Would a model be interested in also selling amateur videos?

[jasonp]

Hi everyone. I was wondering if you could help me find out if I'm working in the right direction. I'm basically building a website, which is a online-store that allows anyone to sell their adult videos for Bitcoin. So, kind of like an appstore, but for amateur adult videos. We transfer money instantly, have very low commission (5%) and awesome possibilities to maximize profit for early content providers. In theory, if a single video gets super popular and sells like pancakes, you make tons of money.

Is this something anyone of you could potentially be interested in? If not, then could you please outline your reasons why not, so I could maybe do something different and adjust.
I would also be very grateful for any ideas on where to look for people who might be interested in uploading their videos.

Thank you for your answers.

 

[LaceyRoyce]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

... i dont know about bitcoin based clipsites but you are aware that this model already exists?? right?

There are plenty of places where models upload vids and clips and make a % off the sales. Because it sounds a bit like you think this is a brand new idea we've never heard of.

The only thing that will make this unique is the bitcoin factor - which quite frankly, would not be something I want to dabble in myself... i think it would intimidate a lot of models away from using it.

 

[jasonp]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Absolutely, I'm fully aware this model already exists.
The ultimate new thing is Bitcoin and here's why it can be a good deal for models.

1. It allows us to critically minimize expenses on our side, thus the very low commission. I may be wrong, but who else is gonna pay 95% to the model?

2. You can instantly transfer your money to your bank account (that is, convert from BTC to USD) via Coinbase.com with just a 1% fee. And we support Coinbase and can deposit bitcoins right into your Coinbase account.

3. Lots of buyers willing to buy anonymously (which Bitcoin allows to do) and tip generously.

And above all that, we just want to create a really great platform with the following features:

* tips (we don't have commission on those)
* selling other things (like images or panties, possibly)
* requests
* comments and ratings

What else would you as a model like to see what other sites don't have?

 

[Sevrin]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Absolutely, I'm fully aware this model already exists.
The ultimate new thing is Bitcoin and here's why it can be a good deal for models.

1. It allows us to critically minimize expenses on our side, thus the very low commission. I may be wrong, but who else is gonna pay 95% to the model?

2. You can instantly transfer your money to your bank account (that is, convert from BTC to USD) via Coinbase.com with just a 1% fee. And we support Coinbase and can deposit bitcoins right into your Coinbase account.

3. Lots of buyers willing to buy anonymously (which Bitcoin allows to do) and tip generously.

And above all that, we just want to create a really great platform with the following features:

* tips (we don't have commission on those)
* selling other things (like images or panties, possibly)
* requests
* comments and ratings

What else would you as a model like to see what other sites don't have?

Traffic.

 

[jasonp]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Traffic

You can't beat that, now can you?
I have this question then: why would you be reluctant to sell through a website that just opened with low traffic, but that offers you better terms? That is, assuming you can simultaneously sell the same videos elsewhere? What should such a website do to convince you to do business with it?

 

[CharlotteLace]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Please don't think I'm being mean here- just trying to be direct. I believe you actually mean well.

Every time somebody new comes up with an adult website idea, the biggest issues you'll run into:
-Traffic. If you don't have a name established, it can be quite hard to break into the game. And 95% of nothing is still nothing.
-Other sites already doing basically what you do, and they have years of experience behind their sites.
-Your reputation. Are you trustworthy enough that we'd feel comfortable uploading content to?
-Your seemingly low commission rate. You're absolutely right- nobody else promises 95% payout. This is because established sites are well-staffed and equipped to handle a large amount of traffic and members. Though you're insisting that Bitcoin will make for low overhead and keep prices low, please consider hosting costs, staff costs, technical support, all those finicky servers to maintain, etc. Even some successful indie sites have had to raise their cut because they had more costs than expected.

Biggest issues with you using Bitcoin:
-Bitcoin is not well established yet as a safe currency, and is highly controversial because of its anonymity and lack of backing by any federal institution. I know plenty of people sing its praises right now, but it's not hard to see why most people are still hesitant to accept it as payment.

To put it plainly, 95% of Monopoly money, on a site with no traffic? Not likely worth our time.

 

[jasonp]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

CharlotteLace, thanks for your honesty. Some of your points (reputation and traffic) make a lot of sense to me.
However I would like to specifically address two things:

1. Bitcoin. You may believe it's not real money, but it's irrelevant to you as a seller, because you can almost instantly have your bitcoins converted to USD via Coinbase and trasferred to your bank account.

2. Servicing costs. I'm an experienced developer, so I certainly do know what I'm talking about and am confident in what I can promise. Truth is, high commission has also a lot to do with the the fact that Visa and Mastercard put a high cost (both monetary and legal) on processing payments for adult sites.

 

[Gen]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Aside from some of the other concerns, I have one that might be unfounded - I'm not at all knowledgable about bitcoin.

Your low overhead costs due to not taking Mastercard & Visa...so will bitcoin be the only payment method? If so, my question would be are there enough people using bitcoin for this to be profitable?

I just wonder how many people have bitcoin to begin with, and then also want to use their bitcoins to buy videos, and on top of that would find your site.

The other limitation would be that most people I know don't use bitcoins so it'd be limiting to how much we could market it ourselves, like normally I post about my sites on Twitter but with only one payment option I'd be less likely to find guys who could buy them.

 

[jasonp]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

genxoxo, it's a valid point and it's a question to be asked for any kind of Bitcoin-related project. The answer is that the market is growing and it will one day be huge. We're trying to be the first ones there. I can tell you this: the Bitcoin community has been asking for Bitcoin-porn sites for a long time now, so there are definitely people out there willing to spend. It's just that you have to look them up in less familiar places.

It may not sound like the sweetest deal for now, but consider the fact that videos stay on the site as long as you wish, so if this year they earn little, the next year it might be huge.

 

[CharlotteLace]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Well, then I wish you good luck with your endeavor! From a model's standpoint, an easy user interface, a way to mass-upload and edit pic sets and videos, and heavy advertising to get your name out there... those 3 would definitely be incentives for trying a new site.

 

[AllisonWilder]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the value of the bitcoin fluctuate on a pretty regular basis?

If I was to jump on this bandwagon and upload all of my videos, I'd select all my prices based on what I would get from the sale of each video. A video I upload for $9.99 should net me $9.49 with the 95% cut, but if bitcoin happens to be worth less at that time, I'll be making less, right?

 

[ClaudiaKink]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Traffic

You can't beat that, now can you?
I have this question then: why would you be reluctant to sell through a website that just opened with low traffic, but that offers you better terms? That is, assuming you can simultaneously sell the same videos elsewhere? What should such a website do to convince you to do business with it?

I've tried a few other video selling websites and ultimately come back to the one I have found has the most traffic - Clips4Sale. Uploading, captioning and getting videos ready for sale takes time, and because I live somewhere that has internet plans based in GB usage it also effectively costs me money. I'd probably need to upload 30+ videos to fully test if a site is viable and to be honest that requires a decent outlay of time and data usage for me. In order for me to be interested in joining a site like this I would want to have seen their ads up on multiple websites I frequent to convince me my potential customers would be going there.

I'd be interested, possibly, but I would want to see evidence of how the site was being marketed first. I hope this doesn't come across as harsh, just explaining it as I see it.

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the value of the bitcoin fluctuate on a pretty regular basis?

If I was to jump on this bandwagon and upload all of my videos, I'd select all my prices based on what I would get from the sale of each video. A video I upload for $9.99 should net me $9.49 with the 95% cut, but if bitcoin happens to be worth less at that time, I'll be making less, right?

Yup you sure would but it also could go up. Look at the price of bitcoins since Jan. The 1 bitcoin (~$10 in Jan 13) you got for your video in Jan would now be worth $130 today. If your timing was perfect and you sold 1 video a day in Jan and then sold all your bitcoins in April at $260/bitcoin you'd have made $8K.

Results not typical, your mileage may vary, past performance is no guarantee of future results

 

[KaterinaPryde]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the value of the bitcoin fluctuate on a pretty regular basis?

If I was to jump on this bandwagon and upload all of my videos, I'd select all my prices based on what I would get from the sale of each video. A video I upload for $9.99 should net me $9.49 with the 95% cut, but if bitcoin happens to be worth less at that time, I'll be making less, right?

Yup you sure would but it also could go up. Look at the price of bitcoins since Jan. The 1 bitcoin (~$10 in Jan 13) you got for your video in Jan would now be worth $130 today. If your timing was perfect and you sold 1 video a day in Jan and then sold all your bitcoins in April at $260/bitcoin you'd have made $8K.

Results not typical, your mileage may vary, past performance is no guarantee of future results

I know NOTHING about bit coin. But this "watch it is going up" trend is what helped get us in the housing crisis. Plus I dont know about other women but I have bills and cant just let my money sit around and gamble it. Not saying I wouldnt try it, but I wouldn't put much energy into it unless I saw things selling. As others have said uploading is a pain and I already use 3 sites to sell videos - 4 if you count MFC.

 

[AllisonWilder]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the value of the bitcoin fluctuate on a pretty regular basis?

If I was to jump on this bandwagon and upload all of my videos, I'd select all my prices based on what I would get from the sale of each video. A video I upload for $9.99 should net me $9.49 with the 95% cut, but if bitcoin happens to be worth less at that time, I'll be making less, right?

Yup you sure would but it also could go up. Look at the price of bitcoins since Jan. The 1 bitcoin (~$10 in Jan 13) you got for your video in Jan would now be worth $130 today. If your timing was perfect and you sold 1 video a day in Jan and then sold all your bitcoins in April at $260/bitcoin you'd have made $8K.

Results not typical, your mileage may vary, past performance is no guarantee of future results

While it would definitely be awesome to cash out at just the right time and make significantly more than expected, I, much like Katerina stated, can't really afford to wait it out for 3 months for earnings that aren't guaranteed because I have bills and such to pay. I'm not saying that I wouldn't try it out with some of my top selling clips, but I would be hesitant to be really invested in it the way I am with C4S or other clip sites that guarantee I'll be paid when my minimum is met.

 

[Sevrin]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Unless you are a drug dealer, hipster or gambler, there is no reason to prefer Bitcoin over national currencies. It is just as prone to manipulation by people you don't know, is harder to spend, and may become subject to government sanction.

 

[jasonp]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Thanks everyone for your replies again.
Was very useful. I think I realized I shouldn't be trying to get professional cam models at this moment, since you guys have a serious stake in the business and will not be willing to try something new and seemingly more risky, like selling for Bitcoin.

So maybe I should try to seek people who are amateurs, who would be willing to make an extra buck and don't mind receiving it in Bitcoin. Can you guys help me figure out where these people might possibly be online? Any ideas where should I start?

P.S. To all the Bitcoin skeptics: I am fully aware of the concerns people might have. It took me a thorough understanding of the economics and programming to buy into it and before that I simply ignored it. The best way to think about Bitcoin is like of a digital equivalent of gold. Gold is also not controlled by any government (can't print it at will, can't counterfeit it) and yet it's still valuable. When you begin to think why is gold really valuable (I encourage you to think about it really serious) and when you realize that Bitcoin has all the properties of gold and some more, it becomes obvious why its price is going up and people seem to value it.

And the wild fluctuations don't matter, of course, because, again, you can transfer money into your bank account almost instantly.

 

[LaceyRoyce]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Thanks everyone for your replies again.
Was very useful. I think I realized I shouldn't be trying to get professional cam models at this moment, since you guys have a serious stake in the business and will not be willing to try something new and seemingly more risky, like selling for Bitcoin.

So maybe I should try to seek people who are amateurs, who would be willing to make an extra buck and don't mind receiving it in Bitcoin. Can you guys help me figure out where these people might possibly be online? Any ideas where should I start?

P.S. To all the Bitcoin skeptics: I am fully aware of the concerns people might have. It took me a through understanding of the economics and programming to buy into it and before that I simply ignored it. The best way to think about Bitcoin is like of a digital equivalent of gold. Gold is also not controlled by any government (can't print it at will, can't counterfeit it) and yet it's still valuable. When you begin to think why is gold really valuable (I encourage you to think about it really serious) and when you realize that Bitcoin has all the properties of gold and some more, it becomes obvious why its price is going up and people seem to value it.

And the wild fluctuations don't matter, of course, because, again, you can transfer money into your bank account almost instantly.

regardless of how you justify bitcoins, the biggest problem you're going to have aside from traffic etc is that MOST people - cam models or regular people - won't be interested because they dont understand bitcoin..

You can explain it, but it doesn't make 'new things' any less scary.

 

[KaterinaPryde]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Thanks everyone for your replies again.
Was very useful. I think I realized I shouldn't be trying to get professional cam models at this moment, since you guys have a serious stake in the business and will not be willing to try something new and seemingly more risky, like selling for Bitcoin.

So maybe I should try to seek people who are amateurs, who would be willing to make an extra buck and don't mind receiving it in Bitcoin. Can you guys help me figure out where these people might possibly be online? Any ideas where should I start?

P.S. To all the Bitcoin skeptics: I am fully aware of the concerns people might have. It took me a thorough understanding of the economics and programming to buy into it and before that I simply ignored it. The best way to think about Bitcoin is like of a digital equivalent of gold. Gold is also not controlled by any government (can't print it at will, can't counterfeit it) and yet it's still valuable. When you begin to think why is gold really valuable (I encourage you to think about it really serious) and when you realize that Bitcoin has all the properties of gold and some more, it becomes obvious why its price is going up and people seem to value it.

And the wild fluctuations don't matter, of course, because, again, you can transfer money into your bank account almost instantly.

But its not really like gold. Gold is physical. Gold is valued by all cultures - whether for religious reason or just because it is pretty. Gold is a metal....you can put it in your teeth LOL - Bitcoins sound like gold in World of Warcraft. I can buy bread in WoW with gold to feed my character, but if I am hungry in real life it does me no good. Unless the government would go to using Bitcoin, I, personally, cant see it taking off.

I may be kicking myself in 10 - 20 years, but to me Bitcoin just seems - well - worthless?

 

[Sevrin]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

You are using a comparison with gold as your big selling point? Seriously?

Listen, if you think that limiting your market to pervs who happen to have Bitcoin sitting around is a good idea, I think you should have studied marketing instead of economics. Who is going to go out and buy Bitcoin when they can use their CC at C4S? Maybe you should expand your options by also accepting payment in gold dust.

 

[Jessi]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

I think this is something a lot of people will be interested in maybe in a few years if and when the general population views bitcoin as a stable/commonplace thing. But like others said, right now the uncertainty makes many people hesitant (from member and model standpoint). Offerin CC and bitcoin, at least at first, seems like a good idea. You can still market yourself as the clipsite that takes bitcoin, and wouldnt be shutting out potential customer who use something else. As a model, I would also feel more secure if I had the choice of which currency I accepted. If I felt like I could get established while the site is still growing, Id be more likely to want to accept a new currency later on.

As with any startup site, be prepared for a large startup cost, especially with advertising. Traffic is SO SO SO important. Those first few months are so crucial, expect it to be very slow before you get a lot of models or customers. Traffic brings models, who bring in more traffic. Right now we have lots of options for uploading and selling clips, with lots of traffic and currency that is familiar.

So the cut and the bitcoin thing are what sets you apart. Thats great, since a lot of people with new startups dont seem to have any new ideas, so you are on the right track. Offering a great interface, nice support and admin tools for models etc will help too. My only complaint with clips4sale is that uploading new clips is a pain in the ass.

Do you have a resume or portfolio you can show us for your developing work or company? That might help people feel more secure and want to get on board with your idea.

 

[jasonp]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

You are using a comparison with gold as your big selling point? Seriously?

Listen, if you think that limiting your market to pervs who happen to have Bitcoin sitting around is a good idea, I think you should have studied marketing instead of economics. Who is going to go out and buy Bitcoin when they can use their CC at C4S? Maybe you should expand your options by also accepting payment in gold dust.

That's precisely why Bitcoin is more valuable than gold. While it has all of its properties, it also is much easier and cheaper to transfer it, while the currency itself is much more divisible. You can send money anyone in the world in a split second and it will cost you around $0.01 to do that regardless of the amount you're sending. Needless to say, with gold it's not like that at all.

 

[Gen]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Also, for the record, there is a site that takes bitcoin already that does content sales -- MyGirlFund takes it, and they're quite established amongst models and get decent traffic.

As far as I can tell, the guys buy their credits with bitcoin at whatever the exchange rate happens to be. For us, we just get the credits as dollars so there's no waiting to see if our price will be higher or lower.

 

[IvyR]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't a whole ton of people just get served for mining Bitcoin or something? I feel like that happened within the past 3 weeks....

 

[jasonp]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't a whole ton of people just get served for mining Bitcoin or something? I feel like that happened within the past 3 weeks....

No, that's definitely not true.

 

[IvyR]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't a whole ton of people just get served for mining Bitcoin or something? I feel like that happened within the past 3 weeks....

No, that's definitely not true.

Ah, yes. TY Reddit. I knew I saw it there.

http://www.forbes .com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/08/12/every-important-person-in-bitcoin-just-got-subpoenaed-by-new-yorks-financial-regulator/

I guess not "served," but investigating a lot of money laundering. :whistle:
I just don't trust BitCoins in general. I feel like once they're legitimately recognized by and circulated by the government... Ehhh... I know they're looking into it though, so that's good?

 

[jasonp]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't a whole ton of people just get served for mining Bitcoin or something? I feel like that happened within the past 3 weeks....

No, that's definitely not true.

Ah, yes. TY Reddit. I knew I saw it there.

http://www.forbes .com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/08/12/every-important-person-in-bitcoin-just-got-subpoenaed-by-new-yorks-financial-regulator/

I guess not "served," but investigating a lot of money laundering. :whistle:
I just don't trust BitCoins in general. I feel like once they're legitimately recognized by and circulated by the government... Ehhh... I know they're looking into it though, so that's good?

Yeah, it's not for mining (which got me confused). Most of those companies don't mine bitcoins.

Government is kinda scared of Bitcoin, because it undermines their monopoly on printing money. Of course the problem is, they can't do much about it, because it's decentralized. The current consensus in the Bitcoin community is that some degree of regulation is inevitable, but it's definitely not going to be outlawed or something similar. Too much serious investment into it already, too many smart people talking good things about it.

 

[schlmoe]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

That's precisely why Bitcoin is more valuable than gold.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Dude, I realize you are a bitcoin proponent...but c'mon.

Currently, it is viewed more as a Ponzi scheme, than a Buffett-type investment (or currency) Nothing you say can change that fact. Maybe in the future, it may change, but it will be a while before that change occurs. Good luck, though.

 

[jasonp]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

Ok, so talking to you all made me realize I need help. So here's an offer. I have to attract early adopters / models to the website to upload their videos and it looks slightly more complicated than I initially thought. So I need help of someone from within the industry. If that's something one of you can be interested in, I'd be willing to talk about it in detail and compensate accordingly out of the future profits. Keep in mind, I'm bootstrapping, so I'm not some rich investor ready to drop shitloads of money onto you now. Drop me an email to jason.n.pierce atttt gmail if you feel like doing it.

The current state of the project is this: I already have the website running and it's ready for models to upload their videos. I'm currently developing the "viewers" part of it.

 

[schlmoe]

Re: Would a model be interested in also selling amateur vide

too many smart people talking good things about it.

The above sounds a lot like the hype of the Segway. :mrgreen: