Category: Information for Skype Camgirls

Reading Model Contracts

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Model Contracts as Legal Agreements

While joining independent listing sites, cam sites and service can be a great way to acquire new clients and add value to our businesses, it’s always important to read the model contract before signing on to a new site or service, so you know ahead of time how (or if) your interests will be protected. Model contracts are more than just an outline of promises, they are legal agreements that covers both your rights and your responsibilities and what recourse you may have (or not as the case may be) if something goes wrong.

In reading model contracts a few questions to keep in mind are:

1) Who owns the site? How many employees are involved in the company? What is their track record and prior work experience?

2) In joining the site/service, do I retain ownership over my cam name and content?

3) Am I allowed to watermark my pictures and videos?

4) What is the minimum payout, and how frequently are payouts sent? what payout methods are offered?

5) Are chargebacks covered? If not, what is the site’s scrubbing system? (the system that automatically zeros in on red flags when client tries to make a payment). Are payments collected in full prior to me performing on cam?

6) What sort of content is prohibited on the site?

7) What nation forms the largest source of traffic? (you can use alexa.com to get a general breakdown on this). One US visitor is worth 100 visitors from Indonesia and Iran (for example, and no disrespect to Indonesians or Iranians, I just used those as examples because those countries can’t use most Visa/MC processing systems). Also, I know Alexa stats are outdated and generally useless, but for the ‘nation that’s the largest traffic source’ info it’s a good tool.

8) In what jurisdiction is the company located? this is important because you need to know where you stand regarding tax forms (1099’s, etc) and what legal recourse you would have if things go wrong

9) What processing system does the owner use? Is it an IPSP like CCBill or Epoch or is it a private merchant account?

Some other things to think about:

1) Is the owner responsive and patient when you ask questions? (send an email asking a question or two, to get a sense of this)

2) Is the owner open about who he/she is, and who his/her company is? Veiled references to prior experience are a warning flag absent any concrete list of projects or accomplishments.

3) What do other models who use the site/service think of it? Do their payments arrive on time and in full?

4) Is the owner open to explaining the specifics of the business plan? Does the plan appear logical and sustainable?

The camming niche is different than most other areas in the adult industry, because as models we possess a tremendous amount of agency. Speaking as both a cam girl and a site owner, sites and services need cammers far more than we need them, so never be afraid to do a little digging, ask questions, scrutinize the business plan and trust you gut. New sites and services rise and fall with alarming frequency and for the most part our industry is unregulated. That means we have to protect ourselves, and reading and understanding model contracts is a vital element of that self-protection.

Reading Booking Codes and Assessing Risk

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independent camgirl with pink hair posing

Knowledge is Power: The Vital Importance of Booking Codes in Assessing Risk

I wanted to write a post about reading booking/transaction codes and assessing risk levels of new potential clients, due to some questions I’ve been receiving lately about booking declines and how to assess and mitigate chargeback (cb) risk without turning away legitimate clients.

While every processor will occasionally decline the odd legit client, for the most part declines are an indy chica’s best friend, in that they help ensure that you won’t do work you won’t get paid for.

As independent camgirls it’s vital for each of us to know how to read declines, in the interests of  both minimizing our risk and easing any fears of chargebacks that one may experience when interacting with new clients.

Declines are generally pretty rare, but when they occur they generally occur for one of the following reasons:

1) insufficient funds on the debit or credit card

2) no CCV data, which means the user has no access to the back of the
card-meaning the highest risk of cb

It’s really important for all indy cam girls to become accustomed to reading decline codes, as no matter what independent listing site you work the same codes still apply. If you receive a decline with a Transaction ID NSF 51 that means your client needs to use a new card as he’s over his limit on that card, whereas if you receive a Transaction code N7 that means he likely doesn’t have the card in hand (meaning a HUGE cb risk as there’s a good likelihood that the card data is stolen).

For those who are interested in a chart on decline codes, this: https://stats.slimcd.com/documentation/Error%20Codes_full.htm is the best I’ve found, and can really help you guide clients towards making successful payments and avoid the thieves. In all honesty if you want to do skype shows the above should be your bible.

If the decline is simply a matter of an NSF card you can ask your client to switch to another card. However, if he can’t provide a CCV number (the 3-4 digit number on the back of the credit card) tread with extreme caution, as chances are the card info is stolen and he doesn’t have access to the actual plastic held by the legit owner.

 

Risk Level in Not Tied to Booking Amount

Unlike many independent camgirls I’m not afraid of large sum bookings, as I’ve set my scrubbing system up to catch the losers no matter how much (or how little) they spend. If anything I’ve found that cb’s tend to be tied to lower-volume bookings, and that high-volume regs are the least likely to chargeback.

 

Independent Camming is Lower Risk Than Other Adult Niches

Regarding the risk of cb’s, avoiding them successfully is in large part due to a diligent scrutinizing of your bookings, but there are also a few factors that make independent camming far lower risk than other forms of adult entertainment that I’d like to explore below:

First off, please don’t stress out about cb’s too much, as indy is actually very low risk. The main reason why is that with our payment systems the funds are taken from the credit card before the show begins. With many pay per min cam sites the funds are only deducted at a later date, meaning many cb’s are actually card declines. Every now and then you’ll encounter a declined payment from a client with a ‘do not honor’ code, which simply means that the card is either closed or the client is over his limit. That’s a good thing, as an upfront decline means you won’t end up doing work you won’t get paid for like you would on a network cam site that doesn’t cover cb’s. On a site like IMLive for example, that NSF payment for a cam show would result in a cb.

Indy is also less high risk than porn membership sites, in that much of the fraud there is guys signing up with stolen cards to steal the members are material to sell on file locker sites for their own profit. Since there are tons of cam girls performing sex shows in free chat there’s no incentive for guys to use a stolen card to record a skype
show-they can get that for free already all over the net.

 

Main Red Flags for Indy Cam Girls

The main risk factors are female names (indicating either a stolen card or a mom/gf/wife’s card-and she WILL charge back once it’s discovered because her coward partner/son will deny it was him) and disposable email
accounts; beyond that it’s about trusting your gut and knowing how to read the booking info for each transaction notification you receive. Another successful strategy involving geo-blocking nations associated with high fraud risk. In almost 6 years as an indy camgirl I’ve had 4 cb’s worth less than $200 in total, pennies when considering my overall booking volumes. In sum, cb risk is something to pay attention to, but not stress over.

Knowledge is power, and learning how to read transaction/booking codes is a vital tool in both protecting yourself from fraud and in enjoying your new clients as you grow your own independent cam business.

Good luck out there, and happy camming 🙂

Technical Resources for Indy Skype Webcam Girls

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solarized picture of nude indy skype webcam girls

As indy skype webcam girls we’re responsible for every aspect of our independent webcam businesses. We need to be able to manage our own skype cam sex websites, shoot and edit our own promotional pictures and edit our own fetish and sex clips and videos. While many of these skills are beneficial to all camgirls (particularly video editing skills), as indy skype camgirls our skill sets needs to more expansive simply because we are responsible for all the things the ‘big box’ sites typically handle for camgirls who work their sites. While there are many excellent paid tutorial and software options out there, I’m a huge fan of open source software and free resources. Below are some of my favorite cost-free resources that have helped me tremendously in running my independent webcam business.

HTML and Web Design for Indy Skype Webcam Girls

When I started out building my first fully independent webcam site I knew nothing about web design, HTML, PHP, nothing. Hell, I couldn’t even create a clickable link. My learning curve was steep and involved a tremendous amount of trial and error, but I found a few resources that became vital to me as I broadened (and then deepened) my skill set. Below are a few of my favourite resources that are of particular interest to indy skype camgirls who want to create and run their own websites

W3Schools

W3schools.com is an amazing free resource that allows one to explore all aspects of html, css and PHP. It’s an ideal resource for beginners who are learning the basics and allows us to venture into more complex aspects of web design as our skill sets develop and progress. This is a highly recommended resource for all indy skype webcam girls, regardless of pre-existing skill set.

WordPress.org Forums

The wordpress.org support forums can be quite overwhelming if one is brand new to css, however as proficiency in css develops the wordpress forums are an ideal resource for indy skype webcam girls who operate wordpress-based personal sites.

 

Photo and Video Resources for Skype Camgirls

As camgirls who don’t work free chat cam sites our pictures and videos are vital, in that these are all that new clients get to experience of us prior to booking a skype cam show. Below are some great open source video and photo editing options.

Gimp

Gimp is an open-source (free) alternative to photoshop, and with this monster of a program you can do pretty much anything you can do with photoshop. That said this software comes with a steep learning curve if you’re unfamiliar with digital image editing, however if you’re prepared to explore the features and experiment this program can replace costly editing programs.

Photoscape

Photoscape is another open source (free ) program. It offers far fewer features than photoshop or gimp, but for those unfamiliar with these latter options photoscape is easy to use and does offer some great features such as watermarking, cropping, (including batch-editing) and instagram-style filters. It also comes with a drag and drop feature for making .gifs.

Pixlr

Pixlr is a fun program that you can access via the browser on the pixlr website, no downloads required. While not a great tool for cropping and watermarking you can have a lot of fun adding filters and accents to your photos to create dramatic moods with your digital images.

WMM

Windows Movie Maker is a common video editing software that usually comes pre-installed on computers that operate with windows. For that reason it’s one of the most commonly-used editing programs, despite the limitations of the program. With WMM you can cut and merge video recordings, add narration or a soundtrack, watermark your videos and add color effects and segues between film clips. For indy skype webcam girls who don’t have hugely complex video editing needs WMM more than adequately serves our purposes, however as follows below it is only one option among many.

Virtual Dub

Virtual Dub is an open source (free) video editing software that operates in a manner quite similar to WMM, although it does offer some technical features WMM neglects such as noise reduction, keyboard and mouse shortcuts for ease of use and precise frame rate adjustment. Virtual Dub is AVI-format based, whereas with WMM the default format is WMV. This shouldn’t be a concern however, as programs such as Any Video Converter (a free video conversion software) can easily reformat videos to any of the most common formats preferred by clients.

Camstasia

Camstasia is an open source software that includes features such as free templates and soundtracks, a built-in recording system, unlimited tracks for editing multiple files together at once and the ability to export files to a dizzying array of devices such as phone and DVD.

Filezilla

While there are several open source FTP (file transfer protocol) options available to indy skype webcam girls who wish to operate their websites via FTP or upload clips and videos to clip sites, Filezilla is my personal favorite. It’s intuitive to use and it’s free to download.

A Note on Open Source Software

Open source software is different than pirated (stolen) software, in that Open Source licenses provide for legal, free use of the programs that use this license. That means that not only is Open Source an ethical option, it is also much safer than pirated software attained for free, as pirated material often included nasty viruses in the downloads. In contrast, Open Source software is available for free download from safe, legitimate sources such as CNet and SourceForge that screen programs available through their websites and provide full access to program code. The only thing to watch for when installing Open Source software is to always select ‘custom installation’ when installing a program, to ensure you don’t end up downloading superfluous tool bars and programs that sometimes come auto-enabled if auto-installation is performed. Generally custom installation involves no more than unchecking a few pre-checked boxes on the download screen so it’s an easy and straightforward process.

Indy Skype Webcam Girls Doing Things For Ourselves

As indy skype webcam girls we don’t have an arsenal of cam sites and whitelabel websites at our disposal to promote our websites and our cam shows, we’re responsible for every aspect of advertising and running our independent webcam businesses. For those indy skype webcam girls who are starting out from scratch the learning curve can be steep, but if we embrace the challenges of learning new skills and taking on new responsibilities the feeling of self-sufficiency can feel as amazing as the money we earn doing things for ourselves. Luckily free and open source software and tutorials can make the process less daunting, more fun, and far more cost effective than relying solely on commercial paid resources.

FTP for Indy Skype Camgirls

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indy skype camgirls smoking in lingerie

Sex and Fetish Videos are Ideal for Indy Skype Camgirls

As indy skype camgirls we’re lucky in that we can easily make both cam shows and videos available to our clients, whereas many of the ‘big box’ impose rules to prevent the camgirls who work those sites from directing customers to anywhere other than their on-site profile page. Beyond providing an additional source of revenue and being really fucking fun to shoot, video sales are great for keeping clients interested between skype cam sessions, in that through our videos our guys can get an experience with us even when we’re not available for cam shows.

Why Camgirls Who Sell Videos Need FTP

Sex and fetish video sales are great for business, but on the downside they can be resource intensive to upload, particularly for indy skype camgirls who publish videos on more than one site. Unless your internet upload speed is lightning-fast you can’t stream video and upload videos at the same time, meaning you need to find tools to speed up the upload process and minimize the drain on your time and resources. Here enters FTP, the best friend to every indy skype cammodel who also sells sex and fetish videos.

What is FTP, and How Do Indy Skype Camgirls Use It?

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and it’s basically the generic name for any downloadable pr0gram that allows you to upload files without using a slower-paced browser-based system. One of the most popular forms of FTP is a free, open source program called Filezilla, which can be downloaded here. After downloading the program, open it up and you’ll reach a window that resembles the screenshot posted below:
filezilla 1a

To log into Filezilla and upload files through the program:

Enter the ‘HOST’ name in box #1.

Enter your ‘USERNAME’ in box #2

Enter your ‘PASSWORD’ in box #3

For the ‘PORT’ box #4, the default port is 21. Unless the site to which you are uploading files specifies a port other than 21 you can leave this box blank

Then click ‘QUICK CONNECT’, the box to the far right of the login area.

Once logged in, open a screen that contains your files. Click on the file you wish to upload and drag it over to the area circled in red. Some sites require you to upload files to a specific target folder within that space, however in general unless that space already contains folders simply drag your desired file to the empty box. If you’ve done this correctly you should see your file appear in the very bottom section on the far left titled ‘Queued files’. Once the file has been completely uploaded it will appear in the ‘Successful transfers’ list. And that’s it, you’re done. 🙂

FTP Makes Sex and Fetish Video Sales Easy For Indy Skype Camgirls

 Video sales are a great way for indy skype camgirls to earn extra income and have fun while maintaining engagement with your client base, and file transfer protocol programs such as Filezilla are fantastic for minimizing computer ‘downtime’ spent uploading videos to host sites. While we’re always free to send files ourselves to clients via skype and dropbox, sites that allow customers to download our videos allow our clients to enjoy us even when we’re not online and available for skype shows or peer-to-peer video sharing, and afford indy skype camgirls  additional passive income streams. In sum, FTP programs make it easier for us to make everyone happy, including ourselves by speeding up the upload process, leaving us with more time for skype cam shows and having a life away from our computers.

Win/win. 🙂

Love Your Independent Cam Work

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independent cam girl Quinn in tight black dress

Ok, first off I want to state that even though I love independent cam work I know even the best job has crappy days, so this isn’t some fan service piece on why each and every client/shift/day is oh-so perfect. Life is life, and some days suck no matter what one’s occupation. That said, what inspired this post was an email I received from a newly independent cam girl who basically composed a rant delineating everything she hates about the job, and then inquiring as to how she could boost her independent cam show income. Huh?

Independent Cam Work Can Be Anything We Want It To Be

The above title is why I love independent cam work; I can shape it to suit my needs, my interests, my lifestyle. I’d actually argue that all camgirls possess this advantage but as independent cam girls we have more latitude than most. We don’t have to worry about cam site rules, customs and preferences, we can organize our work and shape our personas to suit us, rather than the other way around. That’s what I found so surprising about the aforementioned email I received, the chica was complaining about aspects of her work that are entirely under her own control, aspects that she has the power to alter.

Feeling burned out and need a break from skype and live cam shows? Shoot videos and post them for your regular clients to enjoy in your absence, or post your phone sex line for live sex without the cam component. Offer text chat over skype, or just ignore your messengers until your favorite clients drop by. Tired of trolls asking for paypal and previews? Ignore and move on. Most camgirls don’t have the luxury of being able to direct our playmates to any site or service we choose, so to not take advantage of this benefit when need be is to miss out on one of the coolest features of independent cam work.

I receive a lot of emails from newly independent cam girls asking for tips and strategies on succeeding in this niche, and while I try to be encouraging and helpful ultimately this niche is a difficult one in which to thrive. Very few camgirls who ‘go indy’ actually succeed in attaining a sustainable high income doing independent cam work, but a guaranteed recipe for failure is disliking the work, disliking one’s clients, feeling that as an independent cam girl one can just phone it in and go through the motions without negative repercussions.

Indy is hard, full stop. Creating, maintaining and growing a client base is hard and sticking with it through the ‘trial and error’ period is hard. If you don’t find a way to enjoy your time in this niche you won’t succeed, both because you won’t be able to perform to your full potential and because you’ll ultimately resent the time you’ve put in with little in the way of sustainable reward.

All that said, independent cam work really can be anything we want it to be; we’re independent entrepreneurs and we decide how to run our own businesses. What I’m arguing here is that if you don’t approach the niche with that in mind you will burn out, you will return to the cam sites and you’ll have missed out on an amazing opportunity to do your own thing on your own terms. To carve your own space you need to actually care about it though, you need to find something fulfilling in what you do in order to make all the hard work worth it.

I haven’t as of yet responded to the aforementioned email, to be honest considering the tone of it I suspect she’s left the niche already, but still I thought it was worth writing about here if only to give new skype cam girls a sense that they’re not alone if they’re feeling frustrated. Never forget that YOU choose how to run your business, and that as a skype camgirl you have the privilege of designing your work to suit you. There’s tremendous power in the fact that you decide how you work and when you work. In sum, find something to love in this field or chances are you will crash out. Not every day (particularly when just starting out) will be sunshine and roses, but if you embrace your job as YOU define it you’ll build a strong client base who enjoy you because you enjoy them, and your hard work will pay off.

Beyond that, life is too damn short to not love what you do. Good luck out there.