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If the person truly has such a gift, then is it no different than someone making money off of the gift of musicality? I don't think it is. If someone is to use someone else for their ability, be it supernatural or otherwise, then the one being used should be compensated.

Of course I don't think it's right for those who do not have the ability that claim they do force people to pay for lies. That's actually false advertisement and if the existence of these abilities was proven without a doubt then those who charge for REAL sessions yet they give fake readings and such because they don't actually have the ability would and should be heavily fined and serve some jail time just like other crooks.

Personally, I think most of the psychics I've seen are over priced. Especially since these gifts haven't really been proven, and it's hard to know if the person is legitimate or not.

The Irish-Scotsman: I agree, that if they are true it wouldn't be any different than any other talent.

Raht: Don't they call them cold readings?

I know magicians have worked out a system to tell what number someone might guess. It fails at times but it works out most of the time so they can fake a prediction, and I know most psychics throw general and vague things out that people will take and connect it to something person in their life. Typical "You will go through trials, but in the end come out successful" type stuff. I know a lot tend to give 'predictions' based on body language and so on.

Though since it is so easy to fake, I have a harder time believing the ones who charge a lot.

Famous Psychic costs, taken directly from their websites:

Sylvia Browne and her son Chris:

Fees
Phone reading with Sylvia - $850
Phone reading with Chris - $500

Chip Coffey:

General Readings:
$200 for approximately 30 minutes

Spirit Contacts/Crossing Over Readings:
$500 for approximately 30 - 40 minutes
(This rate is for one individual. Additional family members or friends may participate at a cost of $250 per person.)

(crossing over & general reading ) with Chip through Pay Pal.
Cost: $650.00 USD

Looks like John Edwards isn't taking new readings at the moment so he doesn't have prices up.

Plus most other sites charge by the minute. I've seen it anywhere from 99 cents to 50 dollars and up per minute... .-.

If someone ACTUALLY has a gift like that then yes, I think it's fine in certain cases.
Might as well make some money off of it.
The same as anyone else making money off of what they are good at.
...but, they shouldn't charge so much fricken money. D;
What for? It's not like it's physical labor or something people require supplies and hours of work for.

Yeah but 50 dollars +?
It's kind of ridiculous. lol

http://www.magiciansmakingmoney.com/Psychic-Reader/Cold-Readings-Interv.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1526606/celebrity_psychics_and_how_much_they.html?cat=38

"How much Money do you make on say, a Saturday, doing a Magic Show?

About $150.00 - $250.00.

How much Money do you make on say, a Saturday, doing Psychic Readings?

About $1,100.00 - $2,200.00."


"Not many magicians, even full time professionals, have shows every single weekend. So when you have no magic shows for the weekend, what would you do?

"On the weekends when I had no shows, I would travel to the nearest Psychic fair and set up my booth. Over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I would pull in on average about $2,600.00. On a really good weekend, sometimes I would make $7,000.00 or more, on a bad show I may only pull out say $800.00-$1,000.00, but it was all cash.""


3 dollars a minute, for 30 minutes is $90.
2 dollars a minute, for 30 minutes is $60.

If they worked for an hour at 3 dollars a minute, that's $180... Work an 8 hour day and you get $1,440 a day.


That's ridiculous in my opinion. <_<; I checked out some psychic sites that do things over email and phone and most charge around 2.50 - 3 dollars a minute unless they're offering a discount/sale for 1 dollar a minute.

exactly, otherwise there's a potential to ******** up what could've been an amazing future.

When you're self employed or a freelancer, this is how you calculate your fee: Personal worth (as a skilled professional) plus materials plus the cost of living divided by your number of clients.

So- where do you guys think the expenses lie for these people?

Granted, they are (so they claim) one of few people with these particular talents who are wiling to share them, and the task can be draining, so calculating your personal worth should be somewhat high, especially if you are good at what you do.

And they might not get many clients. Even the best psychics have to battle against skeptics.

so I guess I'm saying yes, they should be paid but lets at least be reasonable.

Luckily, there are people and organizations willing to do a lot of these services for free, simply because there is still a lot of ground-breaking work to be done in the paranormal field and no one should guarantee results, or expect them for that matter.