However, if a client wants to see if I’m legit, they can read my reviews on TAG. Most of my reviews were written by active TAG users, some that TAG Manager has even met. I also have a Preferred411 account, meaning that I had to send them a copy of my ID. I also have public Twitter and Instagram accounts that clients can check out to see if we could be a good match before contacting me.
I believe that on this occasion I really must side with e-smile. Over the years, I have a met a few providers whose photos were, how can I put it, taken several years and a number of kilos earlier. I am in no way implying that this is the case with yourself. I have never met you before and I have no idea who you are but I am sure that you probably do look exactly like your photos (you have a very cute smile by the way). However, I have certainly learnt to be wary of photos and to always take them with a pinch of salt.
I really know nothing about what the Japanese market is like but certainly at both the low end and high end of the market in, for example, London or Paris then I would suggest that insisting on an upfront payment would really affect your business a lot as it simply isn't done in those markets. Either incall or outcall at whatever price level.
if a client wants to see if I’m legit, they can read my reviews on TAG. Most of my reviews were written by active TAG users, some that TAG Manager has even met.
I think that you might possibly have a case if you were getting the vast majority of your customers through TAG, but is that really the case? If not, then any reviews you get on here aren't really affecting your business in any real way I would suggest.
Just as a comparison, there is a site in the UK for independent escorts (it's also used by agencies to some extent as well) called adultwork.com where feedback and reviews do play an important part and the site does remove adverts, or give warnings, when it is alleged that fake photos have been used. There is a similar site in France called 6annonce.com. You can think of these sites as a bit like Uber for escorts - the UK site has around 3,000 providers in London and more in other cities and the French site has around 500 in Paris and more in other cities in France.
Anecdotally, I am aware that good reviews make a lot of difference to these women as these sites are where they get the majority of their customers from.
If you had excellent reviews on the Tokyo equivalent of one of those sites (does such a thing exist in Japan?) then I could well understand that you might wish to demand a deposit and that it would be unlikely to affect your business. However, is TAG (with all due respect to the site - I actually do think it's a great resource) and the reviews given here really on the same scale and have the same influence in Tokyo that those other sites have in their own markets? I would suggest not.
However, at the end of the day, if it works for you and you find it doesn't put off too many new customers then go for it.
I currently live a little over an hour away from most meetup spots, and most clients cancel on me or ghost mid-conversation at the very last minute, so it would just be nice to have more reliable clients.
I would suggest that there are two ways of dealing with this. Firstly, have an incall location (incall means that your customers come to you) or insist that they give you a name and room number in a hotel that you can then call the hotel and check that they are actually booked in there.
I understand that Japan has a thing with "love hotels" so this may not be the norm in your situation. However, if you were to say to new clients that you would only meet them in a proper hotel the first time and that you need the room number that they are staying in then this would allow you to call ahead and make sure that they really are there. This is ceratinly something that is done in the major cities that I've lived in (disclaimer I haven't been to Tokyo yet)
If I may ask, do you use P4P? Because you don’t seem to have written any reviews so far.
I’m keeping in mind that some repliers may not even use escorts’ services in the first place.
Believe me, I certainly have (although not in Japan). Everything from teenage street walkers in Bradford (a city in the north of England) where, 25 years ago, a quickie in the back seat of your car was the equivalent of 4,000 Yen to Russian and French runway models at a cost of 100,000 Yen an hour.
ps There are other similar sites in many other countries. For example, I worked in Russia for a number of years and there is also a similar site in Moscow called intimcity.nl with about 3,000 providers
pps If it makes any difference, the sites I give above don't really have the high end girls advertising on them. Rates in London on this site are typically the equivalent of 20-30,000 Yen per hour. The real high end agencies and escorts (the sort that are 50-150,000 Yen per hour) just use their own websites. However, even here, I have never ever come across anyone asking fo a deposit (unless it was for a travelling a very long distance or going overseas)
