TeacherOn is a website that connects tutors and students for thousands of subjects. You can find a tutor for almost every subject. When I wrote How To Be A Successful Tutor On Teacheron- 14 Powerful Tricks, many of my fellow tutors requested me to explain How TeacherOn works. In this article, I will cover the most important aspects of teacherOn so that you can understand it better and increase your chances of success.

TeacherOn’s Search function

On the home page of TeacherOn, there is a search box where one can enter the subject and location.

There are 4 tabs- All | Online | Home | Assignment, that one can use for filtering the tutors.

Tab 1. ALL

When someone searches for a subject in TeacherOn, the default tab is ‘ALL.’ In this tab, tutors who created their profile recently rank on the top (not those who are the best or paid the most).

Tab 2. ONLINE

One must click the ‘ONLINE’ tab to see the actual ranking. Here those who pay the most rank at the top and not those who are the best. As a long-time user of TeacherOn, for hiring tutors, I can assure you that a new student on TeacherOn will rarely click on the ‘online’ tab to find better tutors.

Tab 3. HOME

The third tab, ‘ HOME,’ also shows the most recent tutors. It is supposed to show the tutors in your area, but as tutors can claim to travel up to 1000 km (or 1000 miles for some counties) when creating their profile, tab 3, for all practical purposes, is a copy of tab 1.

Tab 4. ASSIGNMENT

The 4th tab is ‘ASSIGNMENT,’ and here you will see almost the same tutors you will find under the ‘online’ tab.

TeacherOn can easily have just 2 tabs instead of these 4.

They can name one tab (Untested New Tutors)= (tab 1)= (tab 3).

And another one (Tutors with Deep Pockets)= (tab2)= (tab 4).

(I understand that there are Google’s SEO or ‘Search Engine Optimization limitations, and they can not remove these 4 tabs anytime soon.)

Sorry, but there is no tab 5 which shows the ‘Best tutors.’ A student has to contend with either the new tutors or the tutors with deep pockets.

Multiple variations of the same subject

Suppose one searches for a ‘Physics’ tutor. In that case, one will not see tutors who have added Physics 101, Engineering Physics, Physics for engineering, General Physics, Physics for College, College Physics, and so on to their subject list.

As any student can create a new subject, a tutor can’t include all the variations of the subjects.

Remember, TeacherOn allows a tutor to add only 20 subjects!

Here I am not worried about a tutor who cannot target all the variations of a subject. I am concerned about the students who perform a search, and due to infinite variations present, they cannot find a good tutor.

If TeacherOn combines all the subjects with similar ‘intent,’ the search will yield a much better result.

Many of my fellow tutors have created multiple profiles so that they can target students searching for different variations of the subject.

Message sent to specific tutor is made public, and other tutors can also contact the student.

Even if a student sends a message to a specific tutor, the requirement is made public, and any tutor can pay for the contact info and contact the student.

When students receive messages from multiple tutors, they dont know if it is from the specific tutor they contacted or another tutor. This way, all the effort students put into selecting the tutor goes in vain as multiple tutors approach them. The tutor who the student chooses has a lower chance of securing the student.

In a nutshell, the whole purpose of the search gets defeated. What is the point of searching for a tutor if all other tutors can also contact that student?

Coin system

TeacherOn is a ‘free’ website. Let me explain what ‘free’ means.

Tutors can create their profiles for free. Students can contact up to 3 tutors for free.

But if tutors want to contact students, TeacherOn charges several coins. For prominent pin codes (like those of the USA, UK, Canada, Gulf, etc.), TeacherOn charges more coins. The number of coins charged depends solely on the pin code; a very low-value job from a high-value pin code still attracts a premium price.

Coins needed for viewing the student’s contact info do not depend on the more important factors like the job’s complexity, the level of the student, the value of the job, proximity of the deadline, etc.

50 coins to view the tutor’s profile

To view a tutor’s contact info, students must pay 50 coins. When signing up, TeacherOn gives 150 coins so a student can view up to 3 tutor profiles for free. After that, the student can post their requirement publically, and several tutors can contact them. Students can choose among them, and it is free of cost. If they want any other tutor, they need to pay 50 coins.

Payment via TeacherOn

If you dont want to avoid fraud, it is wise to send payment via TeacherOn. Here you have the option to pay to TeacherOn, and when the work is completed, the tutor can demand the release of the funds. Fraud can happen this way too, but the risk is minimal.

TeacherOn takes 10-15% commission for payments made through TeacherOn. Hardly any payment is processed through TeacherOn as most tutors prefer to accept the payments directly in their Paypal or bank account.

Premium Subscription and Tutor Rankings

Although TeacherOn mentions several variables that determine the rankings, in real life, there are only two things that matter.

  • Coins paid for the premium subscription
  • Whether the target subject is there in your profile or not.

So, I suggest not wasting hours or days writing your profile or selecting the perfect profile picture. Just write a short and sweet profile with a clear message, choose your target subjects, and pay for the premium subscription. It is the secret to ranking high in search results and early access to students’ contacts.

I suggest paying a bare minimum of coins so that you rank at least on the second page of search results (top 40 ranks).

At the time of writing this blog (October 5, 2022), to rank on the top 2 pages for the highly competitive subjects, you only need to pay 1500 coins, which is close to $15. See the screenshot below.

Teacheron's tutor ranking at 1500 coins

Keep expectations low

Do not expect to get 10 students per day. You should consider yourself lucky if you get 5-6 new students per month.

Feedback/Review system

I analyzed several top tutors’ profiles and found that nearly 95% of their reviews are fake. You can see a pattern in every tutor’s review. The language is the same, the payment mode is the same, the style of the reviews is the same, and a majority of them do not have the ‘verified payment’ label.

A tutor can always create a fake student profile, pay the minimum $1 or 50 coins fee, and write a review. TeacherOn hardly does any filtering of such reviews.

Due to the issues mentioned, students do not trust TeacherOn reviews much. Still, I suggest new tutors get a few 5-star reviews to boost conversion. Even 1 or 2 reviews are enough. 9 out of 10 times, students will choose tutors with reviews over tutors with no reviews.

So these are the few important things a tutor must know to improve his understanding of How TeacherOn works. I suggest you read TeacherOn’s guide on how TeacherOn works for the tutors here.

If you are new to teacheron or still considering whether you should join it or not, check my article, Is TeacherOn.com a good choice for students and tutors?

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