1. Is it safe to give my credit card number online?
Yes and no. Most gay porn website owners are honest operators. They don't want problems and they want to continue selling memberships and earning a living. For the most part, membership requests will be processed through large and reputable processing companies like CC Bill or Paycom. These companies run respectable operations and adher to strict rules and guidelines set up by their banking insitutions and the credit card companies.
However, there are website owners out there who will do anything for a buck, so be careful. As well, it's important to understand that some website are operated from countries where the rules and laws may be different from those you're accustomed to. If a website is asking you to mail them cash or your credit card number, then you may be running into some problems down the road.
It's important for you to read the fine print on the page where you're imputting your credit card information. Almost every gay porn site membership will carry some kind of recurring charge. (Recurring charge means that every month on the anniversary of the original purchase your card will be charged for another month's access. This will continue until you tell the site owner to stop.)
Also, watch out for pre-selected tick boxes that authorize the website to sign you up for a cheaply-priced trial to another gay porn site. In many cases, you may not even be aware of the site they're trying to sell you. Indeed, you may not even know that you have signed up for something else until your credit card statement arrives showing a number of different recurring charges. Deselecting those tick boxes is enough to avoid signing up for those products.
Recurring charges aren't a bad thing; they're an excellent way for you to enjoy access to your favourite gay porn site without having to sign up again and again. However, just be aware of what your signing up for and what you're going to be billed for. And if you have a question about the charges, there's usually a toll-free number or website address on the statement right beside the charge.
Make sure that you read any membership information e-mailed to you by the website. It will contain important details about your membership, what you're being charged for, and how you can cancel your membership.
2. What's a trial membership?
A trial membership give a surfer access to a website for a brief period of time, i.e. 24 hours or three days. It's a way of seeing inside the site if you're unsure about the monthly financial commitment. Aside from a limited time period, some trial memberships will only give you access to part of the member's area. It may not allow you to download content or there may be limits as to how much content you can download. Why? Many surfers simply sign up for trials, download everything available, and move on. Gay porn website owners have costs, too. They have to pay the models who appear on their sites, they pay the photographers, they may for the site to be hosted, and they pay bandwidth costs to deliver the end produc to you. So when confronted with this too much of this download and run tactic, they introduce restrictions that protect their product and investment.
The trial membership will convert into a recurring monthly
membership unless you cancel it within the site's guidelines.
Make sure you read the conditions when buying a trial membership. Some sites will charge you a higher monthly fee than normal if you start off with a trial.
Also, beware of those pre-selected tick boxes selling your other memberships. I've seen some sites selling as many as three additional trial membership with the click on one "submit" button. So make sure you're paying attention.
3. How do I cancel my membership?
Again, make sure you read and save that membership e-mail that you probably received after your membership was approved. Most sites will have a "cancel my membership" link somewhere on their site. If your membership was processed by a large billing processor like CC Bill or Paycom, you can go to their websites and find your membership information. Once your information has been retrieved, it's usually pretty simple to cancel.
On your credit card statement, beside the membership charge, there will usually be a phone number that you can call. This is another way that you can cancel your membership if you're having difficulty finding the appropriate place on a website. You don't need to call your credit card company directly, the number beside your membership charge will be sufficient.
4. Will I get SPAM if I submit my e-mail address?
The easy answer to this is, unfortunately and eventually, you will get spam. Again, many gay porn companies are reputable and follow the rules. They will not sell your e-mail address to others or use it inappropriately. They want to keep you as a member of their site, not piss you off. However, there is that element of the business where the dollar comes before everything else and they will sell your e-mail address or spam you themselves.
The best thing you can do is to set up a free e-mail account like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo and use this for your gay porn memberships. If you use one e-mail account for all your memberships, then everything will be in one spot. And it's easy to trash the e-mail account and start over
if the spam becomes overwhelming. Do not use a fake e-mail address when signing up because you'll never receive that important membership information like passwords and cancellation policies.
5. Why is the name of the company charging me different than the website I joined?
Few people want to see a sexually explicit website name on their credit card statement. As a way of protecting your privacy, gay porn site operators will use their official company name. If you're uncertain of a charge that appears on your credit card, you can call the number beside the charge and the billing processing company will be happy to assist you. These billing companies are on your side, they want satisfied customers, not angry ones calling their credit card companies and reversing charges. So don't be afraid to call them for help. And they don't care what site you joined, they aren't there to judge you.
6. What type of people own porn sites?
In most respects, the people running gay porn sites are just average men and women who are trying to earn a living. Porn is just the product they've chosen to market. People have the perception that porn site owners are like those seedy, unshaven men you see in a back alley and selling stolen goods out of their car's trunk. While that element certainly exists, most porn site operators are just regular, honest people running their business. They aren't trying to take advantage of anyone and they're not trying to sell their products to children.
Have another question?
If you have other questions about gay porn online, please feel free to e-mail me and I see if I can't answer them for you.
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