Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit models

[Jim Haynes]

Hello, I was looking for some ideas and advice as to how an adult store might be able leverage the world of internet/online/webcam models and their fan base to see if it would be possible to put some money into a models pocket and of course that of the internet store.

Basically a friend of mine started an adult store within the last few months and was looking for a way to differentiate the store from others or at least find other methods of generating sales.

One of his ideas was to see if he could share any of the sales revenue with models, when it comes to say having models advertise the store to their fan base and then as fans buy, knowing that part of the sale will go to the model, it would in theory benefit all involved.

It is true that many models have links in their profiles where fans can buy models gift cards or items off their Amazon wish list or simply give the models tokens but I was hoping to find another angle.

Basically how the idea would work is that each model would have their own store coupon and if the percent off was 6, 7, 10 or whatever off the order, the model would then get that percent of the cost of the item. So if the customer bought $100 worth of products (before shipping and taxes) and the model gave out a 10% coupon, $10 of that order would go to the model and the customer would still get $10 off the purchase. I realize other companies like Amazon might do this but this way you can customize it more on a model by model basis. How would the models get the money? My thinking would be that they will be paid a lump sum of tokens weekly or every two weeks from the store owner.

So that's the basic idea and I am open to all feedback. Or even if anyone had other ideas and could spare the time to share them, I am open to suggestions.

 

[Aella]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Sounds like a great business plan. The only thing is, I'd be handing out the max possible coupon number constantly. "HEY GUYS. 50% OFF THIS SEX TOY. BUY IT NOW WINK WINK." The model is set up to encourage models taking as large a cut as possible. Having 'options' of discounts wouldn't really work, everybody would just take the greatest number.

Edit: Just realized you were probably giving options for the number, not various number options. D'oh.

 

[Jessi]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Amazon has portal links. If you go through the portal link on the partner site and buy something, I think the partner gets a few cents.

A lot of models probably wouldnt want to spam up their twitters/profiles/sites with something like that though

 

[RoseCavilla]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

This sounds like a great idea, but I agree with Aella. You should reverse it, so on a $100 order with a %10 coupon the model gets $5. With a %5 coupon she gets $10.

 

[Evvie]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

How would the models get the money? My thinking would be that they will be paid a lump sum of tokens weekly or every two weeks from the store owner.

So that's the basic idea and I am open to all feedback. Or even if anyone had other ideas and could spare the time to share them, I am open to suggestions.

A fair amount of models here don't work on a site that uses any form of tokens. For that matter, a large amount of models work on websites were we would get our accounts permanently deleted if we tried to advertise for other websites. So just be aware that if your goal is to get products advertised on live cam, that may not actually happen. It seems more likely that models would whore the stuff out on Twitter.

Paying through Payoneer seems like the best bet, most adult websites use Payoneer. This way, the model also does not have to lose additional money through token conversion.

As another thought, if you want models to sign up with a money-making scheme, it has to be beneficial to the models. It is easy to say, "it doesn't cost the models anything to try and give out coupon numbers" but it does; it's one more thing for the model to juggle, and she could lose fans by changing another portion of her public image to advertising for sex toys. If a model gets $10 for a 10% off coupon, she would probably only take up the deal if she was likely to hawk off several per day with the least amount of effort on her part. The models with the biggest fan bases probably would not need to take time out of their day to advertise a product that will get them an extra $50 at the end of the week, you know?

I can certainly see some models trying this out in their rotation of money-making sites, though.

 

[AllisonWilder]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

What kind of items does this adult store sell? If it's sex toys/lingerie/etc., then you'd have to raise your percentage for models to garner a lot of interest as lots of us have edenfantasys affiliate accounts where we already get a 15% cut of any order when our codes are entered at checkout.

I do like this idea and with the right percentage, I'd absolutely give it a try.

 

[Rebecca Buck]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

I've considered the idea of entering a sponsorship, but like Evvie said, unless I had my own website, that isn't exactly feasible for all models.

But, if a model were to have her own website, you could sponsor her possibly, pay to have your links and videos on her site, and have her talk about/review products on her site and on YouTube. I think every model will have her idea of what's "worth her time" when it comes to talking about product, unless the product itself is really that good that she can't help but rave about it. It could potentially be a good partnership! I think that would have to be worked out on a contractual basis.

Free dildos would benefit me tho too js

 

[LadyLuna]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Um, most of my fans are men... and I am a woman... so I cannot in good conscious recommend toys to them. Since I can't use it to see how it feels. Any toy I can use would likely be useless to them. Only places where I could recommend stuff would be anything anal, which I don't do anal, and couples things, which would require me to get my partner to go along with it. Not an easy task for some of us.

 

[LaceyRoyce]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Hello, I was looking for some ideas and advice as to how an adult store might be able leverage the world of internet/online/webcam models and their fan base to see if it would be possible to put some money into a models pocket and of course that of the internet store.

Basically a friend of mine started an adult store within the last few months and was looking for a way to differentiate the store from others or at least find other methods of generating sales.

One of his ideas was to see if he could share any of the sales revenue with models, when it comes to say having models advertise the store to their fan base and then as fans buy, knowing that part of the sale will go to the model, it would in theory benefit all involved.

It is true that many models have links in their profiles where fans can buy models gift cards or items off their Amazon wish list or simply give the models tokens but I was hoping to find another angle.

Basically how the idea would work is that each model would have their own store coupon and if the percent off was 6, 7, 10 or whatever off the order, the model would then get that percent of the cost of the item. So if the customer bought $100 worth of products (before shipping and taxes) and the model gave out a 10% coupon, $10 of that order would go to the model and the customer would still get $10 off the purchase. I realize other companies like Amazon might do this but this way you can customize it more on a model by model basis. How would the models get the money? My thinking would be that they will be paid a lump sum of tokens weekly or every two weeks from the store owner.

So that's the basic idea and I am open to all feedback. Or even if anyone had other ideas and could spare the time to share them, I am open to suggestions.

its been done by many promoters of small online adult stores before... in different ways. It never took off for them, but if it had been marketed better it might.

Combining the store with a successful promotions company might work - for example, if I got members buying the most toys on the site, (for me or for others) i get premium add space???

 

[KaterinaPryde]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

An incentive could be made for models to set up wishlists with the shop. For every X amount spent on you at the shop you get X amount of $ or X amount of credit.

 

[zippypinhead]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

An incentive could be made for models to set up wishlists with the shop. For every X amount spent on you at the shop you get X amount of $ or X amount of credit.

I was just thinking the same thing. I suspect that members are going to be far more likely to buy stuff that they want to see used by the model than to use for themselves, and wishlists make it fun and easy to be able to do just that. So, setting up a referral program in the guise of wishlists would be a pretty clever way to generate business. A model can get a new golden vibrator and a couple of bucks from the purchase? Good deal.

Since referral links are a more passive form of marketing, and you aren't conscripting models to talk you up, it seems to me that the best aim would be to make the service as appealing to models as possible. Make it a place that THEY feel comfortable shopping at, and that THEY would feel enough loyalty to want to set up a wishlist and point members to. After all, whether the money comes out of their pockets or in the form of member gifts, this sort of strategy is going to rely upon models wanting to do business with you. The upside to this is that it's a defined and ready target with a built-in demand for your service. You don't have to worry so much about confusing messages in attempts at mass appeal. You'd just have to figure out how to do right by models.

 

[Jim Haynes]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Just a quick reply to say thanks for all the feedback so far. I will have to read through the posts multiple times and try to see what could be done in the short term and then eventually the long term as profits are made and then re-invested to bring about more features.

Aella - agreed that models would opt for the highest discount but they won't be high enough that no profit is being made on each sale but yes maybe offering a set percentage for a week/month to test customer response and then change it up.

Jessi - The difference between Amazon and what I was thinking is more so the model providing the link to the adult store and her "coupon for the week" for example or of some pre-determined length of time. So the model should make a few dollars on each sale since it isn't the typical 1 to 3% like Amazon.

Evvie - I wasn't thinking along the lines of advertising any products during a show, only the store link. But I'm glad you mentioned it because again, it simply wasn't something that crossed my mind. Agreed also that there is a cost in everything and giving out coupon numbers does add to "the list of things". In theory I was hoping to only use "a coupon per model" so that they can provide that to their fan base or whoever they wish to give it to but then the model might want to provide different coupons to varying levels of customers to promote exclusivity for example. So I can see how juggling coupons could be an issue.

AllisonWilder - thanks for the Eden Fantasy's percent tip. That would be interesting to setup since the model would get a cut but the customer might not necessarily get a discount. Not sure how to implement that right now since I wanted all 3 parties to benefit but will note it for the long term.

I'll stop there for now and read through and comment on more of the posts another time. Thanks again for everyone's input so far.

 

[Teagan]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

I wanna add to this as i have personally been approached by 3 toy companies to promote for them. Each with their own gimmick. The first one was basically stupid and was all hey buy from us and promote us please. Like why would i, i asked them. Their reason was the simple fact of the business i was inand therefore i should just want to. No. I need more than that. The second was offering to give me a white label to promote and get a percentage of the sales. I don't need 'Run a toy business' to my plate thank you. The third offered a white label where each click got me a percentage. Again i dont need to add that to my plate. I do enough.

So please to get models on your side and in your business to help it we need to feel rewarded for doing such. Not just told basically do a ton more for a few pennies here or there. I think with the right plan I would more than love to promote a toy shop. But i have stipulations as every girl does. You have to also be better than Amazon and Eden Fantasys. Otherwise why would any girl switch to you? Here's mine.

I need a wishlist option. Amazon and Eden gives me this. EF never gives out my address no matter what ever. So i choose them more than Amazon when possible. We need to feel safe as models. Tons dont use amazon ever as they give out our addy, but EF never has.

EF gives me a free toy a month minimum. If you do their review program they send you a toy for free to review. I get something, and so do they. After a bit you get better and can then request what the new toy is, as well as higher value toys too. If i was gonna promote a toy site free toys is a huge way to go for me. If even this was your only gimmick I would promote you. I would be more than happy to ad a banner, or links to my blog, and promote on twitter. And im good at it too. But that depends on each girl and her follower base. Mine at over 5k people is pretty decent promo for someone. My RT, and responses are good as well. Some girl may only have a few followers, or ones who don't really even read her stuff so im not sure how you would handle that. Maybe case by case basis i guess.

In addition to EF free toy a month i can earn points there for doing tons of things daily. Which add up to me being able to buy my own selected toys. Plus whenever i buy something i get points as well to use for more. It's like addicting crack daily lol. You would need to beat that in your own way. Whether it be a percentage of the wishlist things bought for us, or some other easy gimmick where i dont have to do a ton of work to get it. Im gonna post my wishlist anyway, and on 2 sites i work for it's a non issue to do so. Percentages of sales would be great. I would really go with this versus coupon codes or such. Coupons expire, require constant posting, keeping track of, etc. All of it a hassle to me. Plus your site keeping up to date with the coupons, expiring old ones, etc requires work on your part. If i can just get a bit of sales from my own list which i would promote anyway to get toys from i would kill 2 birds with one stone. Plus your business gets that sale to boot. And all thats needed is one program to give me those percentages of sales. You can use payoneer to give me that, or do like EF does and i get so much to spend on new stuff i pick out myself. We are therefore investing back in your business as well. You arent giving us cash to keep track of on your end, but we just get store credit to use on your site. Way easier on your end all around.

I also wanna say the more versatile the better for you. Adding lingerie, shoes, and costumes to your store the better. I get all of those gifted at times, and they can have good mark up value too. Just a thought.

Hope i helped some.

 

[Jim Haynes]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Thanks again for all the insight and feedback. I've made a note of all of them and will pass it along to the person running the store. It will be interesting to see what can be done both short and long term. When/If any of this can be implemented, I will have to follow up on here and provide an update.

 

[Jim Haynes]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

You'd just have to figure out how to do right by models.

Definitely agree about doing right for the models and again thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Jim Haynes]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Teagan_Chase: Thanks for the extra EF ideas and how they currently handle things. Also agreed about being versatile in what options I can offer with respect to products and how to cut down on the work with respect to the wish lists versus coupon use.

 

[Teagan]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Teagan_Chase: Thanks for the extra EF ideas and how they currently handle things. Also agreed about being versatile in what options I can offer with respect to products and how to cut down on the work with respect to the wish lists versus coupon use.

I understand this may sound like a huge undertaking on your part in how to do all of this. Making it good for us, as well as yourself isnt always easy. I can assure you as a model you have come across as professional which is huge to us all. We get weekly offers here from new sites and the like who lack that alone. So i do hope you work something out and are back for sure. You sound like a pleasure to work with. Best of luck to you in the meantime !

 

[Jim Haynes]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

I understand this may sound like a huge undertaking on your part in how to do all of this. Making it good for us, as well as yourself isnt always easy. I can assure you as a model you have come across as professional which is huge to us all. We get weekly offers here from new sites and the like who lack that alone. So i do hope you work something out and are back for sure. You sound like a pleasure to work with. Best of luck to you in the meantime !

Agreed Teagan, I also do hope that this can be accomplished. The current site has only been up a few months, I won't spam the forum with the link, but him and I were thinking that there must be more which could be done than just being "another adult toy store" and instead try to find a different angle to differentiate ourselves. So we have been truly grateful for the feedback and will have to see how many of these suggestions can actually be implemented. But it keeps life interesting, brings a challenge to each day which is really awesome.

I hope you (and everyone else) has success in their endeavors also.

 

[Jessi]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

:hello2: I just wanna say I appreciate the professionalism as well.

We get a lot of really rude or ignorant people trying to make money off us all the time. They're just trying to take advantage or have flawed plans, and start name calling when they realize we're not idiots.

 

[Jim Haynes]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

In addition to EF free toy a month i can earn points there for doing tons of things daily.

Teagan, what sort of stuff does EF reward you for doing daily? I realize you mentioned the reviews but I am assuming there are other things.

 

[Teagan]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

In addition to EF free toy a month i can earn points there for doing tons of things daily.

Teagan, what sort of stuff does EF reward you for doing daily? I realize you mentioned the reviews but I am assuming there are other things.

They dont keep it private or a secret so i'll fully share with you. You get points every time you review a product, rate a reviewers review, follow a contributor, search for something, post a discussion in their forum, vote in a poll, $25 free for your bday to use in store, comment on a review, subscribe to their newsletter, add an item to your wishlist, rate a product (star ratings they have on toys), add items to compare each other, activating a wishlist, sharing wishlist, add a social media to your account, add an instant messenger to your account, add a favorite item, opening an account, verifying email, logging just once a day, posting a discussion, posting a poll, commenting on a discussion, activating a review account, posting follow up reviews, becoming a mentor (they help new reviewers), liking on facebook, writing an article for them, proofreading articles for them, a percentage of money spent earned back in points, etc.

Some are earned daily, some are just a one time point add on. Cause you cant create a new account daily you know.

 

[Jim Haynes]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

In addition to EF free toy a month i can earn points there for doing tons of things daily.

Teagan, what sort of stuff does EF reward you for doing daily? I realize you mentioned the reviews but I am assuming there are other things.

They dont keep it private or a secret so i'll fully share with you. You get points every time you review a product, rate a reviewers review, follow a contributor, search for something, post a discussion in their forum, vote in a poll, $25 free for your bday to use in store, comment on a review, subscribe to their newsletter, add an item to your wishlist, rate a product (star ratings they have on toys), add items to compare each other, activating a wishlist, sharing wishlist, add a social media to your account, add an instant messenger to your account, add a favorite item, opening an account, verifying email, logging just once a day, posting a discussion, posting a poll, commenting on a discussion, activating a review account, posting follow up reviews, becoming a mentor (they help new reviewers), liking on facebook, writing an article for them, proofreading articles for them, a percentage of money spent earned back in points, etc.

Some are earned daily, some are just a one time point add on. Cause you cant create a new account daily you know.

Wow, that is quite a list but thanks for sharing and typing all of that out. Might be difficult to improve upon but Rome wasn't built in a day (or whatever that saying is). I'll definitely note what you said and see what can be added or improved upon. Thanks again for all the feedback.

 

[Jim Haynes]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Hello all, I realized it has been a while since I asked for suggestions but only now has there been enough progress to give an update and provide a follow up.

A quick summary for now and then I can do individual responses below. The adult store is called Life of Pleasure and the link is ** LifeofPleasure.com **, I wasn’t sure about the linking rules on the forum, hence no direct link was provided. Some of the features which were implemented from feedback are: an option to allow advertisements for models, reward points for social sharing and we have decided to run an affiliate program with a 20% commission on each sale. The only part which is exclusive to the model is the advertising since it wasn’t possible (at least not currently) to provide different percentage rates to models and customers separately. Is the affiliate program setup easy enough for everyone? Only through feedback would we be able to know.

We do not currently have a Wishlist which I realize is huge must but we were running into some difficulty in obtaining all of the various features we wanted such as not sharing any personal information between customers except for say the Wishlist name and the public name of the person who owns the wishlist. So we thought it best to not offer the feature currently and then annoy customers by having them switch or redo their wishlists in the future.

If anyone is interested or simply wanted more information it would be best to contact the store directly through their Contact Us form but I will try and monitor the forum also of course.

For more individual responses:
Evvie: no Payoneer as yet but we definitely have it as one of our priorities. If anyone did sign up as an affiliate though, all payouts are made through PayPal at the moment and the description would be advertising costs or something along those lines. So currently no coupons but I hope the affiliate program can work for the long term.

AllisonWilder: a variety of items are sold, now that you have the store link you can browse for yourself. We chose to go with 15% not so much to “be better than Eden Fantasys” but we noticed that Adam and Eve was 30%, so we were trying to find a range between the two.

NovaNirvana: your point about advertising the store on a model’s site, point taken. If the model wanted to be part of the affiliate program also, they could perhaps use their affiliate link on their own site and add those links to their reviews but definitely an idea to keep in mind.

Miss_Lollipop: about the premium ad space, the site is still young and not much traffic. So ad space would definitely not be at a premium but rather close to costing nothing at all. Since there is ad space setup, I believe something could be worked out. Even if just a test run to see how it would work for both parties until the site brings in substantial traffic to start charging for banner placement.

KaterinaPryde and Zippypinhead: Hopefully when we get the wishlist feature sorted out, we can look into both of your suggestions more. But currently not sure what would or would not work.

Teagan_Chase: We are nowhere near to implementing any of your options although we agree with them. You mentioned all the ways that Edens does rewards such as the reviewing, free toy each month, etc. This would have to be implemented over the long term if possible. We currently have rewards points for when you share on social networks and then customers buy a product and we hope to bring rewards for reviewing products in the short term.

And again, please provide any further feedback if you have time, whether here or through the Contact Us page. Thanks again.

 

[Jim Haynes]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Hi, I wanted to resurrect this post now that we have rebuilt our site at Life of Pleasure https://lifeofpleasure.com with some but not all of the feature requests. The first one which was most important from the feedback was the Wish list option and being able to earn money from your wish list. Models, and customers in general, are able to have a wish list and earn a percentage of the sale from whatever is bought from their wish list and any other products that the customer decides to select at that moment. The only thing that the shopper sees is the Wish list name as the shipping address for the products.

We don’t plan on offering coupons right now, since those take more time to manage. With the wish list option you can share your wish list and get your item shipped to you but also make a percentage of the sale if part of the affiliate program.

There is a reward points program in place but not the main focus currently, simply nice to have so that points can be exchanged for discounts on any products bought from our site.

If you do have any questions, our contact is models @ lifeofpleasure.com and of course we will check back in the forums now that things are up and running. For a list of current benefits you can visit https://lifeofpleasure.com/BenefitsForModels

 

[Teagan]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Hi Jim welcome back. The site looks great i think. I only have 2 suggestions even.
One is to look at other payments than Paypal. I know it's been suggested and says on the site you're looking into Payoneer. I'd look into Paxum as well since I know a ton of models switched to them. I'm fine with Paypal but some girls worry about their accounts and adult stuff.
Second is get some reviews on the products. I know you said you're not ready to roll out a review program open to all which is fine, but most people will not buy a product with no review. On Amazon for instance I select the 3 or 4 stars and up only and go from there when buying. No review means im not willing to take a risk on buying it.
Since you're not ready to go full on review program I would suggest what other sites have done on start up and pick a few trusted girls to pick maybe say 10 products off your site to review. They get the toys, you get reviews. You can have written reviews, give them the option or ask they do video reviews, allow them to submit their own pictures in the review as well. I like seeing a toy in someones hand or compared next to a can of pop or something to get a good idea of sizes. Measurements suck to me lol. Lots of girls like myself are experienced in review writing and toy testing. Id say half my collection right now was bought specifically cause another model here suggested it or raved about it.
You can obviously set a cap on the dollar amount of the toys the girls request for review at first (like nothing above $40 or $50) until you trust she will pull through with the reviews. Sending someone 10 toys valued that much is a risk I know which is why I suggest only picking someone from here or something. You dont want some random picking 10 Lelos and taking off haha. Make sure each girl gets something different, first come first serve type of deal. Once they are done with the 10 first ones you can decide to still use them for another round if you love their reviews or not work with them again. All is up to you.
Anyway just an idea. Thought i'd share.

 

[Jessi]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

OH and also, please provide toy measurements that have been checked and checked and checked! I have bought so many dildos that were too big because the measurements were off.And toys that were not the material claimed. Like Teagan said, comparison photos and customer photos are awesome.

A couple of the things I like about edenfantasys are being able to sort toys by material safety and vibration strength.

 

[Teagan]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

OH and also, please provide toy measurements that have been checked and checked and checked! I have bought so many dildos that were too big because the measurements were off.And toys that were not the material claimed. Like Teagan said, comparison photos and customer photos are awesome.

A couple of the things I like about edenfantasys are being able to sort toys by material safety and vibration strength.

This is exactly why i suggest it. I had a gorgeous butt plug that claimed to be 3 inch and really was 5 inch circumference. Returned it immediately. Returns suck for a new business so reviews and accurate info save that from happening. Plus it just sucked to get it and realize it was too big, such a disappointment to me.

 

[Jim Haynes]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

Teagan_Chase and Jessi, thanks for the feedback. We will look into trying to add Paxum also and note the suggestions for reviews for now. That would have to come in the future when we can absorb the cost of giving out toys but definitely something to have in place eventually.

 

[Minnie]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

http://myfreewebsite.com/ I've seen this adult store template around a lot. This might be an option to have your online store with dealing with huge over head cost and get some free stuff from your fans and make money from their purchases at the same time.

 

[Jim Haynes]

Re: Question or Ideas on how an adult store might benefit mo

http://myfreewebsite.com/ I've seen this adult store template around a lot. This might be an option to have your online store with dealing with huge over head cost and get some free stuff from your fans and make money from their purchases at the same time.

Thanks for the link. It looks to be mainly an affiliate program. We do plan on having our own affiliate program in the future but that's longer term.