I looked at gigmasters from the positive that if you do not book at least you have the lead to follow up with next year! Problem...this guy is eating up gigs quickly on there (I heard he was home of the 100$ magic show) I was responding to a gig I got today....while quoting my price...the gig became unavaliable. Not that I have a problem with this guy getting shows...the problem is that when he eats up the gig before I have the opporutnity to respond...I no longer have the clients information avaliable to me for next year!

The early bird gets the worm and the client get a worm... hmmm

Don’t feel bad Charles, the exact same thing has happened to me. I think the smart ones are picking up the phone right away and closing the sale. Curtis is right, the early bird gets the worm.

Since selling myself on the phone is not a particular strong point of mine, I am reconsidering my affiliation with GigMasters. Plus, after a good start, I'm having a bit of a dry spell with GigMasters.

I think a lot of us are having a dry spell with Gigmasters, well all of us who charge more than $100 for a show!

I've had several inquiries for shows next spring and summer from Gigmasters, but only one for the holiday season and I was already booked for that date so I didn't bid. I'm getting more business off of my website, people finding me through Google than I am from Gigmasters.

None of my Gigmaster bids are less than $100, in fact they are all quite a bit more. I bid, the client looks, then I hear nothing. I think you are right that someone is low-balling. I do not intend to lower my prices due to this. My recent bookings are all from referrals and networking.

I agree. In my area there are few performers who have been lowballing. If they want to work that hard for that little, then the client gets what they deserve- a tired overworked hack.

I got two gigs during the nine months I was on Gigmasters. One for $900 (30-minute parlour show) and another for $1,000 (30-minute close-up show plus 30 mins. strolling)

I quit because although Gigmasters made me a profit, I didn't like being lumped together with some of the really poor-quality magicians on the site. It was almost impossible to charge what I was worth when local Los Angeles hacks were charging 30% of my rates.

For every gig I booked, I responded to dozens that didn't. It was a waste of my time and I decided to put my financial and time resources elsewhere.

Adwords and SEO are a better investment, IMHO.

By the way,

I'm not knocking people on Gigmasters. Some of the magicians on the site are FANTASTIC.

I'm just pointing out what we already agree upon - that the lowballers are of iffy quality and make getting gigs on the site a hard thing to do.

Sometimes I bid more then I would normally ask for and get the gig.
some clients are afriad of cheap entertainers. some just want a low price.

I did it for about 6 months and then realized how bad it is on multiple levels ....I'm not a fan ...

People forget....

Not everyone goes for the cheapest or the most costly.... However, people select what is with-in their budget and what fits their taste at the moment....

Although, I have noticed. If I want the gig, I usually have to lower my normal fee a bit... However, overall Gigmasters does pretty well. Plus, some people will find you on Gigmasters and Google you....

:)

I have booked four/five gigs from their recently... $900, $1400, $600 and $1200 PARLOR OR CLOSE UP....

But, money should not be the only factor in booking the event.... Keep in mind. The more you you perform more people you meet.... More people you meet more shows you can book!

All gigmasters is doing is using Google Adwords and other thing you can pay for youself and then marking it up and charging you or your client depending on how you do it 5 percent of what you charge..

But, Gigmasters brings in lots of work in the long run!

Plus, some clients do not realize it is a advertisement- listing site.

They have very good SEO, it's not just Adwords. I have excellent SEO and my site outranks Gigmasters for my keywords, however I still list with Gigmasters. While there are times people find me in both places - meaning my site and Gigmasters, Gigmasters does present me the chance to bid on gigs that never came to my site. I pay the $60 every 3 months - it's hardly breaking the bank.

Also, I'm usually too expensive and don't get most of the gigs I bid on, but I'm fine with that. I've booked $500 shows and $1,500 dollar shows. Not bad for $20 a month!

Well said Domino

I have been using the Gigmasters website since this past June, and I have successfully booked 11 shows since I started. I'll be honest though and say that I WAS charging less for my shows in the beginning, but only because I wanted to get my rating up to 5 stars.

I feel that the way the website works is that it almost forces people to charge lower than normal at the beginning in order to get a high ranking, and once you reach that point, then you can charge what you would any other client. I know this because now after having a 5 star rating for the past few days (and essentially a higher status on the site), I was able to book a corporate gig paying $800.00 no problem.

I think it's all in the strategy and how you use the site to your advantage. Of course I don't agree with charging $100.00 bucks for a show ALL the time, but that is definitely how you need to start in order to build up that credibility.

Also, I think one of the best things about that site are the testimonials you get from clients! Gigmasters makes it very easy for the client to respond about your performance after a show, and I have received some of my best testimonials from this site.

Alan

I'm glad it's working for you, Alan. Congrats on getting five stars... the best I did was 3.5!

I joined the 3 month trial in the spring time. I got a few shows from it. I let them go a few months ago because I was going to focus everything on my new website. But now I agree with Domino Magic. I rejoined them. I selected the year package this time.

Here's what I don't understand. I joined with a 3,000 mile radius membership. I usually only get 1 gig lead per day in my inbox. (I also filtered out Children's Birthdays). What gives??? I want to know the math behind the lead distributing to the other performers. I would think maybe to receive a few more than 2 or 3 star performers.

I have 5 stars, 4.95 client feedback rating, and not bad amount of booking dollars.



Eli

Wow, 3,000 mile radius and 1 lead per day! I've never been on gigmasters, but stories like this scare me! I've heard they have several "weird" systems, maybe the lead distribution system is one of those things that they've developed a "weird" system for!

Good luck!
Kevin

I just joined Gigmasters about 2 months back. So far, most of my requests are for birthday parties 2 or 3 hours from my home. The one request for a fair-type show in my area went to the lowest bidder (as far as I can tell). I'm not very impressed so far. But I'll give it a full year and see what happens.