Buddy of mine ended up with a surplus of leads totally by circumstance. He allocated a significant amount into generating real time leads for his own shop that he developed just before covid. Ended up closing because of the impact, but the leads are still pouring in, and with nowhere to go so he decided to distribute them which was never his intent.

My point being that, even a guy who had no intention of accruing data for profit, is still smart enough to know that #1, you always give a guy some upfront to test out, and if they bode well for them they'll certainly be back for more. #2, anyone who is not willing to do this is a scam artist, because what is 25 leads in comparison to having an avenue to sell 4k? That, IMO is the biggest tell.