I'm at the point right now where I'm definitely a strong D player OTB; a friend of mine who's a teacher and A player has told me that I should approach C territory soon.
His usual fee is $35 an hour. Do you think it would be fair for me to charge $15? Obviously, I would only stick to teaching beginners.
"I'm definitely a strong D player."
And I'm a tall midget.
I'm at the point right now where I'm definitely a strong D player OTB; a friend of mine who's a teacher and A player has told me that I should approach C territory soon.
His usual fee is $35 an hour. Do you think it would be fair for me to charge $15? Obviously, I would only stick to teaching beginners.
"I'm definitely a strong D player."
And I'm a tall midget.
Small, unfriendly creatures are called trolls, right?
$35 an hour is what his was paid regularly. Maybe we live in a better market for instruction, but he's semi-retired now, and he was making that on a regular basis back in 2005.
There are IMs who charge $35/hr idk how that A-player is getting students...
I'm not too keen on D-players giving lessons unless they're very underrated, which is common. But that is the only time I think such a thing is propper.
I'm not sure about rates, but I know an IM that charges $50 an hour. Now if someone was nice enough to do some conversions on that, I'm not sure it would look too good for the D-player to charge much at all.
Well, I only intend to teach people who don't even know basic theory. There are a lot of such people in my area who are interested in getting better.
If I do go with it, perhaps I'll charge less, though. Even though my skills are nowhere near a professional level, I think what I do have to offer people is more than what a high school kid gets for flipping burgers. So maybe $10 is more fair.
I am an A class (well it works differently here, but with the same idea) and I only make ~10$ an hour teaching. While my first trainer is also a class A player and he takes ~30$ an hour. Teaching is not only a factor of your playing strenght. a lot of experience and knowledge is required for teaching, not only in chess but also in teaching.
My current trainer is an IM new to teaching and he makes around 45$ an hour on a 3-student class (which means I pay 15$ an hour).
It seems like a lot of this is based on local economics and environment. I was surprised to hear about the A player in Sacramento only getting $15, but there's probably more competition there. I live in a small hick town, and there's almost no competition here. There are only one or two guys teaching here. if you don't go with them, you have a long drive ahead of you. I used to know this guy who you could call the guitar equivalant of an A class player, and he charged $25 an hour for lessons in the late nineties.
Why not try it. There's no law which says that you can't charge more than a 2200 NM, or the same as an A player.
One thing you could do though is "reinvest" your profits by taking lessons yourself.
I guess what's fair is whatever the market will bear, assuming the instructors are providing honest credentials to their potential customers. If someone is the best available in an area, he's got more leverage than if he lives somewhere where people know about another instructor with better qualifications. Clearly he won't do well in the second situation unless he offers a better deal to his customers in the form of rates lower than the competition.
How about this SoilentGreen---give us an outline of your hour lesson. I'm sure the guys will have a lot of questions and if you have a lot of answers you might drum up some business. 
I actually thought $35 was the going rate for A players, based on what my friend makes. I actually think A players who only get $15 are being underpaid, especially those who live in areas with a high cost of living. A lot of these guys have been studying and working hard for decades, and many other jobs that had that much commitment put into them would pay much more. But the world's not a fair place, and sometimes you have to take what you can get.
If I jump in, I'll charge $10. I think that's fair given the local climate as far as both instructors and economy is concerned.
Again, I'll only take on beginners as students. If someone comes to me who I feel I can't be of much assitance, I'll tell them to look for a better instructor.
One thing you could do though is "reinvest" your profits by taking lessons yourself.
That's a pretty cool idea.
I certainly hope he didn't mean that as an insult. It actually is a good idea. I'd never make any real amount of money anyway, and I just intended to teach newbies as a way to have a little more disposable income. I might use it for a subscription here to get the tactics trainer. Something like that.
One thing you could do though is "reinvest" your profits by taking lessons yourself.
That's a pretty cool idea.
I certainly hope he didn't mean that as an insult.
Probably not, but it's good that you gave the possibility some consideration. One should always be defensive and analyze any and all comments for any possible hint of insult. 
Soilentgreen, you want to know the best method for inproving your chess and I think this applies to everyone.
Try teaching someone to play chess! If you dont get any customers---do it for free! You'll be stronger for it.
One thing you could do though is "reinvest" your profits by taking lessons yourself.
That's a pretty cool idea.
I certainly hope he didn't mean that as an insult.
Probably not, but it's good that you gave the possibility some consideration. One should always be defensive and analyze any and all comments for any possible hint of insult.
There is in message board posts much room for ambiguity.
I find it have to be only at least from B-class players and higher who are permitted to teach for money, they've a lot more experience. If they were so good in it, then they'd at a higher ranking level too. So, 0dollar or 0euro!! What about that.So everyone can go teach mathematics at university too or what. Jeezz !! !
It's a tiered thing. I've benefitted from free lessons from my A class friend, and he would benefit from lessons from a master. A beginner with no knowledge of theory or tactics would benefite from instruction from a D/C player.
You're equating me to wishing to be a professor when I'm really only aspiring to be a student tutor.
I'm at the point right now where I'm definitely a strong D player OTB; a friend of mine who's a teacher and A player has told me that I should approach C territory soon.
His usual fee is $35 an hour. Do you think it would be fair for me to charge $15? Obviously, I would only stick to teaching beginners.