Zinn Calls let you deliver your service live — a coaching session, a lesson, a strategy call, a design review — inside Zinn Hub, in the browser, with nothing to install and no personal contact details shared. More importantly, they let you sell to buyers who don't speak your language, because Zinn Hub can translate the conversation live, as captions or as spoken voice.
That single fact changes the size of your market. If you're a brilliant coach in Seoul, a developer in São Paulo or a tutor in Cairo, your customers no longer have to speak your language to hire you.
This guide walks through the whole thing: turning a Zinn into a call, setting up your booking page, who pays for translation, group calls with co-hosts, and everything you'll want to know before your first session.
In this article
- Who can sell calls
- Your Calls page, card by card
- Turning a Zinn into a call (and how not to)
- The five ways to offer a call
- Your permanent booking page
- Inviting one specific person
- Making a Custom Offer that is a call
- Your call languages and the language gap
- Captions vs spoken voice
- Who covers translation — the full hierarchy
- Call Credits
- Group calls, co-hosts and teammates
- The call itself, start to finish
- Calendar sync and recordings
- Getting the most out of it
- Common questions
1. Who can sell calls
Offering and selling calls — booking pages, invite links and paid call services — is available to verified Zinners. If you're not verified yet, your Calls page will show you a notice with a link to get verified rather than the tools.
Buying, booking and joining a call is open to every registered Zinn Hub user, so your buyers don't need anything special.
If your account is banned, suspended, store-paused or on vacation lock, your listings, booking links and payouts are switched off automatically until it's resolved. Existing calls aren't quietly cancelled — but new bookings stop.
2. Your Calls page, card by card
/dashboard/zinner/calls/ — or 📞 Calls in your dashboard nav.
| Card | What it's for |
|---|---|
| 💳 Call Credits | Your balance, what's reserved against booked calls, and what's available. Buy one-off packs or a monthly plan. |
| 🕑 Your availability | A weekly grid of the hours you're free, in your timezone. This is exactly what the slot picker offers to buyers. |
| 🗣️ My call languages | Every language you can personally hold a live call in. Add each as a chip. |
| 📅 Upcoming calls | Split into ⏳ To schedule (bought but not yet timed) and 📆 Confirmed & upcoming. Reschedule, cancel, switch translation mode, change who pays, manage the roster. |
| 🔗 Your booking page | Your permanent personal booking link, plus all its settings — and the one-time invite tool. |
| 📅 Calendar sync | Connect Google, Microsoft Outlook or Apple CalDAV, or subscribe by feed. |
3. Turning a Zinn into a call (and how not to)
Whether a specific Zinn is a call is decided on the service itself, in the Creation Wizard, Step 8 — Delivery & Requirements.
- To make it a call: set the delivery method to a live video session, or include Live Video Call or screen-share among your delivery formats. Call scheduling switches on automatically.
- To make sure it isn't a call: simply leave Step 8 as a non-video delivery. That's the whole answer — there's no separate "disable calls" toggle to hunt for.
You can also configure a call from every other creation surface — Custom Offers, Micro Zinns, the AI Zinn Creator and Import My Services — with the same options: call type, a custom length between 5 and 480 minutes, and co-hosts.
Micro Zinns work as calls too. Because the call itself is free and translation is billed separately, a short, cheap Micro Zinn call is perfectly viable — a 15-minute portfolio review, say.
A standalone "session" Zinn
If the call is the product — "60-minute strategy call, $50" — create it through the wizard's session branch, or from the paid call-service link on your Your booking page card. It sells through normal checkout, and commission, payouts and refunds work exactly as they do for any Zinn.
4. The five ways to offer a call
| Route | Who it's for | Paid? | Where you set it up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free direct booking | A buyer you're already working with — from an order or a project | No | Just pick a slot |
| Permanent booking page | Anyone, any time. Reusable, never expires | No | Calls → Your booking page → turn on |
| One-time invite link | One specific person, chosen by username. Expires (30 days by default) | No | Calls → Your booking page → ✉️ Invite a specific person |
| Custom Offer that is a call | One specific buyer — "Consultation call, 30 mins" | Yes | Custom Offers → tick "Enable call scheduling on this offer" |
| Paid call service | Any buyer browsing the marketplace | Yes | Creation Wizard → Step 8 → live video delivery |
Free versus paid, precisely: the video call is always free. You only ever spend Call Credits on translation, when there's a language gap. So a free discovery chat needs no purchase at all — a booking link goes straight to a slot picker, with no checkout. A Custom Offer call is a paid service sold to one buyer, so it goes through the normal offer → checkout flow, and then they schedule.
5. Your permanent booking page
Every verified Zinner gets a personal, permanent booking page at a stable web address derived from your display name. It never changes and never expires. Share it once — in your bio, your email signature, a proposal, a social post — and anyone can reuse it any time.
What you can configure
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Booking page on/off | Pauses new bookings without touching calls you've already got. |
| Call lengths you offer | Tick the presets (15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 minutes) and/or add custom lengths — any whole number from 5 to 480 minutes. Custom lengths appear as removable chips. Leave at least one offered. |
| Default call length | The length pre-selected when someone opens your page. It must be one of the lengths you offer. |
| Who covers live translation by default | The person booking pays, or I cover it from my Call Credits. Only ever matters when there's a language gap. |
| Default translation mode | Captions or voice. This applies when you cover the translation — the buyer then gets it free with no picker, and this decides which mode they get. It has no effect when the buyer pays, because then they choose. |
| Allow group calls | Turn on group calls and set your maximum seats (2–8, counting both principals). Off means strictly one-to-one. |
| Paid call-service link | If you have a priced call service, its checkout link is offered here too. |
How it behaves for the person opening it
- They must sign in to see your slots. A logged-out visitor sees only your display name, "Book a call with {you}", and a single sign-in or register button that brings them straight back to your page.
- Once signed in, the page renders in their language — their communication language, falling back to their browse language. Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Hebrew and Pashto render right to left.
- Their timezone is detected and named on screen, with a switcher if they want to override it.
- The page isn't indexed by search engines. It's shareable, not discoverable.
One link serves every language. You never have to guess who's on the other end, or make different links for different countries. Because the visitor signs in, Zinn Hub always knows their real language and timezone rather than guessing from their browser.
6. Inviting one specific person
Inside the Your booking page card, ✉️ Invite a specific person creates a private, one-time booking link for one particular person.
- Choose who Type their username into the people-search picker. There's no email field — the link is bound to that chosen user's account.
- Set the call length Its own length, independent of your booking page's list.
- Set who covers translation Just for this invite. Your global default stays untouched for everyone else.
- Pick captions or voice Shown only when you're the one covering the translation.
- Add co-hosts Optional, and only when group calls are switched on.
- Send it The token expires after 30 days by default, or you can set it to never expire. It can be booked once.
Who can you search for? The picker is scoped to your own contacts — people you've messaged, transacted with, or shared a call with. It never lets you browse the wider user base. Banned or locked accounts are filtered out, and every pick must resolve to a real registered user.
7. Making a Custom Offer that is a call
This is the cleanest way to sell a call to one specific buyer — the sale and the call, fully interlinked.
- Create the offer as normal Title (e.g. "Consultation call — 30 mins"), description, price, and the buyer's username.
- Tick "Enable call scheduling on this offer" and choose a call type — post-delivery, delivered via video, or both.
- Set the call length in minutes Anywhere from 5 to 480. Default is 30. This is the real duration of the call.
- Choose who covers translation Custom Offers carry their own selector: "If translation is needed, who covers it?" — the buyer by default, or you. Optionally add co-hosts by username.
- Send it Zinn Hub produces the offer in the buyer's own communication language and delivers it by chat, email, bell and Telegram, with a checkout link.
- They buy it A pending call is created and they're nudged to schedule. It appears under "To schedule" on their Calls page and the order screen, with a slot picker. If there's a language gap, the credit step runs then.
Custom Offers are the one exception on who-pays. Every other creation surface (the Wizard, Micro, the AI Zinn Creator, Import My Services) leaves the who-covers choice unset, so your global default governs. A Custom Offer carries its own explicit choice, defaulting to the buyer.
8. Your call languages and the language gap
Under 🗣️ My call languages, add every language you can genuinely hold a live conversation in. If you set none, Zinn Hub falls back to your communication language.
These are separate from your display language (how you read the site) and your communication language (how you're emailed and messaged). All three can differ.
When a call is booked, Zinn Hub compares your call languages against the buyer's:
- You share a language → free, clean call. No translation, no credits, no prompts. A short green confirmation says so.
- No shared language → a language gap. An amber banner appears, and the call can't be confirmed until translation mode and payer are settled and credits reserved.
Be honest with your list. Adding a language you only half-speak tells the system there's no gap, so no translation is offered — and you'll be on a call you can't hold. List only what you'd be comfortable delivering a paid session in.
9. Captions vs spoken voice
| Mode | What happens | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 💬 Captions | Each speaker is transcribed, translated, and shown as live on-screen subtitles to the other person in their language. Everyone keeps their own voice. | 1 Call Credit / minute |
| 🔊 Voice | Everything captions do, plus a spoken translated audio track for the listener. The original speaker is gently quietened underneath while the dub plays. Captions still run alongside. | 2 Call Credits / minute |
Which to set as your default:
- Captions suit screen-shares, design reviews, code walkthroughs, audits — anywhere precise wording matters and both of you are already looking at a screen. They're also the cheaper option, which matters if you're covering the cost.
- Voice suits coaching, teaching, fitness, music, long conversation — anywhere the buyer's eyes need to be on you, on their own form, or on their instrument rather than on subtitles.
The payer picks the mode. If the buyer is covering the credits, they see the selector and the cost, and they choose. If you're covering it, your default translation mode applies, the buyer sees a friendly note saying you provide it free, and no selector at all. Nobody's choice can spend someone else's credits.
10. Who covers translation — the full hierarchy
Translation is the only paid part of a call, and it's only ever charged on a language gap. Zinn Hub resolves who covers it by a clear priority order — most specific first — so a gap call always ends up with a valid payer, never nobody.
- Per-call override (highest) On any upcoming gap call, either party can set "Who covers live translation for this call?" — I will cover it or The other person covers it. Beats everything below, for that call only.
- Per-person A one-time invite link, or a Custom Offer authored for one buyer, carries its own who-pays choice.
- Product level A call service or offer can carry its own paying party.
- Your global default The "Who covers live translation by default?" setting on your booking page.
- Type default The person booking pays for a consultation, pre-sales or booking-link call. You pay for a delivery or follow-up call on work they've bought.
Worked example: "my default is buyer-pays, but for this one client I'll cover it"
Three ways, all valid, none of which touches your default for anyone else:
- Before you invite them — use ✉️ Invite a specific person and set "Who covers translation for this invite?" to I cover it.
- On a priced offer — create a Custom Offer for them, set to seller-covers.
- After it's booked — open the call under Upcoming calls and switch "Who covers live translation for this call?" to I will cover it. This beats everything for that one call.
Whenever the payer changes, the old payer's credit hold is released and the new payer's is reserved. If the new payer is short, they're nudged to top up and the switch is refused until they can fund it — so the call is never left unreserved.
Covering translation is a sales tool. "Live translation included, free for you" removes the last objection for a buyer who was worried about the language. If the call is likely to convert into paid work, covering a 30-minute captions session is one of the cheapest pieces of business development you'll ever do.
11. Call Credits
Credits are only ever spent on live translation. Never on the call itself.
Your three figures
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Balance | Every credit you own. |
| Reserved for booked calls | Credits held against calls you've already booked, so they can't be spent twice. |
| Available to book | Balance minus everything reserved. What you can commit to a new call. |
Buying
＋ Buy Call Credits opens the top-up area: one-off packs in several sizes (larger packs are cheaper per credit) and monthly plans with an allowance at a lower per-credit rate and rollover up to a cap. Sizes and prices are shown live in your dashboard. Everything is priced in US dollars, with your local currency underneath as a display-only helper.
How reservations behave
- Book → credits reserved up front for booked length × rate.
- Reschedule → the reservation moves with the call.
- Cancel → released in full.
- Complete → only the minutes actually used are committed; the remainder is released.
Because credits are reserved up front, a call can never quietly run past what's been paid for. A low balance while a call is running is a nudge to top up, not a cut-off mid-sentence.
12. Group calls, co-hosts and teammates
Turn on Allow group calls on your booking page and set your seat cap — anywhere from 2 to 8, counting both you and the buyer.
Two kinds of extra participant
- A co-host — another Zinner you bring in as a functional second host. They get the same camera, microphone and screen-share rights as you.
- A teammate — a colleague the buyer brings along.
Either party can add someone. Both use the same username people-search picker, scoped to your own contacts. Everyone must be a registered Zinn Hub user — no guests, no anonymous joins, no email-only invites. Banned and locked accounts are filtered out, and you can't add yourself.
Persistent co-hosts on a service
Attach permanent co-hosts to a call service once, and they're auto-invited to every booking of that service — no adding them each time. The Co-host(s) field is available on every creation surface: the Creation Wizard (Step 8), the Custom Offer form, Micro Zinns, the AI Zinn Creator and Import My Services.
What group calls cost
- No language gap → adding a participant costs nothing at all.
- Language gap → translation scales with participants and languages, so group credit is higher. It's re-reserved under the same who-pays rule and shown transparently. If the payer is short, they're nudged to top up and the add is refused.
Everyone on a call sees it in their own dashboard, in their own language and timezone. The call row shows the full roster — each person's name, role and join state — and whoever added someone can remove them, which releases their share of any reserved credit.
13. The call itself, start to finish
- Book From an order screen, a project, your booking page, an invite link, or after a purchase. The slot picker only offers times where both of you are free — your availability windows, minus your existing bookings, minus your synced calendar's busy times.
- Language check Shared language → free. Gap → captions or voice, who covers it, credits reserved.
- Confirm Both parties notified in their own language and timezone. Pushed to any connected calendar with the join link.
- Reminders 24 hours, 1 hour and 5 minutes before, to both of you, each in their own local time.
- Join The join link opens 5 minutes before the start, with a grace period after. Camera, microphone and screen-share, in the browser. Only people on the roster are admitted.
- During If translation was booked, captions or the translated voice track run live. Credits meter per minute against the reservation.
- After Only the credits actually used are committed; the rest is released. Any recording is stored. A follow-up call is offered if the service is set up for one.
Rescheduling and cancelling
Either party can do either, at any time before the call. The other person is notified automatically in their language and local time. Credit reservations move on a reschedule, and are released in full on a cancellation. Existing calls carry on normally even if you later switch calls off on the product.
Timezones
Every time is stored in UTC and displayed in your own timezone, named on screen ("Times shown in Europe/London"), not vaguely described. Each call row also shows the other party's timezone and each party's call language, so there's never any confusion about "9pm whose time?".
14. Calendar sync and recordings
Calendar sync
Connect Google Calendar, Microsoft (Outlook) or Apple CalDAV, or subscribe to your calls by feed. Once connected:
- Booked calls appear on your calendar with the join link attached.
- Your external busy times are blocked out of the slot picker, so a buyer can't book you over your dentist appointment.
- Zinn Hub reads busy/free only — never your event details.
Recordings
Where recording is enabled for a call and both parties consented at booking, the session is stored for 90 days, downloadable and linked to the order where relevant. You'll get a separate warning notification before it's deleted, so muting your general call notifications can't cause you to miss it.
Call history
Every call is logged — when it started, how long it ran, the translation mode, the roster, and where you are in a series. It's a complete audit trail against every order, which matters when a buyer asks what was covered in session three.
15. Getting the most out of it
- Set your availability generously, and sync your calendar. The two together mean buyers see real slots and you're never double-booked. It's the single biggest reduction in back-and-forth messaging you'll get.
- Put your booking link everywhere. Your Zinn Hub profile, your Zinn descriptions, your proposals, your email signature. It never expires, so a copy from six months ago still works.
- Offer a short free discovery call. Fifteen or twenty minutes, no purchase needed. It's the cheapest way to convert a hesitant buyer, especially one who's nervous about the language.
- Consider covering translation for high-value buyers. "Free for you" is a powerful line on a call that might turn into a long engagement.
- Pick your default mode deliberately. If you coach or teach, voice. If you review work on screen, captions.
- Add a custom length that matches your actual service. A 20-minute check-in and a 75-minute deep dive both sell better than a 30 or 60 that doesn't quite fit.
- Confirm the critical details in writing. Live translation is very good, but for a deadline, a spec or a price, follow up in the order thread where "Show original" is available.
16. Common questions
Does hosting a call cost me anything?
The call itself, never. You only spend Call Credits on live translation, only when there's a language gap, and only if you're the one covering it.
How do I stop a particular Zinn being a call?
Leave Step 8 of the Creation Wizard as a non-video delivery. There's nothing else to switch off.
Can I change who pays after a call is booked?
Yes. Either party can switch it on any upcoming gap call. The old hold is released and the new payer's is reserved. If they can't fund it, the switch is refused rather than leaving the call unreserved.
My default is captions. Can a buyer get voice?
Yes — if the buyer is covering the translation, they choose the mode and can pick voice. Your default only applies when you're paying.
Can I regenerate my booking link?
No — and deliberately so. Your link is stable, which means every copy anyone has ever saved keeps working. Turn the booking page off if you want to pause new bookings.
What happens if I run out of credits mid-call?
You won't be cut off mid-sentence. Credits are reserved up front for the full booked length, so the call is always covered for the time you agreed. A low balance shows as a nudge to top up.
Can I add a co-host who isn't on Zinn Hub?
No. Everyone on a Zinn Call is a registered, verified-identity user. The picker only searches people you've messaged, worked with, or shared a call with, and never asks for an email address.
Do refunds for a call service work normally?
Yes. Call services sell as ordinary Zinns, so commission, payouts and accounting all work unchanged. Refunds go to the buyer's Zinn Wallet in US dollars, as they do for any Zinn, and an uncommitted credit reservation is simply released.
How many languages can buyers reach me in?
Zinn Hub runs in 46 full-platform languages, with 12 more you can be messaged and notified in — 58 in total. Live translation bridges any gap between your call languages and theirs.
Related articles: Getting verified as a Zinner · Creating a Zinn with the Creation Wizard · Custom Offers explained · Micro Zinns · Zinn Wallet, payouts and refunds · Zinn Calls overview · How language works across Zinn Hub
