To sell UX portfolio reviews, offer a defined critique rather than unlimited access to your time: name the kind of designer you help, cap the case studies, specify the feedback format and collect payment before the agreed work begins. A prospective buyer should know what they will receive and what the review cannot promise.
This guide is for experienced UX and product designers who already have relevant work to show and want to sell individual reviews directly. It is about launching the service, from the first enquiry to delivery. It does not assume that a paid review produces interviews or a job.
Make one review worth buying
Choose a problem you can assess well. “Feedback on one junior UX case study for a first product-design application” is easier to understand than “career advice.” A reviewer with enterprise research experience might focus on research evidence; a visual designer might focus on presentation and hierarchy. Do not sell expertise your own work does not demonstrate.
Show an anonymised sample of your feedback, using your own project or work you have permission to publish. Explain why one recommendation matters. A polished portfolio alone does not show a buyer how you teach.
There is an existing market for paid critique: Elly Hsieh's portfolio-review offer combines individual feedback with a follow-up conversation. That demonstrates an available service format, not a benchmark for your earnings or evidence that every reviewer will find buyers.
Define the scope before taking payment
Start with one offer you can deliver consistently. The following is an original example specification, not a PayRequest customer case or a recommended market price.
Example offer: review up to three UX case studies supplied through one accessible portfolio link. Return an annotated written review with a prioritised action list within five business days after the complete brief is accepted. Include one clarification email within seven days of delivery. Exclude rewriting, new design work, live interview coaching and reviews of a revised portfolio.
Make the timing trigger visible before checkout. If the material is inaccessible or outside scope, contact the buyer promptly and agree a new date, a changed scope or an appropriate cancellation/refund route. Do not quietly keep moving a deadline.
| Decision | What the buyer sees | Your acceptance check |
|---|---|---|
| Submission | Up to three named case studies | Links work and the selected pages are identifiable |
| Review lens | Target role and level | The question matches your experience |
| Deliverable | Written critique and ordered next actions | Each major recommendation points to evidence |
| Turnaround | Five business days from accepted complete brief | You have enough capacity before accepting |
| Follow-up | One clarification email, no second review | A new design iteration is a new scope |
These are suggested service terms, not built-in software enforcement. Adapt them to your workflow and applicable consumer rules.
Set a price that leaves room to do the work
List all the work behind a review: reading the intake, checking links, examining the case studies, writing feedback, delivering it and answering the included clarification. Use that total time when deciding whether your proposed fixed price is sustainable.
For example, if you can reserve six hours a week and each complete order takes ninety minutes, your planning limit is four reviews. That is a capacity calculation, not a forecast of four sales. Keep spare time for a broken link or a buyer who needs an explanation.
Avoid a cheap “quick look” that quietly becomes several meetings. If you want a lower-priced entry offer, reduce the actual deliverable to one case study. If you want to offer a live call, describe its length and arrange the meeting explicitly; an asynchronous service product does not itself provide a video-conferencing room.
Ask questions that change your review
Collect the portfolio URL, the case studies to prioritise, the target role, the buyer's main question and any deadline. A URL and a short explanation are usually more useful than collecting an entire employment history.
Ask buyers to remove confidential client details and share only material they are allowed to disclose. Do not request passwords, internal account access or payment-card details in an intake form. If a portfolio needs a password, agree a suitable private access route separately.
Before starting, confirm that the submission meets the purchased scope. If someone buys a three-case-study review but sends twelve links without priorities, ask them to choose three. Do not pick arbitrarily or turn an avoidable ambiguity into an unexpected bill.
Deliver feedback the buyer can act on
Use a consistent reasoning pattern: what you observed → why it affects the stated goal → what to change first. For a fictional case study that jumps straight to finished screens, you might recommend adding the research finding that led to a design decision. Explain the missing connection instead of prescribing more slides without a reason.
Separate high-priority issues from preferences. A useful review can distinguish missing evidence, a confusing story and cosmetic presentation. Give the buyer an ordered list they can work through without buying another session.
Keep the review private unless the buyer separately agrees to publication. Feedback is a service deliverable; it is not permission to resell their portfolio as teaching material. If you record a review, explain how the recording is shared and how long access will remain available.
Sell the review through a service page
PayRequest service pages let you describe a fixed-price service, collect required or optional client answers and manage delivery from the order. Publish the scope and timing before sharing the purchase link. Connect a supported provider and confirm account and country eligibility; a demo does not establish payment availability.
After confirmed payment, review the brief, start the work and deliver a message or HTTPS link when ready. Payment status and work delivery are different milestones. Your own recording or document tool still creates the critique; do not promise an integrated review editor or video meeting.
For an optional illustration of a designer's buyer journey, explore the fictional designer demo. It is not a UX-review transaction or proof of a real sale. Signup remains the next action if you want to create your own offer.
Current pricing separates standard payment fees, provider fees and the commission-payment exception for custom work. Do not assume a paid plan removes every fee from a review sold as a commission. Check the exact product route and plan before publishing your price; paid access requires activation, not just selecting a plan at signup.
Create one service product with your scope, intake questions and delivery promise. Share it with people who already ask for your professional feedback, then improve the offer from real objections without claiming guaranteed career outcomes.
Editorial method: prepared with AI assistance and reviewed against current PayRequest service and pricing pages on 7 November 2026. The offer, capacity calculation and review rubric are illustrative original planning tools. No purchase, user test or customer result is claimed.
