How do you know when to charge?

In a way, I think that it's okay to charge whenever, even from your very first reading, if you're upfront about what you're selling. If you're selling your time and inform whoever it is you're reading for that you're new and inexperienced I think that's fine. You're time is as valuable at any time.

If you mow someone's lawn you're selling your time and effort, not the promise that you're some super-mower with advanced techniques. Same with taking the time and effort of doing a reading, regardless of how good you are. As long as you're honest about it them it's always okay.

Of course, I've never charged for a reading so I may be way off. But even trial readings raw beginners have done for me have always been compensated somehow, even if it's chocolate bar or cookies or even some teaching and feedback.

I started charging when I felt that I was accurate and offering a good value for what I might be paid for. So I started reading for a website, and their test to qualify helped me to see that I was indeed worth paying for. They raised their prices shortly after I started.

I think that regardless of experience level it's possible to charge something for readings, as long as you're clear about what level you're at. I started doing free readings for a web service, and the clients paid us free readers back by giving us feedback so that we could get better at learning. I figured that I could charge when I seemed to be a better reader than the vast majority of the free readers there. Like Babs I was getting a lot of feedback that told me that I was worth paying for. If anyone ever wants to become a professional reader I highly recommend going the professional free reader route.

Money is simply a way of measuring energy output. When I read IRL I tend to read for stand-ins for money, be it dinner, or a bottle of delicious flavoured water, or what-have-you. When I read online it's less likely that my querents are going to send me the book that I want, and more likely that they will pay me money so that I can get the book that I want. In either case, they are showing me that they value my time. That's all. They may hate the content (especially when the cards show that, no, their ex isn't going to get back with them because it's been years) but they still pay for the reading. Client satisfaction is sometimes a bonus.