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For trades

Is Bark worth it for tradespeople?

Bark charges £1.80 a credit plus VAT, and each lead costs a number of credits that Bark shows on the lead itself, not in a price list. It pays if the jobs you win cover what you spend on all the leads, including the ones that never reply. Credits bought since 1 November 2025 run out after three months.

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Here's how to work it out for your trade, and what you can and can't get back.

We sell websites to trades, so read this with that in mind. We don't sell leads, and for some trades Bark clearly pays.

How much does Bark cost?

  • £1.80a credit, plus VAT (£2.16)
  • 3 monthsbefore credits bought since 1 November 2025 expire
  • Up to 5professionals contacting the same customer

Signing up is free, and Bark sends you leads to look at for free. You pay when you want to contact a customer, in credits.

A credit costs £1.80, and VAT goes on top, which makes £2.16. Bigger packs bring the price per credit down. Bark shows the pack prices inside your account. Its website doesn't list them.

Each lead costs a set number of credits. Bark says that number depends on the service and the size of the job: a one-off clean of a two-bedroom flat costs fewer credits than a weekly clean of a four-bedroom house. You see the cost on the lead before you spend anything, and follow-up messages are free.

There's also a subscription, Elite Pro. Bark doesn't publish its price. It renews automatically and the fee isn't refunded if you stop.

What you can and can't get back

Bark returns credits, not money, and only for some leads. Ask within 14 days of buying the lead.

Bark will look at a return if

  • the phone number or email doesn't work
  • the request was for the wrong service
  • the details were misleading
  • the customer was really looking for a job

No credits back if

  • the customer hired someone else
  • the customer never replied to your calls or messages

On a general request, up to five professionals can contact the same customer. Bark's customer terms say “a maximum of five Professionals will contact you directly”.

Your first pack comes with a guarantee: if you don't win any work from it, Bark returns the credits. Read the conditions in its terms first. It covers one pack, you have to have used all of it, and it's credits back, not cash.

Is Bark worth the money for your trade?

One sum does most of the work: what a lead costs, times how many leads it takes you to win a job.

Here's an example, with made-up numbers

A lead at 10 credits × £1.80
£18.00
Plus VAT
£21.60
One lead in five becomes a job
× 5
Lead cost of each job you win
£108.00

Now put that next to what a typical job leaves you after materials. If a job leaves you £400, £108 might be fine. If it leaves you £90, every job you win from Bark loses money.

Then ask three things before you buy a pack:

  • How many credits do the leads in your trade and area actually cost? Look at a week of leads first; it's free.
  • How quickly can you reply? Five of you may be messaging the same person.
  • Can you use the whole pack within three months? Credits you don't use are gone.

Bark and your own website do different jobs

You can use both. It helps to be clear what each one is for.

A lead site like Bark

  • Sends you people asking for quotes, in your area and trade
  • You pay for each customer you contact, win or lose
  • The customer is often talking to four others
  • Stops the day you stop buying credits

Your own website

  • What a customer finds when they look you up, or when someone recommends you
  • Your area, your prices and photos of your own work
  • On a domain in your name, whatever you spend on leads next year
  • Doesn't send you strangers on its own; works with your free Google Business Profile

How to get your business on Google Maps covers setting up that free profile. Is Checkatrade worth it? works the same sum for a membership, and Getting customers has the rest of these guides.

A website in your name, looked after for you

Tell us about your work in a chat on our site or on WhatsApp: the jobs you want more of, your area, how you price. We write the words and draw two logo designs, and you approve the site before it goes live on your own domain. After that, a change is a message.

£29 for the first page, £15 for each one after, then £29 a month after a free first month. No contract. See every price.

£29 a month, and it stays £29 for as long as you're with us. New customers from 1 April 2027 pay £39.

Get my free home page Rather build it yourself? See prices

Questions trades ask about Bark

Is Bark.com legit?
Yes. It’s a real marketplace: customers post what they need and professionals pay in credits to contact them. Whether it’s worth it is a different question, and it comes down to the sum above for your trade.
How much does a Bark credit cost?
£1.80 plus VAT, according to Bark’s help centre in November 2026. Packs cost less per credit, and Bark shows those prices inside your account.
How many credits does a lead cost?
Bark doesn’t publish a list. It depends on the service and the size of the job, and the number is shown on each lead before you respond.
Do Bark credits expire?
Yes. Credits bought from 1 November 2025 last three months. Before that it was twelve. Unused credits aren’t refunded.
Can I get my credits back if a customer doesn’t reply?
No. Bark lists “the customer didn’t respond” and “the customer hired someone else” as reasons a return is declined. Returns are for things like a wrong number or a fake request, asked for within 14 days.
How many other businesses get the same lead?
Up to five professionals can contact a customer who sends a general request.
Is Bark free for professionals?
Joining is free and looking at leads is free. Contacting a customer costs credits.

Where these facts come from