This is the question we get asked more than any other, and the answer is short enough to fit in a sentence: whoever stands to gain commercially from the connection is the one who pays for it. Everything else follows from that.
The default: the professional pays
In most categories, the person who needs the job done pays nothing at all.
Post a leaking pipe, a fridge that stopped cooling, a flat that needs cleaning, a delivery, a wall that needs building, a door lock that needs changing — it costs you zero coins. You describe the job, it becomes visible to the relevant professionals near you, and they spend coins to unlock your contact details.
This covers plumbing, electrical, transport and delivery, cleaning, masonry, appliance repair, moving, air conditioning and heating, handyman work, locksmithing, carpentry and furniture assembly, painting and decoration, gas installation and repair, aluminium and PVC windows, and tile installation.
The reasoning is simple. You are not making money by having a broken tap. The plumber is making money by fixing it. The person with the commercial upside carries the cost of the introduction.
The exception: rental and real-estate sales
For rental and property sales, the direction reverses. Here it is the person proposing the mission who pays.
If you are listing a flat to rent or a property to sell, you spend the coins to reach interested people. If you are the one looking for somewhere to live, reaching out costs you nothing.
This is not an inconsistency. It is the same rule applied honestly. In a property listing, the person with the commercial interest is the one with the property — they are the one trying to convert an enquiry into a signed lease or a sale. The person looking for a home is not profiting from finding one; they are just trying to live somewhere. Charging them to enquire would be charging people for needing shelter.
Why not charge both sides a little?
Because it would quietly break the platform. A marketplace only works if the side with less money and more need can participate freely. Charge someone to report a broken boiler and most of them simply will not — and then the plumbers have nothing to unlock, and they leave too. Free on the demand side is what makes the supply side worth paying for.
What this means in practice
- Need a service? Post it. It is free. Describe it well and the right people will reach you.
- Are a professional? Your coins are your marketing budget. Spend them on contacts you can genuinely win — right area, right timing, right trade.
- Listing a property? Budget coins as a cost of letting or selling, and make the listing good enough to be worth the spend.
- Looking for a property? Enquire freely. You are not being charged to look.
The one-line version
In services, the pro pays. In property, the lister pays. In both, the person who needs something is never charged for needing it.