The short answer
A legitimate modelling agency that represents you should not need money from you to sign you, put you on its books or send you to castings. Representation is paid for by commission: the agency takes an agreed share of the fee when a client books you. If it cannot get you booked, it does not earn, which is exactly why a real agency is selective about who it takes on.
That does not mean every request for money is a scam. Agencies, schools, photographers and platforms — including us — also sell services: training, a photoshoot, a listing. Paying for a service you receive and can judge is an ordinary purchase. The problem is money asked for in exchange for a promise: that you will be signed, seen by clients, shortlisted or given work. Nobody controls those outcomes, so nobody can honestly sell them.
How modelling agencies make money
An agency sits between models and the clients who book them — brands, advertising agencies, photographers, event organisers. Its job is to find work that suits the models it represents, negotiate the fee and the terms of use, handle the paperwork, and chase the payment. It earns from that work, not from the models.
Commission on bookings the agency secures
When a client books you, the agency takes a percentage of your fee as commission. The percentage is agreed in your contract with the agency before you work together — it is not something that should be decided job by job, or explained to you only after you have been paid. Some agencies also charge the client a separate fee on top of yours for their own services; that is between the agency and the client, and it does not come out of your pocket.
This is why commission is the structure to expect: the agency only wins when you win. An agency that earns mostly from fees paid by the people it signs has a very different incentive — to sign as many people as possible, whether or not clients will ever book them.
Do modelling agencies pay you?
Usually the client pays, and the agency passes your share on. On a typical booking the client pays the agency, the agency deducts its commission, and you receive the rest. Before you sign with anyone, ask three things and get the answers in writing: what the commission is, how many days after a job you are paid, and whether you are paid when the client pays or on a fixed schedule. How a modelling fee is built — the day rate, and the separate licence for how the images are used — is covered in the guide to how much models get paid in Kenya.
Are modelling agencies free? Do you have to pay them?
Being represented should not cost you anything up front. You should not have to pay to be signed, to be “registered”, to be added to a database, or to be put forward to clients. If a representative asks you for money before you have done a single job, ask what that money buys that commission does not already cover.
Representation is not free forever, though, and it is worth being clear about that. Once you are working, commission comes out of every fee you earn through the agency. The difference is timing and risk: you pay out of money you have earned, after the agency has done its part, rather than paying in advance for work that may never come.
What you might reasonably pay for yourself
Even with representation, some costs are yours, and none of them should be paid to the agency as a condition of signing:
- Getting yourself to castings and to local jobs.
- Keeping your digitals and measurements up to date.
- Training, if you decide you want it — bought because you chose it, from whoever you chose.
- Photographs, if you decide you want a shoot — again, chosen by you, with the terms clear before you pay.
Some agencies may offer to arrange a service such as a shoot and deduct its cost from your future earnings. If that is ever proposed, ask for it in writing: what the service is, what it costs, and what you owe if you leave the agency or are never booked.
How much do modelling agencies charge?
For representation, the honest answer is “a percentage of what you earn through them, agreed in your contract” — not a fixed amount you pay up front. We are not going to quote a typical percentage, because it varies between agencies, markets and types of work, and we have not measured it in a way we could defend. Ask each agency for its own figure, in writing, and compare those.
Should modelling agencies charge?
For representing you, they should charge through commission, and only once you are earning. For a separate service they actually deliver — training, a shoot, a comp card — charging is ordinary, as long as the service is optional, clearly described and priced before you pay, and not a hidden condition of being signed. The question is never “is there a charge?” but “what does this charge buy, and would I choose to buy it from anyone?”
What to ask about any charge
- What exactly is this for? A service with a description, or a “fee”?
- Is it optional? Can I be represented without paying it?
- What do I receive, and when? In objects — sessions, images, a listing for a set period — not in hopes.
- What happens if I am never booked? Do I still have what I paid for?
- Can I have that in writing? Apply this to every answer above.
Do modelling agencies ask for a deposit?
Representation does not need a deposit. Money asked for to “hold your spot”, “secure your place on the books”, “reserve your casting” or “confirm you are serious” is one of the clearest warning signs there is, because it is paid against a promise rather than for something delivered.
Deposits are normal in one situation: when you are booking a real, specific service — a photoshoot on a set date, a training session — from someone you have chosen. Even then, you should know before paying what the deposit is for, what total it comes off, and what happens to it if the session is cancelled or does not happen. A deposit for a service has a date, a description and a total attached. A deposit for a “spot” has none of those.
Do modelling agencies charge for a portfolio?
Some offer shoots, and there is nothing wrong with paying a photographer for a shoot you chose. What matters is the conditions around it. These are the signs that a portfolio charge is really a fee for being signed:
- The shoot is compulsory before the agency will represent you.
- You may only use the agency’s own photographer, at the agency’s price.
- Nobody will say how many images you receive, when, at what quality, or whether you may send them to anyone else.
- The images are withheld, watermarked, or “released later”.
You also do not need a paid portfolio to start. Plain, unedited digitals — taken on a phone, in daylight, against a bare wall — are what a booker asks for first, and they cost nothing. The guide to becoming a model in Kenya shows exactly how to shoot them. When you do want professional images, buy them the way you would buy anything else: from a studio you chose, with the deliverables stated before you pay. Siriverse Studio sells portfolio and comp-card shoots in Nairobi, and you should ask us the same questions — how many images, when, and what you may do with them.
Warning signs: when a request for money is a scam
None of this is about suspecting everyone. It is about having rules you apply without having to decide in the moment, because the moment is exactly when the pressure is on. Any one of these is reason to stop and check. Several together is reason to walk away.
- An upfront “registration fee”. Also called a joining fee, an application fee, a membership fee or a database fee — money to be signed or listed as talent, before any service or any work.
- A mandatory paid photoshoot with the agency’s own photographer. A shoot you must buy, from one supplier, as the price of representation.
- A deposit to “hold a spot”. On the books, in a show, in a casting. A spot is not a service.
- Pay-to-be-seen castings. A fee to attend a casting, to be put in front of a client, or to be “shown to international agencies”. Clients look for models; they do not charge models to be looked at.
- Requests to send M-Pesa to a personal number. A business normally takes payment through its own till, paybill or checkout, in the business’s name. Being asked to “send it to my number” leaves you with nothing that shows who you paid or what for.
- Pressure tactics. “We are choosing tonight”, “only two places left”, “pay today or lose your chance”. Pressure to pay for a spot or a promise before you have had time to check anything is a technique, not a circumstance.
- No contract, and no clear services. If nobody will put in writing what you are paying for, what you will receive, and what the agency will do for you, there is nothing for you to hold anyone to.
- Promises of guaranteed work or income. Nobody can guarantee bookings. A payment attached to a guarantee is paying for the one thing that cannot be sold.
- Any request for your M-Pesa PIN, or for your ID together with financial details. No genuine agency, client or booker ever needs your PIN.
- A “casting” or “test shoot” at a private residence or a hotel room. Money is not the only thing at risk here. A legitimate casting happens at a studio, an office or an agency, and you may bring someone with you.
Modelling scams in Kenya: what to do
Before you pay anyone
- Ask the one question. What do I receive, and what happens if I am never booked? Get the answer by message.
- Ask for the contract first. Read it before you pay, not after. Take it home. Show it to someone you trust.
- Check who you are paying. The name on the M-Pesa confirmation should be the business you think you are dealing with.
- Take your time. A real opportunity survives you taking a day to think. If it does not, it was not the opportunity you were told it was.
- Tell someone where you are going. For any casting or shoot, share the address and the time with a person you trust.
If you think you have already been scammed
- Stop paying, whatever reason you are given for “one last payment”.
- Keep everything: messages, M-Pesa confirmation messages, receipts, names, phone numbers, adverts and social media profiles. Screenshot them before they can be deleted.
- Report it to the police. You can go to your nearest police station (the National Police Service), and fraud can also be reported to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). Bring your records with you.
- Tell people you know who are also trying to model. Scams depend on each person thinking they are the only one.
If anyone asks you for money while using the Siriverse name — for a “place”, a “registration”, a guaranteed booking, or by sending money to a personal number — that is not us, and we want to know about it.
When paying is normal
Treating every charge as a scam would cost you training and images you might genuinely benefit from. The line is not between free and paid. It is between these two:
Paying for a service
- You chose it, and you could have chosen someone else
- It is described and priced before you pay
- You receive something you can judge — sessions, images, a listing
- You keep what you paid for even if you are never booked
- It is not a condition of being represented
Paying for a promise
- It is required to be signed, listed or “seen”
- What you receive is vague, or only arrives “later”
- The value depends on being booked, which nobody controls
- You are pushed to pay before you can check
- Nobody will put it in writing
Training is a good example of the first kind done properly. What it can and cannot do, and the questions worth asking any provider before you pay, are in the guide to modelling classes in Nairobi.
What Siriverse charges for, and what is free
It would be convenient to write a page about fees without mentioning our own, so here they are plainly. Siriverse is not a modelling agency: we do not sign or represent models, and we do not sell bookings. We do sell several services, and you should hold us to the same test as everyone else on this page — what do I receive, and what happens if I am never booked?
What we charge for
- The Siriverse Model Academy — training bundles. A bundle credits your account with tokens, one per session type (Live Training, Pageant Q&A, Social Media, Promotion); when a session is announced you take a seat and spend the matching token. The Digital Academy is the online route. You are buying teaching and time under observation, not representation or bookings.
- Siriverse Studio — photoshoots in Nairobi: portfolios, comp cards, reels and pageant coverage. You are buying a shoot, chosen by you.
- AI Coach Siriana — walk analysis. The Free Scan costs nothing; full walk analyses are paid.
- Models for Hire — a board businesses cast from. Every new listing gets a free seven-day trial, once. After that, staying on the board costs a listing fee that covers 30 days and is renewed monthly. The fee is not refundable. It buys placement on the board and the marketing of it to clients; it does not buy bookings, and nobody will tell you it does.
What is free
- Applying — the application itself costs nothing. If we then offer you an Academy place, the offer states what it includes and what you would pay, and you are free to decline it.
- Entering the contest — free to enter, and fans get one free vote a day. Extra votes can be bought, but no one has to.
- Open Sessions — free model sessions in Nairobi. Seats go by invitation, to whoever confirms first.
- The AI Coach Siriana Free Scan — a baseline reading of your walk before you spend anything.
Every current price lives on the page that takes the payment rather than in this article, on purpose: a price copied into prose goes stale and then misleads someone. Payments to Siriverse are taken in the site’s own checkout — as an M-Pesa prompt on your phone, or by Visa or Mastercard — never by sending money to someone’s personal number.
Frequently asked questions
Do modelling agencies ask for money?
A legitimate agency that represents you earns its money from commission — an agreed share of the fee a client pays when you are booked. So it should not need money from you to sign you, list you or put you forward for work. Some agencies and schools also sell services, such as training or a photoshoot, and buying a service is an ordinary purchase. The warning sign is money asked for in exchange for a promise: to be signed, to be seen by clients, or to be given work. Before you pay anyone, ask what you receive if you are never booked, and get the answer in writing.
Are modelling agencies free?
Being represented should cost you nothing up front. The agency is paid through commission when you are booked, which is why it only takes on people it believes clients will book. Once you are working, the commission comes out of your fees, so representation is not free in the long run — but it is paid out of money you have earned, not out of your pocket before you have earned anything.
Do modelling agencies ask for a deposit?
Representation does not need a deposit. A request to pay a deposit to “hold your spot”, “secure your place on the books” or “reserve a casting” is one of the most common warning signs there is, because it is money taken against a promise rather than for something delivered. If you are buying a real service — a booked photoshoot, a training session — a deposit can be normal, but then you should know exactly what it is for, what it is deducted from, and what happens to it if the service does not take place.
Do modelling agencies charge for a portfolio?
Some offer shoots, and paying a photographer for a shoot you chose is a normal transaction. The warning sign is a shoot you must buy in order to be represented, from one photographer the agency names, with no clear answer on how many images you receive and whether you may use them anywhere. You do not need a paid portfolio to start: plain, unedited digitals taken on a phone against a bare wall are what a booker asks for first, and they cost nothing.
Do modelling agencies pay you?
Usually the client pays, and the agency passes your share on. On a typical booking the client pays the agency, the agency deducts its commission and pays you the rest. Before you sign, ask what the commission is, how long after a job you are paid, and whether you are paid when the client pays or on a fixed schedule. Get all three answers in writing.
How do I spot a modelling scam in Kenya?
Watch for money asked for before anything is delivered: a registration fee, a deposit to hold a spot, a fee to attend a casting, or a compulsory shoot with the agency’s own photographer. Be careful with requests to send M-Pesa to a personal number, pressure to pay today, and anyone who will not put what you are buying in writing. Never share your M-Pesa PIN. If you think you have been scammed, stop paying, keep every message and receipt, and report it to the police.