Deposits & Advance Payments For Escorts

[User#8628]

This also wouldn’t work for me because most of my real clients have never used an escort service before. LOL.

I don’t know about TER, but if they’re already feeling uncomfortable with sending a 5,000yen deposit, I doubt that they’d spend 99 USD for a P411 membership application that doesn’t even guarantee approval.

I understand deposits can be really controversial, and I’m still not sure if I’ll go through with it, but thanks for your reply.

Maybe give an option of either P411 or a deposit? That way the net gets a bit wider.

 

[TheScientist]

it would be the same as telling them you're better than them

When did I ever imply that I’m better than my clients?

A deposit on professional services does not seem to have anything to do with better or worse than.

 

[Frenchy]

I was thinking of using the “reverse-deposit” method that Frenchy mentioned.

For example, I currently charge 35,000 for an hour, so clients could send me an advance payment of 5,000yen to prove that they’re serious, and when they get to the booking, they only have to pay the remaining 30,000yen in cash. If by any chance, we’re not feeling the chemistry within the first 5 minutes that we’re together, they can keep the 30,000yen and I’ll keep the 5,000yen deposit to cover transportation costs and the time I took to get ready for a client.

At least for a few months. 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.

When I’m ready to move back to the center, I will most likely stop asking for deposits.

What do you guys think?

The first call option on call girls !
Hey that could work actually. I wish I had this option many times in the past (but in a way that's what SA provides me now, with my first-no-string-attached-drinks-only meeting rule, so I stopped seeing escorts completely, except when travelling). If you find a way to make the deposit payment easy and anonymous , some guys may be interested in the call-option feature.

 

[User#8628]

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.

Ok, to give you some insight on the J market:
I'm pretty sure Hana DOES get most of her clients from TAG when she's not touring. TAG is the biggest and most reliable platform for escorts focusing on the international market. There is backpage, but its unreliable and most of us have stopped using it. There are two or three other sites that most girls have made an ad on once in a blue moon but they dont gain much traffic at all.

As for comparing TAG to the other boards, no there are no such boards in Japan, TAG is the biggest and while its much smaller, that actually makes it MORE reliable!
You say that the European boards do "some checking" but with 3000 escorts, some fakers must slip through the net.
While with the girls who advertise here on TAG, i'm pretty sure the management has met them in real life, or at least that used to be the old rule. The management personally make sure that the escort is the same person as in her pictures and generally try to screen their attitude a bit as far as possible.
Plus while some of the review posters are people who havent contributed to the forum (mostly guys who made an account and read some, found what they are looking for, then post a review of that service and leave the site after that when leaving the country), some of the guys who have reviewed us are well known people on TAG. They have made so many posts that people get a good idea of who they are and some may even have met them during a TAG meet up event that we used to have a few years ago. So they are definitely real people and not girls who write their own reviews.

Hana has been advertising on TAG for years. A lot of people on here have met her and can vouch that her pictures are accurate (she's super youthful anyway, using 10 years old pictures would have the police going after her and the site!) and her reviews are by reliable people and speak for themselves.
I do understand that some guys would still not want to go though the hassle, but i cant imagine anyone not making a deposit because they think Hana will run off with their 5000 yen. She's not some random backpage girl, she has build a reputation here.

 

[Frenchy]

Most first-time mongers are already very nervous about contacting an escort. now add the extra hurdle of amazon gift cards/bitcoin...

you could always implement the policy on a trial basis then revert if things don't go well.

Or maybe provide a little extra benefit for the guys who accept to send the deposit? (In addition to the call option feature). Like extra time or discount etc

 

[User#8628]

@MEIAK would you say that asking a desposit is working out for you so far?

 

[TonyBe]

Ok, to give you some insight on the J market:
I'm pretty sure Hana DOES get most of her clients from TAG when she's not touring. TAG is the biggest and most reliable platform for escorts focusing on the international market. There is backpage, but its unreliable and most of us have stopped using it. There are two or three other sites that most girls have made an ad on once in a blue moon but they dont gain much traffic at all.

Thank you for taking the time to explain that. I didn't realise that there was a specific foreign oriented market in Japan.

I do understand that some guys would still not want to go though the hassle, but i cant imagine anyone not making a deposit because they think Hana will run off with their 5000 yen. She's not some random backpage girl, she has build a reputation here.

Now that I have more context about the situation thanks to your explanation I can better appreciate Hana's position so thanks for explaining it.


I'm sorry if I came across as insensitive about any issues - I know very little about Japan and have not even moved to Japan yet.

 

[Frenchy]

Thank you for taking the time to explain that. I didn't realise that there was a specific foreign oriented market in Japan.




Now that I have more context about the situation thanks to your explanation I can better appreciate Hana's position so thanks for explaining it.


I'm sorry if I came across as insensitive about any issues - I know very little about Japan and have not even moved to Japan yet.

Oh dont worry about that ... it's still possible to be very insensitive even after decades of living here

 

[AMcguyver]

I must be an older, unsavvy man then.

You hide it very well.

 

[User#8628]

Thank you for taking the time to explain that. I didn't realise that there was a specific foreign oriented market in Japan.

Its hard for foreigners to get service in Japan. Especially guys who don't speak any Japanese get turned down a lot, so the agencies and independents who can do business in English are important for foreign customers and usually cost a premium.
But guys who speak Japanese well also dont get seviced everywhere.
Which is probably why TAG was created, to help foreigners find reliable services. You will notice that there are not many Japanese men on TAG, they do have their own boards, in full Japanese.

Welcome to Japan

 

[MikeH]

I must be an older, unsavvy man then.

You hide it very well.

I think quite many man, both young and old, savvy and unsavvy, here in TAG just found out now they have had definite gay tendencies all along!

 

[jhingy567]

I think quite many man, both young and old, savvy and unsavvy, here in TAG just found out now they have had definite gay tendencies all along!

well then...i'm not ashamed to admit it.

 

[Sudsy]

I must be an older, unsavvy man then.

Ummmm...

 

[e-smile]

When did I ever imply that I’m better than my clients? A client’s time, money, and safety are just as important as mine.

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.

How would I know if a first-time client is legit? I don’t screen clients and only get an idea of their personality by the way they e-mail me.

I’m also not an aggressive/leader-type of provider, as all of my reviews mention or imply, so I always prefer that the client lead the session. The only times I won’t provide FS is when the client specifically asks not to include it in our session or when time has already run out.

I didn't say you consciously implied that you're better than them, I wasn't even talking specifically about you so don't take it personally.

I just followed the scenario you were proposing and gave my opinion on its fairness as a system.

I agree though that the clients usually have more info about you than you have about them before you meet but that's how it generally is between a provider and the clients. But it would be easy for you to have a better idea about them before the session by having a meeting before the actual booking. That's what many freelancers do before sealing a deal with a client. When someone contact me for a job (design and CG) I meet him for a coffee and we talk about his project. I can refuse to work on the project and he can refuse to hire me but if he doesn't I wouldn't ask for transportation compensation or a deposit before the meeting.

If I was an escort I would do the same with a first timer.

 

[User#6517]

I didn't say you consciously implied that you're better than them, I wasn't even talking specifically about you so don't take it personally.

I just followed the scenario you were proposing and gave my opinion on its fairness as a system.

I agree though that the clients usually have more info about you than you have about them before you meet but that's how it generally is between a provider and the clients. But it would be easy for you to have a better idea about them before the session by having a meeting before the actual booking. That's what many freelancers do before sealing a deal with a client. When someone contact me for a job (design and CG) I meet him for a coffee and we talk about his project. I can refuse to work on the project and he can refuse to hire me but if he doesn't I wouldn't ask for transportation compensation or a deposit before the meeting.

If I was an escort I would do the same with a first timer.

Well, you never said you were talking about providers in general either. You just kept saying “you”.

I started another non-sexwork business recently where I have to cater to Japanese people instead, and I’ve been no-showed so many times for as little as 2,000yen per hour.. and they have the nerve to “cancel” 10-15 minutes AFTER I was already there.

I’m not afraid of a client’s personality not matching mine. If he doesn’t like me for whatever reason, I will respect that and he can leave and keep his money if we haven’t done anything intimate yet. I’ve also left appointments early before when they wouldn’t respect my boundaries or made me feel extremely uncomfortable (for example, fetishes that they didn’t tell me they had before the appointment). What I worry about is traveling over an hour for a client that won’t show up or cancel at the last minute. I want to avoid that.

 

[TheScientist]

If I was an escort I would do the same with a first timer.

Are you sure? Does that take into account the preparation and travel time and costs which @MissInsomnia has mentioned (other escorts here have spoken of similar so I take that at face value). Thats a sunk cost for zero return on a meeting that still does not guarantee a client won't skip out on an booking.

 

[jhingy567]

I just followed the scenario you were proposing and gave my opinion on its fairness as a system.

Well if the girl doesn't have misleading pics (Hana doesn't) and makes the policy clear on her website so clients know what they're getting into beforehand - it's fair enough to me.

"fair" is very debatable though.

 

[e-smile]

Well if the girl doesn't have misleading pics (Hana doesn't) and makes the policy clear on her website so clients know what they're getting into beforehand - it's fair enough to me.

"fair" is very debatable though.

it is debatable that's why we're giving different opinions on it.

 

[e-smile]

Are you sure? Does that take into account the preparation and travel time and costs which @MissInsomnia has mentioned (other escorts here have spoken of similar so I take that at face value). Thats a sunk cost for zero return on a meeting that still does not guarantee a client won't skip out on an booking.

I see it the same way as a job interview, you prepare yourself in a way you think it would help you make a good impression and don't expect any compensation for it if you don't get the job.

ps : this "you" is not you in particular either

 

[MikeH]

I see it the same way as a job interview, you prepare yourself in a way you think it would help you make a good impression and don't expect any compensation for it if you don't get the job.

Except, as discussed also in TAG before, it is not that uncommon to be compensated for taking a job interview.

 

[impish]

Except, as discussed also in TAG before, it is not that uncommon to be compensated for taking a job interview.

That is super rare, like if they are flying you out to the interview. I've never been offered compensation for interviews and I've had some where I was required to sit at a computer and test for 3-4 hours.

 

[MikeH]

That is super rare, like if they are flying you out to the interview. I've never been offered compensation for interviews and I've had some where I was required to sit at a computer and test for 3-4 hours.

Probably rare if you are looking for a wham-bam but if you are in search for the top talent then it is seller's market.

 

[poutine]

I don`t want to hi-jack this thread, so first I`d like to say that I would gladly pay a deposit if Hana were to make a trip out west. Osaka or Hiroshima I can do, Tokyo`s a little far.

And I wanted to add to this

That is super rare, like if they are flying you out to the interview. I've never been offered compensation for interviews and I've had some where I was required to sit at a computer and test for 3-4 hours.

This is actually quite common, and I would go so far as to say that it`s normal. Living outside of Tokyo, I`ve seen a lot of people over the past 20 years, in various fields of work move to Tokyo, Shizuoka and Chiba. They were all compensated for travel fare, expenses, and in most cases hotel.

Sorry Hana, let me know if you make it out this way!

 

[TAG Manager]

While with the girls who advertise here on TAG, i'm pretty sure the management has met them in real life, or at least that used to be the old rule. The management personally make sure that the escort is the same person as in her pictures and generally try to screen their attitude a bit as far as possible.

Thank you Alice for you post and let me touch on this point to make sure we're clear on what TAG is doing, currently.

Anyone with a verified blue mark on their profile is someone we've met in person either by my own arrangement or one other trusted party.
That essentially means that the person running the account is actually the person we meet. In the case of an escort, we also make sure that the escort is the person in the pictures they advertise with and we also talk with them to get some sort of baseline of their personality and look for any signs of anything major...
The ads posted on TAG are mostly done by trusted escorts or providers.... we've only refused a few people since we started doing fully-paid ads and probably more than that before the paid ad requirement.

Bottom line - we do what we can to limit the problems. But, nothing is bullet proof.

 

[impish]

I don`t want to hi-jack this thread, so first I`d like to say that I would gladly pay a deposit if Hana were to make a trip out west. Osaka or Hiroshima I can do, Tokyo`s a little far.

And I wanted to add to this

This is actually quite common, and I would go so far as to say that it`s normal. Living outside of Tokyo, I`ve seen a lot of people over the past 20 years, in various fields of work move to Tokyo, Shizuoka and Chiba. They were all compensated for travel fare, expenses, and in most cases hotel.

Sorry Hana, let me know if you make it out this way!

The discussion is about deposits for new clients in Tokyo within an hour of Hana's home. Not a 3-4 hr trip from Shizuoka or Chiba. Therefore my comments about compensation in regards to @MikeH comments about being compensated for interviews in relation to the distance Hana would be traveling. In most industries most people are not going to get compensated for going to an interview that is 1hr away from their home (unless that's 1hr by Shinkansen of course). I've been taken out to lunch for interviews, but I don't really consider that compensation, that's just a bonus because the interviewer needed lunch and decided to do it while interviewing me. I have once been compensated for flying out to the west coast, but only for my travel and hotel. Not for my time while I was at the interview.

ftr: I don't agree with @e-smile's opinion. The person made the appointment with her. At that point as far as anyone should be concerned she got the job. If the person isn't happy with her when they first meet he should offer her something for her time, unless there is a deposit in place where in that case she should just keep it.