Choosing not to be on platforms and Amazon giftcards

[serenag94]

Hello,
I have been a cam model for about one year and a half now, following the pandemic. I must admit I have been quite unconventional in my endeavours: I am not on Chaturbate, My Freecam or the like. I marketed myself on a popular sex-related videochat in the country I am from. There are reasons why I think this choice is the best for me.
I have never showed my face so far and never revealed my real name. I kept it extra safe.
I also never earned a lot - just the minimum to get by, which is fine by me.
However, as you can imagine, payments have caused me a lot of frustration. I started by PayPal (which was deleted about three times as I don’t use my real name so I eventually dropped it) and I am currently just accepting Amazon GiftCards. They are somewhat limiting - granted but still better than nothing. I earn about 600-700 euros in giftcards per month and so far I never experienced any issues - as far as I know, giftcards are pretty safe as they are unrefundable. Unfortunately, after some googling, I realised that kind of amount in giftcards isn’t safe either and that it will get red-flagged by Amazon at some point. I also spent the balance soon after redeeming the codes and this has kept me away from trouble (but also prevented me from SAVING).
Imagine my shock when I learnt, after a little research, that when your account does get suspended, you will lose your balance as well (at least PayPal only locked it for 180 days). This means I can’t save up to 500-600 euros with no risk, which means I can only buy inexpensive items. What if I need a phone? A dishwasher? At least, if I do get locked out of my account, I will only have lost a few hundred euros. I am not risking my hard earned money with a much larger sum.

I created this thread to know whether any other cam models do the same (market themselves privately and not on platforms) and if any of you have ever hoarded that kind of money in Amazon giftcards and if something ever happened to your account. Can anyone confirm it’s safe? Was your Amazon account ever suspended as a result of storing too many giftcards ?

 

[MarlieJane]

If you want to be totally indie, I would recommend using a payment processor like CCBill. It would give you more peace of mind since they're adult friendly and wont close your acct/take your money ❤

 

[serenag94]

If you want to be totally indie, I would recommend using a payment processor like CCBill. It would give you more peace of mind since they're adult friendly and wont close your acct/take your money ❤

Thank you so much Do I have to use my real, legal name? Are customers acquainted with this payment processor? (I am not based in the US).

 

[GraysonDrake]

If you want to be totally indie, I would recommend using a payment processor like CCBill. It would give you more peace of mind since they're adult friendly and wont close your acct/take your money ❤

You can also take the cryptocurrency route. SpankPay is a crypto based payment platform that is good for beginners and also allows buyers to pay cash with debit cards. The wallet itself holds your money as USD and a few different types of stable cryptocurrencies (you can change the settings) and buyers can also pay in their own currencies as well so it will accept euros, pounds, pesos, whatever. You also cannot get chargebacks and your account will never get suspended. Payouts are done via direct deposit and are usually available within 48 hours.

There are a few cons to it as well, sometimes banks will flag a payment from a buyer as suspicious and not let it go through until they call and get it approved, SpankPay also does not allow credit cards or visa gift cards, only debit. There are also transaction fees for buyers but they are smaller than platforms like Paxum and you can calculate them into your prices. But once your money gets there it is safe.

If you are strictly off platform I high suggest looking into cryptocurrency trading and accepting it as one of your methods of payment. I know it's complicated and a lot of models don't want to fuck with it, but it's definitely worth learning more about.

 

[serenag94]

You can also take the cryptocurrency route. SpankPay is a crypto based payment platform that is good for beginners and also allows buyers to pay cash with debit cards. The wallet itself holds your money as USD and a few different types of stable cryptocurrencies (you can change the settings) and buyers can also pay in their own currencies as well so it will accept euros, pounds, pesos, whatever. You also cannot get chargebacks and your account will never get suspended. Payouts are done via direct deposit and are usually available within 48 hours.

There are a few cons to it as well, sometimes banks will flag a payment from a buyer as suspicious and not let it go through until they call and get it approved, SpankPay also does not allow credit cards or visa gift cards, only debit. There are also transaction fees for buyers but they are smaller than platforms like Paxum and you can calculate them into your prices. But once your money gets there it is safe.

If you are strictly off platform I high suggest looking into cryptocurrency trading and accepting it as one of your methods of payment. I know it's complicated and a lot of models don't want to fuck with it, but it's definitely worth learning more about.

Thank you
for the suggestion

 

[Autumn Nights]

You could sell your Amazon gift cards to a third party if you're worried about Amazon flagging your account. https://cryptovoucher.io/ will give you IIRC 83% back in crypto. This is just an idea, but realistically the other options mentioned in this thread are preferred so you don't lose any value via exchanging.

 

[Fatquack]

Thank you so much Do I have to use my real, legal name? Are customers acquainted with this payment processor? (I am not based in the US).

CCBill will need your real name, you would have to sign a contract with them and need a website to process the payments, but they can help with that. You will also have to pay between 10.8% and 14.5% as fee to them: https://ccbill.com/pricing

 

[GraysonDrake]

CCBill will need your real name, you would have to sign a contract with them and need a website to process the payments, but they can help with that. You will also have to pay between 10.8% and 14.5% as fee to them: https://ccbill.com/pricing

ew. that sounds like a ripoff. i'd rather pay gas fees.

 

[Lintilla]

ew. that sounds like a ripoff. i'd rather pay gas fees.

Not to mention that if you want to accept Visa or MasterCard you will need to pay $500 to each every year, along with following the same rules they've imposed on all the mainstream sites.

 

[GraysonDrake]

Not to mention that if you want to accept Visa or MasterCard you will need to pay $500 to each every year, along with following the same rules they've imposed on all the mainstream sites.

yeah fuck that. get crypto.

 

[Nigerian Prince]

You can also take the cryptocurrency route. SpankPay is a crypto based payment platform that is good for beginners and also allows buyers to pay cash with debit cards. The wallet itself holds your money as USD and a few different types of stable cryptocurrencies (you can change the settings) and buyers can also pay in their own currencies as well so it will accept euros, pounds, pesos, whatever. You also cannot get chargebacks and your account will never get suspended. Payouts are done via direct deposit and are usually available within 48 hours.

There are a few cons to it as well, sometimes banks will flag a payment from a buyer as suspicious and not let it go through until they call and get it approved, SpankPay also does not allow credit cards or visa gift cards, only debit. There are also transaction fees for buyers but they are smaller than platforms like Paxum and you can calculate them into your prices. But once your money gets there it is safe.

If you are strictly off platform I high suggest looking into cryptocurrency trading and accepting it as one of your methods of payment. I know it's complicated and a lot of models don't want to fuck with it, but it's definitely worth learning more about.

They also have the option to use Apple Pay