Guide for advisors
Step-by-step guide for setting yourself up as a Skype Prime advisor, plus advice on deciding your charges, advertising your service and how to handle a call.
Become an advisor
You can apply to be a Skype Prime advisor if you are over 18 years old and have recognised experience and/or qualifications in the service you are providing.
Set up a PayPal account
This is how Skype Prime sends you your earnings. Make sure you can withdraw your earnings from PayPal to your in-country bank account.
Download the latest version of Skype
It's free and easy to download.
Open Skype and go to Account > Earn money with Skype Prime
Follow the instructions and agree to Skype's Service Provider Agreement.
Name your service and how much you wish to charge
Choose a per-minute fee or a charge per call. You can also charge different rates for different services. To add additional services, click on the Add More Services button. You can always go back and edit, add or delete services later.
Create your directory listing
Choose the language you offer the service in, say whether you offer video, and add a description of your service. Include any relevant qualifications and experience, plus when you're available. If you're already an advisor, open Skype and go to Directory > Skype Prime > Create Directory Listing.
Pricing your service just right
Skype Prime is a brand new marketplace and there is no proven charging scheme. Categories of services and target groups are different, so we recommend you experiment before settling on the price of your service. There is no better way than to test what works best for your services and clients.
You can adjust the price of your service at any time to offer loyalty discounts to repeat callers or for special trial offers to encourage new business.
How to handle a call
When an interested customer calls you, answer, then you'll see a Charge button on your Call tab. Simply click it, then choose the service you want to offer from your dropdown menu, plus the fee for the service. Click the Request button to send a message to the caller to agree the rate. Once they have accepted, you'll see a message telling you that payment has started. If the caller is interested in other services you offer, you can change the service during the call.
Skype will let you know if a call fee is affected in any way, for example if the caller does not have enough
credit to continue paying for the call.
Advertising your service
Updating your mood and/or voicemail in Skype are easy first steps to marketing your service. Include details of your service, plus the hours you'll be online. You can also add Skype buttons to your email signature, blog or web pages, so people can get in touch directly from a message or web page.
You might even do a web search for your field of expertise and find sites you can add your own content to – for example add posts to relevant blogs or forums. You could also consider paid search or search engine marketing (SEM).
Receiving your money
The Service Fee is what you earn from calls to your Skype Prime service. It's the total charge of each call (less any refunds, charge backs
or taxes), minus the percentage Skype takes to cover handling and administration costs, plus fraud checking.
See what Skype takes in commission.
Your earnings will be paid into your PayPal account approximately four months after each service call, once a month on or before the 15th.
This is currently how long it takes Skype to check details and make sure there is no fraudulent activity, although we are working on
ways to reduce this.
Withdrawing your money
To withdraw money from your PayPal account into your bank account, please see details on the PayPal website.