Thats something I'm considering implementing in the very near future, giving the pilot the ability to select from several payment terms (1/3 upfront, 1/2 up front, 100% upfront).
I know money makes the world go round, but it just doesn't feel right to me to take thousands of dollars for a referral fee. I use to work at CustomMade.com and we implemented the cap also for our makers. CustomMade made it possible for artisans to make a living doing what they love, perhaps Droners.io will do the same for UAV pilots. I don't know what will happen as it scales up, but for now at least, the cap seems fair and feels right too.
Droners.io is currently a one man shop. I'm hoping I can continue to run it lean, and offer a great service without taking too much money from the people working for it (the pilots). The current fee is 10%, and that is capped at $1,000 max per job. I've seen other sites take a flat 20%, no cap.
That is correct Dan, it is illegal to commercially operate a UAV without obtaining the FAA's 333 exemption (https://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_programs/section_333/). As I mentioned in another comment, there are now 1100 pilots who have obtained the exemption.
We've currently on-boarded almost 400 pilots in the last 10 days. The FAA has also began issuing 333 exemptions at a faster rate. To date there is now ~1100 exempt pilots that able to commercially operate a UAV, earlier in the year there were only around 100.
Regarding video quality, there is a wide range of pilots, giving clients a wide range of services for the price.
Thats correct. Clients can search for a pilot and accept a bid from them. After the work is complete, the pilot creates an invoice, and the client pays them through the marketplace.
Hi George, Dave here at Droners.io. I've seen a lot of pilots actually offer that as a service to their clients. Have you seen any of the FPV races from a pilots POV (i.e. on Youtube)? Its pretty insane, feels like your in the middle of a Star Wars movie. VR goggles would really push it to another level :)