Why This Terminology Is Worth Defining Carefully
Search results for "pay-per-sit solar appointment" turn up almost nothing written for buyers, mostly job postings for solar sales reps describing how their own commission works. That is a real gap in a category where the billing model determines who eats the cost of a no-show, which happens on 30% to 40% of paid appointments industry-wide. Getting the definitions straight matters more here than in most solar terminology, because vendors use these terms loosely and buyers rarely push back on what they actually mean.
Pay-Per-Sit, Defined
Pay-per-sit describes a payment model where the buyer pays only for a completed, attended appointment, meaning the homeowner actually sat down with a rep. The term shows up most concretely in solar sales job postings describing how a setter or closer gets paid on their own end: compensation tied to whether the prospect actually sat for the pitch, not merely whether a time slot got booked on a calendar.
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Book a Solar CallPay-Per-Show, Defined
Pay-per-show describes a nearly identical trigger, payment tied to the prospect's attendance, but the term is typically used specifically to draw a contrast with pay-per-appointment. One industry explainer on lead-gen billing models frames it directly: payment is triggered by the prospect showing up, which is a meaningfully different commitment than paying for the appointment simply existing on a calendar, whether or not anyone showed.
How Both Differ From Pay-Per-Appointment
Pay-per-appointment is the more common phrase across this category, and it is looser by default: you pay when an appointment is booked, and unless a separate no-show guarantee is written into the contract, you are also paying for the ones that fall through. RunsForYou and Omnivortex both sell on a version of this booked-appointment model, priced $150 to $600 and starting at $400 respectively, and both are worth asking directly whether their pricing is truly pay-per-appointment (billed on booking) or functions as pay-per-sit in practice (billed only on attendance).
| Term | What triggers billing | Who absorbs a no-show |
|---|---|---|
| Pay-per-appointment | The appointment gets booked | The buyer, unless a separate guarantee applies |
| Pay-per-sit | The prospect actually attends | The vendor |
| Pay-per-show | The prospect actually attends | The vendor |
Where Ping-Post and Live Transfer Fit Into the Same Conversation
Two adjacent billing mechanics are worth knowing so you do not confuse them with the terms above. Ping-post is a real-time lead-delivery method, used by vendors like RGR Marketing, where buyers bid on a lead the moment it becomes available, priced at the point of sale rather than a flat pre-set rate. A live transfer is a real-time phone handoff of an interested prospect directly to a rep, a different product entirely from a pre-booked, calendared appointment. Neither is a pay-per-sit or pay-per-show model on its own, since both bill at the moment of delivery rather than at the moment of attendance.
Why VA Horizon's Rate Functions as Pay-Per-Sit
VA Horizon publishes its solar rate as $300 setup and $249 per appointment, which reads on paper like a standard pay-per-appointment structure. In practice it functions as pay-per-sit, because a no-show is never counted as a billable appointment in the first place: appointments are billed only when they are exclusive, double-confirmed, and on-criteria, meaning the homeowner actually showed. The rate card uses the more familiar "per appointment" language, but the billing behavior underneath it matches the pay-per-sit definition above.
What this means for you
- Pay-per-sit and pay-per-show both mean payment is tied to attendance. Pay-per-appointment usually means payment is tied to booking, which is a different and weaker commitment for the buyer.
- This SERP is thin enough that most search results are job postings, not buyer-facing definitions, so verify any vendor's claimed model directly rather than assuming it matches the term they use.
- A rate card can say "per appointment" and still function as pay-per-sit underneath, if a no-show is never counted as billable in the first place.
Sources
The external data in this guide draws on the sources below. Figures described in the text as estimates or industry triangulations are directional and are not attributed to a single dataset.
- WayUp, Sun Solar Life sales role posting
- Flexxable, what is pay-per-show and pay-per-appointment
- Solar Exclusive, buy solar appointments
- RGR Marketing, buy solar leads