This is a basic question for all the knowledgeable hobbyists out there. I am interested in becoming a VIP member for this great web site but I am not sure how should I pay for it. Is it better to pay it with money order or credit card? Is it required to register with your real name if you are going to pay with money order? Any reply would be appreciated.
use the credit card. It is very safe with this site and fast. They will not automatically renew either.
If you do have to worry about a wife or significant other, I would normally suggest a prepaid credit card, but I understand that some of them do not work since the site was moved off shore.
My suggestion is to open a PO Box. Take some discretionary funds and open a non interest bearing (so you do not get a tax document) checking account in a National Chain bank (more turnover in staff usually) using the PO Box, getting a debit card for the account. Use the debit card for this site and any other credit type purchases you need to make for the hobby. It is also a good place to park cash for saving up for the hobby. It is always nice to have a debit card to make hotel reservations for outcall or other situations, and this is the best way to do it when needing to hide it.
Good Luck
PW, I got my initial month by doing my two reviews as most guys do. Even though I hobby at least once per week, because of personal and professional reasons, I will always be an UTR kind of guy (or as is affectionately called here, a "lurker").
When my initial month ran out, I sent in a cashier's check. When I went to send it, I asked the post office how much it would cost to send it via registered mail. The cost was going to be as much as the three month TER renewal cost so I just had them send it via regular first class mail.
After four weeks and no renewal of my membership and many calls to my bank and notes to TER, I broke down and charged it to my personal credit card.
TER will not accept the prepaid cards. The credit card bill comes out something like CCBILL so it was not too difficult to make up a story about what it was.
If you decide to send in funds via the mail, know it will take at least four weeks to get there.
By the way, my cashier's check never did get cashed so I was out that money.
-- Modified on 2/17/2008 5:17:49 PM
I make a donation of $50 every so often to one of my favorite charities called ccbill. It sounds good if I ever get questioned.
But I am single...no one has acccess to my financial records, cell phone, laptop, or other hobby related stuff except me. Paying by CC annually will allow you extra membership time, over monthly payment. As for money orders, horror stories have been posted. You'll be sending that to a foreign address in Europe...think twice before going that route, if you are located in the USA. MO will take time to process and activate, but pay by CC, and access is almost instantaneous...
I do have concerns over the CC statements. If you are being investigated for divorce, a security clearance, or something else it may raise some flags. My most recent charge for TER says "CCBILLEU.COM" and has a toll free number that reaches CCBill (I assume since it is the same as another porn site charge). Some sites will actually be listed, and that is a problem. TER is not listed on the charge and that is good.
CCBill has a few mainstream businesses, but the majority appear to be adult-oriented. So it's appearance will raise flags for an experienced investigator, though maybe not for a SO. The good thing is that it would be assumed that it is just a pay porn site as opposed to an indicator that you are using escort services.
It's a shame the acceptance of pre-paid credit cards by CCBill is hit or miss.
It's great to be VIP to search and read the review for providers in your area. But in regard to posting, you're pretty much limited to post here in Newbie section. You can't post in General, Los Angeles, or Orange County.
Even without being a VIP, you can post on any of TER's National or Regional boards. The choice of which ones you to which you wish to contribute is entirely up to you.
Also remember that VIP status has nothing to do with being moderated. The more you post on the regional boards, and have something intelligent to add, the sooner you will be set loose.
that has nothing to do with VIP, rather, you have to have at least ten reviews, which you can have without VIP status.
Sheep, you may be moderated and posting on boards that are so busy that your post is moved to the second page before it is even posted. The posts are put onto the board back to the time of the post, not when it is approved. Search the boards that you have posted with your username or posting alias to see if the posts made it without you realizing.
Good Luck
Jazz,
I tried to post on the local board that didn't violate TOA or deemed to be offensive nor unrelated to the thread. But I don't see them and PMing moderator never did get any reply. So, I am just assuming that we don't have the permission to post other than this Newbie board.
Which prepaid cards from Walmart did you use?
I truly appreciated all your precious advices as they are very useful. I think I know what I should do now.
This topic has come many times here, and on the Suggestion & Policy board. CCBiill, the third party agency that TER uses to process visa and mc transactions in the US does not accept debit and pre-paid cards for recurring charges, this I know from experience. What I don't know is whether or not CCBill will accept these cards for one-time purchases, quarterly or annual VIP membership
I tried using Vanilla Visa once with the old system, SegPay, and they didn't take it. Those things are *generally* worthless.
Is TER hosted by an EU-based company? Seems like it you're worried about records on the TER-end, then there are some jurisdictional issues involved...
tc