u/No_Pressure_JK

I started doing this a while ago and have found it helpful. I teach students at four different price points. In each of the student's profiles, I have used the rename feature to add in the amount I'm charging for a lesson with that person. So, for instance, "(21) Charlie." Then, when I look at my calendar, I can quickly see what I'm going to make on a particular day or during a week. It's also encouraging to see that the number of more recent and higher-paying students is growing in a given week.

This works on the website calendar, but unfortunately, the app calendar doesn't show amended names.

Over a month ago, I did a trial lesson with a student. He immediately signed up for 8 lessons per month, but never scheduled any of the lessons. I didn't notice until today. I sent him a single message encouraging him to schedule lessons. Then, a few moments later, I went to send a follow up suggesting that he save himself some money and cancel the subscription if he wasn't going to use it. And suddenly, the message box and send button were gone. Have I been blocked?

I don't see anything about student being able to block in the Preply help system or when I google it. Does anyone know?

They wreck a prime slot for which I don't get paid and then take another slot. I could have filled the first slot if I had had more notice. So I guess I get paid 50% on two time slots. Bullshit.

I had a strange chat interaction with a prospective student yesterday. His last email was long and weird. I responded by saying that I wouldn't be able to help him. Today, I went to look at the messages again to decide if I should report him to Preply. The message thread was still there, but that weird final message from him was gone.

Can they do that? I guess the obvious answer is yes. I'm not too happy if students can say weird things and then take it back if they don't get the response from the teacher that they want.

I've been teaching English on Preply for a few weeks now. I followed Preply's suggestions of setting my first lesson rate at 9 USD. This past week, I taught 58 lessons, of which 31 were trial (free) lessons. That means 27 were paid lessons at 9 USD. There is a note currently on my profile that says "Super popular. 50+ lesson bookings in the last two days." I also have four 5-star reviews on my profile and I ask students to leave a positive review when I feel they're enthusiastic.

Yesterday (Friday), I changed my rate to 12 USD. My trial lessons promptly went from "lots" to nearly zero. I think I've now booked three trial lessons at the new rate. I'm not super worried because I have 28 paid lessons scheduled for next week (most at 9 USD). But still, I am worried. I can't afford to work for long at 9 USD per lesson. I only set my initial rate at 9 USD because Preply suggested it and I thought it was a good idea to get new students. (It was.)

I don't really want to go through another week of 31 unpaid lessons or anything close to that. I don't have the energy or the time to teach for free to that extent.

Should I hold tight, teach my paid lessons and be grateful, or should I surrender to the panic and drop my rate to 9 USD again?

Edited to change reference from 4-star to 5-star.