Chat Buddies

What Chat Buddies is

Chat Buddies is an agency that says it meets the rights and duties that apply in Austria, and that places German-speaking chat moderators, also called chat animators, on adult text chat services. It pays them per message, as freelancers working from home, and the training is free. Native-level German is required, so this is work for the German-language market, and the FAQ says its team includes moderators from South America, Japan, Portugal, Turkey, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Bosnia among others, as long as their German is fully fluent. The footer signs the site "Chat Buddies | Matthias Czepa".

The home page describes the agency's role as arranging chats for moderators, so they can earn a side income or a main income, and delivering competently moderated chats to the chat operators who commission them. It addresses 3 audiences, chat operators, agencies and moderators, and the moderator page is the one that matters for an earner. A reader who stops here should know the basics: an agency job, paid per message, German only, 18 and over, ID required.

How earning works here

The moderator page spells out the job. Chat moderators "führen zwanglose, teils erotische oder flirtende Gespräche mittels Kurznachrichten in einem erwachsenen Textnetzwerk anhand von fiktiven Profilen", which means casual, partly erotic or flirtatious conversations by short messages in an adult text network, using fictional profiles. Moderators are given different roles or profiles depending on what customers prefer. Some customers want light conversation with the other gender about work, culture, relationships or the environment. The page says a moderator's own identity is never revealed because the moderator only represents profiles that already exist.

Work is paid per message in 2 chat types. As of October 2026 the pay line says the agency pays between 0.09 (OUT) and 0.21 (IN) per message that the moderator receives from the customer or sends, depending on the chat. The page words the unit as "Euro Cent", and the difference lies between an IN chat and an OUT chat, which varies from chat to chat. The moderator page does not say which chats pay which rate.

Onboarding runs in steps. Before the first chat, a moderator joins an online training by Skype that the page says lasts about 1 to 2 hours. After it, the moderator logs in and starts. New moderators begin as trainees in a dedicated group where the whole team supports them, and the page says trainees receive the same pay as everyone else. Once the basics are mastered, the moderator moves straight into the main group. Each chat has its own group so that information reaches the right people, and moderators keep supporting each other there. The FAQ adds round-the-clock admin support and a Skype group with colleagues.

Time commitment is flexible with a floor. The moderators are self-employed and have no fixed working hours, and no minimum turnover or message count. The page recommends a weekly minimum of 300 messages, which it says takes experienced moderators 2 to 3 hours. After logging in, the moderator must make sure a full hour of chatting is possible, because staying online longer makes it easier and faster to build dialogue with the same customers. The FAQ says there is no minimum number of hours, but that earnings stay modest below 10 hours a week and that a daily minimum of 2 hours is a sensible target for a nice side income. It adds that individual chats have minimum requirements to confirm activity, which it calls minimal. The agency says absences for illness or holidays are fine, and a short note to management over Skype is enough, with the absence taken into account in activity checks.

Most work comes in the evening and at night, the FAQ says, because moderators work when customers have time, though most chats can be written 24/7 and it says some full-time moderators work only in the mornings. The FAQ says it has moderators of every age, the oldest 68.

The agency also runs prizes and bonuses. Contests happen regularly and are limited to certain chats, with cash to win, listed on the next invoice as a "Sonderprämie" (special bonus). The page also says outstanding performers get various bonus payments, and that moderators who perform strongly over a longer period can move into the admin team, which coordinates the team and handles contact with direct customers and suppliers. The FAQ says that step comes with considerably better pay.

Money and rules

The pay model is per message, settled by bank transfer, with no fee withheld. On earnings, the moderator page read in October 2026 claims experienced moderators write about 50 to 100 messages an hour, so 200 to 400 EUR a week "or more" is quickly possible. The FAQ goes further, calling 100 messages an hour realistic for an experienced moderator and quoting a higher weekly range, and says many moderators made the work their main job. These are the agency's own earnings claims, not guaranteed outcomes, and the FAQ itself says a general answer cannot be given because earnings depend on skill and time invested.

Settlement is described in two ways. The moderator page says the revenue a moderator earns is collected from all chats and paid out punctually in the following month. The FAQ is more specific: revenue from the different chats is collected and paid "2 mal im Monat (1x bis zum 5. und 1x bis zum 20.)", twice a month, once by the 5th and once by the 20th. Payout currently goes only to the moderator's bank account by IBAN or instant transfer, and a credit note is sent by email as a payment record, for example for the tax office. The site does not publish a payout threshold, and the FAQ states that no fees for using the chats are withheld.

Requirements are short. A moderator must be at least 18 and must confirm identity with an ID document. The contract includes a confidentiality statement, because the work involves personal and sensitive data. A laptop, computer or smartphone and a stable connection are needed. The FAQ asks for at least DSL 6000 or a 4G, 5G or LTE connection with enough data, accepts a desktop PC, iMac, notebook, MacBook, tablet or smartphone, says only Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari work as browsers, and requires a private Skype account for internal communication. It adds that a WhatsApp service is in the works. German must be at native level in speech and writing.

The FAQ answers the cost question with "Nein": training and all further courses are free, and no fees are held back for using the chats. It also answers the legality question, saying the work is fully legal because customers are told in the chats' terms that moderated profiles exist and because the agency is itself registered and meets the rights and duties that apply in Austria. That is the agency's own statement and not legal or tax advice. Moderators are freelancers under a contract on a free-collaborator basis, and business and tax matters are their own responsibility. The FAQ says the activity needs no trade license in Austria and suggests asking a tax adviser. A moderator can leave by email or a Skype message to management, effective immediately, and open revenue is paid out afterward.

Who it suits and who it does not

Chat Buddies suits a fluent German writer who wants flexible, remote, per-message work without a fixed schedule and who is comfortable with flirtatious and partly erotic conversation under a persona. The free training, trainee group and round-the-clock admin help make it workable for a beginner. A person fitting around other jobs can log in for a single focused hour, and there is a stated way to leave quickly.

It suits less well anyone who wants a payout method other than a bank account, since the FAQ names bank transfer as the only route for now. The FAQ itself says earnings stay limited below 10 hours a week. The rate depends on which chat a moderator is assigned. Someone without native German, or unwilling to show ID, will not qualify. The work is conducted on fictional profiles, which moderators should be comfortable with before they apply.