With the recent shutdown of WishTender, many content creators, especially those in the adult industry, are seeking reliable and sex worker-friendly platforms to handle their payments. It's crucial to find a service that not only supports your work but also ensures your financial transactions are secure and hassle-free.
WishTender's History
WishTender was an amazing platform built by a fellow content creator, for content creators. On February 6th, 2024, WishTender announced that Stripe would be pulling their services from WishTender. See the below embedded Post of what was announced on X (formerly Twitter).
As they searched for a new payment processor, they opened up beta-testing to those who joined their Discord. They continually provided us with updates both inside and outside of the Discord, including on a separate site here which provided a time-line on what was happening behind the scenes.
In our last update, we shared how difficult it's been for our small business to fight through the challenges being hurled at us. Though we've had a challenging time, we are happy to say that many of the functional issues we previously had with third-party providers have been resolved. We have steadily added users to beta daily in the last few weeks, and we're happy to see more activity on WishTender again.
We know seeing other users on WishTender can be frustrating when your account is still down. However, for WishTender to survive, we need to approach reopening methodically. Inviting too many users at once could cause issues.
We plan to keep inviting users to closed beta, transition to open beta, and then return to normal as quickly as possible, but importantly, in a sustainable manner.
Written by Dashiell Bark-Huss, on Payment Transition Updates, May 1st, 2024.
Though the site was up and running for those who were able to get into the Beta-Testing program on Discord, people were still hesitant about the sustainability of WishTender after the initial shock in February.
Things were seeming to go well with their new payment processor, Borderless Payments, until we received these updates on WishTender, starting Monday July 8th, 2024 - Today, Friday July 12th, 2024:
More information regarding any withheld payments is sure to come out in the next few days. With that, Content Creators grieve another loss of a platform that bolstered their income.
WishTender is Gone. So what Next?
After having experienced a few of these upheavals from numerous other sites, such as OnlyFans in 2020 and AVN in 2021, it's not an unfamiliar process to veteran content creators. However, it can be unnerving for those newer to the community. So, having experienced these upheavals myself, here are my top tips:
NEVER put all your "eggs" in one basket
Meaning never rely on one sole income source because this can happen at any point to any site. This is why it's important to have multiple streams of incomes and have ALL of your content backed up and aptly labelled. Regardless if it's a wishlist or a content page. Your content is your produce, therefore, protect it.
By only having one place for your fans to find you, yes, it does streamline how they can find you but you leave yourself open to downfall should anything happen to that account.
TL;DR:
Have multiple social media pages that are established
Have a link page/ website that people know where they can find you
Create clip stores to run passively should anything go down so people can still see your name and content
Yes, it is a lot of work but this is your business and it should be taken seriously!
2. Back it up, once, twice and three times
Just like sites, we don't know what will happen in our day-to-day lives. You need to make sure your content is protected. It's not enough to just have it all on your phone. My biggest recommendation is to get a NAS drive. This is a system that is accesible anywhere in the world, connected by a secure internet connection with much larger storage space. These are a pretty hefty investment but it comes in time when your business is becoming established. These are great because they aren't accessible to anyone but you or those you give permission to. You own it. So if a site decides they no longer want certain information or content on their site and delete it/ ban you, you still have it.
Places like Google Photos and Dropbox are great, however, as I just said, businesses and companies change their minds all the time. Have it backed up on a NAS Drive, an independent portable drive, should you not have internet access, and an online drive for extra protection.
TL;DR:
Protect your content with NAS Drives, online drives and a portable drive for safe keeping.
3. DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE
Don't just join any site that looks good or that promises 100% payout. This is not safe. Especially if the site was created recently and is just hopping on the band wagon with a gap in the market opening up!
Read the Ts&Cs to make sure your business/ content is welcome there
Adhere to said Ts&Cs - Don't open yourself up to any vulnerabilities
Look around and see who is using what and ask whether they would recommend it - a sign of a good site to use is the number of people on that site/ actively promoting it.
RIP WishTender. Where should I go next?
An unfortunate fact about online content creation is that it is still new in the world of business. There aren't laws out there to protect us like regular 9-5 workers so we do what we need to, to protect ourselves. The internet is quite literally the Wild West when it comes to the law, hence the ever-changing battles we face. This is why it is inevitable that we will come across unfair service charges and percentage cuts, because even though there's money to be made, the banks definitely conrol the landscape.
So with this in mind, here's a few platforms I can recommend to you.
LoyalFans: LoyalFans is a fanclub site that allows content creators to cultivate 1-1 relationships with their fans. It's a platform that values and nurtures the connection between creators and fans and this is shown through their updates and the classes they offer to creators on the platform on various topics.
IWantClips: This platform is still fairly new in the content creation sphere. It offers a wide range of content from numerous creators, making it a great place to start your clip creation journey.
Throne Wishlist: A wishlist provider that is dedicated to empowering content creators to create whilst helping them earn income and connect with fans on another level. Fans are able to send both cash gifts and physical gifts with both sides being protected with their details kept anonymous.
Clips4Sale: As one of the oldest and largest clip sites, Clips4Sale boasts an impressive range of content, as well as the highest traffic avenue out of any site. The platform is respected for its commitment to maintaining a secure and discreet environment for its users whilst actively updating their site to provide for their content creators.
Now I've introduced you to the top contenders, let's break it down further.
1. LoyalFans
Payout: 80% to you - 20% to the site
LoyalFans has emerged as a robust platform for content creators. The website offers a safe space for creators to share their content and interact with their fans. The platform does a commendable job of ensuring the privacy and safety of its users, making it an ideal choice for creators in this niche. The user interface is clean and intuitive, which makes it easy for both creators and fans to navigate. Moreover, the monetization options are varied and flexible, allowing for a wide range of content to be monetized. However, the platform is still growing with the internal traffic not being as large as other platforms. Overall, LoyalFans is a solid choice for content creators.
2. iWantClips
Payout: 60% to you - 40% to the site on Clips
Currently 90% payout on tips until January 1st, 2025
IWantClips stands out as a valuable platform for content creators. The site's extensive reach and popularity within the sphere means that content creators have access to a large and diverse audience. This is particularly beneficial for those in the clip creation industry, who can effectively market their content and gain visibility whilst making sales passively.
3. Throne Wishlist
Payout: 2.9% + 30 cents to Payment Provider, 1% additional fee for checkout in currencies other than USD.
Partner Store Cuts: 7% on gifts not from Partner stores (and from direct credit if not able to ship the gift to you)
- 0% on gifts from the Partner stores
Throne is a great altenrative to WishTender for the reason that it is a direct way for fans to pay you/ gift you. However, it must be stated they are still using Stripe as their payment processor so adhering to the Ts&Cs is important!
4. Clips4Sale
Payout: 60% to you - 40% to the site
Clips4Sale is one of the oldest clip stores out there for niche/ fetish content. It's reliable in that it has the biggest traffic out of all the current available clip stores. It went through a long period of being out-of-date but recently they've updated the backend for content creators with the "Creators Workspace".
It must be noted though I am still new to this site as I expand my own clips empire, so this will be quite a short and sweet overview of why I like the site.
They also, like LoyalFans, offer weekly tutorials on how to use the site, upcoming information and promotions and even offer 1-1s for store branding evaluations to help you make more money.
Conclusion
With all this information in mind, it is now up to you on how you proceed. Just remember, the fall of a trusted site in the content creator community is a common occurrence so whatever you do, be prepared for it to happen again.
If you happen to use any of my referrals for the sites above, please do not hesitate to reach out to me on X (formerly Twitter) on @SophiaTruee. I am more than happy to offer any advice or help!
What was the biggest platform loss you experienced in your time as a content creator?
Circle Pay
AVN
WishTender