TL;DR: I was lied to and basically bullied into speeding through the process, then penalized by being given the lowest base rate. They provide NO possibility of contract negotiation on the base rate by hiding behind a new pricing structure (irrelevant to how the base rate is set). Their payment structure is based on how many classes you teach and whatever arbitrary "years of experience" you provide--not whether you are actually good at the teaching. My experience: The website itself provides very little information on the application or interview process (pretty much a basic FAQ) and almost no info about the contract terms. A lot of this information is hidden within their blog, which would actually be helpful if any FAQ answers actually linked to or referenced the blog. The application is strongly advertised as being a simple form. On the application, they have a dropdown menu question to list your number of years of experience, anywhere from 0 to +10. The application provides a very short parenthetical to explain what counts at experiences, something along the lines of (e.g., mentoring, teaching, coaching). Again, the blog provides more substantial information saying that literally almost anything that involves kids counts (e.g., babysitting) but there's no greater explanation on the website or application itself. All experience is weighted exactly the same—10 years as an ESL teacher is equal to 10 years as a soccer coach—making this number totally arbitrary on how qualified you are. There's NO FOLLOW UP from VIPKid to confirm the number you put in. Yet despite the arbitrariness of that number, VIPKid establishes your base rate on partially on this number. Two days after I applied, I received a phone call from a VIPKid employee to confirm that I had a Masters Degree (just a yes/no question--no transcripts or reference verification). I confirmed I did, and she said that I had qualified for their shorter pre-recorded Demo process (as opposed to a live demo). She was pushy that I move forward with this ASAP since COVID-19 meant that there were a lot of students wanting to take classes. To further encourage me to move forward, she told me it was "primarily a way for the company to confirm I actually spoke English." She assured me I didn't need to prepare at all and even suggested I just record it from my bed that night. I went ahead and make a quick demo recording that night (not from my bed because I wanted to use both hands). To my surprise, the next day I received feedback that went far beyond "she can speak English." The feedback made it quite clear that the expectations for this demo were much higher than I had been told and rather they expected a permanent setting with a background, props, etc. The feedback then also assigned my base rate. Keep in mind this is BEFORE the mock class. Summary: base rate is based on 1) Arbitrary number you list as "years of experience" 2) Demo recording of 2 minutes. I will say, if you delve deeper into the website FAQ, they allude to the demo being a more substantial portion of the base rate. To my fault, I didn't do this since the customer service employee who'd called me indicated it was just another box to check before the mock lesson. I decided to move forward even though the process was feeling very sketchy at this point--I thought passing my mock lesson on the first try and showing I had prepared a background/props would give me better foundation for negotiating my base rate. I scheduled and did indeed pass the mock lesson the first try about 4 days later. During these days, I again received multiple emails and phone calls telling me to schedule the mock class ASAP. I actually ended up receiving a very helpful email where a current VIP mentor basically walks you through an entire mock class AFTER I’d already finished my mock class. No idea why they'd send such an email 4+ days after registering for the mock class. After passing, I emailed support presenting my case for a higher base rate. I explained why I thought my rate to be unfair, namely because I was lied to by the VIP employee about the purpose and importance of the Demo portion of the application. (I was politic and avoided the word "lied") The obviously copy/paste response I got amounted to "tough luck, we don't do that." They hid behind a bunch of policies that really just amounted to how their new pay structure is set up, which doesn’t actually have anything to do with hour the base rate is set. I then responded with a franker interpretation of the situation, being much clearer about how dishonest it was that my base rate was assigned based on a lie from an employee. I did not receive a response. Several days later when it became apparent they did not care in the slightest that their employees (and honestly the whole website and company structure) are misleading potential teachers, I informed them I would not be signing my contract and asked them to cancel it.