Has anyone used Bark.com ?

[Ian L]

Just wondering if anyone here uses bark.com to get leads? I signed up with bark and with thumbtack.com at around the same time. It seems like the lead prices on bark are overpriced in my opinion.

Got an email from bark the other day for someone who needed a house photographed that's being sold. Bark wanted $24 to contact the lead. No way of knowing the exact details of the job since you can't ask any questions without paying. From the information given I'd guess it would have been a $150 job. If it turned into a repeat client, that's not bad. But there's no way of know if it was a realtor, or someone selling their own house. and they will give this lead to up to 5 photographers.

The costs of leads for similar jobs on thumbtack ranges from $6 to $15. The average price is probably around $12.

Just wondering if anyone uses bark, or a similar service. What's your luck like in terms of costs of getting a client and the revenue you get ?

 

[cSalmon]

run away!!!

those sites are just out to scam photographers and talk about spam if you naively answer one of their emails "I've got a client looking for a photographer..." Well I've got to throw this email address away, thanks

Even if they were legit they push the photographers into the ridiculously low pricing category

run away!!!

 

[Ian L]

run away!!!

those sites are just out to scam photographers and talk about spam if you naively answer one of their emails "I've got a client looking for a photographer..." Well I've got to throw this email address away, thanks

Even if they were legit they push the photographers into the ridiculously low pricing category

run away!!!

Have you actually used either of them? Because I do use thumbtack and i generally find them to be pretty fair. I definitely would not say thumbtack is a scam. Like i said, leads on thumbtack generally cost about $10-$12. Of course you don't always get the lead since they sometimes choose someone else. So i guess the real cost is maybe dbl that if you average in the leads you pay for but don't get. But I have gotten several repeat clients from them so those definitely were worth it. And they let you set whatever price you want.

 

[cSalmon]

yes and no, no I did not sign up with them but yes they actively sought me out trying to “give” me work only to have numerous emails leads that were so ridiculously low. Plus I am 100 % convinced spam into my email went up astronomical after replying to barks email.

what are your typical rates to clam thumbtack is good for your business? If all the clients see the site at a certain super low level then what good does it do to set a fair price it’s just a massive waste of time, bad branding on your business to be associated there and I’m convinced they are also selling your info to the spambots.

Without seeing your website how do we know you’re not trying to drum up business for those sites?

 

[Ian L]

yes and no, no I did not sign up with them but yes they actively sought me out trying to “give” me work only to have numerous emails leads that were so ridiculously low. Plus I am 100 % convinced spam into my email went up astronomical after replying to barks email.

what are your typical rates to clam thumbtack is good for your business? If all the clients see the site at a certain super low level then what good does it do to set a fair price it’s just a massive waste of time, bad branding on your business to be associated there and I’m convinced they are also selling your info to the spambots.

Without seeing your website how do we know you’re not trying to drum up business for those sites?

You're making a lot of assumptions without much to back it up. I dont know if bark is selling peoples info or not. I myself haven't noticed any increased spam since i signed up with them. Same with thumbtack.

I dont remember if bark sought me out, or if i just signed up with them.

It's only a waste of time IMO if you don't get any clients through it. And I've gotten clients through thumbtack. And i don't charge any less on thumbtack then I do for people who contact me directly. Bark though was a waste of time for me. Maybe i got hired once or twice, i don't remember anymore. I stopped paying for any leads from them over a year ago. But I know the amount of money i spent just to try and contact a lead wasn't worth it. I also don't see thumbtack as bad branding - for me i see it as the opposite since people can leave customer reviews there and for me that's a positive. I suppose they could leave reviews on yelp as well. But yelp hasn't been of much use to me. And their ad costs are ridiculously high and their customer support is horrible.

As for me drumming up business for bark - well, it would be a pretty bad way to drum up business claiming bark isn't worth the price. As for thumbtack - i do consider them to be worth using so if that sounds like me advertising for thumbtack, I don't know what else to say. But you sound just a bit paranoid. You can look through my other posts if you like. I don't think I've ever mentioned thumbtack or bark in any of my previous posts. And I don't list my website because I don't want to be accused of self-advertising. Plus i don't know what my website would prove anyhow. It's not like if i don't have anything about bark or thumbtack on my site that would prove I'm not some shill for them.

I just wanted some feedback from someone who had actually used bark since i can't see how they are in business. Charging as much as they do for leads i can't imagine any photographer really makes money using them.

 

[imprfdbk]

Garbage, and scammers

They scammed me

They stole money from me

Charged my card with no permission

They give you lots of small text to agree then they keep on charging your card with no permission

They give you fake deals as well

Att Bark if you need more info about this after yow didn’t resolve my issue by email now it is your turn reach out to me at https://prnt.sc/11avyj7

 

[Ian L]

Garbage, and scammers

They scammed me

They stole money from me

Charged my card with no permission

They give you lots of small text to agree then they keep on charging your card with no permission

They give you fake deals as well

Att Bark if you need more info about this after yow didn’t resolve my issue by email now it is your turn reach out to me at https://prnt.sc/11avyj7

I kinda doubt anyone from bark is going to reply here - also if i were you, I wouldn't post your phone number publically like that.

 

[Fred-Garvin]

Bark started spamming me with emails. I do know about these guys and the reality of their “service” if you can call it that. So I answered an email with:

“I have no issues with you forwarding my information to potential clients. If they contact me, book a job, and then pay me, I will send you 10% of the paid total.

This is the ONLY way this will work. I will not pay you any money in advance, pay for any access to potential clients, or make any initial client contact.

If this does not meet your expectations, please remove me from your mailing list.”

I got a response back:

“Thanks for getting in touch! We have now removed you from our system and will not email you with business opportunities again.

If you do change your mind then you can sign up any time as a Pro at Bark.com and choose exactly which types of leads you want to hear about.”

LOL.....

 

[Ian L]

But you've never actually used them?

 

[Mark_Zilberman]

Fyi, their guarentee is worthless. I paid $216 USD for 150 credits. They said if I didn't get any jobs with this allotment they'd give me 150 more. I got down to 6 credits. All their leads cost 11 or 12 credits. When, I requested the refill they said I must use ALL the credits first. It's impossible to use all the credits because the numbers 11 or 12 do not divide evenly into 150. And, of course, they know that. So, it's a scam.

 

[mel hill photography]

I shoot headshots in Denver and have been a Bark customer for about 2 years. In my market it appears to be a race to the bottom! I get 5 to 10 headshot job opportunities every week and respond to a maybe one a week.

The larger headshot jobs for companies get 4-5 photographers responding at a cost of mid $20's for the lead and I've quoted plenty of them and in all but a case or two my price is DOUBLE what the lowballer is charging. I'm not charging that much as an example I bid on a 10 people, 2 hours shooting and 2 hours edit $800 out the door.

Did not get the job but had a conversation with the buyer and he told me the job went for $400 and he knew my work was better yet he really did not care, he just wanted cheap headshots...

The biggest problem with Bark is the clients they attract are mostly clueless!

Plenty of Administrative Assistant get the assignment to get the headshots done and they don't really care about quality of light or subtle retouching etc... just how fast can I be done with this and how cheap can I get it done.

More typically, the $20 lead cost for a solo headshot for LinkedIn is not worth is as I charge $125-150 and I only respond when I can see that the client is fairly close to my studio.

Total crap shoot

BUT! I booked a corporate shoot for 12 folks and got a decent price and they hire me once a quarter to photograph the new hires.

I've made more from Bark than I've spent on buying the leads.

When I've purchased a lead that for various reason listed below* I've contacted Bark and had the credits returned to me so IMHO they are not scammers..

*voicemail box full, can't leave a message

*client is local but the job is in a different market

*phone # provided by client as point of contact does not work

 

[Ian L]

Fyi, their guarentee is worthless. I paid $216 USD for 150 credits. They said if I didn't get any jobs with this allotment they'd give me 150 more. I got down to 6 credits. All their leads cost 11 or 12 credits. When, I requested the refill they said I must use ALL the credits first. It's impossible to use all the credits because the numbers 11 or 12 do not divide evenly into 150. And, of course, they know that. So, it's a scam.

That does seem kinda scammy. Can you buy an additional 10 credits just so you can use up the initial 150? Or would you then have to use up the 10 you bought? Did you point out to them you can't use just 6 credits?

I've been using thumbtack instead. I was happy with it when I first started. But they have consistently made incremental changes to the service that have made it worse. Used to be if someone didn't read your message you'd get a refund for that lead. Then they started including phone numbers with the lead so they stopped giving refunds for unread messages saying you could call them instead.

I really REALLY hate the sites where you ask for a free quote and immediately get 3-4 phone calls. I can't imagine most people using thumbtack want a bunch of photographers immediately calling them as soon as they submit a request. Plus if I'm in the middle of a shoot I'm not going to stop to have a phone conversation.

They've done other changes as well. They always spin them as being better, but they always just wind up making it overall more expensive.

It might still be of use, depending on how busy the market is in your area. But if it's highly competitive I have a feeling you'd burn a lot of money just to get one client.