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| Porn Users Forum » Recurring memberships |
| 1-23 of 23 Posts | Page 1 |
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| 03-31-08 02:01pm - 6067 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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shooterbo (0)
Active User  Posts: 185 Registered: Apr 25, '07 |
Recurring memberships I would think that if the websites would knock off this "recurring" charge feature, they would double their business almost overnight. None of us want that hanging over our head so consistently. | |
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| 03-31-08 05:50pm - 6067 days | #2 | |
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PinkPanther (0)
Active User  Posts: 1,136 Registered: Jan 08, '07 Location: Oakland, CA |
That seems difficult to believe to me. I think it's probably the other way around, that sites make more money if they can keep existing members than if they are constantly having to fish for new ones - isn't that why so many sites offer better deals for members to stick around at a lower price? | |
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| 04-01-08 03:34pm - 6066 days | #3 | |
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King (0)
Active User  Posts: 6 Registered: Jan 08, '07 Location: Earth |
As long as it can be canceled, nothing's wrong with it | |
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| 04-02-08 10:11am - 6065 days | #4 | |
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Toadsith (0)
Active User  Posts: 936 Registered: Dec 07, '07 Location: USA |
I must say that I don't find the recurring memberships to be an issue. In fact, they can be a bonus, as it locks you in at whatever price you agreed to. So if you managed to get a recurring membership of $10 a month, you can keep that indefinitely even if the site has since begun to charge $30 a month. If they make it a huge pain-in-the-ass to cancel, then you might have an issue - but that is pretty rare. The only sign-up practice that I dislike is the pre-selected trial memberships that they pop-on as you are about to pay, if you don't pay close attention they can easily walk away with a few bucks more for some sites you'll never visit. I like recurring memberships for good sites as sometimes I hang on for longer as they have so much content. I generally am only a member for about 3 months max - but still, it is a bit of a time saver. And if they offer a discount: well that is just plain lovely. Abby Winters kept me for quite a while because of the discounted price. "I'm not a number, I'm a free man!" Second Grand Order Poobah in the Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo | |
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| 04-02-08 12:58pm - 6065 days | #5 | |
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StacieAdams (0)
Suspended Webmaster Posts: 10 Registered: Feb 19, '08 Location: San Francisco, CA |
My favorite membership site is fuckingmachines.com, so I don't mind being rebilled for it and I trust the kink.com brand. But I wouldn't want to deal with remembering to cancel the random membership of a new solo girl so I would rather rent a movie she is in first, decide how into her I am, then deal with a longer-term relationship with her site. Sometimes you get into these membership sites and they are so lame. Of course many are great, and this site can help you find out more before you join. I think it depends on how much time you spend watching porn and how tight your finances are. For me, I always end up being member longer than I had planned so I spend more there than on a site like ours, GameLink.com, where there are no rebills. Stacie Adams - GameLink.com : Find Your Favorite Adult Movies, Scenes and Sex Toys - VOD in many formats, No Membership Fees, Best Customer Service 800-944-3933 x138 - Hook up with me on: http://twitter.com/stacieadams http://www.myspace.com/gamelink | |
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| 04-02-08 01:21pm - 6065 days | #6 | |
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Toadsith (0)
Active User Posts: 936 Registered: Dec 07, '07 Location: USA |
It is true, if you are sticking to a monthly budget, recurring memberships can quickly rack-up a bill, even if you are pretty good about staying on top of it, it is so easy for one to slip by. I have to say that participating in Porn Users has doubled that problem as I'm a member of so many more sites now, keeping track of them can be tedious. On the other hand, 99% of recurring sites will let you cancel immediately and the membership simply terminates at the original rebill date. So that is always an acceptable option. The finances department is a problem though. I used to limit it to basically one membership at a time, so $30 - 40 a month. These days it's often over the $100 mark, that gets a little rough sometimes... "I'm not a number, I'm a free man!" Second Grand Order Poobah in the Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo | |
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| 04-02-08 02:34pm - 6065 days | #7 | |
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Jay G (0)
Disabled User  Posts: 96 Registered: Jan 12, '07 Location: USA |
Recurring membership is daunting until one's cancelled a few memberships, then it's not bad at all. I always check about cancelling a membership before I join a web-site, actually going to the cancel page and checking it out. Third party billers like CCBill (my favorite) are very helpful if you've got your information organized and cancelling usually takes less than three minutes. Even after you cancel, membership should continue for the duration of your paid period. Also, if any website would try to scam you (and that hasn't happened to me in over 50 web-site memberships), you have the legal recourse of disputing the charge with your credit card company. Webmasters hate disputed or fraudulent charges and do everything they can to avoid them. Jay G | |
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| 04-03-08 03:03am - 6065 days | #8 | |
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jd1961 (0)
Active User  Posts: 296 Registered: Jun 07, '07 |
It depends on the billing company. CCBill is dependable. Recently, I joined a somewhat obscure site that used one of those of those billing company where you have to open an account, paypal style. It turned out to be a real hassle to cancel. The site wouldn't return my mail, the billing agent said I could only cancel through the site. I had to stop payment to the billing service, and when I told them i would do this, then they deleted my account, so they wouldn't be charged! Stick to the reliable billing services, and you won't have a problem. | |
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| 04-03-08 09:13pm - 6064 days | #9 | |
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nygiants03 (0)
Active User  Posts: 23 Registered: Apr 15, '07 Location: USA |
As suggested before, recurring is no big deal. When I join a site I first check out if I really enjoy the material and updates offered. If Not, I cancel right away, no harm, no foul.You get the rest of your membership, and its over with. Even when I really am enjoying a particular site, I usually cancel sometime within the month to see what offer the site will offer me to stay. Usually a site will lower its charge 5 - 10 dollars, once in a while up to 15. So now, you end up paying a cheaper price, that would of never happen if you did not cancel the membership. You can never go wrong with canceling, it takes a minute, then you done. | |
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| 04-04-08 01:56pm - 6063 days | #10 | |
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badandy400 (0)
Active User  Posts: 869 Registered: Mar 02, '08 Location: ohio |
I find that recurring can be good and bad. It is nice because if it is a site you like, you dont have to worry about price increases and remembering when to renew and getting the same username and password. It would be nice if sites would give you the option to have recurring or non recurring with out the extra charge. I have had a few sites now where I swear I canceled then I find out months later that I did not. With UltimateSurrender they do not bill with a name that lets you know who they are on your credit card. So I got billed for about a year with no clue who was doing it. Sites should be decent and let you know that you have a membership still active if you do not sign in for a month, but they dont because they are getting your money while you forgot or the cancel did not go through. So recurring is a curse and a blessing. A few times I have programmed a reminder in my phone to tell me to cancel a certain site by a certain day...this works pretty well. "For example, badandy400 has taken it upon himself to become the one man Library of Congress for porn with a collection that surely will be in Guinness Book of World Records some day." ~Toadsith~ PU Interview | |
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| 04-05-08 01:21am - 6063 days | #11 | |
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malikstarks (0)
Active User Posts: 108 Registered: Nov 19, '07 Location: Florida |
I'm with Toadsith here. I think the danger of online porn is the tendency to become a porn collector or connoisseur rather than actually enjoying the porn itself (simply jacking off and moving on). I spend much more time now collecting porn and browsing new porn sites than I do actually jerking off to porn. This leads me to say that while I am not critical of users who complain of download limits (it's a fair criticism), I often have to scratch my head and ask : Wow, just how much porn do these guys download in a day?!! Especially since some of the download limits mentioned are quite robust (i.e over 2GB). Edited on Apr 05, 2008, 01:30am | |
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| 04-05-08 01:28am - 6063 days | #12 | |
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malikstarks (0)
Active User Posts: 108 Registered: Nov 19, '07 Location: Florida |
Indeed however there can sometimes be a psychological drawback with loyalty discounts. Often I find myself staying a member of a site for months on end simply because I want to lock in a particular price. Nonetheless I can't complain, internet porn has become an embarrassment of riches, so much porn for so little money, especially compared with purchasing or renting DVD's. | |
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| 04-06-08 11:25am - 6061 days | #13 | |
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Drooler (0)
Disabled User  Posts: 1,831 Registered: Mar 11, '07 Location: USA |
I doubt they'd double their business, but we'd need good evidence to support either your claim or mine. Without it, it's just speculation. What I've learned is to keep track of recurring memberships and to cancel them at least 5 days before they recur. I always record the site, the join date, the price (and whether it was a discount through TBP or Rabbit's), AND the billing company (and the URL for that if I don't know it already). And the UsePass, of course. So I almost never forget to cancel a recurring membership. I bookmark nearly every site I subscribe to, and I've also gotten into the habit of adding the membership termination date to the site name in the bookmark. It's a little time spent which saves me from wondering when it's going to end. And when I cancel, I always record the confirmation number, if there is one. One thing that does annoy me are sites that list a higher price for a non-recurring monthly membership. Sometimes it's BS, because you can cancel the lower-priced recurring membership before it ends. Funny how they try to con you into cheating yourself out of $10-15 or so. I wanted something new, so I left England for New England. Edited on Apr 06, 2008, 11:28am | |
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| 04-06-08 08:31pm - 6061 days | #14 | |
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littlejoe (0)
Active User Posts: 49 Registered: Jan 25, '07 Location: earth |
i suspect monthly rates would be higher if rebills didnt exist. ex., often you see sites where a single month costs more then a rebilling account. im sure sites count on some of their rebills on people forgetting to cancel if youre so concerned about rebills, just cancel as soon as u join. ive only recently heard of 1 site canceling immediately at cancellation | |
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| 06-12-08 11:06pm - 5994 days | #15 | |
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TheRizzo (0)
Active User Posts: 44 Registered: Jun 11, '08 |
I agree. I think rates would go up if recurring didn't exist. Or else they would go to a pay per download system which would be ok but could get expensive too if you really loved a sites content. | |
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| 06-26-08 09:59pm - 5980 days | #16 | |
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The Dude (0)
Active User  Posts: 4 Registered: Jun 26, '08 |
Surely these website operators know full well that most new members only sign up intending to stay for a month or so, just long enough to get all the vids they can. Then, of course, the member intends to quit and, if he likes the site, come back every once in a while to get another one month "fix." But with the recurring structure, they can count on some members simply forgetting to cancel the membership in time to avoid another month's charge, or they will also get the members who stay out of the convenience factor. They simply put off cancelling because it's a hassle. Don't get me wrong, there are sites where the chemistry between the starlet and the member's likes are a good match, and they resultingly stay for a while. But those are probably the exception. I usually quit even the ones I like and then come back every six months or year to the next update. The Dude | |
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| 06-27-08 10:22am - 5979 days | #17 | |
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TheRizzo (0)
Active User Posts: 44 Registered: Jun 11, '08 |
I think no question websites hope for people that forget to cancel, but I am sure there are tons of people that remain members by choice for long periods of time at one site. ie I am a member at All Over 30 and have been for awhile. If everyone joined, sucked the site dry, cancelled and joined again in 6 months, we would end up paying a lot more for our porn in time I think or else we will start seeing sites with a lot less content. There are lots of sites I join and cancel but the very good sites I will stay a member for a couple months at least and reward them for the good job. | |
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| 06-28-08 04:18pm - 5978 days | #18 | |
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PinkPanther (0)
Active User Posts: 1,136 Registered: Jan 08, '07 Location: Oakland, CA |
Smart practice. In terms of the last issue that you raised, I look at it as a reading test. If you can read and think while looking forward to drooling over the delicious babes inside the site that you're about to join, then you'll choose the recurring membership at the lower price and cancel your membership when you want to cancel your membership. If you are so desperate to see the babes that you think it's worth $10-15 to not have to remember to cancel your membership, then you have failed the reading test, otherwise known as Thinking With The Little Head - we've all done it at one time or another. | |
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| 06-29-08 10:09am - 5977 days | #19 | |
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Denner (0)
Active User  Posts: 1,217 Registered: Mar 03, '07 Location: Denmark |
Very short: As long as there is no hassle to cancel rebill it's not an issue for this user....not anymore... But I get the drift from shooterbo..once I simply hated that recurring-thing. "I don't drink anymore - I freeze it, and eat it like a popcicle" | |
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| 06-30-08 04:23pm - 5976 days | #20 | |
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shooterbo (0)
Active User Posts: 185 Registered: Apr 25, '07 |
If one might be exercising his or her fantasies discretely, it brings up all kinds of possible scenarios should something go wrong with the intent to cancel when planned. | |
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| 06-30-08 11:16pm - 5976 days | #21 | |
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Denner (0)
Active User Posts: 1,217 Registered: Mar 03, '07 Location: Denmark |
Your are certainly right about that- there are some folks (site-owners) out there that are a little too smart in the hunt for our money. - When I in some rare cases stouble over a billing-issue where a site do not use one of the wellknown (or better) companies, I do quite a lot of research into their way of cancelling - before joining...so, yes - on second thoughts I still got that issue left about rebilling. "I don't drink anymore - I freeze it, and eat it like a popcicle" | |
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| 07-01-08 06:57pm - 5975 days | #22 | |
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PinkPanther (0)
Active User Posts: 1,136 Registered: Jan 08, '07 Location: Oakland, CA |
If you want to see "what a difference a rebill makes", take a look at the history of In The Crack. They had their token system where people could buy their content a la carte. If that were such a great business plan, would they have gone to monthly, where they could hope to have loyal members that would keep giving them a dependable source of income every month? It's a basic rule of Marketing - it costs more money to get new customers than it does to keep the customers that you already have. | |
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| 07-02-08 06:47am - 5975 days | #23 | |
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Monahan (0)
Active User  Posts: 348 Registered: Jan 17, '07 Location: SF Valley, CA |
Frankly, the recurring carge works best if they knock off $5 for month 2 forward, or add a decent site to the access list. I watch my membership(s) closely and will cancel a site that I like as I'm nearing the end of a billing cycle. If they offer a "please stay" special price, that will normally snag me. If they don't, I'll sign up again later when I know I'll have time to work the site for new stuff. In other words the marketing strategy of recurring memberships makes sense because it keeps the lazy or forgetful types. But it makes much more sense if there's a price "hook" added to the mix where there's a "penalty" attached to cancellation & rebooking. My favorite example is X Movies where I've been less than thrilled with the site but the "please stay" discount is good enough to keep me on the leash and the recurring membership makes it easy to stay. | |
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