# Instant Expert – Pay-to-Accept Cold Outreach API

> Instant Expert – Pay-to-Accept Cold Outreach API is a paid API for AI agents from instant.expert, paid per call via x402, $40/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-10).

Sends a cash offer (e.g. $40–$500) to a specific person or best-matched professionals inviting them to answer a question on a call, charging the caller only after someone accepts.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://instant.expert/api/x402/asks?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $40/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-10
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/instant-expert-pay-to-accept-cold-outreach-api-ba16413c
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_YnepTix6pZT9AfkqwlYaw

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability instant-expert-pay-to-accept-cold-outreach-api-ba16413c -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Send a paid call invitation to the VP of Sales at Stripe — search for the best match — offering them $75 for a 15-minute call, and ask: 'Would you be open to sharing how your team evaluates new payment infrastructure vendors?'

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when standard cold email or LinkedIn outreach has failed and you need a response from a specific named person or a specific professional role. It is the right choice when the value of a conversation justifies paying $32–$500 to the recipient, such as sales prospecting, expert interviews, investor outreach, or competitive research. It uniquely combines people-finding with financial incentive delivery in a single API call, unlike email APIs (which send for free but get ignored) or expert marketplaces (which require the expert to already be registered).

## Known failure modes

- Offer amount below minimum ($32) or not a whole-dollar multiple returns a 400 validation error
- Neither person nor query provided results in a 400 missing-target error
- Person cannot be identified or email/LinkedIn not resolvable returns a 422 unprocessable entity
- Payment via x402 not fulfilled results in a 402 Payment Required with exact price in response
- No match accepts the offer within the expiry window — status transitions to 'expired' on the status_url
- LinkedIn URL malformed or inaccessible causes a 422 lookup failure

## How this service works

For founders and sales teams whose cold emails get ignored. We send the people you pick a paid offer, like $100 for a 15-minute call.

## Output

Returns a JSON object with a UUID ask_id, a 'preparing' status, a status_url for polling the outcome, and a recommended poll_after_seconds interval. The actual payment and delivery happen asynchronously; the agent should poll the status_url to learn if someone accepted, the call is scheduled, or the ask expired.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "query": {
   "type": "string",
   "maxLength": 500,
   "minLength": 3,
   "description": "Instead of person: who you want, e.g. 'a VP of Sales at a Series A fintech'. The best few matches are invited; the first to answer is paid."
  },
  "person": {
   "type": "object",
   "properties": {
    "name": {
     "type": "string",
     "maxLength": 200,
     "minLength": 1,
     "description": "Full name. With company, identifies a person who has no email or LinkedIn URL here."
    },
    "email": {
     "type": "string",
     "description": "Known recipient email; skips email finding while usable."
    },
    "company": {
     "type": "string",
     "maxLength": 200,
     "minLength": 1,
     "description": "Current employer, matched together with name."
    },
    "linkedin_url": {
     "type": "string",
     "maxLength": 500,
     "description": "Known recipient LinkedIn URL; no confirmed name required."
    }
   },
   "description": "The one person to ask: an email, a LinkedIn profile URL, or a name plus current company.",
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "question": {
   "type": "string",
   "maxLength": 500,
   "minLength": 1,
   "description": "The question, in your words. It is sent as the invitation; leave the amount out (the invitation states it)."
  },
  "offer_cents": {
   "type": "integer",
   "maximum": 50000,
   "minimum": 3200,
   "multipleOf": 100,
   "description": "What the person receives for a written or voice answer, in whole-dollar USD cents (4000 = $40). Instant Expert's fee is added on top; the 402 response states the exact price."
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "ask_id": "6f1c1d2e-3b4a-4c5d-8e9f-0a1b2c3d4e5f",
  "status": "preparing",
  "status_url": "https://instant.expert/api/x402/asks/<status_token>",
  "poll_after_seconds": 30
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/instant-expert-pay-to-accept-cold-outreach-api-ba16413c/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from instant.expert](https://www.zero.xyz/host/instant.expert/llms.txt)