Hi Mark,
We have only been reviewed a few times on this site, and most seem to be by disgruntled users. Those 20 reviews are no way the reflective voice of our over 2 million users. You can see a much more well-rounded view of our company by visiting Trustpilot.com. We'd encourage you to read our responses to the low reviews, too, so that you get the whole story. To answer your question about fees, we take 2.5% from bookings for our paid members, and 5% from bookings for our free members. If you have any further questions, feel free to email us at help@gigsalad.com or call 417-889-9909. Thank you!

They charge a monthly fee and they take a small fee from each booking... TOO EXPENSIVE.

Paid members pay 2.5% of the total price of each booking, but their subscription is roughly $500/yr. The free subscription is 5%. One tricky part is that they use PayPal (among other pay services, I believe) for payment, which also takes a cut. My typical 2-hr fee for an entertainment service is $150; after fees, I only receive $124.50 and they still charge the client a fee for the service as well. It's a painful amount for me, so I've had to increase my prices for leads from here.

It's a decent service for finding leads, but you have to be very careful to adjust your prices ahead of time so your final takehome amount is one you can live on.

I don't feel the 2.5% that gig salad takes is unreasonable for "a bird in the hand". They also guarantee you get paid. Thats more than I can say for my other clients

I can't address low reviews, I have no knowledge of that or why it would be that way, but I can tell you the percentage fee they charge for bookings varies depending upon the listing level of the artist. I always list the highest (most expensive) level, so when I get a booking through Gig Salad it's only 2.5%, but they also charge the client a fee on the other side, too. They don't prevent me from booking outside their platform though too. (this feature may only be available to featured members)

Just having customers follow up with reviews without reminders is very hard. Just a simple reminder in a follow-up email instead of at the time of the event will get you more reviews. A tactic I wish I knew last year.