When it comes to sex work, there are endless options as to what you can offer your fans. From digital content to physical items, if you can imagine it, you can sell it! But it’s important to maintain your privacy and safety in doing so. I’m here to answer some of the most common questions I get about sending out these items and keeping yourself safe in the process.
If you’re new to selling physical items or have been tossing around the idea, there’s a lot to know before you get started. As easy as it is, there are many restrictions and random issues that tend to pop up along the way when getting the ball rolling. Hopefully this all will help you get things started off on the right foot.
As far as the files you send out, your computer typically stores metadata on everything. This information can be all too telling.
I, personally, only sell physical items specifically through ManyVids; even if I do discuss some orders off-site via email, I will only accept payment for them through ManyVids. Many sites do not allow selling physical items, nor sharing personal information of any kind. Due to this, if you are selling physical items through these sites and taking a fan’s personal information to ship to them, you run a high risk of losing your account with that site. That single sale, no matter how big it may be, is not worth losing an entire source of income.
SELLING VIA CASH APPS CAN BE RISKY
The same goes for cash apps. While getting 100% of the funds is ideal, you run a high risk of permanently being banned from these services if you’re caught selling sexual items of any nature. And losing these accounts can be taxing for your personal use of them. Even if you don’t use these in your day-to-day life now, you never know when you may need to for any reason. On top of that, using these services for payment comes with many other risks, especially if a fan decides to reverse the charge.
When you use a cash app, you have no protection if they decide to cancel/reverse the charge. And if you’ve already fulfilled what they had sent payment for, you’ve now lost profit. To prevent this from happening, selling through sites that allow you to is your best bet. Many of these sites offer coverage for a small fee. Some sites even do so for free! And while, yes, you are losing a percentage of that sale to the site, I think it’s a more-than-fair tradeoff to ensure you won’t have to worry about getting scammed and being banned from a service.
SAFELY HANDLING RETURN ADDRESSES
I’m often also asked about return addresses. Some carriers may allow you to send without one, but many do not. International orders are especially tricky with this. One of the best things you can invest in is a P.O. box. You must list any names that the P.O. box will be receiving mail for, so please be sure to make this a designated box for work purposes only. This way, your real name is not attached to it, which keeps your identity private. I also recommend getting a box as far from your location as you comfortably can. You won’t need to check it frequently as this is (in this instance) mainly for the secure address to ship items out.
When you’re shipping items, it’s also important to be mindful that the receiving party can see where the package was sent from. To further protect yourself and your location, it’s ideal to not ship from the post office around the corner from your home. I understand that driving all over to ship out orders can be a pain but, for your safety, it’s a small inconvenience. Setting a specific day aside each week to ship orders will help with this, though.
SHIPPING RESTRICTIONS FOR CERTAIN KINDS OF ITEMS
Now, let’s talk about shipping your actual goods and how you can do so without worry, by knowing which items may or may not be legal to sell or ship. Different carriers allow the shipment of certain items (such as liquids), while others do not. That being said, please be sure to carefully read the shipping guidelines/ restrictions of where you’re shipping to and from! It’s not worth getting smacked with a fine or possibly jail time over an order.
If you’re shipping anything liquid, a leak-proof container is an absolute must-have. Vacuum-sealing this container will also help double-protect this item during its travels. This gives you peace of mind that the item will arrive at its destination as it left you. Securing it in bubble wrap as well will help keep the container from getting damaged along the way.
To ensure that more time-sensitive items arrive in the best state they can, shipping them off in thermal packaging with ice packs can be helpful. Additionally, overnight shipping should be considered. Both of these options can be rather expensive, so it’s crucial you pre-price out the expenses if you’re looking to add this to a pre-made store listing or when you’re discussing these options with a fan.
PRIVACY CONSIDERATIONS FOR SENDING DIGITAL ITEMS TO FANS
Digital items, on the other hand, are a whole different ballgame when it comes to protecting yourself. Many sites do most of the work for you upon uploading your content to them, but sending items out through a third-party site or directly means you should take steps to protect yourself. There are always little concerns in the background that we’re not always fully aware of, but absolutely should be.
In this day and age, a lot of the content we produce is off our phone. But, did you know your location can be given out through that content? Simply turning off your location service for your camera in your phone settings is a quick and easy step to bring this to a halt. Where exactly this is located within your settings may vary by brand/ device, but a quick Google search can help you figure out how to do so within minutes.
The same can be done through content recorded off of your laptop, camera and camcorder. Looking up how to turn off this feature from any device only takes a few minutes and typically only needs to be done once. This is a simple and effective way to keep yourself safe — and an extremely important one at that! We don’t want any stranger danger on our doorstep, right?
As far as the files you send out, your computer typically stores metadata on everything. This information can be all too telling. Not only is your location possibly visible, but the date, the time, what type of device, etc. can also be seen. Just like your phone, depending on the processor you’re using, how to remove this data will vary. Unfortunately, unlike turning off the location service for your camera phone, you will have to remove this data manually for every file you want it removed from.
Once you’re ready to upload and send content, finding a trustworthy third-party site to use can be challenging. Many sites, like Dropbox, have banned NSFW content from being uploaded to their site. You can still upload to these sites but, just like cash apps, if you get caught, you get banned.
My personal site to send files through is WeTransfer. I only use this if a file is too big for a site (like MV) or if I need to send a mass photo dump. I also favor WeTransfer because the files are only stored for a short period of time and then deleted. This gives me more ease that this content cannot be shared by the link sent after a certain amount of time. The downside is, if you are sending the same content out at a later date, you will have to re-upload the content and generate a new link.
When these files are uploaded and the link has been generated, I send the link via the site the transaction was made on. This, again, is to protect yourself! Not so much in the sense of privacy, but so that if the member tries to make a claim with said site that they did not receive the purchased content, the link is there to show that it was sent.
There are so many things that we really aren’t always conscious about. It’s hard to keep track of everything on a daily basis and honestly, sometimes we can be a little too trusting. My suggestion to you is to make a “to-do” checklist for when you’re editing content and sending it out or shipping physical items. This will help prioritize what to do to keep yourself safe in every possible way without worrying if you forgot anything. Hopefully, after a few times through, it will become a part of your process without needing that list.
Cattie Candescent is a content creator and BranditScan ambassador whose clips can be found on Cattie.ManyVids.com. You can follow her content creation adventures through Twitter @CatCandescent and Instagram @cattiecandescent.