Tag: independent camgirls

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 🙂

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.

Indy Camgirls, Gift Cards and Wishlist Issues

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indy camgirls in erotic art

In my last post regarding alternative payments for webcam shows I touched on Amazon Gift Cards, which seem to be one of the most popular options used by indy camgirls who dabble in indy camming. While Gift Cards are assumed to be a risk-free payment option, I wanted to clarify how to use gift cards safely and to clear up any confusion regarding gift cards and wishlists, which are two entirely separate systems with their own respective procedures and risks.

How Indy Camgirls Use Amazon Gift Cards

In selecting any payment method, security and anonymity are vital factors. For this reason, smart indy camgirls create ‘work’ amazon accounts that don’t have their real names or addresses attached. This is because it is possible for customers to contact Amazon and inquire about the personal info of the individual to whom they sent the card. From there, the most important thing to keep in mind is that you need to redeem the gift card prior to performing a cam show or sending content. Up until the gift card is redeemed it can be cancelled, so waiting until a later date to redeem to gift puts you at risk of being ripped off. Receive the card, redeem it and then perform the cam show. 🙂

Many camgirls assume the it’s impossible for shady customers to chargeback gift cards, and while chargeback rates with this payment option are very low, it is possible to have a gift card refunded if a stolen credit card was used to purchase it. Know that even after redeeming the gift card there is a very slight chance you’ll have the value of the card refunded.

Amazon Wishlists and Indy Camgirls: Issues To Keep in Mind

The main thing to keep in mind when creating an Amazon wishlist is that as an indy camgirl your privacy needs to be a top concern. For that reason, smart indy camgirls set up a P.O. Box through which to receive wishlist purchases, as the wishlist system does leave quite a few holes in security of private information. The primary issue with Amazon wishlists is that many items featured on Amazon are sent via a third-party distributor, and third-party distributors tend not to uphold Amazon account privacy settings. This means it’s quite easy for customers to track down your name and address if a wishlist purchase is sent through a third party. Unfortunately even confining one’s wishlist to items delivered straight from Amazon itself isn’t a guarantee, as I’ve heard of indy camgirls who had their account information shared with purchasers when the purchase was confined to Amazon itself. For that reason, I’d suggest no indy camgirl set up an Amazon wishlist without having a P.O. Box or other anonymous address through which to receive gifts. The risks of having your address and full name revealed to any random person on the internet is just too high to take chances.

Another issue with wishlists is that they aren’t viable options for cam show payment. Up until the time an item is shipped the purchase can be easily cancelled by the purchaser, so wishlist purchases are NOT a secure payment option for skype cam shows or custom videos. If you do want to accept wishlist items as payment, wait until the item actually arrives prior to performing the skype cam show or sending the video, as up until the day it arrives at your door there is no guarantee you will actually receive the item purchased.

Amazon Gift Cards and wishlists will never replace secure and reliable payment processing for skype cam shows, but for indy camgirls who do want to avail themselves of these systems it’s important to know how to do so safely, protecting both your personal information and your time. In sum, never attach your real name and address to an Amazon account you use for indy camming customers, and always redeem gift cards as soon as you receive them, prior to completing a skype cam show or video order. Lastly, let your customers know that wishlist purchases are not a viable form of payment and never perform a cam show based on a wishlist purchase you haven’t yet received.

While I don’t accept Amazon Gift Cards and don’t have a wishlist, these are great services for indy camgirls provided they’re used appropriately. Safety first, always 🙂

Independent Webcam Girls Readiness Quiz

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independent webcam girls smoking on skype topless

Are you Well-Equipped to Work in the Niche of Independent Webcam girls?

Inspired by a peer of mine who created a checklist for discovering one’s ideal cam site, I decided to create a little quiz to help camgirls discover if they suit independent webcam work. Obviously this isn’t a peer-reviewed scientific study or anything, but I do hope it helps new independent webcam girls discover whether they’re on the right track in regards to pursuing work in this niche.

Are you familiar with html and basic website design?

  • Yes (2 points)
  • No, but I’m prepared to give myself a crash course (1 point)
  • No (0 points)

Do you enjoy regular cam sex customers or do you prefer to always interact with new people?

  • Yes, I enjoy cultivating a real connection with my regular playmates (2 points)
  • I enjoy a mix of both regulars and new clients (1 point)
  • No, I don’t like repeat clients and I’m not interested in building an authentic connection with them (0 points)

How many hours per week are you prepared to spend on self-promotion, web design, advertising, etc?

  • 14 hours or more (2 points)
  • 7 hours (1 point)
  • I rarely self-promote (0 points)

Assess your creativity…

  • I love being creative, thinking up new ideas and strategies and following through on implementing them (2 points)
  • I’m not very comfortable with the unknown, I prefer to do what I already know how to do but I’m willing to push myself into trying new things (1 points)
  • Camming is about tits and ass, what does creativity have to do with it? (0 points)

What sort of cam shows do you enjoy most?

  • Individualized and unique cam shows (2 points)
  • I have a pretty set routine but I don’t mind specific requests (1 point)
  • I do my thing, they watch, they cum. Rinse and repeat (0 points)

Assess your skills at maintaining boundaries:

  • I’m comfortable establishing what is ok with me and what isn’t. I respect my own time and demand that my cam sex playmates do the same. I’m not afraid to say ‘no’. (2 points)
  • I’m uncomfortable with vocalizing my boundaries and I never know what to say when a customer is requesting something (free chit chat, a particular sex act, etc) that doesn’t work for me. I always manage to get through it but establishing and maintaining boundaries is uncomfortable. (1 point)
  • I get angry when customers disrespect my time and never know how to handle it smoothly. I have a difficult time vocalizing my needs so customers tend to take advantage of me (0 points)

My approach to camming is:

  • A marathon, not a race. I understand that when just starting out building an independent webcam model business takes time, and a tremendous amount of work. I’m willing to invest whatever is required to reap rewards down the road. (2 points)
  • I want/need immediate results but I’m willing to invest time and effort for rewards at a later date. (1 point)
  • I need money now. Camming is not my future (0 points)

When I am off-cam I spend time strategizing…

  • Frequently. I often think about what I want to do next, what I want to try next, how I can improve on things I’m currently doing. I follow through on those ideas. (2 points)
  • Every couple of days a thought pops into my head but I don’t often follow through on those ideas. (1 point)
  • Rarely if ever. (0 points)

When it comes to responsibility level in providing cam sex shows:

  • I want to handle everything. Website design and maintenance, payment processing, promotion and advertising; I want to do it all and I trust my own skill and work ethic (2 points)
  • I want to branch out into providing things for myself, but I’m still learning. I’m implementing new skills quickly though, and I’m not afraid of handling new responsibilities all on my own. (1 point)
  • I prefer to just do cam sex shows. I don’t want to pursue real payment processing and I’m not all that invested in self-promotion (0 points)

 

Assess Your Independent Webcam Girl Readiness Score:

0-8 points: The good news is you can still be an amazing and successful camgirl, but the niche of independent webcam girls is probably not for you. If you don’t enjoy the specialized work that comes with running your own independent business chances are you won’t excel at maintaining the required level of that work long-term.

9-13 points: You’re still learning the skills required to be successful in this niche, but you’re on the right track. Try building your independent webcam girl business while still working the network cam sites so that you still have a regular income coming in while you’re learning the ropes. You’re on the right track but you still have a lot to learn and new skills and strategies to implement.

14-18 points: You are perfect for the niche of independent camgirls, and you’re well positioned to achieve amazing success running your own independent business. Trust your skill, your creativity and your work ethic and go for it. (and contact me for a link exchange once you build your website!) 🙂

Independent Camgirl Websites and Copyright

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black and white webcam pic of camgirl in jeans and t shirt

How to Protect Our Independent Camgirl Websites From Copyright Infringers

While all camgirls should be concerned about copyright infringers who use our copyrighted pictures and webcam videos for their own purposes, as independent camgirls we have an additional concern: protecting our personal independent camgirl websites. Recently I had an experience with a couple of copyright-infringing domains that were hosting copies of my entire websites (including this one) on their own domains, so I figured I’d write about some of the strategies I’ve been employing successfully to solve the problem.

How Do Unethical Webmasters Infringe Upon Our Copyright?

In trying to figure out exactly what was happening in my situation, I learned that there are three main methods that are employed to copy a website to another domain. The first, scrapers, are scripts employed by unethical webmasters to ‘scrape’ (or basically copy) the text and images that appear on our websites and place that content on another domain. Scraping can be as basic as a simple cut/paste job or it can be done using software that performs that copy/paste work automatically. With scraping, only the content of pages and posts tends to be copied, not the entirety of a website (design, header, background, etc).

Website Mirrors

Website mirrors is a form of scraping on a site-wide level. With a website mirror, you are essentially looking at your own website replicated on another domain. Many webmasters mirror their own websites for legitimate purposes (countering censorship, easing traffic to a specific domain, etc) but website mirrors can also be used by unethical site owners to steal your website in the hopes that they will gain search engine traffic from your hard work. Of unethical site mirroring, site owners who perform what are called ‘302 redirects’ are the most damaging. With a 302 redirect site mirror (also known as a 302 highjack), a webmaster will mirror a website and then attempt to trick search engines into treating the mirror website as the original version by using 302 redirects, which tell search engines that the mirror domain has temporarily moved to the original domain. As such, the original domain is perceived by search engines to be the copy and can be penalized accordingly. Webmasters that employ 302 redirects are trying to steal search engine rankings that the real site owners have built, it’s a form of theft that not only steals content, but steals visitors as well, in that the copy of the website can often rank higher in search engines than the original website.

How to Find Infringing Domains

The easiest way to find scraped copies of our independent camgirl websites is using a service such as copyscape. Unfortunately, finding mirror domains is often not quite so easy, as I’ve found from experience that mirror copies do not show up in copyscape. To check for a mirror copy of a website, search for the site name without the tdl (as in, search for ‘sitename’ instead of ‘sitename.com’) and scroll through the pages of results. If a website is performing a 302 highjack of your independent camgirl website, chances are it will show up in the search results.

How We Can Protect our Independent Camgirl Websites

In dealing with copyright infringers and protecting our independent camgirl websites, our best recourse is first to block offending websites from accessing our own. Following that, we need to send DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) takedown notices to webmasters who copy our content, hosts that allow infringers to use their services and search engines that index infringing domains.

There are several standard DMCA templates floating around on the net, but the gist of each is that you must identify yourself as the legal owner of the copyright, state where your original material can be found on the web, and list the URL of every piece of offending content found on the infringing domain. In the case of domains that have created website mirrors of your own website, you’ll have a pretty long list of offending URLs. It’s not sufficient to state that your domain ‘mysite.com’ has been copied without your permission on mysite.piratesite.com, you must list the individual URL of each blog post, page and picture attachment. Like I said, expect to be compiling a long list. Then you must request removal of the offending material and sign it with your name, address, telephone number and email address and send it via email or regular mail to the appropriate contact person.

How to Find the IP, Host and Contact Info for Offending Domains and their Website Hosting Companies

To block an offending IP, first you must find out what IP the website uses. That’s pretty easy to find by searching for the domain using any of the free IP checkers available on the internet. Once you’ve identified the IP/IP range you can simply block the IP(s) using .htaccess.

To find the website owner and host, search for the WHOIS information for the domain. There you will find the owner of the domain and the name of the website host. Send a DMCA takedown notice to the domain owner ‘abuse’ contact listed in the WHOIS. If that doesn’t work and the offending material is not removed, send a DMCA notice to the ‘abuse’ contact email address listed under the hosting portion of the WHOIS. Some hosts will demand a DMCA in hard copy, and in that case print out your DMCA notice, sign it and send it to the physical address provided by the host.

If the infringing mirror of your website is appearing in search results, you can send DMCAs to the major search engines as well. Search engines have no control over material located on the internet, but you can send a DMCA notice requesting removal of infringing content from search results. A great resource for sending DMCA takedown notices to search engines can be found here. Each template DMCA has the recipient address already filled in so you don’t need to search for this information separately.

When I found my beloved websites mirrored on other domains I was initially quite shocked, but with a bit of research I discovered that this is actually a pretty common phenomenon. Further, the more popular and prominent your website is, the more likely it is that an unethical webmaster will try to steal your own work for his or her own benefit. In that sense, having someone else steal your work is actually a sign you’re great at what you do. Try to find a little consolation in that 🙂

If you find a scrape or mirror of your own independent camgirl website take a deep breath and start searching for contact information and the website IP. Block the IP/IP range of the infringing domain and then start compiling the URLs required for an effective DMCA takedown notice. Send the DMCA takedown notice first to the website owner, and if he/she doesn’t respond, DMCA the host and the search engines (if the infringing content is appearing in search results).

With a bit of work, time and tenacity we can protect our independent camgirl websites, and all the hard work we put into them. I know first-hand that dealing with copyright infringers can be a frustrating situation, but we can prevail if we follow the procedures legally afforded to us by the DMCA.

If you’re experiencing the same problem and are running into any difficulties, feel free to email me at jesse@quinn69.com and I’ll be happy to provide any information or advice I can on how to deal with the situation successfully.