Skype Prime™ Beta — introducing the global expertise marketplace
Today, we put out an update of Skype 3.1 beta for Windows. [Download here.](http://www.skype.com/go/windows-beta) It contains the typical bugfixes and such from the previous release -- thanks to everyone who's been helping us with the reports. Keep them coming.
In this version, though, there's one new feature that deserves more attention, since I believe it is really important, interesting, useful and fun. That's a lot, I know. But bear with me. The feature is **Skype Prime Beta**. And I think it's one of the most important innovative things that Skype has put out in quite a while.
### What is Skype Prime?
In short, it enables paid Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls. You can charge other people for calling you either a one-off fee or by the minute. Conversely, if you are the caller, you can call experts who charge for their services, and you can then pay the fee and access the expertise that the other call party provides.
Ever since Skype came out, and especially since SkypeOut was launched a bit less than three years ago and Skype first moved into the paid products space, you have been asking for this kind of feature, in addition to our free voice and video calls. "Skype is great for free high-quality voice and video, but every once in a while, I'd like to charge for my calls." I'm happy to finally see us rolling this out, and I'm sure it will enable a whole new range of businesses. So nothing will change in our free global Skype-to-Skype calling, but on top of it, you can now have paid calls if you want.
Continue reading "Skype Prime™ Beta — introducing the global expertise marketplace" »
bryanbartow commented Wednesday, Mar 7
This feature is a long time coming. I predicted this would happen some time ago, when Ether started a similar service. All that's left to be done is for the seller to be able to create a virtual presence on eBay from which to sell the services. Can't wait to test Skype Prime.
clarity99 commented Wednesday, Mar 7
This is an excellent new addition! What would be nice though, is to also support a system like MoneyBookers which is quite popular in Europe and supports many more countries than paypal, or at least also have the option of money going towards your Skype credit.
nicwilliams commented Thursday, Mar 8
30% fee for providing the service seems excessive. Do you think a $100/hr consultant wants to pay $30/hr for connectivity + billing system? I think its a difficult notion to accept.
mattkrause commented Thursday, Mar 8
I think this is a great service, and especially if they can hook it up with Moneybookers too, it'll have much more global usefulness than if it's PayPal only.
As for the 30% commission, yeah, that is a definite show stopper. It's hard to imagine who on earth would use a service that charges a 30% commission. But let's see who comes to the show. The rest of us will just continue using other methods.
jfesslmeier commented Thursday, Mar 8
Interesting. Are you planning to release APIs to manage Prime service from my own site as well?
dusoft_ commented Thursday, Mar 8
We have put short intro on how Skype Prime will help online business and small business owners selling online: http://pizzaseo.com/internet-marketing-through-skype-prime
rudy.vandenbelt commented Friday, Mar 9
You guys should just call this service what it will become anyways.... Skype video sex!
cg.cdegroot.com commented Saturday, Mar 10
The 30% might seem high, but the POTS companies usually want 50%...
@rudy: no doubt that this'll be the major use 
. But still... when I was a consultant I was dying for something like this, and the POTS companies couldn't set me up without unreasonable cost *nor* did they have high enough per-minute rates (in the Netherlands) to allow me to make a decent income. I wouldn't think twice to use this service if I were still self-employed atm.
benayount commented Saturday, Mar 17
Very nice and long anticipated.
I would argue however that without a proper controlled rating system, Prime will quickly become scammers nest. The importance of a rating system to score providers performance is super critical in situations, or unless will quickly sink the huge potential Prime has.
--Tzachi
elvisrj commented Tuesday, Apr 17
I hope Skype Prime will soon be released in a Mac version!! I'm anxious to be a provider!!!!
stellamaxwell commented Monday, May 21
I too hope Skype Prime will soon be released in a Mac version. I really appreciate any efforts on behalf of skype to provide services to all users !!!!
mikao_usui commented Friday, Jun 1
The 30 % fee seems very high, but I still think that Prime is a great option for providers that don't sell a lot. Most payment systems charge a high monthly fee, making it totally uninteresting for somebody that sells something just once in a while. With Prime you only pay when it's used. Seems fair, even if the fee is rather high.
aldomarsiliovespone commented Wednesday, Jul 4
If Skype company charge only 1 or 2 % soon this will became a good way to start a payed consulting system. 30% is very high and it is not good.
I know that the other companies charge 50% ( 906 calls in USA and 899 in ITaly ) and I think they are crazy as well or more than Skype Company.
Then, hey Skype staff? Are you becoming crazy?
This 30% will abort this new good idea of Skype users for receiving payed calls.
Then Skype staff: " Go to study Marketing"
the_x_ister commented Monday, Jul 16
I could see this being very useful if you're a tutor or providing a tutorial service of some sort. I have thought of teaching Photoshop to people before, and if I could do it online that would be great! You could also set up your own tech support service through this.
tokyobobcat commented Friday, Aug 17
I like this new addition to Skype, because as an English tutor I can now use Skype, like I have been doing, to help people but now I can actually get paid for it too, and reach a much larger community.
Thanks Skype!!
Now the only thing that I wish you could do is add this feature to the chat function, that way I can help people who either do not have a mic, are in a situation where they can't communicate with one, or they would much rather just chat because their English is not so good. No matter how you look at this is a great feature to add to Skype.
spikesskype commented Saturday, Sep 1
Sounds good in theory, though in any case I will have to wait for a Mac version. It would be interesting to know what percentage of peopel use this service for personal calls as opposed to, say, giving professional advice via Skype. I agree 30% is high and although it wouldn't put me off completely, it will make me look at alternatives. Good luck everybody.
rossthacker commented Saturday, Oct 27
I just saw the charging details. Who is going to want to wait 4 months in arrears for their earnings to be transfered to their paypal accounts, which (in the UK) take a further 5 working days to transfer to their normal bank accounts. I think this system is unfair to the service provider here.
Also I noticed that the caller seems to have more of a say than the service provider. If a caller can reject the payment of a call what is to stop them gaining the information they want then just cancelling the call. How is the service provider protected against this?
Otherwise I like the idea and would sign up if not for the terrible one-sided approach. Skype please try to make this great tool more accessible and fair.
alneeno commented Sunday, Mar 9
I predict that, along with the fantastic concept that was Second Life, Skype will become overrun with porn!
What a shame.
soraya.galan commented Saturday, May 3
I hope that the Skype Beta could be a better way to comunication between people of different countries.
I congrat' the Skype equipment for all the interest to be a better company each day.
georgekearse commented Monday, Jun 30
Wow. Paid video calls with Skype Prime. I can see the live webcam porn sites falling over each other to sign up for this !
heath.olive commented Thursday, Jul 9
In many ways, I think this could be a fabulous tool for online teaching and, as a teacher, I'm very interested to see how it develops. The main thing that impressed me was the inclusion of video which could make a lot more subjects feasable for online delivery.
I would be interested to know if the conference call option will eventually be incorporated into the service, allowing one teacher to teach a number of clients at once.
Also, the ability to also be able to offer supporting documents (handouts) would be very useful too.
Can anyone tell me if there are any plans to offer an alternative model for charging instead of per minute? I can imagine it being very frustrating for a pupil if the teacher gets cut off, mid topic.