What would your reaction be if you went into a physical shop, asked for a specific item, and the shop owner then tossed an extra item on the counter and told you to remove it yourself or you would be charged for it?

Erm… I'd toss that item on the floor. Not required, thank you 😲

And I suppose it is the end-user's fault if they don't read and understand a 10-page long scrollable EULA?

Anyone who HONESTLY believes it is ALWAYS the fault of the end user "not being responsible" has never SERIOUSLY worked in Information Security. There are PLENTY of unscrupulous methods of conning an end user, and including PRE-CHECKED sign-up boxes are just one of them. It is and has always been one of the easiest ways to get an end user to download or agree to having unwanted browser addons, tracking software, viruses, malware, etc downloaded to their computer. And in marketing cases like this one, a way to extract subscription money from an "unsavvy" end user.

Quit living in a fantasy world. A scam is a scam. Will the company re-imburse the end user's monthly subscription fee 48 hours later when the end user discovered they've been billed when they didn't want to be billed? Fat chance. Or at least not without a fight.

I currently do not have the extra tick box, so no worries at the moment...

I actually got the checked tickbox yesterday on a paypal transfer, but it came after the payment, on the page where I had to enter a userid to receive the credits.

I actually got the checked tickbox yesterday on a paypal transfer, but it came after the payment, on the page where I had to enter a userid to receive the credits.

Thanks for the heads up on that @GirlOnTop - I shall watch out for that.

And not a little statement by Totem on this topic?

I would really be interested to see how Totem justifies this approach, rightly criticized by consumer advocates, of deliberately outsmarting customers with prechecked boxes and sticking an automatic monthly subscription to the cheek.

In any case, I haven't be seeing the box anymore on the Buy credits page, for many days. I didn't make any purchase in last week, though, so I can not tell if it appears later or not.

I completely agree pre-checked cross sales are more agressive than what we’ve been doing before in terms of billing.

But today you can’t exchange customers with other sites if you don’t add that option to your join pages. We were probably among the last adult site not to do it, but as any website, we need exchanges to get new customers.

MetArt is a partner of choice for us. We share a fair amount of models and they film them in a way we don’t. Their offer and the quality they provide completes our content pretty well. I don’t think any of our customers signing up for they site will be disappointed.

We suspended the offer after a few hours of testing and are trying to negotiate a better option (pre-checked or not) with MetArt for our customers.

@Rex

Thank you very much for responding on this matter and explaining the Totem position.

Much appreciated. I have taken out short term membership of MetArt and SexArt within the last few months based on the marketing from the iStripper payment confirmation page and their offering is very good (some excellent photosets of Belka). However I do not like subscriptions that can renew automatically because you fail to cancel a special introductory offer. One reason I like iStripper is that I am in total control of how much I spend and when.

Keep up the good work

😊

👍

Thank you, Rex, for the update, and for your and your teams excellent work. Thank you.

😊

@Rex

Pre-checked cross sales are certainly becoming more popular with sales folks. I got taken by this a few times and now I'm more wary, but it is an underhanded trick and I'm increasingly irritated when I see it. Although it is more popular these days, there are still many sites, at least those I visit, that don't use it. For me, "Everyone is doing it" is not a good reason for unethical behavior.

I agree that MetArt is a great potential partner for you. It is one of my favorite sites. Since I'm already a regular customer in both places, a cross sell has little value for me, but I would not want to find I've accidentally joined one of their sites when I buy more credits here.

May I draw everyone's attention to an announcement by the European Commission dating from 2011 regarding the then forthcomming EU Consumer Rights Directive which I understand has been in effect from shortly thereafter.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/fr/MEMO_11_675


It includes the following

3) Banning pre-ticked boxes on websites

When shopping online – for instance buying a plane ticket – you may be offered additional options during the purchase process, such as travel insurance or car rental. These additional services may be offered through so-called ‘pre-ticked' boxes. Consumers are currently often ***** to untick those boxes if they do not want these extra services. With the new Directive, pre-ticked boxes will be banned across the European Union.


I assume that the directive itself is equally explicit.

Yes, thanks for the response @Rex and I appreciate your great work.
But still, pre-checked boxes are and remain the disgusting attempt to subconsciously take advantage of customers. And all customers in the world should put that in front of those who claim something like this over and over again. You can also kindly ask customers for such offers.

I have nothing else to add to @TheEmu & @Dorsai6 's comment. I am a lifetime member of both sites and decided to do so voluntarily, but an unconsciously acclaimed, expensive pre-checked monthly subscription would have annoyed me in the long run.

Just because something is common doesn’t make it right, ethical or good business practice.

Totem, you have a choice to make. If the partner doesn’t want to align to your values, ditch them.

No amount of business is worth your long term reputation.

@Rex, I applaud you for listening to your customers on this occasion. Would be great to see you take a similar stance on the “gambling creep” in your offering. Again, consider reputation over revenue. Brand damage is almost never undone.

I’ve said before, offer both the option to gamble and the option to purchase. In this way, you serve both customer types and avoid so much damage to your brand.

Let us purchase Joker cards, or win them. And never let SECs be locked behind a gambling mechanism only.

I hope you will consider it.