Dear adult creatives: Paykings won't accept your business. Don't even try.

If you're an adult creative like me, then you've been having a terrible, terrible time on the web right now. If you're not caught up on the current situation, recently payment processors Paypal and Stripe starting cracking down and banning legal adult content across both Steam and Itchio: a site for video games and a site for video games, comics, novels and beyond, respectively.

I happily hosted all of my comics on Itchio for many, many years, but the recent crack-downs have been so extreme that even customers purchasing my products could have their whole accounts banned: something I'm not willing to risk. Most of us knew these bans would eventually come, especially as Steam and Itchio sadly didn't make efforts to negotiate with these companies before this incidents. We never want it to happen, but we always expect it.

There is a false perception on the web that making money off adult content is "easy" and "quick" money. I've found the opposite to be true. More and more governments and corporations are cracking down on legal art and content than ever before and I've lost almost all of my ways to get my e-books to my fans and readers. I've had to move my archives before, several times, so I'm unfortunately very used to the process I'm going through right now: but it always hurts and it's always time consuming and there's becoming less and less places to flee.

I lost a 4th of my monthly income just from Itchio going down. And I haven't been able to recover since. So, I decided to look into "high risk" payment processors, the kinds that usually support cam girls, sex workers and the like. (Y'know, the people that warned us about this happening long, long ago!) Of course, it's difficult to find any good or real information about these companies because they love being secretive.

It's also not in the interest of big companies using these processors to write about their time; so I'm doing my part. I'm telling you what Paykings put me through. And I will continue to tell you about other processors who reject me as well, as I expect this won't be the last time this happens.

Remember: I only make adult comics. I don't have any real life photos of myself, no videos, nothing. It is all drawings. It's fiction and it's legal under the law. I've also never had a problem with lots of refunds, chargebacks, or angry customers. I release books consistently and have a growing fanbase of folks looking forward to them. In my eyes, I'm a fantastic client, and yet...

Paykings boasting they have a "99% Approval Rate" and "Quick Application Process". Interesting... really interesting... I wonder if that will be my experience or not!

I chose Paykings as the processor I wanted to pursue working with for a few reasons: I saw some recent reviews on Reddit and the company claimed to be quick and friendly towards adult products. Seemingly; neither of these ended up being true. One of their staff members even told me, "Try Signature Payments. They are friendly towards adult content." So, Paykings either doesn't actually accept adult businesses at all, or the margin for what is allowed is so slim that even art doesn't qualify to be monetized. Rough.

As a quick note: I want you to understand that Paykings is seemingly owned by Zen Payments. Over half of my e-mails came from Zen Payments and not Paykings. I do not know why Zen Payments even has Paykings associated with them, as Zen Payments already claims to accept "adult businesses" -- so why have two companies? I wish I had an answer for you. I asked them directly about this issue and got ignored.

I started by sending basic information to Paykings through their website: my name, phone number, business ID, etc. Stuff I would expect from a process such as this.

Then it got scary: they wanted my SSN and bank account details. That felt like a lot, and I had ollied out of working with another high risk paypro due to the SSN issue before. I knew how comprised companies like this were: there was no way they could truly keep my information safe, because not even my local DMV or insurance could. Most Americans have had their sensitive information leaked before; that's why content ID laws are just so damn dangerous.

But, I was desperate. (Christ, I still am.) So, I ponied up and gave them all the sensitive information they wanted. Then came the phone calls. So many phone calls! Waking me up out of my light sleep: induced by anxiety from this entire situation. I didn't have the energy; so they texted me and e-mailed me multiple times daily until I replied with, you guessed it: even more personal information. And this time, it was worse.

They wanted my website. This, I understood. You want to know what I'm making, so I will send that. Next, they wanted a copy of one of my comic books. Ok, also a little much, but I'll go ahead and send it?

Next, they wanted photos of the inside of my home (to prove I had "stock", I guess? No idea what would happen to someone who is digital only) the last three months of my transaction details and they wanted a copy of my SSN card. My entire card! Which they did not provide a secure portal for. (Not even after I sent about 5 e-mails asking them to, all totaling about a week of my time.) I ended up having to just e-mail them a photo. A regular ass e-mail. Woof.

Lord knows I'm about to have my identity stolen! I can feel it! Just add it to the list of problems. Be me if you want, you'll just be fucked.

After that? Radio silence. No confirmation they've gotten everything they need, no thank you, there's nothing. They had gone from sending multiple e-mails and texts within 24 hours for over 5 days to absolutely fuck all. I think for a moment I've truly had my shit jacked. So, I waited. Still nothing.

I poked them around the 4th for an update. They claimed they were still running the background check. I kept wondering; why though? Why run a background check before checking my content?

So, I checked in again this morning when I was waiting for my flu shot: it had now been upwards to three weeks of trying to make this happen (keep in mind how fast Paykings originally claimed this would all go: they said it would be 48 hours or less!). The agent sent a no frills text telling me that the company rejected me due to my content and that I should try a competitor service, "Signature Payments".

My jaw was on the floor. All of that time I spent, all of those claims they made, for nothing! I asked if they could assure me in writing that they deleted all my information and the agent gave me a casual, "Yes, it's done." Which uh, is not very reassuring. There was no thank you, there was no sorry, it's just it. I'm rejected and I have to move on to find another processor to gouge me.

Paykings page on "Adult Payment Processing" where they claim they support adult businesses.

What do I mean by "gouge"? Oh, that's because all "high risk" payment processors can increase your monthly operating costs by 200% easily. I'm expected to go from $30 a month to about $200 a month, no matter what service I end up going with.

Almost without fail, these payment processors are so expensive that most businesses cannot keep up with monthly fees, cancellation costs or other unexpected hidden costs. I also have to move my shop from Big Cartel over to Big Commerce, which boasts a $70 plan as their lowest tier. Jesus christ.

That's why I've been been streaming on Twitch when I can; because I've had to find any way to monetize my time. And frankly, I've been a fucking grouch. I don't think it's nice listening to me: as it's just me complaining for hours. I don't have anything fun to talk about right now. Shit is miserable, and of course, I am not the only one going through this.

It's much, much worse for creators who are smaller than me. (And don't get it twisted: I am in no way a "big creator".) Anyone even thinking of releasing their first sexy book right now has maybe 1 or 2 places to do so: and those places have heavy, heavy restrictions. And fuck if you're outside of the USA; you don't stand a chance.

It helps no one if adult content is eradicated off the web. The ripples of something like that would affect things you may not even begin to realize are connected, and are frankly out of scope for my review of this service.

That is all to say: take it seriously when adult creatives and sex workers tell you how much of a problem this all is right now. We are at a crucial tipping point.

I'm going to link a few articles and resources I think are worth your time. Please, look into them and what you can...

• Stop Paypros

• Yell at Money

• The Censorship of Steam is Coming for Everyone

I'll continue to share more as I continue to write reviews on these high risk payment processors. I very much suspect that the e-mail I got from a different paypro that said, "We do business with adult companies" might not be as truthful as it sounds... hmm...

UPDATE...

It's the day after writing the above post. Woke up to quite the update on this. I had been in contact with Payment Cloud about getting their service and they waited until now to hit me with the image below. Again, stringing me along instead of being upfront. They had seen my website multiple times before this...

Payment Cloud listing what adult content it won't service. Some make sense, but some depictions in fiction are actually legal. Cat ears being "prohibited" puts most performers off the list of clients they would not accept.

So hey, that's another company not to contact if you're an adult creative. Payment Cloud will not help you, despite their claims otherwise. There's a very slim margin of porn that fits within what they require above, but even then, who can afford that upfront $1,450 cost, on top of what they'll begin taking on every transaction afterwards? Ridiculous.

An image from Payment Cloud's site where they make all sorts of claims about how willing they are to help adult creatives. I wish that were true, but it seems they're still another company that's held back by VISA and Mastercards pearl clutching policies.

So, yeah. Not gonna happen. You can easily put Payment Cloud off the list. They were just as pushy as Paykings were, just so you know. Calling me 24/7 and e-mailing me multiple times a day trying to get my SSN number before even looking at my site or answering my questions.

Credit to them though, their agent was a lot more transparent and responsive in e-mails than Paykings and Zen Payments were. I'll give them that. But that's it.

I'm now in talks with CCBill and SEG Pay, who seem to be two of the biggest names for sites that host cartoons. Still, I'm not optimistic. I've heard the policies that Slipshine and Filthy Figments have to abide by, and if these companies try to make me follow those rules too, I might be cooked. I fear every day for my career.