[Announcing] CamGirlNet.com - A CamGirl Social Network!

[CamGirlNet]

Hey ladies (and any gentleman that are present here, too!)

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been working on a project CamGirlNet.com, a social network that allows individuals in the cam girl community (models and fans) to connect. The objective of this post, besides providing as an announcement of the site to everyone here, is also to transition into a beta phase, generate some testing and getting feedback from the most valuable asset to the community - web cam performers!

I know there are already some models who have Twitter and/or Facebook pages and that's wonderful and I don't envision my site being a complete replacement for those sites from a marketing standpoint or even as a replacement for ACF, but my objective with CamGirlNet.com is to at least create a dedicated social network that is both open to adult content, a bit more private for members who wish to keep their adult entertainment lives separate from the major social networks, and lastly, implementing a CamGirl market place feature that extends to models the ability to sell items directly on our site using professional selling tools that allow them greater freedom on how they run their CamGirl shops.

As of this point, the site is essentially functional and complete, although I have some more features I need to implement into the back end, and obviously, in addition to a few changes to the front end of the site, it's also severely lacking in content.

What I'd like to do is to extend an invitation to anyone that wishes to join and help me with some feedback. I'd like to have a sort of "beta" phase, get some feedback and testing of features, and answer questions. If you'd like some more information, please read on.

The Site:CamGirlNet.com
Contact:admin@camgirlnet.com

Connecting the CamGirl Community:As I already mentioned, a lot of cam girls already implement Facebook and Twitter into their business model; however, neither of those sites are adult content friendly and specifically prohibit such content. Furthermore, due to the way in which Facebook promotes friends activities and attempts to make everything we do public to the world, individuals can be leery about "liking" their favorite cam girl's page. Similar to other social networking sites, CamGirlNet allows individuals to have a news feed, upload photos, share media, "friend" each other, send messages, and more - such as a link directly to their CamGirl store on our site.

The intent is that models will use this as a platform to better engage with their audience outside of cam shows and perhaps use our "groups" features to create support and collaboration groups for each other and that fans will use the platform to feel better connected to their favorite models, discover new favorite models, and of course engage with other members (models or not) by sharing images, creating "fetish" groups, and more.

The CamGirl Marketplace:In addition to creating a vibrant community, I also hope to extend that vibrancy to the CamGirl Marketplace - a location for CamGirls to sell items to visitors of our site. My objective is that these CamGirl shops would become a hub for models looking to list items up for sale, rather than relying on making sells from within a cam show or listing items on their cam site profile. I noticed, having been interested in viewing cam girls myself, that the commissions many of the cam sites take from models is extraordinarily high and that in order for models to justify selling items, such as panties, private galleries, or skype shows, the actual price of the item has to be raised significantly - mostly just to cover commissions.

With the CamGirl marketplace, models receive 95% of the sell price with another 1% of the sell price going to a referring model, if any. Any CamGirl on our site can become an affiliate quickly and earn money just for referring their fans to our site, if those fans buy products. Our site uses a payment processor called CoinBase, which is based on Bitcoin, but individuals can also hold a USD cash balance instead and models will always be paid their commissions via PayPal. Because Coinbase is based upon Bitcoins, transactions have little to no transaction fees except for a 1% fee for us to withdraw money to a bank account so we can pay models via PayPal. The second benefit is that Coinbase, in conjunction with Bitcoin, can provide members with greater privacy. Customers transfer money from a bank account to Coinbase, but from that point on, purchases are pseudo anonymous - meaning customers don't have to worry about their identities being released, purchases never get referenced on a credit card statement, and there's no risk of charge back, meaning we can let models be free to sell basically any item they wish to sell without fearing customers will back out of purchases - the adult industry has one of the highest charge back rates.

Anyways, I encourage you to check it out, let me know what you think and please feel free to provide some feedback!

 

[MFCGod]

Looks like a free wordpress template with a logo made on paint.

 

[CamGirlNet]

Looks like a free wordpress template with a logo made on paint.

A fair assessment at this point in time...please keep in mind this is just a preliminary phase. It's also important to note that many of the sections on the start are dynamic, which means as more content is created by members - which is perhaps why I rushed to open the site for beta testing - the look of the site will alter slightly to, such as white space in the side bar being filled with content like products, recently shared images, etc.

Using wordpress, in and of itself, isn't bad. It certainly isn't as optimized as some of the other CMS out there like Drupal, but a lot of major brands do use Wordpress and as it is, it has the general functionality I needed for the features I want.

So far I've only put about a weeks worth of work into this to get the basic features put together, plugins uploaded, and everything integrated in a way that works - I just don't want to continue investing time and energy into a project that isn't wanted by the web cam model community.

 

[gonegirl2352]

You lost me at Paypal.

 

[CamGirlNet]

You lost me at Paypal.

Would you care to elaborate? Would it work better to pay models via Square or another processor. These are the important questions I'd love for models to really communicate with me beyond just the scope of how the site looks. It's important that everything we do is done in a manner that works well for the content cam girls are selling and works well at ensuring that the funds are secure and guaranteed once they received.

Perhaps it'd be important to understand that PayPal isn't actually involved in the sell of the items on our site.

Members purchase items using a Coinbase account. Coinbase allows individuals to have both a Bitcoin and a USD wallet on their site. Once our website verifies the funds have been received via an API, the model is notified of their shipping address.

Funds received from purchases to our Coinbase account are immediately converted to USD to prevent volatility and ensure we have the funds available to pay models. We simply transfer the funds from our Coinbase account to our bank account and then pay the models. Since the purchases aren't made using PayPal, we're simply paying the models a "pay check" essentially, there's no risk of chargebacks, and really the only flaw is that it requires models to trust us to pay them and some patience for funds to clear on our side.

 

[KayleePond]

You lost me at Paypal.

Seriously! I don't understand how someone could decide to go into a venture based around camgirls, take the time to make a site and present it to us without doing enough research to realize that PayPal is a payment method that no camgirl can or should ever accept? It definitely makes me wary of any other decisions you might have made on this project (or might continue to make) if you got this far and in the end give us an impossible payment method.

"I've made a feast in your honor, friend! I slaved to make food especially for you! We have ribs, steak, chicken parmesan, Shepherd's Pie, pulled pork sandwiches, quiche, macaroni & cheese, and cheesecake!"

"I'm vegan." :/

It's extra bizarre because you talk for a bit about payment methods and talk a fair bit about CoinBase and almost seem to think PayPal is a selling point? :?

It's an interesting concept, but camgirls are already wary about trusting people and I really don't think I could trust you after such an intense oversight.

 

[CamGirlNet]

I understand and I'm open to such criticism. This is why my site forces users to use Coinbase. Here's their acceptable use policy - you'll notice the only adult content that's not allowed are prostitution/escorts

In addition to PayPal not being adult item friendly, adult items tend to have a huge charge back risk, which is typically why I've found many cam girls refuse to deal in adult items - and typically since adult items aren't part of PayPal's accepted use policy, rarely do they side with the seller. In fact, they seem to rarely side with the seller in any case.

This is why I integrated the site with Coinbase instead - they're adult content friendly and no risk of charge backs. Once CamGirlNet.com has received the funds in our account, CamGirls are guaranteed those funds. Having read a thread here awhile back in regards to a Bitcoin cam site that was suggested, many models scoffed at using Bitcoins (too confusing, too volatile).

From what I understood from the terms of service, if I'm simply sending another individual money using PayPal (not during a transaction) but just sending them money, then I don't really need to explain what those funds were sent for and once I've sent those funds they're not at risk of chargebacks, which I figured would create a very accessible way for CamGirls to receive funds.

Could I go with another payment processor than Coinbase? Certainly, but the number of which allow adult content is few and far between and many aren't open to US residents. Could I also have models sign up for a Coinbase account and send their commissions that way? Certainly, but many of the threads I've read about models and bitcoins tend to show a huge distaste for dealing with them, so I thought this would be a good middle ground that still was within PayPal's policies.

 

[CamGirlNet]

To clarify: From what I've read from cam girls, including those in a thread here awhile back regarding a Bitcoin cam site is that many weren't open to the idea of Bitcoins - so I was attempting to find a middle ground, and while I truly believe this would be a safe way for models to receive funds via PayPal, I understand how the name PayPal alone could scare models away.

I just figured customers would probably go to greater lengths to purchase items than models would go to to sell them...and I didn't want to scare models away based upon a need to understand Bitcoins, so I guess that's why I decided to use receiving funds via PayPal as a selling point. If models want to receive funds to a Coinbase account, I can do that, too and all I'd need to do is change a few things on the site - but in order for models to then have Bitcoins converted directly to USD, there'd be additional steps to take in their Coinbase account - and then if models don't follow those steps with Coinbase, they risk volatility in the Coinbase value. I guess I was flawed to believe I could make it more accessible to cam girls who might not want to deal with Bitcoins and explain how they'd receive PayPal funds without risk.

 

[THE MOLLIE MARIE]

The issue with paypal is that if they even catch a whiff of the idea that the email address used for your paypal account is in any way associated with adult transactions/work, they will freeze your account and any funds in it. No questions asked. So it may not even be an issue of whether or not I trust you, I simply refuse to create a paypal account for my cam persona.

To clarify: Even if your transactions weren't the ones that sent up red flags, I wouldn't want my payout frozen in my account if paypal by chance connected the dots.

And I don't think anyone is saying they want to be paid in bitcoins, either. So, what is choice C?

 

[AmberCutie]

And I don't think anyone is saying they want to be paid in bitcoins, either. So, what is choice C?

I only skimmed over the previous posts, but maybe I missed something.

Why can't you avoid using Bitcoin AND PayPal and just use other forms of payments/transactions?

Or is this just yet another cam related site that's trying to be revolutionary by focusing on BTC...

 

[CamGirlNet]

And I don't think anyone is saying they want to be paid in bitcoins, either. So, what is choice C?

I only skimmed over the previous posts, but maybe I missed something.

Why can't you avoid using Bitcoin AND PayPal and just use other forms of payments/transactions?

Or is this just yet another cam related site that's trying to be revolutionary by focusing on BTC...

And this is exactly the problem I'm attempting to solve...perhaps unsuccessfully. And I'm not trying to be an actual cam site, just a hub for selling items and connecting with others.

Having looked at a variety of different payment processors, nearly all of them prohibit the sell of adult items and those that do haven't been open to US residents. I mean, I can keep searching and searching, but thus far, I've come up short and I've read a lot and I mean a lot of User Agreements at a lot of places. I've also looked at CCAvenue and CCBilleu, but we're still left with difficulty in actually getting the funds to models...I could mail checks, but that presents a variety of problems, too.

So my objective was to find a middle ground. In my opinion, I figured the models wouldn't really care in what manner the item purchases are made, so long as it doesn't result in risk to their finances and so long as the funds can be received with convenience.

Using CoinBase, buyers could transfer funds from their bank account to their Coinbase account. Since Coinbase is based on Bitcoins, the actual transaction would take place using Bitcoins, but people can actually have a US dollar account at Coinbase, too - just like any other payment processor, except it's adult transaction friendly and basically no transaction fees. If you send someone $10, they'll receive exactly $10, and those funds can be sent directly to a bank account or USD wallet on the Coinbase site - the fact that the funds have to be converted to Bitcoins to make the transaction occur is just sort of behind the scenes - it's actually very user friendly.

Since, I'm a merchant with Coinbase, the funds are converted and sent to a bank account regardless of what the price of Bitcoins does during any period of time. It's hard to explain clearly, but essentially, the transaction would take place using Bitcoins, but they're immediately converted to USD cash balance behind the scenes...if I receive $1000 in Bitcoin, regardless of whether the price of Bitcoin drops or increases, I'm guaranteed that $1000. As far as payment processing is concerned, it's ideal - never have to worry about charge backs, never have to worry about Bitcoin volatility, and basically just 1% transaction fees.

But, I was still left with the concept that models don't want to deal with Bitcoins or anything related to Bitcoins - they just want to sell their items privately, guarantee the funds reach their accounts, and not have to worry about scammers attempting charge backs. So, my solution, in hindsight obviously isn't the greatest (back to the drawing board), but if I converted the funds from Coinbase to a bank account and then to an unassuming PayPal account only as necessary and so long as the transfer never referenced anything to do with adult items, models could still use the convenience of PayPal.

I understand where you're all coming from and I'm empathetic to your needs, so I was just trying to find creative ways that go about this.

 

[justjoinedtopost]

And I'm not trying to be an actual cam site, just a hub for selling items and connecting with others.

A middleman then?

 

[CamGirlNet]

And I'm not trying to be an actual cam site, just a hub for selling items and connecting with others.

A middleman then?

Precisely. And I understand there's a level of trust that has to occur.

 

[Ann_Sulu]

Sounds a lot like if manyvids had a forum...or something like that.

 

[CamGirlNet]

For the time being, I'm just going to convert to doing payouts to Coinbase accounts.

I know models typically don't like Bitcoins, but I promise you Coinbase is probably even more user friendly than PayPal.
In fact, you don't even have to hold Bitcoin balances, you can choose in the settings to have received funds immediately transferred to bank account or into a USD account. Coinbase does charge a 1% + .15 fee for withdraws to bank accounts.

 

[BiancaBaker]

For the time being, I'm just going to convert to doing payouts to Coinbase accounts.

I know models typically don't like Bitcoins, but I promise you Coinbase is probably even more user friendly than PayPal.
In fact, you don't even have to hold Bitcoin balances, you can choose in the settings to have received funds immediately transferred to bank account or into a USD account. Coinbase does charge a 1% + .15 fee for withdraws to bank accounts.

If you understand that models dont like Bitcoins then you understand your site isnt going to work because no one is going to join it so whats the point of making it?

and deff joining the train of NO paypal.

 

[CamGirlNet]

For the time being, I'm just going to convert to doing payouts to Coinbase accounts.

I know models typically don't like Bitcoins, but I promise you Coinbase is probably even more user friendly than PayPal.
In fact, you don't even have to hold Bitcoin balances, you can choose in the settings to have received funds immediately transferred to bank account or into a USD account. Coinbase does charge a 1% + .15 fee for withdraws to bank accounts.

If you understand that models dont like Bitcoins then you understand your site isnt going to work because no one is going to join it so whats the point of making it?

and deff joining the train of NO paypal.

Because, for the time being it will work until I can find a different solution.

That and the way Coinbase works can be setup so that you aren't actually receiving Bitcoins anyways...you can optionally elect to have funds instantly converted to a USD account or bank account, so the end user, it wouldn't matter if the transaction was processed using bitcoin, sheep, steel, or shoes - as long as the value of the transaction when it was sent and the value of the transaction when it was received is the same and that those values can be instantly converted to cash - that's all that matters.

 

[AmberCutie]

as long as the value of the transaction when it was sent and the value of the transaction when it was received is the same and that those values can be instantly converted to cash - that's all that matters.

You're definitely on the right track there, for sure. So long as the value never changes for the cam girl, there will be less issue on her end. In the ultimate world, for a person who wanted to make a cam related site that offers members/buyers the option to use Bitcoin for purchases, the payouts to the sellers would always be directly in cash to their bank account or check (like the actual cam sites do.) Cam girls would be able to set definite prices on their items, buyers could use whatever form you want to offer to make a payment equivalent to that definite price, and the cam girl would get her payout via actual money.

The only fault in your logic here is the PayPal issue, really.

 

[CamGirlNet]

as long as the value of the transaction when it was sent and the value of the transaction when it was received is the same and that those values can be instantly converted to cash - that's all that matters.

You're definitely on the right track there, for sure. So long as the value never changes for the cam girl, there will be less issue on her end. In the ultimate world, for a person who wanted to make a cam related site that offers members/buyers the option to use Bitcoin for purchases, the payouts to the sellers would always be directly in cash to their bank account or check (like the actual cam sites do.) Cam girls would be able to set definite prices on their items, buyers could use whatever form you want to offer to make a payment equivalent to that definite price, and the cam girl would get her payout via actual money.

The only fault in your logic here is the PayPal issue, really.

I went ahead and am scraping the PayPal idea.

At this point, here's how transaction would work.

Customer purchases item from site for $10.
CamGirlNet receives $10 from customer and we automatically convert the funds to cash instantly - just as though we received a $10 bill.
Model sends items to customer.
We transfer 95% commission - or $9.50 in this case - to the model to her Coinbase email address.
So long as the model has her Coinbase account setup as a merchant, the $9.50 worth of Bitcoin will instantly be converted to $9.5 in cash and optionally sent directly to her bank account - Coinbase takes the entire risk of Bitcoin value during transactions. It is important to note that Coinbase charges 1% + .15 per withdraw to a bank account, so models might be better off leaving the funds on their USD Coinbase account for a short period.

 

[Leon_Omega]

It's kind of worrying to me that even in this early stage, McAfee is already going nuts about content from potentially dangerous sources.

 

[Sevrin]

It's kind of worrying to me that even in this early stage, McAfee is already going nuts about content from potentially dangerous sources.

It's probably because of the hosting service. When you go for cheap hosting, you're not always in good company.

From Robtex

WWW.CAMGIRLNET.COM uses the IP number 216.51.232.63 only which also ONTHEWATCH.US, CANWESTTAX.COM, NUSEREVIEW.COM and several hundred other use.
The IP number 216.51.232.63

There are several hundred host names that point to the IP number 216.51.232.63 .

 

[CamGirlNet]

Well that's not good at all!

I am using NoSupportLinuxHosting...
Which is a low cost hosting I've used for starting up sites prior to moving to better, dedicated hosting through host gator. I personally don't use McAfee, but that's certainly not acceptable, but it is a problem with shared hosting.

There's nothing on my site itself that is bad, but since the IP is shared I'm getting flagged. In the past, using NSLH, which is also a hosting company based in Iowa, has worked okay while I worked out the kinks...

Typically cheap hosting sucks (as is the case here now) but in the past, this was decent hosting to use and was cheap because of the lack of tech support, bandwidth caps, low risk space, etc...

I'm going back to the drawing board in response to feeback on a few things...I think I'm gonna have to let the site cook a little longer, get new hosting and a dedicated ip before further attempting to generate users.

At the very least, I want to ensure everyone there's no ulterior motives.

While I've had success with forums and websites before, it's apparent im a little rusty....anyways, with sites like Twitter considering shutting down adult entertainers and payment processing considerations I thought I could take the opportunity to dive into this space...perhaps prematurely. But I'm just authentically trying to help the industry in a way I thought might help...perhaps I'm wrong, perhaps I have more to learn, but I'll keep moving forward.

I also know that sites like this get hounded with such offers, as though the people think girls who get naked on cam are desperate...which I know is not the case, can girls are smart business women, so I don't want to constantly bug them regarding my site. I did want to get some early feedback though just to see if there was something to grasp into and run with.