RadiantLight

[Truth]

have any of you guys used her?

i used her 10 years ago and she strung me along telling me that someone that was totally blowing me off wanted to be with me. i was persistent with the person and knew deep down it was going nowhere fast, yet she kept telling me otherwise. one day i called her and she gave me a 180 and was like - actually, i think this is done. i dont see it going anywhere. it broke my heart because i had trusted her and she had been telling me over and over it would work out, spending hundreds of dollars. it never did.

i see her on Keen still and her rate is almost $15! i read the feedback and it's all so good. admittedly i called her about 4 years back because of her good feedback (even knowing what she put me through before). told me someone i was hoping to come back definitely would in 4 months. i called her twice, 2 months apart. prediction was the same, even the timing - 4 months would be back. how convenient that you can't leave feedback after 3 months has passed. the person never came back (still hasn't to this day).

i'm writing this because it frustrates me she charges so much money and she's still getting callers all the time even though she seemed like a total fraud to me (usually a high rate is a warning sign to me that someone doesn't want you to stay on the phone long because they'll realize you aren't picking up specific details). has anyone else had a similar experience with her or others at high rates?

[Zee]

i'm writing this because it frustrates me she charges so much money and she's still getting callers all the time even though she seemed like a total fraud to me (usually a high rate is a warning sign to me that someone doesn't want you to stay on the phone long because they'll realize you aren't picking up specific details). has anyone else had a similar experience with her or others at high rates?

I've never thought of it this way before, but personally, I've never read with a reader who I thought cost a lot, because to me it is a gamble if they will be right or not, but if I don't pay a lot....say on Bitwine for example (there are 10$ specials), then the money lost isn't a big deal. 

This is how the lottery works and why tickets are only $1. Of course, some of the scratch offs cost more, but you don't have to wait and know right then if you've won something or not.  If you've lost $20 and bought 20 tickets, it's not that big of a deal, but think of all the people who purchase $1 tickets. Who can't afford a dollar ticket?

The readers which charge astronomical fees (for some reason this guy always comes to mind: Syd Saeed), I know without a doubt they are making their car payments with what callers are paying them.

Don't get me wrong, I understand they need to make a living, but high prices squeeze out a lot of people and it's obvious from the high fees, they are thinking more about the money then they are about helping people.  Readers are aware, just like callers, that they 1)  can't connect to everyone (although I've run across a few who say they connect with everyone), 2) they are not always right and have a 50/50 chance of being totally off, and 3) cannot justify their prices. 

As an example, Saeed charges upward of $450 for a same day, 45 min reading. An Urgent reading is $400 for 30 minutes, which is $10 and a little over $13 per minute, respectively.  If he speaks to only 4 people each day for 45 minutes he makes $1800 (tax free money), for three hours of non-manual labor, work.

I also think that is why Keen readers change their prices so much - just to see if someone will pay it, which is always one reason I look for a lower rate listing, if they have one.  If they don't get calls often enough at the higher rate, they then revert to a lower rate (it's whatever the market will bear).

The high chargers ALMOST ALWAYS NEVER offer a refund of any kind, although when the coin is flipped and they become the customer, I bet they expect it themselves...hypocrites.

[Bark angel]

If he speaks to only 4 people each day for 45 minutes he makes $1800 (tax free money), for three hours of non-manual labor, work.

Not really germane to the discussion, but I am wondering how you can claim that the $1800 is tax free money?  If he is self-employed, in actual fact he would pay more tax than if employed.  And, non-manual work(that which requires the use of cerebral functions, rather than physical functions) typically pays more.  :-)

[Zee]

True, cerebral functions pay more (I wasn't questioning that, just adding it for argument sakes), but tax free? Oh yes.  He is getting cash through Paypal and he can hide it as he sees fit.  And if he pays more from being self employed, then more than likely he is hiding the cash. I've heard of plenty of wait staff people who do this (not claim all their cash).  He could be claiming unemployment for all we know.

I was only referring to all the money he makes effortlessly at ridiculous prices.

[melancholia]

I don't know about the "tax-free" portion of this - a good friend of mine runs his business primarily through e-bay and uses PayPal to accept all of his payments, and he gets a statement to use when submitting his taxes.  Technically, if he's not claiming his PayPal income, that's still tax evasion.

And besides that, at $1800/day, I can't imagine why he'd ever need to evade his taxes.  But then, there are billionaires with tax shelters, so perhaps I shouldn't be so naive... It just seems like it would be easier to catch someone evading taxes through PayPal, especially if they have a bank account linked.

True, cerebral functions pay more (I wasn't questioning that, just adding it for argument sakes), but tax free? Oh yes.  He is getting cash through Paypal and he can hide it as he sees fit.  And if he pays more from being self employed, then more than likely he is hiding the cash. I've heard of plenty of wait staff people who do this (not claim all their cash).  He could be claiming unemployment for all we know.

I was only referring to all the money he makes effortlessly at ridiculous prices.

[Zee]

Perhaps wrong wording since it's not legally tax-free, but self imposed tax-free.

PayPal does monitor if you are receiving personal payments for a business account, but you don't have to set up your PayPal as a business account in order to accept payments and link it to a personal account. 

Tax evasion is only illegal if you get caught.  Even people who do pay taxes, still use ways to avoid paying higher amounts of tax, through deductions or not listing all the cash money they have collected, which reduces the amounts of taxes they pay. I'm sure you know how it works.

He would want to avoid paying taxes on such a high amount, because either he didn't plan for it and has to pay the lump sum at the end, which is a pain in the wazoo, or it potentially reduces the money in his pocket.  He would have to pay taxes on the $1800 even though he doesn't receive the full amount, because PayPal takes a percentage from that.  Either way, a bank account linked to PayPal has nothing to do with taxes. You can also link a credit card, which aren't necessarily linked to a bank and they have recently added prepaid cards.

Besides, here are the thresholds in which PayPal issues a 1099K on your account (which means it gets reported). If it's below these thresholds, it doesn't get reported, but both thresholds must be met in order for this to happen:
[Based on your current payment volume PayPal would not issue a 1099K on your account. The current requirements apply to merchants who process over $20,000 and over 200 payments in a calendar year.]

It's possible, he is probably making well over 20k, but I'm sure he has plenty of deductions as well, like his home office, office supplies, landline/mobile phone, internet, Skype, PayPal fees, mileage if he travels to a client, trade shows/appearances, website host, domain name, and whatever else he comes up with.