How to approach models about a new website/product?

There really is no good way, imho. It's essentially like walking into a group of trained professionals (that you have no experience with, have never worked in that field nor been trained in it) and saying "I'm assuming you have a problem with 'assumed issue that would only exist in their field' and I have a solution for you!" without doing any background study of whether or not that issue exists. Most websites/products that camgirls have begun using were initially offered to us for free (Camreedem, MFCAssistant, CamYourWay(?)) and then many of us decided to continue with it after that because it really helped us. And I wouldn't be surprised if most of those were created by guys who already had a close relationship with some camgirls that they were able to get feedback from before announcing it to the rest of camgirls.

So, my advice is, if you're a regular of a few camgirls then get their feedback on your idea. Then perhaps maybe have one of them broach the topic on the forums. If you're not a regular of any camgirls then... well, I have some assumptions around that but I won't express them. But yes, we do get frustrated with these "entrepreneurs" because they just want to make a quick buck off the backs of us camgirls.

PS We've been selling panties, heels, etc in this biz for awhile and so far, I don't think there are any "solutions" needed. Also, if it was through a secondary payment processor no one would be able to use your solution while camming anyway as most sites don't take kindly to us advertising to guys someplace else to spend their money.

do your market research.

We love to be asked our opinions. We love to feel like you're valuing them and taking them on board as you build your product.

The problem comes when it appears people have done so little research..and are all pitch.

Asking for feedback, and responding to it well is a great way to start with any product development.

jdarian said:

What I haven't found yet is a site that doesn't charge fees to sellers and that handles payment internally instead of relying on the seller to resort to things like gift cards. I would be really curious to know what you've used and liked in the past!

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But not curious enough to check out any MFC model profiles or use the search function here? If you aren't going to charge fees, how do you propose to keep the site going? Are you planning to absorb the payment processor's cut? You can't use Paypal or most other low-cost processors for adult-related transactions, and CCBill, as an example, charges 14.5% on volumes of less than $5k a week. What kind of business plan is that?

I think it can really be boiled down: to nicely, with as many details as possible, ask questions, answer questions, graciously accept criticism and just be a decent person.

Even if your product is the worst thing ever, interacting in a composed manner will get you farther than going crazy on everyone. Sure it might be embarrassing, but it would be better than having the worst product ever and being a dingaling. :?

I don't have anything to add because it seems like you're already approaching in a respectful manner and have been given good advice already, but I think there's already something in place that does what (it sounds like) you're wanting to do. The site is called ebanned, you might want to check that out if you haven't already.

AllisonWilder said:

I don't have anything to add because it seems like you're already approaching in a respectful manner and have been given good advice already, but I think there's already something in place that does what (it sounds like) you're wanting to do. The site is called ebanned, you might want to check that out if you haven't already.

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Exactly. There is ebanned girls can sell on. We can even just sell our stuff on most of our camming sites. And clipsforsale.com too. All have established traffic, payment processors, etc. I believe what you are looking to do is already being done in one way or another, and on the other sites they offer more than just selling our stuff.

There are many other sites that offer what you are broadly talking about here. You would have to explain why your site would be better than what is already available and why a model should use your site or any other middle man to do what they can do on their own. Also, would a member want to go to a third party site to purchase something from a model when a significant percentage won't even read the models profile page?

Something that I think would be helpful, but I doubt I will ever see, is a stated motivation on why anyone wants to offer a service. Money is a fine motivation and an honest one, if that is true. In that case it would be good to know a business plan and how in demand the service being presented would be. I think part of the problem on why new offers and ideas are met with some skepticism here is wondering what is the motivation.

jdarian said:

As for the business model, the idea is to charge fees to buyers instead of sellers (i.e. buyers purchase tokens for the actual dollar value of the token plus some transaction fee of 5-12% depending on volume, but sellers redeem tokens at their real value). We would use Dwolla as the payment processor, which admittedly wouldn't be convenient for buyers but they allow adult transactions and the fees are very low (a flat $0.25 per transaction), which we would absorb.

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I am curious as to why it so often appears that the buyers opinions are not very important? Rarely is that segment ever asked questions when I see threads such as these. Most everything seem geared to the models but often that is only half of the equation. If their paying members don't like using a specific feature then wouldn't that also matter? As the customer what I placed in bold would concern me. I don't want a more difficult method of tipping/purchasing. For example it is very easy for me to go to MFC and purchase videos from a number of great models. And that's not counting all the other sites. I understand that the models need to be on board with a service like this and their opinion matters most but I think you could learn quite a bit from the customers too.
:twocents-02cents:

Anyone wanting to market a product to camgirls or their customers, should have a lot of experience as either a camgirl or customer. If you're not a member already, you're a bazillion steps ahead of yourself. Familiarize yourself with the experience, get to know some people and learn from the experience.