Skype Rolls Out Skype Prime: Charge For Calls

Skype rolled out Skype Prime this evening, a new service that lets people charge for Skype voice and video calls. Users set the fees they want to charge, on a per-minute or per-call basis. Skype charges the paying side via their Skype credit, and then pays the money out, minus a 30% fee, via paypal (Skype’s sister company).

Like Ether, which launched last year (and charges just 15% or the gross fees generated), this will be a very useful service for certain types of consultants. Unlike Ether, Skype Prime starts with a huge installed base of users, and works cross-border. You can also say that both companies stole the idea from the old 976 pay-per-call numbers.

To use the new service, both sides of the call must be using the newest version of Skype (3.1.0.134) for Windows. Other platforms are coming eventually, Skype says.