TotallyOz Posted July 2, 2015 Posted July 2, 2015 It will be interesting to see how the site keeps going after this blow. I have expected this for years and they lasted longer than I thought they would. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-visa-backpage-20150701-story.html mvan1 1 Quote
Members mvan1 Posted July 2, 2015 Members Posted July 2, 2015 It will be interesting to see how the site keeps going after this blow. I have expected this for years and they lasted longer than I thought they would. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-visa-backpage-20150701-story.html I hate to see any business have its main source of revenue halted. Not being able to accept credit cards could very well put Backpage out of business. American Express already cancelled their agreement with Backpage a long time ago. Most advertisers will not be willing to go the second step and bother and nuisance of getting a money order and sending it to Backpage for an ad. Cash is not an option or practical. Being without the ability to accept credit cards is quite harmful to the prospects of Backpage remaining in business in the long run. Maybe it is just as well that Backpage will not survive for a long time. I say this because most ads are bogus and most supposed "escorts" use stolen photos from the internet and many supposed "escorts" lie about themselves or what they say they will do. One laughable example is when "escorts" claim to have a large to gigantic penis. Has anyone ever read Backpage and found an escort with a claimed penis less than ten inches long? It is common knowledge that the average penis is not anywhere near ten inches but, for mystifying reasons, all the "escorts" on Backpage have a penis at least ten inches (or so they claim). Recently, a client contracted with an "escort" from Backpage and the "escort" was bogus. In response to the lies and behavior of the "escort", the client used the photos of the dishonest "escort" and the client posted his own ad warning readers about the fact that the advertising "escort" is a thief. Here is a link to the ad a client created to expose one dishonest Backpage "escort" thief: http://arizona.backpage.com/MaleEscorts/reference-young-stud-available-anytime-thief/33604529 I think rentboy and rentmen might be next as many of the ads of those escort sites are also bogus. Quote
AdamSmith Posted July 2, 2015 Posted July 2, 2015 Agree the knife would seem to hang over Rentboy and rentmen now as well. Too bad for all 3 sites. Wonder what would be the revenue potential for a PayPal-like service set up specifically to facilitate any and all transaction types, to include this kind of thing, which PayPal frowns on? ganymede255 1 Quote
Members jgoo Posted July 2, 2015 Members Posted July 2, 2015 If I remember correctly, Craigslist used to have a section similar to what Backpage has where escorts advertised under Adult Services or something like that (I think first it was called Erotic Services if memory serves then changed to Adult Services before being closed). Their decision came after pressure from various state attorney generals threatened them with action related to fostering prostitution, human trafficking, child endangering/abuse, etc. I don't recall if there was any similar threats from or against the credit card companies. This all happened around 2009 so it is interesting that it has taken this long for it to be an issue for Backpage. One may think that some agreement will come about where Backpage will follow what Craigslist did and shut down that one particular section of their site. While losing quite a bit of revenue (and it may in fact be quite more than just a bit) from that particular section, it would seem like the only real option for them in order to keep themselves viable overall. As far as the regular dedicated escort sites, like Rentboy and Rentmen for gay escorts, if they get on the radar and are targeted then it would seem they are at significant risk. The only thing that I can think of is that those sites have a dedicated staff for review of ads to assure some standards are met that would avoid the issue of it directly fostering prostitution. Of course it is the idea that one is only paying for ones time and not sexual services. Rentboy, the only one I checked, at least makes a specific attempt to specify this before entering their site (more explicitly than Backpage currently does when entering their section for male escorts). THIS SITE MAY NOT BE USED FOR THE ADVERTISING OF SEXUAL SERVICES OR TO ENGAGE IN ACTIVITIES REQUIRING THE PAYMENT OF MONEY FOR SEX OR OTHER ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES. The question is whether or not that is sufficient to avoid the fate Backpage has found itself in Quote
Members mvan1 Posted July 2, 2015 Members Posted July 2, 2015 A little more behind the scenes with respect to VISA and MC and AMEX firing Backpage as a client: http://www.cookcountysheriff.com/press_page/press_BackPage_07_01_2015.html Quote
Members mvan1 Posted July 2, 2015 Members Posted July 2, 2015 Here is another reporter's take on the situation: http://chicago.suntimes.com/mary-mitchell/7/71/737561/tom-dart-backpage-mastercard-visa By the way, I just took a look at Backpage ads for several large cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami. Normally, there are many ads for each day in those cities. Today, there are just a few in each city. I understand the theory, "where there is a will, there is a way' which, in this case means that, escorts are using "bitcom" to make payment to Backpage for their ads. I read, although I have no confirmation of this, that the handful of the new ads were paid by bitcom. In case you don't know about bitcom - take a look at this: https://bitcoin.org/en/ Quote
