren't, first of all, but more and more it started to feel like a scam. I bid on a few leads and got nothing; it's not cool to be charged $6 without knowing anything about whether the client is serious or just hunting around looking for a $20/hr bottom-feeder. And they actually want me to put a button on my website linking back to them! Right, so that people who've already found me will track back to them, get to submit an inquiry to all my competitors, and then force me to pay them for a lead I could have gotten for free? No thanks.

I am agreeing with you. I've submitted bids but nothing. The ONLY leads I've had come through have been through GigSalad and I am a free member so far. I did pass a job and marked the reason being it's too expensive and the next lead fee was a few dollars cheaper. I wonder if they did that to entice me again. And yeah, the way the do the job request that it sends it out to a few people automatically ... I'm not sure if there is even a way you can request a specific artist through the site and most people don't realize that.

I see now too that GigSalad has incorporated a booking feature that actually charges the client (or you can opt to pay it) but it's a $15 dollar MINIMUM!! Fortunately they still display the contact info when provided so I can send a direct email but... come on...

I posted about my experience with Thumbtack a few days ago, I didn't see this thread until after I had posted it!

http://www.facepaintforum.com/t12864-first-gig-deposit-from-a-thumbtack-lead