Wyzant Wyzant: Why having high ranked tutors is bad for business Chicago Illinois

My passion is in education. I quit a c-level corporate at 24 to start teaching, dismayed by the greed in corporate cultures.

I had signed up with Wyzant to "get started". I quickly became one of the highest reviewed tutors in my area. I was the only one in my area with a perfect 5 star review for all of my lessons. Suddenly, without warning, one of my student's parents gets a call from their representatives. Wyzant billed her close to double what I had authorized on wyzant. I protested the charge on behalf of the parent, and they literally tried every trick in the book to close my account, and eventually found a clause to do so. I was confused as to why, as I was the top ranked tutor in their area.

After going back and forth with their representatives, I searched through their site and realized that many of the other high ranked tutors in my area had also been removed. I asked a friend through a back channel what happened:Wyzant makes little to no money off of good tutors. They make money off of new tutors.

They offer "bulk purchase discounts" ranging from 5% to 15%. With the average student saving 7% (they claim) Calculated with a 2.5% CC processing fee:

• First 20 hours @ $35/hour: 10.68 commission/hour. Wyzant takes $213.5 in this stage.
• Next 20-50 hours @ $40/hour: 10.2 commission/hour. Wyzant takes $306 in this stage.
• Next 50-200 hours @ 45/hour: 9.22 commission/hour. Wyzant takes $1383.75 in this stage.
• Next 200-400 hours @ 50/hour: 7.75 commission/hour. Wyzant takes $1500 in this stage.

Before you reach the 20% commission mark, they take around $3.453.25

But what happens when you become a "great tutor"? Parents buy larger packages (15% discount). Wyzant takes only 2.5% (20% - 15% discount - 2.5% cc fees)

• Hypothetically, Next 400-800 hours @ 80/hour, wyzant takes only $2/hour. The next 400 hours, Wyzant takes only $800.

They sprinkle a few high ranked tutors in with all of the rest of the "new" tutors. (probably/hypothetically ones who do not encourage parents to purchase discount packages) Its saddening. The one reason why I left corporate was greed, and I end up right back where I started. Very sad... SSDY 

TLDR: Having a high performance teachers on Wyzant is bad for business.