How to Make Money on Skype: Teaching English or Affiliate Program?

Update: Microsoft has officially announced that the consumer version of Skype will be discontinued on May 5, 2025.

I love Skype!

Skype allowed me to see the faces of my mom and brothers after 15 years.

Here is a short version of that story for anyone interested: I left my home country of Iran in 1999 to seek asylum in the U.S. as a refugee. I haven’t seen my family since I haven’t been able to go back. So when Skype came into the seen, I was able to see my mom’s face as well as my brothers’ after 15 years. It recharged me and my soul. And that’s why I love Skype!

Back to the real reason why you’re reading this – making money with Skype.

Skype, a Microsoft-owned site, is basically an online service that lets you make phone calls from your computer. You can have video calls, chat with people, hold online meetings, etc.

And for creative entrepreneurs, that means lots of opportunities to earn money.

How?

Well, there are 2 ways to make money with Skype:

1. Prompting Skype as an affiliate marketer and earning commission from each sale.
2. Teaching people things and charging them for it.

I am going to give you a quick guide on how you can earn some money by teaching on Skype. But first, let me quickly touch on the affiliate marketing part.

But first, let me quickly touch on the affiliate marketing part.

1. Earning Through Skype Affiliate Program

If you have a website or a blog, you can sign up for Skype affiliate program.

Once you join, Skype sends you a code that you need to incorporate into your website. This works as your affiliate link.

You’ll use this link to send customers to Skype, and for every new customer you send, you earn a commission.

As for the amount of commission you stand to earn, Skype says that every time someone subscribe for its paid services through you, you earn commission @ 25%.

These services include SkypeOut, SkypeIn, and Voicemail.

But the earning potential doesn’t end here…

Skype will pay you $15 as bonus commission whenever your referred person buys the Skype Wi-Fi phone package.

I am not gonna get into how you can go about promoting your link since that calls for a whole another post or maybe a few posts. But basically, you would use any promotion method you normally use to promote your own blog or products. From article marketing and blogging to word of mouth marketing and so on.

2. Earning Money Teaching (English, Math, IM…) on Skype

Skype Prime offers a lot of potential for making money online.

It presents an opportunity to enable you to start sharing your expertise with people all over the world and charging them for the services rendered.

For example, you could make money teaching English to people overseas, or you could give private lessons on how to play guitar.

The options are endless here.

You can practically teach anything on Skype since you can demonstrate things through video calls.

Perhaps, you could offer cooking classes and beneficially exploit your hobby. This is because it allows you make Skype to Skype calls. Anyone can pay and get linked to your call.

In such cases, you are treated as a provider.

Likewise, you could also get linked to calls of other providers by paying for the same. However, you need to check if your country provides access to PayPal.

How Does It Work?

You can join a provider’s call provided you have adequate balance in your Skype account.

You may initiate the call without charge, but in that case, the provider gets the option of making a request for payment. Then, the rest of the call will need to be paid.

The provider gets the option of charging as per the duration of the call or a lump sum charge per call, irrespective of its duration in minutes.

The caller’s account is accordingly debited.

Skype does not transfer funds to providers’ Skype accounts but to their PayPal accounts.

Payments

It is important to mention here that you get only seventy percent of your earnings through Skype Premium, the rest goes to Skype.

Of course, you have to have a PayPal account before you start patronizing Skype Prime.

But, that thirty percent cut should not dishearten you as there is a way out.

Once you have had a couple of dealings with your clients, you can suggest alternate modes of payment like bank deposit or wire transfer and do away with PayPal!

How Do I Get Started?

At the outset, you have to download the latest edition of Skype.

You’ll need a PayPal account if you don’t already have one. (That’s so you can get paid.)

Then, visit Skype Prime and select if you want to be a caller or a provider by appropriately clicking at the bottom on your right.

The rest of the instructions are simple to follow and you are on your way to making money on Skype.