Thea T.

I just found this site and I am so excited about it. I just started tutoring the cutest 1st grader, and she made two requests: she wanted to learn about the planets and about amphibians, so I needed to find some material very quickly. I found this site and was able to download some appropriate worksheets to use in the lesson, and she was so happy and enthusiastic about the material, that I had to write this review. I can't wait to explore the site in more depth and see what other treasures I can find.

I have been a tutor with WyzAnt in a major metropolitan area for a year, and I have worked at least 10-15 hours a week almost since the very beginning. So I feel I have enough experience to review the company from a tutor's perspective.

First, the good:

1. WyzAnt offers tutors the ability to create a very detailed profile page that includes your picture, blog, videos, and detailed descriptions of the different subject areas you teach. They also include written testimonials from students. This means you don't have to have a separate website to advertise your work. Plus, they market you aggressively - just do a Google search for "tutor" and you will see WyzAnt's sponsored ads and very high position in Google search results.

2. You set your own rate and WyzAnt takes 40% at first, but as you get more and more hours, WyzAnt takes less and less of a cut. This is a great incentive to work your butt off and it feels really great to get a sudden pay increase after hitting 20 hours. Remember, if you are working 10 hours a week, it is not going to take long to get a pay increase. The pay increases schedule is as follows:

0-19 hours: you keep 60%
20-49 hours: you keep 65%
50-199 hours: you keep 70%
200-399 hours: you keep 75%
400 + hours: you keep 80%

The cut that WyzAnt takes may seem like a lot at first, but you get a lot of value for that price. I have my own website in addition to WyzAnt's website, but I get almost no inquiries from that site and I get at least 4 or 5 inquiries each week from my WyzAnt's profile.

3. WyzAnt makes sure that students submit billing information before they schedule a class, so you don't get burned. Some on this site have complained that this scares students away, and I am sure it does, but if they are so easily scared by the reality of having to pay, then it's probably best to let them go.

4. WyzAnt has recently improved the way they pay tutors, so you get your pay about five days after submitting the lesson, and you can get it by direct deposit.

Now, for the (very) bad:

1. WyzAnt does not make students pay in advance. So, if a student cancels 10 minutes before the lesson, or doesn't show up at all, then you get nothing. Unless you charge the student for the class anyway, which is your right. However, you run into the next problem...

2. WyzAnt allows students to leave anonymous ratings for every lesson, even when the student is charged for cancelling at the last minute or not showing up at all. So if you charge the student for the no-show, don't you think the student will retaliate by giving you the lowest rating possible? Of course! Who wouldn't do that if they were ticked off about being charged?!? I have talked to the company about this, and they really don't care. Their response is, "Go ahead and charge the student." If you say, "But won't the student retaliate?" they will answer, "Maybe." Thanks, WyzAnt, for caring.

3. Another problem with the anonymous review system is that students use it to get free hours from you or manipulate you into breaking your agreement with WyzAnt. I have had more than one student say that if I don't charge them for the first lesson, or if I do some editing at home for free, or if I do their math homework and send it back to them (again, for free), then they will make sure they give me good ratings and testimonials. The unspoken message here is that getting a good rating from them depends on my willingness to give them my time for free. When this happens, you feel that even if you don't want to make any deals with them, you still can't charge them for your time, because they will retaliate. This kind of situation has happened to me a few times. I always tell the company about this and their response? "Go ahead and charge the student." Uh, okay. Thanks, WyzAnt.

4. Can't you just deal with this by refusing to work with the student? Not if you want to stay on as a WyzAnt tutor. There are numerous horror stories floating around by people who got canned because they turned students down. If you want to stop working with a student, you have to be VERY careful how you do it, because the company monitors email very closely. They have a bad reputation for suddenly and inexplicably terminating tutor accounts for little or no apparent cause. So, it's best not to make this your only job.

5. Did I say that WyzAnt markets you aggressively? Well, that's not all good. WyzAnt will take any information you put in your profile and sell it to other sites, who will post fake profiles for you on their sites, as if you made the choice to register. Don't believe me? Check out Teach Street and you will see many WyzAnt tutors who probably don't know they are there. You can tell because if you click on their "website" link it will go directly to their WyzAnt profile. I found myself on that site and a few other websites and demanded that they take my profile down, but they refused. Why not just enjoy the added publicity? Because some of these other sites look shady, and your association with them makes you look shady, too. Also, some of them have policies regarding student ratings and reviews that you may not like. For instance, anyone can register as a student on Teach Street and leave you any reviews they want – they don't have to be your student. As a woman, this really creeps me out.

For me, the bad grossly outweighs the good, so I cannot recommend WyzAnt for people who are looking for a primary source of income. However, it is fine if you are only interested in working for about 10 hours a week, and you are okay with losing money on no-shows and late cancellations, and you are okay with the uncertainty of never knowing when WyzAnt will suddenly cut off this stream of income. Hey, until I can replace that 10 hours, I'm still working with them. (Or until I get canned. I'll keep you posted.)