ParetoCentral: Get 1-Hour Consultation with the Expert Crowd

Here’s a crowdsourcing advice site that seems to have every possible charging opportunity covered.

Billed as a site that facilitates the coming together of advice seekers and willing consultants, the jargon and terms used could do with a consultant to decipher them but I’ll have a go. 

The concept itself is simple, you need some consultation and so you register and set out the details of your requirement. This is added to the ˈconsultant neededˈ listing and you’re then charged $25 whilst suitable consultants are alerted to your post.

If you happen to be a registered consultant with the site and are alerted to this case you may respond along with any other interested party. The choice of who to use is then solely down to the guy who wants the advice and if it’s you he’ll pay you directly. The website will then bill you for 10% of the fee charged.

Consultants can also register and post their services on what is termed the ˈConsulting Solutionˈ page where details of your areas of expertise are available for members to look at. The first post is free of charge but subsequent ones will cost you $50. It doesn’t stop there though and anyone responding to what is basically an advert for your services will trigger a referral fee of $25. Any fees generated as a consequence of this referral will also attract a 10% fee.

There doesn’t appear to be an area that escapes any sort of charging but it is a business and businesses need to make money I suppose. As for the terms and explanations used in the FAQ section, they could do with a re-write. It’s my job to review these sites I nearly gave up, if I was actually looking to avail myself of some consulting services I would have moved on very quickly.

Conclusion
For a simple concept this site makes it all look very confusing and it’s worth remembering that there are alternatives.