I have no idea what "increased distribution cost" you have with a digital product...

Go price out a Server Farm.
How much do they charge to run 100 Servers distributed around the world ?
Each Hosting 100TB of data...


then come back and ask your Question again...

I have no idea what "increased distribution cost" you have with a digital product...

and you can add to @Wyldanimal 's reasons the increased costs in employing Totem's own staff that are administering that distribution. All such expenses have an effect on the distribution cost. Digital distribution is far from free and ***** from inflation just like everything else in this world.

Is that supposed to be some kind of joke? Because I don't get it.

Not only did you get rid of any promotions like "Buy 4 cards and get the 4th one refunded" or "All X type shows are 25% off but you also turned every single "Sale" into a heckin lottery or slot machine BS. And since this site turned into a digital casino a few years ago the so called sales certainly make up for any additional costs. I'm not gonna recommend any gambling inducing software to any of my friends / onlie friends hell nah. And I'm tired of this lame "stuff is getting more expensive" excuse.

Why not try to implement some user requests for once. One really old request I've read so many times over the years is trading / giftiing cards. Maybe with a small transaction fee of 1 or 2 credits per card so users still need to buy stuff occasionally.

@Omgman wrote:
"Why not try to implement some user requests for once. One really old request I've read so many times over the years is trading / giftiing cards."

And they have done exactly that.

They created DOLZ and NFT trading cards.
which you can gift to another member if you want.

One really old request I've read so many times over the years is trading / giftiing cards.

If you read some of the old threads on this subject you would realise that if Totem were to support users trading the normal cards then every such swap would represent the loss of TWO potential sales. It would require more than a small transaction fee to compensate for that.

Why not try to implement some user requests for once.

I have seen Totem implement dozens of the suggestions submitted here by users. Some quite major, such as the glass clips, while others have been smaller tweaks to the usabilty of the program.

我希望你们的公司能够谨慎的控制好价格， 这个软件让我又爱又恨 ，一些卡片质量对于我来说达不到预期 。特殊卡片获取难度太高 需要不停的玩一些我不喜欢的老虎机什么的游戏才能获得，不是所有人都喜欢赌博。我喜欢这个软件 但是涨价让我不得不减少购买一些卡片。

Nobody is annoyed by just the price increase... this is the final drop that is too much.

• They added special event cards, which can only be won by playing lootbox like tickets or spending x-amount of credits on slotmachines and other stuff and cannot be bouht directly
• than they added the VR stuff which have increased prices
• than they added the premium/vip subscription
• then they added auctions for the clothes, which I do not know how people have the idea to spend 1000$ for a costme that you can buy for less than 100$ new (the certificate is certainly not that much worth...)
• now the mobile app needs another sbscription to play "the already paid for" shows
• dont for get about the newest addition, the NFTs everyone has been askin for (sarcasm!)
• now a price increase of 20%

Meanwhile people are still ***** about issues and asking for more optimisation for months (like the space issue for larger collections, etc.) but all they do is transform this application more and more into a casino!
Or that WE have to contact staff when they remove cards from our collection which we paid for, so they can give us a refund (meanwhile there is no filter or pae where you can see all the cards that have been removed!)


I do not now when you guys joined, but I remember a time when they sold physical collectors stuff like the 2017 limited premium cards box (which I bought back then). The price back then was also reasonable!


And yeah...

Go price out a Server Farm.
How much do they charge to run 100 Servers distributed around the world ?
Each Hosting 100TB of data...


then come back and ask your Question again...

costs in employing Totem's own staff that are administering that distribution.

...they have been doin this for years now (literally!). You could think it would be a routine by now, but of corse if you keep developing stuff nobody asks for, you will have more costs.

...they have been doin this for years now (literally!). You could think it would be a routine by now

and their cost of living will have increased with inflation and and the wages Totem have to pay will have increased. Why do you think that Totem are not subject to the economic pressures that we all ***** from ?

And they have done exactly that.

They created DOLZ and NFT trading cards.
which you can gift to another member if you want.

This is BS. NFT cards are nowhere near something members wanted. We were asking for a way to trade cards in our own library especially to get rid of all the junk cards we got through "lucky packages" and they implemented NFT,

if Totem were to support users trading the normal cards then every such swap would represent the loss of TWO potential sales. It would require more than a small transaction fee to compensate for that.

This assumption sound right at first glance but it's more complex than that. First of all, 2 cards were already purchased and more users are willing to trade multiple cards for a small fee than buy new cards at all. If buying new cards is too expensive, they will leave the platform for good anyway. Also there are many users who only buy like 10 shows and that's it. However, if you would be able to gift a few cards to a new user (let's say some connections of yours) they might get interested in the app and start buying stuff later on. Simple as that. Free stuff is almost always a good thing in the long run marketing wise. This is why the agry birds developers never took action against piracy for example. This is how they got popular.
And also you never know. Maybe you have users who are willing to buy cards multiple times and keep gifting them to people. And another thing is how do you purchase them? Exactly! Credits. Totem already has the money before you buy any cards. trading one unwanted card for another is basically a pure money sink and does not stop anybody from buying more cards. And even if you have someone dump all their unwanted cards on a throwaway account for a fee, they might redraw those exact cards for credits on the next Slot haul because apparently, this is what everyone does these days. And just from my experience, you always draw random cards you do not want.

If your "summer sales" feel like a ripoff all you do is piss people off. And the human brain works just like that. people are dumb and want the stupid "special event card" so they play lottery for 15 credits each with a like 50% chance of getting 15 credits back, 15% chance of getting a card worth 13 credits, 30% chance of getting nothing at all and otherwise somethign else (numbers made up but semi-realistic)

But what do I know. Maybe i'm just totally misjudging the main audience and I'm the odd one. Maybe most of the users actually want to buy all the cards, play slots for the sake of it and support the studio by investing thousands of credits just to have a complete collection. No clue man. However, 18 year old me 10 years ago would have ignored the app completely, if a single show was more than €5. Or like €3 if you buy 500 credits at a time.

and their cost of living will have increased with inflation and and the wages Totem have to pay will have increased. Why do you think that Totem are not subject to the economic pressures that we all ***** from ?

This is the most pathetic attempt of an excause with which every company tries to "justify" their greed!

I dont know about you, but my income has not increased by 20% so I do not get affected by "the economic pressure"!!!

and their cost of living will have increased with inflation and and the wages Totem have to pay will have increased. Why do you think that Totem are not subject to the economic pressures that we all ***** from ?

This is the most pathetic attempt of an excause with which every company tries to "justify" their greed!

I dont know about you, but my income has not increased by 20% so I do not get affected by "the economic pressure"!!!

can't wait for the 2023 / 2022 financial statement. It's gonna be an interesting and enlightening piece to look through. We'll have our answers next year. But I do agree with you. I don't see any reason for this besides greed. By now I'm fairly confident that this project is kept alive by gambling ***** and diehard fans who buy every single show. Not judging. just observing and assuming

When did Totem last increase the price of a card - from my account history it looks like it was about 8 years ago. A 20% rise in 8 years doesn't seem excessive to me considering that many things have increased in price by more than 10% over the last couple of years.

@minko @Omgman and @Others
Can I ask
Why do you wish for iStripper to Fail ?
Why is it that you don't want iStripper as a business to be Successful?
To Make Profts?

Seems like everyone that is *****, wants the Company to Fail and stay Stagnant.
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, but don't charge for it...
I want it for FREE !
Gimme it for FREE or I quit....

Gimme, Gimme, Me ME ME ME , Free FREE FREE !

to be honest, i was wondering when the prices would be adjusted... now the time has come

new prices per show with 45% disc are 16.5 credits vs 13.75 credits = 2.75 credits surcharge

since i only reload with min. 20% reload bonus i get 12 credits per euro

2.75 credits makes 22.91 cent

when i think about all the credits i already spent on games (about 85% of my collection i didn't even download) i will survive this price increase ^^

and no one is ***** to spend money.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Since I've dived in to the NFT plunge
I have some Crypto in my Wallet.

So the Best Deal currently is to use Crypto to buy the 3000 credit package
and get the 20% bonus of 600 credits.
3600 credits for 249.99 = 0.0694 per credit or 6.94 cents per credit.

That is really more than enough to offset the increase.
if you buy the 500 credits for 49.99, then you pay 0.1 per credit or 10 cents per credit.

.10 x 25 = 2.50 per card
.0694 x 30 = 2.082 per card

and just in case you buy the 500 credits with the 20% bonus
you get 600 credits for 49.99 or 0.0833 per credit or 8.33 cents per credit.

.0833 x 25 = 2.082 per card
the same as 3600 for 249.99
.0694 x 30 = 2.082 per card

The saving here is just from purchasing credits in Bulk.
These are the Full price before applying any Level Discount.

Now deduct your Level discount...

@Wyldanimal

Your comment makes no sense and is just unprofessional...

Why do you wish for iStripper to Fail ?
Why is it that you don't want iStripper as a business to be Successful?
To Make Profts?

• Who said any of that?
• Why do you think I supported them for almost 15 years?
• Why do you think I bought 5400+ shows?
• Why do yo think the company still exists?

Seems like everyone that is *****, wants the Company to Fail and stay Stagnant.
Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, but don't charge for it...
I want it for FREE !
Gimme it for FREE or I quit....

Gimme, Gimme, Me ME ME ME , Free FREE FREE !

Seems like you did not understand what the issue here is or you just dont want to hear it!
They cold still make money by giving us what we ask for and not just try to ***** the latest trend or casino like gambling down our throats!
It just shows that they do not care about what we want and just want us to pay them more.

Most of the people here are not ***** about the shows/models. The price increase is only the latest of bad changes they made! You know you messed up when long time users start to consume less or even leave.

Why do you wish for iStripper to Fail ?

I have not seen anyone wishing for IS to fail? just the opposite from my prospective.

There is resistance and concern that DOLZ and exclusive content has and continues to ***** the IS experience.

I know I am concerned that the current direction will cost iStripper revenue and shrink membership leading to the inevitable.

I can tell you personally (just my opinion & feelings - nothing more):

1. I don't care about DOLZ and the sooner it goes away the better as far as I'm concerned but I enjoy iStripper and have invested thousands of dollars and years of my time supporting it and hope it's here for many more years to come.

2. I'm OK with a raise in price but I'm concerned it will not actually generate more revenue because buyers will either buy fewer cards, or quite all together, and new potential members could pass all together. Just a concern; only time will tell.

3. If I'm paying an increase because of DOLZ or members are tired of play games then that is annoying. I'm not saying it is but I don't know one way or the other. I have no idea why they feel the need to raise prices but if it's to buy equipment, pay models and their expenses, etc then so be it but I don't think it's data center cost (in my very limited experience with AWS pricing seems flat or even lower cost in the last few years.

Bottom line is the shows probably do cost more to produce BUT there are two ways to compensate for it. Either raise the price of the show and hope members continue buying at the same rate or just sell more shows by getting new members and encouraging current members to keep spending. I think most members would prefer the latter but maybe harder than it seems. I always thought that selling more shows was the whole point of the exclusive shows but if it's not working then they should stop doing it so members can buy the shows they want again.

I could go into how the investment in the catalog is also a hedge against inflation but maybe another time.

But to reiterate - I can tell you I hope iStripper and Totem prosper for years to come.

@dar2112v

Either raise the price of the show and hope members continue buying at the same rate or just sell more shows by getting new members and encouraging current members to keep spending.

That is of course quite correct. But on what basis do you conclude that Totem could do much better than they currently are at attracting new customers ? From the little evidence I have based on the user Ids that are allocated when a new user is registered Totem were enrolling about a million new users each year - that was a few years ago but I have no reason to believe that it is much lower than that now.

I always thought that selling more shows was the whole point of the exclusive shows but if it's not working then they should stop doing it

Why do you think that it may not be working ? It may not work if everybody reacted to it like you but that does not mean that it does not work for the user base as a whole. What little evidence we have, namely that Totem started slowly with the games and have ramped them up over the years, indicates to me that it has probably been a successful strategy.

@minko

Why do yo think the company still exists?

Because Totem have over the years pursued a viable strategy with respect to their product, their customers and the prices they charge. A very important part of that is not selling for less than the combined cost of production and of their other business expenses - these other expenses affect old stock as well as new production. It should be noted that us old established customers are far from being Totem's best customers as far as current sales are concerned - a significant proportion of new customers buy more cards than we do (often more than we possibly can) and pay far more for it than we do.

Given that inflation is something that affects us all there will inevitably be a point at which a price rise is inevitable. To repeat a point I made in an earlier post a 20% increase over something like 8 years is nt unreasonable. If you did it in smaller steps you would need to have base prices like 25.125 credits and it would make the prices seen by triple diamond premium member for the cheapest cards be even siller - unless you are happy with rounding up the prices.

You know you messed up when long time users start to consume less or even leave.

Do you have any evidence that there has been any significant change in the number of long time customers that are leaving. It seems to me that there have been a few who have said that they might be leaving but over the years I have seen many of those actually remain.

... and here I read so may "defenders" of iStripper as I watch a lovely strip on my desktop... It's a great product, most of us don't want trading cards and Dollz and ***** medium resoltuion cards but we stick with it because it's good porn. Don't worry staff - we'll stick with it.
Side note - the newest version offers way less Preview discounts. Pricks.

it's good porn

Yes, it is.

@Calgon

@Altara but I'm an old codger. 😘Mmm, old codger, you say you are? Hmmm! Wise and experienced, you must be! But 5 years older, I am, hmmm! Age matters not, my friend. Size of your years, it does not define you. Much to learn, we all have, yes! Share wisdom, we shall, mmm! Laugh and have fun, we must. hmmm!" 🍵👴🪄

It's not entirely based on the chronological either, it's the experience! 😆

I used to take pride in learning all new tech rapidly like a *****. My focus is drifting away from unimportant software in my day to day life, like iStripper, and more focused on other things. I've already overcome the UI adjustments. Just pointed out that there was an adaptive phase with a slight self-deprecating humor. 😀

Do you have any evidence that there has been any significant change in the number of long time customers that are leaving. It seems to me that there have been a few who have said that they might be leaving but over the years I have seen many of those actually remain.

This effect will can not be seen immediately as the price increase is also not in effect yet. You need a specific period of time after the increase in order to make a reasonable statistic.

However, what already is known is, that once people start leaving and go to alternatives, the chances of them comming back are very smal.

However, what already is known is, that once people start leaving and go to alternatives, the chances of them comming back are very smal.

there are none though. Unfortunately. Except for hentai. I'm confident that a good chunk of users left when hentai shows did not make the poll with hentai always being in the top 5 most popular porn genres world wide, . And now like 5 or 6 years later (can't remember when this was polled exactly) there are quite a few hentai desk mate alternatives but it's just not the same...

Anyway I don't wont istripper to fail either. Why would I? I could renovate my appartment with all the money I left here. It's just ***** me off that the site is commiting ***** by walkind the Online Casino route. I don't endorse gambling and as long as any poor soul has the chance to feed their gambling addiction here, I won't recommend istripper to anybody. That's just how it is.

This effect will can not be seen immediately as the price increase is also not in effect yet. You need a specific period of time after the increase in order to make a reasonable statistic.

Though rare this is not the first, or even the second, price increase for the cards that I have seen - Totem do not seem to have ***** terribly from the previous two and no doubt there were more before I joined.

I'm confident that a good chunk of users left when hentai shows did not make the poll

Why are you confident of that, Why would users leave just because something did not change ? It is arguable that Totem did not gain certain users, but that is a very different to users leaving. In any case Totem have asked about and have tested the interrest in Hentai and have apparently decided, based on the result of those polls and trials, not to go heavily into it. They have data on which to base their decisions, you and I don't and personal feelings are a poor substitute for hard data.

It's just ***** me off that the site is commiting ***** by walkind the Online Casino route.

I don't like it either - but it seems to be profitable and is therfore a long way from "commiting *****". Have you considered the possibility that extra income from the games has allowed Totem to delay raising the prices until now ?

However, what already is known is, that once people start leaving and go to alternatives, the chances of them comming back are very smal.there are none though. Unfortunately. Except for hentai. I'm confident that a good chunk of users left when hentai shows did not make the poll with hentai always being in the top 5 most popular porn genres world wide, . And now like 5 or 6 years later (can't remember when this was polled exactly) there are quite a few hentai desk mate alternatives but it's just not the same... Anyway I don't wont istripper to fail either. Why would I? I could renovate my appartment with all the money I left here. It's just ***** me off that the site is commiting ***** by walkind the Online Casino route. I don't endorse gambling and as long as any poor soul has the chance to feed their gambling addiction here, I won't recommend istripper to anybody. That's just how it is.

Just remember you aren't the center the of the universe...totem has thousands of customers and millions of possible customers. Totem knows they break into tiers:

Whale Tier: Istripper Collection, Gambling, Auctions, Special Event, Dolz, Opensea, VR,
Collector Tier: Istripper Collection, Gambling, Auctions, Special Event, Dolz, Open Sea, VR
Selector Tier: Istripper Collection, Gambling, Dolz, Open Sea
Skeptical Tier: Istripper collection, gambling
New Buyer: Istripper collection

I think you deeply midunderstand the product and this is creating cynicism. A deep dive into the options available to customers shows we have every chance to get a great service.

1. Reload bonus--> 20%
2. Preview discount--> 20%
3. Master card level discount --> 50%
4. Dolz to credits discount --> 10-25%
5. Dolz overall provides great opportunities to drop price of istripper
6. Gambling game discounts on cards...even free cards
7. 50 free credits for premium
8. 500 free dolz for doing nothing but buying a trading card
9. Watch trading card then sell on open sea for matic, turn matic into dolz
10. Totem gave you a free trading card which sells on opensea for between $15-40!

Even typing these it makes me wonder if totem has been TOO generous. The product as a result is extremely expensive for new customers, and it will take time, awareness, and expertise to get to a point where people begin to understand or get these discounts.

@dar2112v

Either raise the price of the show and hope members continue buying at the same rate or just sell more shows by getting new members and encouraging current members to keep spending.
... But on what basis do you conclude that Totem could do much better than they currently are at attracting new customers ?

I didn't say anything about them doing much better? I still see their adds frequently so I know they are still marketing.

I always thought that selling more shows was the whole point of the exclusive shows but if it's not working then they should stop doing it
Why do you think that it may not be working ?

I didn't say it wasn't working? After the 2nd exclusive card was released I predicted they would eventually start doing it monthly and the cost to the catalog would be prohibitive. At the time those cards were never ever to be available again and I didn't see how the bump in sales would compensate for the lost sales over time. Then they came out with the games and made the cards that were never to be available again ... available at a higher price and solved the lost sales over time problem.

But you and others said they needed more money to cover raising cost which implies the exclusives are not compensating well enough. Only Totem knows whether they need to raise the price or simply think they can raise the price and honestly it doesn't matter to me me; at some price I will step in and buy more and at another I will stop buying once and for all. But if the reason for raising the price is to cover the cost of producing exclusives then I wish they would stop.

@dar2112v

I know I am concerned that the current direction will cost iStripper revenue and shrink membership leading to the inevitable.

I always thought that selling more shows was the whole point of the exclusive shows but if it's not working then they should stop doing it so members can buy the shows they want again.

The whole of your post implied that you thought that Totem's strategy was having, or was likely to have, a negative effect on their profitability. You included raising prices in this.

But you and others said they needed more money to cover raising cost which implies the exclusives are not compensating well enough.

Yes - but that does not imply that they were not beneficial. Indeed I believe that the exclusives have in all likelyhood delayed the time at which it became necessary to raise prices.

I said that (almost) every business needs to do something to counteract inflation. Totem have managed to avoid raising prices for something like 8 years but eventually whatever a business does it will inevitably be necessary to resort to a price rise . Just ask yourself how much you were spending on living expenses a decade ago and compare that with what you need tp spend now. How much higher do you think Totem's office rental, wages, heating, electricity etc. than they were a decade ago ?

@Orclover

Totem gave you a free trading card which sells on opensea for between $15-40!

That's a very good point. The Lana Lane - Shimmer Shot - Legendary, went to 1000 customers just for connecting a wallet. There have been relatively few sales, I like that card and I won't be selling mine soon and the very few sales means that either the other owners love the card or maybe don't know how to sell it or... dunno some other reason. The 1000 copies are still in the hands of 993 different people, that's quite impressive.

There have been relatively few sales,

Je vend celle-ci ! 😉😊
I sell this one! 😉😊


https://opensea.io/fr/assets/matic/0x1763bfe8c14f0cc3f7f462a9e19e57578f334dc3/955