Charlie K.

When Thumbtack was just becoming known a few years back there were approx 5 pros for every lead.
Because we hustled to be the best we received a fair share of business which made them a worthy investment at $3 per quote.
Fast forward two years and the leads have not increased yet the pro population has exploded to at last count 64 pros per lead in my area alone.

We stopped receiving even simple responses to quotes quite some time ago and found out it was because the few leads there are get inundated with quotes at lowball prices.

Thumbtack makes it's money from pros sending quotes out yet even the best qualified and lowest priced pros don't stand a chance against 63 other lowballing pros for the same lead.

TT claims they limit quotes to 5 per lead which I know is a flat out lie because my neighbor signed up as a customer and received over 40 bids within days on a job.

Even if I hadn't known this then simply do the math. 64+ pros in an area are paying $3 per quote to compete for the same lead yet TT supposedly only picks 5 out of the 64 to allow to send quotes?
Right!
How do they choose who gets to quote or who doesn't?
The claim is absurd. This would mean 59 pros who paid for block credits aren't even being exposed to what few leads come in. No matter how you slice it the math doesn't add up.

The worst part of all of this is TT promises the moon and deliberately does not let the new pros signing up know what they are up against because then obviously nobody in his right mind would sign up.

As Thumbtack income from pros increases the pros themselves make even less because the odds get even worse with every new pro joining.

They remind me of a multi level marketing pyramid scam where you made money back when they first started but now nobody but the owners make $ as it's grown.

It's simple. A bigger Thumbtack equals more pro competition, more income from pros but a zero increase in leads.
If you are in an unusual high demand specialty type business with little competition then you can get some business from TT but otherwise you are simply throwing your time and money away just to make Thumbtack richer.